INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the players Handbook! I am excited to start playing and exploring the world of Esterel with all of you. This section is intended to contain everything needed to join the campaign. Although there is more than just what is presented in this handbook, consider this section the mandatory reading, and everything else is just optional reading. I understand everyone has different aspects of the game they enjoy, so I don't want to force anyone to go through everything. This means you can use this tool to its full potential, or just go through this section and never use this site again!
WORLD ANVIL
World Anvil is the service that allows us to create our own campaign website. It is a tool that serves multiple purposes, but primarily serves as a note referencing tool while we play. On the landing page, there is a link you've already clicked that brings you to this handbook. That is the required reading, everything I mention below is up to you if you want to use it.
In the lower left, clicking on the maps button will bring up an interactive map of Esterel, which has marker's you can click on to get more information on a location.
The middle section will have a link to our campaign. Although not much is currently there, when we start this will have some information on our party, a place to take notes, and a session recap section, which will allow players to review sessions they missed, or look back on something they may have forgotten. It will also have a section for NPCs, which you can reference to recall the details of a character you may have forgot about.
The right section contains a timeline, which displays the history of the human race in Esterel. Other timelines may be added, but for now I only have the human timeline. It will also have the world codex. The codex contains the DNA of Esterel. It has articles like the one you are currently reading, which has information on organizations, cities, countries, important people, events, enemies, and anything else that seems fitting to put in a category.
Currently, Esterel is in development, so any of these sections could be updated at any point.
Esterel Basics
Esterel is currently in a golden age, spurred by the guardians of the continent,
Voloris. Monsters are little more than children's fairytales to most, and the concept of war is known only to the older races. From the human perspective, large conflicts belong in history books. This has caused many nations to become relaxed and docile, with even higher ranking military being uncapable with a sword. Often, town guards see more action dealing with thieves and murderers where they appear than what any formal military commander would have experienced. Anything more than the common rabble is taken care of by the Voloris highguard.
Citizens of most nations either respect, admire, or fear Voloris and its guardians. However, cultures and customs of each nation remain unaffected by Voloris itself. Lethreya and Yelanfore's Allience are the youngest of the nations, founded by the arrival of humans to Esterel, which more information on is contained in the timeline.
Lethreya has mostly humans, but contains a healthy mixture of all races. Yelanfore's Alliance is almost all human. The Dwarves are located in the Bleakstone Mountains, and have no formal government. Instead, they are made up of clans that have a military allience. The Delwar isles have one settlement of mixed races, and are the primary location of dragonborn. The forests of Ester is ruled by elves, and are the only country with official borders in Esterel, and other than Lethreya, are the only ones with a Monarch. The Deserts of Esskavor has a mix bag of races and is often where criminals are exiled. There is a large population of nomads, and two large cities that compete for control of the desert.
PLAYER BACKGROUND
The story will start in the city of Dewwatch, during the festival of Voloris. Primary background requirement is that all players will have a loyalty of some form to Voloris. That could be some form of respect, or by a direct allegiance. For example, a player could be a Voloris lowguard, or competing in the festival of Voloris. They could be a member of Voloris temple. The main factor is your player must both have a reason to be at the festival of Voloris, and agrees with the purpose of Voloris. More information on Voloris and the festival can be found on the Voloris article.
