My Bastionland

I don't know who made this, but it's beautiful.

 As the campaign grows, it occurs to me that I must not rely on improvisation entirely to come up with the details of my setting, lest it ends up too vanilla for my tastes. While the bigger picture is that the Duchy is somewhere in Deep Country, and thus belongs to the larger world of Bastionland, it has some typical fantasy trappings on account of being made for Barrowmaze. Since my players have abandoned the dungeon itself to focus on their double-faced quest to steal from the Lord Ironguard AND from the Bandit Queen Renata, I need to paint some broad strokes about the Important Stuff of the setting.

The Really Big Picture

We know Bastionland encompasses Bastion and all that's around it, with Deep Country going as far back in the past as needed, the Underground connecting all dungeons and overall being weird, and the Living Stars/Far Lands/Polar Ocean being the last known frontiers after which things go full Troïka/Spelljammer/Planescape. But what's the big story behind this world we live on?

Well, it's Earth. It's Earth and it's unrecognizable because so many civilizations rose and fell, so many Gods died and were left to rot and became soil for the next ones that it is something else entirely now. But you still get all the familiarity of our world. Magic is tied to items, so that helps hammer in the idea that all these wonders of wizardry are really super-tech. Or at least, maybe it wasn't all super-tech but the people of Now don't know any better and just call these Oddities and Arcana. 

So the broadest stroke is: this is a Post-Apocalyptic Medieval Fantasy Earth with Vancian overtones and Wonderland Surrealism and Fairy Tales Logic seeping in from the holes. That's my kitchen sink, and it's growing and I'm not making a big map because maps kill the fantasy.

Religion & Politics

The Duchy of Aerik is under the control of an old noble family that hails from Bastion. They used to be called Fanfreluches, and are still sometimes called by their old names, especially by those who know of their citadine past - but today, they are the Ironguard family, stalwart defenders of civilization in a dangerous part of the wilds. They represent the Crown and are as of now, unopposed in their claims of higher social status. Kell Ironguard, the Father and Lord, is the current leader of the family and of the keep, although his son, the brutish Krotos, is next in line and eager to take the reins.

Another important group is the Silver Standard Company, merchants and mercenaries with possible affiliations with the Black Hand, the major thieves' guild in the area. They are the Coin, with the former's face being Guildmasters Osen and Turgen from Helix, and the latter having Monsieur Moreau (Bad habit: I use some names frequently in different games because I think they sound really cool), a shark-teethed Hobbit.

Monsieur Moreau. Except, you know, he's a Hobbit.

Finally, the People are usually represented by the innkeepers of both Helix and Bogtown: Bolo and Umlar, respectively. And a bunch of other people who have no important role so far but are still around to talk to.

Around the Duchy, there is mostly wilderness, although the next most important thing that's off the map is the Baronny of Redvald, to the north-east, which is mainly dark woods and creepy folks, but the players started the campaign there a while ago so it's on the map. The Baron himself is an enemy of the Duke, and could provide interesting war stuff in the future.

Far away north (probably) lies Bastion and the HQ of Traxian & Shift Corporation, the players' debt-holders (yes, the players, not their characters. T&S metamagics are able to track down the proper debt-holders even through death and reincarnation), but the railroad network hasn't reached Aerik yet - it will once Electric Bastionland comes out.

What about Cults? The Church of Law is a large, catholic-y institution that has no unified core, it's all sects and schisms, one of which is the Temple of St. Ygg that is strong locally - these are healers and templars, mostly interested in the Barrowmaze ruins and the dangers of undeath that roam these parts. Some talk of the threats of some Death Cult, but the players haven't got a clue about what kind so I won't talk about them now.

They did see this somewhere...

 Besides the creepy stuff and the Faux-Catholic, there are some old faiths, petty gods mostly, with the most well-known being Herne and Sylvanus, who supposedly watch over the woods. The elves have other names for those, and give them more sinister aspects.

Speaking of elves!

The Inhumans

Elves are a faerie folk from the Wyrdwood and Thornswild Forest to the south. They have black hair, pale skin and sharp teeth. They have feline aspects in their behavior and sometimes in the shape of their eyes : playful, aloof, arrogant, sadistic, lazy, moody and strange. Most are cruel, but some can be helpful. The few that mingle with men are known by fake name: Valeron and Farwyn having met the players already, others are tolerated mostly because everyone's too scared to tell them to go away.

Dwarves are Greed incarnate. No honor-bound gimli-types here: these are all-male creatures of wicked ingeniosity, brilliant craftsmen but unable to enjoy their wealth as they are always seeking to accumulate more. They would sell their mother if they could make a decent profit out of it, and if they had a mother (nobody's sure where they come from, same as for elves, and I'll explain why below). Some say that's what Dragons were before they became giant fire-breathing lizards with wings. They might be right.

Hobbits are jolly good fellows, singing and dancing and always happy. They sometimes allow outsiders in their homes for festivals and the like, but never for too long. They won't forcefully send you away of course, the homey little guys and gals, but they'll let you know it'd be best if you went on your way home and soon. You don't want to know what happens to those who stay. Probably nothing too bad, after all, these are halflings we're talking about.

Those of these three inhuman races that people meet tend to be outcast - humans aren't welcome in the homes of inhumans, bare a few exceptions. This is because I want Inhumans to be just that: not humans. Not fancy people but a parody, a facade of human-ness with nothing like us besides the veil.

That is, Monsters.

I've come to terms with having humanoid monsters in my game, it's unescapable, but I want none of them to feel like [human culture]+[pointy ears], so they operate under a different set of rules. If the world is a post-apocalyptic/sci-fi Vancian-style earth with medieval trappings and a realistic outlook when it comes to human, the Inhumans are fairy tale stories given form. Also you don't get to play as them unless you convince me otherwise.