Dice Dark Ages of Taeral - D&D 5e (Lore)

[WlfSamurai]

Here is a lore page for our D&D campaign.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Placeholder for the DM.

 

[BnemonicDevice]

Place Holder for... me?

 

[D. Rex]

Some fun imagery to flesh out a region. Just an option of sort of how I see things.



The city beneath Siik'tau, small, yet sturdy and respectable called Tar Valon. A harbor that serves as a fine stopping point for traders and travelers. While not a famous port, it would be on a map.

It is within Darta'nion Bay. Darta Bay for short. The coasts of the area are known for its sharp inclines that protrude along its length. Beaches and heathland are the terrain that make up most of the coast itself, while behind the walls of small mountains the land calms into hills and forests.




Out towards the sea, many small islands and rocky spires jut out from the water. Close to the city is one of the tallest. On which is the city of Siik'tau. It relatively small, and claims some of the lesser spires as well. It tends to be a bit of a challenge for non fliers to reach, but there are aarakocra who offer their services in the harbor city if someone does wish to go there.

The city itself is a mix of tradition aarakocran and regional architecture. And made light and thin, taking advantage of thick vines that grow naturally on the spires to keep their buildings having a strong foundation to weather storms and high winds. The vines themselves were cultivated to make up a lot of the city, and were grown thick enough to have the hardness and firmness of wood. The noble Ti'shi family pride themselves as the caretakers of the vines and architects of the city. A Ti'shi is currently the cities elder.


Among the aarakocra, lives a single vaati. A powerful and long lived air elemental. One of the few in the material plane. Her name is Nix. Though her ties to that plane have long since gone silent, she watches the aarakocra and lends them her wisdom. In return, they offer her their service as she needs. While the aarakocra give her the title of "Princess" she is not a monarch of the land, nor its leader. She is, however, respected even down in the harbor city. Her lawful nature having bred a great amount of trust and goodwill, and her wisdom having helped many generations.

 

[Idea]

The Town of Grovetall

Founded aproximately 1100-1200 years ago by elven settlers seeking independence from their respective communities, Grovetall has since gone from a simple assortment of tree houses to a village and nowadays a full-blown small town. Some members of the council have even expressed dreams of the town one day growing into a city that would rival the great wonders of marble and vines of Riversong (a renowned elven city), though such ambitions have not really come to fruition nor been shared by the majority of the inhabitants who tend to live more peaceful and mundane lives, just going by their day to day hunting, gathering wood, scouting the surrounding lands for any potential threats and other tasks within and around town.

The council is the ruling body of Grovetall, consisting primarily of the eldest elves in the various fields of expertize. For the sake of efficiency the council does not have a member for every profession, but rather has categories with representatives. These categories are the "elder of trades", representing the interests of Grovetall's merchants, economy and public relations, the "elder of guardians", representing the interests of those who most frequent the borders of the town, such as any soldiers, scouts and hunters, "elder of prayers", the eldest high-ranking member of either of Grovetall's temples, representing the interests of the clergy and devoutees of Grovetall, and the "elder of voices", representing the general interests of the common folk as well as overseeing the education of Grovetall. There is, however, a fifth member of the council who does not have an official title as an eldest. This member is E'Lania Treeance, who holds some influence on the council on account of her supposed experience on account of her long life (some have called her the "eldest of the eldest"), though her role is actually pretty minimal, occasionally arguing for the interests of Grovetall's historical heritage or announcing things in the name of the council.​

• Modern Grovetall
• Places of Interest
• History of Grovetall

• 
  
  
  Modern Grovetall is a place of fair elvish architecture. It tends to build homes carved from the trees or downright formed from applied magic on the trees themselves. While they carry an elven style, they do not share the grace of elven masonry, and instead focus more on their connection to nature.
  
  Grovetall is a far more open place than it used to be, allowing several races similar to themselves, such as non-high elves, humans and halflings to actually come to their village for their trade. There have even been suggested plans to actively allow dwarves and dragonborn in, though they have yet to be implemented. That said, they remain pretty reclusive, having strict laws for any visitors, limiting the time they can stay (save for exceptions were some elves are allowed to make permanent residence in town) and making them swear oaths to keep pieces of information, namely how to get to the village, a secret (yes, they do the thing were they blindfold people before taking them to the village). They are especially averse to foreign high elves for their spite against the major elven cities (they do not have a problem with high elves from their own town though) , as well as kenku and tabaxi, due to those two races having been long standing rival villages to their town in the past couple of centuries, which the inhabitants of Grovetall perceive as them coming to steal the luxurious natural resources Grovetall was built around.
  
  Said resources include the lavish water sources that run through the town, as well as the wood and flowers that grow there. Good wood and water that tastes so great it's gained a bit of fame are the main exports of Grovetall.
• The Border​

  
  The area surrounding Grovetall is one of the defining features of the town. Seemingly random spiked fences, traps and ward stones begin becoming more frequent as one approaches the town. Druids have also hidden treants and awakened plants among the vegetation that attack the unsuspecting that come near enough without being accompanied by an inhabitant from the village.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Temples​

  Northen Temple​

  
  

  

  The northen temple is the the most lavish of the two temples of Grovetall. While it does stand out more, it is also the one most frequented and shown to visitors to the town. Most celebrations take place in this temple, and it's high priest, Dendarian, is currently the elder of prayers.
  
