Elliria, Realm of Discord

Hanzilla

(Draft!)

The sweet smell of wisteria permeated the whole house, fortunately overpowering the familiar odor of blood coming from the small room in the basement. The powerful witch poured some of the wisteria tea into a mug with shaky hands, spilling a little in the process.
"Dammit!" she cursed, tears rolling down her face. A few of them fall into the tea by accident and she quickly wipes away the rest from her face. Maybe a couple of missed drops and a few tears won't affect the dosage, she hopes. With that, she tips a small vial very carefully into the tea. It sizzles as it mixes in with the wisteria, giving off more of a warm, musky smell. She smiles softly to herself, knowing that this will do.
A crash from below jolts the witch out of her daydream and she clutches her necklace in fear. Following this crash is a long, agonizing wail. She needs to hurry. She once more looks out the window at the still lifeless demon carcass, now appearing to disintegrate in the wind outside. Yes, it's gone. The witch consults her grimoire once more to ensure she got everything correct with the tea and takes a deep breath as she descends into the basement, large mug of the tea concoction in hands that threaten to drop it. As her feet fall on the basement landing, she sees glowing, orange eyes turn toward her slowly in the dark behind the thick bars.
They narrow for just a moment, then soften to what the witch is more accustomed to seeing from her dear friend.

Below is a rough outline of my tale. Each of these sections will be filled out in the comments since it's a bit lengthy when it's all put together!

History/Culture

Locations

Characters

Creatures

Plants

Minerals/Precious Metals/Gems

Hanzilla

History/Culture

Vesna, Goddess of Unity and Elliria
For a long time, Vesna was worshiped without question by just about everyone in Elliria. She made herself known in a number of different ways, never truly interfering with anyone’s lives really. More like providing guidance toward certain paths. Whether people who received this guidance would actually follow it was on them, though. Doubt in Vesna began to grow when horrible things would happen. How could a loving Goddess stand by while the people who worshiped her suffered? The people wanted more from her than she could give. There are unspoken rules associated with these things. No mortals could truly understand this.

Amol, False God
Amol is a scam born of greed and hatred for Vesna. As soon as doubt started to grow in Vesna, there were whispers of the one true God Amol. No one really knows who started the spread, but once the Assault on Avelaine happened it exploded. More and more people were pledging their hearts to Amol, a God that didn’t even exist. Some of the people that preached about him actually did believe he was real, but there are a select few individuals who still are very much aware of the false God.

