Dusk


1. Table of Contents
2. Character Creation Rules
3. Ancient History: Pre-Sindarin Empire
4. Ancient History: The Sindarin Empire
5. Modern military history of Arda
6. Present Day: Third War of the Covenant
7. The Covenant of Iron
8. Important People
9. Important Places
10. Guilds/Factions
11. Homebrew Rules

Character Creation Rules

Race

We've decided on a particular theme. Our fantasy world includes more than just Elves, Dwarves, and Humans. But we're constraining choices to a subset of races. If subrace isn't specified, then they're all counted. Some may be specified like Dark Elf (there's always a Drizzt). This list is not exhaustive. If you don't see something, just ask.

Note: No matter what race you pick, consider talking to me first. I've homebrewed this world and you may not want to be saddled with the backstory of that race according to my custom history.

Always Allowed	Ask first	Prohibited
Dragonborn	Dark Elf	Leonin
Dwarf	Tiefling	Fairy
Gnome (Forest/Rock)	Aasimar	Aarakocra
Half-Elf	Satyr	Genasi
Halfling	Bugbear	Goblin
Half-Orc	Kenku	Kobold
Orc	Centaur	Tabaxi
Human	Elf (wood/high)	Tortle
Goliath		Gnome (Deep)
Hobgoblin

Class

Go nuts. Mechanically anything is allowed. Some subclasses might need thematic tweaking to fit (Genie Warlock, for Instance). Your class should be a core component of who your character is. The culmination of their life and training expressed into the skills they've learned.

Stats

Standard Array

Rolling is fun but wildly inconsistent. One character might get 4 16s, another gets 6 11s. And neither is actually interesting because they're good or mediocre at everything. Standard Array means the PLAYERS start on even footing, and the CHARACTERS are interesting because they're guaranteed to have strong and weak areas.

Standard Array
15 14 13 12 10 8

Racial Stats

Racial stats reflect archetypal bits of excellence in the Adventurers of this kind in D&D's past. If you're a dwarf, your Constitution increases by 2, because dwarf heroes in D&D are often exceptionally tough. This increase doesn't apply to every dwarf, just to dwarf PCs, and it exists to reinforce an archetype. That reinforcement is appropriate if you want to lean into the archetype, but it's unhelpful if your character doesn't conform to the archetype. If you'd like your character to follow their own path, you may ignore your Ability Score Increase trait and assign Ability Score Increases tailored to your character.

Take any Ability Score Increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice. If you gain more than one increase, you can't apply those increases to the same ability score, and you can't increase a score above 20.

Proficiencies

Some races and Subraces grant Proficiencies. These Proficiencies are based on assumed Forgotten Realms definitions, and have little or maybe no bearing on your specific character of that race. Feel free to pick them anyway, but ask if you'd like to swap any out.

Below is a table that describes what you can swap a certain proficiency for. For instance if you get proficiency in Scimitars, but you don't think your people care or use Scimitars, feel free to exchange that for Longswords (or whatever).

Prescribed Proficiency	Replacement Proficiency
Skill	Different Skill
Armor	Simple/martial weapon or tool
Simple weapon	Simple weapon or tool
Martial weapon	Simple/martial weapon or tool
Tool	Tool or simple weapon

The Sindarin Empire had thousands of years to hoard knowledge and curate history to their liking. In addition, The Great Library of Valanmar was burned during the Covenant Rebellion. An unthinkable number of heroes, conquests, sacrifices, and defeats are completely lost to time. Here lies what's left...

Age of Myth

This encompasses all time before the Age of Dragons. Nothing is known, much is inferred through various religious texts.

Age of Dragons

Powerful, immortal creatures who could wield devastating magicks as easily as breathe. Led ever into conflict with each other and the Giants. Clashes between these titans were ruinous for both. The Last Dragon, Malachavorax, was killed in the battle that sundered the Inorri Plain, and no giant has since been seen outside the Skycrown Fortress.

Sindarin scholars write of dragons with awe, envy, fear, and an undercurrent of superiority. To them, Dragons were terrifying natural forces to be studied and learned from, but whose temperaments predestined them to failure.

Age of Mortals

Our current Age.

Once freed, mortal races were left to craft their own destinies. Roughly 1,000 years followed of city states and small kingdoms finding their own identity and building their strength. Skirmishes and small wars were a constant during this time, resulting in ever-shifting borders and kingdoms rising and falling within a generation.

Written records on these early years of the Era of Mortals are scarce. Sindarin sentiment would be the world was simply holding its breath until the birth of Sindar, the First High Mage, whose discoveries and uses of magic led to the Wars of Ascension.

