Dungeons and Dragons:Shadow World

The World of Slaheyron

The world of Slaheyron is dominated by a vast ocean dotted with small continents and islands. While some are of little consequence, isolated and ruled by untamed nature, others host sprawling civilizations. Humans, elves, halflings, tieflings, and orcs populate the world of Slaheyron.

Great Maw Island

Great Maw Island is a central island surrounded by the Forlorn Sea. It's location has made it a hub of trade and commerce, as well as a magnet for more sedious elements.

The Free City of Haven

Though its official title belies the heirarchal structure of the city's inhabitants, Haven has remained a city free of foreign influence over its one thousand years of existence. Haven is the dominant power on Great Maw, and is ruled by the Lords of Nine, named for the nine districts of the city they rule.

The Baronies

Haven is surrounded by semi-sovereign baronies that serve to support the city through farm and trade. Some are independent from the Lords of Nine while others are direct vassals of the city.

Grayfort Hold, Ravenhold, Grimhold, Forlorn Hold, and Misthold surround and support Haven.

Free City of Haven

Situated along the Razorback River Delta and the Forlorn Sea, Haven was once a prosperous city of trade boasting a population of 70k, the city has declined significantly since the sun died, dwindling to a population of 20k. The city is divided into nine wards, each ruled over by a lord.

The Kingdom of Pax

Pax is an elven kingdom located in the south-west region of Great Maw Island. Settled by elven refugees centuries ago, Pax has stood as a counter to Haven on Great Maw, warring and fueding with the city-state. Unlike Haven, Pax is largely rural, with the Alas Tower and the surrounding town being the ruling seat of the King of Pax.

The Underkingdom of Razor

As old as the City of Haven itself, Razor was settled by Dwarven miners who built a prosperous kingdom from the riches beneath the mountains. Benefiting from trade with Haven, the two states formed a steady alliance, with dwarven builders venturing to Haven to aid in building the city's sprawling fortifications, and even settling and forming the Dwarven Ward of the city.

Over the decades. as xenophobia prevailed in Haven, the friendship between the states grew cold and the alliance dissolved. Though on more or less friendly terms, the states are now mere trading partners.

Kainon's Retreat

A small outpost on the Shattered Coast of Great Maw Island that shelters Tiefling refugees fleeing the war that engulfs their home, Amnon. The war between the Tiefling Kings and the Khagon Empire has turned against the Tieflings, and many have come to Great Maw in desperations, establishing a colony free from the grip of the Khagoni.

The Great Maw Wilds

The Wilds of Great Maw were, at one time, a place of great beauty, where hunters fetched game, hiders walked the rolling hills and endless streams, and predator and prey lived their lives in balance. Sadly, the Age of Darkness has turned the wilds into a much different place.

Danger lurks in the looming shadows of the Wilds, and the oppressive darkness weighs heavily on those brave enough to traverse its expanse. Many tell of brave adventurers getting lost in the darkness, only to return days, weeks, or years, and often changed, from stoic to mad.

Predators and monsters stalk the wildland, and few game and nourishing flora can be found anymore. Haven, the baronies and the kingdoms of Great Maw do maintain a road netword connecting the settlements of the island, though staying to the roads is by no means a guarantee of safety.

Such is the way of the world.

Gods and Lore

In the beginning there was elemental chaos; a great sea of air, water, earth, and fire, ever churning and changing. The Gods Issaries, Ishtar, Morodin, and Pelor brought order to the chaos, carving up and forming the elemental planes, and using them to create and power the material world.

Establishing their divine kingdoms in the Astral Sea, the Gods smiled down on their creation, for it was beautiful. It would come to be known as the Great Wheel.

The Divine Pantheon

The Greater and Lesser Deities

Issaries The Goddess of air, music, and elves. Ruler of the Elemental Plane of Air.

Larethian The Goddess of water, navigation, and humans. Ruler of the Elemental Plane of Water.

Morodin The God of earth, balance, and dwarves. Ruler of the Elemental Plane of Earth.

Pelor The God of Fire, change, and tieflings. Ruler of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Ethlonna The lesser Goddess of healing, nature, and beauty. Ruler of Feywild.

