CONTEXT

All current Here Be Dragones campaigns in the world of Yyrda take place in the New Era in the years following the Fall of the Dark Lord and the subsequent adventures of the First Heroes of the Reach (see the Book of Time for more historical context). The world of Yyrda is inspired heavily by the lore of the D&D 5e Forgotten Realms setting of Faerun, with some alternate cosmology, history, geography, culture, and technology including the following key elements:

Cosmology Origins and Prehistory

The world of Yyrda is essentially arcadian, with a technologically advanced global civilization known as the Architects having been all but eradicated in a mysterious Cataclysm around 6700 BNE; what followed was a period of darkness out of which current peoples, beasts, and monsters emerged. First were the great dragons, who held dominion over Yyrda for centuries before the first elves and dwarves arrived around 5500 BNE and began forming the golden empires of ancient history, joined by the first humans around 4000 BNE; these early civilizations were often guided by sympathetic dragons, the last remnants of the Architect race, and the occasional discovery of ancient Architect technology known as archanotech. All the known deities and pantheons of the dwarves, elves, humans, and other peoples also arose during this time, preceded only by the draconic demi-gods of the Age of Dragons and the mysterious primeval force referred to in some esoteric cults as the power of Heaven (the Architects are thought by some to have existed in a time without gods).

The Dark One

No single individual shaped the history of Yyrda more than the mysterious chronomancer known as the Dark One, also known as the Dark Lord of the Reach. Around 2000 BNE, he first appeared in the annals of history as the instigator of the millennium-long Dragon War, which pitted dragons sympathetic to his cause against those who saw his ambition as a threat to all life in Yyrda. Over the course of this conflict, much of the ancient empires of the elves, dwarves, and humankind were destroyed or greatly diminished, and the conflict was brought to an end around 1000 BNE by the sacrifice of many of the greatest remaining dragons known as the Dragonsbane Ritual, which seemed to limit the Dark One's powers and contain him to the region that would come to be known as the Reach Unsung. In the following centuries, the Dark One would amass strength in other ways, including waging war on the celestial and infernal planes in the War of Heaven and Hell, binding the god Ilmater, and establishing his dominion across the Reach with a mysterious curse that covered the region in a dark miasma and closed it off from the rest of the continent. In 102 BNE, after have found some way past the barrier of the Dragonsbane Mountains, the Dark Lord launched an offensive against the Westerland Realms known as the Great War of the Reach; over a century later, his curse was lifted and armies disbanded after the last Great Heroes of Falinor set off in a last-ditch effort to defeat him in his Dark Tower. Only a few know what exactly happened that day, but the Fall of the Dark Lord marked the end of the Great War and the beginning of the New Era of Westerland expansion into the uncharted region of the Reach Unsung.

Last Rest & the First Heroes of the Reach

In the first year after the Fall of the Dark Lord, a new generation of heroes set off for the Tavern of Last Rest on the western edge of the Reach Unsung under the mandate of Queen Elena of Falinor to expand the kingdom's influence into the uncharted lands. While initially under the rule of the Kingdom of Falinor, the First Heroes of the Reach and the rapidly growing Town of Last Rest eventually severed connection with the Crown and formally declared independence after a series of defensive conflicts against goblin armies, demonic incursions, and a winter insurrection from a powerful Falinorian guild known as Hephaestus Arms. Allying with several Reach factions, including the Druids and Necromancers of Darkwood Forest, the remnants of General Haddal's Deserters at Honorstrand, and the goblins of the Crimson Pact under the leadership of Domokos the Heretic, the newly formed Free Peoples of the Reach turned their attention away from the escalating Westerland Rebellions towards their own survival in a conflict known as the Void War against hordes of demonic orcs and, eventually, mindless Void Husks. By Ches NE 2, the Void Contagion was poised to claim all life not only in the Reach but in the entire continent of Yyrda, save for the timely actions of a small group of heroes that would become sung as the Legends of the Reach, who used powerful magic to defeat the contagion and defend the town of Last Rest from certain destruction. What followed was a relatively brief campaign led by Warlord Domokos to push the hordes back from Trollskull bridge to the Oathbreaker's Gate, reclaiming the Last Rest Territories and Crimson Pact lands and relegating the remaining husks to the desolate remnants of the Orcish Chiefdoms known now as the Voidlands.