Dragons, to whom magic was innate, were not keen to record or share their knowledge. Thus mortals had to learn magic alone. It was a slow and inscrutable practice. What Mortalkind pieced together was comprised of banal rituals and base divinations. Higher crop yields, weather control at sea, hardening packed dirt to create roads for faster overland travel. That all changed with Sindar.

Sindar, The First High Mage

Sindar, a High Elven Lord at the time, was the first to wield magic as the dragons did. Firestorms rained from the heavens, giant fists of earth sprang up to snatch enemy horses, tidal waves in the shape of charging demons overflowed from lakes. Sindar reimagined magic's possibilities for the world, and the world followed

Wars of Ascension

Buncha Archmages all copyin' Sindar thinkin' they'd be the boss but lesba honest, it was always gonna be the OG Sindar.

Sindar

Sindarin Empire

Though Sindar had been dead centuries before the Wars of Ascension finally ended, it was deemed only fitting their new empire be named after the OG himself.

Thus began millenia of stomping dissension, and restricting all magical knowledge and power to sanctified elven mages only. Practicing magic outside emperial decree was a one-strike instant death sorta deal.

Anomandaris, The Mage Tyrant

Anomandaris fashioned himself the title, "Philosopher King". But to all others he was known as The Mage Tyrant. Following in the footsteps of Sindar himself, Anomandaris controlled magic to cataclysmic heights. Unfortunately, his cruelty matched.

The Covenant of Iron

People were like, "Ok this shit's gotta stop." And so it did.

History

And the Wars of the Covenant

Time
??? BSE		World is created. Age of Dragons begins.
-2000(est) BSE		Last Dragon killed, Age of Mortals begins with the Era of Ignorance
-1000(est) BSE		Wars of Ascension begin, also called the Era of Cataclysm
-500(est) BSE		Soulwinds first appear
0 AS		WoA end, Sindarin Empire formed, Era of Sindar begins
382 AS		Last major kingdom falls under domain of Sindarin Empire
3,574 AS		Mage Tyrant takes throne
4,091 AS		Covenant of Iron is formed
4,178 AS (0AC)		Mage Tyrant defeated. Sindar falls. Era of the Covenant begins.
147-159 AC		First War of the Covenant
338-451 AC		Silver Sun Campaigns
575-592 AC		Second War of the Covenant
604-627 AC		War of the Dead Crown
897-978 AC		Wyrmlord Crusades
989-994 AC		Quon Tali Land Rush, Present Day, (Third War of the Covenant?)

First War of the Covenant

A land dispute between Kharkanas and Caspia, the first test of the resiliency of the Covenant. The resource rich valley of Letheras had been inhabited by Caspians for centuries, but had been liberated by Kharkanas at great cost of life. Thus the two disputed to whom the land was owed until tensions erupted into a war that split the covenant. In the end it was decided Kharkanas earned the valley. Peace returned, but tensions remained.

Silver Sun Campaigns

A series of three (some argue four) campaigns led by the Saelinor, a holdout faction of Sindarin elves, the last remnants of the old empire. The Covenant was called to join forces against this new threat. The Lizardfolk of Umbral Fen, however, refused to participate.

War of the Dead Crown

The human necromancer, Korbolo Gor, in the aftermath of the Second War of the Covenent, fashioned himself The Dread Emperor and claimed to be the Mage Tyrant reborn. Proving hideously difficult to kill, and terrifying to face, it was after the final defeat of Korbolo that saw a Covenant-wide prohibition of Necromancy.

Second War of the Covenant

Following the Silver Sun Campaigns, Covenant members refused trade with Umbral Fen or greatly raised tariffs on their exports. With pressure to remain independent, the Fen invaded and claimed the nearby fishing village of Glen Falla, occupied by Stoneheart dwarves. This local dispute between Lizardfolk and Dwarf served as a proxy for other members to air their own grievances. Smaller alliances formed until again the Covenant was drawn into war with itself. In the end Umbral Fen paid Fjallskold for the lands, and left the Covenant for good.

Wyrmlord Crusades

Led by the Dragonborn Warlord Azzar Kul wielding the terrible Orbs of Dragonkind, he and four other "Wyrmlords" sought to establish a greater draconic empire in Arda. Over 80 years Azzar Kul waged non-stop crusades from his throne in the northern, previously uninhabitable Quon Tali. Using the Orbs to command Wyverns and Drakes, Azzar Kul came the closest to crushing the combined might of the Covenant since Anomandaris himself.

