Chebeth

Chebeth

**Chebeth** (pronounced *chuh-BETH*) is a world in the Material Plane. It orbits one sun and is the only planet in its solar system. It exists in the habitable zone and is a temperate world though some extremes do exist. There is one moon named Shyf. Three continents make up the only major landmasses, though there is one large island and many smaller islands located throughout.

In the far distant past as this world was just a chaotic collection of swirling gasses and rocks, a collection of deities from across the planes gathered together and decided their hand at creation. Each deity gifted an aspect of themselves to this project and as such, we have the prime pantheon of Chebeth and the sentient races that throughout this document, will be referred to collectively as “kith”. After toying with their creation for a couple millennia, however, these deities grew bored and decided to leave it to its own devices. While some small piece of the prime deities’ power still lingers in the world, they are essentially absentee landlords. This lack of direct oversight has made Chebeth a destination for some stranger and lesser-known deities, celestials, and other powerful beings. The doors were left unlocked, so to speak, and Chebeth has become an inter-dimensional travel hub for a wide assortment of creatures.

## Geography

The three major continents are Tretch, Yulia, and Ossus. A smaller continent, Alendis, is located in the northern reaches of the Emerald Ocean. Tretch is located to the west of Yulia and the two are separated by the Wide Ocean. On the western side of Tretch is the Emerald Ocean, so called because its waters are filled with algae and kelp forests. The Emerald Ocean is even larger than the Wide Ocean and stretches around **Chebeth** until it reaches the shores of Ossus, which is very isolated from the other two. The Saltlight Seas reach from the eastern coasts of Yulia to Ossus, making it nearly as large as the Emerald Ocean.

## Early History

In the earliest ages of the world, planar explorers of dragonkind discovered Chebeth and made their homes upon all continents. They mingled with the kith that were already at home in this world. These dragons were nearly as varied as the other kith of Chebeth and brought their own deities, beliefs, and cultures from beyond. In these early years of prehistory, it is believed that the dragons built civilizations across what is now known as Tretch, Yulia, and even prehistoric Ossus. The dragons ruled and lived among the various kith of this period.

There are still ruins from this era and the occasional magic relic has been found. Beyond that, the knowledge of this time is little known to only select researchers. Legends of ancient kingdoms ruled by dragons are common among most cultures in both Tretch and Yulia.

### Argosi, the first city

Thought to be one of the earliest settlements in Chebeth, Argosi was founded by a collection of sailors who chose to forsake the worship of Sobek, god of the sea, and instead pledge their worship to the unknowable, chaotic elements of the ocean. In essence, they found themselves manifesting what is now known as the Sealord, the first of Chebeth’s emergent deities. This religion grew and spawned an early version of the Circle of Radiant Salt.

Believing that living on the un-moving earth of the continents and islands of Chebeth would hinder them in growing closer to the ocean, they started lashing ships together to create a vast and constantly moving settlement. They filled derelict vessels with dirt so that their decks would act as farms, they collected rainwater in large vessels, they used enormous nets to catch fish and crustaceans to feed on. Over hundreds of years, this city grew and grew as other sailors who believed in its calling searched it out and lashed their ships to the sides of the city.

Nobody knows exactly where Argosi was founded and the city was thought to have disappeared on the far side of the world, wandering the oceans for their god for eternity. Many scholars of cryptogeography consider this to be the first “true” city to appear on Chebeth. Though much of its history has since been obfuscated by time and thought to be a mere fairy tale, its legend persists.

### The Rupture

The Rupture has come to be known as one of the defining moments in the history of Chebeth. It describes the events surrounding an aborted invasion of Chebeth instigated by a powerful Giant deity known as Annam the All-Father, facilitated by two of his children, Barsi and Girad, and thwarted by the Dragons. Following this incident, numerous Giant species became unwilling extraplanar refugees and made their homes within the Spine of Yulia.

### The Dragons retreat to Ossus

Not content to share their newfound home with another race of aliens, the Dragons left the continents of Tretch and Yulia, consolidating their numbers on the continent of Ossus. There, they influenced a number of civilizations' developments, eventually forming the Shyfstone Empire and rarely leaving its borders.

