Editing Nentir Vale

The '''Nentir Vale''' is a new setting that has been substituted for [[Greyhawk]] as a default setting in [[4e]]. The main concept of the setting is separating the patches of civilized lands (described as "points of light", which is what fans called the setting until WOTC made clear its actual name) with vast unexplored or long abandoned wilderness with monsters and villainous cultists everywhere. This is [[Rage|REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING]] for those of us who have been putting some effort into creating our own campaign settings that can be described in a similar manner because everyone will think we were just ripping off 4th Edition with our half assed, lazy, generic campaigns. 

Ironically enough, it wasn't actually supposed to be a setting. It first appeared in the 4e DMG as a generic example of a town and a region for newb DMs to use, but then they wound up sticking a bunch of (usually lousy) adventure modules in the area, and it became a real, if smallish, setting, with additional books adding to it, mostly by copying stuff from other, existing, standard fantasy settings. 

==Geography==
The core of the setting is the temperate Nentir Vale, which was once a northern frontier region of the human-run Nerath Empire, which was overthrown by goblinoids. Real powerful empire there. The Vale itself was ruined by orcs taking advantage of the chaos. It's recovering. Slowly. Still kinda shitty, though. Has some lakes and rivers, some woods and mountains. Some plains and swamps. In other words, a little of everything. 

===Major cities===
*Fallcrest – The old regional capital, sits next to a waterfall. As generic as it gets. 
*Hammerfast – A city built on an old dwarven necropolis, where dwarves sought refuge from the orc hordes. The gods declared a truce which allows both safe passage to visit he memorials of their dead. Also very haunted. Major trading town, so has a lot of every race passing through. 
*Harkenwold – Less a city, more clump of rural villages. Ruled by a baron. 

==Deities==
'''LAWFUL GOOD'''

'''[[Bahamut]]''' - 
Called the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut is the god of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. Lawful good paladins often revere him, and metallic dragons worship him as the first of their kind. Monarchs are crowned in his name. He commands his followers thus:
* Uphold the highest ideals of honor and justice.
* Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on all fronts.
* Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed, and defend just order.

'''[[Moradin]]''' -
Moradin is the god of creation and patron of artisans, especially miners and smiths. He carved the mountains from primordial earth and is the guardian and protector of  the hearth and the family. Dwarves from all walks of life follow him. He demands these behaviors of his followers:
* Meet adversity with stoicism and tenacity.
* Demonstrate loyalty to your family, your clan, your leaders, and your people.
* Strive to make a mark on the world, a lasting legacy.  To make something that lasts is the highest good, whether you are a smith working at a forge or a ruler building a dynasty.

'''GOOD'''

'''[[Avandra]]''' -
The goddess of change, Avandra delights in freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and the frontier. Her temples are few in civilized lands, but her wayside shrines appear throughout the world. Halflings, merchants, and all types of adventurers are drawn to her worship, and many people raise a glass in her honor, viewing her as the god of luck. Her commandments are few:
* Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
* Strike back against those who would rob you of your freedom and urge others to fight on their own liberty.
* Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the faithful to ensure that change is for the better.

'''[[Pelor]]''' -
God of the sun and summer, Pelor is the keeper of time. He supports those in need and opposes all that is evil. As the lord of agriculture and the bountiful harvest, he is the deity most commonly worshiped by ordinary humans, and his priests are well received wherever they go. Paladins and rangers are found among his worshipers. He directs his followers thus:
* Alleviate suffering wherever you find it.
* Bring Pelor’s light into places of darkness, showing kindness, mercy, and compassion.
* Be watchful against evil.

'''UNALIGNED'''

'''[[Corellon]]''' -
The god of spring, beauty, and the arts, Corellon is the patron of arcane magic and the fey. He seeded the world with arcane magic and planted the most ancient forests. Artists and musicians worship him, as do those who view their spellcasting as an art, and his shrines can be found throughout the Feywild. He despises Lolth and her priestesses for leading the drow astray. He urges his followers thus:
* Cultivate beauty in all that you do, whether you’re casting a spell, composing a saga, strumming a lute, or practicing the arts of war. 
* Seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and  ancient works of art. Corellon might have inspired them in the world’s first days.
* Thwart the followers of Lolth at every opportunity.