Avelaine's Downward Spiral

Avelaine was a beautiful coastal city in Elliria where fishing was big business. Initially, only a few ships would be sent out each day to fetch whatever the sailors could find in the Oronear Sea. In the early days, these charters would be solely focused on capturing fish that would be of use to citizens of Avelaine, whether that be as food or materials to create tools. Some fish were even found to be helpful in creating medicines. As more discoveries came about, more and more ships were sent out with newly employed fishermen. With this came the finding of Sea Tigers.
The one that was sighted first was huge, but turned out to be a young one as the folks of Avelaine found out later. All the people on the boat could make out of the creature were its bright yellow eyes, what appeared to be dark stripes along its body, and the ridges all along its back and down to the end of its tail. This creature did not attack, merely surfaced for a time and got frightened by the nearby boat. The fishermen however were terrified, and began to feel like they were ill-equipped for these journeys. They had just come across a sea monster after all. Upon returning to the marina, news of this creature spread like wildfire. People demanded weaponry to protect themselves on these voyages, just in case. This was provided to them, of course.
It wasn’t long after the first sighting of a sea tiger when fishermen actually managed to catch one. This was an accident at the time, and it was an even smaller one than the first one sighted. It was a cub. Even being smaller than the first, it was still massive. Just small enough to fit in the fishing net amongst a myriad of other catches. This was the first time people were actually killed by a sea tiger. Once the net was hoisted aboard, the creature lunged from the pile of fish and pounced on a nearby fisherman. The others looked on in horror as the creature tore into their colleague.
It was this interaction that gave the people of Avelaine a better picture of what they were dealing with, as well as what helped them name them. Even as a cub the creature was quite muscular. Its body was overall a dark blue, with dark, navy blue stripes, and a lighter colored underbelly. It had a very long, whip-like tail that it seemed to use as another appendage. On the ship the creature walked about on all four webbed feet. It had a pretty long snout, ending in a blackened, cat-like nose and a set of razor sharp teeth. Its gills were one of its more interesting features. They were located on either side of its head, initially covered by dark, fin-like structures. When the creature began to threat display, these fins flared out and a thin, bright red membranous tissue erupted from the gills, almost giving the illusion that the creature had a mane. The thing took the lives of two other people on the boat and then was wrangled to a point where it could no longer hurt anyone. The men were shocked that the thing appeared to be fine out of the water, breathing as it normally would even with gills. It was brought back to shore where there was much debate on what should be done with it. It was smaller than the other one that was seen, but it was still large enough to provide some new meat to the market. However, scientists wanted to be given the chance to examine it. This was a new creature afterall. It was eventually decided that they would give over the creature to researchers, who found out some pretty interesting information about them.
Firstly, the creature had an organ similar to one found in a common household pet that allowed them to breathe air. Although it’s similar and appears to provide the same function, the organ is significantly more intricate in the sea tigers. These things could come up on land whenever they wanted. This of course was cause for concern, what with the overfishing that was occurring at the time. Researchers did think of the possibility that these things would come up on land to feed if they ran out of food in the sea. Anyway, research continued and it was found that the meat had some sort of toxin in it that would be poisonous if eaten. Researchers also noted that this was probably a female version of the species, at three meters long with a two meter long tail. This was just assumed as the first sighting had been just a bit bigger and had perhaps been a male. This was very much incorrect as they would eventually find out. Even at the sizes that the researchers of Avelaine knew about, they were suggesting that they back off on the fishing on account of them being concerned about them being able to come up on land and attack. The response was to create more weapons to combat these creatures and begin exterminating them as well.
There were a number of protests amongst the cityfolk about this unethical treatment of wildlife and fishing, most of which included researchers that worked with the captured specimen directly. They tried to warn that these creatures would be dangerous if trifled with, and that the captured creature only attacked the way it did because it was provoked. The fishermen as well as the higher council of Avelaine dismissed these concerns, not even a little bit worried that the overfishing as well as the extermination of sea tigers could have significant consequences. They had no idea.
The overfishing continued, and sea tigers were killed right and left. Occasionally they would fight back and people would get pulled into the sea, further solidifying in the minds of the fisherman that these creatures were dangerous and the extermination was in fact needed. What they didn’t realize they were doing, in a way, was introducing another accessible food source for the sea tigers. With the lack of fish left for them, the sea tigers began to get more aggressive with boats and some would even follow fishermen back up onto land.
These ruthless killings of the sea tigers continued for quite some time before anyone noticed that something strange was happening. One day, there was an outsider coming into the city, seemingly from the coast. Avelaine occasionally gets random people that walk along the beach for a while from both the north and south and happen upon the city in their travels. This person was different, though. They approached in a long ragged cloak, and no one was able to make out their face. It seemed like they were making an effort to stay hidden under that cloak. People mentioned weird noises coming from under the hood as they would walk by, almost like they were attempting to talk. It didn’t take long for folks to get unsettled and the guard was called to action. The figure was approached by a couple of officers, but didn’t seem to acknowledge them when they were addressed by them. It would be noted later that the only thing the officers were able to make out was a low, sort of gurgly voice say, “Just… passing… through…” One of the officers grew frustrated and yanked on the figure’s cloak. This is when cityfolk had their first encounter with the octopeds. Beneath the cloak was a gross imitation of a thin man, but it seemed the creature was having a hard time keeping the form/illusion. The creature’s attempt at human eyes was all wrong and one of the arms was just a long, dragging tentacle. There was an incredibly loud screech emitted from the creature and it began to run back toward the coast even as its human form deteriorated. The officers gave chase and eventually caught the creature and, with the help of some nearby fisherman, were able to net the thing.
This creature too was handed over to researchers, though many people just wanted it killed. This sea monster was somehow able to imitate human form and speech, not well, but the illusion was there. Why would it do that? What sort of intelligent creature were they dealing with? It was later found that the octopeds were able to communicate with and mimic other species with ease as well, including the sea tigers to an extent. This was how the octopeds were able to relay information.
There were more incidents of octopeds trying to infiltrate the city following the capture of the first octoped, each more disturbing than the last it seemed. They were learning to mimic the human form well and maintain that form for much longer periods of time. What began to cause significant issues amongst cityfolk was when it was found that the octopeds could mimic specific people in the community. People who were trusted. How could anyone know absolutely for sure that someone was who they said they were and what were these things up to anyway?