The Northern Reach

[WIP]

Expedition to the Northern Reach sets off from Last Rest in Nightal NE 1

Palitanate of Pericarp

Bastions formed: Baha and Chateau Volteau (early NE 2)

Baha Pericarp integrated into the Palitanate (Ches 25, NE 2)

The Westerlands & the Kingdom of Falinor

After the fall of the golden empires in the Dragon War, the dwarven citadels of the Dwarfholds and the once-vast elvish domain of Faedrun were little more than minor realms clinging to remnants of their former glory. The human peoples, however, while scattered and broken by the Age of Strife, were the fastest to adapt, with new and powerful realms developing between 1000 and 200 BNE throughout the subcontinent of the Westerlands; most notable among these were the horselords of the Okyran Plains, the highlanders of Dunnspire, the pirate kings of Yurgalia, the magio-mercantile city of Kelsedan, and the ethnocentric Kingdom of Falinor. The cosmopolitan city-states of the Morgani Lowlands and the agrarian halfling realm of Sherland also flourished during this time, but it was the human realm of Falinor that would soon exert its dominance over the rest: by 224 BNE, it had successfully conquered the entirety of the Westerlands under its banner and proclaimed a new Era of Unity and an age of human dominance in the west, uncontested for over a century until the Dark Lord's armies crossed the Dragonsbane Mountains. After the Fall of the Dark Lord, tensions long-building in the kingdom finally came to a head, leading to the succession of several tributary states in a conflict known as the Westerland Rebellions beginning in Uktar NE 1 and followed by an internal Falinor Civil War in the second half of NE 2. 

The Eastmarch

[WIP] Also known as the eastern Badlands, home to the enigmatic Muttfolk.

(Combined high fantasy and fantasy Wild West theme.)

Muttfolk settlement of Dogtown on the other side of the Silvermoss River, past the great Sandsea.

Last Rest supporting the resettlement of refugees from Falinor and the Westerlands fleeing civil unrest in the west, seeking to expand into the uncharted badlands of the Eastmarch.

Economy

[WIP] The economy of the Westerland Realms is nearly fully controlled by a powerful network of often competing mercantile guilds, which have established themselves as international conglomerates in interdependent relationship with the governing nobility of Falinor and its tributary sates.

While Falinor switched its currency to the silver standard in the final decades of the war, with the dissolution of the Westerlands and outbreak of Civil War, most peoples have returned to gold as the base currency.

Technology

[WIP] Most technology in Yyrda resembles what you would find in a standard Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the Forgotten Realms world of Faerun: late medieval high fantasy, with most powerful "technology" taking the form of potent magical items created by talented spellcasters and arcane craftspeople.

However, a nascent scientific revolution in the Kingdom of Falinor, spurred by Hephaestus Arms's recent discovery of ancient archanotech components, has accelerated technological advancement in recent years to include mechanisms one might find in a clockwork or steampunk setting; while not widespread as of yet, this technology is becoming increasingly available in particular areas of the world.

A tangential development from Hephestus's machinations, the development of new smokepowder firearm technology under mapach weaponsmith Sig Powderpaw's guidance in the east has led to widespread use of Renaissance firearms among the Free Peoples of the Reach, with the enigmatic Muttfolk of the Eastmarch badlands recently modifying this technology into more powerful variants one might expect to see in a fantasy Wild West setting.

Magic

[WIP] Note: Magic in Yyrda is generally consistent with the mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2014). 

Magic and magical creatures are more prominent in the region of the Reach Unsung than elsewhere.

Magic in the Kingdom of Falinor is generally controlled by the strict order of magic users called the Arcaneum, whose registered spellcasters are held in high esteem while unregistered magic use is regarded as suspect at best; this view of magic becomes less prevalent the further from Falinor one travels in the Westerland.

Magic after the Cataclysm

Magic and the Dragons

The Elder Blood and Blood Magic

Gods & Religion

[WIP] Note: Most Forgotten Realms/Faerun pantheons should exist within Yyrdan cosmology, with revisions made as needed to fit its alternate history.

See also Cosmology Origins.

While the influence and power of organized human religion has waned in Falinor in favor of a nascent scientific revolution, churches and temples to the human pantheon exist throughout the Westerlands, with more devout adherents typically concentrated in more rural areas and/or tributary realms. The elvish and dwarvish peoples, however, adhere to the old ways, with their society at large valuing the place of religious observance of their peoples' gods in their heritage, and the more diverse city-states of the Morgani Lowlands following a wide variety of practices. In the Reach Unsung, not much is known about the religions of the people once under the Dark Lord's sway, although for many the only gods they knew where the Dark One himself or the dragons he set over their cities as watchful patrons and taskmasters. Some lesser known cults throughout the continent worship the draconic demi-gods of prehistory such as Bahamut, Tiamat, and Bara the Great Serpent; a handful venerate the mysterious primordial force known as the power of Heaven. The religious practices of the peoples of the Far North are poorly documented as of yet.

The Far North & the Muskeg

[WIP]

Bara's Spine

[WIP]