Introduction to The World Gaia



Long ago there was a boy and his brother in a wood. It had been fenced off from the rest of the world to keep out the creatures that lurked in the shadows and attacked in the night. Some came in the form of dogs, some as cats and the worse as humanoids. Their world had long been struggling and had in recent years taken a decided turn for the worse. Soon they would be cut off from their supplies and would be struck by famine and from this collapsing world they needed to retreat and so with pen and paper and magic they summoned together Swords of Wrath and 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 friend 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 Route, the history of the world: gaia
So you wish to here of our history? It is a long tale which is full of hopeless toils, pointless bloodshed, and terrible suffering but all has come from a hopeful beginning.

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
With all the experience we have had (more than either the Alran and the Duradin) we still can't build a stable nation. Just look at us: we've spent half our time as petty tribes and half of that returning to them. The only time we were ever united was under Aruseus and that was for a mere three years. Within two years of that, wars had raged up the Roy valley and armies had besieged Pleitsdorf before being driven off. I and many other great 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 nation remaining is my homeland, The Confederation of Achthal. Though we used to claim that it was the true inheritors of Aruseus, recently we decided to let go of this idea and, like a cork that has been held under water which is freed and gains enough momentum to catapult it into the air, our great nation has shot to the forefront of progress. We have survived our own decisive tendencies through by devolving powers into our constituent cultures: The Kingdom of Awegon in the south, The Republic of Scroy-Noroy in the west, The Kingdom of Ausfenz in the east, and The Freeholders of The North in ... well the north. Awegon is my homeland so let us start there.

Progress comes in many forms and in Awegon it has come in the form of learning and good governance. We still have far to go to use our natural skill to the greatest extent possible but already we have become more knowledgeable about geography, history, strategy and metallurgy. As for governance we have developed systems and laws, judiciaries and processes that ensure that our government stays on an even keel as it moves into the future.

To the east is The Kingdom of Ausfenz. They are traditionalist and pedantic but they are good people serving the ideals they believe in even if they are wrong. Their knights are famed across Achthal as the most dutiful and the most knightly and their strong religious nature stears them clear of the vampires and others that might twist them.

To the west is The Republic of Scroy-Noroy. Where shall I start? I know: with the name. 'Republic' implies some form of rule by the general population which in the case of the republic is sourly lacking. The pretence at control by the people exists but even a quick glance at the law will reveal that this is far from the case.

The strongest of the remaining nations is the Holy Roman Empire like Confederation of Achthal located high in the middle mountains. 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.

The Night Realm of Zuvinara
Though, as all good humans will point out, the dreaded night realm can hardly be called a human nation, its population is in fact majority human. These are the oppressed slaves that toil in the fields day and night to support themselves and their cruel vampiric overlords. The few that escape wither away from over exposure to the dark magic which the terrible castles radiate into the night sky.



The Night Realm of Zuvinara
Hello human. You are looking upon what you should not. No one should go here or even so much as desire to see our gloriously dreadful tyranny. But come puny human challenge me, you will lose but you will rise again - under my command. Your body will be resurrected to fight against the friends it once fought for and soon they will become fiends under my command. The dead outnuber the living by far so their rule is dominant. A reassuring thought, no? 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.

Unlikely Events, magic from bellow
As any magician will tell you, magic is but an umbrella term: a cover all for anything and everything the non-magical do not understand. The basic connection running through this is Æther but that is the substance from which all of the universe is made and it is not even obvious in the case of bending which is often called magic. Yet these are lumped together into one and treated as similar in nature as nations. Why? all to reassure the non-magical that what they are missing out on is just a little part of reality not the whole truth.

As I mentioned in the above paragraph (ed note: sure it wasn't more of a rant?) most descriptions of magic focus around æther and as I also mentioned it is the substance from which all the universe in constructed. The first question most people ask me about Æther is is it alive. To which the answer is bad question. Æther is not living or non-living in the sense that you mortals would understand it. It was the universe and every action was Æther's action. Now, though confined to bellow Gaia, it mills and mopes and plans and plots but its plans are the future of its actions.

And now they want me to talk about 'elements'. What utter nonsense... The actions of things and what they are are entirely different. Weather a chair is supporting my weight or being bashed over another's head like you normals sorry non-magicals do in the pub fights you so love is an entirely different thing to it's chairness but here goes. The world is made out of elements, the original elements void and Æther; the pure elements earth, air, fire, water; the made elements like silver and lead. These elements all have some relation to the Æther from which they came and can be called upon to act in the same way as Æther.