Assault on Avelaine

The sea tigers began their attack eventually, making quick work of the marinas. Quite a few people stayed back to try and fight them off, but there were far too many of them. Most people fled the coast. Those who stayed would find that the nightmare was far from over. The octopeds began acting as lures for people who stayed back, drawing them out of their hiding places with a friendly face. If anyone was foolish enough to entertain these tricks, a nearby sea tiger would be ready to pounce.

Summer War

The Summer War brought even further devastation to Avelaine. People tried to organize and take Avelaine back, but the sea tigers were resilient and learned their tactics quickly. They were able to adapt accordingly, and make efforts useless. There also may have been some players on the inside making things even harder for the people of Avelaine trying to defend themselves and their home. Avelaine was left in ruins, abandoned by its citizens for the foreseeable future.

Development of Elisora

A settlement was formed of peoples migrating from the coast. The first group staked their claim in a beautiful region surrounded by forests and filled with plenty of resources with which to create a community. As they began to build, more and more people would show up, usually from the coast. There were others though that would come from other directions as well, which did make certain people curious about what else was out there. Who else? These newcomers were always welcomed into the community with open arms. There was a lot of work to be done after all. As the community grew, it seemed like certain people within the community were taking charge of the situation rather than doing work with everyone else. It was a group of six people, Bren and Gwyneth (humans), Kailu and Liluth (elves), and Ladoros and Phellia (tieflings). They were part of the initial group of people to arrive at this spot, and they deemed themselves to be worthy of governing this community as it grew. Most were in agreement with them, but there were others that weren’t a fan of this idea. Those that opposed this motion were fewer than those that were for, however, so generally people stayed quiet about their grievances. Time went on and the settlement grew to a point where the powers that be wanted to establish a name for their place. They eventually agreed on the name Elisora.

Turmoil Amongst the Peoples of the Elisoran region

As Elisora grew, so too did the issues between different groups of people. The cost of living in the city kept rising to a point where it was impossible to stay there and continue to be able to feed yourself. Not to mention there were people that held certain ideologies that were less than desirable. In general, people were feeling like the city was going downhill. So some of these people started developments outside of the city where they would ideally be able to grow their own foods and not pay the obnoxious taxes associated with living within the city. As this kept happening throughout this time period, the Greater Council of Elisora decided they needed to take action. If people were going to keep leaving, bigger claims of land would need to be made in Elisora’s name to encompass these outer villages surrounding the city. So that’s what they did. The people in the outer developments did not have the power to fight back on these claims, especially not when compared to the power that the city of Elisora now had access to. All they could do was protest these actions, which did work to a point.

