Trid is a world-spanning sandbox supporting a hodge-podge of cultures and technology consistent with Earth's early Middle Ages, but distinctly different through the infusion of magic, real gods, and massive caches of ancient treasure hidden in dungeons and guarded by monsters.
A Brief History of Trid
Long ago, in the Dim Ages, the cruel saurians built a sprawling empire on the backs of dwarfs, humanoids, and men. They manipulated arcane magic to travel quickly across the Continent and impose their tyranny. To escape, the dwarfs tunneled into the The Deepreach while the humanoids hid themselves in the wilds. Men became nomads, ever retreating before the saurians, until they encountered the elves, who alone resisted the saurians and taught them how to reap, sow, build, and fight.
Together, elves and men defeated the Saurian Empire, giving rise to the Age of Fable. The great alliance between elves and men ensured their future peace by establishing the Ardic Republic, uniting two-thirds of the Continent. But the elves, determined to prevent men from harnessing arcane power, tainted Trid's magical field and brought the Ardic Curse upon themselves, depriving them of their innate magical ability. The balance of power shifted to humans, and the Republic collapsed in violence. The elves were beaten back to their homeland, and those few who survived were driven from the Continent.
The Fall of the Republic turned settled areas to wilderness overnight and ushered in the current Age of History. Today, man stands alone against humanoids and monsters surging from the wild places, but the lure of rich treasure and magic from ancient ruins feeds the ambitions of power brokers who would reshape Trid to serve their own needs.
What Everyone Knows
The Player's Guide is written from the perspective of Continental inhabitants, whose populations—given its vast area—are highly varied. However, world events have created a shared canon of sorts, and everything here is considered common knowledge (though that doesn't mean it's entirely accurate).
Cosmology
Trid circles the star Ammonkis, joined by three planetary siblings: Aerchus, a small and swift red planet traditionally associated with Chaos; Vincula, a pale blue planet associated with Neutrality; and Hieron, a distant white dot associated with Law.
Trid itself is orbited by two satellites: Lyolm, a verdant moon whose phases follow a 30-day cycle; and Opho, more of radiant, hurtling asteroid whose erratic orbit disrupts Trid’s magical field.
Within the sea of stars that surround Ammonkis’ family, nine constellations surround Trid’s sphere, each representing a member of the Gods of Trid, collectively known as
The Circle. Deeply rooted in Trid’s Age of Fable, the influence of these constellations, and the gods they represent, is still felt today.
Geography
Trid hosts three major landmasses: a Pangean expanse known simply as The Continent, a large southern island called
Eremus, and a trio of islands across the western ocean known as
The Far Isles. These lands are separated from the Continent by the
Serpent Sea to the east and the
Shoreless Ocean to the west.
History is Deep
Trid in the current Age of History is inextricably based on the events of the three ages previous.
Humans Dominate
Since the departure of the elves, humans have ruled the Continent as the only practised custodians of civilisation. Anywhere man hasn't settled or doesn't control is considered wilderness. While each of the nine human ethnicities are concentrated in ancestral territories, holdings are relatively small as local warlords, self-styled kings, and moneyed power-brokers fill the power vacuum. As a result, there are no truly established nations, but rather pockets of patrolled territory separated by stretches of lawless wilderland.
Borders are Fluid
The nation-state does not exist, and a territory's size is the physical extent to which the settlements within can push back against (or expand into) the surrounding wilderness. On the Global Map, Continental territories are generally bound by
Elven Roads. The realms within are defined by their capital settlements, whose patrols dominate a certain amount of the surrounding area whose borders adhere to rivers, natural features, or roads. The land between a polity's
claimed borders and how far it can effectively maintain them is best defined as frontier, while the land beyond is wilderness. This the province of wildermen, monsters, humanoids, and self-styled warlords; the pressures these forces exert on civilisation are terrific, and borders can change quickly.
Technology is Limited
Trid's technology is analogous to 8th-century Earth and advances at a snail's pace, primarily because humans spend the majority of their resources either securing their borders or advancing on someone else's. Until the Age of History, magic was the driving force behind alchemy, engineering, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine—man, wary of all things arcane, has only recently explored these fields through mundane means. Of those states who have achieved suffficient social stability to make such advances, the
Midlands excel in metallurgy and navigation, while the
Sovereignties boast advanced architecture and alchemical remedies.
