the-masked-lands

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I felt my brain expand when I decided his tail would do that as a warning plus make it similar to his hat since centipedes bottom halves match their head.

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Cadira, Caller of the Small by Alexandr Leskinen

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Planar Travel

The Divine Barrier blocks attempts by Outside forces to enter Arckiel. However, there are exceptions to this rule. 

Raven Cultists of sufficient power and with the direct backing of the Raven Masked may cast spells such as Plane Shift in order to enter far off planes. 

There are physical connections between the Material Plane and the Near Planes, places where they touch and you can go from one to the other without difficulty. Such places are rare and often have large impacts on wide tracts of land, and the places on the other side are often exceptionally dangerous sections of the other plane.  It is known that the Pikor region had a stable portal to the Eternal Fields of the plane of elemental earth, which accounted for its great fertility before the Curse, and it is common knowledge that underneath The Court is a stable and expansive network of portals to The Shadowed Court section of the Nightmare Demense, and that building codes and architectural styles have changed and adapted specifically to prevent further corruption into that wretched plane. 

Beyond physically walking to the material plane from an inner plane, there are methods by which Demons, vast as their hordes are, can arrive on Arckiel, even though such occurances are rare. Demons of sufficient power and which retained sufficient followings that were slain or banished may be summoned back to the realm by their worshippers, though the most common Demons are those that weren’t slain after the end of the Masked War or hunted down by the Maneate once it was formed. Demons of too great a power affect the area around themselves, which is watched for by the Maneate and the Raven cult, which is sufficient to keep them from remaining long, and often results in their cults immediate destruction. 

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The Tabaxi Situation

As little as one century ago no one had ever heard of nor seen a tabaxi. Then ships made of strange woods and metals began piercing the Divine Barrier, their magics stripped by the divine essence of the wall and the ships falling to the land violently and suddenly. The survivors of the crashes, when there were any, were small in number and strange of body, with souls foreign to these lands. They claimed to be simple merchants, traveling from one planar system to another, buying and selling goods from one in the other and so forth, they came to Arckiel for the purposes of trade, having only found the strange new location they raced to arrive knowing that being the first merchants to make contact would get fortunes beyond those of their competitors. 

And so dozens and hundreds of planar vessels sailed to their doom, with each having only a few dozen crew to begin with and often having casualties amongst that small number. And then things began to slow down, fewer and fewer ships arriving as the years went until twenty years ago when the last of them crashed through the barrier and shattered in flames before reaching land or sea. 

The survivors however have made themselves useful, bringing with them knowledge of the planes unheard of amongst even the heights of the Raven Cult.  The survivors have integrated relatively well, with them being particularly common as courtesans, entertainers, and trade advisors in The Court, and many having picked up their trade as traveling merchants and explorers.

The generations of tabaxi that have been born in the masked lands however have adapted to the harsher colder environments, growing thicker grey fur and manes, adopted more durable physicalities, these individuals have become known as the Leonin, due to their visual similarities with the Lions native to the mountains of the Masked Lands. 

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The Monster Hunter’s Guild

A guild formed ten years ago by the famous monster hunter Valzelia Ny’xan which specializes in the hunting of dangerous Monsters. They charge almost as much as the Wolf Mercenaries do, but guarantee that, unless the problem is specifically caused by sentient humanoids, they will solve it, even if the information given was faulty. If guildsmen leave or die without solving the problem the contractors are payed back the down payment and an industry massive 70% failure charge.  The guild itself provides a number of important services for prospective monster hunters as well. Bed and Board at any Guildhouse, knowledge on the various monsters and dangers they may face, training with specialized tools and weapons, occasional discounts on scroll or potion services, contacts for selling valuable monster body parts, and a guarentee that if its possible curses, diseases, and other conditions that come from this line of work will be treated, and if its too late by the time word reaches the guild funeral services will be guaranteed if they are possible.

The Guildmistress has made deals with both the Wolf Mercenaries and the Raven Cult, as well. The Wolf Mercenaries will farm out routine monster hunting work, giant spiders and rats, simple things like that to the Guild in return for a guarantee of any and all work that transitions from adventurer to mercenary will be given to them at first opportunity.  The Raven cult has created several unique magic items for the uses of the Guild, and has made all of their Libraries knowledge on curses, diseases, magical ailments, monsters, and other related effects available to the guild, on the condition that the Guild will share any major magical, historical, or other knowledge finds they find in ruins or amongst monsters, and that the Cult will always have first bid on valuable monster parts that aren’t acquired as part of a contract. 