Nerull The lesser God of darkness, death, and disease. Ruler of Shadwfell.

The Great Wheel

According to holy scriptures, existance is divided into a series of planes, that when observed in their totality make up the Great Wheel. The elemental planes surround and power the material world, which in turn casts dual reflections known as the Feywild and Shadowfell.

The Material Plane

The material world, known as Slaheyron, is the plane in which mortals dwell. It is an algamation of order and chaos, numerous races and civilizations. The material world is powered by the elemental planes.

Feywild

A mirror of the material plane, Feywild is the domain of Ethlonna, the Goddess of nature, and said to be a place of remarkable beauty and potent magic.

Shadowfell

A parallel plane of the material, of necrotic energies and shadow magic. Bleak, desolate, and full of death. Ruled by the god of darkness, Nerull.

The Plane of Air

The heavenly realm of Issaries, Goddess of air. It is said that cities rest upon the clouds of endless sky where angels dwell, singing their divine songs. Air carries the seeds of life across the material world, and shaping the land.

The Plane of Water

An abyss of crushing depths, and pristine coral shallows, the Water Plane is the domain of Larethian and the merid peoples. Water nourishes the seeds of life in the material plane, and shape the world.

The Plane of Earth

A realm of magma rivers and oceans, jagged peaks, and hot geysers. Great riches in gems and ore is said to be found here, along with many dangers. Morodin rules this plane. Earth feeds the seed of life, and is the foundation of the material plane.

The Plane of Fire

A hellish realm of blazoned brass towers and lakes of fire. This is the domain of Pelor, the God of Fire. Fire provides warmth to the seed of life, and shapes the world and acts as the catalyst for civilizations.

The Divine Planes

Little is known of the Divine Planes beyond the elemental. According to ancient texts, the Gods built these realms as personal kingdoms and domains and are said to be imbued with great magical power. This power is often tapped into in ritualistic spell casting where a divine plane's rune is invoked to summon great power.

Ancient History

The histories of Slaheyron date back thousands of years. It was once a world of peace and serenity, where the Gods kept the elements and mortals in balance and harmony. However it would not last.

The Gods War

The first major conflict recorded in the histories of the world, and by all accounts the deadliest. The war began when an alliance of kingdoms demanded immortality and arcane power from the Gods. When their demand was met with silence, armies invaded the elemental planes, and the divine energies therein were stolen and used to empower mortal spell casters.

Fearing the invaders may break through to the Divine Planes, the Gods severed the connection between the Elemental Planes and the Material World. Without the elements powering the realm, the material world slipped into decay and darkness.

Edric Godsbane rides Hexorath

Edric Godsbane was the leader of the mortal armies warred against the Gods.He led a great army into the elemental planes, cutting a swatch through the realms of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. He would eventually be defeated and his army crushed, but he and his followers returned to the material world with the ability to wield powerful magic, their descendents inheriting the power of the arcane as well.

The Elven Schism

Following the Gods War, the Elves, who mostly remained loyal to the Gods and fought at Their side, were abandoned to die in the material plane, with enemies assembled at their gates, led by Edric Godsbane and his terrible dragon, Hexorath, whom he tamed in the Plane of Fire.

Faced with an impossible battle, the Elves summoned forth a powerful spell and disappeared from the material plane. No one knows what exactly became of them, but a prevailing theory is that they ascended to the Divine Planes, to live amongst the Gods.

The half-elves, the offspring of human and elven relationships, are all that remain of the High Elves that were once a dominant force in the world.

The Warp of Demons

Generations after the death of Edric Godsbane and the other heroes of the Gods War, an order of powerful sorcerers sought to open a portal to the Elemental Planes, seeking greater power for their arcane arts. During the ritual that would open a rift in the planes, something went wrong, and instead of tapping into the elemental plane, the sorcerers opened a portal to Shadowfell, the dark mirror plane ruled by the God of Shadow, Nerull.

