Six Things to Know about Mythosa

Terms in bold are major elements of the world; terms in italics are analogies to things from the real world.


Civilization

Most of the world is a dangerous, lawless wilderness due to an apocalyptic magical war that took place over 25 years ago. Civilization exists in scattered pockets ("points of light") with power centered around a handful of large city-states; the spaces between them are home to monsters, ruins, and petty tyrants and warlords.



Recent Past

In the recent past, the majority of the known world was ruled by the Marasinian Empire. The rulers of Marasinia, powerful sorcerers known as Mystarchs, discovered a new type of magic that drove them mad. They turned against one another, and the resulting conflict - the Thaumaturgical Wars - brought down the empire and was responsible for the world being in the state it is today (similar to Dark Ages Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire).



History

Historians describe the world as being in its "Fourth Age". The previous ages are summarized below:

  • Third Age (Iron Age): Dominated by the Marasinian Empire; lasted for about 500 years.
  • Second Age (Bronze Age): Rise of humanity, time of the Divinity War; encompassed about 2300 years.
  • First Age (Stone Age): Decline of ancient races, rise of elves and dwarves; lasted around 2000 years.
  • Time Before Man: Mostly known through myth and legend; ancient, non-human races dominated the world; war between ancient deities (Lovecraftian) and new; lasted for an untold period of time.



Races

The dominant (i.e.; PC) races of Mythosa include the following:

  • Humans, consisting of three major cultural groups: Skalnir (a Nordic people), Marrshites (southern European/Mediterranean), and Varghani (Arabic/Semitic).
  • Three types of elves: Ilidari ("High Elves", or eladrin in 4E terms), Sylvari ("Wood Elves", or elves), and Drakari ("Dark Elves", or drow).
  • Dwarves, also known as the Runir (their evil cousins the Nalgrim, or "Deep Iron Dwarves", are duergar in 4E terms, but are not open as a PC race).
  • Tieflings, known in Mythosa as the Dhazyra (they are a nomadic, gypsy-like people who tend to garner distrust due to their mysterious origins and sinister appearance).
  • Dragonborn (Viss'takh), minotaurs (Tauroks), gnomes, half-orcs, and devas are also open as PC races, though they are far less numerous compared to the other races.



Religion

Some important notes on religion:

  • Mythosan religion is dominated by a relatively small number of deities collectively known as the Divine Host.
  • Most of the gods are evil or unaligned.
  • Many deities were killed in the Divinity War, a divine conflict from the Second Age engineered by Shaarizad, the most evil of all the gods.
  • There are three good gods - Baltur, Alyara, and Lyranis - and they are collectively known as the Triumvirate of the Light. Many people in Mythosa aren't even aware that the Triumvirate exists.
  • Most of the evil gods are collectively part of the Dark Court, dominated by Azakhar, the god of war, tyranny, and conquest.
  • The gods of the Divine Host were created by the Earth Mother (Gaia) and her consort Cerunn (Horned God). In 4E terms, the Earth Mother and Cerunn are actually primal entities and not divine.



Organizations

Much of what goes on in the larger parts of the civilized world somehow involves one of the three Great Houses , large noble houses with interests in politics, economics, etc. The three are:

  • House Malor: Largest of the houses and the most evil.
  • House Argentus: An amalgamation of merchant families. Not necessarily "good", but the most honorable of the three.
  • House Talamyr: Smallest of the three and very private. Known for trading in items that usually cannot be acquired through conventional means.