'''[[Erathis]]''' -
Erathis is the goddess of civilization.  She is the muse of great invention, founder of cities, and author of laws. Rulers, judges, pioneers, and devoted citizens revere her, and her temples hold prominent places in most of the world’s major cities. Her laws are many, but their purpose is straightforward:
* Work with others to achieve your goals. Community and order are always stronger than the disjointed efforts of lone individuals.
* Tame the wilderness to make it fit for habitation, and defend the light of civilization against the encroaching darkness.
* Seek out new ideas, new inventions, new lands to inhabit, new wilderness to conquer. Build machines, build cities, build empires.

'''[[Ioun]]''' -
Ioun is the god of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. Sages, seers, and tacticians revere her, as do all who live by their knowledge and mental power. Corellon is the patron of arcane magic, but Ioun is the patron of its study. Libraries and wizard academies are built in her name. Her commands are also teachings:
* Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing reason, perception, and emotion into balance with one another.
* Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge in all forms. Pursue education, build libraries, and seek out lost and ancient lore.
* Be watchful at all times for the followers of Vecna, who seek to control knowledge and keep secrets. Oppose their schemes, unmask their secrets, and blind them with the light of truth and reason.

'''[[Kord]]''' -
Kord is the storm god and the lord of battle. He revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and thunder. Fighters and athletes revere him. He is a mercurial god, unbridled and wild, who summons storms over land and sea; those who hope for better weather appease him with prayers and spirited toasts. He gives few commands:
* Be strong, but do not use your strength for wanton destruction.
* Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
* Prove your might in battle to win glory and renown.

'''[[Melora]]''' -
Melora is the goddess of the wilderness and the sea. She is both the wild beast and the peaceful forest, the raging whirlpool and the quiet desert. Rangers, hunters, and elves revere her, and sailors make offerings to her before beginning their voyages. Her strictures are these:
* Protect the wild places of the world from destruction and overuse. Oppose the rampant spread of cities and empires.
* Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of nature.
* Do not fear or condemn the savagery of nature. Live in harmony with the wild.

'''[[The Raven Queen]]''' -
The name of the goddess of death is long forgotten, but she is called the Raven Queen. She is the spinner of fate and the patron of winter. She marks the end of each mortal life, and mourners call upon her during funeral rites, in the hope that she will guard the departed from the curse of undeath. She expects her followers to abide by these commandments:
* Hold no pity for those who suffer and die, for death is the natural end of life.
* Bring down the proud who try to cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument of the Raven Queen, you must punish hubris where you find it.
* Watch for the cults of Orcus and stamp them out whenever they arise. The Demon Prince of the Undead seeks to claim the Raven Queen’s throne.

'''[[Sehanine]]''' -
Goddess of the moon and autumn, Sehanine is the patron of trickery and illusions. She has close ties to Corellon and Melora and is a favorite deity among elves and halflings. She is also the god of love, who sends shadows to cloak lovers’ trysts. Scouts and thieves ask for her blessing on their work. Her teachings are simple:
* Follow your goals and seek your own destiny.
* Keep to the shadows, avoiding the blazing light of zealous good and the utter darkness of evil.
* Seek new horizons and new experiences, and let nothing tie you down.


'''EVIL'''

'''[[Asmodeus]]''' -
Asmodeus is the evil god of tyranny and domination.  He rules the Nine Hells with an iron fist and a silver tongue. Aside from devils, evil creatures such as rakshasas pay him homage, and evil [[Tiefling|tieflings]] and [[Warlock|warlocks]] are drawn to his dark cults. His rules are strict and his punishments harsh:
* Seek power over others, that you might rule with strength as the Lord of Hell does.
* Repay evil with evil. If others are kind to you, exploit their weakness for your own gain.
* Show neither pity nor mercy to those who are caught underfoot as you climb your way to power.  The weak do not deserve compassion.

