The Old World

Introduction

Welcome to the Old World. This world is an aged and murky place. A place that should have long been cleansed, and parted for a new world. The forces of nature seem to be waning and decay is visible everywhere. Tales of happiness and plenty have long been told, a dark mirror of what the world looks like now.

In the Old World the order of things is kept at bay by the Gods. All the Gods are created by Atherion, the father of all Gods. Atherion is the only remnant of the previous cycle, and when this world's time has come to an end, is to restart the cycle of the world anew.

When a problem arises that requires permanent attention, Atherion created other Gods to occupy themselves with matters at hand. When a plague destroyed the crops in the land, Atherion created Helior, God of Bountiful Fields. Born during the First Great Famine. His excess provoked envy, rot, and waste. When the nations of of the world fought in endless conflict, Atherion birthed Vaelith, Goddess of Peace and Accord. Created during the Age of Endless War. Her intolerance for conflict birthed darker echoes.

Atherion is old, feeble and waning. Word around the villages has been going on for generations that a new cycle should have started already. Even with the attention of the Gods and Atherion, life is becomming increasingly difficult. Crops are near impossible to grow, plague, famine, conflict are becomming increasingly common. Water in wells and lakes are always murky, fertillity rates are down and natural disasters and extreme weather are becomming more and more commonplace. Some say it seems the world is tired and needs to sleep. - Bolgard The Blakk, Dwarven Forgemaster of Irithyl

Locations

Humans Settlements

Human place-names tend toward practicality and inherited corruption of older tongues. Many cities are built atop ruins they barely understand.

Greyreach, Capital

Once meant “the place all roads meet”. Now a sprawling, soot-stained capital built on the bones of three older civilizations. Greyreach survives not by excellence, but by adaptability—human diplomats, scribes, and middlemen thrive here because someone has to do the work others disdain.

Lore: Beneath Greyreach lie sealed vaults from a pre-human age. The city council officially denies their existence.

Major Cities

Stoneford – A fortified trade city at a river crossing, eternally contested by dwarven merchants and elven envoys.

Westharrow – Agricultural hub plagued by divine contradictions: shrines to both Helior and Morvane stand side by side.

Cindermark – A former military bastion, now a grim industrial center supplying weapons to conflicts it cannot win.

Villages

Mireholt – Built on wetlands; produces exceptional reeds, paper, and quiet resentment.

Ashwillow – Rebuilt three times after wars that technically never involved it.

Thornfield – Known for stubborn independence and an unusual number of hedge-priests.

Dwarven Settlements

Dwarven settlements are named as statements of permanence, often translating poorly into surface tongues.

Khaz-Durak Vell (“The Unyielding Vault”), Capital

An immense mountain-city sealed behind rune-locked adamantine gates. It has survived collapses, divine silence, and three centuries of voluntary isolation.

Lore: Khaz-Durak Vell keeps meticulous records of every debt ever owed—to dwarves or by them. The oldest ledger predates Atherion.

Major Cities

Bralgrom – Gem-cutting capital famed for prisms that refract magical light.

Thund-Karr – Forge-city built around a magma vein; weapons made here hum faintly.

Erdhulm – A border-hold abandoned for 200 years, recently re-opened… quietly.

Outposts / Holds

Stonewake – Guard-hold watching an ancient under-tunnel no one admits exists.

Deepcoil – A spiral mine descending beyond mapped depths.

Goldmere – A trade-hold that reluctantly deals with gnomes and humans.

Gnomish Settlements

Gnomish settlements reflect nostalgia, irony, and controlled chaos. Many cities are overbuilt for a population that can no longer sustain them alone.

Tikkervale, Capital

Once a humming marvel of clockwork assistants and self-moving streets. Now its mechanisms are half-manual, half-failing, operated by hired labor and desperate ingenuity.

Lore: The Grand Workshop still contains inactive automaton frames—kept “just in case.”

Major Cities

Brasshaven – A research city cluttered with experimental districts and frequent evacuations.

Cogspire – Dominated by a leaning tower of interlocked gears; still operational, no one knows why.

Fizzlewick – Known for alchemical mishaps and unusually strict building codes.

Villages

Springclick – Water-powered mills and ticking devices everywhere.

Whirrden – A quiet settlement where gnomes study why things stop working.

Nackleford – Built around a bridge that collapses every decade and is rebuilt better each time.

Elves

Elven cities are named poetically, often untranslatable, meant to sound beautiful rather than practical.

Aelinthyr, City of the Upper Boughs, Capital

A vast arboreal metropolis grown, not built, among sky-reaching trees bound with living magic.

Lore: Aelinthyr officially has no slums—unofficially, entire social classes are simply ignored.

Major Cities

Lethariel – Diplomatic city hosting embassies and illusionary courts.

Cael’Noren – Arcane academies woven into the canopy; outsiders rarely see the same layout twice.

Silvaenreach – A frontier city overlooking the lowlands, heavy with condescension.

Outposts / Sanctuaries

Thalan’s Watch – Observation spire monitoring mortal politics.

Eirwen’s Rest – A city-village for aging elves who have “seen enough.”

Mistbloom – Seasonal settlement appearing only during certain celestial alignments.

Automatons

Automaton settlements are rare, functional, and often temporary. Names reflect purpose rather than pride.

Concord Frame, Capital

A neutral assembly-city where automatons gather to debate existence, purpose, and the impossible problem of reproduction.

Lore: Concord Frame is partially powered by a divine fragment no god admits to granting.

Major Settlements

Ironwake – A coastal city of salvaged hulls and rust-resistant frames.

Hearth-Node – A repair-centric enclave where automatons exchange parts and memories.

Gearfall – Built beneath a ruined gnomish factory-city, scavenged endlessly.

Enclaves

Lastspark – A shrine-city devoted to rediscovering the lost animating principle.

Nullhaven – A place for automatons choosing stillness over entropy.

Relay Point K-7 – A traveling settlement mounted on massive walking platforms.