World Overview
Once a single continent bound by magical ley-lines, Velrathis fractured after the Sundering War, leaving a land full of old scars, half-buried ruins, and forgotten powers waiting to be unearthed.
Geography & Nations
The Aurelian Dominion – Imperial Monarchy
Capital: Aurensgate
A sprawling empire ruled by Emperor Casiros IV, known for expansionist ambitions and golden-armored legions. Strict class hierarchy; nobles live in luxury while peasants toil.
Government: Hereditary monarchy with puppet senate.
Religion: Devout worship of the Radiant Throne, a sun god.
Key Conflict: Border wars with the Stormrealm Tribes.
The Stormrealm Tribes – Clan Confederacy
Capital: None, but the largest gathering site is Stormwatch Plateau.
Fierce, semi-nomadic clans in the north, united under High Chieftain Brynja Wolfsblood.
Government: Council of clan chieftains.
Culture: Value strength, raids, honor duels, and the spirits of thunder and beasts.
Religion: Animistic worship of storm spirits, particularly Veyla, the Thunder Huntress.
The Shattered Crown (Free Cities of Kvarn) – Oligarchic Merchant League
Capital: Kvarnspire
A coastal cluster of free cities run by wealthy merchant princes. Mercenaries and pirate lords thrive here.
Government: Merchant councils; most power lies with guilds and trade houses.
Known For: Cutthroat politics, assassins-for-hire, and the continent’s largest black market.
Elandor, the Verdant Realm – Elven Magocracy
Capital: Silverleaf
Ancient forests ruled by archmages and druidic councils. Mortals view them as aloof guardians, but whispers suggest their highborn secretly toy with dangerous magic.
Religion: Veneration of the Everdream, a living world-spirit.
Landmark: The Crystal Spire, an ancient leyline nexus guarded by the Magisters’ Circle.
Droskaar Dominion – Theocratic Dictatorship
Capital: Blackspire Hold
Once dwarves, now a grim empire of war-priests and warlocks devoted to Droskaar the Forger of Chains, a dark god of greed and domination.
Government: The High Theocrat and his clergy enforce brutal law.
Known For: Slave mines, infernal war engines, and pact-forged warriors.
🏙️ Major Settlements
Aurensgate (Imperial Capital): A golden-walled city with marble palaces, decadent markets, and an undercity of thieves.
Stormwatch Plateau: A windswept council ground where tribes meet beneath storm-wrought stone circles.
Kvarnspire (Free City): A bustling port with canals, gladiatorial pits, and shadowy guild houses.
Silverleaf: A luminous, living city grown from enchanted trees and crystal.
Blackspire Hold: A fortress carved into a mountain of obsidian, glowing with forge-fire.
🏞️ Landmarks & Adventure Sites
The Ruins of Valrith Keep: A fallen fortress haunted by restless spirits of a lost king.
The Howling Caves: Caverns where the wind itself screams, home to harpies and lurking horrors.
Ashen Hollow: A cursed battlefield where undead eternally clash at nightfall.
The Serpent’s Maw: A dragon lair hidden in a collapsed canyon, filled with molten rivers.
The Silent Monastery: Abandoned temple where monks vanished overnight—rumors say they ascended… or were devoured.
Ironfang Bandit Camp: Infamous raiders led by Captain Drosk One-Eye, who secretly trades with Free City nobles.
Mt. Veragris: An active volcano with semi-common small eruptions resulting in streams of lava rolling down, and rare large eruptions that leave the sky clouded with ash for several days or weeks
Races & Cultures
Standard D&D races and cultures and they behave the same
Current Conflicts
The Stormrealm Tribes are attempting to take over more land, causing tension between the neighboring powers. Droskaar Dominion, known for extremely torturous conditions, continue to be on bad terms with the more good-hearted nations. Mt. Veragris recently had a very large eruption and now most of the sky above the land is clouded with deep ash.
Magic & Religion
Magic works the same as D&D.
⛪ Religions & Cults
Public & Respected Faiths:
The Radiant Throne: A lawful sun deity, patron of emperors and paladins.
Everdream: The spirit of the world, worshiped by druids and elves.
Veyla, the Thunder Huntress: A storm goddess revered by tribes.
Stonefather: Ancient dwarven deity of craft, hearth, and earth (diminished in the south).
Secretive, Sinister, and Twisted Faiths:
Cult of the Shattered Veil: Believes the Sundering wasn’t an accident but an act of liberation. They seek to tear reality’s veil further, unleashing outsiders.
The Ashbound: Necromancers who worship undeath as the “true cycle.” They operate in ruins and graveyards, infiltrating city morgues.
Order of the Crimson Chalice: A blood cult promising eternal youth and power through sacrifice, masquerading as a noble society in Kvarnspire.
Whispers of Droskaar: The state cult in the Droskaar Dominion. They spread corruption beyond their borders through secret priests and infernal bargains.
