Notes about Arvan (original fantasy worldbuilding)

I decided to use this site to publish my own ideas for a fantasy setting, which I work on in my free time. I have accumulated a huge number of notes on this setting, on its various parts, on societies and cultures, and I am trying to force myself to structure them. And perhaps my ideas will be interesting to someone. For now, I will start by listing the main principles on which I build the setting, so that it is roughly clear what it is about.

I have been working on this setting for quite a long time, more than a year, trying to create a sufficiently comprehensive and well‑developed setting so that I would like it myself. So I hope that it will arouse your interest and perhaps certain questions.

Tone

• Arvan was conceived from the outset as Nobledark in tone, and it is partly why I am publishing this on this site.
• The world is far from modern morality for many reasons. It leans more toward equality than our world in the early Modern Era, but it is far less just than the contemporary world. Oppression by gender, race, culture, religion, and social status is regular and varied. Likewise, colonialism, slavery, and similar phenomena are facts of life in this setting, as in real history.
• There is no objective morality, and some cultures have rather questionable practices. Gnolls have their own moral justifications for cannibalism and demon‑worship, for example. Those answers make sense to them, but others do not necessarily agree.
• The world is Dark because it is dangerous and unjust. But the setting is Noble because changing something is genuinely possible, unlike in Grimdark. Your victories are unlikely to change the whole world, but leaving your mark is realistic. Moreover, that mark can be left not only by heroes but also by villains.

On religion and the divine

• I dislike classic D&D‑based fantasy for its approach to the divine. Morality in the universe is objective, and the conditions for reaching Heaven are relatively clear. In such a world, there is little reason to be a villain given the certainty of punishment and the accessibility of communion with higher powers.
• Instead, in my Arvan setting, divinity is undoubtedly real, but there is no clear information from the gods, and there is no objective morality. The gods do intervene at times, but their actions often allow alternative interpretations; hence even within a single religion there is no full unity of opinion.
• Religion in this world remains a matter of faith—whether you believe the priests' words and their truth about the gods' stance in the world. This is intentional on my part: no one knows the whole truth, though many believe they do.
• Mythology and stories of the divine often share an obvious common origin or plots, yet many details contradict one another. Consequently, as in the polytheism of Late Antiquity, many hold that the gods of one land are alternative interpretations of the gods of another. Moreover, some believe that all tales of the cosmos's ancient history contain a certain share of truth, but no religion can claim a complete understanding of the nature of existence.

On inspiration from the real world and the level of technology

• I have always wanted to create a setting that would at least make a certain amount of sense to me, as a person who has studied history, demography, and geography. And I had problems with this when studying most TTRPGs based on D&D, as they have very big problems with numbers. I try, as much as I can, to make the setting make sense from a scientific point of view.
• I originally conceived the setting as geographically resembling Earth, but with some changes. Thus, individual regions on the planet have their own inspirations from real cultures. I do not intend to deny this, but rather to try to make them cool.
• The setting is in the era of the very end of the Middle Ages and the early Modern Period, the exact era depending on a specific area on the world map.
• At the moment, the possibility of training mages has restrained the development of firearms in many parts of the world. This does not mean that they do not exist, only that their active use is localized. Plate armor is still in use in some places, while in others there are arquebuses.
• Magic is a powerful tool, but it is not omnipotent and does not replace ordinary means. In most of the world, magic is expensive and accessible only to the aristocracy and other comparable individuals. It cannot scale to universal accessibility.
• At present, the world is undergoing a technological revolution due to the development of arteficiery— attempts to achieve magical effects through items created by non-mages and usable by non-mages. At the moment, the potential of this science is obvious, but it is still too complex and unstable for mass use. This is a matter of technological limitations. Give the locals a century, and arteficiery will outshine both magic and conventional firearms.
• The world has already entered the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries. The New World has been discovered and is gradually being colonized, but local Australia is still extremely distant and almost nothing is known about it. A distinct and active world trade system is gradually taking shape.
• At the same time, for various reasons, the scale of colonialism has taken on a smaller aspect in terms of huge colonial empires. This world is still inspired by classic adventure fantasy, so many colonies in the New World are organized not by colonial empires but by free settlers. Likewise, as a departure from the real world, the local Europe never had an overwhelming technological advantage over the rest of the world.

