Canonical Setting

This page is a brief primer on the canonical setting and background lore. Campaigns can choose to ignore this lore if they want to play in a different world. The primary campaign, Broken Frontiers, takes place in the canonical setting.

## Primer

*This is a story about you. This is a story about how you came to join the Three Rivers Guild, an adventuring group which sends recruits on dangerous missions for hidden fortunes, thrilling explorations, and immortal glory. This is a story about what you did once you joined the Three Rivers Guild. This is a story about the friends and enemies you made along the way, and the close bonds you formed with your team members. This is a story about how you changed as a person. For better or worse, who you were when you joined the Three Rivers Guild is not the same person in your future.*

*This is a story about your team. Each of you brings a special talent to the table - something you were born with or something you gained from life experience. You and everyone on your team has a gift that makes them special.*

*This is a story about the team you work with, the discoveries you find, and the choices you make. And our story starts with you.*

### **The World of Amnis**

The year is 2260 CR, the planet Amnis, home of humans, elves, and halflings, has reached the frontier of interplanetary travel. About a hundred years ago, discoveries in arcane engineering made it possible to travel to and from Ewox An, native planet of the orcs. Less than fifty years ago, advancements in that technology also connected Amnis to Ivlit, the home of gnomes and dwarves. Much of the research came out of the kingdoms of Gristan, united under Empress Abigail, during a cold war with the Newinter Empire, and the two empires remain in a cold war to this day.

***Technology***

Amnis’s advancements are comparable to the turn of the 20th century on Earth, broadly speaking. Some technologies are less modern; for example, firearm development is closer to that of the late 19th century. Yet other technologies exceed our own due largely to the work of Garamond Gywyn, the father of arcane engineering. More than 250 years after steam technology was perfected, Gywyn discovered how mechanical parts can be infused with magic to enhance function.

Today, the Gywyn University for Arcane and Mechanical Technology remains the only university funded by the Gristan Empire. Because technology has the potential to improve through magic, the people of Amnis see no reason to move past steam technology, but rather to make bigger and better inventions from what already exists. This has created a steampunk aesthetic, and historians are calling the current time period the Electric Swing Era.

***Religion***

There are three major gods worshipped throughout the solar system: Uud, Resh, and Mal. Information about these gods has been found on ancient runes carved into stone, or in patterns in the natural world. Most religions hold that the three gods exist; the variations of faith are in which of their values are considered morally superior.

***Magic***

Magic on Amnis is both learned and intuitive. Similar to music, art, or mathematics, one can be born “gifted” or become skilled through dedication and practice. In this way, magic is usually performed by those with a natural talent, while others consider it a profession. Natural aptitude in magic is held by about one in two hundred, and nobles who marry for magical talent find that the children of two mages are not always gifted with magic.

Anyone can conjure a magical effect with enough time and instruction. Those who aren't born with a gift for magic need to follow long, convoluted rituals that involve many focal components. The more complicated spells require even mages (those gifted with magic) to use rituals and components. Magic is an art, a profession, a study, a practice, and a way of life. It takes your mind, body, and spirit to improve. Most mages who study magic do so with scientific rigor. Magic is about as well-known as our world knows the brain in the early 21st century; that is, you can study it your whole life and only get as far as "if I do this, this happens, and doing this similar different thing produces this similar different effect.”

Consumer magic is very lagged behind what prototypers are conjuring in their labs. Priests claim that magic is a gift from the gods, and no arcanist has come so close to understanding how it works as to even think of a way or reason to dispute them. Therefore, the priests' definition of magic is widely accepted by society and universities. Their explanation is as follows: you train your body, mind, and spirit to become close to the gods, and then the god’s hand becomes your hand. This story has been changed so many times over the years, there are plenty of re-flavorings of the story and none of them seem to suggest a single truth.

Magical beast sightings are uncommon, but heard of. There are legends of such beasts existing more often in the past, and even today most people have seen such a beast at least once in their lifetime. Magical items are also rare. Infusing strong magic permanently into an object is difficult, making such items worth a great amount to scholars, nobles, and tyrants. However, artificing is a common profession, and minor artifacts like “leaky” arcane devices are relatively common among the wealthy and powerful.

***The Tributaries***

Scattered across the worlds are underground catacombs, caves, and vaults, referred to almost universally as Tributaries. Though little is known about the origins of the Tributaries, everyone knows at least one story of the harrowing dangers and abundant treasures these Tributaries hold. Legendary adventurers have uncovered magical artifacts, tomes of lore, and famed riches from their deep tunnels, but more well-known are the tragic tales of travelers seeking glory and never returning. The Tributaries are held with fear, awe, and wonder by anyone who has sought the bold life of an adventurer or considered that wealth, power, and knowledge was less than a mile below their feet.

***Midnight Shade***

As beautiful as Amnis is, most people don’t stay out too late. As the last sunlight of twilight fades, the wind seems to pick up wisps of shadows, taking them to the sky where they form deep black clouds. From midnight until dawn, usually about six hours, the side of the world hidden from the sun is encased in darkness as thick as pitch, receiving no sunlight, moonlight, or starlight. Historical reports suggest this only began happening after the Creators’ Reawakening. The midnight shade has had three effects besides the complete darkness. First, creatures of the Tributaries are notably more savage at night, which has become a more severe issue as the Tributaries grow restless and creatures begin surfacing. The second and third effects are reported by shadow mages who can see in complete blackness. In the midnight shade, even these mages see only monochromatic blurs of motion and shapes. Some have described seeing ethereal ghostly figures of terrifying beasts never before seen by most people. These reports are confirmed by bodies found of people wandering about at night without light - that is, of the shreds which remained. Stranger still, other shadow mages have seen humanoid phantasms wandering in and out of great walls of wispy smoke that seem to take shape in the dead of night and dissipate with the dawnlight.

***You***

You are one of the most critical aspects of the world itself. Despite Amnis being a living, breathing environment, it would be empty without legends like you to shape it. But be warned: actions taken are not easily undone. Your power is a responsibility, your gift is a curse, and from you who will become great, greatness will be expected.

## The Venntiverse

The canonical setting, often called the Venntiverse, includes one solar system of three planets orbiting Bel, the sun. These three planets are Ewox An, Amnis, and Ivlit.