Golemgame:Setting

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==Warforged==

Before the golem war had taken a turn for the worse, the dwarves were working on an assassin just like their Namoki rivals, only instead of flesh and blood, they turned their knowledge of golemcraft towards this task. The result of this research was a dozen metal dwarves, all twelve in various stages of completion. While they could obey simple commands, these creatures (dubbed battle-forged) could not adapt to changing circumstances quickly enough to be effective assassins, and were far too expensive to produce en masse for use in the field. It was decided by the Dwarven Elders that the project be scrapped, and funding be directed to the Namoki assassin program, which was yielding considerable results by this point.

-

Dwarven sentimentalism for their work being what it was, the battle-forged were given a warrior's burial, loaded into a boat that was then put out to sea and set ablaze. It is not known whether the battle-forged were able to put out the fire, or had merely washed up on some distant shores. What remains fact, however, is that shortly before the end of the war, several scouts from both nations reported "miniature Golems" wandering the countryside, as near as the rivers of the Tapestry, and as far as the easternmost reaches of the continent. When comparing these reports to the research of the dwarves, it is clear that the units were heavily modified, and by different hands - the nearer warforged were made taller and slimmer than their prototypes, with protruding arrays of devices and various grafted instruments, while those found further away were often considerably larger, with bodies of wood rather than metal. Some of these latter ones were even said to be able to speak, which didn't save them from annihilation but earned them a footnote in the history books.

+

Dwarven sentimentalism for their work being what it was, the battle-forged were given a warrior's burial, loaded into a boat that was then put out to sea and set ablaze. It is not known whether the battle-forged were able to put out the fire, or had merely washed up on some distant shores. What remains fact, however, is that shortly before the end of the war, several scouts from both nations reported "miniature Golems" wandering the countryside, as near as the rivers of the Tapestry, and as far as the easternmost reaches of the continent. When comparing these reports to the research of the dwarves, it is clear that the units were heavily modified, and by different hands - the nearer warforged were made taller and slimmer than their prototypes, with protruding arrays of devices and various grafted instruments, while those found further away were often considerably larger, with bodies of wood rather than metal. Some of these latter ones were even said to be able to speak, which didn't save them from annihilation but earned them a footnote in the history books.

+

Intelligent warforged appeared relatively recently - probably the machinations of some secluded dwarven engineer determined to finish his people's work, though the 'forged themselves are mum about it. Thanks to largely their own efforts, many of the older prototypes have also been brought online and upgraded to near the modern level of functionality. Still, the world has fewer than 100 functioning warforged, and no permanent community of them exists. They are almost universally despised, but few adventurers feel that way about warforged. To them, the warforged are the same as any other artifact they hunt after, though one deluded into thinking that it's a real boy. Most adventuring parties will thus tolerate and even humour warforged companions, but one in a position of leadership anywhere would be pretty much unthinkable.

+

To the dwarven people specifically, warforged represent both a grim reminder of the war, and the once mighty tradition of dwarven artifice. Depending on how much the particular dwarf cares about his past compared to his present, their reception might be warmer than usual, even if they will almost certainly want to take the warforged apart "just a little bit" to see what's inside.

+

==Feral Humanoids==

The very first ferals were discovered in Faradan - mutated and vicious animals born of the inscrutable jungles. In rare cases, condition seemed to be contagious - and very swiftly fatal - to the elves of Faradan. Bas-Karakat transmuters spent many resources kidnapping infected creatures and elves and studying them, and eventually managed to reduce the condition from a rapid, violent and eventually fatal transformation to a gradual hereditary growth that resulted in a powerful, resilient and cunning soldier that was jokingly termed Knives, for their slight build when compared to the Orc warriors that composed the bulk of the armed forces. While the majority of these Knives were deployed immediately, the most promising specimens remained in the labs for further testing. The results of that research were forever lost when the lab itself was burned to the ground by enemy saboteurs.

-

When it became clear that the war was lost by both sides, most of the Knives defected immediately, trying to blend in with the many refugees that were fleeing the warzones. Many of the others felt naturally drawn to Faradan, from where their breed originally came, and vanished into the jungles there. A rare handful of particularly devoted Knives continued the war, striking out at what they perceived as priority targets and stomping out what little remained of most wizarding traditions, as well as relentlessly tracking down the assassins of the Agan Empire. Without any source of intelligence, however, the reign of these marauders was blissfully short.

