Description
Zarthuga is a new world, it only has 2500 years of history after the humanoid races arrived, but a lot has been crammed into that time.
Zarthuga was the playground of the gods, many a weird sight and creature was created in this time, but the gods wanted to show off, to be admired. Year zero of Zarthuga’s timeline marks the entrance of the first humanoid races into the material plane. The dwarves, halflings, gnomes among others. The elves, half-elves, humans and tieflings arrived later.
The sentient races
See the list of the Playable Races.
Common
Many of the “common races” from dnd are present in Zarthuga, except half-orcs (and orcs.) The orc lineage was wiped out by the elves during the first millennia.
Exotic
Several custom races are available in the setting, see the list above. Among them are the snail-people Limagi, the floating Auromedusae, the Trollkin, Platynix, Librarians and more.
Universal lineages
Some “templates” can be applied to other races with the help of the DM. Some of these can be powered by a sentient soul, lending a “second life”, at the cost of great transformation of the physical body. Like the Bound and Oozecut.
Technology and Society
The setting is mildly steampunk, there are firearms (though not very available), magically powered steam-trains, there are rumours of air-ships. The advance of technology has moved so fast, that only the most central places have these sorts of things available, and the difference between big cities and smaller settlements was exaggerated by the advent of the publicly available Teleportation Circles, at the hands of the Guild of Transport and their monopoly on Aetherflux. The introduction of the portals has massively changed the world. Revolutionising communication, travel, tourism, trade etc. It has also led to even further “stratification” between big cities and smaller towns. Concentrating power and wealth, away from the places creating the raw resources.
Gods & Portfolios
The gods play, show off, but they also die, disappear. When they turn absent their portfolios suffer. Like when Knowledge was sapped, Death died, Sol disappeared and Magic cracked. These Apocalypses are in the past, and the world has, and is living with the consequences.
Read more in Gods’ effects on their portfolios.
See the timeline of the previous apocalypses in the World events.
The consequences of the Death of Death
When Ymigard - God of Endings disappeared, it Trapped souls on the material plane. Souls stopped finding their way to an afterlife. They instead linger on the material plane after the death of the body. After this event, the Death of Death, undead started appearing in the world. Usually the undead are a product of some degrading soul, attaching itself to something resembling a real body. Undead can also be created intentionally by a necromancer using souls as components, some times creating much more powerful undead than happen by accident.
As you might expect, most cultures frown upon any practice that does not respect a creatures soul, as you would respect the creature in life.
When souls degrade they “shed” Soul Tears, purple crystals grow from the surroundings. Soul Jars are hollowed out Soul Tears, with the capability of housing, trapping souls. Most spellcasters can Move souls into Soul Jars. This is useful for transportation of the souls to more permanent solutions, like placement in a Soul Repository.
Souls of lesser “value”, maybe antagonistic humanoid monsters, are less frowned upon not handeling with respect. Spellcasters cast Crystallize soul on souls that can be turned directly into Soul Tears.
The Tearjerkers are an organization that specializes in handeling loose souls, providing Soul Jars and Soul Repositories to the public, as well as safe transportation of souls over distances.
The Night Century
The sun in the sky, is literally the remaining eye of Sol - God of Hope. When he blinks, a day passes. When he sleeps, it is winter. Sol used to have two eyes, but he disappeared for a century. This Century was named the Night Century. When he returned he only had one eye left, and the The world pillars had appeared. During the Night Century, most humanoids went underground to forage for food, and avoid the roaming souls and ghosts on the surface. Many a dungeon was populated and expanded during this time.
Unstable magic
Wedn - God of Magic is missing, and certain magic has become unstable. Casting any Conjuration spell could lead to dangerous results. And the casting of such spells is banned within most civilisation. See House Rules for specifics.
Invasion of Demons and Devils
The region of Arkrak, fell to a sudden invasion of Devils and Demons. The Chasm of Nill is a man made “moat”, that is a great feat of Geomancy. It halted the progrss of the hellish forces. A Mountain of Flesh is rumored to be growing in the marshes now, a product of the forces meeting at a central point. The guards in Nill fight continuously to keep the rest of the continent safe.
The Wyrding of Northhelm
More recent is a magical accident on the isle of Northhelm, causing great destruction and the fleeing of its people to mainland Zarth. Some of the refugees were hit with magical energies, turning them into either a Deathtouched of Northhelm or a Lifetouched of Northhelm.