Lore Post #1

Hey, guys!

Rewards for everyone who pledged $5+ last month are out, so check your emails! Otherwise I'll be sending out TAP in ~2 weeks. 

In other news, the poll last month was pretty conclusive: quite a few of you are interested in some lore tidbits after all! Perhaps I'll start doing a monthly thing where I compile my current thoughts...

For this entry I'll write a little bit about my shared universe(s). I'm sure plenty of you have noticed how there are a bunch of recurring characters in TAP from other books (DFF, RGS, the Spider Queen series). Well, one of the things I've learned about the writing business at the moment is the need to "throw things at the wall until they stick." That's the main reason I've spent the past few years hopping around between series - I was trying to find my footing and see what was actually popular. 

Now that TAP has taken off I have a chance to finally flesh out this universe and setting a bit more!

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The Highwind Universe

My main guideline at first was to have some easily recognizable tropes and character archetypes that would be at home in any "homebrew" D&D setting. I wanted a big, diverse city kind of like Waterdeep from the Forgotten Realms where I could have basically any kind of adventure. Random rescue of a sexy priestess in the wild? Sure! Random kidnap/blackmail adventure with a naughty wizard headmistress? Why not?!

At this point I have a more specific idea of the history and power structure in the region that I'll probably delve into later. What happened during the War of the Three Cities? What was this Winter War? How does magic work, exactly?

Varellon, the Dragon Setting

My second setting that I plan to keep distinct will draw on a lot of concepts I introduced in Dragon Bride (some things I'll revise for a 2nd edition eventually). The basic gist is a twist on the normal trope - instead of dragons shapeshifting into people, it's the opposite. The Avetharri (elves) created dragons as a kind of super weapon to win a war, but then afterwards they dragons rebelled and seized control. These dragons (Wyrmidon) eventually created their own empires across the continent, so now we're locked in a Game of Thrones style battle of nobles...except the nobles are shapeshifting dragons instead of humans! 

Asha is from Narthil, one of the countries in the south. The ruler, King Kamir, considers himself the last true dragon since all the other Wyrmidon have cross-bred with the other races and "diluted" the bloodline at this point. 

I'd like for the magic to be more distinct in this setting - it's going to have a more pure elemental feel.  

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Anyway, this is mostly just some rambling thoughts for now, but I'll probably have more later this month. Chapter one of TAP 4 should also be ready soon. :)