+

When it became clear that the war was lost by both sides, most of the Knives defected immediately, trying to blend in with the many refugees that were fleeing the warzones. Many of the others felt naturally drawn to Faradan, from where their breed originally came, and vanished into the jungles there. A rare handful of particularly devoted Knives continued the war, striking out at what they perceived as priority targets and stomping out what little remained of most wizarding traditions, as well as relentlessly tracking down the assassins of the Agan Empire. Without any source of intelligence, however, the reign of these marauders was blissfully short.

+

Those Knives that returned to Faradan did not find a pleasant welcome. Elven communities despise them - they are twice-hated as both tools of those that brought about the collapse of the world, and carriers of the feral curse that still ravages Faradan's more remote corners. Descendants of the Knives can find gainful employment almost anywhere else, however, as they still make exceptional soldiers.

+

==Dragons and Dragonborn==

+

Dragons were once an ancient and powerful race, and more than one Golem was forged in their image to honour that power. However, the dragons themselves could not accept that their place at the top of the food chain would be compromised by these automatons, and pridefully fought a war of their own, practically to extinction. At the end of this struggle, the craftier dragons that remained began enlisting humans from the minor nations into their crusade, transforming them into dragonborn through a secret ritual in return for fealty. Blessed with exceptional life spans as a side effect of the transformation, the dragonborn remained long after their draconic masters were wiped out to the last.

+

When their masters did not return, some dragonborn would loot the hoards they were left to protect and flee, while others stayed behind in vain hopes that their dragon would eventually come back. The more powerful dragons who crated the most dragonborn had left behind enormous sprawling caves where a handful of village-sized dragonborn communities are thought to exist today. Hunting for lost hoards is, for this reason, a very dangerous proposition - a clutch of firebreathing opponents is a hell of a surprise when you were expecting an empty cavern full of treasure.

