Magic and Technology

Terath is a world in which magic and technology have developed side by side. In general, it has a much more `medieval' flavor than a technological one, however. Since magic is generally looked to to perform most of the functions that technology performs in our society, such as household "power", long-distance communication and transport, technology has never been taken very seriously. "Straight" or non-magically aided technology is pretty well limited to utilitarian applications like agricultural machines and cargo transport, using steam engines. Some factories do exist to produce mass-market items like wooden furniture, metal and stone building supplies, and some food products that require lengthy processing (such as flour), but the majority of consumable products are either handcrafted individually or produced by one of the Merchant Guilds or Houses. The role of the Guilds and the Greathouses is discussed later in the Background.

Magic is used to perform a number of functions. Almost all major medicine and healing is done magically, except for minor medicine, which is handled by the local alchemist or herbalist. Although the principles of electricity have been discovered, magic has just about made it obsolete. Wealthy houses are usually lit by a spelled glow-globe; middle-class houses by a blown glass "lamp" that uses a magically charged crystal to generate electricity; poor houses by candles. All long-distance communication is done by magical means. Magic is also used to a fair extent in the judicial system, although the majority of the City Guard or similar "police" force would be strictly physical in most cities. Magic would primarily be invoked to scry out wrongdoers and detect lies in a subject under interrogation.

The Role of Magic in War

The majority of the offensive and defensive technology is purely physical, and has not progressed beyond the sword and bow. The reason for this is that it has been eternally easier to hire a magic-user to cast a few fireballs than it is to spend time tinkering with the technology that might have led to firearms. Gunpowder and some explosive bomb-type devices do exist, but they are fairly crude at this point, and tend to be dangerous to the wielder. A typical conflict, whether between the City Guard and a rioting mob, two opposing cities, or a city and a raider horde would involve mostly physical troops (a good percentage of them from one of the Mercenary Guilds) and a few mages casting their various offensive spells. Mages hired from the single, centralized Mage's Guild will refuse to cast spells on one another, instead concentrating on the body of the opposing troops. Magic items, except for very minor and practical-use ones, are NOT tremendously common on Terath, and few of them will be found anywhere at any price. Those who do have them, hoard them.

Technology

Straight technology has progressed in most areas to a rough equivalent of Europe in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Steam engines powered mostly by coal do exist and are used in mass cargo transport, factories, and agricultural development. Personal transport is still generally by horse, kysk or cart. Most of the Merchant Greathouses, as well as several of the larger Guilds, own one or more steam engine powered cargo ships.

Electricity is used mostly in conjunction with magic, and is considered more of an occasionally useful curiosity than a necessity. Some large Guildhouses (notably, the Mage's Guildhouses and the Thieves' Guild of Reshor) have magic-aided electric generators and are powered largely by electricity, but this is a rarity. Many middle-class homes have a kind of electric lamp that runs on an inexpensive magical "battery". In general, fire in the form of lamps, candles and fireplaces is still used to heat and light most houses.

The few factories that do exist are fairly small. The largest of them is the Llurd-based factory of the Vis Appella Guild, which renders blocks of limestone and other materials purchased from the Miner's Guild into cement for building, which is exported primarily by the Merchants' Guild. Several smaller factories spread across the continents of Terath and Aamon do basically the same thing. There also exist smaller factories for the production of other basic materials, such as timber and steel. Steel is a fairly rare and expensive commodity on Terath, somewhat less rare on nearby Aamon, and extremely rare on the desert continent of Revan. The majority of the steel produced goes to weaponsmiths rather than builders, because of its high cost. A few small factories exist to smelt other metals, but in general, a large proportion of smelting and metal production has been monopolized by several of the craft families in the Merchant House Viridis, located in the city of Viridian on Aamon.

Magic aided technology is somewhat more common, and has progressed to an astounding level. In Ilmeth and its sister city Llurd, which are more industrially oriented than most cities on Terath, magic-aided hovercraft are fairly common, if quite expensive.

Economy

Food

Food production is handled primarily by the Merchant Guilds. The major Merchant Guild in any given city will own about 60% - 80% of the arable land outside the city, and will produce a good percentage of the city's food. Typical foods include grains, a wide range of starchy and flavorful roots, nutritious greens, and meat. Domesticated animals include the typical cattle, horses, sheep, goats and chickens, as well as other creatures. Many of the larger cities breed kysk, huge six-legged lizards, for their many uses. They can be tamed to riding or to dray duty, and any Merchant House larger than a single family or gens will have at least one kysk-drawn dray cart. Several other species of kysk, including a version no bigger than a domestic dog, are widely used for their meat and their tough, leathery gray hide. Cities with enough enclosed forest area often maintain herds of cybuck, an unusual species of deer with a single enlarged eye in the center of their foreheads. There is a fair-sized market for exotic furs and variety meats in most cities, enough so that the profession of hunter/trapper is a fairly common one. Semi- domesticated animals, which are maintained on land protected by the city, include chevral, a type of wild goat, and harnbuck, an huge, black-pelted member of the deer family. Only hunters and trappers licensed by the city to sell their furs and meats are allowed to hunt in the protected forests.