Signs remain that the dragons once inhabited Tretch and Yulia however, as evidenced by the numerous Dragonborn on both continents and the existence of some draconic sorcerous bloodlines.

### The Giants assert themselves

The Giants in Chebeth founded their own kingdom high in the mountains of the Spine, naming this new kingdom “Ostoria” in memory of their homeland. Over time, the Kingdom of Ostoria came to be a home for the Stone, Fire and Cloud Giants. The Storm Giants became a kind of absentee nobility while Cloud Giants generally ruled those below them in the Ordning. Frost Giants claimed the far northern reaches of the Spine but maintained peaceful coexistence with their brothers. The Hill Giants, less-intelligent and brutish as they are, descended into the steppes and valleys around the Spine, eventually spawning creatures like Ettins which in turn intermixed with Ogres.

## Age of Antiquity

A number of generations after the Dragons headed to Ossus and millennia before the formation of the Sisters or the rise of the Breckish Empire is often considered an "age of antiquity" by historians. Some members of the longer lived races still remembered the Dragons but it was during this era that their existence fell away into legend. Sparse and inconsistent contact existed between Tretch and Yulia as most naval technology was not yet advanced enough for the open sea. The wounds left behind by the Rupture had only begun to make themselves known and the Giants would continue to propagate themselves throughout the Spine, evolving their first settlements into the Ostorian Kingdoms. This was an era that fed numerous stories and legends that reverberate to this day.

It was during this period that the Sylvan Queendom and the Kingdom of Garranagrad were first founded, as well as many of their member cities. Those two nation-states were the lone countries to exist for much of the era and the cities that would one day form the heart of the Breckish Empire (and later the Breckish League) were just petty city-states or mere villages.

The Sisters had yet to be formed. Hewliss had yet to travel across the Wide Ocean to found his college and city, Lithrock, Mykatten, and Girad-Upon-High were only small shadows of what they would become. Ante was little more than a forgotten fishing village and went by a different name.

It was during this era that the Dragons surveyed their new home and consolidated their power into numerous "thrones" which were again consolidated into the Shyfstone Empire after the War of Petals Spent. They lorded over their new civilizations and subtly interfered with each other for millennia, rarely again resorting to open warfare.

The Cloud Giants, in a desire to live in peace with their adopted home, attempted to curb their Hill Giant cousins and made contact with the Humans, Goliaths, Dwarves, Dragonborn, Loxodons, and other smaller races that lived nearby the mountain range. When the Giants discovered that a number of Loxodons and Humans had begun building a home in the corpse of one of their Titans, they explained how they came to Chebeth and inspired the name of a new settlement grounded by a monastery, Girad-Upon-High. Since that time, Ostoria maintained a friendly relationship with the monks there. As Girad-Upon-High grew larger and more powerful, other cities appeared around the Spine, Lithrock and Mykatten. The Giants inspired Girad-Upon-High to unite these cities together under a loose confederation they named the Sisters eventually.

### Early Antiquity (0 AR - 1000 AR)

It was during this era that the Giants took stock of their fate and founded their four kingdoms under the banner of Ostoria between 32 AR and 53 AR. The Dragons shared the continent of Yulia but had entirely left that continent and Tretch by 86 AR. Around 219 AR the Dragons had formally organized the Shyfstone Empire in Ossus.

### Golden Age Antiquity (1000 AR - 5383 AR)

This long span of time was marked the high point of the Giants' influence along the Spine in Yulia. It is generally regarded to have ended with the founding of Girad-Upon-High in 5283 AR.

In Ossus, a long period of technological and magical advancement occurred throughout the Shyfstone Empire as the kith of that continent were guided and advised by the various Dragon thrones.

### Late Antiquity (5383 AR - 8200 AR)

This was the era most of the major city-states and powers of Tretch and Yulia were originally founded.

## Age of Empires (8201 AR - 9515 AR)

The Age of Empires was commonly understood to run roughly from the formation of the Sisters in Yulia to the onset of the Breckish Civil War, which ended the imperial experiment in Tretch.

## Modern Era (9516 AR - Present)

The Modern Era was generally understood to begin following the reorganization of the nation-states of Tretch.