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
Yes, in a world where monsters abound it is easy to underestimate animals but no adventurer who does so lives long. Sure most animals are relatively harmless but most things are when compared with a dragon, it does not mean that the venomous sisthor's deadly claws are not worth avoiding, or that the hidden Marsikik will think twice before they tare you limb from limb. Belive me, I found out the hard way.

I was walking along a mountain side path when in fading light I could just about see a Gik snuffling around with its cute little head just pocking out from its spiky body. I laughed at it only to see, to my horror, it turn around and back towards me at a startling speed forcing me to leap from the path increasing my travel time significantly. On another occasion I was forced to fight off a Marsikik and believe me it was not a experience to be relished.

Most animals originate from the works of the combined elementals some (the pseudo-elementals) evolved of their own accord.

Monsters
Dangerous, Vicious, Deadly. These beasts prowl the planes of Gaia looking for fresh victims to devours into their many shaped moors. Twisted beyond the shapes that nature has given to them by the sinister and rapid process of evolution that constantly keeps them at the top of this world, they are truly hideous to behold and hazardous to meet. All sport a variaty of deadly weapons from standard claws and jaws through feroucios flame to a variaty of more suprising weapons: poisons, magic, slime.

Equipment in the Backpack, the weapons and inventions of Swords of Wrath
Hello, I am traveler Valya 'Midral' Keenmight of the Clearpass clan. I am here to talk about the weapons and other devices in use here on Gaia.

Swords
You humans are so obsessed on your swords, you even name them! Swords are useless status symbols. Just look at them, if I wanted to stab someone I would use a spear, if I wanted to hack at something I would use and axe, if I wanted to do both I would use a halberd - they are more powerful, have a longer range and are cheaper to boot. And yet you humans use swords. Why? A useless status symbol perhaps. They are admittedly more portable, especially those of the short sword variate.

Axe
Now you've got a proper weapon. The axe is the nemesis of the shield. A blow from an axe could split a shield in two but it can be more subtle than that. You can hock the blade of a axe over the top of a shield and pull it down to allow another soldier to finish off you opponent. However the smaller one handed variety can also be well used with a shield where it can be hidden within. It can also be hidden within a cloak.

Spear
Spears are a little 'mere' these days especially given by how much they used to be loved. Spears could out range any melee weapon in use and could be wielded by anybody. Oh and they were cheap. However the spear itself has become out ranged by the growing prevalence of pikes which could not dominate during the past due to the disorganization of previous armies. But now its star is rising, with increasingly organised armies drilling daily, the pike is the weapon of choice for all but the edge cases where the flanks must be defended.

Halberd
Axe meet spear meet spike, this is the Achthallian army knife of weapons able to do just about anything you like. Want to split a shield in two? Wack it with the mighty axe. Want to stop a cavalry charge? use the long-ranged spear. Want to pierce even the strongest of modern armor? use the spike whose pressure will exceed that which even plate can with stand.

Bread
Bread is the basis of the food of more countries than I dare to count. It can be and is made from virtually anything and can be bought at a reasonable price in any major settlement and haggled over in any village. If your lucky you might even get it lukewarm.

Pottage
Pottage is the other main food stuff of the rural population. Its constituents varies wildly from place to place but normally consist of the local vegetable, mushed or unmushed. It can be purchased warm from market towns but it is hard to transport. It is also markedly more expensive than bread.

Pie
Commonly flogged in Pleitsdorf and other human cities these are tasty, cheap, and meaty (allegedly) just don't ask what's in it.

Lighting
As duradin I am able to see in the dark and discern my attacker with unnerving accuracy but you humans with your puny eyes struggle with this I think and so I have put together a list of lighting implements you can use.

Getting it going
Whatever you chose to light you need something to light it with. The first choice of civilized humans, I am told, is the burning glass. It can be used to focus the heat of the sun on to a small piece of tinder causing it to burst into flames. Which works very well, when you have the sun which is less than a given in most climbs. The humble flint and steel is, in my experience, much better equipped to deal with the problem of fire lighting though it takes far more effort.

Candle
The common candle will provide the average adventurer with no end of problems. They are less a source of light and more a big "come get me" sign for any monsters in your vicinity. They light up an area of (if you are lucky) 3 yards and the average candle is made of tallow for tax reasons so you are lucky to get any light out of the blasted things at all.