! Welcome and Overview
New to the world of Iroe? Start here!
- Welcome
- General World History
- The God of the Bible and Iroe
- Referenced Unworldbuilt Things
- Calendar Year
Welcome
Setting Overview
Iroe is the fantasy setting I (Craftidore) set my ttrpg campaigns in. A few friends of mine have likewise set their campaigns in this setting, and so I've created this wiki as a place to host world information on the setting.
The world, while medieval fantasy, is set in the distant future, a series of more and more devastating world wars ravage the planet, until society collapses. About a millennia after the aftermath, magic is introduced into the world, other (typical and atypical) fantasy races emerge, society is rebuilt but remains primarily medieval.
Additionally...
Most campaigns so far have been set in the 4000s NA8, so info on wiki pages assumes this time frame is current unless otherwise noted. A variety of ttrpg systems have been used, including Polymodular Fantasy Roleplaying (Europe) by Ill Gotten Games (since rebranded as Crux), Genesys (Europe) by Fantasy Flight Games/Edge Studios, and Pathfinder 2e (North Africa) by Paizo
Setting Philosophy
This setting isn't nearly as fleshed out as a setting book you might find for sale, This wiki, and setting, is meant to provide a resource, a launching pad. A place to start, get ideas, but not provide all the answers. Most of the "lore" and information here was created at the drop of a hat by a frantic GM, or as a joke, or as part of a backstory, before being immortalized on this wiki (and yes, there are contradictions and inconsistencies). The info about this world should be a starting point, a way of getting your creative energies flowing, but shouldn't have the final say on what is canon in your campaigns in this setting. Do you or one of your players have a cool backstory/plot/world idea that conflicts with something in this wiki? Well, that part of the wiki is no longer canon in your campaign. Don't let the setting get in the way of your creative ideas.
License
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. The authors of each wiki article are listed at the bottom of each article, as well as the idea's originator if different from author.
Attribution
Original Co-Creators of Iroe:
- Craftidore
- Chimera
Additional wiki contributors:
- Anubis_The_Unlucky (aka Anubis)
- Fatestorm
Additional players who contributed to lore:
- Seraphite
- QueenOfSpace
- Aruin
- Bob_Smiley
General World History
The general premise of Iroe is that it is our world in the far distant future. In the less far distant future, after the 8th world war, the world is in cataclysmic ruin. In an attempt to save humanity, many of the still-living humans fled to "LifeBiomes" which were intended to preserve the human race until the radiation and rampant ruin had receded and the earth became generally livable.
Some radiation leaked into even the best protected LifeBiomes and the humans inside evolved (with the help of the radiation, which sped up the process considerably) to match their circumstances. Thus the LifeBiome in the sky (which was in orbit, similar to the ISS, but had partial fake-gravity) evolved Elves, which weren't as strong due to the lessened gravity and were taller for the same reason and the LifeBiome buried underground evolved Dwarves as it expanded and mined out from the confines of the original LifeBiome.
Additionally, many humans still on the surface of the planet survived but as the radiation was drastically stronger on the surface, the evolution effects were more drastic, leading to Beastfolk, for example.
Additionally, after the cataclysm, the rules of reality underwent some changes. Magic became a force; in fact, the majority of the radiation energy on the planet was mysteriously converted to magical energy (which lacked the murderous power of radiation), permitting a significantly better survival rate on the surface and also explains why mages became a thing.
It should be noted that this setting is concerned with things sounding plausible over actually being plausible. Like, I know that's not how radiation works, but it sounds plausible and lets us have this cool setting. Same goes for everything else here.
The God of the Bible and Iroe
So... there's an often unspoken question that arises when creating a setting based on the real world. We are Christians, and believe God not only exists, but is fully sovereign over this world. God cares about this world deeply; He is not uncaring or apathetic to the troubles that befall it nor will He stop working in this world for His glory. Yet at the same time it would be very awkward to try and incorporate Christianity into a roleplaying game. How do you handle characters who aren't Christian interacting with those that are? How do Christian player characters not 'ruin the adventure' or otherwise hindering their party by stopping to evangelize instead of interacting with the plot. Furthermore, we have "gods" in this world; how do they relate to God?
Our solution is as follows.
- God exists, Jesus death on the cross happened, and those who have put their faith (i.e. trusting allegiance leading to submissive obedience) in Jesus they will be saved and resurrected at the end of days to live in perfect relationship with God, as we were originally intended.
- After the cataclysm at the end of the eighth world war, knowledge of Christianity was lost.
- God has not abandoned or given up on this world. In fact, He guided the radioactivity to cause evolutionary changes yielding new species instead of causing rampant death.
- Additionally, God converted much of the radiation to a new kind of energy: magical energy. Note that this magical energy is merely a force/energy source, not the kind of magic that Christians are warned against using (namely: magic relying on power from demons, as seen in Pharaoh's court for example).
- While knowledge of Christianity has died out, it is not completely gone. God has preserved copies of the Bible and Christian texts (and likely a remnant of faithful in an as-of-yet undiscovered LifeBiome, based on Isaiah and Romans) which will be discovered in the future (i.e. past whenever our campaigns take place) and will lead to a revival of the Christian faith, similar to the revival of the Jewish faith after the rediscovery of the Law in Nehemiah's day.
Referenced Unworldbuilt Things
- Gymbosi: Some country, referenced by Zelix. Has a King.
- Update: Located near Tife and is on the map, but has yet to be actually world-built.
- Often nicknamed "Gymbrosi" and stereotyped to be full of buff gym bros. This stereotype is not true, and the roughly 85% of the population which is not buff is very annoyed by this stereotype. Unfortunately the other 15% is a vocal minority which lean really heavily into the stereotype, and so the stereotype lives on.
- Siegfried: Legendary axe dating back to 3911 NA8, wielded by Keth Doomdigger (Ghul), and has since become very important to the Ghul people as a whole. It was lost to them at some point, but eventually recovered and returned to the Ghul people of the Deadlands around 4097 by Cereza.
- Balheg-Thanatia Romantasy Novel: There is a novel that was written about a young ghul prince from Thanatia and a young aristocratic female Balheg falling in love via letters. They jointly decide to bridge the distance between their countries by waging war toward each other until they meet halfway between their two countries. Through the power of love (And Balheg/Ghul combat prowess. And rather large armies), they conquer and sack a wide strip of land between them, uniting and living happily ever after, much to the detriment of the rest of the world. Copies of this book can be found in all Three Great Libraries.
Calendar Year
It would be such a pain to have to keep track of a truly independent calendar. Soooo... the months are all reskins.
| Iroe Month | Equivalent | Deity | Insect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slowakius | January | Elder Deities | Moth |
| Month of Dreams | February | Month of Dreams | |
| Oxors | March | Netesis | Praying mantis |
| Drorsh | April | Dradea | Grasshopper |
| Dofant | May | Kritix | Mayfly |
| Stupe | June | Khazthos | Beetle |
| Month of Secrets | July | Month of Secrets | |
| Vlupets | August | Denes | Bee |
| Haqahs | September | Katia | Ants |
| Guwisp | October | Avdohr | Dragonfly |
| Cluix | November | Cyvena | Butterfly |
| Jitoh | December | Modis | Ladybug |