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Kaliim: My fantasy world

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Preface: I'm not sure where to post this thread, so I choose this section. Moderators please move this if you deem some other category a better fit.

"Who am I?... I'm captain CMarket."
Let me give a little intro first. First of all, I'd like to thank this whole community for just being awesome. I used to make warcraft 3 cinematics, and I made a whole series (The Sect of the Holy Mother), which was not only my signature cinematic series, but also the start of my worldbuilding hobby.

After the Sect of the Holy Mother, I started another series titled The Lone Panther. Sadly, I was never able to finish it, and I failed to deliver the 3rd installment, even though I was almost done (Still hoping to find the time and the will to finish it one day). After that, I created a prequel to a new series I was planning, and while I created not only it but also the first episode of the series, I once again list my inspiration, almost half way through creating the 2nd part (I doubt I'll ever finish this, though).

Anyway, during those few years that I was active here, I had a great time here, going over the various maps and forums, trying out all sorts of stuff and seeing a bunch of talented people create not only maps, but skins and models (I'm guessing spells to, but I almost never visited that section, being a cinematographer and all :D). During that time I met a lot of wonderful people and was fortunate enough to be more than a passive watcher, to stand out a bit, as it were. All in all, this used to be (and I'm sure still is) a wonderful community.[/HIDDEN]

Kaliim - a fantasy world for Dungeons & Dragons
Kaliim is the name of my fantasy world, originally created through a series of warcraft 3 cinematics and later adapted for D&D 3.5, to be used as the game world which I would DM.

What started out as five towns defined in my Sect of the Holy Mother cinematic series, ended up being the shattered kingdom of Belia. The neighboring lands of Licentia, Ornusager and Ristix, were but names drafted on a map, but are now the kingdom of the elven queens, the kingdom of the dwarf lords, and an untamed wilderness filled with savage races from other continents. When I started drawing the world map on paper, i knew something was missing. This was going to be Kardus, the largest continent, but I needed something, a fifth land. The North, a large frozen kingdom, almost the size of the other four lands combined (Note: This was way before I knew about Game of Thrones). So came into being Guldur, a savage land who organized itself during the last five centuries and is a young kingdom today.

I'd like to add a few images here to show the maps of my world, and I'll describe briefly the materials I used to guide me, as well as a short description of the land. I won't bother you too much with the details of my world, just give a general description.

Belia (I map)
If anybody here still remembers the Sect of the Holy Mother, this was the map I supplied about near the end of the series. Belia used to be an empire, accepted by all the neighboring kingdoms as their superior. While not their ruler, they will pay special respects to this kingdom. The kingdom lasted for about five centuries until the Holy Mother first appeared and seduced the king into causing two civil wars that would create a lasting hatred between the west and the east (note the map compass). Some will remember Fort Zambilion, Black Riverside, Red Stone, As'Latur, Micolash, Ald'Remir and Confuto Tumul.


Ristix (II map)
When I was finishing up my first region, a friend who ran a game for me once asked if he could join in on the world building. Since I enjoyed his game and I explained that I would have to sign off on most of the larger things he makes (town names and locations, basic overview, reasonable limits on quests (don't blow up the world!), etc.). He agreed and I gave him a choice between the four other lands, not yet populated. He chose the untamed lands of Ristix. It was here that he and I created a land filled with orc, goliath and other barbarian tribes, filled with grasslands, hills and infertile lands stretching out for miles.


I had just finished running my first campaign, which was in former Belia, and started in Raprat, gone east to As'Latur where I actually finished the story from the "A Pile of Ugly" cinematic, and from there went next to the sea to Fort Brach, and further east to Micolash. The finally was in Kaliim's sunder, even further east. The campaign lasted from level 2 to level 9, and not only was it lengthy but I also manage to define a lot of towns, forge the story behind the relations with other counties and kingdoms, develop a deeper history and so on. While former Belia was not close to completely defined, I wanted to try defining another kingdom. My friend was starting his campaign in Ristix, and I chose to read a D&D book known as Frostburn and define Guldur after that.


Guldur (III map)
This frozen kingdom was formed when four largest tribes of men and dwarves allied together and named a king. Guldur was formed and accepted by its neighbors in the following decades. With the god of war at their back, as well as an ancient magic cult, they expanded and pushed back both Ornusager and Licentia, acquiring the great trade port of the north, Sabatov Delta, and the extremely fertile lands around Halivirodon.