Demon Uprising
(individual characters decide for themselves whether they personally support the demon uprising)

Demons begin ravaging the outer towns/villages. The body count starts piling up, and it seems that the outer villages are the ones getting hit the hardest by these attacks.
Villagers believe that someone in inner city is unleashing demons on them to stop the protests. They would of course be doing this in secret though, as this practice is highly illegal and punishable by life in prison, or death depending on the damage done as a result of this crime.
Accusations are thrown around, become yet another subject of protests. The powers that be deny having any involvement in these crimes, and further claim that no one in the inner city could possibly stoop so low as that. Following that, they suggested protesters look inward for who could possibly be doing this.
The demons end up targeting the villages for some reason. Perhaps because some of them are already suffering in many different ways and that makes them a tastier target. This person keeps summoning in an effort to finally succeed in exacting their revenge on the inner city, but keep failing. Eventually, this character ends up finding a way to summon within the city without getting caught and demons begin additionally attacking those in the city. This really puts a fire under the powers that be and they are quick to come back to their claims that someone in the outer villages is carrying out these attacks.
Religious conflict is also a thing. There are people in both villages as well as the city that believe certain people are responsible for the attacks. In fact, one of the biggest churches in the region is co-owned by a myriad of different species.
Some people are also considering migrating further inland, following a river that continues to run east of Elisora since this region is no longer safe to live in.
The demon attacks make it harder for the inner city of Elisora to get the goods they request of the villagers, not only because the villagers are also losing materials and crops due to demons, but it is also dangerous for the city guard to go out and fetch these things from the villages. There are more designated times set aside for this process, and they ask more of villages each time now so they don’t have to worry about going as often as they did before. This of course poses a problem for the villagers as they are left with even less than they had before and additionally makes it more dangerous for them to go out for longer periods of time in order to go get what they need from the city.

Hanzilla

Locations

Inner Elisora

This place has grown very large since its founding. It’s got all sorts of stores, a huge library, multiple churches, quite a large and diverse market for foods, and much more to offer.

Places of Note

Elisora Library

Contains historical documents/texts
It’s HUGE
Many sections regarding topics of demonology, herbology, alchemy, the arcane, history, etc.

Church of Vesna

Place of worship, specifically for Vesna, Goddess of Unity(heh)
A welcoming place, no matter your religious affiliations

Elisora Market

Biggest market in the region
Deals mostly in foods (there are other shops within Elisora that sell clothing, jewelry, equipment, etc)

First Church of Amol

Amol is basically a sham, not a real god
Does not accept any other faiths in the congregation

Council of Elisora

Government stuff
The six council members regularly meet here about various goings-on out in the world
Corrupt

Strips of Shops

Throughout Elisora, there a quite a few streets full of shops
Expensive garb, weapons, treats, equipment, massages, etc.

Bram Hospital

Ran by Malmeros
Best place to get treated for just about anything, though there are other smaller places that try to promote healing with alternative medicines.

Blacksmith

Exactly what the name says

Residents

NPCs
Characters
Malmeros
Selene
Alan
Loren
Personal Character

Possible Plots

Help Inner City Council and Outer Villages Come to Agreement
Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Books/Journals with valuable information concerning characters, creatures, resources, etc.
Artifacts from the Summer War, Avelaine, the northern mountains, BlackWood Forest, Norra Wood, history in general (either held in museums or, mysteriously, in someone’s possession)
Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Outer Elisora
Made up of a few different villages, but generally everyone is pretty spread out.

Residents

Tamsyn
Grumble
Jurni
Bowie
Lou
Primrose
Emi
Avery
Thorn
Kain
Eladrin
Personal Character

Raefiya

Biggest village out of the five surrounding the inner city. It's also located closer to Elisora than the other villages. This village is known for creating quality clothing and some good farming practices, both of which the inner city takes advantage of. It’s also recognized as the village Tamsyn works in, which brings quite a bit of business.