'''[[Bane]]''' -
Bane is the evil god of war and conquest. Militaristic nations of humans and goblins serve him and conquer in his name. Evil fighters and paladins serve him. He commands his worshipers to:
* Never allow your fear to gain mastery over you, but drive it into the hearts of your foes.
* Punish insubordination and disorder.
* Hone your combat skills to perfection, whether you are a mighty general or a lone mercenary.

'''[[Tiamat]]''' -
Tiamat is the evil goddess of wealth, greed, and envy. She is the patron of chromatic dragons and those whose lust for wealth overrides any other goal or concern. She commands her followers to:
* Hoard wealth, acquiring much and spending little. Wealth is its own reward.
* Forgive no slight and leave no wrong unpunished.
* Take what you desire from others. Those who lack the strength to defend their possessions are not worthy to own them.

'''[[Torog]]''' -
Torog is the evil god of the Underdark, patron of jailers and torturers. Common superstition holds that if his name is spoken, the King that Crawls burrows up from below and drags the hapless speaker underground to an eternity of imprisonment and torture. Jailers and torturers pray to him in deep caves and cellars, and creatures of the Underdark revere him as well. He teaches his worshipers to:
* Seek out and revere the deep places beneath the earth.
* Delight in the giving of pain, and consider pain you receive as homage to Torog.
* Bind tightly what is in your charge, and restrain those who wander free.

'''[[Vecna]]''' -
Vecna is the evil god of undead, necromancy, and secrets. He rules that which is not meant to be known and that which people wish to keep secret. Evil spellcasters and conspirators pay him homage. He commands them to:
* Never reveal all you know.
* Find the seed of darkness in your heart and nourish it; find it in others and exploit it to your advantage.
* Oppose the followers of all other deities so that Vecna alone can rule the world.

'''[[Zehir]]''' -
Zehir is the evil god of darkness, poison, and assassins.  Snakes are his favored creation, and the yuan-ti revere him above all other gods, offering sacrifice to him in pits full of writhing serpents. He urges his followers to:
* Hide under the cloak of night, that your deeds might be kept in secret.
* Kill in Zehir’s name and offer each murder as a sacrifice.
* Delight in poison, and surround yourself with snakes.

'''CHAOTIC EVIL'''

'''[[Gruumsh]]''' -
Gruumsh is the chaotic evil god of destruction, lord of marauding barbarian hordes. Where Bane commands conquest, Gruumsh exhorts his followers to slaughter and pillage. Orcs are his fervent followers, and they bear a particular hatred for elves and eladrin because Corellon put out one of Gruumsh’s eyes. The One-Eyed God gives simple orders to his followers:
* Crush your enemies.
* See them driven before you.
* Hear the lamentations of their women.

'''[[Lolth]]''' -
Lolth is the chaotic evil goddess of shadow, lies, and spiders. Scheming and treachery are her commands, and her priests are a constant force of disruption in the otherwise stable society of the evil drow. Though she is properly a god and not a demon, she is called Demon Queen of Spiders. She demands that her followers:
* Do whatever it takes to gain and hold power.
* Rely on stealth and slander in preference to outright confrontation.
* Seek the death of elves and eladrin at every opportunity.

'''[[Tharizdun]]''' -
Tharizdun is the chaotic evil god who created the Abyss. A few scattered cults of demented followers revere him, calling him the Chained God or the Elder Elemental Eye. Tharizdun doesn’t speak to his followers, so his commands are unknown, but his cults teach their members to:
* Channel power to the Chained God, so he can break his chains.
* Retrieve lost relics and shrines to the Chained God.
* Pursue the obliteration of the world, in anticipation of the Chained God’s liberation.

