Wildemount Player Guide

by Liger0

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Player's Campaign Intro

A war brews on a continent that has withstood more than its fair share of conflict.

The Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty are carving up the lands around them, and only the greatest heroes would dare stand between them. Somewhere in the far corners of this war-torn landscape are secrets that could end this conflict and usher in a new age of peace—or burn the world to a cinder.

Two armies clash on a fog-shrouded battlefield, heralded by the sound of trumpets and drums on one side, and by an eerie, chirping whistle like countless thousands of wailing crickets on the other. A raven, its ebon feathers spattered with blood, alights on one of the fallen corpses and gently raps its beak on the soldier’s helmet.

The raven looks up, curious, and flies into the sky. A land embroiled in war expands beneath it, and yet, within the shroud of conflict, the raven sees twinkling pockets of light. The raven sees souls that shine bright with courage, kindness, and determination. It sees souls lustrous with greed, fear, and anger. And most of all, it sees souls radiating with a desire to discover their place in the world.

The raven sees Wildemount.


Dwendalian Empire

The raven soars over a massive city, sprawling outward from a somber, monolithic palace. Soldiers and war machines pour from the city, stretching across the land like innumerable grasping arms, greedily encircling the continent.

The Dwendalian Empire is a young, ambitious state borne from decades of strife in Western Wynandir — the heartland of Wildemount. Its austere lands are dotted with tiny villages, ruins of ancient civilizations, and pockets of uncharted wilderness. The raven notes this hungry behemoth and alters course.

Clovis Concord

Westward flies the herald of the Raven Queen. It bursts through the clouds above the western mountains and emerges into a land blessed by sun. A sea of lush jungle stretches out beneath the raven, until eventually green gives way to golden sand, and then to a boundless, sapphire sea.

Ships swarm on that sea like a cloud of gnats, engulfed by flames and the sound of cannon fire. They fight for freedom. The Clovis Concord is a republic of city-states lining the Menagerie Coast, the westernmost shore of Wildemount. This tropical region is rich with history and known for a lively, free-spirited culture that contrasts sharply with Wildemount’s other, politically narrow-minded nations.

Shadycreek Run

The raven, battered by ice and snow, sees petty warlords lead bands of slavers across the snowfields and understands that no law but power rules the north. It sees smugglers and thieves flee beyond the grasp of civilization and into the unknown. It sees the vast, roiling wilderness act with a fell will of its own, claiming the lives of those who dare attempt to grasp power beyond their ken. They fight for survival, glory, and greed.

The Tribes of Shadycreek Run are a fragmented coalition of thieves, slavers, and scoundrels who managed to amass power in the frigid backwater of Shadycreek Run. While they struggle to enrich themselves through crime, however, they fail to realize that malign, primordial powers are creeping into the north underneath their noses.

Krynn Dynasty

Finally, the raven flies east. It sees beings that would be slain on sight in the other civilized nations of Wildemount, walking side-by-side with humans and gray-skinned elves. The raven sees that these people have a light within them — and it sees that, far to the east, there is a mighty fortress that contains a light unseen since the dawning of the world.

The Kryn Dynasty is an empire made up of dark elves (drow) and other humanoids typically considered to be monsters by the other nations of Wildemount, such as minotaurs, goblinkin, and gnolls. The Kryn Dynasty rules over the wastes of Xhorhas, a land once blighted by the rule of the Betrayer Gods when immortals still walked the land. Here, they fight for the revelation of the end of the world.

“Born from nothing, there was something. Light, then thought, then life and fire. We who are born of the will of the gods keep these records to preserve their deeds, their design, and their lessons. We who live by our own will shall keep these records to know where we walk and where not to tread. We who look to our inevitable end keep these records to teach those who succeed our footsteps how to be better than we could.” –  Archivist Adia Shu of the Cobalt Soul

CALENDAR AND TIME

The Exandrian calendar year is divided into 328 days, grouped into seven-day weeks over the course of eleven months. This calendar was originally established by the elves in an ancient age, and their names for the months and days of the week have stood the test of time.

The names of the seven days of the week are Miresen, Grissen, Whelsen, Conthsen, Folsen, Yulisen, and Da'leysen. Each day is 24 hours long.

EXANDRIAN CALENDAR
Month Days Holidays
Horisal 29 New Dawn (1st), Hillsgold (27th)
Misuthar 30 Day of Challenging (7th)
Dualahei 30 Renewal Festival (13th), Wild's Grandeur (20th)
Thunsheer 31 Harvest's Rise (11th), Merryfrond's Day (31 st)
Unndilar 28 Deep Solace (8th), Zenith (26th)
Brussendar 31 Artisan's Faire (1 5th),Elvendawn (20th)
Sydenstar 32 Highsummer (7th), Morn of Largesse (14th)
Fessuran 29 Harvest's Close (3rd)
Quen'pillar 27 Hazel Festival (10th), Civilization's Dawn (22nd)
Cuersaar 29 Night of Ascension (13th) Du scar 32 Barren Eve (2nd), Embertide (5th)
SEASONS

Wildemount is a chilly continent-with the exception of the sunny, tropical Menagerie Coast-and each of the regions experiences the passing of the seasons differently. Western Wynandir suffers from dismal, rainy springs and bitter winters. The Menagerie Coast enjoys a long, balmy summer, but must endure a vicious, typhoon-rich winter. The Biting North is always blanketed by snow, but temperatures drop to deadly lows in the winter, then let up for a rainy, relatively mild summer. Finally, Eastern Wynandir enjoys level, temperate weather all year long across its lowland regions, save for the cutting winds that rip across the plains in spring and autumn.

