New Player's Guide

The World

• This section will give you a concise overview of the world in which the RPG is played.

History

Ancient History

The ancient history of the world of Shadow Star begins with understanding the creation myth. In summary, the mother goddess, Irotana, created Calacia, and then birthed five children in this order: Tyrea (goddess of Earth), Aeryon (god of Air), Laugar (god of Water), Claeryn (god of Fire), and Nameless One|The Nameless One (goddess of Chaos). These gods created species for each of their own realm, and in the very beginnings, each realm warred against the other in the Realm Wars, though the specifics of such an ancient event have been forgotten.

The creations made by the goddess of Chaos were seen as abominations, and the gods of earth, air, fire, and water banded together against the forces of their youngest sibling Chaos. A great war broke out against the forces of Chaos, and in the struggle the gods of earth, air, fire, and water created the druids and bond creatures to aid in the fight, and the goddess of Chaos made her own bond creatures to answer those of her siblings. The battle between the forces of Chaos and the rest of Irotana's children has continued for an entire age, and the battle continues even today, most often between the isle of Shadow Star and the isle of Chaos.

Pre-Game Modern History

Four hundred years ago (before the start of the game), the island of Shadow Star was plunged into the Age of Darkness when King Shantor was killed by his brother Tairan, who had defected to Chaos, and allowed Chaos to reign over Shadow Star. Seven years before the start of the game, the Age of Darkness ended when King Ryntan took the throne, having been educated by the old druid Marcan, and under Ryntan's rule Chaos was thrust out of Shadow Star.

In the 7 years that followed (before our present game began), royal bonds reemerged, and the goddess Irotana bestowed a telepathic Link upon the top-ranking royals of the four realms so that Shadow Star would never be left without checks and balances between royalty. The Avenging War then took place as Chaos attempted to regain Shadow Star, and though King Ryntan was killed during this war, Chaos did not succeed.

And although the threat of Chaos continues to loom, Shadow Star looks forward, led by the realms of the Royal Council, to climb further out of the Age of Darkness that had hold on them for four centuries.

Recent History

Year One (2000)

As the kingdom continued out of the Age of Darkness, a mysterious call from afar caused the air dragons to desert Shadow Star, and the bond creatures that returned and replaced then were ryuuki.

Shortly thereafter, the Chaosian chimera Deligere led a Chaosian attack against Shadow Star. Later named the Second Avenging War, the Unitarians successfully defended Shadow Star against the Chaosians.

Year Three (2002)

Later, a group of four Chaosians called the New Order, four powerful mages, then led attacks on Cascadia Falls, wreaking havoc on Shadow Star. They were defeated and sent to the other side of Calacia to disappear.

After this began a complicated plot about Irotana's brother, Void, threatening her life. Through some strange plot twists and many things that didn't make much sense, somehow Void was defeated and Irotana was okay. ((Continued into years four and five))

Year Four (2003)

A powerful Chaosian mage cast a spell over Shadow Star that raised the dead, causing the land to crawl with legions of skeletons. Several villages were completely wiped out, sending many refugees to Cascadia, which thankfully managed to hold off the undead army.

Year Five (2004)

All seemed to be peaceful, when suddenly the land dragons of Shadow Star were called to a distant place as the air dragons had been before them. What eventually returned to Shadow Star to replace the land dragons were the kyuushi.

Year Six (2005)

Fire King Shasten was married and expecting a child, and Water King Jerry as well was expecting an heir, and things seemed peaceful. But Shasten's wife was found dead, and Jerry's lover went missing (in actuality they were both the Chaosian High Demonlady Kurai in disguise).

At the same time the royal ryuuki Kaelith became deathly ill and the air queen Nikolia was pregnant by mysterious means (both done by Her Justice Mahja Ris). After the bonding in which Rujko bonded royal flamecat Cvetenal, Shasten was found to have committed suicide and his bond soon followed.

Very shortly thereafter, Water King Jerry, with a long-standing emnity for the Dispassionate Man, became convinced that his lover had been working for the Dispassionate Man and that it was also his doing that she disappeared. Because the Dispassionate Man disappeared from existence (following another long, complicated storyline which totally created a time paradox -_-), Water King Jerry became crazed for revenge and tracking the former Thieves Guildmaster down.

The Water King threw the underground in turmoil as he ordered the Water Knights and Water Guards to round up thieves, and the Wolfpack, a freelancer gang, helped to find and torture these Guilders. Because the Dispassionate Man was nowhere to be found, the Thieves Guild disbanded among extreme infighting and arrests made by Water realm knights.

For a time, dangerous gangs banded together and ruled the streets, making it unsafe in Cascadia Falls at night. With many thieves eager to take over, Kaiose, the leader of the gang called the Reapers took on a gang of former Thieves Guilders led by a thief called Black Wynd. After an intense final battle, the former Thieves Guilders won and began building a new Guild led by a Guildmaster called the Patient Man.

A conspiracy was uncovered in the Knight's Guild after the Knight Guildmaster died under mysterious circumstances and the barracks themselves were attacked by a group of hired thieves. These assassins were found to have been hired by the Knight Council, and the Patrol put them under arrest. It took some doing, but a new Knight Council was elected soon after.