On sources of inspiration from fantasy

Overall, my sources of inspiration were several major settings, which I will list in order of increasing importance. I love them all and hold them in high regard for their various elements.
Warhammer Fantasy Battles

• This is the most clearly expressed aspect of an alternate Earth among all the presented options.
• In addition, it is relatively the closest setting to mine in terms of my desired tone and technological level.
• Among the aspects of the setting I absolutely adore I would include: Skaven, Ogre Kingdoms, Ulthuan, Vampire Counts.

Pathfinder

• Arvan was conceived by me primarily as a setting specifically for this tabletop system, and therefore I created it focusing on the various races and other aspects available in the setting.
• I have rather complicated feelings towards Paizo's work, as for me it is a relationship full of both love and hate. Their work has made me fall in love with certain concepts with incredible intensity. But at the same time, I dislike the fact that in their pursuit of mass popularity, Paizo abandoned any provocation and darkness in their work. I agree that many early concepts were dark for the sake of darkness, and the new content also possesses interesting depth, but in my opinion, abandoning all controversy was excessive.
• I do not particularly like their setting from the standpoint of realism. The numbers barely make sense, as does the history.
• On my list of favorite concepts from the setting: Cheliax, Mwangi Expanse, Impossible Lands, Rahadoum, Kelesh, Numeria.

Anbennar

• A setting of great depth, created as a modification for EU4, which I respect immensely. The authors at least do not hide the dark aspects of real history, and I can respect them for that.
• In terms of correspondence to real history, there are only a few things I dislike in this setting: the absence of a clear Byzantine analogue, and also Japan. These are the only two major cultures I feel are missing.
• At the same time, I deeply respect the setting for many of its ideas: the development of gnolls beyond mindless destroyers; the realms of sun elves as an analogy to the diadochi states; Command and Escann; and much, much more.
• Essentially, my setting began as an attempt to rethink and create something based on Anbennar with several differences. The main difference is time. Anbennar covers four centuries of the Modern Era and gradual historical change, while Arvan is a setting in a single moment, with a backstory but open to the future. In addition, Anbennar is built largely around entire states, leaving fewer opportunities for the exploits of small groups. To this I also wanted to add many things I loved from Pathfinder and simply interesting elements from the real world — and thus Arvan gradually came into being.

Brief introduction to history:

• Humanity became the dominant civilization in the world of Arvan when, in ancient times, the young human civilization of Amantis, with the support of numerous allies, crushed the serpentfolk and established its colonies on both sides of the Sunset Ocean.
• Centuries of relative peace and prosperity later, the people of Amantis undertook a magical project that ended in the catastrophe of the Descending, which devastated Amantis itself and destroyed their civilization. The Descending was named so because, in the first years, the inhabitants of the world believed that the gods themselves had descended into the world and destroyed Amantis, given the scale of the destruction.
• During the chaotic times following this catastrophe, a great hero and archmage of Amantis, Amandar, appeared, helping the survivors and becoming a deity. His cult became the most powerful force in the analogue of Europe, Irimon, over the centuries rising to the head of local polytheistic cults. When speaking of him, think of a mix of the Emperor of Mankind and Aroden.
• The centuries after the catastrophe were spent recovering from it by the former colonies of Amantis and the civilizations of other peoples. This era is known as Antiquity; during it, at least partial functioning of magical infrastructure was maintained.
• Antiquity ended when several powerful dragons united against the continent's civilizations and almost destroyed them. As a side effect, they also triggered a great migration of barbarian peoples, which led to the collapse of the old empires and the creation of relatively small barbarian kingdoms relying on feudal nobility and militias, rather than on legions and city mages.
• The age of barbarian kingdoms drew to a close when a powerful wizard, who went down in history as the Witch-God, began his campaign of conquest across the continent, crushing kingdoms with the horrors in his service.
• To stop him, an elven fleet led by Latariel Dawn's Glory arrived to aid the continent — political exiles seeking to establish their own states. Through joint efforts, the Witch-God was defeated, and the elves settled on the continent, founded their own states, and intermarried with the human nobility. The influence of elven culture and philosophy refined the barbarian cultures of the continent and pushed technological development forward.
• In 1914, the world was gradually recovering; however, without any obvious reason, Amandar, the god mentioned earlier, disappeared. This caused mass religious hysteria across the continent, the start of civil wars, and an orcish invasion that took advantage of the continent's discord.
• Out of the chaos of the war with the orcs emerged the heroine Alaria, who managed to stop the orcish invasion and eventually ascend to godhood. Think of Corin, Iomedae, and the general archetype of Joan of Arc.
• A few years later, the inhabitants of the continent received a prophetic vision of a conflict between three gods for the role of protector of this world, a role previously fulfilled by Amandar. Alaria was one of these three gods.
• A couple of years after that, a battle began in the heavens across the world between various gods. Only a few participated in the conflict, but the consequences were still frightening. The most notable result was that the god of war, Brennus, was killed in this conflict. His divine ichor rained down upon the world, leading to various strange effects, even in regions where Alaria and the other claimants to the role of world protector were unknown.
• Thus the world entered its modern stage. In Irimon and many other places, the religious vacuum was replaced by religious tension, and entire countries now stand on the brink of large-scale religious wars, while the consequences of the War in the Heavens affect many other regions of the world. What only a few decades ago seemed like the beginning of an era of peace and prosperity is gradually turning into a new era of great chaos and strife.

Irimon in my setting is an analogue of Europe at a crossroads of eras, as the continent enters a new age. The time of feudalism is gradually coming to an end, and the age of relatively centralized states is beginning. Artificiery is gaining more and more recognition, and the network of trade connections spans the entire world, giving its inhabitants an unprecedented advantage over all others. For many centuries, world trade was controlled by the elves with their fabulous tariffs, but now the development of seafaring allows others to travel between continents independently.

As required of classic fantasy, the continent is inhabited by many different races, between which the relationships are quite complex. The general perception on continent is built around the dichotomy and division of races into monsters and non-monsters. Non-monsters include humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings as the main folks. At the same time, monsters are hobgoblins, gnolls, strix, and some others.

Humans

• Humans, as in the Old World as a whole, are the dominant and most numerous people on the continent. I do this deliberately — different peoples dominate only locally, unlike humans, and in most cases they are forced to occupy certain roles in society.
• Naturally, the people of the continent are divided into large ethnic groups. This should not be considered an exhaustive list, but rather a high-level picture, like grouping Italians, Spaniards, and French together on a linguistic basis. Of course, within them there are also further divisions.
• Southwestern Irimon is inhabited by the Legurians. This is a mix of colonists from ancient Amantis and the local population, who once formed the Ligurian League. Their closest real-world analogue would be the Romance peoples — Italians, Spaniards, and French.
• Central Irimon is controlled by the Altanians. They are descendants of the barbarian tribes whose migration was caused by the Dragon Interregnum, and who founded their numerous barbarian kingdoms. These are primarily the various Germanic peoples.
• Northwestern Irimon is inhabited by the Skagerdians. They are close to the Altanians but historically separated from them by the Amber Sea. These are primarily the peoples of Scandinavia — the Vikings and the like.
• Southeastern Irimon is inhabited by the Itiolans, descendants of local independent cultures. Many of them eventually did not even preserve their own languages, but their features are still visible among the local population. They are generally analogous to the Paleo-Balkan peoples — Illyrians, Dacians, and Thracians.
• Northeastern Irimon is occupied by the Sclavinians. As is obvious, they are the analogue of Slavic peoples. Some of their lands were among the last pagan barbarians on the continent. In general, they are characterized by fair hair and gray eyes.
• Finally, in Eastern Irimon live the Baradanians, a people without a full real-world analogue. They are unique in appearance — among them red hair and freckles are extremely common. In this case, the reference is not to the Celts but to the Mari people in Russia, another nation with a high concentration of red-haired individuals.

