Penumbra Intro

Penumbra Campaign

Penumbra is a continent on Thrash, a self-healing planet.
The continent first appeared on the south pole, where the previous landmass was ripped into a Void by a careless (but powerful) mage.
It has been slowly forming these past 700 years, with a few helpful additions from the planet/deity Thrash, colonized by people from the older continents.
The heat of tectonic activity makes Penumbra a temperate continent, though ice can be found beyond its edges.

Penumbra is set on the legacy of a campaign I ran in college. At the end of that campaign, the heroes figured out how to reach beyond the world of Thrash into the aether beyond and travel to other worlds.
This set off a flurry of innovation in the mage community. Most wizards in the past 700 years have focused their research on "Stardiving," where they seek to fly, launch, or teleport themselves into the aether. They almost never come back from this pursuit.
Where in ages past a dying wizard often left piles of magical treasure, they now usually leave an abandoned tower stripped of all useful items and research.
Thus, powerful wizards and their effects are scarce throughout the world.

Lore related rules changes:
-Wizards cannot drown (sorcerers can), a gift from the goddess of magic and water.
-Nonmagical blacksmiths create magic weapons and armor on rare occasions.
-Druids can, with an effort, cast detection spells through lead shielding. Their language is also immune to Comprehend Language-type spells.
-Many long-range transportation spells (Fly, Dimension Door, Greater Teleport, Gate) are harder to access, because the wizards who specialize in them are no longer around.
-Same goes for Identify and certain other scrying spells of interstellar range.
-Extra pantheons/gods will be available.


You can read about the previous Thrash campaign at https://sailcloth-campaign.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log.
Many of these stories are legendary to you.

Here's an early map of Penumbra:
http://imgur.com/0O8n1DI

If you need any more lore for backstory creation, just ask me. Or make it up.