Characters knowledge

KRYN DYNASTY. The Kryn Dynasty is the dominant nation in Xhorhas. It was founded by a drow queen named Leylas Kryn, who fled the Underdark and the tyrannical rule of Lolth the Spider Queen along with her disciples. The Bright Queen still rules the dynasty centuries later, and its cities contain more than just drow. Orcs, goblinoids, tieflings, humans, and many others call the cities of the dynasty their home. Countless more denizens of the dynasty are nomads who roam the wastes in clans, hunting mastodons and other Xhorhasian megafauna.

JIGOW. This coastal settlement is actually a string of villages that are home to a collection of folk from all over Xhorhas. Goblin and orc clans founded Jigow, which explains why the settlement is governed by two elders—a goblin and an orc. The Aurora Watch (the military arm of the Kryn Dynasty) maintains a presence here, under the command of a drow called Taskhand Durth Mirimm. Townsfolk tend to be competitive, and friendly rivalries are commonplace. Most of Jigow’s residents live in a central region called the Jumble.

Neighborhoods…
* Meatwaters, main dock area on the shores of the Ifolon River.
* The Wetwalks, houses on stilts closest to the wetlands and marshes.
* The Jumble, densely populated among giant mangrove trees and houses on young horizonback tortoises.

Noteworthy locals…
* Durth Mirimm, Taskhand of the Aurora Watch, drow political liaison for Kryn Dynasty. (Think state sheriff.)
* Elder Ushru, orc tribal leader, civic and religious leader. (Think co-mayor.)
* Elder Colbu Kaz, goblin tribal leader, loves riddles and games. (Think co-mayor.)

THE LUXON. The official deity of the Kryn Dynasty, whose symbol appears on the nation’s heraldry, is the Luxon. This mysterious divine entity of light and rebirth has granted its faithful several esoteric secrets, the greatest of which is consecution—the act of preparing one’s soul for rebirth. Through consecution, some people within the Kryn Dynasty have lived many lifetimes, often in bodies different from the ones they were first born in. In the sequence of consecution, a drow might become a goblin, then be reborn as a bugbear, then an orc, and so on—all the while gaining greater knowledge about the world through their experiences. This process has no mechanical benefit, but players can make consecution and rebirth an interesting part of their characters’ backstories.

If a follower of the Luxon who has undergone the ritual of consecution dies within 100 miles of a Luxon beacon, their soul is ensnared by it and reincarnated within the body of a random Humanoid newborn within 100 miles of the beacon.

MYTHIC HISTORY: Proficiency in Religion or History automatically gets a character this knowledge…

Shortly after the gods formed the planet Exandria, Primordial titans attacked this new creation. A schism arose between those gods who wanted to abandon this world (those later called The Betrayer Gods) and those who stood to fight the elemental titans (those later called The Prime Deities). Some of the gods who would not fight even sided with the elemental Primordials and shared their fate when the Prime Deities were victorious, banishing their traitorous kin into secluded prison planes. These Betrayer Gods would remain restrained until the archmage Vespin Chloras freed them during the Age of Arcanum, setting off The Calamity of gods directly waging war across the mortal world. In the aftermath, the most lawful deities appeared before the City of Vasselheim (on the continent of Issylra) and announced a Divine Gate would block any god from manifesting directly on Exandria except through clerics and magical items later known as the Vestiges of Divergence.

THE PRIME DEITIES (who fought the Primordials)
* Avandra, The Change Bringer (CG) (Change, Freedom, Luck)
* Bahamut, The Platinum Dragon (LG) (Honor, Justice, Good Dragons)
* Corellon, The Arch Heart (CG) (Art, Beauty, Elves)
* Erathis, The Law Bearer (LN) (Civilization, Law, Peace)
* Ioun, The Knowing Mentor (N) (Knowledge, Learning, Teaching)
* Kord, The Storm Lord (CN) (Battle, Competition, Storms)
* Melora, The Wild Mother (N) (Seas, Wilderness)
* Moradin, The All-Hammer (LG) (Craft, Creation, Dwarves)
* Pelor, The Dawnfather (NG) (Healing, Sun)
* Sarenrae, The Everlight (NG) (Atonement, Compassion)
* Sehanine, The Moon Weaver (CG) (Illusion, Moonlight, Night, Wood Elves)
* The Raven Queen, The Matron of Death (LN) (Death, Fate, Winter)

