>>47287353
Got a map for your setting?

>>47287378
Nah, it's very early in developement. And as such I am very open to suggestions, even to suggestions for the map. I'll post the outline, seeing as there is some interest. Be back in a sec.

I'll skip the creation myth for now, and start from the point in history where things begin to matter.

Some 800 years ago a small country got overtaken by a cleric of a lesser deity, the god of travel, created by the greater gods to lord over the domain of travel, as well as the travel between planes, and most importantly the passage of the souls of the deceased into their appropriate god's plane for their afterlife.

The cleric turned the country into a theocracy, converting all citezens to the faith, by whichever means necessary. As in most Sword & Sorcery worlds, the more followers a god has, the more powerful he is, so the god of travel got a bit of a pick-me-up.

The theocracy instated many priest-engineers, and by fully exploiting their god's power quickly advanced 'technologically'. They used portals to the elemental planes as infinite power sources, used it for everything. Many people flocked to the country. Eventually the theocracy found a way to weaponize the portals, essentially creating siege weapons, easily devastating much larger armies. They eventually overtook the continent either diplomatically or by force, acting in a similar way as the Roman empire, assimilating all the conquered peoples, giving them citizenship, as long as they pledged allegiance. The theocracy reached it's pinnacle as the once lesser deity of travel was now on steroids, other gods feared, and resented him. At this pinnacle of it's power just as it set out to conquer other continents the god vanished, presumed dead. The theocracy imploded in on itself as rebellions to reclaim the previous country's national identities rose.

That was 600 years ago. Now the continent is stabilized, for the most part, broken into more countries than had existed prior to the theocracies uprise. The world is covered in ruins of a once great culture, with great magic and technology littering the street, but simply unusable. The gods got their followers back, and stabilized their seats of power.

>>47287644
Cont.

One unfortunate, apparently unforeseen side-effect was discovered. With the throne of the travel god empty, there was no one to lord of interplanar travel. Worse yet, there was no one to govern the passage of souls into the afterlife. Mortals in this era are denied their afterlives. That's a very important story element.

Most simply think that death is the end, but a far worse faith awaits the dead. Their souls are left to wander the material plane, aimlessly, powerlessly, until they begin to lose their identities, as they fade, and nothing but their energy remains. Such faceless phantoms all hear a call, irresistible to most. So much life-force cannot remain unspent, upsetting the balance, so they congregate over centuries into a mindless force of nature unto itself, which when fully formed, and awakened will destroy the material plane, with no hope of negotiation.

>>47287353
>Pathfinder
Could you fucking not?

>>47287737
Cont.

Few know this truth, only the most powerful arcanists. One of them being the presumed BBEG of this setting. A somewhat young, powerful psychic, a member of a large benevolent council of mages that overlook the fair and just use of magic in the realm. Knowing the inevitable destruction to come, and the bitterness of the afterlife being denied to all, he seeks to re-open the gates of the planes, at any cost. In his study of the mortal soul, he has killed many innocents, a small price to pay, among them the loved-ones of the PCs, uniting them to hunt down the murderer.

The idea is that the BBEG will not reveal his intentions or his past, but will instead try to befriend, and use the PCs until they try to interfere, or get too close to the truth.

That's a rough sketch. I am open to any and all suggestions.

>>47287765
It's not that I wouldn't love to have this discussion, it's just that I'd rather not have this thread derailed into one of THOSE threads. You don't mind, right?

>>47287826
I don't mind, just pointing out a flaw in your masterplan.

>>47287850
I don't think the set of rules Pathfinder provides will hinder me from telling the story I want, nor the players from roleplaying, but I appreciate your concerns.

I've found that worldbuilding is best done when the players are already sitting around with half-formed ideas of their characters. Then they get to suggest details about the world relevant to the character they're playing, and everyone has a shared ownership of the fantasy world they are playing in.

If you sit around by yourself dreaming up lore, you're basically just masturbating. When the players finally get to play, they won't fall in love with all the lore concepts you cooked up. To them, it will be a bunch of dead exposition irrelevant to their concerns, and they will want to invent their own lore about their characters.

Instead ask the players what they would be into or excited about, and then tailor the world to match their responses. If one player rolls an elf, ask him what he wants all elven civilization to be like. If one guy plays a wizard, ask him what kind of lore related to wizardly schools exist in the world. This gives the players some stake in the creative exercise, instead of just being told a bunch of facts that you invented earlier without them.

>>47287970
I approve of this.

>>47287644
>Pathfinder
>Sword and Sorcery
>technology
This system is not good for either without heavy alterations by the GM.
Unless you know you got the stones for it, I suggest using something else instead, and this is coming from someone who practically places nothing but PF
help me.