Ornusager & Licentia (IV & V map)
Since the world was getting bigger and bigger, and I had less time to work on it, I decided to recruit a few enthusiasts to help me create the world, and in turn I would mentor them and teach them everything I know about DMing. Having finished two successful campaigns by then, reading through 20 or so different fluff and rule books, as well as playing a bunch of RPG games and reading several fantasy novels, I did my job as a DM rather well.

Ornusager is the dwarf kingdom currently in development by one of the "apprentices" It hosts the great desert of this continent in its central and south regions, and a large mountain range in the north. This type of terrain allowed the dwarven lords to create great cities underground, and it allowed the tauren and a strange human race to live in the grasslands and heartlands without complaint from the dwarves.

Licentia, on the other hand, is a swampy elven kingdom, which also is home to the lizardfolk and the drow. Most of the land is thick forest and marshlands, and the elves value their women most highly, being led by a queen instead of a king. I am thrilled to say that this is the land where I'm playing a character at the game that my apprentice leads. This allows me to better teach him what I know, as well as enjoy my world from a player's point of view.


Talassinus Mare (VI map)
Now that Kardus had been roughly shaped and in some places detailed, I planned on doing another continent. I wrote the archipelago continent of Talassinus Mare, about 20 pages of mostly history, a bit of geography, and descriptions of towns. I was reading Stormwrack at the time and it gave me plenty of ideas. At the time I also drew up a map.

At this time I had just finished my Guldur campaign, having lead the party from Sabatov Delta to the Mining Company, after which they went to North Povan and from there to Jon Tuan and back. Suffice to say I didn't detail more than a quarter of the land. The Ristix campaign was going well, the Ornusager and Licentia campaigns were just starting and Kardus was a living breathing thing.

Arabela (VII map)
I was a bit sad that I didn't get a chance to run a campaign on Talassinus Mare, but I'll have to make up for it when I get the chance. About three months ago I found the time and inspiration to form Arabela, an exotic jungle continent, birthplace of the orc, the wild elves and, the catfolk and yuan-ti. Races of Wild helped me here, as well as the Eberron campaign setting (especially Secrets of Xen'dirk). This was the oldest land, and it boasted a very exciting history. Millennia ago the orcs came from the underground of Mount Nomin and started conquering the peaceful and natural lands. They drove dinosaurs, animals and wild elves back, and started logging. Meanwhile, in the south, the yuan-ti were conquering the same wilderness, driving back the catfolk from the mainland, and forming a kingdom of their own. After the titans and giants came from the continent of Xan'Dalokija the Yuan-ti were severely beaten and the orcs were retreating to the north. After centuries of battles, the dragons attacked the titans, forcing them to flee, leaving only their lesser, the giants, on the continent.

I consider this to be my most interesting continent so far. Talassinus Mare was never truly defined, having never played a campaign here, and Kardus was "too carefully" made, meaning that all of us were afraid about making it too magical. Having the confidence now, and starting my next campaign in a week, I decided to go fully fantasy here, and in turn have created a truly exotic land.



Future plans
I plan to give my friend (who did Ristix) to do a whole continent himself (Gif Dan, the land of fire and stone), and after that I have Xan'Dalokija remaining, as the land of ancient and extremely powerful and undiscovered magic. Basically Xan'dirk, but perhaps even more exotic. Once that is finished the base world is done, and since we have about 20 gods so far and only 3 god realms somewhat defined, I'll probably see about taking care of that.


Well, I hope you guys like what you see. I found this hobby to be fulfilling on several levels, allowing me the freedom to creatively express myself in a variety of ways.
 

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Level 14
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Looks interesting.

I too like to create worlds and stories. I just don't have the time to do it anymore. Especially since there isn't an end goal to all this.
 
Level 9
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So did you draft up most of these maps? They are exquisite, also, I might add that this is wonderful if this continues at such an astounding rate, you could get to the point where this universe rivals that of Middle Earth. Well done indeed.
 
Level 14
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So did you draft up most of these maps? They are exquisite, also, I might add that this is wonderful if this continues at such an astounding rate, you could get to the point where this universe rivals that of Middle Earth. Well done indeed.

Yeah, I made the maps using backgrounds I googled and then applying my modest photoshop skills to work the texture.

I really want this world to keep growing, but the problem is that running a D&D game is generally a lot of work and I rarely have the time for it. Hopefully over the years it will grow, even at a slow pace, so it's something :)
 
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