In the Shadow of the Artifice Masters

So, I've recently had a crazy idea.  My brother and I have been huge fans of Robotech for decades.  We have played various RPGs throughout the timeline of the story, as well as our own alternate timelines.  We have used both Palladium's Robotech RPG and FASA's Battletech.  One part of the story we've kept trying to play through, but never really did so successfully, is the "Robotech II: The Sentinels."  There are several versions of the story, some of which overlap:  OVA, comics, novels, and RPG.  Some depth was even added to that story in the sequel "Robotech: Shadow Chronicles."

A variety of new races are added to the setting, and the story is progressively episodic.  So, I figured why not re-interpret The Sentinels as high fantasy adventure.  In the Shadow of the Artifice Masters is a 5th edition D&D adventure-campaign (similar to the official adventures released for the edition) covering the common elements of the Sentinels story, allowing for player-character acts to effect the course of events.

Adventure Setting

In the Shadow of the Artifice Masters takes place on the continent of Fantoma, sometimes also called the "Old World."  This continent is the homeland of elves, orcs, goblinoids, and a handful of other races.  It is here that the conflicts of the Artifice Wars began between the elves of Tirol and the proto-goblinoids of Optera.

Another continent exists far to the west, about 2 months sail away.  This "New World" is Micronia--home to humans, halflings, dwarves, and gnomes.  It was "discovered" by the rebellious disciples of the high elf artificer Zor.  These disciples were pursued by an orc armada, which would only prove to pull the Micronians into the Artifice Wars.

Planes of Monvesia: Astral Companions

Just as the Ethereal Plane exists as two transitive planes in Monvesia, so does the Astral Plane.  Uniting them as a "companion" pair is Vaynon, the Dominion of the Far Wandering Star--a plane that exists simultaneously in these planes and the Material Plane. In this setting, these Astral Companions are the planes of thought (conscious and subconscious) and the planes of fantasy (dream and nightmare).

Generally speaking, spells and creatures that make use of the Astral Plane do so through the analog of the Dreaming.  Should a spell effect be destructive (ie. maddening), however, or a creature malignant, then the analog of Limbo is used.  For each unique instance, if it is necessary to know which Astral Plane is used, this is at the DM's discretion.

It is here that the Taint takes physical form as a writhing, inky purple mass that shimmers, pulses, and continually grows.  As the home of the HMDJVNW, Limbo is the ultimate plane of the Taint's origin; though it has long since spread into the Dreaming and even Vaynon.  Many psionicists, students of psychic power and mystic arts, believe that Vaynon has been completely consumed.

Gazetteer: Dragon Island

Orbimond is the Material Plane of the Monvesia campaign setting.  Its northern hemisphere is dominated by a single continent.  Both the vanara and the elves call this landmass Dragon Island, in reference to the ancient beings that were once the dominant life form:  Tirakantivu in the vanaran language, or Lohikäärmettä in the elvish.

Dragon Island is divided by natural features into three sub-continents:  Prace, Raviq, and Henjal.  Each of these embodies a classic adventure setting of fantasy gaming.  Prace is home to quasi-European cultures and quintessential gaming races (human, elf, dwarf, etc.).  Raviq is home to desert civilizations built along fertile rivers, a style of play sometimes called "Arabian adventures."  In Henjal, honor, powers of the mind, and the art of hand-to-hand combat are central to its cultures, mimicking the "Oriental adventures" of past editions.

Polar projection of Orbimond, showing
Dragon Island in the northern hemisphere.

Gazetteer: Culture Regions of Prace

The subcontinent of Prace is the "known world" of Monvesia.  Over the centuries, several peoples have carved out their "own" territory here.  Often, these territories overlap; and in several cases, once-great territories have been severely diminished.  Originally, only the dwarves, elves, and rakasta (and, possibly, firbolgs) were native to Prace.  Gnomes developed from dwarves; while humans, goliaths, lizardfolk, and vanara migrated into the land of the Great River and beyond.  Today, Prace is a culturally dense subcontinent.

Human Regions: Monvesia

The humans of Monvesia can be roughly divided into six cultural groups, each with its own common langauge.

Monvesia By Any Other Name

RETCON NOTE:  Several posts have been modified to incorporate the new names and naming conventions presented below.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet ...

William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet Act II Scene 2

Monvesia is the name I have used for this campaign setting as a whole since its inception.  However, the crude map posted earlier shows that the territory I've been exploring is part of a much larger world.  As my vision of this world expands, incomplete settings from the past have started to fold into it.

In the past, I had developed a top-down setting that included three major world regions--though I never developed much local flavor.  I realized that the world of Monvesia is also built on a similar fashion: the Monvesien valley, the Forest of Vines, and Desolation are iconic locations in three, distinct subcontinents of a larger landmass.  I have chosen, therefore, to take the names of these subcontinents from that earlier setting:  with the Monvesien valley in Prace, the Forest of Vines in Henjal, and Desolation in Raviq.

These three subcontinents represent different archetypes of fantasy gaming:  Prace for eurocentic fantasy adventures, Henjal for "Oriental" adventures, and Raviq for "Arabian" adventures.  Crossover between the worlds is not only possible, but both encouraged and expected.

Gazetteer: Monvesien Valley

To date, this is the only map that exists of the known world of Monvesia.  It  has taken a while to upload because I had originally intended on upgrading the map using Hexographer--but I lost the map before that process could completed.  While I still hope to use Hexographer to create new maps for this world, I'm going to let this re-discovred map stand as is.

It shows all of the human (and most non-human) regions of the known world, as well as subdivisions of the Honderreich, Cuorria, and Voztok.  There are even features now out-dated--such as calling out the goliath homeland of Inheritance as "ogre" territory; and referencing the capital city state of the Empire as Dray, not Sena.  The borders seen here are no longer accurate--but the rivers, coasts, and highlands are.

The dominant feature of the region is the Monvesien (the Great River) and its tributaries.  The setting of Monvesia shares its name with this drainage basin--though the map depicts the greater region of Prace.  The major regions and tributaries of the River are discussed below.

Monvesian Seekers: Muses

The Seekers of Monvesia are called Muses.  Instead of coming from the ranks of the gods, they are the archdaemons of the Dreaming, powerful egregores of knowledge:  the Trivium of humanities (Poeia, Philosophia, Theologia) and Quadrivium of sciences (Arithmetica, Astrologia, Geometria, Musica).  While the Trivium seek to understand Why the world works, the Quadrivium seek to understand How.

Unlike the other archdaemons, the Muses do not have a "standard" physical form; each person who sees them sees what they want to see.  Nearly all who have encountered these Muses agree that they are female--but each describes them as being the epitome of their own race.  The only other common attribute from all accounts is the color of each Muse's robes.

There are more Muses than those detailed  below.  These include the matriarchs--Grammatica (mother of Poeia), Logica (mother of the Quadrivium), and Rhetorica (mother of Philosophia and Theologia)--who are so ancient and powerful that their interest in mortals has diminished.  Many of the Muses below are matrons themselves, with daughters and grand-daughters; these younger generations, while powerful enough to inspire mortals in the arts and sciences, are not powerful enough to patron warlocks or sponsor saints.