Chronicles of Etaine is a rules-light, RP-heavy, high fantasy/horror tabletop RPG that runs on a d20 system (specifically, one d20 and no more than a small handful of d6). Once I can get some preview art commissioned, I'll post a Kickstarter to fund the creation, printing, and publishing of the game.
Preview: Creation Myth
First, there was only the Infinity. A primordial sea where matter and magic were one in the same. From this sea sprang a consciousness, the Godsmith. For many years the he was content to toy with the energies of the Infinity as they ebbed and flowed. Then, the Godsmith felt something new: Loneliness. To combat this, he dipped his hammer into the primordial sea and struck it upon his anvil. He forged it, giving it form and shape. With his breath, he gave it life and consciousness. He named her Azhai, and was content once more.
But his peacefulness would not last. He began to feel restless, and a deep and undeniable urge grew in his companion. Together they gathered the Infinity, and when the Godsmith struck it with his hammer, the heavens lit up with primal fire, spreading across the cosmos. The stars and planets took shape, and the two chose one to call home. Azhai touched the earth, and life spread across its surface, but she was still not satisfied. To please his companion, the Godsmith took up his hammer once more, and built the Well of Life. On the day of its completion, Azhai gave birth to a son, whom they named Ba’ul.
Two great beings emerged from the well, first the Dragons, followed shortly by the Elves. Godsmith and Azhai were thrilled, and gifted these beings with guardianship of the Light, upon which all life depended. The seed of jealousy took root in Ba置l, which only grew as he did until one day, in a fit of pique, he slew an Elven woman who forgot to bow her head to him as she passed. Heartbroken, and dismayed at what their son had become, Godsmith and Azhai cast Ba置l out of their kingdom, and into the volcanic wastes to the south.
Furious, Ba置l sought to usurp his parents. He created his own well, but the beings that emerged from it were corrupted by his rage, jealousy, and hatred, and became twisted mockeries of life. These Demons wanted only to consume and destroy, and Ba置l set them upon the world. The war lasted for two hundred years, until Ba置l, now known at the Destroyer, unleashed a horrifying new weapon.
A magical plague swept across the world, inflicting every Dragon and Elf it touched with a slow and agonizing death. It was the Mythic, the first Dragon who realized that their children, the half-blooded Illiya, were immune to the plague. Sick and dying, the Mythic built a great city to house the Illiya and hid the Beacon deep within. As his final act, he wrapped his body around the city, using the last of his magic to guard it from Ba置l and his Demons. When he died, his body turned to stone, as all the others had before him.
Enraged, the Godsmith battled Ba置l for three days and three nights, and the earth and sky both shook with the intensity of their combat. Azhai battled the Demons, and Nature itself rose up to fight by her side, the first Wild Fae. Despite their rage and grief, they could not bring themselves to kill their son. So they cast him into the Well of Destruction, and imprisoned him there, sealing it with their primordial magic.
There was decades of conflict as the Illiya struggled to cope with their immense grief. Aevinar Ancalime, first born son of the Mythic, sought to rule the Illiya as king. Many agreed with his claim, but many others did not. They were led by Kovaric, and their home was divided by civil war. The fighting raged on until Aevinar and Kovaric slew one another in the courtyard of the great palace in Broken Peak. Their bodies, now turned to stone, stand there still, locked in eternal battle. It was Aevinar痴 daughter, Aevila, who finally unified the Illiya under a single banner and formed a lasting peace. As their society grew and developed, new races began to emerge from the Well of Life.
First was the Corvidae, bird-like keepers of knowledge who built their society of upon towering basalt spires on the border of the Southern Wastes. There they act as watchers for any sign of Ba置l or his Demons. Their lives are long, and their memories are longer still. The Corvidae forget nothing, and keep records of everything they learn in vast libraries that are open to everyone.
Then the Humans emerged. Hardy, adaptable, and incredibly curious, Humans quickly found a home for themselves in the central plains and foothills. There they built close-knit villages and quickly became master farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. Many Humans became scholars and skilled inventors, lauded for their creativity in problem-solving.
Then the Ulvr came forth with the fury of wild beasts and the ability to change their shape into great and powerful wolves. They formed over a dozen clans, organized in a strict hierarchical structure led by a chieftain and his mate. They settled in the Northern Frostlands and built towns along the coasts of the Icebound Peninsula to avoid the savage beasts that prowl the Blackwood, and the Wild Fae whose power they greatly fear. The Ulvr quickly became mighty warriors, but also skilled fishermen, hunters, and craftsmen. Many warriors claim that a mastercrafted Ulvr weapon has no equal.
Last to emerge was the Diah, a quiet and skittish race that built their home in the Walking Woods to the East, where they live side-by-side with the Wild Fae that dwell there. Nomadic and somewhat shy, not much is known about the Diah, except that they revere the Wild Fae and are master herbalists. Their knowledge of herbal medicine is second to none.
Peace reigned over the world once more, and so it remained for the next five thousand years.
But Ba置l would not be so easily silenced. As the years passed, his influence spread, slowly and insidiously. Jealousy, avarice, and hate began to take root among the races, even the Illiya. They lost their king to betrayal, assassinated by his own lover as he slept. His only heir, the Princess Tiria, had vanished into the Frostlands with an Ulvr warrior after being cast out of Broken Peak years before. She has not been seen since, and many doubt that she still lives.
For the first time since its creation, the Beacon went out.
The first to fall were the Corvidae Seekers, who once patrolled the Southern Wastes, looking for any sign of the Destroyer. These powerful sorcerers were twisted into the first Dark Mages, capable of summoning Ba置l痴 demons to spread their master痴 foul influence. They use corrupt blood magic to fuel their profane rituals, and send the condemned souls to the Well of Destruction to be reformed and enslaved to Ba置l痴 will. The Dark Mages seek to free their master from his prison, and release his wrath upon the world once more.
Godsmith and Azhai rest within their hidden citadel, all but lost to the pages of myth and legend. Many have forgotten them, believing that they are nothing more than a fairy tale.
But listen to me, dear child. The Gods are real, they are awake, and they are watching us.