==History==
Pretty bare-bones, since the intent was to let GMs flesh things out and make the campaign more their own. Still, a few things slipped through as part of the [[World Axis]] cosmology:

'''The Creation of Everything''': The [[Primordials]] arise from the [[Elemental Chaos]] and create the material plane, [[Feywild]] and [[Shadowfell]] by mixing together various elemental forces and fragments of the Astral Sea. The material plane at this point is basically the Chaos in miniature; elemental stuff constantly shifting and flexing, so a mountain of ice one moment might suddenly turn into a sea of fire the next, or a forest of living metal trees might get up and walk off into the sky on a river of lightning.

'''The World is Born''': The gods arise from the [[Astral Sea]] and, upon finding the proto-World, become enamored. They start messing around with it, stabilising it so that it no longer changes terrain/elemental makeup at random and creating the first plants, animals, intelligent races, seasons... y'know, all the stuff that makes a mortal world.

'''The Dawn War''': The Primordials get pissed off at the gods messing around with their toys and start trying to wreck shit. Apparently, there was at least a time of neutrality before this, in which the Primordials created their own races in imitation of the gods -- their most favored being the Titans and their lesser kin, the Giants. The Dawn War ends with all of the major Primordials killed off, sealed away or otherwise made docile, though not without some deific casualties -- [[Asmodeus]] the Archangel murders the Forgotten God and usurps his place, creating the [[Baatezu]] in the process, [[Torog]] is bound to the [[Underdark]] and mutilated into the King That Crawls, Io Dragon-Father is split in half by Erek-Hus and transformed into [[Bahamut]] and [[Tiamat]], etc.

'''The Dwarven War of Independence''': Dwarves were originally slaves to the Titans during the early days of the Dawn War. [[Moradin]], their creator, initially didn't notice, but eventually helped break them free - but not soon enough for some dwarves. Those dwarves too contaminated by elemental energy before they escaped became the ancestors of the Forgeheart Dwarves, whilst those dwarves who succumbed to elemental energy became elementals themselves, such as the stony Galeb Duhr, fiery Azer and icy Eisk Jaat.

'''The War In Heaven''': After the Dawn War, there was a brief but violent conflict amongst the gods for various reasons. This screwed up the afterlife so badly that it still screws people over to this day, resulting in each god's dominion in [[Astral Sea]] having shanty-towns of faithful worshippers wrongfully rendered physically incapable of entering their patron's dominion spring up on their outskirts.

'''The Elven Sundering''': [[Lolth]] turns on [[Corellon]] and [[Sehanine]], resulting in their elven followers likewise going to war. Those elves who stay loyal to Corellon and remain in the Feywild retain their nature, but inherit a broken empire, becoming the [[Eladrin]]. Those elves who follow Sehanine and end up stranded in the mortal world loose most of their elfin magic, becoming the first Elves. Those elves who flee to the [[Underdark]] with Lloth become the first [[Drow]]. And a tiny fragment of elves who tried to stay out of it all became the Dusk Elves, hated by all the other elven races as traitorous cowards and surviving only because Sehanine took pity and gave them magical adeptness at hiding.

'''The Two Empires''': In an unprecedented event, dragons both chromatic and metallic unite with [[dragonborn]] to form an empire that spans much of the known world, known as Arkhosia. At around the time of Arkhosia's rise, a human empire also takes form, known as Bael Turath.

'''The War of Arkhosia and Bael Turath''': Needless to say, the two don't get along and start fighting with each other. To match the might of the dragons, Bael Turath swears itself to [[Asmodeus]], summoning legions of devils and wielding infernal magic to counter their draconic enemies. The empire-spanning infernal contract, abundance of infernal energy, spiritual contamination and even outright diabolic interbreeding eventually corrupts the humans of Bael Turath into a more diabolic state, creating the first [[tiefling]]s. The war ends in the mutual annihilation of both empires.

'''The Founding & Fall of Nerath''': Humans eventually build an empire called Nerath, which is the most recent world-dominating super-power in the "default" setting. It gets destroyed 100 years before the present by hordes of [[gnoll]]s, led by demonic-blooded champions of [[Yeenoghu]].

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