New Player Background

>The Newfish Guide to the Alexandrian World<

Welcome to the Mainland!

The majority of the interaction on this world takes place on a continental mass known rather vaguely as the Mainland. It is a diverse continent existing mostly South of the Equator, going (from North to South) from highly civilized mercantile states in long-settled lands to an enormous expanse of mostly unexplored barbarian territory, with setting and technology that most resembles the usual strange D&D hybrid of late Medieval and early Renaissance technologies and social norms. By and large, political entities have been stable for the last few thousand years since the collapse of the Ubrekti Empire (see this timeline of major events for a detailed look at the history of the Mainland).

Every one of the states has, over their long existences, developed their own quirks of character, language and worldview. The one steadfast commonality of the continent is Alexandrianism, a monotheistic faith centered upon the dramatic intervention of its eponymous deity into the world's affairs roughly a millenium and a half ago. Its practice varies somewhat from state to state, but it is, by and large, something that with which any inhabitant of the Mainland can identify, no matter what their background.

Less overt, but still very important, a binding force was the domination of most of the known world by the Ubrekti Empire for a period of roughly two thousand years, from roughly five to three thousand years ago for the Empire at its glory, from the last addition to the first fracture. From its unification came the spread of the language of Ubrekti, the lingua franca of educated Mainlanders, and from its dissolution came the country's borders, more-or-less as they are found today. In some places, particularly in the history of Gildenhome and New Hakan, the scars of occupation are visible to this day.

Mechanics?

Mechanically, the world is played in fairly straight d20 Dungeons and Dragons 3.5e, as depicted in the d20 SRD, with extra prestige classes, feats, and other rules either created or pulled liberally from other works. There are some caveats, though, particularly in the composition of races--with a very small number of exceptions, Elves are, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent, and years of hard living under Dwarven rule have given the Gnomes a bit of a different flavor, and Halflings have a quirk or two to be learned. Similarly, as a predominantly Western-themed society, Monks as the 3.5e class do not exist in any meaningful way.

Play Quirks

In general, the all-mighty and benevolent GM reigns in a fairly anti-Monty-Haul and potentially deadly style. With exceptions mostly limited to Alexandria herself, resurrection is nonexistent, and death, when it occurs, can be considered permanent (with the usual unsettling exceptions).