Riddle of Flame Campaign Setting

Note, as of March 16, large portions of this page, mainly near the top are outdated and some of that information has been updated into separate blog posts. An effort to organize and possibly redo the entire page shall be taken.
The Riddle of Flame

Big WIP, btw
A World Beset by the Machinations of Flame

The Riddle of Flame is an original setting that borrows from high fantasy settings in familiar and different ways. Some races and certain concepts come from other series but done in unique ways and often do not exactly resemble their original counterparts. It is set on the planet of Tys, a large planet with places still uncovered and wide and varied mixes of geography, culture, and society. The Riddle of Flame refers to the great turning point of the world but can refer to multiple things. One of the most prominent being when the golden dragon Uhlion stole the secrets of combustion, gunpowder, and industrialization from the god of the stars, Astres. How he did this is a mystery to all but his closest confidants, and the nature of that theft was labeled blasphemous in form by the major world religions. The world which until then had been an orthodox high fantasy setting was changed by not only the use of that knowledge but also his revolution which threatened the multiple aristocracies and other groups on the planet. Those old regimes would fall and in their place would come new ideologies, governments, and nations working from old and new concepts.

Big Concepts

New Technologies

Along with this research into new technologies would begin separated into the disciplines of mundane tech and magitek. Magitek often uses arcane sources or items and generally can be used to create very unique innovations that often have enhanced or wild effects based upon the materials used. Mundane tech uses standard science and experimentation and often is cheaper, more easily made, and more widespread than magitek but often trails magitek in innovations. Mundane tech often has to play catchup to magitek for 10-100 years and often mundane tech is done in imitation of magitek but using mundane means. This leads to such things as the photographic camera being invented twenty years after the first handheld magic glass image capture device was made. This separation in tech often means magitek is held by the powerful or those that can afford it or even make it away from the masses. The first magitek trains are invented in 107 PR (Post Revolution on the Uhlion calendar) and are used as escape vehicles or transport into exclusive areas by the elites that own them but the first steam engine trains for mass movement will not be around until 201 PR. Thus everything else follows.

However, there are also things that magitek can do that mundane tech can't do and there are times they must be used together. In 3 PR, with the release of the first skyship by Skalovia, that would create a slow revolutionizing change in travel with one of the most expensive items, the ship itself, as a mixture of mundane and magitek designs. The ship used helium gas in a large balloon to float along with rune placement that made the surrounding wood and metals lighter along with adding a gust creater that would be later replaced by a cheaper propeller. That sort of mixture of mundane and magitek is common in military structures. Many fort walls have some sort of counterspell rune fitted to them that weaken or dissipate destructive spells to remove the spellcaster as the dominant siege weapon on the field. The rule being magitek is more expensive, more innovative, and more powerful but mundane tech is cheaper, better mass-produced, and can copy the core effects of magitek well enough if possibly to a weaker degree.

The God Code

The greatest secret of the world is kept by the highest clerics of the various religions. Essentially, the Kinds were not made in the gods' image. The gods are made in the image of the sapient races. This is why multiple different aspects are formed of the different gods and why the orc led baronies of the Gamgrush archipelago worship the twin gods Dhaegoth and Vhaegoth as gods of stability, military organization, bravery, and order while their brothers and sisters that have devoted their lives to becoming raiders and pirates upon the seas between the continents of Ves and Xatlaxa see them as gods of conquest, murder, prosperity, and vengeance. They truthfully see the same beings but in different aspects formed by the beliefs and actions of their devotees. Were a Barony dweller to summon and see an ethereal servant of Dhaegoth and Vhaegoth they would find looking upon them a great steel colossus that encourages them to feats of bravery. However, were the Scourers of the wave to summon and see one, they would find a laughing vengeful gargantuan fiend that knew only murder and plunder. This is the same for all religions from the gods of spring to the animistic spirits of the hagswood witches. This has vexed sects of the same gods for millenia, and only their prelates know why, having seen the gods' true forms. Does that mean the gods are benevolent, indifferent, or malevolent? That is for their followers to decide through faith, action, and creed.

The Devil You Know

Gods change through the ages because of the changing beliefs of their followers. Devils don't. Devils are those that were once mortal that gathered so much power they created their own realms outside of time where they are immortal. This power was given to them either through belief by their followers, their own personal works, or possibly even as punishment by greater beings. Unlike the gods, devils don't change. Unlike mortals, devils can't influence gods directly, though. That's why they seek power through the use of mortals and their influence over the ethereal. Some mortals that know the truth of the gods, which is extremely well kept and could cause issues if known, find comfort in the devils. Others fall to them for more mundane lusts for power, ecstasy, wealth, and the like. The realm of the devils is known as the tithe realms after the toll their overlords require.

