Old game setting a friend and I put together, it's a bit rough but it was fun while the game lasted. Will be uploaded in parts.
Choulin Setting: Information.
The world is a mix of marshland, high mountains and sprawling hot deserts. The land is lightly settled with hundreds of miles between towns. A great ruin lays within the center of the desert, only lightly traveled by a few brave souls. To the south a great chain of mountains grows, none but a few dwarves have traveled there and only they know the extent of how far they go and what is beyond them. Races are humans and surface dwelling dwarves only, though PCs may only be human. A great war has ended less then fifty years ago, this is where the current game takes place in the aftermath. The world itself
has seen carnage like never before, reducing the populations of the warring kingdoms down to about thirty thousand on each side. Now, those who remain must rebuild and survive.
T
Races and Gods. The people of Choulin.
Human Variants.
Sand Dwellers. Tribal, very prone to secrecy. Worship the ruins and are deeply seated in spiritualism
and talking to the unseen. It's said they're the ones who make the dunes sing, and cause the beasts under it to move.
These people are generally 5'6" to 7'6" tall and tend to be lean. They have thick, wavy hair that varies from light to medium brown, eyes that are brown or black, and golden brown skin. They typically have narrow faces, with high-bridged noses and eyes that are narrow and close-set.
Stat Mods: +2 Con -2 Int. Favored Class: Sorcerer.
Mountaineers.
Those who spend their lives braving the elements and strong winds of the mountains, very isolationist and stubborn. Known for their almost unnatural agility. Quick in body but slow to change, they are prone to avoiding combat as much as causing it.
These people are generally 4'4 to 5'9 tall and tend to be compact and muscular. They have coarse, wavy hair that varies from black to very dark brown, eyes that are brown, grey, or blue, and dark reddish brown skin. They typically have broad faces, with small noses and eyes that are narrow and close-set. Stat Mods: +2 Dex -2 Wis.
Favored Class: Barbarian.
Marshlanders.
Highly suspicious of outsiders, prone to attacking from stealth, not fond of machined items or equipment. Prone to living a near starvation level life of simple hard existence. They live deeper in the swamps to the south east and west, staying well away from the northern regions due to a longstanding dislike.
These people are typically bald if male and have short thin hair if female. Their eyes are generally blue, grey, or hazel. Their height ranges from 4'6" to 5'6" and their build tends to be compact. Their skin is nearly white, and they have rounded faces.
Stat Mods: +2 Con -2 Int. Favored Class: Rogue.
Westerners.
The 'Civilized' people they favor well built cities, statues and a generally high level of living. Usually taken as arrogant and haughty by many others. Typically aggressive in battle and on the deal table, often greedy and controlling.
These people's fine, curly hair is light to medium brown and their eyes are generally any standard color. Their height ranges from 5'1 to 5'6 and their build tends to be thin. Their skin is light tan to medium brown, and they have rounded faces.
Stat Mods: +2 Cha +2 Wis. -2 Dex -2 Str
Favored Class: Bard.
Northborn.
Living on the edge of the swamps and oceans has led these people to have a touch of the otherworldly about them, they are often poets, scholars and thinkers. Seen as 'odd' by the other races of men, they bear a resemblance to fey races but only faintly. Staying largely out of the war they kept to their marshes and swamps, watching.
These people are generally 5' to 6' tall and tend to be thin. They have fine, straight hair that varies from pale blonde to brown, eye s that are blue, gray, or hazel, and pale gold skin. They typically have triangular faces, with snub noses and eyes that are almond-shaped and close-set.
Stat Mods: +2 Int +2 Wis -2 Con -2 Str. Favored Class: Wizard.
Easterners.
Few in number, heavily nomadic after the war and seen as strange by the rest. They follow the
pantheon of gods and hold little interest in the outside world outside of trade now. Rumors abound they are guarding a secret of some kind, known only by their elders. They suffered greatly in the war, many of their cities and towns all but emptied but for relic hunters and thieves. Bitter and silent by and large. These people are generally 5' to 7' tall and tend to be wiry. They have coarse, curly hair that varies from dark blonde to brown, eyes that are green or greenish, and pale white to light peach skin. They typically have angular faces, with snub noses and eyes that are round and wide-set.
Stat Mods: +2 Int -2 Str. Favored Class: Ranger.
Gods of the World. Though due to the war, few people follow any divine force, most healers and casters drawing from within themselves, these are the generally accepted 'deities' though they are little used now but as curses, only the most learned or ancient of people know more of them. Many saying they are nothing more then myths from the past. Few if any temples still exist and they are all but ruins.
