Etharis: Reborn
"Darkness and Obscurity"
Large swaths of Etharis are shrouded in an eternal darkness, supernatural and otherwise. In the farthest north the sun is hidden half the year in the natural progression of seasons. It’s no surprise, either, that the deep halls of the dwarves are plunged in darkness. But the darkness shrouding the land of Ostoya is more sinister and magical in origin, and in the forests of the Charneault Kingdom, the dense mist that covers the land is the work of benign spirits—or at least spirits that bend to the will of mortals, for good and evil. The people of all these lands have adapted to a hostile environment. Punishing storms are frequent across the land, foreshadowed by howling winds and then drenching rain. Where the sun never dries the ground, mud is a constant fact of life. The crops that grow are strange and bitter. For most people, there is no safety outside the radius of a torch’s glow.
The Land is Dangerous
Civilization dot through the land as islands of light surrounded by the unforgiving terrain of shadowy forests, rough mountainscapes, and sinking bogs. Travellers are often met with suspicious gazes by locals who have never left the isolation of their home village.
Relentless threats assault humanity. Vicious creatures hunt wandering children and armed travellers alike, many of whom are never heard from again. Sinister forces seek to twist mankind’s nature to their whims, leaving them forever changed.
Travel is a perilous endeavour, especially at night (in lands fortunate enough to enjoy a sunlit day). Armoured columns of merchant caravans transport goods, nervously guarded by mercenaries who refuse to deviate from known roadways. Travellers caught in the dark are forced to lodge at the remote roadside inns for extortionate prices. Local guards are quick to leave them in the dark if they do not have the coin to pay.
In their never-ending struggle to control Etharis, the deities of the world fought what they could not defeat, and ultimately turned on and destroyed each other. With but few knowing this truth, many believe that the gods abandoned a forsaken world or never existed in the first place. The only remnants of their reign are their surviving lieutenants—the Arch Seraphs and Arch Daemons—and the forces they control.
Arch Seraphs overlook the world with a righteous zeal, granting powers to a select few who fight in their crusades. Separated from their deities for so long, many of them have deviated from what they once represented, twisting their ideals into whatever suits their cause.
Arch Demons take delight in a world overrun by shadow and decay. Freed from the deities’ power, they relish opportunities to feed their appetites. They take keen interests in mortal lives, often living among them, making deals and twisting fate to ensure threats to their existence are destroyed.
A Lost Pantheon
A Sickening Plague
Sickness and malnutrition are common and expected throughout the land of Etharis. However, there is one illness that is feared above the others. The Weeping Pox is widespread across the western coasts of the continent and frequently strikes harbours and coastal settlements. Distinguishable by the deep red lesions it creates in the skin of the infected, the disease is a death sentence for most.
The few who can cure the plague guard their secret closely and extract the highest prices for their intervention. The price of deliverance, for those with the choice, may be a noble estate, eternal service to the Arch Seraph of Mercy, or something far more precious.
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The symptoms of the Weeping Pox are both an eloquent manifestation of the Filth Grazer’s devious mind and a metaphor for Liesech’s course in history. At first a sick person will be subject to fever causing sharpened senses, overexcitement, and a sense of wellbeing. But soon these symptoms will transition to delirium, burning fever, insatiable thirst, and weltering lesions that have given the illness its name. Beyond this, nearly all who contract the disease die shortly after. Most people succumb to the pox in a few days while the most resilient may hold on for almost two weeks.
Fear of the Arcane
Superstition and prejudice run deep. In most towns and villages across Etharis, magic is seen as both wondrous and frightening. Whether understood or not, the arcane is mistrusted and often blamed for problems ranging from the failure of a season’s crops to the success of a rival’s business. Many innocent people have been caught on the wrong end of superstition.
The fear of magic runs deeper in some parts of Etharis than others. With the disappearance of divine magic, arcane spellcasters on Etharis found themselves the target of hatred and mistrust. A magic inquisition started in the Castinellan Provinces, it's inquisitors dedicated to destroying the arcane and anyone who stands to defend it, bureaucracies in various regions sprang up to regulate and control mages elsewhere, and mobs hunted down those the common folk blamed for the gods’ absence. Where once they delved into the mysteries of the universe, now wizards and their kin must seek to ensure their very survival.
Even still not all of Etharis despises spellcasters. Many cities house great colleges dedicated to the art of magic. Within these cities’ walls, spellcasters can apply for a permit to practice. These permits dictate where a mage can cast spells, what type of spells they can cast, and other specifics. The process to apply for such a permit is often frighteningly bureaucratic, and many spellcasters choose to hide their abilities instead.
Notes To Our Players
Glimmers of Hope
Etharis as a setting is not meant to be relentlessly bleak and depressing, or to wallow in cruelty for its own sake. Small victories become heroic when they take heroic effort to achieve. No one in Etharis is safe by default, so any safety the characters win or give to others is a true blessing. No one in Etharis is good by default, so moments of genuine grace are worth celebrating – and can come from unexpected places. Amid profound darkness, even the smallest lights have value.
This is Your World Too
The stories you tell in Etharis belong to you and your game group. We promise not to come yell at you if you get details of the world “wrong” – in fact, that’s the point! We’ve intentionally left questions for you to answer and conflicts for you to decide. The details created by the team at Ghostfire Gaming and provided by the Staff of Resurgence Roleplay are meant to start your imagination running, and to save you the work of imagining a multi-faceted world from scratch. Etharis will change the moment your characters set foot in it, so embrace your power to reshape it, We only ask you do not bring outside lore from other universes into this world. Be original and add to it through choices made in real time.
Who will you be?