The devils are also the source of the Fallow. These are a Kind whose lineage is tinged with infernal heritage. However, outside of superficial elements and specific abilities that are charged by worship to their ancestor sire, these unfortunates are not their sire's puppets. The Fallow are named as such because their lines were once reaped and are allowed to grow unheeded.

Djiin

Djiin are related to devils but are not quite beings of pure sin or excess. Rather, they were born of similar ethereal material and power but their power comes from elements. Djiinari are similar to the Fallow in that their lineage has been tinged by Djiin involvement. However, while Fallow would welcome their descendants with dagger-filled smiles, Djiin are inhuman by nature and do not think of their descendants. However, Djiinari often have vestigial powers from their lineage.

The 1st Great Technological Leap

Uhlion's Great Blasphemy

Uhlion the Broken was a gold dragon born as a Scale Prince heir in Skalovia. He was mutilated, his wings were flayed, and he was almost murdered in his home by his father. He spent centuries wandering the earth. He wanted revenge against his father and the Scale Princes as a whole. He couldn't do it himself so he had to find a way to destroy them and the society that had spurned him so. Along the way, he met many friends, allies, and learned many things that culminated in his great discovery. Uhlion's five hundred years of work culminated in his greatest discovery in the year of -427 ON. In -311 ON, he made a deal with the god of death for an amulet that would keep him safe from divine retribution. Sothe would require something of him later and it is still not known what it was. The Sothe of his time was not the Sothe of centuries later so it was not certain if the deal even held. He then performed a great ritual in a far off land beyond the currently known map of the world. That is where he took from Astres the secret of combustion. This however, was not as clear cut as it seemed. In truth, the ideas of gunpowder and combustion had been brewing for millenia. Eventually, the time and conditions would be right and forms of those guns Uhlion used would have been made, but most likely less powerful without the combined information and designs of all those thinkers.

Uhlion essentially plagiarized those beliefs, thoughts, and theories out of Astres' god code. That is what caused the clerics to abandon him. The majority of them didn't know the true matter, but the highest prelate of Astres, the Inheritor of Flame, knew. He quickly spoke to the other prelates that would listen. If this could be done once, it could be done again. To Sothe, to Liestra, to even the Twins, and others. The fear they felt could have been out of the possible loss of power, or it could have been from not knowing the consequences of such actions.

The Retrograde Effect

Uhlion's Lack of Foresight

The information that Uhlion stole that he made materialize through the efforts of his scientists and researchers like Leonid Holowitz, Gagrin Yagresslov, Piotr Dansky, and the like dragged the world into a new century of advancement and tech. However, that dragging also left behind the smaller pieces needed to reach that tech. Uhion did steal a combination of knowledge from multiple thinkers and innovators. However, he essentially skipped many steps to get what he thought was important. As such, after a short boom of tech between -50 PR and 20 PR, research stagnated. Unless it was a relatively simple modification or in the work for a long time such as the rifling process for the Dansky musket or the aeroship which had been in work for decades to possible centuries, tech took much longer as the missing steps had to be found from the ground up. Magitek would often not need these missing steps but would still be too expensive and the components too rare to really bring the societies of the world forward. Hence why the steam locomotive train was not invented until around 147 PR although the Holowitz Track Carrier was made in 38 PR but only found in very limited quantities for the states and elites that could afford them. It was not until around 612 that an equilibrium had been reached and an explosion of tech would occur again.

A World Entering an Epoch of Flame

While the nations of the world are stronger states than they were before, there is still a need for adventurers in the world. Bandits, monsters, evil cults, buried evils, warlords, and other threats still exist and must be combatted. They just may find themselves brushing up against other forces in the world sanctioned by or directly controlled by the forces of wealth and/or power. Those same powerful and wealthy also often can find use for mercenarires that know the land.

Pick up your musket and sabre, then breech-loader and revolver, then bolt-action and submachine gun and journey to the wide world of adventure, horror, ideology, mystery, intrigue, revolutioon, war and more where the Riddle of Flame has been solved.