About 70% - 80% of a typical citizen's diet comes from Merchant Guild produce. The rest is purchased either from individuals such as professional hunters, smaller Merchant Houses, and even smaller dealers on the street "convenience" markets, small produce stands that usually supplement their income by offering cooked food. Many citizens, especially peasant types, maintain small gardens or several meat and dairy animals.

Crafts and Commerce

The majority of the goods in a typical home are handcrafted. Almost all household ceramic and pottery goods are either produced by a small Merchant House or even a single family, in a small town. White clay is available in abundance around most rivers, and a fair number of poorer folk simply make their own baked dishes and crockery. Eating prongs and sups are either carved of wood or made of beaten copper or silver. Furniture, generally made of wood, is commonly mass-produced. Factory-made furniture is most popular in the middle class, as both poor and rich families will have hand-carved furniture.

Glass is quite a luxury item, and is produced by the Temesius Guild. Due to the high temperatures needed to produce good glass, the production is usually though not always magic-aided. In the case of the Temesius Guild, located primarily in Ilmeth, they have captured and chained a red dragon to their furnaces, or so they claim. The translucent scales of the lampfish, an armored, deep-sea creature, usually serve for windows in place of the more expensive glass. These scales are distributed mainly by the Merchant Houses, most notably House Wyrm and House Hawkwood.

The Guild of Vis Appella controls the manufacture and distribution of ceramic piping and cement, for both agricultural irrigation and plumbing. They also supply the Builders' Guild with cement for building foundations. Most houses, except the very poorest, will have plumbing. The wealthier houses will have copper piping, and the poorer houses might have to rely on crude ditches. All major cities and towns will have cement irrigation canals. The Guild of Vis Appella deals regularly with the Miner's Guild for their supply of clay and stone for powdering. They have branches in almost all major cities, but their Founding Branch is in Llurd.

The Karmac Guild produces cloth and clothing. They purchase the raw produce of cotton, temgrass, weaveleaf, spidersilk, and other materials from the Merchants' Guild, who generally either produces it directly or purchases it from individual farmers. They produce mostly bolts of cloth, with some finished clothing as well. They have branches in several major cities (Ilmeth, Llurd, and Midland, as well as Tharquan and Derleth on the continent of Aamon), but no Founding Branch. This Guild grew out of an alliance of a number of clothworking Merchant Houses. The Merchants' Guild generally handles their distribution.

The Guilds and Houses

The socioeconomic structure of Terath is based on the Guilds and Houses. The Guilds are generally specific to a craft or profession. They produce neccesary goods and services. The Merchant Houses take Guild-produced items and distribute them, selling them across the three major continents. The largest Guilds are, in order, the single Mages' Guild, the Builder's Guild, the several Thieves' Guilds, and the various Mercenaries' Guilds. The other Guilds are mostly craft and production oriented, and range in membership from 100 or so to several thousand at the largest. The largest guilds count from several thousand to fifty thousand among their membership.

The primary reason that the Mage's Guild is organized into a single body continent-wide is that they are the only group to have reliable long-distance communication. A few of the larger Merchant Houses have simple two-way communication globes that function between their branches on Aamon and Terath, but no other groups are known to have any form of long-distance communication at all, making the consolidation of leadership impossible.

The two major Houses are House Wyrm and House Hawkwood. They purchase and distribute goods all over the three continents. They have established the largest and most efficient trade routes by land and sea, and control a large portion of the world's economy. They are headed respectively by the Humans Karl Verminuus and Thorn Hawkwood, who are bitter rivals in the cutthroat merchant trade.

Races and Cultures

Several thousand years ago, the dominant culture on Terath was Elvish. While the Humans were still swinging in the trees, the Elves were an ancient and established culture. For several hundred years, just after Humans reached semi-civilized status, the Elves were the guiding force in Human culture. They guided and taught the Humans in the ways of magic and lore, but the Humans soon grew apart from them because of their essential divergence of culture. Humans believed in "having and holding" property, especially prime agricultural land, while Elves did not believe that anyone could possibly own the Mother Earth. Humans preferred close city dwelling, while Elves liked the open forest.

