Not just to share the characters and the stories with a wider audience, but also to get worldbuilding tips from likeminded people, and more ideas on how I can be creative. Let’s see if I can get your attention with this opener…
Welcome to the world of the Two Collided, also known as Castoria.
This planet was of a bizzare shape maintained by a cosmic reaction; as it was not one sphere of rock hurtling through the void, it was two. They were their own distinct landmasses, however their extremely close proximity along with some magical intervention allowed the oceans of the two planets to link, creating a stream known as the River of Deaths.
The two planets that now make up Castoria are Pherica, the world of Skin, and Geodeus, the world of Hide.
Recently, humankind and its’ relative races had fallen on hard times. Elvenkind’s individualism was used against them by a creeping curse that required collective action. Dwarvenkind’s life below the rocks was shattered by an earthquake the likes never seen before, further disasters growing only more intense. Humanity’s livable territory was all but wiped out by a huge internal war. The Tieflings have been afflicted by a dire famine, all the lands they own turning to barren dust. The list is endless, with one great calamity after another striking each race- None on Pherica seemed to be safe.
It was though the planet itself was determined to kill everyone who lived there.
As a result, many nations of Pherica launched exodus ships along the River of Deaths. These settlers had two purposes… Firstly, to scour the lands of Geodeus to see if there is a root cause of Pherica’s affliction, and secondly, in the event that Pherica really is doomed, to ensure that the races will live on.
Many ships were lost along the violent tides, astral winds, and extreme magics of the River of Deaths, but some have reached shores on Geodeus to establish settlements, where their adventures would unfurl…
Of the initial adventures, one of them was of particular note. In the chaos of the exodus, Chromatic Dragons attacked, and they destroyed a ship that wasn’t meant to carry refugees, but to transport something never meant to see the world again. A Deck of Many Things. Obtaining the deck, an actor who only the surviving gods know undid the cosmic reaction that held Geodeus and Pherica apart, sending them crashing into each other. Through the intervention of the god of Metallic Dragons, Castoria avoided total extinction… But with almost all of Pherica having aggregated around the River of Deaths, then the impact all but wiped out Phericans entirely.
Now, the survivors of Geodeus need to weather the storm and rebuild. Whether they come from the old and mighty nations that were founded by the first of their kind, or the newer and more far-sighted offspring nations- all will be tested, in the World of Two Collided.
[Current common Races]
Official DnD
-Dragonborn (Metallic, Chromatic, Gem)
-Aarakocra (Birdfolk, normally eagle-coded)
-Tabaxi (Catfolk)
-Leonin (Lionfolk)
-Minotaur
-Giff (Hippofolk)
-Kobold
-Owlin (Birdfolk, normally owl-coded)
-Centaur
-Kenku (Corvidfolk)
-Harengon (Rabbitfolk)
-Tortle (Turtlefolk)
-Yuan ti (Serpentfolk)
-Lizardfolk
-Warforged (Constructs with their own intelligence and will)
Homebrewed
-Kitsune
-Wolfkind
-Gnoll
-Avali
-Felkin
Fun fact, in my original plans for campaigns on this world, then the campaigns as a whole were meant to be about saving humanity and the other refugees by ultimately preventing Pherica’s impact and destruction, and a general lesson on compassion. However, I gave the players one chance to get one card from the Deck of Many Things, the wizard promptly obtained The Fates and undid the cosmic reaction that was keeping Geodeus and Pherica held apart, not realizing what they were doing until Impact, resulting in The Derailment Of All Time.
If you built this world in one of the Pathfinder systems, you’d have a lot more 1st-party furry species.
True. I do also like Pathfinder’s four families of dragons quite a lot. However, the Pathfinder campaign that I joined to try and learn the system fell apart, and I don’t want to run a Pathfinder game until I’ve got a much more solid understanding of the system’s balancing (even if there are DM tools), because I also need to be able to keep an eye out for my players and help them when they forget a rule or don’t understand something.
And besides, even if Pathfinder DOES have some pretty great first-party furries, 5e Homebrew brings me something I couldn’t get elsewhere: A Felkin template! https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Felkin_(5e_Race)
That alone is a big reason I wanted to make the game 5e; Felkins are my second favourite furry species (behind Dragons), and no matter where I look, Felkins don’t even seem to have lore, let alone a chance of being playable somewhere or included in a game. While I know that they’re a more explicitly furry-fandom species than general stuff like wolf-anthros so I do need to take time to properly build up to them and then make effort to integrate them naturally, just the idea that I can finally not just include them in a world but give them lore, stories and abilities gives me insane motivation.
Honestly Felkins in general are strange, because it seems they ONLY exist in yiff. No memes. No media. Only Yiff (1.5k entries on Our Favourite Website). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Yiff and it’s my favourite of the three- but I still definitely want them to get some of the other two.