Moons

Exandria has two known moons that orbit the planet. Catha, the larger and closer of the moons, is the herald of night travel and shines a bright white when visible in the sky. Catha is considered to be intrinsically tied to Sehanine, the Moon Weaver, and is regarded by some as a creation of the Moon Weaver to watch over the just and hide those who require obfuscation. Ruidus, the second moon of Exandria, is much smaller and farther away. With a slower rotation around the world and dark redbrown coloring, Ruidus is often difficult to see among the stars of the night sky and nearly impossible to spot during the day. Little is known of Ruidis, though older cultures and texts speak of it as an omen of ill tidings, or even a remnant of a Betrayer God plot left abandoned and unrealized.

Languages

All the typical languages found in the Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual are fair game in Wildemount. While Common is used across the continent and typically associated with human empires, it is not the language that most humans spoke in Wildemount before the rise of Dwendalian Empire three centuries ago. This setting has three languages unique to the human cultures ofWildemount: Zemnian, Marquesian, and Naush. A human character can learn one of these languages instead of a skill or tool proficiency granted by their background, class, or variant racial traits. Each of these languages is described below:

Zemnian.

This ancient language was spoken by the people of Zemniaz in the Age of Arcanum. That ancient culture has long since crumbled, but its language and its people live on in the Dwendalian Empire. Many ancient scrolls were written in Zemnian, but it is a language now largely spoken by farmers, as Common is the default language of the empire.

Marquesian.

The Menagerie Coast was settled by colonists from the arid land of Marquet, and their language now holds an unusual position in the Clovis Concord. It is the language of high society, as many Clovis elite are descended from Marquesians, but it is also the language of piracy, since countless lower-class Marquesians defected from the Concord and formed the Revelry pirates.

Naush.

Originally spoken by the Ki'Nau islanders native to the Menagerie Coast, Naush is a thriving language within the multicultural cities of the Clovis Concord. Even sailors who only speak Common incorporate dozens of Naush words into their nautical jargon.

Races

All the races present in the Player's Handbook, as well as many of the other races, have a home in Wildemount.

However, some of those races have cultures that differ from those of their kin elsewhere in the multiverse.

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THE PANTHEON OF EXANDRIA

When the Divergence transpired, the Divine Gate was established. A powerful barrier between the Material Plane and the divine realms, the Divine Gate both sealed away the Betrayer Gods and the Prime Deities to their respective domains in hopes of salvaging the new age and preventing another Calamity.

Should the Divine Gate be destroyed by the unanimous effort of the Prime Deities, all powers will be unleashed and Armageddon will be imminent. Thus, the gods patiently watch their creations from beyond the veil, lending what small power and chosen minions they can send through the gate to aid their faithful in their goals and pursuits.

The Founding

Long ago, this world was one of tumultuous and chaotic forces. Naught but unbridled fires, and churning, saw-like rock made up its substance. Through the ashen skies of Creation Primordial, the gods came from beyond the ether, new and formless. The gods brought forth creatures to inhabit Exandria, before splitting into two factions in the war against the Primordial Titans: the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods. The Prime Deities, with the help of their mortal champions, ultimately destroyed the Primordials and banished the Betrayer Gods from the Material Plane.

The Age of Arcanum

Over time, some of the peoples grew arrogant. Seeing their arcane gifts as proof the gods held no sway over their fate, some began to believe that, with enough understanding, they could become as powerful as the gods themselves. They broke open the Betrayer's prison, where they had been spawning hungry creations of their own, and released them back into the Material Plane.

The Calamity

No record remains of the terrible war that followed, but its effects are still felt today. The sheer magnitude of the energies unleashed in the ensuing battles of gods and mortals alike was enough to fray the boundaries holding back the elemental chaos, spilling unbridled destruction into the world. It completely rearranged the known flow of magical ley energy across Exandria.

The Divergence

Hoping to seal away the Betrayer Gods for good, the Prime Deities retreated from the Material Plane. Behind themselves and their defeated brethren, they erected a barrier known as the Divine Gate, which would prevent any god from physically crossing over into mortal realms.

PRIME DEITIES

The circle of Prime Deities includes the leaders and luminary creators that battled the Primordials and instigated the Founding, forging the mortal races of Exandria. They represent a spectrum of light, protection, love, death, and all other facets of freedom and life in the world. While some gods may disagree and squabble, they exist in a subtle alliance to maintain the sanctity of life and their respective creations.

BETRAYER GODS

The Betrayer Gods are the deities who strayed from the ideals of the Founding and embraced the destructive chaos of the Primordials or grew selfish of their own creations. The Betrayer Gods rarely work together, since they see each other as threats to their own plots and goals. This very weakness allowed the Prime Deities to defeat and banish them, ending the Calamity.

LESSER IDOLS

After the banishment of the pantheon in the Divergence, the mortal realm was left to its own devices. Beyond the trickle of divine assistance allowed by the Divine Gate, mortal creatures are now the keepers of the future of Exandria. This vacuum of influence has given rise to a number of powerful entities who may not rival the gods in their abilities or influence, but now unchallenged, can amass a modest following of their own. These idols present themselves in many different ways, some as honorable guardians of the helpless, and others as the tyrannical gods they aspire to be. Many of these beings have ambitions they wish to fulfill and can offer great power to mortals in exchange for their servitude.

With All Credits to Matthew Mercer

You have made such a wonderful world for us to explore and I hope this helps a few DM's introduce their players to it.

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More Credits

Thanks also to the wonderful folksover at criticalrole.fandom.com where a bunch of this stuff came from.

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