D&D Homebrew; Erallia Campaign Setting

I know a lot of people who look down upon DM’s building their own worlds in the D&D universe. I get the sentiment: why create something new when there is a plethora of enjoyable content already waiting to be traversed? The answer seems to come down to the fact that I simply love taking bits and pieces from various sources and watching them coalesce into a newborn, and often only slightly recognizable, offspring. From this I lead to my current campaign in the world of Erallia. It takes D&D deities, mashes them up, mixes their original intents… pretty much everything a straightforward Dungeons and Dragons lore-junkie would not only frown upon, but also aim to destroy. Either way, and without further wasted space, I present to you the preliminary history of my D&D world; Erallia.

In the Beginning

Erallia began as all things begin; a swirling mass of nothingness viewed as a golden frontier for the gods. At the start, so the prophets say, there was none but the churning ocean. Tiamat viewed this world and envisioned a mass of fire forged legionnaires marching in anarchy. Bahamut saw a shining hope of a new capital for law and divine order. Vecna imagined an undead realm for he and his craving minions. Lolth understood the importance of creating another chain of under caverns for her thirst driven, blackened minions. And so the battle began… and ended almost as abruptly. For once in the history of mankind the gods agreed to share their vestige of hope and torment.

Tiamat forged a northern continent of fire and doom. In her trickery, though, she also created a portal to the Gods’ realm so she could always traverse between the mortal and immortal to wreak her unspeakable havoc when the time came. Bahamut Made a small and unimposing island to the east for his clan of worshippers and a larger, frozen tundra to the northwest for any brave enough to travel there. Lolth fashioned a dry and arid desert continent in the southeast where cavernous tunnels of infinite length traversed beneath the sand. Finally, Vecna created a set of islands in the southwest where there could be carnage and bloodshed for all to see. And in the center… there would be a massive land of not but earth, forest, and mountains. They knew that one day their peoples would search for greater things.

The Great Collapse

But all was not to be, unfortunately. The people did come, did flock in masses to the newly discovered world. Dwarves and humans and elves and all kinds came and prospered. But when, after a thousand years of living by themselves, the time came to spread out… they met in relative harmony. The central continent was founded and capitalized, and all but a rare few stayed in their original places. The gods had lost their footholds. They would have to fight for that middle land and regain the place of all high god of Erallia.

But how was it to be done? The peoples of the world answered that question for themselves. The first civil war of Erallia broke out twelve hundred years after its divine creation. The northern sect, made up of humans and dwarves, battled against the southern sect, comprised of elves and demon spawn. Some left to found their own destinies, some left to save themselves, but most remained and fought for the better half of a century. When the dust cleared, the north stood victorious. In an act of fury they banished the demons completely from the continent and allowed the elves to remain, with diminished rights. Vecna, Lolth and Tiamat, who had sided with the elves and demons, were surmounted nearly completely by the great lord Bahamut. Without worshippers, what power does a god have?

But bahamut was either too weak or too virtuous to strike his opposition down. He allowed time to work itself through, and, of course, the three downtrodden gods amassed armies to reinvent their image in the hearts and minds of the Erallian races. And so began the true chaos…

World at War

All were split by the gods. Dwarves who followed Bahamut battled fiercely against those who devoted themselves to Tiamat, Human followers of Vecna’s dark Hand struck down their brethren of the Lolthian Darkness, and all was awash with chaos. Again, the world was near to breaking. As it ended, much was lost. Bahamut’s eastern enclave was destroyed, later to be rebuilt by the Sel’Salan who worship him so highly, Lolth was mortally wounded and forced to retreat to the under caverns, Vecna’s elven chosen forgot their master and forsook the gods, and Tiamat decided that now was not, after all, the correct time to plot her conquest. And so the world moved on, waiting for the gods to make their next move.

To this day, though, that has not yet happened. And whispers abound that perhaps the Gods have finally forsaken their erstwhile creation. Perhaps, indeed, Erallia is without hope. Without divinity. Without any semblance of righteousness or law.