Play-By-Post Setting

Well, sorry about this taking so long, but I kept finding places that looked empty.

Map of the Known World, Or, At Least, Most Complete One Anybody's Bothered With

Yellow arrows indicate wraparound positions. Major cities / capitals of large countries have their names listed, moderate cities are unlabeled red dots, and minor cities are purple dots. Towns are unmarked.

Green indicates heavy forest. Brown indicates mountain spines, breaks in the lines indicate major known passes. Orange lines are national borders, if nations exist.


MATERIAL PLANE # 4,096 -- AN OVERVIEW

This is the world, as depicted by cartographer Issin the Frustrated (who gained his title while working on this very piece, during an era of especially high magic abuse and after an earlier cartographic project on a Boxworld, which he swears was much simpler). This is the primary life-supporting planet known on this plane. Known in the Planar Catalog as Material Plane #4096, as the 4,096th plane to be visited by the most presumptuous planar explorers known to history.

Physically speaking, there is very little distinct about this plane from the countless other material planes. It's somewhat distinct in that its primary life support body is a sphere, rather than an impossible toroid (with 'east-west wrapping' AND 'north-south wrapping', as so bluntly put by many adventurer groups who traverse such planets) or a giant box floating in space with an absolute 'down' as many of the others are. But apart from being a challenge for cartographers to accurately display, the contents of

Most of its surface is above sea level and has been inhabited by humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, halflings, dragons, gnolls, kobolds, kender, and many other things the most populous races have been fascinated enough by to send their seed through. The rest is home to billions of species of aqueous life, much of it sapient like the merfolk, but we can't really interact with them for any protracted duration, so we don't really care all that much about them.


RELIGION ON THE PLANE

Gods, of course, have taken interest in MP4096, as they have in all of the planes.
MP4096, however, is notable among the Material Planes (besides its designation number being both a perfect square and a perfect cube while it itself is neither) in that it is metaphysically malleable. Offhand remarks by the populace along the lines of, "I am the God of ____" or "He was favored by the God of ____" are capable of actually creating lesser deities who are actually responsible for the regulation of the subject on the plane. Many interplanar gods also have control here, and many of them see their lesser in stature cousins as mildly amusing at best, a threat to their legitimacy at worst (and only for the most insecure of the major deities--few would be threatened by, for example, Dalim, the God of Cookware). Inventing a pantheon here will cause that pantheon to form, albeit extremely weak unless they can garner worshipers, and only in some random corner of the plane.

The few that do pop into existence on the surface of the world, and not in space or buried in the ground, very rarely have any clue what they're doing there, although they are always aware of whatever domain they might have control over.

Clerics of local deities have the advantage of the undivided attention of their celestial associates. However, they also have the distinct disadvantage of being the only religious representatives of their respective gods. More organized religions can more effectively support their clerics. Although, there are a few support groups that have formed in some of the larger cities that sponsor and equip clerics of local gods.


HEROES IN HISTORY

MP4096 has been host to a number of extremely powerful arcane spellcasters in the past. Arrogant, as they are prone to being. The rogue wizard (not rogue/wizard, just not a controlled wizard) Ger-beel specialized in sculpting geographies, and created Skull Island near the southern tundra as his own isolated fortress. Shortly after its creation, his fortress was sacked and burned, then sacked again, then knocked over just for good measure. Apparently, none of the local adventurers at the time would stand for that level of grandstanding idiotic villainy.

Unfortunately, his example started a craze of me-too landscaping wizards who insisted on leaving their mark, no matter how puerile. This created the unfortunate rash of crass-looking stone formations, lakes, islands, and any land formations they could alter.

Ger-beel would later work directly for Issin the Frustrated in 'polishing up' the world's geography, removing the worst of the offensive pieces, as well as all of the major lakes. No one is sure what Issin had against lakes, but he was quite pointedly opposed to them. Many have hypothesized early traumas, but none are quite certain.

After the Great Rearranging, Ger-beel formed a small warband and crusaded around the world exterminating anyone who knew his method for terrestrial reshaping (or simply making them forget, as he chose). This he did at Issin's bid, and thus, with Ger-beel's death in Year 1040 of the God of the Calendar (common abbreviation GC, referring to the point in time when somebody made Gregor, the local god of the calendar), the knowledge of magical landscaping on a grand scale passed from MP4096, to be replaced by magical ice sculpting as the favored pastime of bored wizards.