Year Seven (2006)

On Firstday of this year, a group of Chaosian Thieves and Hands attacked Cascadia Falls during the celebrations. At the same time, the Chaos Council confronted the Unitarian Royal Council, when High Demonlady Kurai revealed she had been King Jerry's lover and (now-dead) King Shasten's wife. This was a test of the new fire king's abilities, and the Unitarians managed to defeat the attack on Firstday.

Unbeknownst to the Royal Council at the time, on Firstday Oceanica was also attacked, but fell to the attack and Chaos took over the major port.

Camp Black Rock was soon after attacked by Chaosian Thieves and all of the criminals incarcerated there were freed.

Many events soon culminated in a large-scale attack by Chaosian forces at Cascadia Falls. Although the battle ensued for hours, eventually the Unitarians were victorious.

About a month later, the former Knight Council (who had been arrested, incarcerated, and then freed from Black Rock) came back and abducted the new Knight Guildmaster and a new Council Knight, taking them to still-Chaosian-occupied Oceanica. This spurred a Unitarian march against the Chaosian forces in the city, and Unity forced the Chaosians out of the port city and off of Shadow Star Island.

After the forces of Unity defeated the forces of Chaos, news soon came from the Isle of Chaos that High Demonlady Kurai was dead, and Her Justice Mahja Ris had taken over as the new High Demonlord.

Although it seemed that the activity and attacks from Chaos had died down, Chaosian Thieves seemed to have gained power, infiltrating much of Shadow Star Island. Chaosian Thieves have been named responsible for the death of royal flamecat kitten as well as repeated attempts on the lives of Royal Council members.

Most recently, the Patient Man has disappeared, and a new, more ruthless Guildmaster known as the Saint has taken over.

Top

The Gods and Goddesses

Irotana

• The Mother Goddess, the Creator goddess, goddess of all natural realms
• Depicted as a silver and white unicorn
• Most powerful of the pantheon, but neutral in all things

Tyrea

• First born daughter of Irotana
• Goddess of Land realm
• Depicted as a gray and silver wolf
• Patron goddess of fertility
• Extremely protective, slow to punish, but very powerful; often portrayed as a stubborn goddess, requiring extreme tradition in her worship

Aeryon

• Second born son of Irotana
• God of Air realm
• Depicted as a large white gyrfalcon
• Patron god of birds and music
• Swift and decisive, powerful in the fact that air can affect all other realms, but tends to be more reclusive, only acting when he absolutely must; values strength and self-control in his followers

Laugar

• Third-born son of Irotana
• God of Water realm
• Depicted as a blue and green water dragon
• Patron god of alcohol
• Mellow, laid back, accepting, he is slow to anger but quite powerful when roused

Claeryn

• Fourth-born son of Irotana
• God of Fire realm
• Depicted as a phoenix
• Patron god of sex and passion
• Hot-tempered, but more often gentle and warm-hearted with quite a sense of humor; said to be closest to Chaos of the Unitarian gods, perhaps because of a kind of understanding stemming from the destructive nature of the fire realm

The Nameless One

• Fifth-born daughter of Irotana
• Goddess of Chaos realm
• Depicted as a woman with dead-pale skin, long black hair, and red eyes with gold irises
• Whimsical and capricious, vicious, bloodthirsty, malicious, devious and demanding, she interacts with her realm more actively than any other; it takes a great deal to please her or gain her favor, and it usually does not last
• Her true name is lost to history, but she is often called the following: The Nameless One, Chaos, and the Dark Lady

Geography

Calacia

• The world in which the Shadow Star RPG takes place, much like our Earth in climate and seasons
• The sun rises in the west and sets in the east; the planet rotates the opposite direction of Earth
• Calacia has two moons, Luaris and Siraul

Shadow Star Island

• A large island on the planet Calacia, roughly the size of Georgia, surrounded by the Sea of Burunn'e.
• The place in which Unitarians have built up their kingdom
• The Sierac Range is the mountainous backbone on the island's western side
• Three rivers run west to east across the island: the Cascade, the Koir, and Nral
• Among the many villages, there are four major cities: Star Scape, Kiridia, Oceanica, and Cascadia Falls

• Cascadia Falls is named so because of the a waterfall where the Cascade river runs off a cliff where it meets the city
• Contains the palace of the four realms and Unitarian royalty as well as being the center of Shadow Star's government
• It has been built very defensively, nestled against steep, tall cliffs and ringed on the eastern side by a tall, thick wall
• The sprawl of the city falls from west to east, with upper-class places located closer to the palace, which is at the westernmost point
• Between 30,000 and 50,000 people live within its walls; this number increases during wartime, when country refugees flee to the city
• The main Guild halls reside here (Knight, Artisan, Bard, Druid, Healer and Mage Guildhalls)
• Crime is still a major issue here, and an underground Thieves Guild exists
• The city is divided into many districts, each with a unique quality (for more information on districts, please go here)

• A major city north of Cascadia, almost at the very northern end of the Sierac Mountain Range
• A lot of mining and smithing occurs here, and it is home to many dwarves and gnomes
• The finest jewelry and weapons come from Kiridia

