Vaelorys

Themes and Concepts

political subterfuge
connected criminal organisations
magical relics and discoveries
a world in need of heroes

A second chance/redemption

The party would start their adventure as level 20 “ideal” versions of themselves and be challenging a powerful Warlock/Sorcerer at a nondescript location as one by one members of the party would fall to ironic or tormenting deaths before the last party member would find some artefact/device that when activated sends them all back in time to have a second chance at saving the world.

They’d have choices along their new journey that would mirror their a choice in the original timeline and they would have to think whether or not it impacts their end goal positively, negatively, or not at all.

Glyphchalk

A mysterious substance with magical properties that is produced by a secret process in one city. It is a controlled substance and is only used by the most powerful mages and criminal organizations.

The Busy Knights

A recurring set of children’s stories about a set of misfit heroes who once saved their world from terrible criminals, dangerous creatures, and evil overlords.

They’re called The Busy Knights because they’re very busy saving the world always.

The Tooth Taker

A demonic entity plaguing the children of some towns. It takes their teeth under the guise of “The Tooth Fairy” and uses them to add to its own mouth. It plans to eat the children whose teeth it takes.

Royal Succession

The main kingdom is suffering from the loss of its heir and the King has become a recluse. At some stage in the campaign - he dies without warning and his Brother succeeds the throne.

The King’s Advisor is also replaced the head of the Mages’ Guild.

Magical Machinations

The new King’s advisor seems to plot behind the scenes.

The party might run into Layton Riddle or Herschel Cryptward.

Potential Names

Vaelorys
Vaelisor
Aelond
Vaena

Places of Interest

Terick
- A large country in the central areas of the continent
- An elder king rules over the land and despite a successful rule - his heirs have all died leaving the succession in peril.
Stahn
- A country to the Northern peaks that was originally formed by a group of resistance fighters from Terick. They are a hardy people.
- Their government is organised by combat.
Orsana
- A desert region separating the western and eastern halves of the continent. Known for artisan traders and skilled mercenaries. Governed by three large cities and their constituents.
Coastalye Scimitar
- A curved coastal region know for its seafarers, pirates, and shipping exploits.
- The local government is directly funded by the wealthy and therefore corruption is pretty apparent.
Roan
Listol

History

Foundations

In the earliest imaginable point of History - a family of Divine Beings arrived at an uninhabited world teeming with raw natural energies and settled to call it home. The eldest of those beings protected their brethren whilst they explored their new home and came into their own as individuals.

The Elder One taught them the concepts of life and death and claimed the latter concept as their own whilst dividing the former amongst the rest of them. He watched them create Mortal life in their own images; comforting and guiding them when things didn’t go as their brethren had intended. Whymselon was the first to grant their creations motes of power to protect themselves in moments of peril. The other Gods took to following suit and Mortal life began to take hold with Divine Magic at their side and the roots of civilization began to sprout.

The Scaled Saviour created the Dragons in his and his sister’s Avaracia image to protect a large collection of defenceless Mortals and the world knew an extended period of piece for the first time. The origins of Vaelorys’s name come from the original creations - Vaelya and Za’Korys. The Elder One; now comfortably considered the “God Of Death”, could see their work nearing completion.

The Fracture

As this peacetime reached it’s peak, the Original God Of Death vanished without warning, sowing the seeds of grief and hatred amongst their brethren. Before the Gods could come to terms with their new reality; the primordial forces of the planet began to rebel against their creations - waging an all out assault on the largest concentrations of civilization.

In this moment of grief, confusion, and concern; the Gods began to fracture without the guidance of their elder to temper them. Left to their own devices; some of the Gods wished to directly aid their children and physically defend the realm. A different faction of Gods led by Sinderys; of those who were drastically grieving and who had struggled to create Mortals as well accepted as that of their brethren’s, decided to let it all fall apart and start from a clean slate.

The bickering and disagreement amongst the Gods almost spelled the end for civilization before Whymselon suggested they teach their creations how to fend for themselves and to control their own fate. Sinderys and his faction ignored their brethren and attempted to accelerate the assault; joining forces with the Primordial Titans. The last bastion of civilization prepared to resist the full force of the Titans, The Forsaker Gods, and their armies - including Dragons twisted and corrupted by the elements. Whymselon took it upon themself to teach Mortals how to channel Magic without a Divine blessing - leading the discovery of Arcane Magic.