POLITICS

Faren
There are, as can be seen on the map, four major continents. Of these, Faren has the most nations on the closest to war-footing. There are four primary leagues of nations on the continent, each led and organized from their largest city-state--Torphin, Terigann, Theranni, and Ubarin. They have developed as a necessity thanks to the sizeable orc hosts in the mountains, and thanks to the more belligerent members of each league.
In the center of all of this is the independent city of Doublepass, located in the geographic curiosity that gives it its name--the easiest pass through both the north-south Tern mountains and the east-west Rin mountains is situated at their precise intersection, rather than being the site of the highest mountain of both ranges, as is usually the case. Doublepass is a nexus of trade, and was, for many years, captured and recaptured by each of the four leagues in turn as they wished to strangle the markets of their rival city-state leagues. Only recently did it fight its way out from under the rule of the four leagues thanks in good part to mercenary bands hired by local merchants.
Eventually, the four leagues agreed to leave Doublepass as a neutral entity and contributed soldiers to guard it from the orc hordes that made the rest of the mountains so dangerous. So long as the trade--profitable for all involved--continued unabated, no one would march on Doublepass again.

The four leagues are distinct in a number of ways. Ubarin is the only league with a sizable chunk of the Seputor coast, and they make a good deal of money trading ores and lumber from Terigann out as far as Rexan. Most Ubarin city-states value free thought very highly, and as a result much technological tinkering comes from their cities. They are also home to the highest number of universities of the four leagues. Unfortunately, this means they have the least unity of action of any the leagues, and have the most infighting.

The Theranni League's main and nearly only purpose is military unity. Threatened by the orcs in the mountains and the undead surge from the isle of Serket off their coast, the Theranni League is in a constant state of military alert. The greatest achievement of the Theranni League is the discipline with which they exercise this military power--not once has the Theranni League been the initiator of conflict between the four, a fact their diplomats are always keen to point out. Member cities are also free to leave and recall their troops in the field, an option which only a scant few cities have taken--and one none have taken whenever the orcs are on the move. The Theranni League is best known for their expert craftsmanship in their clothing, being the only league with access to silkworms and having devised the modern loom.

The Terigann League is, of the four, the strongest naval power. It harbors the greatest mast-trees in the world, and keeps the coastline of itself and northern Torphin clear of the sea monsters that drift in from the deeper Entupen. During the summer months, before the northern polar cap expands, especially determined captains can run the Point, sailing over one of the most aggressive mer-kingdoms known to us. Those that make it through stand to make a lot of money trading with the rest of the northern world. Terigann city states value unity of action and social dependability, and while they may not be as militarily disciplined as the Theranni, they muster easily the largest forces of the four leagues.

The League of Torphin is the most isolated of the four. Home to the most exotic plantlife from the Faren Desert and the sheltered west coast of the continent, they export the most medicines, spices, and addictive substances out of the four. Cut off from the southern naval route by hunting packs of sea dragons, the southern land route blocked by lizardfolk colonies and lycanthropic cults, and kept out of the northern seas by the far better equipped Terigann navy, Torphin's best trade route with anyone but Terigann is by far the city of Doublepass. They also have some of the largest silver deposits of any of the four nations, a fact that they take full advantage of in dealing with southern dissidence. Torphins mostly value hardiness of body, mind and soul, and view the uncontrollable corruption of lycanthropy as a weakness of the mind and soul. This is not to say they value being good over all other possibilities, but purity in action and intent. They pity indecision more than anything else.

Perdel
Perdel houses the most sapients of the four continents, mostly on the northern and western shores. The Bay of Coray, the site of the city of Rexan, is the most heavily populated site in the known world. Rexan itself serves as the capital of the country of Pebenne, consisting of everything north of the east-west arm of the Desran River.