The World of Tys

World Population 1 Billion in -1 ON, 3 Billion in 286 PR, 8 Billion in 612 PR

World Size Area 23,342,596 Miles (37566266.817 Kilometers)

Moons 2 (Tol and Cyr)

Gravity 9.801 ms squared

Nations

Velas Kingdom of Cymrie (Eastern Velasian Elvish Nation), Merchant Republic of Gromdal (North Eastern Mountain Dwarf Nation) Principalities of Marikhoria (12 different nations), Constitutional Monarchy of Kesst (de facto Constitutional Republic), Liresku Holy Dominion, The Thralish Commonwealth, Skalovia (Scale Prince Despotic Cities ON 0-23,000 ON; Equitianist Republic of Uhlion starting on 0 PR, Wakunansi Union, Kingdom of Klastte (Klasttic Oblast 27 PR).

Xatlaxa Zeth Autonomous State Union, Republics, Monarchies, Federations, and City-States of the continent of Xatlaxa and more.

Grush Archipelago The Twelve Baronies, the Scourer Free State. Home of Urkai.

Aizarin or Firmament (Based on who you ask) The Xoth Republic, The Holy Firmament, the Zhuao Empire, the Wakamoto Shogunate, the Jaewo Kingdom, the Nakyo Union, the Temura Khanate, the Sholvalian Sultanate, and New Xheolia (founded by the Lache sea peoples). Home of the Arjit (Insect People).

Central East

Central

West

Peoples Notes

• Kinds of the World (Similar to groupings that other settings call races) Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Velasian Dragons, Zethite Dragons, Velasian Scaled Dragonkin (dragonborn and kobold), Zethite Furred Dragonkin (Dragonborn and Kobold, Urkain (orcs), Aaksi (turtlemen), Cuetzpali (lizardmen), Uglots (goblins), Celotl (cat people), Avians, Bovinians, Cervidians, Lupinians, Canidae, Caprinians, Velassian Undead, Xatlaxian undead, Arjit (Insect people), Corvidians, Wakunansi (gnolls), Fallow (devil-touched), Djiinari (djiin-touched), Elakansi (bat people)
• The Fallow These are peoples of all races with a fiendish touch of genetics that materialize in different ways. Often scattered about but can form groups or found in ghettoes either as a means of intentional isolation or just due to social pressures that have their residences cloister from others. They can draw upon the powers of their ancestry but only by giving into worshipping their sires whom can claim their souls and prevent their souls from being guided by Sothe after death. To this date, policies and emancipatory measures have been had in these states: The Shonan Dominion, the Thrake Confederacy, The Twelve Baronies, the Uhlion Republic, and the Wakunan Unity State.
• Djiinari People with a genealogy tracing back to the Djiins of the Jetta Old Empire that manifest powers based on specific inheritance. Travel in roaming tribes. To this date, policies and emancipatory measures have been had in these states: the Thrake Confederacy, the Uhlion Republic, and the Wakunan Unity State.

The Uhlionic Republic

More Info and Map here

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-uhlion-republic.html

An Equilibratist Republic born from an overturned oppressive regime of dragon-ruled city states. The first major player in the new epoch of Flame. 

Wakunan

Klastte

Klastte is a kingdom ruled by Marshall-King Juren Schalzich, a beloved philosopher king that has enacted multiple reforms including public schooling, military restructuring, welfare campaigns, trade expansion, and emancipation of certain groups banned by his predecessors such as the roaming genasi tribes. His grandfather started the process of moving the kingdom away from a feudal system to the absolutist kingdom they have today where the king and a bureaucracy of courtiers and administrators dictate and carry out governmental functions. Ever since the Scarlet Host’s genocidal crusade into Skalovia and the loss of massive numbers of knights, he has also reformed the military into a professional organization with career soldiers and a meritocracy-based system of ranks. Although most commissioned officers still are the Patrische class, wealthy military families that rose to prominence from gentry to institutionalized parts of his military machine. However, they lacked what gave the Skalovians such an edge in massed formations against their dragon prince and regent thrawl oppressors: gunpowder weaponry designs to match the cannons, piercers, dragonsbreath, and the simple Dansky .50 Musket. The gun that won the war. They have the guns and the workshops to make such weapons, having been early sponsors of the Skalovians and having stolen them from those workshops, but they were using older weaponry by the time Skalovia was getting back on its feet. Holowitz and Yaggreslov labs were and will be indispensable for keeping the Uhlionic Republic at parity and sometimes above their regional opponents and Klastte didn't have that sort of melding of mundane tech and magitek readily available. They won't have that combination until 5 PR when they suddenly receive the design of the weapons along with newly developed ones over the course of the decade leading up to to the Klasttic war. They built factories over the course of two decades and produced military equipment that could rival Skalovia's. Klastte remained a powerful due to its deep and resourceful veins in its mines and its steppe cities are in a prosperous era spurred on by King Schalzich, a self-proclaimed Philosopher King. He has overall control as an absolute ruler and the land is ruled by him and his court fetes, administrative units.