Religion is Varied
While every culture has its roots in their
Local Gods, most human societies converted to the
Ardic Gods during the Age of Fable, while under the Ardic Republic. Following the Fall, humans retained these gods, but reinterpreted them through a simple lens of order and disorder. Today, most city-building men adhere to the
Lawful Faith, an ecumenical ideology composed of the Ardic Gods who support order and the civilised societies that spring up around it. Religious orders dedicated to saints and martyrs whose acts exemplify social virtue are scattered across the territories, steadfastly repelling the disorder of the wilderness. Conversely, the Ardic deities of chaos are venerated by a dedicated few, though in hidden places, and may be found in every corner of the Continent.
Magic is Real
Magic is caused by radiant energy produced by the
Elder Powers, immortals responsible for the fundamental forces that drive the multiverse. Casters trained to channel and control these energies may produce arcane magic (despite disruptions caused by the
Ardic Curse). Divine magic is bestowed by gods upon on mortal servants who pledge to serve their interests on Trid. Attitudes toward divine magic are mixed—if the recipient has faith in the caster's intent, it's considered benign (of course, the opposite is also true). Arcane magic, inexorably linked to the elves and the violent fall of the Republic, is almost universally mistrusted.
The Age of History
Decades of conflict combined with the elves' exodus created vast stretches of wilderness overnight, riddling established polities with pockets of unsecured territory through which the denizens of the wilds rampaged. Humans still struggle to dislodge them as they slowly rebuild the civilisation the elves betrayed. Many places seethe with wildermen tribes, humanoid clans, monster lairs, and the strongholds of self-styled lords whose lust for power scorns justice or social order.
It is the year 991, almost a millennium since the elves left, and man still has much chaos to tame.
The North: The
Northern Kingdoms are the most stable lands, though they struggle against humanoid warbands from the wild
Bretland Marches, Jarlefolk raiders from the
Frost Reach, and internal power-brokers eager to exploit any opportunity for gain. Trade with the Coastal Dukes of the
Sovereignties is brisk, though increasingly taut: The Dukes have grown rich through commerce with the Midlands, and some feel it would be cheaper to take the Nordland's resources by force than with coin.
The Midlands: The
Twelve Tribes of the
Midlands maintain a strict theocracy dedicated to Adesh, the Lawful Lady of Hieron, though the rise of the
Messenger Cult threatens the social order. Watching closely are the
Alfmen, who plan to make
Alfland the heart of a new Ardic Empire.
The South: Wildermen mercenaries under elven captains drove the
Sudemen south of the Elven Road during the Fall, retaking most of
Sudenland for themselves. The displaced Sudemen nobility established their footing in
Austrus, whose dynastic autarchs have since campaigned (unsuccessfully) to recapture the heartlands north to the
Glittershore and west to
Buccina.
The East: The
Ostmen claim all land to the south and east of the elven road, not coincidentally the bloodiest battleground during The Fall.
Ostland is now home to a handful of growing polities with the common purpose of fiercely eradicating any scrap of elven influence they can find. They listen to their ancestors, who urge them to topple the Alfmen satrapies lodged along the Glittershore. This requires a larger naval presence than the Ostmen can muster. Meanwhile, burgeoning sea trade with Austrus is creating an economic boom in the southern Ostland states, prompting colonial expeditions to
Eremus across the Broadstrait.
The Serpent Sea: The
Sea Holds, gateway to the
Serpent Sea, consist of dozens of independent city-states built upon the ruins of the ancient Saurian Empire. Notoriously fickle in their alliances, the native
Inselmen are nevertheless prolific trading partners that supply the Continent with many exotic goods (including
lotus). Each city-state deploys its own navy, largely to shield merchant vessels from the greedy eyes of ubiquitous pirate lords. Many of the smaller islands of the
Serpent Archipelago are uninhabited (or at least unexplored), though
Pon is overrun with humanoids and
Palus remains an inpenetrable province of wildermen.
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