The World of Carcer

Carcer is an ancient world, imbued with magic, mystery and forgotten secrets. Great kingdoms rise beside the ruins of civilisations thousands of years older than themselves. Covered in vast oceans that separate lands that many people know only through the tales of sailors and traders. It is often a wild but beautiful place.

Magic flows through the world, ancient creatures still walk its wild places, and the works of peoples long since vanished continue to shape the lives of those living today.

For most who call Carcer home, the world is far larger than they will ever see.

The Ancient World

The recorded history of Carcer stretches back tens of thousands of years, but even the oldest surviving histories tell of ages that came before them. Great cities, wars and marvels are all recorded in the ancient texts describing a world much different from the one we see today.

The world has been shaped repeatedly by magic, conflict, natural forces and the rise and fall of great civilisations. Ancient roads disappear beneath modern cities, forgotten ruins lie deep within forests and deserts, and powerful artefacts occasionally emerge from ages whose people and purposes have long since been forgotten.

Few peoples have influenced the world as greatly as the ancient Forsworn. Living Gods whose magic was so great as to shape the very fabric of reality.

Among the earliest great masters of magic, the Forsworn learned to manipulate magical forces on a scale rarely seen in the modern age. During these early ages they created much of the Carcer you see today. Leaving behind great works whose influence can still be seen across the world.

Exactly how some of these wonders were accomplished has long since passed into history, legend and speculation.

The Heavens

The skies of Carcer are dominated by the Sun and two great moons that have watched over the world since ancient times.

Lumira, the Radiant Moon

Lumira, commonly known as the Radiant Moon, is one of the two ancient moons of Carcer.

Its passage through the heavens has been observed for countless generations, and its movements feature heavily in calendars, traditions and magical studies across many cultures.

Silvara, the Veiled Moon

Silvara, known as the Veiled Moon, is the second of Carcer's ancient moons.

Like Lumira, its movements and phases have been observed since the earliest recorded histories. Different peoples have attached their own stories, meanings and traditions to the two moons, and their names are not universal across every culture of Carcer.

Umbraxis, the Dark Moon

There are also stories of another presence in the heavens.

Umbraxis, sometimes called the Dark Moon, does not appear in the sky as Lumira and Silvara do. Knowledge of it varies greatly throughout Carcer.

To some it is a recognised celestial phenomenon worthy of serious study. To others it is an old legend, superstition or story told by mystics and astronomers.

Those who study Umbraxis agree on very little beyond one fact: if it truly is a moon, it is unlike either of the others.

Some scholars dedicate their entire lives to understanding it.

Few claim to have succeeded.

Magic

Magic is woven into Carcer.

It flows through the world along great ley lines, gathers in places of power and manifests differently across the lands and peoples of the world.

There is no single understanding of magic shared by every culture.

The ancient Forsworn were among the first to systematically study and master its forces. The Dworn developed traditions of runes, craftsmanship and magic drawn from earth and metal. Other peoples developed their own practices, beliefs and names for the forces they encountered.

Modern scholars have spent generations attempting to classify magic, yet disagreement remains common. What one culture considers a fundamental force of nature, another may understand as the work of spirits, gods, ancestors or something else entirely.

Even today, new discoveries occasionally challenge things scholars believed had been understood for thousands of years.

The Continent of Tymora

Tymora is the largest known continent of Carcer and the centre of much of its recorded history.

It is a vast land of fertile kingdoms, ancient forests, frozen tundra, endless grasslands, mountains, deserts and wild frontiers.

Running across much of the continent are the enormous Dragonspire Mountains, creating a formidable natural divide between the northern and southern lands. Only a handful of established passes allow reliable travel through the range, making the mountains one of Tymora's defining geographical features.

Along their slopes stretches the ancient Oakwood Forest, a vast woodland whose history reaches back beyond many of the nations that now surround it.

The Lands of Tymora

Much of eastern Tymora is dominated by the Kingdom of Valendor, the largest and most prosperous human kingdom on the continent.

To the north lies the frozen land of Vintergard, homeland of the Thalkir, connected to the mainland by the colossal ancient ice bridge known as the Skagmir.

West of Valendor stretches the Great Grass Sea, an immense expanse of tall grass, wandering rivers and scattered oases. The plains are home to the nomadic Salhichim, while far above them drifts Tengri-Uul, the Sky Mountain, the legendary airborne homeland of the Tengri-kharn.

Beyond the grasslands lies the harsh Plain of Bones, a land of deserts, rocky wastes and ancient ruins. Hidden within it stands Eldanost, the Eternal Spire, capital of the mysterious Arcane Federation and one of the great centres of magical study in Carcer.

Across Tymora are countless other settlements, kingdoms, strongholds and wild places, many of which remain poorly known beyond their own borders.

At the crossroads of many of these cultures stands the Free City of Tanyth, drawing merchants, travellers, mercenaries, scholars and adventurers from across the continent.

The Seas and Islands

Beyond the shores of Tymora stretch vast oceans scattered with countless islands.

Seafaring peoples have travelled these waters for thousands of years, establishing settlements, trade routes and cultures far from the great continental kingdoms.

Perhaps the strangest of these lands is Tavaru, the mystical homeland of the Konganese.

Tavaru does not remain in one place.

The island travels unpredictably across the oceans. At times it follows the currents and tides; at others it appears to move against them entirely. There are even accounts of Tavaru disappearing beneath the waves for days or weeks before appearing again somewhere else.

Finding Tavaru is often a matter of luck.

Finding it twice can be considerably harder.

Peoples of Carcer

Carcer is home to many peoples, cultures and creatures whose histories stretch across vastly different periods of the world's past.

Some trace their histories back to the earliest recorded ages, while others are comparatively young.

The ancient Forsworn and Dworn walked the world long before the rise of humanity. The Scions and Forsaken share an ancient and divided heritage, while Orcs, Goblins, Scorned and numerous other peoples have built histories and cultures of their own.

Humanity itself has spread into numerous kingdoms and cultures, from the people of Valendor to the frozen clans of Vintergard and the nomadic peoples of the Great Grass Sea.

Beyond them are peoples whose homelands, histories and ways of life are known only imperfectly to outsiders.

No single kingdom, race or scholar possesses a complete history of Carcer.

History, Legend and Truth

One of the difficulties of studying Carcer is determining where history ends and legend begins.

The same ancient event may have a dozen names depending on who tells the story. A figure remembered as a hero in one kingdom may be remembered as a tyrant in another. Gods to one people may be ancestors, spirits or simply powerful beings to another.

Even names are not universal.

Places, magical forces, celestial bodies and historical figures may have entirely different names across different cultures and languages.

As a result, much of what is considered "known" about the ancient world depends greatly upon who is telling the story.

Ancient ruins continue to challenge accepted histories. Forgotten writings contradict established accounts. Things dismissed as myths have occasionally been discovered to be very real.

There are still blank spaces on maps.

There are still ruins whose builders have no name.

There are still creatures thought extinct.

And there are still places where even the most experienced travellers know better than to go.

Carcer is an old world.

But much of its story remains unwritten.