12:23 AM

]However, they lacked what gave the Skalovians such an edge in massed formations against their dragon prince and regent thrawl oppressors: gunpowder weaponry designs to match the cannons, piercers, dragonsbreath, and the simple Dansky .50 Musket. The gun that won the war. They won't have them, until 5 PR when they suddenly receive the design of the weapons. They built factories over the course of two decades and produced military equipment that could rival Skalovia's

Shonan Dominion

Marikhoria

The Kingdom of Thrale

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/thrale.html

The 12 Baronies of the Urkain Isles
https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-grushian-archipelago-of-urkain.html

Alaria

Kesst

Samdiria
Ketetia Sothe Prelatic
Cymrie
Syldania

Gromdal Merchant Republic

Talking about RoF as a Setting as its creator; AKA Loose thoughts and navel-gazing to actually format later into lore

• Overall Tys as a game world was similar to an orthodox high fantasy world in ages past. There are differences especially in terms of races, the way gods work, the way infernal creatures work, and how magic works. However, it has a similar history to settings like faerun or the inheritance series where great big epic events that have shaped the world occured and there are a myriad of lands, cultures, and kingdoms across its surface along with magic, monsters, and wonders. Although the places written later in this post seem to look like ethno-states it's more that the ones I describe tended to have majorities of a certain race due to historical, geographical, or societal reasons. The dragons of Skalovia are not the only dragons of the world. There are indeed wild dragons, kobolds, dragonborn, and the like in various smatterings across the continent of Velas. This is in contrast to them mainly being immigrants to the continents of Xatlaxa, Aizarin, Shonan, and the like that have their own suite of domestic kins (the term for different sapient species groupings that works a little better as a word than races, imo).
• Tys in influence has features that somewhat resemble the history of Earth, with a few almost direct references such as Skalovia obviously being based on the aesthetic and portions of the Soviet Union along with having pseudo-slavic names.
• Familiar to a setting like DnD but Not DnD While it has inspirations from DnD, and indeed was going to be a homebrew setting for it before GURPS was chosen, there are key differences. The realms of deities and infernals are outside of space and time but the equivalent of fae is not. Magic doesn't come from an outside realm but rather an overlapping force over the world similar to the Immaterium from Warhammer 40k but in a much less corrupting or malevolent way. This force is formed in similar ways to the methods that the divine was formed by belief. However, magic takes the form of an unfocused primordial tap that is present and can be let loose on the world. Items in the world can tap into it including naturally forming or modified crystals, runes, and the like. Those beings born outside of the 'mundane', and the mundane in this case includes dragonkin and sapient insect beings, were formed by shifting forces materializing into creatures. These shapes became faeries, djiin, wisps, and the like. It is not known how these came to be but perhaps like how the world and the universe were formed these beings were made a spontaneous spark of energy rather than being molded like clay by a greater being.
• The Afterlife in this world does exist, but the concept shifts. No one owns the souls of the dead except for those devils whose followers sold their souls to. The god of death, not the dead, is a guiding force that can help travelers along their way and prevent resentful ghosts and the like but does not sort the dead into their specific places of afterlife. The deities formed into existence can provide structured afterlives and once again the types of places they design are based on what their followers believe. Sothe, the aforementioned god of death, helps everyone essentially so worship is more based on receiving its favor to help the loved ones of devout followers to cross over without trouble. Speaking of gods, the world has multiple ones but in different time periods the different cultures vary on whether the emphasis is on the collective group or to one god while giving respect to others. Also, later in the history there are religions that unite all the gods into a monotheistic singular being, or in more of a Hindu-like idea of the various gods forming into one. Because of the way the divine is influenced, this may form a new god out of the many or possibly only a new shared aspect of the gods combining them together. The works of the gods are empirically seen by people. Indeed, they can even be materialized in the form of the ancient Greek idea of daemons (and not quite the Warhammer idea of it although they can resemble those whether based on god or devil). Daemons in this case just being a catch-all term for servants of a god. Probably would be named 'angyls' or some other type of word to sound less nefarious. They could also serve as avatars of those gods. Sainthood and saints exist. Those seemingly blessed or more in-tune with the gods than possibly even prelates of the various religions of the world who claim (and could be true or not) that they speak with their patrons.

3:36 PM

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