The special tools created for the Guild are many, but the most notable and important are the Monster Dissection Kit, which contains all the tools necessary for dissecting monsters and preserving their valuable parts, and the Bag of Stowage, which can hold and preserve up to 300 pounds of body parts, neatly organized and cataloged for ease.

The Guild has four departments: Hunters, Traders, Researchers, and Spokesmen.  Each group has a differently emblazoned badge.

Hunters have a badge emblazoned with crossed sabers and dual crescent moons. 

Traders have a badge emblazoned with a chest with a heart on its face

Researchers have a badge emblazoned with a book and a scalpel

and Spokesmen have a badge emblazoned with a chest with a book on its face.

Hunters are the most numerous group, with rank of skill being sorted by wooden, copper, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and adamantine badges, with wooden badges being reserved for those being tested or trained, and adamantine being reserved for only the most skilled, including the guildmistress.

Traders have either a golden or a mithril badge. Golden badges deal in more common items and generally sell to apothecaries and trophy hunters. Mithril badges deal in the most valuable and difficult to find items, and find single purchase buyers.

Researchers are the least numerous, and all have a mithril badge encircled in adamantine. They research the strengths and weaknesses of monsters, and compile known facts about monsters gathered by hunters into compendiums for field teams.

Spokesmen all have silver badges. They stay and stock guildhouses and travel to other nearby cities and towns to look for contracts. They get the research books most likely to be of use to hunters when they arrive, discern as much extra information as they can, and see how reliable witnesses and informants are before the hunters arrive, thus informing them of any research or leads they may need to do to do the job. When possible they stay at the location to make sure this gets done, but otherwise will leave the books and their notes at the nearest ravenite library or temple. 

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The Adventurer’s Guild

The old Adventurer’s Guild was a major organization six hundred years ago, and had anything from monster hunters to explorers to freelance investigators. Ultimately, however, it got too large, too powerful, and too arrogant. They began taking on regular mercenary work, thinking that people used to fight monsters would be able to do simple mercenary work rather easily. 

The wolf cult declared the entire Adventurer’s Guild untouchable, and that it would hunt down and kill any and every member of the Guild. Very nearly every member of the Adventuerer’s Guild was hunted down and killed by Wolf Mercenaries, with only a few surviving by selling out their comrades and abandoning the guild or going into hiding sheltered by another cult, something that was almost unheard of. The maneate stepped aside and watched as the war took place on the streats, and people who had been saved by monster hunters or made their fortune from the resources Guild explorers found for them stood by and did nothing. 

Adventurer’s are now strictly regulated, and Guilds and associations of Adventurer’s must be careful not to stray into mercenary territory. Nobles wanting to deal with a rival must go to the Mercenaries, not the Adventurers, or it will be on the Adventurer’s necks the axe falls. Adventurer’s are paid less than mercenaries for the same job, but adventuerer’s have the right of First Loot, meaning they legally are allowed to loot the bodies and any other stashes of treasure before their employers or other scavengers. Unfortunately, Mercenaries also come with the legal clout to stick directly to a contract, meaning if someone signs one for them to hunt a specific monster and it turns out that they were wrong, the mercenaries can leave and take their coin, citing that the monster they were hired to kill isn’t here. Adventurers, however, must stick to a contract until the issue is solved or risk never getting work again.