Elves

• Elves in Arvan are aliens. They are newcomers arriving through portals that connect the continent with the world of Cetra. However, they do not come as conquerors but as political refugees. The fact is that Cetra is ruled by an elective monarchy, and after the election of a ruler, his opponents in the elections are sent into honorable exile together with their allies to another world, so that they do not threaten the power in the metropolis. Many of them take this opportunity to establish their own states in the new world.
• For Cetra itself, such a policy is profitable. They control the system of portals they built, which connect both continents and different worlds, and they themselves are located right in its center. They don't even need to do anything — wealth flows into their hands by itself, and all they need to do is impose tariffs. And waging wars against the inhabitants of other worlds is a thankless and unprofitable task.
• The elves in Irimon played a decisive role in the victory over the Witch-God, and as a result they were given many war-ravaged and depopulated lands to settle. There they built their elfrealms.
• The greatest heroine of the elves of Western Irimon is considered to be Latariel Dawn's Glory, who led them to the continent. They revere her as a great leader, diplomat, and valiant heroine, but this image is far from the truth. Latariel was rather cold and harsh. After the death of her husband, the king of Floraine, she took regency over their underage son and raised him into a completely spineless king, ruling in his stead. And then in the stead of her grandson. And only with her great-grandchildren was her life prematurely cut short, but with her death the empire she had built ended as well.
• Elves in the world overall are wealthy and influential, but since the death of the first generation of leaders who brought them here, they rarely hold true power. They are an old aristocracy, but one that has gradually lost its dominant position in favor of half-elves.
• Possessing elven blood is almost a necessary attribute for recognition as nobility, which is why some elves deliberately enter marriages of convenience with newly ennobled humans lacking elven ancestry. For obvious reasons, they live longer than humans, and some of them remarry after the death of their spouse. And then again, and again.

Dwarves

• Dwarves, before the arrival of the elves, were considered the most influential minority on the continent, as they were often invited as advisors to human kings, and even the empires of antiquity valued alliances with them. But with the arrival of the elves, they gradually pushed them out of politics.
• Most dwarves on the continent are descendants of refugees. They once lived in the Marodax Range, a vast mountain chain dividing the Old World into two parts, but during the Descending many of their strongholds were damaged by earthquakes, and the great migration of orcs from the deeper layers of the underworld forced most of them to flee to the surface.
• Since then, the traditional structure of dwarven society has been gradually declining. They no longer have their kings — or kazgors, as they call them — instead, their society is organized around clans of artisans and the cartels that unite them.
• The few exceptions to this rule are the holds founded back in the days of their ancient empire, in which monarchs still rule.
• The largest banking clan in the world belongs to the dwarves. It operates throughout Irimon, has its own colonies in the New World, and is even able to intervene in politics.
• After the orcish invasion of Eastern Irimon and their mass migration from there, the dwarves began sending expeditions into their under-mountain strongholds in an attempt to reclaim their homeland. Mentioned above dwarf bank sponsoring them in such re-conquests.
• In addition to their diaspora in human lands, dwarves live in the Silver Peaks (the Alps) and Skagerdia (Scandinavia), and they also have one unique stronghold in Albionis.
• Culturally, different groups of dwarves on the continent are inspired by various European highlander peoples — the Swiss, Highland Scots, and some others.

