Introduction to The World Gaia



First a few key terms, Swords of Wrath is the name for the RPG that I will mention in the meta section. The name doesn't come from any particularly important swords but there is/was an idea that they might be. The Word: Gaia or simply Gaia is the setting.

The Starting Point, how swords of wrath began
In Easter of 2017 me and my brother were bored. Bored bored bored. So we hatched a plan: a full blow, scrolling MMO RPG in scratch known as Swords of Wrath. I had been playing World of Warcraft for some time and was sure (and still am) that it could defiantly be done better. so was eager to get to work. Now community killed the idea through 101 different ways (3 technically but that was enough) nevertheless I have continued to develop the world gaia and am currently working on a book, a standard RPG, a short story and several dozen other things.

The Dawn of Time
At first there was nowhere. There was no time and no space for there to be none of. And then the universe sprung into existence, a 2 dimensional space, the dimensions are now known as the 4th and 5th dimensions by mortals, which was impossible to quantify yet did have a bound, full of empty, dark grey void.

Then into this universe came, from above the 5th dimension, æther, a deep purple fluid that leisurely swam into the universe. However it rested and settled with it's lower levels solidifying and distilling until they became Gaia. The æther struggled against Gaia until it became to much and Gaia allowed most of it down bellow her (trapping a little to form Neptune). However something went wrong and the æther became trapped against the edge of the universe.

Gaia and Neptune decided to make a demonstration of their new found power to create another set of dimensions and not wanting to be out done by the universe before they created three. But this drained their power and so they could not create dimentions which like the original ones were both endless and with an edge.

This also caused the elements that they were formed out of to become less and less mixed and to begin to clump together until one day a craggy edge of Gaia became made only out of the element Earth and a drop of Gaia that flew into the Neptune before it could be reabsorbed became only made out of water.

This, of course, caused an imbalance in those areas that split them permanently from Gaia thrusting consciousness upon them creating what are now known as the elementals named after the elements that Gaia and Neptune have always been made of. This displeased Gaia despite the fact that in her weakened state she could do nothing to stop it. Meanwhile, Neptune was having his own problems for from him came the other opposed pair : Fire and Air.

The Great Elemental War
To get vengeance upon the elementals Gaia and Neptune forced them into a war with each other which raged across the surface of there new dimensions which lasted nigh on a millennia. During it the elementals created greater and more powerful weapons in an attempt to out do the other and even merged to form new and more powerful combined elementals

The elementals were completely and radically different. And they hated each other. True they had never met but Gaia and Neptune soon introduced them to each other and soon a war started. The war of the elementals was long and bloody and stretched over the space of centuries with the elementals combining to form new and ever more powerful elementals in an attempt to get the upper hand. Although the resolve of the original elementals never wavered, the combined elementals were new elementals where unconvinced. They formed a plan. They would refuse to fight on the break of day on the 1000th year since the start of the great elemental war. And they did.

The original elementals however had developed ever stronger weapons which they decided to unleash upon their opponents. These scorched the air and destroyed the land; they shattered the sea and chilled the flames. And it is they which formed the world in which we now live and evicted the elementals from their homes and position of power.

Brave New World
The Combined Elementals designed a new world to cheer themselves up from the destruction of the old one.

Much of the land had been reshaped by the weapons, the old plateau on which earth had sat had been carved up into mountains and had spewed a muddy expanse out into the sea while Athelron had been thrust up from the waves. The volcanoes that had dominated the tops of the mountain ranges were now tempered and the old raging winds that dominated the land above the sea had calmed.

But this was a little bland and so the combined elementals decorated it with many different features such as rivers, hills and if they were feeling a little adventurous tors or mountains. Then they added to the world vegetation and a few species and it came to be dominated by the few species that had evolved on their own from elements (known as pseudo-elementals).

But the combined elementals realised that although these creatures of the old world did not want to continue The War they did want to continue warring. So the combined elementals created gracious magnificent peaceful new creatures to fill the world that would be lead by man. But the old elementals of Water and Earth did not want to stop the war and so the created the Alran and the Duradin to continue fighting on their behalf. However, the Alran and the Duradin were two perfect to be influenced so peace was maintained.

The Cataclysm
Then Earth found a way to get revenge on water and the combined elementals all at once. They influenced man, the pinical of the combined elemental's creation, to fight upon the Alran and its self. Water flooded the home of these humans, the Atolanians, but the Alran wanted more. They set sail across the great ocean, however Air interfered. Attempting to keep the peace it wiped up a great storm and bombarded the Alran with gusts of wind. The Alran's ships were wrecked against the coast of what became known as Leon and only a few progressed further.

Air's actions had unintended consequences. Fire, perceiving an Earth-Air alliance, encouraged the ever warlike goblinoids to attack the Duradin leading to the collapse of Duradin civilisation.

The Nations of Humanity
Though humans are older than the Alran and the Duradin, they are new to the idea of nation building and not particularly successful at it. Their greatest empire, that of Aruseus, shattered into fragments which are themselves falling apart into yet smaller fragments. Many scholars have pondered the reason for this and the verdict is typically tribalism and local identity trumps any common cause that might unite them. That combined with their relative inability to manage their own government well on any level has lead to many great nations collapsing.

