Akar D'Zon



Brief Description Of World :

Akar D'zon is roughly twice the size of Earth. It rotates around a Sun the same size as ours. This star is known as Gul'Zabir (which means 'The Burning Boy' in the vorstel Language) There are 13 moons which revolve around the planet. Each of these is believed to be the home of one of the major deities of the VorsTel Pantheon (the gods known collectively as The Akar). There are atleast 3 continents known to the residents of Obiniaras, but because of the Tidal tensions caused by the moons there is very little inter-continental travel.

Brief description of Obiniaras

Obiniaras is a large continent that is divided by a shallow sea known as The Blood Rift. It is roughly the same size as the Eurasian continent. The Climate of the western half is largely temperate with its northern regions touching the Arctic zone and having 4 distinct seasons. The southern region has a much more tropical climate and the average temperature is around 75 degrees. This portion contains all of the large nation states (with the exception of the fledgling Kraenis and Gruelf nations). It also contains the region known as Agisbani where an ancient battle has fractured The Weave causing magic to be very unpredictable inside.

The Kristani Empire once flourished on the Eastern continent but at the end of the Drizateli war the Kristan were driven to near extinction and their homeland is now a huge rubble strewn plain devoid of any life. It also contains the lush woodland known as Trolis Wood, which is guarded by the secretive Huziest and their Trolis guardians. There is no large advanced civilization that is based on the Eastern Side, although the Kraenis and Gruelf are consolidating their holdings into fledgling nation-states. Effectively there are 2 separate continents separated only by the 1 mile wide Blood Rift. There is not very much exploration of the Eastern side by those who reside on The Western Side.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the Eastern side is that the Weave (the source of Magic on this world) is completely dead within the boundaries of the former Kristani holdings.


The Origin of the Name :

One of the centerpieces of the VorsTel culture is the system of D'zonir. In this system the Master (the D'zorni) owns slaves (the D'zon). However the master has a responsibility to his charges. He must teach them and educate them so that they may one day be accepted as a full member of VorsTel society and stand as his social equal.
Akar is the word used to refer to the Gods of the VorsTel Pantheon. This word is both singular and plural.
So in the VorsTel language the name of the world translates into the idea that this place is where the Gods teach mortals to become Gods.



Cosmology :
Akar D'zon is the 4th planet that orbits the yellow star known as Gul'Zabir. In the VorsTel language Gul'Zabir means 'The Burning Boy'. There are a total of 7 planets in the system. There are 13 large asteroids that have been drawn into stable orbits around the planet. They are refered to as Moon-lets. They are much closer than our moon but all together they have less mass than earth's Moon. Each of these is believed to be the Abode of one of the Major VorsTel Dieties.


The History of Obiniaras

(An excerpt from the Journals of Amicus Koehlarin)

I have been unable to find anyone who takes credit for the creation of the world itself that has any credibility.
From what I have discovered even the Akar themselves take no credit for this. Many take credit for alterations they have made to it but no one claims to have created it themselves.
I believe that this may be due to the fact that the periods of time known as The Walks (when the Akar have been forced to take mortal form and regain their power) have resulted in the original creator deity losing his power and being replaced by another who did not know this information. My theory is that none of those who are now counted among the Akar were actually Akar at the creation.
What I can tell you is that each race of sentient (with the exception of the Telian Races) was either created by one of the Akar or migrated to Obiniaras from elsewhere.
The Kai races are from another land and appear to have been refugees when they came here, almost 2000 years ago. They retain no knowledge of their origins beyond the fact they were running away from someone who sought to enslave them.
The Telian derived races, it is agreed, were actually born from the land itself and none of the Akar takes credit for their creation.
The Dakin were created by Drig The Akar of Fire and Industry. Legend says that when the races of the Underworld escaped from their confinement within the earth Drig created the Dakin and charged them with preventing the Under-races from gaining a foothold in the lands of the Sun.
The Brandi-Mantrans and Plesi were specially bred to be slaves by their former Dakin masters.
The Kristan were born when a tribe of Kaians were embraced by Vors and he rewarded them by blending all the best aspects of the Kai with the best aspects of Lions.
All of the inhabitants of the Savage Lands are culturally degenerate refugees from the Kraenis and Gruelf Confederations.
The Kraenis are the descendants of one of the Under-races that gained a foothold in the Lands above. Their slaves the Grom, Denthis and Flortim are descendants of their slave castes which they altered long ago with forgotten magics.
The Gruelf are a foreign race that have been in residence on Obiniaras since at least the time of the 2nd VorsTel Sundering.
The people known as the Teroga look identical and some are capable of interbreeding with their Brandi-Mantran cousins, but their language and other cultural aspects seems to indicate that they too are a foreign element. One theory is that they are the original stock from which the Dakin created the Brandi-Mantrans.

(just a point of clarification: I use different names for my races. This is mostly because I find that players react differently when you say they encounter a group of Kraenis than when you say a group of Goblins. I also find that in RL people tend to name themselves after their place of origin. For example when you ask someone from Paris what they are they will most likely say they are French rather than saying they are a Human)

The Obiniaran race names conversion chart

Telian = Elf
Kai or Kaian = Human
Dakin = Dwarf
Brandi-mantran = Halfling
Plesi = Gnomes
Kraenis = Goblins
Grom = Ogres
Denthis = Kobolds
Flortim = Gnolls
Gruelf = Orcs