Powerful demons flowed through the rift and the sorcerers were killed or driven mad. For centuries that followed, the world was plagued by these demons. Entire kingdoms fell under their sway, but in the end they were vanquished. The great kingdoms were liberated, the Nerull priests hunted down and eliminated, and the demons cornered and slain.

Since the Warp of Demons, magic has been steadily deminishing in the world, whether that was a consequence of the ritual, or the diltued bloodlines of Edric Godsbane, it is unclear.

Recent History

Since the Warp of Demons and the diminishing of the sun, and its final death, the races of darkness have been steadily growing in strength. Goblins, orcs, vampires, and lycans are emboldened by the eternal night. The conflicts of recent history have stemmed from this shift in power.

The Khagon Empire

Built by powerful sorcerers, and the conquests of powerful armies of orcs and fallen men, the land of Dreadgar was united under the Khagon Emperor, Emperor Inacu the Immortal, two centuries ago.

The Empire spent decades consolidating its power in Dreadgar, subjugating tribes of orcs and men, and building the city of Shadowstaff to be a power to rival Haven.

Emperor Inacu is a man shrouded in mystery. Little is known of the leader of the largest empire in the world, though rumours persist of his prowess with the arcane, and dark arts.

Emperor Inacu

A timeline of Inacu's rise to power.

2020 AGW A warlord named Inacu appears in the Wilds of Dreadgar, uniting tribes of fallen men.

2028 AGW Inacu lays siege against the Fellflame Tower.

2030 AGW Inacu's army force the surrender of King of Fellflame, the tower is renamed Inacu's Keep, and a large expansion gets underway.

2032 AGW Declaring himself King of Fellflame, Inacu marches forth and begins subjugating surrounding Orc tribes.

2039 AGW The entire western Dreadgar swears fealty to Inacu. Inacu declares himself Emperor of Dreadgar, to be henceforth known as Khagon. After a campaign lasting a mere three months, the remainder of Dreadgar surrenders.

The Great Khagon War

Twenty years ago, the Khagoni began raiding merchant vessels in the Forlorn Sea, disrupting trade between the islands of Great Maw, Amron, and Eclor. The leaders of Haven brokered an alliance between the three lands and togehter, worked to hunt down and sink the Khagoni pirates.

Viewing Haven as an obstacle to power, Emperor Inacu launched an invasion force to assault and take the city. A raging storm forced the army to land north near Blight Rock on Great Maw. Aware of their arrival, Haven dispatched sappers to lay traps along the road and passes toward Haven from Blight Rock.

By the time the Khagoni army reached Haven, they're numbers were greatly depleated due to traps and raids. The subsequent siege of Haven lasted a mere seven days before the invading army was crushed and scattered.

Emperor Inacu would send three more invasion forces to the Island. While these armies sacked and razed the baronies surrounding Haven, an alliance of Elves, Dwarves, and Men met the rampaging Khagoni, and withered their ranks over subsequent battles, finally driving them into the sea and securing a peace with the Khagon Empire.

While Haven and its allies secured peace, the Tiefling kingdoms were not as fortunate, and the war has been ongoing against the Khagoni, with their lands falling little by little to the Khagoni hordes.

The Age of Darkness

Ten years ago the sun set for the final time, casting the world into perpetual night. What passes for day is a mere two hours at noon where the world enters into a pre-dawn twilight, a greyish overcast resembling the hour before dawn - however the sun never rises.

Sages have deemed this to be the mark of a new age, the Age of Darkness, whereas before the years were marked AGW for After Gods War, now the years were to be measured AD to mark the dying of the sun.

The Heroes of Haven

Two years ago, a group of adventurers broke from their bonds of slavery in the arena, and came into service of the Nine Lords of Haven. Forming the Order of the Knights of Haven, these knights battled the Shadow Cult that sought Haven's Destruction.

It is believed the Shadow Cult was operating under the directing of Emperor Inacu, and had designs to usher forth demons from Shadowfell. These enemies of peace and good were thwarted by the Knights of Haven, and the city has entered into a new period of peace and prosperity, welcoming the reopening of its long neglected temples and taking steps towards decency and tolerance.

Pursuing the remnants of this cult, the Knights of Haven have disappeared, their whereabouts currently unknown.