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Funerals: Much of the masked lands has smallcemetaries for notable individuals with either prestige or money, taken care of by publicly unaligned individuals, often whom secretly worship the vulture. Others are eventually placed in a public graveyard, without headstones or monuments beyond the markers for where corpses are, often filled with multiple corpses at a time.        Nobles keep large mausoleums on their estates or in The Court, with every individual getting their own place within. In the plaguelands getting a funeral in one of the city mausoleums requires an expensive tithe to the local Vulture cult, whom maintain large and complex mausoleums warded to keep out the curse of undeath. Any who cannot pay such a tithe are ritually burned by the cult if they are within the city, or are simply taken out of the way if somewhere else. Mourning: Mourning is something done differently by the different cults and factions within the masked lands.  Crow cultists have a fallen loved one buried or burned with trinkets theyve made, and different trinkets or the like crafted by the dead are given out to members of the family or other loved ones.  Rabbit cultists bury their loved ones with a few plants, a potato, a bushel of rye or wheat, etc, and have a small celebration of the life they lived.  Vultures: Vulture worshippers do only what is necessary, whether thats burning a corpse, flaying it for cultivation within the Fane or butchering and eating it to stave off starvation, for once a person dies all they are anymore is meat.  Lion cultists: have ornate funerals and bury their dead with wealth and signs oof the offices they held in life. Bear Knights: bury their honored dead in a cask of liquor, the value/quality depending on rank and honor they earned in life, from simple kvass to rich wines and meads, with guildmasters even getting beer.  Generally the colour used for mourning is red, sometimes accentuated by a color associated with ones god or faction.  Beds: most beds are made with wool padding on wooden frames, though the upper classes and worhsippers of the moth often throw in silks or other exotic fabrics, and the recent arrival of tabaxi prumarily have one large cloth mat, with many pillows placed on it.  Funriture: Houses often have chairs and tables, though households that are expecting to have lots of ocmpany or large families (or which simply have the excess wealth) will have couches or the like as well, with tabaxi bringing the concept of  short tables sat at with pillows on the floor. Materials used vary by economic status and local culture, anything from plain wood to stone to metal, and any combinations of fabrics and stuffings.  Light sources: torches and lanterns, magical lights, and the especially rich use candles.  Utensils: most meals for the average person use nothing but the hands, with soupso r stews sometimes being acompanied with a spoon.  The upper classes use forks and knives and such to set themselves apart, whilst tabaxi traditionally use special untensils attached to the claws for eating.

Worldbuilding: Things That Might Have Been Missed

These are the miscellaneous questions I didn’t put anywhere else.  Things that didn’t get enough questions to have its own post, or things I didn’t think of too much until the end.  In this post, I have written a list questions of … . well, everything else?

Have fun, be detailed and creative, and by all means come up with questions that are not asked.

Because my computer ate everything, these questions are not directly taken from the NaNoWriMo website.  Some are asked from memory, some are questions that sounded like ones I had, and others are ones I came up with.

How is a funeral held?

What happens to the body after someone has died? Do they bury it?  Place it in a tomb?  Cremate it?  Drop it to the bottom of the sea?  Send it down the river?  Toss it into a dragon’s lair?

How do people mourn?

What is consider an appropriate amount of time for mourning?

What color is used for mourning and funerals? Black?  White?  Red?  Blue?  No specific color?  What does the color symbolize?

Are there any coming of age rituals?

What happens during a coming of age ritual?

What age is the child normally at when he or she goes the coming of age ritual?

Does it vary by gender?

What kind of jobs exist?

Which jobs are held in high esteem?

Which jobs are despised?

How do people get jobs? Do they become an apprentice?  Do they need work experience?  A college degree?  How are they offered jobs?  Do they apply?  Talk with the owner?  Get recommended?

What jobs are influenced by magic?

What is the most common way someone meets his or her future spouse? By growing with them?  Through connections?  School?  In the market?  At a dance?  Arranged marriage?

How technologically advanced is the world?

What is the latest piece of technology?

How does magic affect technology?

How is new technology viewed? Is it embraced?  Are people apprehensive?  Do they outright spurn new technology?  Do people care?

What does the average bed look like? Straw mattress?  Water bed?  A pile of blankets?  A wooden platform?  A chair?  A couch?

What are some rules regarding sleep? Are mixed genders allowed or is that frowned upon unless they’re married?  Do people have their own beds or share with siblings?  Do the rules vary depending on where they’re sleeping?  Is everyone smooshed in together at an inn?  Can money get better bedding?

What are the basic pieces of furniture found in an average house? Chairs?  Couches? Tables?  Beds?  Bookshelves?  How many are acceptable?  How many pieces of furniture would indicate lavishness?

What are some toys for children?

What do people use as a light source when the sun is not available?

What kinds of dishes are used? Plates?  Bowls?  Cups or glasses?

