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Ancerra Before: The First Supereon introduces Telgaia, a massive supercontinent from the centuries before the Tear that brough Ancerra back into contact with the other planes of existence. Explore Telgaia and discover the living kingdoms that either fall to ruin or manage to endure the many challenges of the ancient world. | <u><big>'''Playtest Disclaimer THIS IS PLAYTEST MATERIAL. All content within this document is subject to change.'''</big></u> | ||
'''Ancerra Before: The First Supereon''' introduces [[Telgaia]], a massive supercontinent from the centuries before the Tear that brough Ancerra back into contact with the other planes of existence. Explore Telgaia and discover the living kingdoms that either fall to ruin or manage to endure the many challenges of the ancient world. | |||
Gathandia and its sister continents are quite young, historically speaking. For dozens of centuries before its creation, the land of Ancerra was a single great supercontinent, plus a few surrounding islands and large ice caps. The supercontinent was known as Telgaia. | |||
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. | |||
== Magic == | |||
Magic enters into Ancerra in full force when the Tear opens in the demi plane protecting the planet. Prior to the Tear, magic is exceedingly rare and quite limited in its capacity. [[Arcane]], [[Divine]], and [[Occult]] magic do not exist before the Tear. | |||
[[Psionic]] magic is directly tied to a creature’s Essence, so it exists in this time period. Psions are powerful contributors to society and instrumental in protecting towns and cities from the threat of enormous monsters, so most towns of any notable size have at least one psionic caster. | |||
[[Primal]] magic also exists in very small quantities across Telgaia. Points of raw environmental energy, such as volcanoes and the deepest hearts of jungles, have thin barriers between Ancerra and the Everwilds, allowing trace amounts of primal magic to seep through. | |||
==== '''Magic Heroes and Creatures''' ==== | |||
The lack of magic in pre-Tear Ancerra dramatically impacts some classes and talents. The [[Cleric]], [[Mage]], [[Vessel]], and [[Witch]] classes from the Core Rulebook are unplayable in this setting. You may play a [[Zealot]], but you do not gain Divine Power. Additionally, Tinkerers some tracks of the [[Rogue]] (such as Guild Affiliate and Conman) are extremely rare in Telgaia during this time period. They would only be found in the rare city-state or national capital large enough to have a robust economy similar to that of a nation in the second Supereon. Most cities are utilitarian, focusing only on a surplus of food and on security, so economically dependent tracks are illogical. | |||
Furthermore, you may not learn the [[Student]] of the Arcane, Disciple of the Divine, Initiate of the Occult, or Warden of the Primal talents, even if you would normally learn them through a class talent. If you play an [[Oracle]], for example, you must choose Adept of the Psionic instead of Warden of the Primal. | |||
The [[Fiendblood]] lineage is incompatible with this setting as Inferno has no contact with Ancerra. Similarly, Golems are not created until after the Tear, with the exception of Psionic Golems. [[Undead]] exist in very rare circumstances, but cannot be created via any form of harnessable resurrection magic; instead, they seem to just be anomalies of nature. You may not select any options from any lineage that would give you access to magic, unless it is Psionic or Primal. | |||
Creatures that use Arcane, Divine, and Occult magic cannot be found on Ancerra during this time period. Creatures that use Primal or Psionic magic are unaffected. | |||
== An Age of Titans == | |||
Telgaia is home to creatures of enormous proportions. Dinosaurs tower over humanoids, and the dreaded kaijan in turn cast black shadows over these terrible lizards. | |||
The greatest struggle of humanoid creatures in the First Supereon is survival in the face of such enormous predators. The earliest groupings of humanoids were disorganized nomadic groups whose [[travel]] patterns followed prey and fled from predators. Eventually, some nomads began making permanent or semipermanent homes below ground. While enormous subterranean caverns came with their own threats, they were generally safer than the surface world. An, the first nation, existed primarily underground. | |||
Many subterranean nations came into contact with technology far beyond anything they could have imagined, including the [[Remnant]] lineage. These ancient artifacts are the legacy of the Avadri that created Ancerra in the distant, unknowable past. | |||
Surface-dwelling humanoids eventually found other methods of adapting to the great dangers posed by kaijan and dinosaurs. It became known that dinosaurs are vulnerable to psychic energy; psionic casters, therefore, rigorously trained to ward off dinosaurs from their settlements. Other psions went farther, learning to briefly control and domesticate dinosaurs and incorporate them into their societies. Psionic sentinels and dino wranglers both enabled their societies to set permanent roots and offered them the means to resist the terrors of the kaijan. | |||
== Tegaian Nations == | |||
An ever increasing number of settlers took up residence in permanent locations across Telgaia. First, these settlements were individual nation-states incapable of governing beyond their own walls. Gradually, multiple cities banded together either through diplomatic ties or (more commonly) through conquest. These nations took shape over several centuries. | |||
Because Telgaia is a supercontinent, most precipitation that sweeps in from the vast ocean falls within a few hundred miles of the coast. Due to this, a massive desert sprawls across the center of the supercontinent. As a result, most nations reside near the coast, and shallow-water seafaring vessels are commonplace. Deep-sea vessels are virtually unheard of as most explorers assume that the ocean extends forever and try to stay within eyesight of a shoreline. | |||
== Technology Levels == | |||
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. | |||
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. | |||