SETTING INFORMATION

This game is slightly different then any other Dungeons and Dragons game you have ever played. The world of Alara is a small planar world created by a long dormant god of death in a pantheon forgotten millenia ago. Created from the stuff of the Negative plane and the Elemental Plane of Fire, Alara is a blasting hot, dark world of eternal night with seas of lava and mountains capped with ash. Alara is a godless world. Druids work their magic to make life out of nothing and to provide healing in a world blasted with strife.

PLAYER RACES


The main races of Alara are Drow, Human, Half-elf (Drow), Half-orc, Orc, Dwarf, and Gnome. The drow are different then the drow of Faerun and other worlds in that after their loss of Lolth, the drow matriarchy lost most of it's authority. The males revolted and shortly after the slave races too. Over roughly the next 1200 years, the Drow have become more mercantile and less openly gender biased, but for the most part, drow are still haughty, arrogant, racist and sexist magicians who would love nothing more then to recapture their slave races, once again claiming the dominant spot on Alara.

Humans and Orcs on the other hand have a much more neutral relationship with each other due to a longstanding adherence to the theory of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Enslaved and tortured, used and abused by the drow in equal numbers, Orcs and Humans (called Freemen) turned on their masters in with hatred and rage in equal numbers. Both races have territory of their own, but for the most part the northern clannish Orcs get along just fine with their southern Freemen.

Sadly, Dwarves and Gnomes are rare, maybe only a few thousand of either race on the whole planet. They too were slaves, but they weren't kept in large numbers. After the slave revolt, the Dwarves and Gnomes fell in with the Freemen more then the Orcs (due to prior racial tendencies). Today their descendants can be seen scattered throughout those cities.

Finally come the Half-Orcs and Half-Elves. Half-Orcs are more common then Half-Elves for several reasons. First no righteous drow lady would ever be caught dead (or alive!) with a servant. Second drow reproduction and pregnancy is rare, even among their own species. Freemen and Orcs on the other hand seem to mingle freely, making a crossing of genes more plausible. Half-Orcs and Half-Elves are seen a little differently. Half-Orcs seem to have no problem in Freeman society and often rise to great heights in Orc society (due to their better social skills). Half-Elves on the other hand are often distrusted in Freeman cities because the often have their drow social graces. In drow territory however, Half-Elves are often seen as little more then a mistake or very poor judgment. Drow are not necessarily hostile in a physical way, but most Half-Elves are looked down on and belittled.

TIME & DATE

Time and Date on Alara is done through an old magical means that the drow used when they first came to the plane. Once every thirty hours (give or take a minute or two), there is a bright electrical storm in the sky that sounds a new day. Nobody is really sure what causes the storm but it is bright, lasts for a few seconds, and is high enough in the sky that it can be seen from anywhere.

Years are broken down into a series of 11 months. The months are Sword, Sky, Water, Spear, Mountain, Tagnik'zur (Dragon), Og'elend (Traitor), Wa'q (Tower), Ramoth (Nightmare), To'ryll (Emerald), and Vharc (Vengeance). It's ironic that not all of the names are Drow, given that the Dark Elves were the first and dominant settlers of Alara. The months are all made of five weeks, numbered by their position, such as Firstweek or Thirdweek. Each week has five days. The five days are Food Day, Dark Day, Fire Day, Sand Day, & Peace Day (Power Day).

Dates are written (and spoken) by Day, Week, Month, and Year. The current date, for example, is Dark Day, Fourthweek of Ramoth 1203.

TIMELINE

0 - The Drow come to Alara, and quickly establish the keep city Olva O'Goth in the harsh and barren world. Many Drow and even more slaves die in the process. Of the initial 65,000 Drow and 130,000 slaves, only about 30,000 Drow and less then half the number of slaves survive the harsh climate and lack of water.

2 - Early and highly effective use of Drow sorcery finally establishes a stable environment.

7 - Early exploration of the plane uncovers several native, non sentient species, including a large, docile beetle and a quick, agile lizard about the size of a light warhorse. By now the male Drow have fully realized the matriarchal society is at it's wits end on how to keep control.

9 - Less then a decade after their arrival, the dark elves had entered into a dark and deadly gender based civil war where male magicians warred with priestesses who had no clerical powers. It was a slaughter. It was brutal. It was over in less then a month. The cleanup however was long and tiresome.

10 - The slaves revolted. The war of Freedom pitted Humans and Orcs against their weakened Drow masters.

17 - The Humans, now called Freemen, and the Orcs took their new found freedom and left their defeated Drow masters. The Drow managed to protect themselves, at least somewhat by releasing their servants and slaves, opening up merchant doors, and teaching some of their sorcery. Some Humans (called Falsemen, a derogatory term for those who chose the life of servitude) chose to ally with the Drow as well.

24 - Shamanistic Orcish magic makes an appearance. This strange Druidic magic creates life where there is none, and possesses powerful healing spells, something almost unheard of before. Small, wandering Druid parties roam the wastelands, gaining popularity and power.

30 - The first Drow sorceress, N'yentalla Do Klamnen, leaves her palace and wanders the wasteland.

49 - Murdock, the first Freeman dominated city elects it's first ruler, Edwards Flagstaff the First, a former slave who had learned the art of magic from his former Drow masters. The small city of about a thousand uses newly acquired Druidic magic combined with Wizardry to protect itself from the natural hazards of life.

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THE TIME OF SMOKE AND WATER