What kind of eating utensils do people use? Chopsticks?  Forks and spoons?  Their hands?

What materials are dishes and eating utensils made of?

What kind of items are used for cooking? Pots and pans?  Clay pots?  Crock pots?  Skillets?  Wok?  A wooden plate?

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The Worship of Multiple Gods

   Whilst many people devote themselves to one god, no god is truly all-encompasing of anyones life. It doesn’t matter how much of a mercenary you are, you’re still touched by the laws of the Lion, it doesn’t matter how grand your line or how noble your house, even the lion is housed by the architecture of the bug.      However, rather than simply paying homage to or having a respect for other masks which simply have a place in their life, some people actively worship mutliple masks, a potentially fraught existence. When you not only respect, but truly WORSHIP multiple gods, you must pay respects to them and wear their mask on holy days and during celebrations. However, to snub one in favor of the other is a potentially lethal mistake, and definitively a grave one.     So, rather than simply wearing one mask or the other, you need to create and wear a mask that celebrates and has features of your multiple Masked Gods, for instance if you are a devotee of both the moth and the raven, perhaps a tailor who creates enchanted clothing, you would need to have elements of both the Raven Mask and the Moth Mask in yours. One possibility is to a black beak with feathers white feathers, or black feathers made out of silk.       However, it is also known that wearing a mask is no simple thing. It is not like wearing a necklace with a metal symbol attached, when you wear a mask of a god you are wearing a Direct Conduit to that god, they will see what you see, and hear what you think. And they will know who you are. And, if you are wearing the mask of a god you do not worship, or if you are wearing a mask your god finds to be insulting, you are wearing a Direct Conduit of their Wrath on your face.It is not illegal to wear another gods mask, specifically because no mortal court is faster than an angry deity with a direct connection to the source of their anger.     Another thing of note however is that not all gods are accepted, and whilst it is not always illegal, it is almost always dangerous  to wear a mask dedicated to the Vulture Masked. And it is known that there are those who worship them within society, somehow staying a secret. How they manage to do such a thing when the gods would punish them for wearing a false mask and the people would punish them for wearing a true one is a mystery.

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Thurgeons and the rise of Arcanists

Before the War of the Masks, and even throughout most of it, arcane magic as it is practiced by Wizards was extremely rare, and magical understanding was quite rare. However that doesn’t mean there was no arcane magic.  Thurgeons practiced an Art somewhere between wizardry, alchemy, and technology. They would combine certain materials with rituals and bronze machinations to create potent magical items, different from what magic is made in the modern day.  Thurgeons would practice openly, sharing their secrets in stadeums with audiences watching them perform their rites and rituals, but still the level of precision necessary to create their magics was beyond what most could do, to the point that most who would become wizard had been unable to practice their Art. 

Thurgeonic Artifacts: Spell-flinger: A bronze aperatus which was filled with Magicked glass plates. It would feel the vibration in the stone or wood beneath it and if it were not similiar to the vibrations caused by the footsteps it had been set for it would fling a Magicked glass disk, which would either cast a potent spell or simply slice into them, depending on the preference of the crafting Thurgeon.  Panaceac Filter:  A series of silver filters placed in a geometric patter inside of a flask, which has runes placed on the inside of it, it would purify any liquid placed within, turning almost anything into pure water, though it does not destroy the toxic or poisonous substances, it simply congregates them to the bottom of the flask, meaning that eventually they become useless as they have no more room for new stored liquids.  Mirror of Mana: A simple looking silver hand-mirror, backed with Bronze. Anything reflected by this mirror will have its magical auras made visible, though certain individuals will have their image within the mirror distorted for unknown reasons. 

Milton’s Menagerie of Metal Men: a chess set made out of bronze and black bronze, when the moves are said aloud by the one sitting on the respective side the pieces will move on their own, and a piece that is captured will sink into the board. When a game is completed through a victory (not through a forfeiting or any other form of the game ending) the pieces that are sunk into the board will rise back out of it, and all the pieces will return to their original places.

Rise of the Arcanists: During the War of the Masks the champion of the Raven Mask began to codify the laws of magic, and managed to simplify the Arcane to the point that spells could be cast through gestures and with relatively common material componants and simple and short utterances.   Arcane magic used in this manner allows for the useage of cantrips and low level spells, and allows their use relatively often, but while it lowers the threshold necessary to use it, it also lowers the heights you can reach.  