For a long time, the Humans followed the dominant religion of the Elves, that of Ashara and Aene (later known as Aeneor). The basic premise of the religion was that of an infinitely benevolent Earth Mother (Ashara) and an all-wise Sky Father (Aene). Because of its Elvish roots, much of the Human magic lore is still based on this tradition.

At one point, bloody war erupted between Humans and Elves over disputed land rights. The Land Wars, or the Eli'ya Nhar (Tears of the Trees) as the Elves have always called them, lasted for twenty years. Numerous battles and skirmishes took place between the Elves and Humans on Aamon, resulting in heavy losses and lasting prejudice on both sides. Finally arbitrated by Sihaya Hawkwood, the Hawkwood clan matriarch, the wars ended in an uneasy peace in 1693 Founding. It took several hundred years for the hatred to die down and for Elves and Humans to be able to live in relative peace with one another.

Other peoples include Orcs, hobbits, kender, dwarves, gnomes, trolls, goblins, and a number of other more or less humanoid races. Humans by far outnumber most of the other races, with Elves a distant second.

A new race created by the Mages' Guild in the 1800's is the 'Morphs. They are crossbreeds created through the genetic engineering of human and animal genes. The First Breed, the original results of the magical genetic tinering, proved surprisingly adaptable. Not only did they breed true 'Morphs, but they were frequently much stronger, smarter and faster than any human or animal, and they occasionally had unpredictable magical powers. The Guild was delighted; the general public was terrified; and the Breed themselves were resentful of their status as slaves. Predictably, the situation blew up about two hundred years later when the 'Morphs revolted. By that time, there were a lot more of them. Not only had the Guild been producing them in quantity, they had bred rapidly. The 'Morphs actually outnumbered the Guild at that point, and were naturally resentful of their status as "half-animals" and property. The bloody and hard-fought 'Morph Wars lasted two years and spanned three continents. The famed 'Morph general Lhiani, also known as the Prosthetic Fox for her numerous battle injuries and replacements, finally forced capitulation and terms on the Mages' Guild in 2036. 'Morphs were no longer automatically considered slaves, except for newly created First Breed. The Guild voluntarily restricted the creation of First Breed to a combination of the mage's own genes and that of an unaltered animal, to avoid creating any further Frankensteins that might turn against them. The 'Morphs organized themselves into Clans, by their genetic type. The most common 'Morph breeds, in order, are foxmorphs known as Vul, wolfmorphs, known as the Lup, catmorphs, known as Fel, and the bearmorphs, the Urs. Other 'Morphs include reptile 'Morphs, the usually less than successful bird 'Morphs, the occasional deer or horse 'Morph, and creatures of mixed genes. 'Morph statistics range in the extremes, from weak to incredibly strong, from unintelligent to genius level. Many 'Morphs have crossbred with other 'Morphs or with Humans to create some interesting species. In general, even if two 'Morphs of the same species cross for several generations, the succeeding generations will tend to look more and more human.

Needless to say, there is a great deal of strong prejudice against 'Morphs, mainly because of the unrestricted terrorism and bloody atrocities many of them committed during the Wars. Also, there is no way to tell a First Breed from any other 'Morph by sight, which makes the general public tend to be somewhat afraid of all 'Morphs.

Geography

There are three major continents on the world of Terath, at least that are currently explored: Revan, Aamon and Terath (also known as Harn). Terath is a twin sun/twin moon system, with consequently odd weather and tides.

Revan

Revan is a primarily desert continent. Like Aamon and Terath, it is dominated mostly by Humans. The people are known as the Revani, and are divided into three distinct groups: the desert nomads, the city dwellers, and the nomad-raiders. The two nomad groups are organized into distinct tribes and clans, while the city dwellers are organized in Houses, much like the Merchant Houses of Aamon and Harn.

Revan is also the home of the famed Schools of SwordDancing. SwordDancing is a spectacular form of martial art that raises swordfighting to an art form. It incorporates acrobatic and gymnastic maneuvers, and was originally taught to Humans by the Mekkt, a naturally evolved felinoid race that inhabits the deep deserts of Revan.

All three cultures have subtly different codes of honor. SwordDancers tend to be city dwellers, and their codes have influenced the culture of the cities. They believe it is dishonorable to hide behind a shield or heavy armor, and certain schools (Sh'Kai only) do not use ranged weapons. They go armed at all times. City dwellers have a strong sense of property and territory.