Places of Note

Tamsyn’s Workshop/House

Many people frequent here for teas, medicine, spells, potions, magical items
Offers mentorships
Sometimes holds worship sessions for Vesna here

Avery’s Farm

Biggest farm in the region, responsible for providing a range of different foods that other farms just can’t seem to get right

Church of Amol

Loren comes here every day from Elisora to preach to people about Amol, seeding doubt in Vesna (which is not hard when looking at all the bad stuff that has been happening)
Makes a lot of money, which essentially goes back into the hands of the corrupt Council of Elisora

Various Workshops

Blacksmiths, woodworking, pottery, etc.

Possible Plots

Befriend Helen, the Angry Village Chicken
Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Seren

Many craft shows are held here having jewelry, clothing, all sorts of things that may catch someone’s attention. Also known for having a very strange shop . . .

Places of Note

Ainslee’s Curiosities

Special shop ran by Ainslee
Full of weird stuff that may or may not have curses or blessings placed on them, or nothing at all. Could just be a regular rock you might buy from here.
Contains some items that could advance certain plots depending on what you get

Possible plots

Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Jarren
Initially, this village was one of the bigger and better of the five surrounding the city. Resources have been sufficiently destroyed and folks here tend to be just barely getting by. Lots of houses have gone vacant by people trying to escape the attacks from both demons and other people in this region.

Possible Plots

Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Demon flesh, claws, hair, fur, scales, etc.
Petrified crops
Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Lydi
A smaller village containing just a few families and their homes.

Possible Plots

Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Mithmine

This village lies a bit deeper into Norra Wood and has a large tiefling population. It’s a smaller community, but out of all the villages it is hit the least and appears to be the most happy.

Possible Plots

Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Clover
This village has a large pond at the center of it, making it a nice visiting spot for both city dwellers as well as people from other villages that want to take a dip into the nice cool water. That was, until something appeared to be living just beneath the surface of the water. It seems that one of the demons summoned has taken a liking to lurking in this pond and preying on anyone who comes just close enough to snatch. With it going unattended to, the pond has become an eyesore and appears almost black with how dirty it is.

Possible Plots

Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Depending on plot progression, there might be some clues leading player to who the person is that’s summoning demons
Dropped items that are specific to a certain character, stuff like that

Norra Wood

This forest is the nicer out of the two that reside in this region. It contains various berries, mushrooms, and other edible things that people can make use of. As time has gone on though, it’s been found that the city is taking more than their fair share of these resources and the villagers are once again left with less and forced to go back into the city in order to meet their needs. Various types of animals live here as well, nothing too dangerous if you feel like going on an adventure. You may come across white deer, leaf collectors, giant millipedes (seriously, you can ride on these things), friendly forest spirits, and more. This forest also seems to have some sort of protection around it making it so demons will not enter, but this isn’t widely recognized yet.

Possible Plots

Get Ingredients for Tamsyn’s Spells/Potions
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Artifacts suggesting other people used to live here
Buried tools, bones, markings on trees, sacred objects with symbols of Vesna
Plants that have properties that repel, and can even kill, demons

Blackwood Forest

This forest is another story. This is where it is believed a lot of the demons lurk during certain times when they aren’t terrorizing villagers and haven’t yet been vanquished. Not only that but in this forest there ARE quite a number of creatures that can kill you. Venomous snakes, owl-bears, giant lizards, giant centipedes, gremlins, an ancient dragon that can talk (huh?)… It’s not a good place to be. However, there are VERY valuable resources in this forest. Exotic fruits, fibers, minerals, meat, treasures. One just has to think about whether or not they want to risk losing their lives in order to get these things. More and more people are running out of options for themselves and their families, so the choice seems to have already been made for them. If one does find themself to be lost within these woods, there is a chance they may encounter some sort of creature/spirit that will try to help them get to safety. Whether that be out of the forest, or a place to quickly evade a horrible creature. These curious beings are a mystery…

Possible Plots

Investigate High Strangeness in BlackWood Forest
Help Rogg Reunite with Their Partner
Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Get Ingredients for Tamsyn’s Spells/Potions
Stop the Summoning of Demons

Meaningful/Unique Items

Bones from various creatures
Artifacts
Unique flora and fauna to this particular forest
Dropped items from certain characters, depending on plot progression

Oronear Sea/Coast

This is the area the giant sea creatures are most active and abundant, although they do come onto other shores as well. There was originally a large city on the coast as well, but it lies in ruin now, having been ransacked by the beasts. Has beautiful white sandy beaches and there are caves that hold various creatures and valuable resources.

