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In the days of Telgaia, Ancerra was still completely encased in powerful demi planar wards set in place by the Avadri. As Ancerra’s solar system drifted through the endless Pale, these wards prevented the vast majority of the Pale’s ravenous eldritch denizens from touching Ancerra. By day, those who looked to the sky could see vast, unbroken stretches of clouds beyond the sun. By night, no stars were visible, and the concept of stars was completely unknown. Rather, these same expanses of clouds would be lit in eerie patterns by the light of Ancerra’s five moons. | In the days of Telgaia, Ancerra was still completely encased in powerful demi planar wards set in place by the Avadri. As Ancerra’s solar system drifted through the endless Pale, these wards prevented the vast majority of the Pale’s ravenous eldritch denizens from touching Ancerra. By day, those who looked to the sky could see vast, unbroken stretches of clouds beyond the sun. By night, no stars were visible, and the concept of stars was completely unknown. Rather, these same expanses of clouds would be lit in eerie patterns by the light of Ancerra’s five moons. | ||
== Ancerra's Stone Age == | |||
Nations did not spring into existence overnight, or even over a generation. For many thousands of years before the first city-state was founded, humanoids struggled to survive in an exceedingly hostile world. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, hurricanes, firestorms, dinosaur stampedes, and rampaging kaijan are just some of the more dramatic of the many challenges that early humanoids faced. Quieter but no less deadly, famine, drought, and pestilence also claimed countless lives year by year. | |||
The fundamental needs of any living creature are sustenance, shelter from the elements, and a real and perceived sense of safety, in that order. | |||
The first need - food - is readily fulfilled. Equatorial and subtropical regions of Telgaia have an abundance of edible plants, roots, small game, and fishing. The plains and temperate woodlands are quite fruitful as well, and the boreal forests only slightly less so. The arctic and the large deserts common in central Telgaia are the least populous, as food is more scarce in these regions. | |||
The second need - shelter - is a bit harder to establish. It is not difficult to find caves in which to sleep, or to pull lean-tos together out of brambles and tree branches. However, such caves often contain large and hungry animals. Lean-tos are easily trampled by dinosaurs and other terrible creatures. Ensuring that a cave is uninhabited and remains guarded from habitation might be a quest undertaken by early-level adventurers in the stone age. | |||
The third need - safety - is basically unobtainable in the stone age. Humanoid groups will assemble tents and huts and erect a wall, creating a small village. Not long after they do, a stampede of dinosaurs or a volcanic eruption or a hungry kaijan will destroy their settlement and force the survivors to relocate. Dwarves and elves were two of the first lineages to [[adapt]] to these circumstances and make do in them: dwarves by conquering larger cavern networks that allowed them to expand and build thriving towns; and elves by sharing knowledge with one another in their dreams, collectively benefitting from each elf's lived experience. Even with their initial successes, it still takes many generations for dwarves and elves to establish anything more lasting. It is unsurprising to historians that Am, the first city-state ever established, was created by the joint efforts of dwarves and elves working together. | |||
Adventurers in the early days of the first Supereon are likely to come across multiple ruins of towns, made of stone or wood or clay, that show ample evidence of a violent destruction. Finding food may prove difficult at times, but finding a lasting shelter is the true challenge of gameplay in this era. | |||
Over multiple generations, humanoid groups finally managed to establish settlements that endured - first for ten years, then for twenty, then for multiple generations. The establishment of such successful settlements can be ascribed in part to luck, in part to learning how to fight much larger predators, and in part to psions and wranglers that learned how to conquer the minds of beasts and domesticate their own dinosaurs, particularly stegosauruses and glossosauruses. With their own powerful dinosaur allies, humanoids were better equipped to protect their settlements. Division of labor followed not long thereafter, creating a surplus of food and time that gradually allowed society to advance. | |||
Of course, this was a laborious endeavor that took hundreds of years. A settlement would survive for a couple generations, then get wiped out by some disaster or another. The collective advancement of humanoid peoples can be described as the proverbial two steps forward, and one back: a stumbling, imperfect, frustratingly cyclical advance into a gradually better future. | |||
That "better future" is detailed in the following nation entries. These nations come into existence at different points in history, from as early as forty-seven centuries before the Tear (in the case of Nevna) to as recent as four centuries before the Tear (in the case of Bridgemoor). Consult the timeline when determining whether a nation existed yet during your game. | |||
== Telgaia Nations == | == Telgaia Nations == | ||
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=== '''Technology Level''' === | === '''Technology Level''' === | ||
Throughout broad strokes of Telgaia’s history, the technology level of most nations was roughly comparable to that of real-world Ancient Greece or Babylonia. Humanoids quickly figured out [[how to]] build large buildings and monuments, and iron [[weapons]] were far less common than bronze ones due to the latter metal’s abundance and pliability. | Throughout broad strokes of Telgaia’s history, the technology level of most nations was roughly comparable to that of real-world Ancient Greece or Babylonia. Humanoids quickly figured out [[how to]] build large buildings and monuments, and iron [[weapons]] were far less common than bronze ones due to the latter metal’s abundance and pliability. See the [[Equipment]] section for optional rules concerning bronze, bone, and stone weaponry. | ||
If you are playing in early history, consider making technology even more primitive: agricultural canals might be revolutionary. Conversely, if you are playing just a few years before the Tear, then feats of engineering such as cross-national aqueducts may be more commonplace. | If you are playing in early history, consider making technology even more primitive: agricultural canals might be revolutionary. Conversely, if you are playing just a few years before the Tear, then feats of engineering such as cross-national aqueducts may be more commonplace. | ||
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|[[Honor Guard Zealot]] • [[Dinosaur Hunter Warrior]] • [[Kaijan Slayer Rogue]] • [[Dinosaur Wrangler Ranger]] • [[Right Hand Pugilist|Right Hand Pugilist]] • [[Nature's Fury Berzerker|Nature's Fury Berzerker]] | |[[Honor Guard Zealot]] • [[Dinosaur Hunter Warrior]] • [[Kaijan Slayer Rogue]] • [[Dinosaur Wrangler Ranger]] • [[Right Hand Pugilist|Right Hand Pugilist]] • [[Nature's Fury Berzerker|Nature's Fury Berzerker]] | ||
|} | |} | ||
=== Barge Colonies === | |||
Most early nations exist along Telgaia’s coastline or near a major source of freshwater. However, some small cities form in the shallows of the sea. These “barge colonies” are groups of sailing ships, flat barges, and smaller fishing boats that float alongside one another, lashed together by intricate rope bridges or barrel floats. Sometimes, these barge colonies dissipate and the former city’s inhabitants will all drift their own ways, often to find and join larger floating cities. | |||
=== Ahten === | === Ahten === | ||