Present Day

The Third War of the Covenant

994 AC

Now that the crusades are over, however, the Orbs have been split among various Covenant members, and disputes over dividing Quon Tali itself again bring the Covenant to the brink of war.

There have been no open hostilities in the civilized lands. But in the newly thawed, mysterious, and unknown land of Quon Tali, forces of every member gather, third party interests increase, and whispers of something buried beneath Quon Tali pervade all of Arda.

Blood has already been spilled as small skirmishes break out between land-rushing Covenant members. With a death toll in only the double digits, is it still to be war? Is it now unavoidable that the smell of riches will draw these beleaguered, exhausted allies into a Third Covenant War...

The Covenant

Members and Relationships

Stoneheart Dwarves of Fjallskold

Emberkin of the Flamecast Holds

Humans of Caspia

Dragonborn of Kharkanas

Gnomes of Teleor

People

Important people in Arda

Locations

Important places in Arda

Quon Tali

As seen on the cover. This land, north of Kolanse, was previously frozen, barren wasteland, wracked by unceasing Soulwind storms. Using the combined power of the Orbs of Dragonkind, Azzar Kul was able to subdue (though not eliminate) the storms and melt the mile high glaciers, unearthing lost, ancient fortresses in the process. The Wrymlord was more interested in waging war than uncovering Quon Tali's secrets, beyond what he could use in said wars. It is therefore believed the ruins and artifacts uncovered during the Wyrmlord Crusades are but a fraction of the secrets Quon Tali holds. Thus the reason for the Third War of the Covenant...

Factions

Important groups in Arda

Homebrew Rules

Inspiration

In addition to the normal use, Inspiration can be spent to conjure something from your backpack (mundane like rope, pitons, ball bearings, etc). Or to recall a contact you know in town (someone from your history you've had dealings with, and who might help in this particular situation.)

Long Rests are Short Rests

Normally, Long Rests that get interrupted don't count as Short Rest. Even if it's been more than an hour of resting. We will be saying they do.

Silver Standard

Gold prices in the PHB are converted to Silver, and the conversion rate between Copper, Silver, and Gold, is x100 instead of x10 (100 Copper to make a Silver, 100 Silver to make a Gold, 100 Gold to make a Platinum.)

Readiness is next to Godliness

Being ready on your turn of combat grants a +1 to whatever it is your doing. To keep this in check, however, I'm going to be extremely strict about what "immediately" means.

Flanking Rules

If you are flanking with an ally attacking the same target, you get a +1 to your attacks.

Bonus Action: Healing Potions

Healing Potions (and only healing potions) are a bonus action to consume for yourself, instead of an action. It's still an action to administer one to someone else.

Dropping to 0 Causes Exhaustion or Injury

After being reduced to 0 hit points, either take one point of Exhaustion, or roll a 1d8 + 1d12 on the Lingering Injuries table.

Level	Effect
1	Disadvantage on ability checks
2	Speed halved
3	Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws
4	Hit point maximum halved
5	Speed reduced to 0
6	Death

Lingering Injuries

Wound Roll	Injury
2-3	3% Lose an Eye. You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost eye. If you have no eyes left after sustaining this injury, you're blinded.
4-5	7% Lose an Arm or a Hand. You can no longer hold anything with two hands, and you can hold only a single object at a time. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost appendage.
6-7	11% Lose a Foot or Leg. Your speed on foot is halved, and you must use a cane or crutch to move unless you have a peg leg or other prosthesis. You fall prone after using the Dash action. You have disadvantage on Dexterity checks made to balance. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost appendage.
8-9	16% Limp. Your speed on foot is reduced by 5 feet. You must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw after using the Dash action. If you fail the save, you fall prone. Magic such as the greater restoration spell removes the limp.
10-11	17% Internal Injury. Whenever you attempt an action in combat, you must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you lose your action and can't use reactions until the start of your next turn. The injury heals if you receive magical healing such as the greater restoration spell or if you spend ten days doing nothing but resting.
12-14	24% Broken Ribs. This has the same effect as Internal Injury above, except that the save DC is 10.
15-16	11% Horrible Scar. You are disfigured to the extent that the wound can't be easily concealed. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks and advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.
17-18	7% Festering Wound. Your hit point maximum is reduced by 1 every 24 hours the wound persists. If your hit point maximum drops to 0, you die. Magic such as the lesser restoration spell removes the wound. Alternatively, someone can tend to the wound and make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check once every 24 hours. After ten successes, the wound heals.
19-20	3% Minor Scar. The scar doesn't have any adverse effect. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.

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