  Getting to the temple is, if simple, a task that can take courage for some. The temple is on the other side of a cliff relative to Grovetall's main area, and a bridge must be crossed which goes right over that cliff. Children between the ages of 3 and 16 are taught to sing a song and keep their eyes closed, while taking their parent's or caretaker's hand. (Song may come to be detailed later). Once they are inside though, it is quite worth it. The temple and the council tower are the only places in Grovetall built from stone as much as wood, though the temple was still first grown from within a tree. The river that falls into the cliff below the bridge passes through the temple grounds, creating a pool of sorts within the temple where the sick and some seeking particular rituals can cleanse themselves, as well as giving a certain atmosphere alongside the large statue of one of the female shapes taken by Corellon, representing his creation of the elven race as a sort of motherly act.
  
  Because of this idea, there is a ritual that happens at the feet of this statue called the "solemn birthing", where children become full fledged members of the community, witnessed by a member of the council, and another called "birther's blessing", where the whole council is present to watch what is usually a group of Grovetall elves be given the right to work and have children in their town. While vows are taken in both instances, the council has decided to be lax on these, seeing how not every elf in their community is entirely pious anyway.
  
  
  
  
  Southern Temple​

  
  

  

  The Southern temple is more reclusive, not really allowing people from outside the community to come, and being extra strict on the behavior of people within. Most old elves go to this temple for its peace and quiet, and because at specific times in the way it offers ceremonies for those who worship gods that not Correllon first.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Ancient Laboratory​

  
  

  

  

  Also known as the home of E'Lania Treeance, this place used to be a shared home with several families living in it, but over time between people moving out and those whose lineages perished, has come to be fully inhabited by E'Lania alone. With the new room, she decided to volunteer to hold the town's records of its inhabitant's lives, a tradition they had of recording the lives and feats of the inhabitants of Grovetall so that if any reincarnated back they could consult their past life through the records. E'Lania has read these records, though she can't help but be annoyed at the fact children keep coming to ask her stories and whether they once were great people from the village or not. Overtime, her record-keeping has turned her house into a full-blown library of Grovetall's most important books, so likewise teachers also have to come and bother her to get records and other books for their classes.
  
  The house itself has grows on an ancient tree barely clinging to its shape. The water from the nearby rivers has spread enough that the house is pratically surrounded by a lake, which has caused the place to begin sinking into the mud. Nonetheless, with proper protection through magic, the lower floors (read: the underground laboratory itself) has been kept safe. It is in that laboratory that E'Lunia truly usually resides, experimenting and researching day and night.
  
  
  
  
  
  Council Tower​

  Like the northen temple, the Council Tower is one of the few places actually built with stone and not just wood. It is one of the closest places to said temple, and it is the place where the council holds its meetings. However, it is most well-known for being the main location of the town's treasury, storing extra supplies for hard times, weaponry, gold traded to the town itself, ancient relics and of course the taxes. It is also where soldiers, renowned scouts and the like tend to live, being given several benefits for doing so. This way, if the tower is attacked, it has a supply of guards ready to defend it at all times...or so is the intent.
  
  
  
  
  
• 

  Grovetall's story begins with a group of elven rebels. Not so much political rebels or anarchists of any sorts, but moreso an ensamble of teenargers (the equivalent to an elf anyway) who set out on a journey together to prove that even in their new unorthodox ways, they could live great lives like their parents before them, without the needing for the constant watch and pressure from their parents. Though it might not have been the most glamorous or well-received origin, the group ultimately succeeded in finding a rather fitting place for a new settlement, and their lessons learned with their hardships would be passed down to their children.
  
  With a spot-well-chosen the settlement was able to flourish and grow into a village in about 300 years. It was a reclusive village, no more open to other races than what would be expected of an elven city. Nonetheless, they weren't entirely invisible, and in a fit of spite Riversong city occasionally would leak out information on the village's location to particular travellers. While this worked for the village's advantage in the end of the day, giving them access to information to more up to date information and tools, it was still something that hurt their pride. Even the famed Treeance prodigy, a direct descendant of Sylvus Treedance (one of the village founders) had to work his way up to being given licence to go visit a human city and study there.
  
  
  
  

  Things came to change when Grovetall was invaded by a lich's undead army, however. The undead caused havoc all over the village, raising and destroying whatever they found, though thankfully fires were kept to a minimum by those resisting the undead. It was a and of heroes who would come to finally put an end to the undead invasion by slaughtering the lich commanding it.
  
  While still considerably reclusive, Grovetall has become a far more open location after it was rebuilt. The invasion is probably the greatest hallmark of its history, and its people remember it well. Once lax in its defenses and religious practices, Grovetall saw a spike of paranoia and piety for many years, the later of which continues to today. Defenses all over were set up to help defend against an invasion, wards prepared for any wandering undead and scouts begun being trained to the level of Elven capital elites just to be able to snuff out any potential incoming threats and give the people time to prepare and/or evaquate.
  
  On the other hand, the village also remember its gratitude towards the heroes who saved them, and by proxy the races they belonged to. Out of a sense of comfort, and in part due to the growing influence of E'Lania Treeance, the village began opening up to other elves and humans first. Drow and humans travellers were particularly well-received, if still an eye on at all times when in the village, but high elves were less so, as they tended to come more from the big cities including Riversong, against which Grovetall still has a bone to pick.
  
  
  
  

  The village's opening up came with a lot of advantages, but it also announced to those paying attention the rich resources surrounding that area. This would come to attract other races to form nearby villages as well, and eventually creating rivalries with Grovetall.