a guide by Melna Welar, the scribe of the Bureau of Planar Travels
Contents:
Introduction
Welcome, traveller of the Multiverse! I hope you have enjoyed your trip, as we are about to reach our destination — the distant world of Fyrwerre. In this guide I will try to tell you basics about this new land without delving too deep ( as I respect both yours and my own time).
As many fantasy worlds, Fyrwerre is similar to you homeland Earth during medieval times, and has the same climate and physical laws. For the simplicity of it, the setting also inherits earthly concepts of Years, Months, Weeks and Days.
It is a high fantasy, high magic setting. Magic imbue almost everything, and many weird things can happen. Spirits and elementals just wander the land like it’s their home. You grandfather can grant you his favorite Knife of Crab Cooking or Rod of Fish Charm, which is considered a great family treasure. You can make a fortune by giving Dresses of Gleaming for rent (please, don’t, the competition is insane!).
Basic Cosmology
I do not know much, myself, as I am not a scholar. I’ve heard that other world may have many, many planes, with demons and devils constantly being a threat; this is not an issue here. I’ve only heard about the mysterious Spirit world, where the dead go, and where you can travel yourself if you are not careful. And of course there is the Astral sea, the plane of planes, one connecting the worlds together. Through manipulating that, wizards can summon interesting beings, but they never stay here.
But do not think that this world is a safe walk in the park! Wild magic and spirits wander the land, like elementals and many aberrations are not enough. Though the Great Magic War happened a thousand years ago, it’s repercussions are still in effect, and many mages work day and night to keep anomalies in order.
People of the world
Humans
You are of course familiar with those. Cunning and ambitious, they call half of the world their home. Humans are prone to elemental magic more than anyone else, taking the first place among the Major nations in percentage of mages in population. Clerics, nature mages (you call them druids) and wizards are not a rare sight too.
But regardless of your chosen path, your «soul element» affects everything you do. What is your element? (you can choose manually, or roll 1d6) This element gives you a special ability, and damage you take from this element is lowered by your character level (can stack with resistances).
| Element | Damage Type | Ability |
| Air | Lightning, Thunder | Your walking speed and jumping distance are increased by 10ft. |
| Water | Acid, Cold | You can hold your breath twice as much when submerged in water. You don’t have speed penalty when swimming. |
| Earth | Bludgeoning | You know the mold Earth cantrip and can cast it at will. Spellcasting ability for this cantrip for you is Constitution. |
| Fire | Fire | All fire spells you cast including those from wands and scrolls deal 1 additional damage. You are adapted to hot climates. |
| Light | Radiant | You gain proficiency in Perfomance skill. In addition, once per day you can gain advantage on any Charisma check you make. |
| Shadow | Necrotic | You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by shadows, foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena |
Changelings
Influence of chaos in this world sometimes reaches even children in their mother’s womb. This is how shadow sorcerers, wild mages or changelings are born. And though this does not force the child to any particular path in life, such an ability influences you greatly — for good or for worse. In less educated settlements, changelings may experience harsh prejudice.
Changelings on Fyrwerre inherit the Shadow element ability from Humans. In addition, choose one first level spell which deals necrotic damage. You can cast this spell at will, with Charisma being your spellcasting ability. You can’t cast this spell again until you finish a long rest.
Genasi
Other people you may or may not be familiar with. In a world so strong with elemental magic the presence of element-touched people is inevitable. Genasi of Fyrwerre are born in several ways, usually through a romance with a genie, or presence of a strong magic source when a child is sired. Unlike suspicious or artistic changelings, genasi are welcomed in most places, especially in magic schools (either as a student, or a subject, or both). Usually elemental people keep as close as possible to their soul element. Air Genasi othen live high in the mountains, while Fire genasi literally build a city inside a volcano (it is called the Smoking city, come visit! You only need Byrana visa, two thousand gold and three months of your free time. You won’t regret!).
Spellcasting using the genasi’s element is much easier for them. If they do so, they get a +1 to their spell save DC, spell attack bonus and damage.
Alternatively, genasi who do not cast, can go defensive path, gaining resistance to damage type(s) associated with their element, turning it to immunity at level 10.