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@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 ==Warforged==
 Before the golem war had taken a turn for the worse, the dwarves were working on an assassin just like their Namoki rivals, only instead of flesh and blood, they turned their knowledge of golemcraft towards this task. The result of this research was a dozen metal dwarves, all twelve in various stages of completion. While they could obey simple commands, these creatures (dubbed battle-forged) could not adapt to changing circumstances quickly enough to be effective assassins, and were far too expensive to produce en masse for use in the field. It was decided by the Dwarven Elders that the project be scrapped, and funding be directed to the Namoki assassin program, which was yielding considerable results by this point.<br>
-Dwarven sentimentalism for their work being what it was, the battle-forged were given a warrior's burial, loaded into a boat that was then put out to sea and set ablaze. It is not known whether the battle-forged were able to put out the fire, or had merely washed up on some distant shores. What remains fact, however, is that shortly before the end of the war, several scouts from both nations reported "miniature Golems" wandering the countryside, as near as the rivers of the Tapestry, and as far as the easternmost reaches of the continent. When comparing these reports to the research of the dwarves, it is clear that the units were heavily modified, and by different hands - the nearer warforged were made taller and slimmer than their prototypes, with protruding arrays of devices and various grafted instruments, while those found further away were often considerably larger, with bodies of wood rather than metal. Some of these latter ones were even said to be able to speak, which didn't save them from annihilation but earned them a footnote in the history books.
+Dwarven sentimentalism for their work being what it was, the battle-forged were given a warrior's burial, loaded into a boat that was then put out to sea and set ablaze. It is not known whether the battle-forged were able to put out the fire, or had merely washed up on some distant shores. What remains fact, however, is that shortly before the end of the war, several scouts from both nations reported "miniature Golems" wandering the countryside, as near as the rivers of the Tapestry, and as far as the easternmost reaches of the continent. When comparing these reports to the research of the dwarves, it is clear that the units were heavily modified, and by different hands - the nearer warforged were made taller and slimmer than their prototypes, with protruding arrays of devices and various grafted instruments, while those found further away were often considerably larger, with bodies of wood rather than metal. Some of these latter ones were even said to be able to speak, which didn't save them from annihilation but earned them a footnote in the history books.<br>
+Intelligent warforged appeared relatively recently - probably the machinations of some secluded dwarven engineer determined to finish his people's work, though the 'forged themselves are mum about it. Thanks to largely their own efforts, many of the older prototypes have also been brought online and upgraded to near the modern level of functionality. Still, the world has fewer than 100 functioning warforged, and no permanent community of them exists. They are almost universally despised, but few adventurers feel that way about warforged. To them, the warforged are the same as any other artifact they hunt after, though one deluded into thinking that it's a real boy. Most adventuring parties will thus tolerate and even humour warforged companions, but one in a position of leadership anywhere would be pretty much unthinkable.<br>
+To the dwarven people specifically, warforged represent both a grim reminder of the war, and the once mighty tradition of dwarven artifice. Depending on how much the particular dwarf cares about his past compared to his present, their reception might be warmer than usual, even if they will almost certainly want to take the warforged apart "just a little bit" to see what's inside.
 ==Feral Humanoids==
 The very first ferals were discovered in Faradan - mutated and vicious animals born of the inscrutable jungles. In rare cases, condition seemed to be contagious - and very swiftly fatal - to the elves of Faradan. Bas-Karakat transmuters spent many resources kidnapping infected creatures and elves and studying them, and eventually managed to reduce the condition from a rapid, violent and eventually fatal transformation to a gradual hereditary growth that resulted in a powerful, resilient and cunning soldier that was jokingly termed Knives, for their slight build when compared to the Orc warriors that composed the bulk of the armed forces. While the majority of these Knives were deployed immediately, the most promising specimens remained in the labs for further testing. The results of that research were forever lost when the lab itself was burned to the ground by enemy saboteurs.<br>
-When it became clear that the war was lost by both sides, most of the Knives defected immediately, trying to blend in with the many refugees that were fleeing the warzones. Many of the others felt naturally drawn to Faradan, from where their breed originally came, and vanished into the jungles there. A rare handful of particularly devoted Knives continued the war, striking out at what they perceived as priority targets and stomping out what little remained of most wizarding traditions, as well as relentlessly tracking down the assassins of the Agan Empire. Without any source of intelligence, however, the reign of these marauders was blissfully short.
+When it became clear that the war was lost by both sides, most of the Knives defected immediately, trying to blend in with the many refugees that were fleeing the warzones. Many of the others felt naturally drawn to Faradan, from where their breed originally came, and vanished into the jungles there. A rare handful of particularly devoted Knives continued the war, striking out at what they perceived as priority targets and stomping out what little remained of most wizarding traditions, as well as relentlessly tracking down the assassins of the Agan Empire. Without any source of intelligence, however, the reign of these marauders was blissfully short.<br>
+Those Knives that returned to Faradan did not find a pleasant welcome. Elven communities despise them - they are twice-hated as both tools of those that brought about the collapse of the world, and carriers of the feral curse that still ravages Faradan's more remote corners. Descendants of the Knives can find gainful employment almost anywhere else, however, as they still make exceptional soldiers.
+==Dragons and Dragonborn==
+Dragons were once an ancient and powerful race, and more than one Golem was forged in their image to honour that power. However, the dragons themselves could not accept that their place at the top of the food chain would be compromised by these automatons, and pridefully fought a war of their own, practically to extinction. At the end of this struggle, the craftier dragons that remained began enlisting humans from the minor nations into their crusade, transforming them into dragonborn through a secret ritual in return for fealty. Blessed with exceptional life spans as a side effect of the transformation, the dragonborn remained long after their draconic masters were wiped out to the last.<br>
+When their masters did not return, some dragonborn would loot the hoards they were left to protect and flee, while others stayed behind in vain hopes that their dragon would eventually come back. The more powerful dragons who crated the most dragonborn had left behind enormous sprawling caves where a handful of village-sized dragonborn communities are thought to exist today. Hunting for lost hoards is, for this reason, a very dangerous proposition - a clutch of firebreathing opponents is a hell of a surprise when you were expecting an empty cavern full of treasure.