Thurgeons, for a time, resisted the simplification of their practices, but when it became clear near the end of the war that they were outnumbered they slowly began to give in.  In modern times it is rare for anyone to practice Thurgeonic magics, but the Art is kept alive by the Hiigh priests and priesesses of the Raven Masked. Do to their rarity Thurgeonic artifacts have become extremely valuable.

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Lions

A specieso f large cat-like creatures, they have thick grey fur and leopard-like bodies. Their heads however are bulkier and have larger canines than any leopard, and they have thick manes of white fur that surrounds the head, the males having truly impressive manes of considerable size. They are common predators in the mountains and in the glacial regions of the northern reaches of the continent. They gather in small hunting groups, of one to three males, 4 to 6 females, or 1 male and up to 4 females. Males are willing to work together until they come across females, after which they will become territorial.  The heir to the King will hunt a lion in order for its skull to be used in their crown upon ascension to the thrown, and the Mane wears a thick cloak made out of the manes of killed lions.

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Once, during the time of the War of the Mask the Fane was a small swampy marsh near the center of the masked lands, not much more than 30 or so miles across at its deepest. Now it takes up a massive chunk of the Masked Lands, its borders threaten almost every village and town, and even the Court City is less than 30 miles from one of its toxic edges. The Fane only started spreading shortly after the end of the War of the Masks, though a collaboration of clerics of the Lion Mask and arcanists and clerics of the Raven Mask have managed to slow, and perhaps even stop, its expansion. 

The Fane

A Noxious, fetid marsh that leaks toxic gases, it has very little solid ground. The water and mud are slightly acidic, enough to degrade or damage equipment that isn’t treated properly, or to cause serious damage to anyone who who comes into contact with it or who drinks it.    The only native species of animals are a few species of small fish and a species of crawdad like crustaceans, all of which have thick leathery hides/scales to protect from the acidity, are themselves toxic, and taste disgusting, however there is also a species of vulture that nests within the Fane.  The only truly “farmable” plant in the Fane is a fungus which grows in the recently deceased corpses of humanoids, and its presence interferes with restorative magics. Whilst it only begins growing in corpses that its spores can get to within 24 hours of death, it will continue to grow in such a corpse until it is incapable of acquiring any more nutrients from it, and will even crack bones to get to marrow, and in some occasions even dissolve the bones themselves. it is not only edible, but is also usually good tasting, though like many foods the degree of taste will be different from taster to taster and specimen to specimen.

The species of vulture which nests in the Fane is present across the continent, but only breeds and nests in the Fane. They are large and have bright red feathers on their heads and wings, which get a deeper red the older they are. 

Several small villages of vulture worshipers, often called vultures by the rest of the masked lands, live in the Fane, using its dangerous and toxic terrain to dissuade attack or being followed. Since the only real source of food will only grow from humanoid corpses, these Vultures have had to form raids on nearby settlements graveyards and mausoleums for the freshly dead, or to kill guards or soldiers for their corpses. When times are tough and raids aren’t viable, the Shamans will ask for those willing to be sacrifices. Those who offer themselves up will have their bodies flayed alive in such a fashion that the fungus will have optimal growing, feeding the villagers.   Unlike most, the worshipers of the Vulture Masked that live in the Fane wear their vulture masks always. 

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The Bear Knights

A group of knights who wear large plate armor and wield huge axes in one hand and smaller ones in the other. Their helmets are shaped like the heads of bears, and their armor is covered in brown or white fur from a bear killed on the day of their initiation.  They enact ancient rites and follow a strict form of exercise to give themselves strength beyond that of a human.  Their armor is so thick and so well made that non-magical weapons have difficulty getting through it, even when wielded by expert warriors.  A common rumor is that to be initiated fully they must kill the bear with their bare hands.  The bear knights are a respected knightly order, though only in martial circles. The nobility look down on them as rabble-rousers and problem-causers, and commoners seem them as drunkards and layabouts.  The bear knights have few proper bases, usually simply taking up space as individuals in local taverns rather than having guildhalls or chapter houses. However, they do maintain a fortress near the border with the Eastern lands, between Vulture Valley and the Plage Lands, but their main base where the master of their order often stays is in the far north, in the glacial lands near the coast, though the land was promised to the Easterners and they do maintain guard towers between the coast and the masked lands, it seems that they are unwilling to try ousting the Bear Knights.