Haflings

• Halflings are one of the most tragic peoples of the continent, since in Irimon they have been among the most oppressed for centuries. The reason is simple — they are physically weak and cannot defend themselves. A human fighter has an enormous advantage in strength, size, and body mass, which makes a halfling almost helpless. In the conditions of the feudal military aristocracy, halflings simply had no chance to preserve their own independence.
• Halflings still have their own traditional aristocracy, but it plays a rather indirect role. Their aristocrats are essentially a means for human kingdoms to claim halfling lands. Formally, a halfling rules, but de facto everything belongs to humans.
• Naturally, the halflings themselves dislike this, which has led to hatred toward most of their aristocrats. In the view of the common folk, the aristocrats exist only to allow humans to plunder their lands and wage wars in their name, which the halflings themselves will pay for. The creation of a country of halflings for halflings is one of the greatest dreams of the halflings of the continent.
• With the development of artificiery and the early emergence of firearms, many among them are gaining hope that this new weapon will allow them to resist traditional knights and thereby win the struggle for independence.
• Other halflings believe that defeating humans is impossible, that their old homeland is lost, and that all they can do is create a new home somewhere far away. For this purpose, colonies were established in the New World. Others went to fight orcs to claim depopulated lands. Still others allied with dwarves to settle in mountain valleys.
• Overall, halflings of Irimon in my setting are deeply traumatized people. Their desire at any cost to stop their own trauma drives them to inflict trauma on others. In their view, almost any means of fighting for their interests is justified.
• Culturally, the halflings in the setting are based on the Netherlands, and they occupy a corresponding geographical position.

Gnomes

• Gnomes in my setting are people with an ancient history, native to this world, but now they live here only as a minority. Originally, they were mutated halflings, and they are the only ones capable of producing offspring with them. These are the gnomlings, who live even longer than long-lived gnomes, but are sterile.
• The gnomes once inhabited the islands in the northwest of the continent, and initially they sought to colonize other planes, creating vast colonies in the Feyrealm and Shadowrealm, but they lost control over them and were forced to abandon countless colonists in other planes.
• Later the gnomes created their Technate — a technocratic state built around powerful mages and artificiers. Their state survived until the Dragon Awakening, when hordes of kobolds burst forth from underground and seized most of the islands.
• In these events, most of the gnomes of this world perished, and the majority of survivors were those living in colonies in Albionis or on the continent. Since then, they have been a rather small people with incomparable technical knowledge.
• However, after the Descending, when the Feyrealm and Shadowrealm became closer to Arvan, gnomes from these worlds gradually began returning to the material world. They had been changed by planar magic and acquired talent for corresponding magic, as well as nominal immortality. While gnomes lives mostly in Irimon and some in New World, these planar gnomes live in different places on planet, where is common gnomes are unknown.
• Gnomes from the Feyrealm are famous for their hyperactive character and impossible hair and eye colors. Technically they are immortal, but outside places close to the Feyrealm they gradually fade without intense emotions.
• On the other hand, gnomes from the Shadowrealm have a calm temperament and talent for illusion magic. They are also somewhat immortal, but under the influence of Shadow magic all creativity and individuality is drained from them until they become almost soulless mechanisms, sunk into routine.
• Now these dwarven peoples, often unaware of each other for millennia, are finally making contact. It is a somewhat traumatic experience for them, as all sides see each other through the lens of their shortcomings. The extraplanar dwarves see the small numbers of their continent-dwelling kin, who once rivaled the greatest human empires on equal terms. And for the dwarves of Arvan, it is hard to see how planar magic has warped and made their brethren dependent.

Half-elves

• Half-elves appeared on the continent en masse only four centuries ago, after the arrival of the elves. This was the result of a deliberate marriage policy to help elves adapt to the continent and be accepted by the locals. But since elves were often warrior-aristocrats, their marriages were made within that stratum.
• As a result, by the present time practically all aristocracy on the continent is, to one degree or another, half-elven. This creates not only a legal but also a very real biological division between the aristocracy and the common folk.
• It is precisely in the hands of this half-elven aristocracy that most of the political power on the continent is concentrated now, even though there are only a few places where half-elves dominate the population. Usually they are spread thinly across the continent.
• This is a potentially interesting question from a self-definition perspective. Half-elves generally see themselves as part of the human races to which they belong, as many of them rule over them. However, these subjects often do not reciprocate this recognition. It is a complex issue that is closely tied to class identity.