• Sea town on the west coast of Shadow Star Island, a major source of economic wealth
• Home to seadogs, fishermen, bards, many merchants, crooks and swindlers
• Guild halls present include a Healer Guildhall, a Knight Guildhall (containing a small branch of the Patrol), a small Bard Guildhall (specializing in sea songs and culture)
• As a major point on the trade route, Oceanica is extremely diverse, as well as subject to a lot of crime; a smaller underground Thieves Guild related to the one in Cascadia has started up here
• Control much of the trade of Shadow Star, both between the Island and with outside traders from Mat'cel, Sacoridia and even the Isle of Chaos itself

• A long-dormant volcano-turned-city honeycombed with many passages and rooms carved out centuries ago
• During the Age of Darkness, was the center of Chaosian government
• The main hall has a a large freshwater spring that supplies the entire city
• It holds smaller branches of all of the Guilds from Cascadia Falls

The Isle of Chaos

• About the size of Earth's Oahu, Chaos is an arid desert of an island, barren and rough, strewn with huge rocks
• Sparse plant life on its surface consists of dzuku, a creeping, fast-growing vine
• Infrequent plots of crops can also be found, often raised by thieves as a side source of income (Poppies grow the best, propelling the underground drug trade to Shadow Star)
• The shores of Chaos Isle alternate between coves of sand and steep cliffs pockmarked by innumerable caves
• A dormant volcano contains the city of Dralche is on its slopes and its underground levels

• The main city of the Isle of Chaos, containing Chaosian royalty and government as well as its citizens, levels of Dralche continue deep underground, with the most powerful Chaosians living closer to the surface
• Nightfall has little difference on the activity of the city both aboveground and below; business and pleasure proceed practically around the clock (though demons typically favor daytime and vampires the night)
• Aboveground, there is a towering castle in which the royals and highest in the government reside
• Demons own most of the land aboveground, vampires also own a good portion of land (but due to their weakness to sunlight, they tend not to use or own as much), nahgam own a small portion of land aboveground as well
• The upper levels of the underground are most typically occupied by the middle-class of Chaos; usually nahgam and Unitarian defects, which make up a substantial part of the Chaosian population (many are Justices, Thieves, Hands, or civilians)
• The middle levels are largely for agricultural purposes. The staple food of the Isle of Chaos is a fungus called qarnak, and an animal called a jituq
• The lower levels are little more than pits of mud and rock, occupied mostly by orcs, ogres, and trolls, who don't apparently mind the lack of creature comforts; these are the lowest levels inhabited, pitch black except for an occasional flickering magelight, damp, and covered with maaosu (a delicious-smelling moss that is terribly poisonous), the prisons which are kept on these lowest level, a psychological torture on many levels.
• Below the lower levels, only a brave few have ventured down, and few return to tell about it; it is rumored that the Nameless Goddess herself lives in the deepest parts of the earth, and below are nameless creatures never seen by even the Chaos lords

Ablatas

• A very small island directly south of Chaos Isle, just off the eastern tip
• A supporting community for Chaos, it has a marginally better climate and land for farming, and also train units for the army
• The vast majority of the inhabitants are Unitarian defects, although there are a few families of nahgam as well
• Demons and vampires shun the place as inferior
• Its only city, barely large enough to be called as such, is named Shoku.

Other places

Mat'cel

• A large continent to the west of Shadow Star Island, largely unexplored
• It is sparsely populated by small villages of humanoids, such as humans and Amaane.

• A large continent to the east of Shadow Star, with a large encampment of Chaosians on its western shore
• A huge marsh known as the Marsh of Sacor seeps across its eastern half, making it difficult to inhabit by anyone
• Only recently have Chaosians been able to stake out a supply base on Sacoridia, one of the larger and more fertile continents close by; this is where metal, wood, stone, and food come from to better the lives of and strengthen the Chaosians

The People

Species

• The first step in creating a character in Shadow Star is to choose a species for your character to be.
• There are five realms that species associate with: Air, Land, Fire, and Water (who follow the goddess Irotana and are 'Unitarians') and Chaos (whose species follow the goddess of Chaos, the Nameless One).

Top

Guilds and Occupations

• The next step in creating your character is to decide exactly what it is they do for a living!

Unitarian Guilds

• There are several ranks in every guild except the Thieves' Guild, which has its own ranking.

• Artisans
• Bards
• Druids
• Healers
• Knights
• Mages
• Thieves

Chaosian Occupations

• Chaosian Thieves
• Civilians
• Hands of the Goddess
• Justices
• Mages
• Messengers

Top

Bonds

• Bond creatures are magical creatures created by the gods to aid in the battle between Unity and Chaos.
• Bonding is a strong empathic and telepathic bond between a bond creature and one of our game's species.
• Unitarians bond with Unitarian bond creatures, Chaosians bond with Chaosian bond creatures. A Unitarian character does not need to bond within their species's realm (ie, a merperson does not have to have a water realm bond).

Top

Miscellaneous

• Magic
• Religion
• Glossary
• Culture

 Create your own free wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS