Valan

Valan is the only place in the material plane known to harbour natural life. It is a celestial globe that orbits its sun, Nal, and is in turn orbited by its moon, Maran. Its year, one orbit about the sun, lasts roughly 359 days. Valan rotates on its axis, with its northern pole in the Icen Sea, and its southern pole near the southern tip of the continent of Ozolena. It is one of twelve celestial globes in orbit about Nal, and is the fourth planet from the sun.
The planet is generally understood to have seven continents: Luthenia, Elleswere, Soddam, Ngazam, Psaralatan, Uymi, and Ozolena. Some people also include the large islands of Bhoraz and Anval, or combine two continguous continents like Elleswere and Soddam, bring the number as high as nine or as low as four.

Peoples of Valan

Valan is home to a wide variety of peoples and ethnicities with distinct biologies, cultures, societies and languages. For the sake of categorization, most academics split the peoples of Valan into two categories based on their (perceived) Otherworld heritage, or lack thereof.
The reality is less clear than a binary distinction would imply; generations of interaction, including commingling, means that few communities are truly "Folk" or "Faefolk", but are rather a mixture of the two, with one side broadly winning out at some point in time or the other.

The great varieties of peoples on Valan have led to great academic speculation regarding how so many found themselves in the same place. Could it have been otherwise? Is such myriad intelligences the only possible outcome for life?

— Excerpt from Folks Valani, Folks Faerie

Legend holds that the forerunners of today's peoples on Valan came into conflict with the gods. The war was long, lasting millenia. As time wore on, the forerunners split into two distinct camps, those against the gods and those aligned with them. Eventually, on the verge of defeat, the "Godless"—those who rebelled—conjured incredible magics that tore reality, creating the realm of Faerie. This event, known as the Rending, divided the forerunners into two worlds: the descendents of the loyal "Godful" stayed in Valan and became today's Folks, while the rebellious "Godless" retreated to the Otherworld and became today's Faefolks.

Folks

Folks are descended from those forerunners with no known heritage outside of Valan. They were shaped primarily by the realities of life on Valan itself, and the weaker magics of the material plane. They include men, dwarfs, goblins, lizardfolk, dragonborn and a range of others.

Faefolks

Faefolks are peoples whose ancestors were warped by the untamed magics of Faerie. until the two worlds were eventually reunited. Today's faefolks are believed to be descended from these "godless" forerunners, and include elfs, gnomes, orcs, giants, lutrans, and many others.

The Void

The orbit of Valan about the sun has led some to theorize that Valan sits in an immaterial or extremely thin substance called the Void.
Other celestial globes are known to orbit the sun, presumably also suspended in this Void. These bodies are sometimes referred to collectively, Valan included, as the Celestial Dance. While some academics have proposed that the other globes of the Celestial Dance may also bear life or be on some other ways similar to Valan, most astronomers agree there is not sufficient evidence for such a conclusion.
Attempts at detailed magical observation, such as through the use of scrying or similar divination, have been unsuccessful. This has suggested that the substance of the Void may block or otherwise interfere with magic; a theory referred to as the Thaumaturgic Curtain.

Contents

Type

Planet

General Information

Type
Town
Location
Maer Dualdon, Icewind Dale
Part of
Ten-Towns
Nalemonic Empire
Population
1100
Ruler
Speaker of Targos
Demonym
Targosi
Religion
Feylord Worship
Cult of Auril
Nalemonic Pantheon
Culture
Northmannish
Reghed
Vissenti
Silverpine dwarfish
Elysian
Founded
Late CA