The strongest of the remaining nations is the Holy Roman Empire like Confederation of Achthal located high in the middle mountains. Though it used to claim that it was the true inheritors of Aruseus, it has recently let go of this idea and, like a cork that has been held under water which is let go and gains enough momentum to catapult it into the air, it has shot to the forefront of progress. However, like Aruseus's Empire it is fracturing into the mercantile Republic of Scroy-Noroy in the west; the technological Kingdom of Awegon in the south; the religious Kingdom of Ausfenz in the east; and the independent Freeholds of The North in ... well the north. Surrounding the Middle Mountains and therefore Achthal are flat peninsulas to the south and west and to an extent the north. On the one to the west is The Kingdom of Leon which resembles medieval France. It is ruled by a highly opressive government which ironically believes in the code of chivalry and will follow it to the letter.

To the south are The City States of Illia which are a few cities with the land that surrounds them. It is roughly comparable to medieval Spain, Italy and Greece. Although each has its own individual characteristics, they know that they can not militarily rival their northern neibour and so they have turned to alternative ways of staying afloat (in Venesi's case quite literally) including becoming centres for trade, scholars and magic. They include: Castile which is roughly similar to Spain and operates an extensive spy network while receiving Leonese backing; The City State of Awegon which is a kingdom ruled by the same people who rule the Awegon in Achthal; and Venesi a wealthy trading city.

To the scap of land that is to the north is Narlwage. These wild and ruthless lands occupied by wilder and ruthlesser raiders are supposed to represent - you've guessed it - vikings. The lands and the people leave no reason to go there so we will now be moving away in all directions simultaneously.

These are collectively known as 'The Far Lands'. They are far removed from everyday life in Euphoria and take on a pseudo-mythical attribute. To the east is a great kingdom where all gold is alleged to flow and where walking animals move along side the humans.

The Queendoms of The Alran
The Alran or elves are older by the humans by far and have had plenty of time to develop powerful and mystical nations based upon magic and harmony with nature. The eldest of these is the Queendom of Æthelron where the Alran were created. It is characterized by rolling open country side with few mountains and a blend of humanity with nature. There are few towns of cities of any note and most people live together in family groupings. It is ruled by a queen who is selected by the last queen and the common will of the citizens.

Some of the Alran set of east to seek out and destroy the Duradin but as was mentioned in the history section, their vessels were wrecked on the coast of what is now Leon. They founded The Citystate of Kanhosen out of the wrecks of their ships which developed into a peaceful city ruled by a council of elders. The city soon joined with the human settlement of Adwinglore until the two were indistinguishable with the rule of thumb being that elven residences were in Kanhosen even if they were surrounded by human houses which were in Adwinglore.

Some Alran were displeased with their breather's reluctance to set out further west and so they moved off into a forest surrounded by the foot hills of the middle mountains where they set up camp. After several less than successful incursions into Duradin territory they decided to stay in the forest where neither might nor magic could remove them. Although the Alran of the area are regarded as slightly batty by their plain dwelling and metropolitan brethren, they have founded a stable queendom ruled by a line of powerful magicians.

The Alran that are truely batty are those which turned against their kinsfolk along with the Atolanians convinced by prothers of riches and power to commit betrayal. They were systematically driven from Æthelron although they long (and plot) to one day return home. Now they have fled north to the frozen land of Scurwage where they are ruled by a series of cold cruel queens who cares little for her people's eternal suffering.

The Strongholds of The Duradin
The Duradin (or dwarves) are as old as the Alran but rather than being a tall gracious people they are a stout stolid almost mechanical race that makes tools and equipment. Created by Earth elementals, they took up residence in strongholds under the middle mountains gaining skills in mining and metal working and trading their wares for food from the humans above. Then came the cataclysm. Goblinoids swarmed out of the plane of beyond in neigh unstoppable numbers killing Human and Duradin alike. In the face of this onslaught the Duradin should have stuck together and defeated them but instead they fractured and fled into their strongholds turning their back on their kinsmen. It was only after Aruseus had driven the Goblinoids from the land with the help of what remained of the great kingdom that the strongholds began to reconnect forming into a loose confederation that holds together to this day.



The Night Realm of Zuvinara
The mere mention of the dreaded night realm strikes fear into even the bravest of human hearts. It is a terrible place where terrible castles radiate dark magic into a perpetual night inhabited by hideous monstrosities that haunt the human inhabitants. Little is known of this dreadful place as few escape it and even fewer survive.

Unlikely Events, magic from bellow
Æther is strange. Unusual. It has the power to turn into anything, do anything. It is also difficult to control always attempting to escape the grasp of the user and strike them dead or transform into any one of a number of mysterious and deadly phenomenon.

Animals
Underestimating animals is easy but those who do it do not last long out of civilisation. Sure most animals are relatively harmless but some are dangerous or malicious or, worse, both. Most animals originate from the works of the combined elementals although some (the pseudo-elementals) evolved of their own accord.

Monsters
The dividing line between animals and monsters is thin and often varies between definer but one thing is certain: monsters are dangerous. Some are peaceful but it might only take a spark to set them upon a destructive spree.