Bal. God of war and combat, all guards and soldiers pray to him that they will do good in battle and die with honor. He is said to be the greatest general the land ever knew in the time before and that his last act was to slay 2,000 men by himself before falling to the ground stone dead. His accepted symbol is any broken weapon held upside down.
Hiskos. God of the sea and ice. Usually cursed when winter is too strong and the seas bring up monsters from the deep, he is thought to be a very cruel and cold man ignoring the needs of comfort and safety, using winter as his tool to punish the world. His accepted symbol is a cup full of water.
Dral'gur. A inhuman being said to be the personification of sloth, greed and hunger. Known to gnaw at the footheels of the poorest of the poor and drive them to theft. If he is represented by a symbol of any sort it is typically a fat man upon a couch holding a wheat fork in one hand and a empty barrel in the other.
Millari. The goddess of harvest and the solstice. The one who brings around summer and growth and gives hope to the downtrodden after war and suffering. She is said to be light hearted and delicate. Her accepted symbol is a tree with one golden leaf.
Char. Goddess of death and decay. She is the one who comes for the weak and infirm. She brings down plagues and suffering. The reaper at the end of life itself. Her duty is to collect the dead and take them onwards. Her accepted symbol is a broken fingerbone.
Aultar. God of invention and creation. He is the one who pushes magical innovation and design, blacksmithing and all aspects of building with ones hands. Usually seen as both creator and destroyer of machines and magic, he is thought to be very unstable. His accepted symbol is a hammer.
Easterners Pantheon.
Shennong. God of growth , this god is said to be a male counterpart to Millari, teaching farming, growing of things and the sustained flow of life. He is the god they call to when winter comes and steals food from the table and when times are hard. His accepted symbol is a coin with a seed on it.
Kaun-Ti. God of warfare, fortunetelling and revenge. Worshiped in secret by the Easterners. They claim that some day he will bring them to a final victory against all others. He is said to also be a great general of the past, but prone to drinking and rage. His greatness is overshadowed by his habits of failure at the key time. His accepted symbol is a drop of blood.
Yuan Chin. Goddess of childbirth and labor, she brings health and good fortune to the newborn and protection to the mother. Key to rebuilding the empire of the East and giving them back warriors and farmers. Her accepted symbol is a open hand.
Falstaff. Setting himself up as a god king was easy after the war. Using a combination of wits, guile and power, he is worshiped by one and all as the next general and the greatest thing to rebuild the kingdom. He is both ruler and god among men. His accepted symbol is a smoldering stone clenched in a fist.
Sicknesses and Weather.
The land is rife with strange diseases and weather both mundane and magical, legend saying the weather is caused by the huge numbers of dead left after the war as a echo of their rage and sadness.
Necropolis Plague: This sickness comes from those who spend too long on old battlegrounds or near the marshlands if they are not wary, usually coming after heavy rain.
Fort save DC 15. Onset, -1d3 Con and Cha. Repeats once every 24 hours. Causes the subject to rot and degrade slowly and painfully. Secondary damage 1d6 Int and Wis after 48 hours.
Orange Plague: Caused by drinking tainted water from the great oceans.
Fort Save: DC 18. Onset -1 all stats for 24 hours, secondary damage death 1d8 hours later and subject dissolves into a reddish orange sludge after 1 hour.
Stone Disorder: An infection brought out by a horrible species of flying insect similar to a Stirge. Fort save: DC 20. Onset -1d6 dex and strength every hour, secondary damage turns target to stone 12 hours later.
Abyss Corruption: Brought up out of old mines and deep empty pits, this sickness is slow at first but deadly as time goes on. Fort Save: DC 15 Will Save: DC 18. Onset -4 to Int and Wis. Secondary, subject is plagued by images of demons and monsters attacking over and over, requires a will save every 12 hours, the save DC increasing by 2 each cycle. After three passed checks the subject is immune to further images though the stat changes remain for a week. If the subject fails 3 or more of the will saves however they begin to change, the images driving them to self mutilate, losing 1d4 Cha. They're driven to eat flesh and blood only and may go so far as too shift towards CE. All of them claiming 'the voices, the voices speak to them.' This grants them unnatural strength due to the constant assault from the growing psychosis, adding 1d4 to Str.
These are the unique diseases in addition to the standard ones from the DMG.
