The Land of Lupravia
Come dance with the ravens...
Lupravia is a rural county ruled primarily by four aristocratic families, all of whom keep to themselves. In Castle Gragoryn, the ruling Count Ivak of the Gragoryns and his family live their lives behind thick, towering walls of solid granite, coming out only to hunt in the moonlight on the backs of great war mounts with glowing red eyes, wielding broad bladed spears of silver and bows whose shaft are as thick as a man's arm. At their heel run hounds the size of ponies, whose howling can often be heard both from within and outside the castle walls. Their domain extends across the grassy plains and forests in the centre of Lupravia and encompasses the three largest settlements: Strigoiva, Balci and Vargenhof (the only settlement in Lupravia big enough to be considered a town). Crossing Lupravia without entering Gragoryn territory is nearly impossible. The noble family's private army, the Riders of Grey, patrol the high ways collecting food tributes from the farmers and tax from travelling merchants, as well as "recruiting" blacksmith and masons to perform maintenance on their lord's home. Whilst the Gragoryn's are gracious enough to compensate such workers, few relish approaching the grim castle.
To the north, the moorland barony is ruled by the Skirith family, oversee their segment of the land from a crumbling church, converted somewhat to suit their blue blooded needs. There are several other temples in their domain, as well as the village of Matton. To the east the land rises into mountains cut by tumbling rivers. Here mining communities search for silver amongst the rocks, overseen by a regiment of the Riders in Grey. The southern edge of the land is mostly marshes, inhabited by few humanoid, but plenty of creatures if the stories are to be believed. The Skiriths keep to themselves, but are surprisingly friendly with the Travelers, bands of wondering Halflings said to know how to weave spirits into mundane items. Every generation Skirith envoys travel to Matton to find young males and females for the family's children to marry, for it seems the Skirith cannot, or will not, marry with other noble families.
The more twisted forests of Lupravia in the south west are ruled over by Baron Harken of the Krastovs, their holdings centred in the tower formerly belonging to Fratoe, a mad scientist who sought to build a staircase into the sky. A group of hunters slew him two centuries ago, and the then ruler of the Lupravia, Ronak Gragoryn, appointed the tower and the surrounding mountains to his son to start a new noble line there. The Krastovs have recruited other scientists to make use of the equipment left there by Fratoe. The two villages in the realm, Gaist and Yalkim, frequently see the noble family's guards, known as the Zrillie, who show up periodically demanding ingredients for their masters ambitions, but are otherwise rather tame with their requirements of monetary and food tributes.
To the south east, the land rises into a high steppe; it is here that the best farming land in all of Lupravia can be found, as well as the great lake of Twussuk. The fourth largest settlement can also be found here, the farming village of Apoc and around its area numerous farmsteads are dotted. This is the smallest of the realms within Lupravia, and is ruled over the by the Rothida Family, who have claimed the lake as their own, and harshly punish any peasant who approaches it. It is also here that the dwarven caves of Igtalep can be found, but it is unclear how they and the Rothias see their relationship.
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I'm looking to run a game for a party of three. I already have one player, a friend of mine, so I need two more.
Character Creation This game will start at level 1. All classes and races from the PHB and DMG are acceptable, some may need an explanation via background story (e.g. Monks) and obviously some races will face some rather extreme prejudice in game (drow, tiefling and dragonborn). Confirm stuff from splats, I'll probably allow it, but I just need to know. I am open to accepting homebrew, just run it by me.
For stats, use point buy as described in the Player’s Handbook. No rolling.
For money, choose either the class equipment + your background gear or roll as per your class, either way add +30 gold coins (well silver, no real difference, see house rules below).
Custom Backgrounds are not in use, but the available Background from the book may be tweaked, by making up to 2 changes from the following list:
Trade one skill proficiency for another (one only)
Trade one tool proficiency for another
Trade one tools proficiency for a language/vice versa
Trade your Background feature for another
If your character concept needs further changes background-wise, ask me about it and maybe we can work something out.
No feat variant humans. Instead, humans increase four stats by +1 and gain a point of inspiration whenever they finish a long rest.
House rules1. Currency gets tweaked a little. Silver is the default currency (anything in the book with a price in gold now has the same price in silver, and likewise any gold you would start with is instead silver). Book silver is then copper in Lupravia, and book copper is stone in Lupravia, a light grey limestone engraved with pattern similar to what features on metal currency. Gold exists but is incredibly rare, even adventurers can go their wholes lives without ever seeing a single gold coin.
2. Languages get tweaked…a little more severely. There is no Common tongue, so everyone loses common and instead gains any one language of their choice. In addition, two languages are added: Human and Trade. Trade is the closest language to Common (but see below) and Human works just like Elven or Dwarven does. Comprehend language and other abilities that allow you to read, understand and/or speak any language remain unchanged. To help you decide which languages to choose:
The Languages of Lupravia Trade: Known by the majority of commoners, a significant amount of nobles and a surprising amount of monsters.
Trade can handle basic conversations, but does not deal well with eloquence. Certain charisma (typically persuasion and elaborate deception checks) and intelligence (trying to convey specific scholarly information) checks will be made at disadvantage if
Trade is the only shared language.
Nobles – Most nobles will speak at least one of the following:
Draconic, Celestial and
Infernal.
Additionally, Skirith nobility often learn
Sylvan, whilst the Rothida have been known (rarely) to pick up
Dwarven. Nobles may speak languages associated with the lower classes beside
Trade, and this will not necessarily be
Human, despite most nobles being of that race.
Elven or
Dwarven are just as possible, as nobles live isolated lives, and would not need to know their races language.
Peasant and Burgher class languages:
Reflective of the racial makeup of Lupravia’s population, common languages are:
Dwarven, Human, Elven; as well as
Gnomish, but only in the larger settlements. Whilst rarer than it is for nobles, do note that an individual may not speak the language of their race. A human in a largely elven village may speak
Elven, and the children of a dwarf who left their kin in the mountains to live in a town may not have been taught
Dwarven and instead speak
Human.
Halfling is spoken by Traveller bands, even whose members aren’t halfling.
Goblin deserves its own mention, as barely peaceful contact has been made with these creatures, who have proven adept at surviving, and are willing to trade tips with remote villages in return for food and worked iron. Such deals are common enough that some commoners will speak a smattering of
Goblin, though this is less common in Krastov lands, where an extermination campaign of the Zrillie has made local goblins extra distrustful of all humanoids.
Not so common languages:
Ork – Spoken by a kingdom of knights north of Lupravia, and the few who wander the land as monster hunters, this language has not caught on, and is rarely spoken by non-orcs.
Abyssal – Demon worshippers, whilst uncommon, are not unheard of in Lupravia.
Sylvan – Spoken by fey and other creatures of the wild.
Primordial – Spoken by the rulers of monsters.
Languages that will likely not feature in the game at all:
Giant, Undercommon and
Deep Speak.*****************************************************************
If this seems like a game that would interest you, PM me a character concept. If you have any question, you can ask me by PM or post them here.