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The Bear Masked

The god of single combat, heavy arms and armor, feasts, parties, and resting before or after a fight. They are worshiped by many front-line fighters, but most notably by the Bear Knights, who wear bear fur cloaks and full plate, and wield a halberd in one hand and a greataxe in the other.

Favored Race: Dwarf Favored Class: fighter Favored Oaths: vengeance,  Favored Domains: war, tempest,  Favored Weapon: Halberd, greataxe Favored Stat: Strength, Constitution

Though they are considered a god of parties, they are not appreciated or honored the same as the Crow Masked, often seen as lazy and drunkardly. They have an order of knights dedicated to them, and they practice ancient rites as well as masterful physical exercises to improve their endurance, and to improve their strength beyond human levels.

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The Rabbit Masked

The god of fertility, harvest, and luck. They are worshiped by farmers and those whose professions require an abundance of luck, most notably gamblers, and are prayed to and offered homage by those who wish to have children.

Favored Race: Halfling Favored Class: rogue, bard Favored Oath: devotion Favored Domain: nature, life, trickery Favored Weapon: sickle Favored Stat: Constitution

The Rabbit masked is appreciated in times of peace, though they are often side-lined in times of war or during combat. Nearly everyone will pray to them at some point, whether it be for a child or the lack of one, for one lucky break or survive a streak of bad luck.

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Weapons of the Masked Lands

Swords: Swords in the masked lands are regulated by ancient religious law. The longsword, with a straight and pointed blade and a dual-guard hilt is only legal to be wielded by those that are nobility or those who have importance amongst the worshipers of the Lion Masked. The Mane and nobility both heavily enforce these these regulations, though they have over time lessened somewhat, and it is now primarily the style of the blade it self that is regulated.  The “common” sword is a Long Messer, which is curved towards the end of the blade, flat-tipped, only has one edge, and usually only has a single-guard.  Axes: In order to get through the heavy armor worn by soldiers of the Masked Lands great axes are necessary, the length of halberds, the inside of the axes head is made of weighted Lead, which is then coated in the material of the blade, usually steel. For those who cannot afford, or who are not strong enough to wield such a heavy weapon, will use a shorter length weapon, usually the size of a great axe and with a similiar design. The blade is solid, and square-shaped, and can be either single headed or double headed.  Spears: Spears in the masked lands are generally used primarily for hunting large boar or other dangerous game, and thus usually have al arge bladed head and a boar-guard shortly behind it. However the Wolf Mercenaries have an alternative design which they use for the spears they wield on Dire-Wolf back, which is longer and has a larger head, no board-guard, and is serrated on one side.  Bows: Most bows in the masked lands are ineffective as a weapon against other combatants, due to how common Gambesons are amongst even commoners, and the armor that Soldiers and Mercenaries wear make all but the strongest bows completely ineffective. Thus, most bows are relegated solely to hunters, and primarily those nobles who prefer to hunt elk or moose to deer.  However, the Clay-Arrows tribe of orcs who live in the Fane and worship the vulture, and whom are descendants of the orc-tribes that once fought the rest of the masked lands wield great War Bows, at least 8′ in height and sometimes even larger, made of layered Gold Wood and created with ancient rites now lost to the rest of the masked lands. The arrows they launch are large and very long, and some of them, the oldest arrows made by artisans long dead, have arrow heads made out of Jade and shaved to a razors edge. (bow size of 6-10 ft, arrow size of 4 to 8 ft)

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The Moth Masked

The god of dancing, silk, and weaving. They are mostly worshipped by weavers, fabric workers, and entertainers. 

Favored Race: Halfling, human Favored Class: druid Favored Oaths: redemption, devotion Favored Domains: trickery, light favored weapon: staff Favored Stat: dexterity, charisma

Whilst they were unpopular during the war of the masks, and almost unheard of due to their lack of involvement, in modern times they have become a popular god, the silks and clothes their worshipers make, or the services they provide, have lead to them being one of the largest segments of the Court City’s population, with only servants outnumbering them to any degree.