Possible Plots

Find out more about the sea tigers
Find ingredients for Malmeros or Tamsyn

Meaningful/Unique Items

Sea glass
Shells

Avelaine

A once beautiful city on the coast, now in ruins. The creatures of the sea ransacked the place looking for food, even after the Summer War. Still contains some valuable artifacts if people are brave enough to get this close to the beach.

Possible Plots

Investigate Avelaine Ruins
Meaningful/Unique Items
Artifacts not yet recovered
Sea tiger remains

Blue Lake

Known for its bright blue color, this lake is often a sort of vacation spot for Elisorans. It’s enormous, and has all sorts of creatures that serve a number of different purposes back in Elisora, from food to crafting materials.

Possible Plots

Perform Rituals on Possessed Individuals to Free Them
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Get Ingredients for Tamsyn’s Spells/Potions

Meaningful/Unique Items

Parts from certain fish for unique crafting purposes
Weapon discarded after a horrible murder

Unnamed Mountain Range North of Elisora

These mountains are rarely talked about, much like the BlackWood forest. They are even more treacherous than the Blackwood forest as well, full of giant, fearsome snakes that thrive on the cold only found in these mountains. There are many other dangerous creatures that make a home of these mountains, and there are even believed to be secluded societies within them somewhere, usually called simply ‘Mountain People’. Some adventurers have spoken of seeing people standing up on cliff sides, staring down at their group silently as they skirt the outside of the mountain range.

Possible Plots

Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Get Ingredients for Tamsyn’s Spells/Potions
Investigate the northern mountains

Meaningful/Unique Items

Unique rocks/minerals
Artifacts from the peoples living here
Items leading to Rogg's partner

Hanzilla

Characters

Jurni | Tiefling | She/her

Jurni’s human mother, Larissa, was killed by her half-Demon father, Salvir, some years after she was born. Her and her mother had quite the bond, and Larissa was actively planning on escaping Salvir. Upon finding out about these plans, Salvir murdered Larissa and aimed to do the same to Jurni. Her father, knowing Jurni was about to escape, was able to get a significant hit on her with a cursed ranged weapon. This weapon/demon began to ruin her life. It called itself Nemesis, it would tell her in the quiet moments she found herself alone. It would sometimes even reveal itself to her, but she realized that it was only her that could see it. It has a connection to her nearly uncontrollable urges to cause suffering. Usually when she gets these she will have herself locked up for one reason or another by either the city jailers, or a person that has been friendly to her since they first met, Tamsyn. She often wonders if this was the reason why her father was so cruel, this horrible weapon named Nemesis. In her travels, Jurni came across a lovely couple on the outskirts of Outer Elisora and they took care of her the best they could while they were alive, patching up her wound that ended up leaving an angry looking scar, black in color. After living with this couple for about a year, Jurni witnessed their horrific murder, someone in all black and rather large.
Ultimately trying to get revenge on whoever killed her adoptive parents and be rid of Nemesis. Also wants to help protect people from the demons, but she is widely distrusted because she’s kind of a punk. Even so, she still tries to prove to everyone that they are wrong about her.

Possible Plots

Help Jurni Overcome her Demons (Literally)
Find Out Who is Summoning the Demons
Save Peoples of the Elisoran Region from Demonborne Illness
Pursue Relationship
Stop the Summoning of Demons
Befriend Helen, the Angry Village Chicken