Pebenne's best strategic defense is its economic strength. As a nexus of trade for most of the world, trade bans issued from the Pebennan throne have a tendency to cascade through all of Pebenne's allies, effectively strangling the would-be conquerors' markets. Tactically, the armies of Pebenne are the least predictable, as they have very relaxed military service entry requirements and often employ professional soldiers from across the world. This means it is also the most permeable nation to espionage efforts, as it is a simple matter for a spy to join the armed forces.

Being the most open of the countries to immigration and the most exposed to foreign trade, Pebenne has no true dominating philosophy. This would mean, with all else kept equal, that Pebenne would be the home to the most civic strife. It's also home, however, to some of the strictest laws involving any sort of physical dispute--if so much as a thrown punch lands, the offenders stand to lose fingers, or worse. Disagreements are kept vocal mostly out of fear of the law.

Pebenne's military opposition comes in the form of the Blackboards, a piracy federation that preys on their trade named for the distinct black onyxwood from the forests of southern Ornee used in their construction. They use mobile flotilla bases in the Seputor and northern Sennthus oceans, trade ports of a less savory variety, with routes known only to highly trusted pirate captains.


The other major country on Perdel's northern shores is the country of Dessis, extending from the northwestern edge of the bay of Coray and extending to the shore opposite the city of Derga. Dessis serves as the breadbasket for much of the continent and southern Faren. It also houses the world's oldest fortresses, great monuments of stone set solidly into the cliffs along the coast intended to keep watch and defend against orcish invaders from Faren, back during the reign of the expansionist Chieftain Doraak. Since their original creation, they have been continually added onto and updated as more modern defensive military armaments (such as the ballista and the more modern trebuchet) came into dominance.

Dessis is also the home of the Road, a highly practical demiplane for the purpose of greatly streamlining national travel crafted by Court Wizard Thessin two hundred years ago. Employed by the Dessinian military during times of war, no other country enjoys such flawless logistical support for their troops.

The headquarters of the Thinkers' League is located in Jarrack, Dessis's capital. The Knower's League is a social support group that sponsors educations in countless fields across the world. Their overarching philosophy is that one should be granted rights based on one's ability to feel and react to the outside world (sentience), and one should be granted responsibilities based on one's ability to think abstractly, evaluate and make choices (sapience). By encouraging and sponsoring education, they feel they are aiding the development of the sapience of future generations, and, as such, future generations will be more capable of acting in a responsible manner. This philosophy has in part been embraced among the public, and as a result, Dessis is home to many species that would not be welcomed in other countries.

Dessis's rapid response military is an asset they enjoy and employ greatly when the insectoid desert raiders from the Burning Cities set out to claim slaves and food. Were it not for the presence of the road, habitation so close to the desert's edge would be impossible.


The southern coast of Perdel is home to a number of cities and towns, most of them independent city-states, but with a few small countries nestled against the shoreline. The coastal waters are somewhat dangerous in the winter months, but apart from the occasional river gnoll raid, the cities here are some of the most stable worldwide.


Perdel's western shore is infested by Tauroids and fey--centaurs, minotaurs, pixies, sprites, and the rest. A few mostly-centaur cities trade heavily with Pebennese merchants, and a few of the fey cities host 'magic academies'--some of which are rumored to simply be traps for ambitious would-be magi.



ARAMA
Coming.

The current year is 1110 GC.

Where be the dragons?

So, 2 questions:

1. Where would you guys like to start?

2. Who would you guys like to be connected with (what organization), if any?

Any named city is an option, or any region of the world I've touched on. As for organizations, any I've mentioned above is a possibility (any of the militaries, the God-Friends, the Thinker's League, a mercenary band), as is any organization you guys come up with.

I think it depends on how the party will work. Do we want to to have been traveling together for awhile or do we want to just be doing our own thing when something happens to bring us together? If that is the case i would say we start at DoublePass as it is quite literally a crossroads. I personally vote that option as it would gives us opportunity to roleplay. You know our characters meeting and deciding to go against whatever the problem is. As for my organization affiliation i will have to get back to you on that as i have to go to work.

I agree with this, I want our characters to meet up and roleplay.

I'll try to come up with an organization later however.

I've never been good at bringing the characters together, I think I'll continue to sit back and let someone else take care of it.


But DoublePass seems like a good place to start.