Theros - Sing, Goddess | White Wizards Workshop

Theros - Sing, Goddess Apr 24, 2024 18:07:01 GMT -6

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Post by Traskus on Apr 24, 2024 18:07:01 GMT -6

Near the Tau Empire, Theros is a sphere undreamed of. Where shining poleis lay spread across worlds like blue mantles beneath the stars. A sphere of countless poleis in constant struggle against each other and the world around them. The populace have developed their minds, bodies, or both to oppose the forces that seek to bring them low, including each other. In its recent past the Tau sought to conquer this sphere, destroying most of the large population centers and nearly succeeding until the tyranids pose a bigger threat elsewhere. They have since rebuilt, their splendor restored and mastery over nature slowly recovering.

Physical Conditions
Theros is a white giant. Yes, I said a white giant. A misnomer, it's a only a little bigger than Sol but it burns white hot, giving every planet -even the furthest- similar climates and large dry-summer bands. The worlds of Theros are poleis, great nations with walled cities and vast tracts of vicious wilderness between them. Libraries and towers reach the skies. Beasts and barbarians wander them, whether in forest, sea, or wasteland. Ruins of the Syrne dot the landscape and the bottom of churning seas, lost in a single day and night.

The crystal sphere is a bipolar entity. The main powers are the alliance of Akros and the alliance of Meletis, rivals vying for dominance. The planets are opposite one another's orbits, and their influence wanes and mixes as you get closer to the middle.

Theros is a unique crystal sphere. The collective ideas and beliefs of intelligent life take form in the warp, Theros is so in tune with the warp that some of those things become real over the course of centuries. This makes prophecy an actual law of physics, and the difference between free will and predestination is your drive to carve your own path. Those who put in the most become Exalts and do great deeds and have their souls form images in the stars after their death.

Theros Inhabitants

Theros is chock-full of intelligent races, most of them native no less. Individual arachne spin webs in caves and temples to sell as clothes. Humans are everywhere, as usual, living in cities doing a bit of everything in more ways than one. The places and planets between the major planets mix their kind evermore until they reach the star's immediate orbit in space stations.

Akros is home to mighty and powerful races, proud of their strength and strength of arms. Cyclopes live pastoral lives on islands and mountains; their preternatural craftsmanship makes their wares famous Wheel-wide. Goliaths wander as hunter-gatherers and while peaceful they keep to themselves. The civilized people of Akros have a culture that idealizes the citizen-soldier-farmer, one who lives humbly, works hard, looks out for the people around them, and protects their way of life.

The Aasimar of the Minotaurs chapter have a fortress-monastery on the planet and recruit system-wide, abducting viable candidates from their families without their knowledge. Their deeds are the stuff of legend, and slaying a wild beast alone is among the qualifications to get their attention.

Meletis houses less mighty but more mystically minded kinds. Ophidians study magic in their grand libraries learning the nature of the warp and umbra. Sphinxes divine the future in ruins and wander into cities warning of imminent disaster, making the people believe they cause them. The disgraced lenoin wander the wild, banished for selling out to Akros during war against the Tau. They have tried to make a meritocratic caste society ruled by wise and humble autocrats, protected by guardians, and maintained by laborers - all perfectly suited to their areas of competence and equally cared for.

The wilderness and wastelands of Theros are home to beasts and barbarians of every stripe. Tribes of dryads abduct unwary travelers and take them back to their hidden villages, if the Slaaneshi ungor don't get to them first. Harpies prowl the oceans and sing sailors to their doom.

The wild animals are so much worse. Hydras are endemic to every swamp and lake not taken by Gorgons and their basilisk pets. Sea monsters and dire animals crush and eat the unfortunate and stupid. The wilderness of Theros is so dangerous that besting it alone is worthy of the Aasimar's attention. The dangers in the wilds are almost as bad as the Beastlands.