Aasimar
Lizardfolk
While not very technically or magically advanced, liardfolk are a power to reckon. Strong and numerous, adapted to harsh jungle of the Equator, they are present in most tropical regions of the world. Being practical to a fault, they often deny the gifts of civilisation, effectively being stuck in Bronze Age. They value tradition and old ways, preferring to first take everything from a familiar trope, and only then look for someting new. There is a good side to this trait: lizardfolk can invent the most obscure ways of using literally everything. There is a saying among other people: «There is nothing a lizard can’t do with a stick!»
Lizardfolk are afraid of magic and think that only gods and spirits must use it. Magic users traversing their lands may face a lot of dangers, as lizards blame them for all the chaos in the world and will try to fight them off. This is quite hipocrite of them, as themselves they use magic in form of druidcraft and divine blessings, and a tribe is led by an alliance of a chief and a shaman.
Despite clinging to old tropes and familiar ways, lizards are surprisingly adventurous. Young lizards leave their homeland to travel to a distant and dangerous place — for example, to this horrible magic obsessed Byrana. This is their rite of passage, marking one’s coming of age and becoming a warrior. Some of lizards become merchants or full-time adventurers, always pursuing the feeling of one’s own strength. Lizardfolk who are fascinated by magic, leave their homeland to study with humans.
Religion of lizards is absolute chaos of spiritualism, many divine cults, cargo cults and personality cults. They themselves often can’t tell what each god does. All they know is, gods and spirits are in every tree and stone, and you need to pay them respect. If you’d like to be incarnated as a lizard, go wild!
Abilities of Lizards are connected to their brutal environment. On top of ordinary racial traits, they get two more:
Healthy blood. Lizardfolk have advantage on saving throws against poison and disease. In addition, they have resistance to poison damage.
Magic Denial. Three times between long rests when being targeted by a spell, you may roll a d20+your wisdom modifier. If the result is 20 or more, the spell has no effect on you.
Besides these quite familiar guys, you can find: Aasimars, Rahtu, Nallini, Tortles, Minotaurs, Goliaths, and many minor, rare species. There are rumors about planar travellers from other worlds stuck here forether, but do not worry! Magical transportation means improved quite a lot since then!
Seing them, however, will require a special inquiry from a tourist.
Languages
It won’t be much of a surprise to see every antion speaking their own language or dialect. However thanks to the Age of Travels, some languages became more common. One do not have to learn ten of so dialects to travel in another country.
| Language | Script | Notes |
| Laverranian | Laverranian | International human (effectively Common). |
| Rahtuan | Laverranian | Is quite consistent between different continents. Script rahtu inherited from humans. |
| Potsun | Kaeshee-til | While Potsun is a variant of Rahtuan, it’s script is not familiar to any other rahtu, or most people, in fact. |
| Ralevet | Hieroglyph | This is not a single language but rather a group of languages spoken by lizardfolk of the Ralei Swamp. |
| Ultan | Ultan | Originally a language of turtle people of Mushteh, with time it conquered land and sea from Kuroni to thecontinent of Pash itself, being by square meters of land the second most spoken language after Laverranian. |
| Draconic | Draconic | While dragons are varied in appearance, culture and traditions, they speak arious dialects of the same language. If a dragon said they can’t understand another dragon, this usually means they are enemies. |
| Kaeshee-til | Kaeshee-til | This is a mysterious language I know almost nothing about. I wouldn’t put it in here, but a lot of ancient books are written in it, and archeologists find ruins covered in Kaeshee-til writings all the time. Some even learn to speak it, because speaking dead languages is fun. |
| Celestial | Celestial | It has been called Celestial by the previous travellers, and the name stuck. However this is less of a language and more of a spell though which the world is cast. Divine entities and most spirits talk in it, but for a mortal speaking it for too long may have consequences. |
| Primordial | Draconic | Elemental creatures speak their own language. It is akin to the so-called Celestial, and words spoken in it have some power in them, too. |
Geography
This is a big and heavily unexplored world. Explored parts include the ancient and civilized northern Laverran – the biggest continent in the world. Other parts of the civilized world are separated from it by the furious Grasping Ocean. To the South-East, these parts are the Triada Islands and Byrana, to the North-East – half-civilized Mushteh and Pash, with the latter being the most distant place humans ever travelled. Our guide I will start with a place of our landing.
Triada Islands
Triada Islands, those original name is lost to centuries, were the first overseas land humans of Laverran discovered during the Age of Travels. This is a big archipelago on the border between the three oceans (Cyan, Iceflow, Grasping). It’s southern parts have cold climate, while many rocks of Kuroni do not see snow in years. Western parts of the islands are mostly plains while Eastern turn into tall mountains and sharp rocks diving deep into the furious waters of the Siren’s Lure.
