DnD2018 Basic Lore

History & Overview

For centuries and centuries, the Empire was in charge of this continent. Think Romans, but with an an elvish aristocracy, and a pretty restrictive caste system. For most people, it wasn't so great. About 30 years before the present, a group of subjects in the empire got together and staged a successful rebellion. Instead of forming a new nation, each of the little groups decided to stay independent. They (mostly) all agreed to form the League of Free States, which is basically an EU/Colonial America kinda deal. All the states are independent, but have a bunch of shared rules. Exactly how much they should federalize is the main political issue of the day. The Empire is still around and still the biggest power on the continent (maybe), but they've been very quiet for decades.

The de facto leader of the League is the Republic on Antilles. They've got that whole cosmopolitan, forward thinking, liberalism kinda dealie and are ostensibly the good guys. Their capitol is the largest in the league and the place to be. Think, like, NYC by way of Republic City from Legend of Korra.

Because all the states are pretty dinky, none of them have much of a military or police force. Consequently, about 5 years ago the states agreed to a joint initiative, The Bureau of Irregular Affairs. Basically, whenever anyone in the League has a problem they can't handle themselves, they can ask the Bureau for help and hopefully get it solved before it escalates.


Magic

The world itself is a kind of magic as technology affair. For a long time the Empire kept a tight lid on what people could or couldn't do, but now that they're not in charge people are starting to embrace that kind of innovative, entrepreneurial spirit. High level magic is pretty much unheard of, but low level magic is pretty commonplace. Like, no one's going to be impressed by your prestidigitation cantrip, but being able to toss a fireball off the cuff is still pretty sick.

The new 'big thing' is mass production. A few artificer consortiums have made it pretty big and are working on various consumer-grade magic stuffs that are just now starting to become commonplace.


Religion & Ancient History

In ancient times, the world was super epic. Like, dragons, and liches, and crazy wizards blowing up cities every other week. It kinda sucked pretty hard for normies. Eventually, a super epic hero emerged and challenged the gods themselves. Exactly what happened is pretty unclear, but ever since then the gods stopped directly intervening in the world and things have calmed down a LOT since then. That was about 2000 years ago.

There's still religion and people worship gods and get divine magic and whatnot, but according to mainstream religion the gods can't/won't directly intervene in world affairs.


Other Random Stuff

Racial longevity is heavily toned down. Humans tend to live into their 70s, dwarfs into their 120s, and elves into their 150s. Elves of the imperial aristocracy are known to live for centuries, but they're the only ones commonly known to live that long.

Because elves are so strongly associated with the empire, there is a fair bit of prejudice toward elves.

Income inequality isn't 'fantasy extreme'. I think of a gold piece as being roughly equivalent to $50 and most people earn between a few silver pieces and a few gold pieces per day. You can't walk into a tavern and buy they place out with your starting cash.

Magic is dumb, concepts like 'good', 'bad', 'truth', and 'justice' don't have any metaphysical weight. If a spell or effect requires some kind of magical judgment to work, it either doesn't exist or uses some kind of workaround in this world.

Resurrection is super rare in the world. It's POSSIBLE your character might come back to life if they die, but do not count on it.



Possible Conspiracy Theories
	- The Imperial elves have infiltrated the Free States and are controlling things.
		○ Conversely, agents of the Free States have infiltrated the Imperial High Command
		○ There is an extensive elvish cult that secretly supports restoration of imperial rule
		○ They only pretended to lose the war so that the could trick the Free States citizens into believing they're independent
	- The Imperial family aren't just long-lived, they're immortals
		○ Their longevity is because of a dark pact with the gods, a demon lord, or some other being
	- The Imperials themselves are being controlled by another force such as
		○ Another race of dark elves underground
		○ A monstrous sea creature
		○ A parasitical fungus based hivemind
		○ The Lunarians
		○ Dragons, all the dragons
		○ Mind Flayers flaying everyone's minds
	- There are far more super-monsters out there than people believe, they’re just really good at hiding
		○ The people in power are actually helping to keep them hidden
	- Many high ranking officials of both the Free States and the Empire have been replaced by shapeshifters with their own agenda
		○ Anyone could be a shapeshifter/doppleganger
		○ There are certain tells (eye color, teeth shape, body hair, etc.) that can be used to detect dopplers
	- Intelligent mimics are everywhere and can be anything
	- The gods are secretly intervening in and guiding world affairs, despite supposedly being unable to
		○ Alternatively, the gods never existed at all, are actually demons, or are something else entirely
		○ The gods have their own super-gods
		○ The gods have left the planet and now reside on the moon
	- The major artifice companies are actually owned and operated by the same master
		○ Maybe the elves, maybe the Free States council, maybe another force
	- Mass produced magic items have a nefarious ulterior purpose
		○ They have a secret backdoor override allowing others to take control
		○ They emit an undetectable field that makes users susceptible to mind control
		○ They are highly addictive
		○ They're powered by some kind of malign force, such as a demon, or living souls
		○ Golems are actually trapped intelligent souls
	- There's a secret civilization on the moon, the Lunarians
		○ You can see them, but only under just the right conditions
		○ The 'Tunguska Blast'-type incidents that occasionally happen are the moon people testing a superweapon
		○ The imperials/wizards/gnomes have landed on the moon (maybe they can travel back and forth) but haven't told anyone. They have vessels capable of making the trip but keep them secret.
	- Half-orcs may appear civilized, but under certain circumstances they can be forced to revert to their bestial nature
	- Lizardfolk are actually humans in disguise
		○ Maybe they don't know they were once human because they were magically polymorphed
	- Dragons were actually descended from dragonborn, not the other way around
		○ Kobolds and dragonborn are actually the same species
	- Lots of the monsters are actually creations of mad wizards
		○ They're being unleashed on the world by nefarious forces trying to control the population
		○ They're being unleashed by adventuring companies who want to make money doing pest control
	- There's a special form of illusion magic out there that is undetectable by normal means
		○ Illusion magic causes impotency, which is the only way to detect users of this super-illusionry
		○ Illusions are EVERYWHERE
		○ Illusions are in the water