Locations

Akros
The planet Akros was once a military and industrial powerhouse. It produced ships, weapons, warriors, and soldiers of the highest caliber. This changed during a recent war against the Tau Empire, who burned every major population center of the planet to glass killing hundreds of millions and almost the entire Minotaur aasimar chapter. The populace work to repair the world, making great progress in only a few decades. The Tau called the battle here "The Fall of Mu'Gulath Bay" for the name of the orbital shipyard above the planet, mistaking it for the name of Akros itself. They have recovered much, and are once again a system-wide influence. The northern ice cap contains Syrne ruins of unknown significance and purpose.

Meletis
Meletis was once a shining city of progress, a planet of sorcerors and scholars. Before the Tau invaded the system, it was ruled by the Thousand Sons tieflings with wisdom and dignity. When the Tau began the Burning of Meletis, their Cyclops leader tried and failed to save them and instead the Thousand Sons fled to parts unknown. It is a massive archipelago of a planet, with mighty storms and countless islands. The largest such island is its capital Dekatizca, with great pyramids and temples that housed uncountable books before they were destroyed. It is close to regaining its splendor, but with lack of external threats, ambition breeds.

Nessia
The fourth moon of a gas giant, Nessia is entirely forest. It is a primitive world, without even metalworking. It is largely populated by centaurs, with other races living around and in orbit above the moon to place military and scientific outposts. They leave the centaurs alone, since they kill those who hunt the creatures of the moon. They can even use their stone age technology to bring down light armored vehicles. They favor Meletis for their desire to better understand the world around them.

Pherberos
The moon of Akros is a training ground for the military and mages of Akros. In the distant past, untrained magic defiled Pherberos and made a savage badlands for a time before Akrosians restored order. It is now home to towers of high psykery, where gifted youngsters and adults learn magic in a controlled and remote environment. Mages and soldiers get field experience battling the techno-barbarians in the wastes between cities.

Setessa
Setessa is the third planet in the Theros system, making it more or less the midpoint between Akros and Meletis. The Tau ignored this world, considering it not a threat. It is a pre-industrial world, with civilized dryads being most common, living in massive treehouses with a planet-wide trade network. Harpies live in communes on mountains and coasts, priding themselves on their music. Ungors are still dedicated to Slaanesh, but as more organized slavers and artisans instead of simple hedonists. They control a total of four wildlife preserves, protected with armies they collectively agree to not attack despite whatever conflicts might arise between them. Akros are their trusted allies, appreciating their humble but robust culture.

The Siren Sea
The Siren Sea is a large, well, sea in Meletis' western hemisphere full of sirens and tritons. Its center is a massive whirlpool where few ships have ever survived traversing with a gargantuan machine at the bottom. Its largest landmass Arixmethes is actually a Fenrisian kraken released onto the planet by a wrathful Scion. He was defeated but not slain, and slumbers for now, but prophecy says he will wake one day. The tritons and sirens have developed secret cloning technology capable of mass-production to repopulate after fighting Arixmethes and now use it to sell to rich clients, most recently the Krieg government.

Thessal
This small moon orbits Meletis and is a testing site for new scientific and magical theory. It looks serene from a distance but biological, mechanical, and biomechanical horrors wander the planet coming up from openings in the ground. Seismic survey shows the moon is honeycombed and its interior is oddly structured, to the point people say it's no moon but a space station.

Adventure Seeds

A noble has taken millions of the poorest people of another crystal sphere and seeks to set up a colony in Theros, violently if need be.

A non-spelljammer ship has been hurled into the Astral Sea.

One of the nations of Setessa has attacked a wildlife preserve.

A human mining corporation has landed on Nessia to strip mine a rare conductive ore. Out of desire to minimize cost of activity, they have employed spies using prosthetic bodies to pose as the native population.

An oracle has returned from a journey to the Abyss. She is a changed woman, having gone blind and swearing off her magic. She has expressed a desire to sever Theros' connection to the warp. She says doing so will reclaim free will from the gods.

A city only has one inhabitant, otherwise empty but bustling city of law and order mirrors it in the Umbra.

A Scion is wandering the sphere wreaking havoc and swearing vengeance on Bytopia for its lies and broken promises.

Bestiary

Dragoons

Theros - Sing, Goddess

Post by Traskus on Apr 24, 2024 18:07:01 GMT -6

Post by Traskus on Apr 24, 2024 19:27:55 GMT -6