Planar Influences
🌌 The Planes Beyond Velrathis
The cosmology of Velrathis follows the idea of the Shattered Veil: the planes are close, unstable, and sometimes overlap with the material world.
The Prime Material: Velrathis
The central plane, a land fractured by the Sundering. All mortals call this home.
Thin spots in the veil make travel to other planes easier — but often dangerous.
The Planes of Light & Order
The Radiant Expanse (Celestial Plane):
Endless golden fields and shining citadels. Seat of the Radiant Throne and angelic legions.
Mortals see it as “heaven,” but it is rigid, unyielding, and often seeks to impose order without compassion.
Adventuring Threat: Fanatical angels, golden prisons, paladins who will not accept “gray morality.”
The Verdant Dream (Plane of Life & Nature):
The home of the Everdream, a dreamscape of infinite forests, rivers, and beasts of myth.
Druids and elves enter it in trances, but lingering too long erodes mortal memory and identity.
Adventuring Threat: Sentient forests, dream predators, and spirits who resent mortals draining their magic.
The Shadowed & Sinister Planes
The Ashen Depths (Plane of Undeath):
A gray wasteland lit by pale moons. Undead wander endlessly, and necromancers draw their power here.
The Ashbound cult seeks to merge Velrathis with this realm.
Adventuring Threat: Endless undead armies, lich-kings ruling pale fortresses, necrotic storms.
The Forge of Chains (Infernal Plane):
The realm of Droskaar, an endless industrial wasteland of furnaces, chains, and black forges.
Devils here enslave both mortal souls and lesser demons.
Adventuring Threat: Bargain-hungry devils, war machines, corrupted dwarves.
The Shattered Veil (Abyssal Chaos):
A broken dimension where fragments of other planes collide. Impossible landscapes shift constantly.
Birthplace of eldritch horrors, gibbering outsiders, and the Cult of the Shattered Veil’s gods.
Adventuring Threat: Madness, reality warping, and abominations that defy description.
The Planes of Dream & Mystery
The Midnight Sea (Astral Plane):
A silver ocean where islands drift on the tides of thought. Dead gods’ corpses float here, their remains coveted by warlocks.
Used by ancient archmages for astral travel, but mortals risk being unmoored forever.
The Loom of Fate (Temporal Plane):
A forbidden realm glimpsed only by oracles. A woven tapestry of time where strands of destiny can be cut or knotted.
Rumors say the Sundering ripped a hole here, explaining Velrathis’s unstable future.
Adventuring Threat: Time echoes, paradoxes, guardians who erase intruders.
🌌 How Mortals View the Planes
Common folk: See them as “heaven” or “hell” depending on faith.
Scholars: Call them echoes of Velrathis, born when the veil tore.
Cults: Seek to bring their chosen plane closer—whether that means eternal sunlight, eternal undeath, or total chaos.
Historical Ages
📜 The History of Velrathis
The Dawn Age (The Age of Flame & Stone)
In the beginning, the world was forged in flame by the Primordial Titans, vast beings of fire and stone. They shaped mountains, seas, and skies.
The Everdream, the world-spirit, awakened from the first forests and rivers, weaving life into the titans’ raw creation.
The gods arrived later, born from mortal prayers and collective fears, taking dominion from the titans. The Primordials were chained or cast into outer planes, leaving traces in volcanoes, earthquakes, and storms.
The Age of Crowns (The First Empires)
Mortal civilizations rose: elves built the crystalline Elandor Spire-Cities, dwarves forged the First Halls, and humans founded the High Kingdom of Aurens.
Magic was raw and dangerous, but ley-lines connected the land, allowing mighty archmages to bend reality.
This era ended in The Sundering War, when mortals waged war over control of the leyline nexus beneath The Crystal Spire. Their conflict shattered the land, breaking ley-lines, raising wastelands, and tearing rifts into the planes.
The Veil-Shattered Age (The Current Age)
The world is fractured, both politically and magically. Ley-lines are unstable; planar rifts appear in ruins and wilderness.
Nations rise and fall quickly; power belongs as much to cults, guilds, and mercenary companies as to monarchs.
Common folk whisper that the veil between worlds grows thin, and the Sundering’s scars still bleed chaos into Velrathis.
Economy & Trade
All nations accept gold coins as a common currency; however, some countries prefer another unique to them:
The Shattered Crown uses a paper currency, unique to the nation. The "Crown" as the currency is called, showcases a view of the capital city, Kvarnspire on one side, and the country's famous dock, Kvarn Harbor, located in Kvarnspire on the other side. Different colors denote larger valued bills.
Droskaar Dominion creates and uses a polished silver token with obsidian inlays as it's unique currency. Gold is frowned upon and lets everyone know one is an outsider. One the "head' of the token, showcases a silver bust of Droskaar, atop an obsidian base. On the other side shows a rune of an ancient dwarven language. Different runes denote larger values.
Monsters & Villains
D&D villians, gods, betrayer gods, and monsters.