As the name suggests, for a very long time the islands were divided between three kingdoms, whose are currently in a state of a poorly-kept peace. The biggest one is the proud Anglaat, the richest is the warm Kuroni, who guards the flows to other lands, and the poorest is Hanelorn, heavily torn during the last war.
Anglaat is the most aggressive and brutal of the three kingdoms. It has a lot of conflicts between humans and rahtu, as both species mutually dislike each other. It is also rumored that Anglaans dream of overtaking the archipelago as they tried in the past at least twice. The last of these wars led to Hanelorn losing Northern Cadanar to them.
Anglaat is populated mostly by humans and rahtu, with very low percentage of other races. Most rahtu live in the moving cities of Golden Fields, but some have settled in the cities or even moved to other kingdoms.
They are trying to attract a lot of casters to settle in their cities. The second-big magic school on the islands is situated in it’s capital city of Julbaar.
The kingdom is ruled by the Keshther Dynasty, with king Almond being the current leader.
Kuroni is the sly weasel of the kingdoms. Having access to three of four biggest trading routes, they rarely engage in direct fighting, instead just blocking trade with a kingdom which annoys them. However their fleet is capable of destroying any attacker. People of Kuroni are stereotypically considered greedy opportunists who will sell their daughters if the price is high enough, with daughters encouraging the great deal. Whether this is true or not, Kuroni is the richiest of states and has the best technology, mages and ships on the islands. They are proud of their sorcery&wizardry school which can be found in the twin city of Lirom-Arvell.
Kuroni is also the most metropolitan of the kingdoms. It residents include people from all of the world, from humans and lizardfolk to nallini and sometimes even a twilight rahtu. Most of such residents are settled merchants and sailors, or their children. One of the first settlers in Kuroni (arguable can be called natives) are black-skinned people of Mushteh who abandoned their homeland in pursue of ambition and riches. Nowadays they are the majority of people in Kuroni, and every island and rock there is soaked in their bright and colorful culture.
While Kuroni is technically a kingdom, it is ruled by the Merchants alliance, with king being just one of the counselors.
Hanelorn once was the most influential state on the islands, and it’s capital – Ernoth – had it’s own Magic Spire, the only one on the archipelago. After the Great War, however, the country fell into disarray, with the destruction of the Spire being the pinnacle of it. Despite being rich with natural resources, Hanelorn still hasn’t recovered due to corrupt government and lack of access to major trading routes. Some say it only survived thanks to support from Cadanar, and now, when Cadanarians ceased any contact, it’s very existence is questionable. Hanelorn is poor and heavily centralized; capital cares about province marginally more than province cares about the capital, and local rulers have more power than the king, leading to high levels of crime and corruption. Mountains and forests of the country give birth to numerous tribes, bandit clans, malevolent cults and horrible beasts. There is a saying on the islands: “If you want to win at hide and seek, go to Hanelorn”.
While officially Hanelorn is human-only state, many other races call it home, with gnolls being, in fact, second in numbers. Besides gnolls, there are a lot of lesser nations and numerous species of dragons, all are invisible to the eyes of law.
Hanelorn’s ruler is king Brandon of the newly established Leewon dynasty.
Cadanar. While formally a part of Hanelorn, proud Cadanarians consider themselves free people. For many years Hanelorn respected their independence, and Cadanarians would trade with it exclusively, providing such rare goods as dragon teeth and scales, enchanted weapon and armor, and intricate Cadanarian crafts,. They were famous for their skill in warfare and magic, and their dragon riders would bring fear to all of the islands and even beyond.
However something happened during the war, and Cadanarians ceased all trade and retreated to their mountains, never to help Hanelorn again. Instead, they turned on their once friends, constantly pillaging foothills, threatening all trade and business in the region. Today, if you see a blue dragon in the skies, you hide as fast as you can.
The Magic Wars mostly left the islands intact, however echoes of this universal conflict reach even most secluded place. Mountains and forests here are full of weird creatures, and people in villages often worship many spirits wandering the land.