By some miracle of their own might; Mortal life withstood and repelled the assault and quelled the Titan’s wrath, allowing The Blessed Deities to seal their Forsaker Brethren and their creations in separated Planes of reality to keep Vaelorys safe.

Progress and Population

A new age relative peacetime as Mortals used Arcane Magic to reach greater and greater heights. Expanding outwards, they explored many untamed landmasses - developing Social systems based on Divine Guidance and their own ingenuity. The Divine Beings physically lived amongst their creations for a time before some Mortals began to revere Gods or Idols of their own creation. Feeling their children beginning to outgrow their direct influence; they focused their attention on more trivial matters like which had the most numerous or devout of followers.

Arcane Magic began to progress beyond even the expectations of the Divine Beings, as warfare amongst Mortals caused increasingly devastating damage to the planet now formally called Vaelorys. Human ambition and ingenuity drove them to become the predominant species on the planet; closely followed by Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes.

A mortal mage of astounding beauty was born and raised to great heights because of her magical prowess. Her name has been lost to time - being known only as The Radiant Raven. After the loss of her lover to a disease that the Divine nor the Arcane could cure, she began to see them in her dreams giving her instructions on how to achieve control over Death itself.

Deception and Destruction

Ascension of The Ravishing Raven to become The Fate-Cloaked Maiden unknowingly breaks the seals on The Forsaker Gods, as she was deceived by Sinderys.
She is overwhelmed by the sudden call of her domain and the influx of Mortal death that she becomes paralyzed and unable to help her new brethren from the assault on Mortal civilization.
War ensues being The Forsaker Gods and The Blessed Deities as Mortal civilization is forever altered across the face of Vaelorys

Descent

A period of Divine Warfare that lasted 80 - 120 years by some accounts. It is a historical dark age as most events are only know about through folklore, mythology, and divination.

The Ascendant Raven

An indefinite time passes before The Fate-Cloaked Maiden is able to fully control her domain. She enters the fray for the first time and shifts a critical battle in the favour of the The Blessed Deities.
The Blessed Deities fall into a trap set by The Forsaker Gods and are only able to watch as a weapon to slaughter “unworthy” Mortal life is activated. The Fate-Cloaked Maiden appears at the 11th hour and fends up 3 of The Forsaker Gods whilst freeing her new brethren. Her attempt to deactivate the weapon seem to fail at this time.
The weapon is activated before any of The Blessed Deities can get close to it. Sinderys is the first to realise that its not functioning as expected before The Forsaker Gods feel a pull they cannot resist as they are forced beyond the Mortal realm and back to their individual Planes.
After sealing The Forsaker Gods away again; The Fate-Cloaked Maiden proposes to her new brethren that Mortals would benefit from limited Divine influences and begins to weave an incantation that prevents divine beings from every physically entering into the Material Plane again. This would come to be known as The Raven Ward, as each of The Blessed Deities relented after seeing the destruction caused by their dispute.

Transference

Mortals are granted complete physical autonomy over the world of Vaelorys as both The Forsaker Gods and The Blessed Deities no longer have physical control over the events or issues on the planet, instead choosing to subtly influence their individual causes through their followers instead.