THE BETRAYER GODS (who refused to fight the Primordials)
* Asmodeus, The Lord of the Nine Hells (LE) (Political Power, Devils)
* Bane, The Strife Emperor (LE) (Conquest, Tyranny)
* Gruumsh, The Ruiner (CE) (Slaughter, Warfare, Orcs)
* Lolth, The Spider Queen (CE) (Deceit, Spiders, underdark Drow)
* Tharizdun, The Chained Oblivion (CE) (Darkness, Destruction)
* Tiamat, The Scaled Tyrant (LE) (Evil Dragons) (Greed?)
* Torog, The Crawling King (NE) (Enslavement, Torture)
* Vecna, The Whispered One (NE) (Necromancy, Secrets)
* Zehir, The Cloaked Serpent (CE) (Assassins, Poison, Snakes)

ANCIENT HISTORY: No proficiency needed to know this info, it’s the much-simplified version of history told in oral traditions and tales to children.

In the beginning, the gods came and seized upon primordial chaos, creating the world Exandria and populating it with mortal beings (first elves, then dragons, later came humans, and so forth). About 1,000 years ago, mortals became so powerful with magic during a time called the Age of Arcanum that they challenged the gods themselves, accidentally releasing the evil Betrayer Gods that had been held in check by the good and neutral Prime Deities. War escalated until many gods themselves walked the world, causing an apocalypse known as The Calamity and ending with The Divergence, a permanent ban on divine beings physically entering the prime material plane.

RECENT HISTORY: It is now the year 836 PD (“Post-Divergence”) on the continent of Wildemount, a year into the ceasefire between the Dwendalian Empire in the west and the Kryn Dynasty in the east. Tensions between the two states had been building for decades, and after an inciting flashpoint involving stolen relics, both sides suffered violent losses during eight months of open warfare until the truce was made.

The adventure begins in a rural northern coastal area of Xhorhas, the home nation of the Kryn Dynasty. This land was once the seat of power for many evil gods during The Calamity, though hundreds of generations later the goblin, drow, and orc decedents of those monstrous armies now live together in peace and prosperity. Kryn military forces known as the Aurora Watch patrol against the dangerous demons and mutant creatures that still roam the local wilderness.

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WORLD…
* Wildemount: Your home continent, largely divided among the Dwendalian Empire (think: pre-Aragorn Gondor) in the west, Kryn Dynasty/Xhorhas (think: a recovered post-Sauron Mordor) in the east, and The Clovis Concord trade empire (naval merchant princes) along the southern coast.
* Tal’Dorei: Continent beyond the seas to the far west; feudal lands of humans, elves, and hobgoblins.
* Marquet: Continent beyond the seas to the south; lands of deserts and mountains, exotic merchants and scholars.
* Issylra: Continent beyond the seas, on the other side of the planet; mostly wilderness and home to the world’s “cradle of civilization” in ancient times.
* The Underdark: Subterranean regions with significant connections to the alien Far Realm.
* Catha: Exandria’s bright moon, very similar to Earth’s moon in size, cycles, and mythic significance (lycanthropy, sacred to some elves).
* Ruidus: Exandria’s smaller red moon, an unpredictable object associated with strange magics, curses, and overall bad luck.

FYI: The module begins with characters meeting in Jigow, a fishing town on the far northern coast of Xhorhas, during the fun-filled day-long party called the Festival of Merit.

EXANDRIA-WIDE ORGANIZATIONS. I’m just listing these here as non-Xhorhas options if anyone wants to expand their character’s background beyond the scope of the adventure set-up…

* Library of the Cobalt Soul, guild-ish independent archivists and archaeologists.
* The Ashari, elementalists who guard rifts between the Elemental Planes and Exandria.
* The Claret Orders, secretive users of blood magic (blood clerics, blood mages, blood hunters) who seek to destroy undead.
* Houses of Kraghammer, ancient ancestral dwarven subterranean city-state below Tal’Dorei. (Pretty much the only dwarf community in Exandria?)
* The Myriad, an organized crime organization active on the continents of Wildemount (Dwendalian and Clovis Concord lands) and Tal’Dorei.