Byrana
Byrana is the eastern-most human country. Being separated from Triada by the deadly Siren’s Lure, it was discovered last of all lands inhabited by humans. Today it is a rich and strong country, attracting a lot of talented people from the rest of the world. They are a known counterpoise to Merinac, as though their Tower of Order may be smaller than Merinac’s Sun Spire, their magic school is better, and their “program of free education for talented youth” has no equivalents. Come visit!
Like Merinac and Kuroni, Byrana is a metropolitan state, and many species call it home. Byrana is ruled by the Order of the Magi, with the king being a mere symbol of old traditions. Byrana is a very aggressive state, eager to beat Merinac in influence and power. The state was responsible for starting the Great Magic War. Many still do not trust this small yet bold island country.
Laverran
Northern Laverran, known by humans as the first home, is the most explored continent in the world. It is a home to humans, rahtu and lizardfolk, and has so many states and kingdoms one can’t easily recall half of them. Most known worldwide are the dangerous Andal empire, magic-obsessed Merinac, and free-spirited Knodgi.
Andal Empire is the only truly mono-national state in the world, so closed to anyone who is not rahtu, that it gives birth to the most obscure rumors, like the emperor being a giant sapient frog, or local rahtu being born from eggs laid by a rainbow snake. All what people know for sure is if you are not rahtu you do not visit central Laverran. However, Andal is not completely isolated, and ships and merchants from it travel worldwide, so in big ports one can notice a golden-furred rahtu wearing fancy decorations.
Merinac is one of the oldest human states. At the moment, it is heavily metropolitan and is known to be the best to live in country, place of freedom, science and magic. Travellers who passed it, tell fascinating stories of it’s many wonders: creatures made of pure light navigating it’s roads; shadows playing poker with lizardfolk; skeletons juggling ads to attract visitors to a magic store; shops where you can buy bags holding your whole house inside with a 40% discount; roads stretching on the land and in the air; and of course many tales about the Sun Spire – the greatest magic tower in the world and the best place to study magic arts, no matter what your Byranians tell you.
Knodgi is less of a country and more of piece of untamed, wild land. It is all what is left from once rahtu dominated North. This land is covered with dense forests and tricky swamps, and travelling there without a guide is impossible. Rahtu live there in ways of there ancestors, and few cities serve as shelters for humans and other people travelling the land.
Mushteh
Mushteh is a set of islands in the Cyan Ocean stretched from Kuroni to the far continent of Pash. Only land surrounding the major trading routes ais explored and civilized, while everything else is a wild, untamed land. These islands sometimes described as a tropical snake: beautiful scales of a paradise being, horrible fangs of the hell within. Pirates, thugs, wild tribes of humans and non-humans, sea monsters and tropical storms are only a fracture of it’s dangers. Cyan ocean was the main battleground during the Great Magic War, when flow of magic in the world was irreversibly damaged. To this day terrible abominations and magic anomalies plunder land and sea alike, and many brave souls who diverged from the established routes were never seen again.
Pash
All I can tell you is that Nallini live in there. It takes months to travel there, all the way across the Cyan Ocean and to what I heard the catfolk does not welcome strangers. Other rumors tell about marble cities and ships faster than the wind, people moving castles with a single eye, and feral, horrible looks of barbarians looking for work on one of the brigs. I’ve met a Nallini once, and she did not speak Laverranian, so none of my many questions were answered.
Religions
Gods are alien and strage beings, whose very existence is questioned by many despite all the clerics and magic. Their manifestations are rare, and tales about them legendary and unreal. Some people say that gods are sleeping and see us in their dreams. Others — that gods are everywhere, watching for us to make a wrong step. Some people – especially various wizards – are atheistic, thinking that even if gods exist, they do not care about the people anyway. Others say that gods do not care because each time you do something they love, they gain power, regardless of whether you worship them or not. Which is true, I am not in a position to tell.
Pantheons are just as varied as the land itself, so here are few most common, which you will find on the archipelago. First, a brief summary of the Dragon gods. They all are worshipped here, however the most beloved ones are Piko, Oleron and Naredzet.