Divinity

Translate the Dawn War Pantheon

Vaelorian Pantheon

Deity	Epithet/Title(s)	Symbol	Alignment	Suggested Domains
Sinderys, god of tyranny	The Hell-Spawn King, The Devilish Deceiver	An infernal crown worn by a horned being a happy half and angry half to their face.	LE	Trickery
Fortunys, goddess of change and luck	The Gamble of Change	Two 6-sided dice in motion	CG	Trickery
Lascyan, god of justice and nobility	The Scaled Saviour, The Righteous Reflection	A platinum Shield textured with Dragon Scales, A large sword that ends in the shape of a Dragon tail.	LG	Life, War
Krahg, god of war and conquest	The Crowned Conquerer	A Spiked Crown hanging from chains.	LE	War
Whymselon, god of magic and the arts	The Spark of Inspiration	A squarish lantern containing a bright light leaking out from all sides.	CG	Light
Ordessa, goddess of civilization and invention	The Weight of Law	A bronze scale balancing the weight of a gear and a humanoid figure.	LN	Knowledge
Brahk, god of destruction	The Urge of Destruction	The tip of a glaive with a clearly broken handle.	CE	Tempest, War
Lybre, goddess of knowledge	The Bearer Of Knowledge	A quill with visible ink on the end, An open book with a face overlayed across the pages.	N	Knowledge
Wroth, god of strength and storms	The Eye of The Storm	An eye surrounded by swirling lines where the Iris is replaced with a lighting bolt.	CN	Tempest
, goddess of spiders and lies	The Silk-Spinning Queen, The Silken Tongue	A tiara with thin spiderweb like adornments, A long, pointy tongue with a spider imprinted on it.	CE	Trickery
Seedara, goddess of wilderness and the sea	The Bloom of Life	A budding seedling swaying in the wind, three wavy lines designed to look like the sea.	N	Nature, Tempest
Mahl, god of creation	The Forge Of Creation	A lit forge with powerful heat exuding from the central vent.	LG	Knowledge, War
Icaron, god of the sun and agriculture	The Break Of Dawn, The Guiding Light.	5 starts in a pentagonal arrangement with streams of light trailing away from them.	NG	Life, Light
The Fate-Cloaked Maiden, goddess of death	The Ascendant Raven.	A vaguely humanoid figure being enveloped by a raven, depicted to be rising from the ground.	LN	Life, Death
Selenephoe, goddess of the moon	The Night’s Opal, The Mirror Lady	A opalescent crescent moon forming the arc of a bow, a mirror-finish tiara with crescent moon geometry around it.	CG	Trickery
??, god of madness	The Spur of Chaos	??	CE	Trickery
Avaracia, goddess of wealth, greed, and vengeance	The Winged Emperor	A flaming shield adorned with Dragon Wings, A bracer fist decorated to look like Dragon Claws.	LE	Trickery, War
Verrmyx, god of the Underdark	The Eternal Torturer, The Dragging Death	A mangle of humanoid arms ripping the flesh from each other, A wounded humanoid hand pulling the leg of another creature behind it.	NE	Death
Vecna, god of evil secrets	The Withered Whisperer	An upside down humanoid skull with green essence drifting from the mouth.	NE	Death, Knowledge
Koil, god of darkness and poison	The Spiteful Serpent	A poisoned whip coiled up to look like a snake.	CE	Trickery, Death

Exandrian Interpretations

Prime Deities

Avandra, the Changebringer Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon Corellon, the Arch Heart Erathis, the Lawbearer Ioun, the Knowing Mentor Kord, the Stormlord Melora, the Wildmother Moradin, the Allhammer Pelor, the Dawnfather The Raven Queen, Matron of Death Sarenrae/Raei, the Everlight Sehanine, the Moonweaver

Betrayer Gods

Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells Bane, the Strife Emperor Gruumsh, the Ruiner Lolth, the Spider Queen Tharizdun, the Chained Oblivion Tiamat, the Scaled Tyrant Torog, the Crawling King Vecna, the Whispered One Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent

Dawn War Deities

Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
Asmodeus, god of tyranny	LE	Trickery	Three triangles in tight formation
Avandra, goddess of change and luck	CG	Trickery	Three stacked wavy lines
Bahamut, god of justice and nobility	LG	Life, War	Dragon’s head, in profile, facing left
Bane, god of war and conquest	LE	War	Claw with three talons pointing down
Corellon, god of magic and the arts	CG	Light	Eight-pointed star
Erathis, goddess of civilization and invention	LN	Knowledge	Upper half of a clockwork gear
Gruumsh, god of destruction	CE	Tempest, War	Triangular eye with bony protrusions
Ioun, goddess of knowledge	N	Knowledge	Crook shaped like a stylized eye
Kord, god of strength and storms	CN	Tempest	Sword with a lightning bolt cross guard
Lolth, goddess of spiders and lies	CE	Trickery	Eight-pointed star with a web motif
Melora, goddess of wilderness and the sea	N	Nature, Tempest	Wavelike swirl
Moradin, god of creation	LG	Knowledge, War	Flaming anvil
Pelor, god of the sun and agriculture	NG	Life, Light	Circle with six outwardly radiating points
Raven Queen, goddess of death	LN	Life, Death	Raven’s head, in profile, facing left
Sehanine, goddess of the moon	CG	Trickery	Crescent moon
Tharizdun, god of madness	CE	Trickery	Jagged counter-clockwise spiral
Tiamat, goddess of wealth, greed, and vengeance	LE	Trickery, War	Five-pointed star with curved points
Torog, god of the Underdark	NE	Death	T attached to a circular shackle
Vecna, god of evil secrets	NE	Death, Knowledge	Partially shattered one-eyed skull
Zehir, god of darkness and poison	CE	Trickery, Death	Snake in the shape of a dagger