Introduction
Welcome, adventurers!
Caeli is a rich and diverse world that the Divine Voices, the elder gods of this land, have fought long and hard to protect. As a new age of magi-technology dawns, kingdoms and empires continue to struggle to establish themselves as the most powerful factions. Even smaller groups - such as religious orders, trading companies and mercenary guilds - all vie for power and position.
Below you will find some basic information about the Caeli setting and the campaigns that are ongoing here. You may follow any of the links to delve deeper into the world lore available if you wish to use this to create your character.
Magic and Technology
Magic has been fairly common on Caeli from the times before the Blight to the Modern Ages. Many an ancient civilisation rose and fell based on the training of their magic users for war, or lack thereof. One major duty of magic users throughout the ages and the continents has been to support the fight against the Kichian in any way that is available to them.
The advent of the Age of Thaumatech Revolution saw the development of both magical sciences and technologies making use of them. For the first time, magic-infused items were able to be mass-produced, allowing for such items to become more affordable to lower-class citizens of the First World civilisations. With the seeming steady decline of available magics that marked the second half this age, however, many also sought to do away with the magical dependency shown by some of the leading civilisations of the time, leading to a minor industrial revolution centred first around steam, and later wind and lightning powers.
Today, the leading civilisations try to strike the right balance between the ease of thaumatech and the greater availability and stability of element-based powers. Recent developments in the studies of Kichian magics and technologies has also allowed psionics to become a branch of magic accessible to those with the right gifts.
History and Theology
Caeli was built from the ashes of the Oblivion, the Divine Voices joining to Speak serenity, a connection into the Elemental Planes, and thus the return of Life into this realm. But as the Gates to the Shifting Vales opened, they attracted the attention of the ever-hungry Kichian. The Voices took turn to manifest a physical form and stand against the devastating mind powers of these beings. Even as their companions fought, the others walked across the furthest reaches of Caeli and built the world from the ground up, forming its mountains and rivers, fashioning its beasts and beings, and even gifting it the weaves of magical powers.
All changed when first Voice Tanira then Voice Yabbris were seemingly lost in the conflict against the Kichian.
Having lost a quarter of their powers in that instant, the Divine Voices sent sparks of their might to worthy mortals, effectively indoctrinating them into the ranks of the gods. These lesser gods were tasked with the day-to-day management of Caeli while the Voices regrouped to continue the fight in the Shifting Vales. They used their superior knowledge to create a ritual, effectively shutting the gates leading from the Kichian's world to the Shifting Vales. Even with the support of the lesser gods and many powerful mortals, the Voices were left depleted by the ritual, forcing them to retire to their own planes and leave Caeli to their subordinates.
The Blight fell onto the world when Voice Tanira burst through the Shifting Vales and crashed onto Caeli in her physical form. Angered by centuries spent at the mercy of the Kichian without a hint of a rescue effort, Tanira gathered mortals and lesser gods to her call to overthrow the Divine Voices. Thus started the only era that saw the Voices fighting among themselves. Tanira only relented in her attacks through the combined efforts of Voice Nueleth and Voice Ayil, though the full details of their endeavours have been lost to time if they were ever known.
Basic Geography
Caeli is made up of five continents as shown on the basic map on the right.
Boreana is considered to be the wildest of wildlands, with a very small percentage of that continent having been mapped by those cultures that consider themselves civilised. Many have recently crossed the Roxdare Ocean to take advantage of its untapped natural resources.
Aneron hosts the so-called pinnacles of civilisations that are the Shellihil and Daghzan empires, although the latter has expanded its frontiers into Unios as well.
Unios is often considered to be the birthplace of civilisation, being the home of the Immortal Pillar, the tallest mountain peak on Caeli and said to be the place the Divines first graced with their physical forms.
Eorax is the stuff of legends, with stories of valiant knights riding on the backs of fearsome dragons to protect Caeli as a whole against the Kichian and other tales of a great library recording the true histories of every living being on the plane. But nowadays, it is mainly known as the seat of the Cobax, a religious order shrouded in mystery.
Sulora is often called the Land of Plenty, being rich in ores and fertile lands. It is also a land rife with terrifying magical storms. Legends have it that the continent was once without these storms and many have long tried to find their sources.
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