| God | Sacred Creature | About | Domains (from major to minor) |
| Daybringer | White Birddragon | Ostrell is a goddes of hope and light, who carries the sun on her fragile wings to banish darkness and taint. | Light, Life |
| Nightbringer | Black Birddragon | Hamaeln, on the other side, brings this darkness back and gives people rest. Including eternal. | Death, Grave, Twilight |
| Firecaller | Red dragon, Black dragon | Thylandris is a goddess of war and competition. Each time you defeat your opponent, she is watching with her red eyes. | War, Trickery, Forge |
| Peacemaker | Snake Drake | Piko, who has the name as silly as his appearance, values harmony and cooperation. | Peace, Life, Trickery |
| Keeper | Green Dragon | Old and wise Oleron is a patron of every scholar and druid. When others rush, followers of Oleron observe and wait, taking action only when necessary. | Knowledge, Nature, Peace, Magic |
| Dancer | Silver Dragon | Irvellen is a patron of arts, including magic. When she dances in the air, her scales create patterns, tricking people. In some places it is believed that by dancing like that she painted the world. | Magic, Trickery, Life |
| Player | Fairy Dragon | The Player has no name, or he has many. This trickster dragon keeps people on their toes, always reminding how believable can be lies. Many illusionists worship this deity. | Trickery, Knowledge, Twilight |
| Stormbringer | Blue Dragon | Naredzet is a furious beast, who is delighted when change comes. Each revolution, each passion, each ambition pleases him. | Tempest, Nature, War |
| Unseen | Sea Serpent | Lurmell is the hidden beast, dwelling deep under the ocean, where light never shines. He is responsible for your nightmares and hidden fears, he is the danger unnoticed, the hunter waiting in shadows. | Tempest, Death, Trickery |
| Creator | Rock Dragon | Tukme is an old dragon who patiently reshapes the world, bringing slow changes and fixing what was made wrong. | Nature, Forge, Life |
| Watcher | Gold Dragon | Esteorkh, the one who guards the world, exposing crimes and punishing evil. He is widely worshipped by merchants, kings, guards and many people who abide law and understand responsibility. | Order, Knowledge, Magic |
If you go to the west, to the Golden fields, and comvince Rahtu to tell you about their culture, they will start with the world being born by the Great Mother, and her Pup messing with mortals every day, blaming on him everything from spoiled milk to autumn coming early. But do not ask them about the Beast at night, or you will be expelled for calling death upon the clan.
| God | Sacred Symbol | About | Domain |
| The Great Mother | Smiling cat face | The great mother birthed everything that exists. She is ready to care for your wounds and forgive your mistakes. | Everything good and protective |
| The Pup | Any representation of the wind | The Pup is a mischievous kid who can do both good and bad things depending on his mood. While he brings a lot of trouble, he is loved for his openness and sincerity. | This curious deity more or less controls every domain, with Trickery being in most favor |
| The Beast | Black tiger face with white eyes | The best if the hunger itself. It will stalk you in the darkness, waiting to kill and consume. It has no feelings and no heart, and only death brings it joy. | Death, War |
But no matter how prominent are these two religions, the most popular faith if Spiritualism. And I won’t dare to bring any order to this complete chaos of deities, half-deities, demi-deities and whatever-deitites, as I have life to live, and they are legion. I may mention only several originating from region of our destination. People who consider spirits their gods, usually carry an object from the spirit’s home. This object (which can be anything, even a stick) serves as a holy symbol.
| God | Sacred Creature | About | Domain |
| Virsh-Keallye | Gold Fox | This spirit has been worshipped here from the most ancient times. It is a keeper of the Beskal forest and villages situated within it. People listen to her every word and no hunter dares to enter the forest without her approval. | Nature, Life, Order, Twilight |
| Ynarlothei | Carp Fish | Ancient river of Ynar is believed to have it’s own guardian. Ynarlothei is quite aggressive and stubborn. He projects his will upon the land, and nothing can escape his wrath. People pray to him to keep him calm, and during the Harvest festival they throw food into the river to give the spirit a good afternoon nap. | Tempest, War, Death |
| Abriel | Three-tailed Fox | While most spirits have a domain to call their own, mischievous Abriel can’t stay in one place long. Adventure calls her all the time, with new things to learn, new pranks to play, new people to trick. I’ve seen people all around the world worshippingher, even though name may occasionally change. But as she loves trickery and play, she loves whose who is smart and cunning, and can see through lies. | Trickery, Knowledge, Arcana |
| Oovess | Giant bat | This spirit is no less mysterious as Abriel, but it is not a trickster. This spirit is believed to take people’s nightmares in, gaining a horrifying appearance, but a benevolent nature. At night, she would fly as a bat into people’s houses and sleep there, giving children and adults alike sweet, happy dreams. | Twilight, Peace. Life |