Campaign Wolrd Ideas #2

Cosmology (and a bit of racial history)

This is the easy one.  I decided to utilize the 4e core model of the Outer Planes.  This leg work is already done.   There will be the Shadowfell and the Feywild, as well as the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Sea.  I am also planning on using the Far Realms, in theory.  I think its an interesting cosmological plan, yet remains simple (especially compared to the 3.5 notion of the Outer Plane).

The only thing I need to decide is "how thick the walls are".  I am actually not very fond of the idea that the Eladrin dwell in the Feywild, and live in cities that are wholly in the Feywild, crossing over to go adventuring in the normal world when they wish.  In my world passage between these ralms is closed off.  The elves were the original inhabitants of the 3 worlds... the Eladrin living in the Feywild, the Eladrow (later changing their names to just Drow) in the Shadowfell, and the Eladurin (elves) on the normal world.  But over time, the echo realms expelled their inhabitants... trapping them on the normal world.  The eladrin sought out their brothers, the elves and the two races formed a community together.  The drow however, sought refuge from the world and hid in the shadows, and formed their own secret empire underground.

While the elves were sorintg themselves out, the other races began to establish themselves on the normal world (I need a cooler name than "normal world", but for now it'll do)... 

Theology

So I am not using any of the core D&D pantheon, except for Tiamat.  Instead I am looking to a create a simpler, and more straightforward pantheon of gods.  But one that still has a lot of versatility.  I am using alot of filler terms and adjectives for now, for I don't have specific names for alot of these ideas yet... just bear with me.

First we have the "common" gods.  These are the core pantheon of the majority of the denizens of this world.  The only other gods beyond this pantheon are the Elven god(s), the Dwarven god(s), and Tiamat.  There are 4 gods within this "common" pantheon.  Each god a representation of one of the four cardinal alignment directions.  God of Good, God of Evil, God of Chaos, God of Law.  No one disputes the existence of these gods; however, their purpose/appearance/ideology differ among the races.  Each race sees the gods in their own image... humans look at the God of Law, and see a man with a dark beard, middle aged, wearing gold robes.  But that same god, in halfling texts, may appear as a ancient wizened old halfling carrying a twisted cane..or something.  The god is still the same... and the only unifying features will be the alignment, the name (though each race may have a title, or alternate name, to accompany the true name) and the gender.  Humans may see the God of Chaos as a woman, her hair wild and full of colors, they may believe she encompasses deceit, treachery.... while at the same time, the Orcs may see this same Goddess, but to them she is an amalgam of beasts constantly shifting out of form, a mutant creature encompassing their own racial rage, representing destruction and power.  The important thing: it is still the same god... just perceived differently by the different races.

I am not sure what I am gonna do with the Dwarves yet.. still working on them...I am thinking they are the only ones whose gods are actual ascended being, dwarves thought to have achieved god-hood through their own hard work.  I also thought that maybe the dwarves were more closely tied to the elements, so maybe each of their gods are elemental based?

The elves... I was thinking that maybe the elven god was... damaged... maybe split by some catastrophe... or maybe he/she divided himself willingly when he created the three elven races... and the three parts have gone at odds with one another... one that embraces magic... one embracing nature, one embracing darkness.. something like that.  Still working on these too..actually, as I type this, more concrete ideas are forming... maybe there was one race of elves created on the normal world before it was split into the Normal, Shadowfell, Feywild.. and when the world split, so did the god and his people...

so many ideas... head gonna asplode...

AND Tiamat... she is the god of all dragonkind... kobolds, dragonborn, dragons of all kinds.. but she is Nuetral... and somewhat of a metaphor.. you see, she has multiple heads... and these heads, often refered to as aspects, represent very different things... when one worships Tiamat, you generally worship an apect (head) of Tiamat.. so maybe you worship the "good" head of Tiamat, or perhaps the Chaotic head... but the point is, good/evil/whatever.. dragonkind all worship her.  She has no realm.. by is constanly flying between all the realms... theologians often discuss whether her heads are real or metaphorical.. but her image is always that of a great dragon... she is mentioned (if only in passing) in every theological text.. regardless of the god.  Often she is thought to be the most powerful and feared of all the gods...often unjustly blamed for the actions of some of her "children..."

I feel better having these ideas.. "on paper"...