The Seven Shields

The Seven Shields is a fictional world created as an original campaign setting for User:Bloodmat's regular homebrew D&D games in late 2013 to early 2014. It is an ongoing project undertaken by the author, his friends, and volunteers. As of now no published works exist of the Seven Shields setting, purely existing in the authors' minds, their notes, and this wiki.

The primary focus of the setting takes place in a group of continents and their surrounding waters collectively known as Vandea, part of Ehn, an earth-like world in the Seven Shields universe. Several other continents and locations are planned, however these are still in the conceptual stages, leaving room for any additions and modifications.

Cosmology
Cosmology in the Seven Shields universe is divided into four separate planes of existence. These are the Prime Material Plane, the Amaranthine, the Infinite Chaos, and The Void or nullspace. These planes are then further divided into sub-planes such as the Nine Hells and the Abyss. They are arranged depending on the cosmological model used, of which most commonly accepted by scholars of the third age is the World Sphere model which describes the planes as isolated spheres of matter and energy connected to each other through nullspace via one or more tube-like conduits called voltaic arcs. Travel between planes is only possible through these channels and it is a relatively common occurrence for them to be created as well as disappear.

Geography
The material sphere of Ehn consists of several large landmasses, the continents of Vandea, Eidonia, Garakhun, and other as-yet unspecified landmasses.

Vandea


The main focus of the setting, it is a large contiguous continent that spans several million square miles. Vandea is home to a stunning variety of geographical features, cultures, and races.

There are six regions that comprise the lands: Aram, Ceval, Gormin, Illvas, Menora, and Yrvir. Several other notable areas exist such as the Muuren Tundra and Sairose Isles.

Eidonia
Or simply Eidon, a single continental landmass far east of the Elder Ocean. The affairs of the lands in the West are largely of no concern to Eidon though more than a few ambitious explorers, scholars, and merchants have journeyed to the "Electrum Plains" as it is also called, in search of adventure, knowledge, and wealth - oftentimes returning empty handed.

It is said that the magical technology that saturates the kingdom of Yrvir had been reversed-engineered from buried ancient Eidonian remains in the area.

Garakhun
A continent southwest of Vandea. Its northern-most part has come to be called Gul by the inhabitants of Vandea. The lands that lie beyond the vast jungles are completely shrouded in mystery.

The Shields of Fate
The Shields of Neyr are a legendary set of seven shields granted to the greatest champions of Vandea known only as the God Champions at the end of the God War in 884 BR, the final year of the Baneful Reckoning. They are artifacts of immense power capable of shaping fate and the world, even rivaling the powers of the gods themselves. They were created by pooling the resources of the mortal races as a last ditch effort to defeat the Elder Gods during the God War. Though the details of their creation are widely disputed, consensus is that an ancient order of mage warriors called the Haladrim were responsible for overseeing their formation.

The shields are said to be conduits of fate itself, meaning their destinies and wielders are already predetermined, from their creation to their ultimate destruction. Attempting to ascertain their locations or future wielders, however, is a near impossible task for those but the greatest of seers attuned to the Weave, who even then can only see so far into futures concerning the artifacts. Because of this the individual shields have seemingly shown up in the most unlikely of places throughout history, then vanish just as suddenly as they had appeared, only to show up centuries later thousands of miles away. The appearance of a shield should be noted as a significant event since it might herald the need to use all seven shields once more to fight another great threat to the world, though many millennia of false alarms have substantially discredited the danger of universal peril detailed in the Auchron Prophecy.

With the risks of misuse blunted over time, many seek to use individual shields for their own agenda, a few succeeding and many more coming close. Countless campaigns have been undertaken to find and possess them and several shields have been the subject of a dozen significant wars across the continents. Many kingdoms have risen to power because of merely possessing a fragment of a shield, more often than not coming to an end as well because of it. Due to this among other reasons, the artifacts have gained a reputation for being bad omens that are almost always more trouble than they're worth. Despite this, there never seems to be an end to ambitious and foolhardy parties enchanted by the allure and promise of wielding one or more of the Shields of Fate.

Prophecy
Auchron Prophecy.

Cevali Empire
The Cevali began as a nation besieged by beasts and monstrosities from the North, armies from the East and South, and political turmoil within. Then during what historians now call the Year of Trials, a great champion arose from the ranks of the Cevali army to a position of power, later uniting the peoples and settling inner disputes in order to refocus the nation's efforts.

Cevali underwent major restructurings and in the span of four years, had dramatically increased the its economic, academic, and military capability. The great champion, later to be appointed Emperor of Cevali after his victory over Kalim, amassed an excellently trained army which he used to expand the nation's borders. A master strategist and born tactician, it did not take long for him to conquer all of Cevali's enemies and carve out an empire on the continents of Vandea. The Cevali Empire, as it is forever known, would enjoy over 700 years of prosperity and peace.

Unfortunately the empire collapsed soon after the death of its last great ruler and the hundred year civil war that followed almost a millennium ago. From its ruins the Seven Kingdoms of the current age were founded, except for Gul which had lay uncolonized since the Time of Ruin. Despite this fact, artifacts and evidence from the Cevali Empire have been found on the northernmost parts of the continent.