Desert nomads have no sense of land ownership at all. They take their camels and other beasts to graze anywhere they want, although they usually pay peacefully any toll or tax requested for the privilege. They scorn city dwellers.

Desert raiders are the gypsies of the desert. They are strongly amoral, and have no sense of personal property at all. A common saying in raider culture is El Owfik El Sharmik, which translates roughly to, "If it is there, it is mine." Bands of them fight to see who will control the valuable grazing lands and the even more lucrative caravan trails, to exact the appropriate tolls from nomads or travelling merchants.

Revan produces three products of note: tharsh, kava, and mastersmithed weapons. Tharsh is a sweet, fermented beverage distilled from the fruit of the tharsi palm, a tree that thrives under remarkably harsh desert conditions. The fruit is small, brown and wrinkled, and is said to be the ugliest edible in the known world. The pulp as well as the seed of this ubiquitous plant is highly nutritions. Kava is a low-growing shrub that also thrives under hot, dry conditions. Its berries are highly toxic, but when properly roasted and aged, they yield a stimulating beverage that is a profitable export item, as it is pleasant and mildly addictive. Raw kava berries are also an ingredient in hype and sweat salt, two popular and dangerous stimulatory drugs. Consequently, it is illegal to export kava that has not been roasted and processed by licensed houses. Due to the unstable political climate of Revan, however, quite a bit of raw kava gets through anyways. Although Revan is metal-poor, there are several legendary Craft families who have passed down their secrets of forging for centuries. The most famous of the Revan blades are those forged of sky-iron, from a huge meteorite that fell in the deep desert hundreds of years ago. There are very few of these in existence, and those that come to light command insanely high prices.

There are two nonhuman cultures on Revan, the Mekkt and the Desert Elves. The Mekkt are a race of desert-adapted felinoids whose culture is based on a strict code of honor and hunting prowess. They are the original SwordDancers, incredibly strong and agile. They are not actively hostile towards Humans, but they do tend to overreact when a Human does or says something that they might consider insulting to their honor. The Mekkt range from 6'5" to 8' tall, mass about three to seven hundred pounds, and come in shades from pale beige to almost black. Mekkt cubs have complete manes, but upon reaching adulthood, the mane is cut into a distinct crest and dyed scarlet, blue, or some other vivid color. The purpose of this is to remove their natural advantage of camoflauge and put them on a more even footing with their prey. This is considered more honorable and "sporting."

Not much is known about the desert tribes of Elves. They look pretty much like other Elves, although they have somewhat darker, greyish complexions and tend to be smaller. They do enter the Human cities to trade their crafted and mined goods fairly often. Being desert-adapted, they can easily travel and mine the rare iron ore deposits in the deep desert, and some of their weaponsmiths are justifiably famous as far as Aamon and Harn.

The major cities on Revan are El Jhazeer and Haral, the port cities, and Koppa, the largest inland city. The majority of Revan is not settled, or at least not regularly settled, as it is dry and inhospitable. There are numerouns nomad camps and even small settlements around the various oases of Revan, however.

Politics

Revan is basically feudal, and in a constant state of war. Bandit chieftains often seize territory or even an entire city, to be deposed a few years later by a bigger and stronger bunch of bandits. A few cities are run by a Merchant Congress; the rest are held by force of arms.

Aamon

Aamon and Harn are two large continents connected by a land bridge. Aamon is the Northern land mass. It is much like America in climate, being fairly temperate with some extremes in a few areas. It is almost entirely Human dominated, but there is a very large population of Elves in the indigenous forests. A full gamut of other races and species also occurrs on Aamon.

The main cities on Aamon are Tharquan, Reshor, and Derleth, all Human cities. The majority of Aamon is developed, except for a large section of plainsland to the North, which is said to be the home of several different tribes of barbarians.

Politics

Mostly administered by Merchant Councils made up of representatives from the Great Houses. There is very little in the way of government, the reigning bodies mostly being concerned with proper tax collection so that they can pay the City Guard. The police force and the standing army are one and the same; and the pay is good enough that there are plenty of volunteers for the Guard ranks. They mostly punish murder and theft by enslavement for a short or long term, and use mages to scry out major wrongdoers. There is a (sort of) centralized government on Aamon, which mostly works out the details of merchant trade and tariffs. It is located in Viridian.

Terath

Terath is the Southern continent. Its climate is generally more tropical, and it has jungles as well as plains and forest terrain. Many unique and bizzare races inhabit Terath, including sentient eagles, lizardmen, and 'Morphs. There are a number of cities on Terath, but there is a fair amount of uninhabited jungle as well. There are many islands off the coast of Terath, some of the inhabited, some of them empty. The major cities of Terath are Ilmeth and Llurd.

Politics

Terath was feudal for a long time, and still retains some trace of that form of government. However, since about 1500, Terath has been to governed more and more by Merchant Council, since it has opened up its regular trade routes to Aamon. Terath, also known as Harn, has no centralized government at all. Individual cities are either administered by their local Merchant Council or by a benevolent dictatorship.

Money

Terath is a metal-poor world. Copper and silver are probably the most common metals, with iron being fairly rare and gold extremely so. Terath and Aamon have standardized the irii, orii, and aurii, which are pieces of copper, silver, and gold respectively. One copper irii has about the buying power of one dollar in American culture. Ten irii equals one orii or silver piece. Ten orii makes one aurii or gold piece. The uncommon steel piece is worth about eight to ten copper irii. In modern equivalents, the copper irii can buy one loaf of bread or one drink in a tavern, and is worth about $1. The silver orii can buy lodging in a cheap inn or a good meal in a tavern, and is the equivalent of $10. The gold aurii will buy adventurer's supplies for a large party, a poor to average quality horse, or a good steel knife, and is worth $100.

On Revan, the standard of currency is a gold crescent which can be divided into ten parts. The crescent is roughly equivalent to the aurii (it is actually worth about 9 silver) and each tenth part is roughly equivalent to a silver orii.

The price of an average sword is about ten gold. A used one might be bought for three or four, and a good one might go for about twenty. A master crafter sword would sell for thirty to several hundred gold. Good blades are expensive!

A typical peasant might earn between ten and twenty gold a year, living mostly off of his own crops. A low-class merchant or street vendor might take home about twenty to fifty gold a year. A middle-class merchant would make from a hundred to three hundred gold a year, and an upper-class merchant might make from three hundred to a thousand gold a year. In other words, gold does not flow like water on Terath. A typical adventurer should be grateful to find a ten or twenty gold pieces in a treasure, after fighting a fairly high level critter to get it. Think of a gold piece as being worth the equivalent of about a hundred bucks, and imagine how happy you'd be to find ten or twenty hundred dollar bills lying around. An adventurer should be pretty happy if he or she drags home a hundred gold or so on an expedition. That's $10,000, after all.

The Greater Guilds

The Mages Guild

Central Guildhouse: Llurd (Harn)
Other Guildhouses: Most large cities
Products/Services: Aid in administration, government, law enforcement, civil disputes. Guild-sanctioned enchantments and magicks are sold directly by the Guild, at Guild-monopoly prices, and woe betide the mage who sets up shop on his own.
Membership: All mages are encouraged (though not forced) to join. The Guild gives its members access to arcane lore through Guild teachers and the collective Guild Library, a powerful incentive for membership. It is estimated that the Mages' Guild has several hundred thousand sigil-carrying members, some more or less active in the Guild than others.

The Merchants Guild

Central Guildhouse: None, but Derleth is the largest.
Others: All cities
Products/Services: Takes raw goods (cotton, cloth, wood, steel, agricultural produce) and processes them to a certain extent before sale to further producers (other Guilds), other merchants (the Merchant Houses), or to end users (the consumer public). Standardizes prices, units of currency. Serves as administrative aid or even as government itself in many cities, which are administered by a central Merchant Council.
Membership: Actual Guild members number about fifty thousand, though most of the Merchant Houses are allied with the Merchants' Guild.

The Builders Guild

Central Guildhouse: Llurd (Harn)
Others: Ilmeth, Midland, Derleth
Products/Services: Contracts work gangs for construction of houses and building. Buys products from Vis Appella, Temesius, and the Merchants' Guild. Does some mining and quarrying with Vis Appella. The Midland Guildhouse specializes in wood and furniture, and employs woodwitches and other specialized mages and craftspeople to construct its goods.
Membership: Each Guildhouse handles from 2 to 7,000 workers. Unlike many Guilds, they do not maintain quarters for their members. Total membership is approximately 20,000.

The Mercenaries Guild

Central Guildhouse: None
Others: Many diverse houses in all major cities.
Products/Services: Rather than maintaining a standing army, many cities contract with their local Mercenaries' Guild for defense and guard work. Most Guilds are also available for hire in warfare.
Membership: Career mercenaries, whether fighters, mages, or stealth types tend to hold membership in one or more of the Mercenary Guilds. Although there is no centralized administration among the dozens of Guilds, there is a general brother and sisterhood among career mercenaries, as well as a formal agreement known as the Codex Bellicarum between the Guilds.