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Bonethrall Quickstart Players Guide
Alpha 1

-Introduction
Welcome to the world of Bonethrall, a desolate wasteland struggling to rise from the aftermath of a cataclysmic war. For aeons, the gods, assisted by their angelic hosts, had kept their mortal herds as chattel, feeding off the power of mortal faith. But tyranny plants the seeds of its own downfall. Half a millennium ago, a rebel host of angels and mortals rose up against the tyranny of the Divine Imperium. The war pitted Loyalist angels against their Liberator brethren, and split the unnumbered mortal herds between the Faithful and the Free, and though thousands of Free mortals and whole flights of Liberator angels fell to the radiant fires of the gods, the Godfall war ended with the death of every single god on the face of Creation.

We mortals killed the gods, and the world has never been the same since. Without the guiding hand of the sun god, the Daystar flickers like a corpse-candle in the wind, before flaring up in storms of solar fire, and lancing the earth with flame. Wild magic courses through the battlefields of half a millennium ago, while great swathes of land have been burned to bare rock. The last survivors of the Free and the Faithful huddle around the ruins of the Age of Gods, barely scraping a living while a desperate few try to resurrect the light of civilization.

Central to the power of these successor nations and city states are the Godstones, mighty artifacts that some claim are the bones of the dead gods themselves. Tiny shards of a lesser Godstone may be used as magical implements, while the great Master Godstones may channel divine powers not seen since the Age of Gods. Nations are born and die by the power of the Godstones, and armies clash over the mere rumor of a newly discovered master stone. Some even believe that the Godstones may be used to ascend to immortality, or perhaps even to the divine thrones left vacant for five hundred years.

In the darkness, Faithful cults known as Redeemers seek to use the Godstones to bring back their divine masters and the golden age of the Divine Imperium. Freefolk zealots seek to eradicate every last vestige of the divine. The last surviving Liberator angels weep at the corruption of their dream, while Loyalist exarchs plot vengeance against the mortals that dared to turn against the divine. Fallen angels known as devils barter in the currency of souls, craving the power that the dead gods have left vacant. From the starless dark, the Voidspawn seek to return Creation to the primordial chaos from which it was formed. Caught in the middle of these struggles are the last surviving mortals. Will they restore the age of the gods, lead the last mortals into a new age of freedom, or find a way to reconcile the extremes?

The world is dying. It's been dying for five hundred years. Can your heroes save it?

-Core Concepts: (ala DMG The D&D World)
-Many of the core concepts from the DMG still apply, except for: The Civilized Races Band Together, and Gods are Distant
-An Age of Mortals: The Godfall War destroyed the gods and most powerful immortals and epic creatures like the great wyrms. There are still survivors of the Godfall War lurking in Creation, but the struggles of mortals take center stage.
-Ancient Mysteries: While the Godfall destroyed the majority of immortals, those that survived are creatures of wonder and mystery. While it's less common to encounter an angel or other such creature, those that you do encounter are far more likely to have some sort of unique power and flavor to them.
-A Struggle for Godstones: Godstones are the center of power struggles between mortals and immortals, madmen and messiahs. Nobody knows how or why they can mimic the ancient powers of the gods, but all crave their powers.
-A World Falling Apart: The Song of Destruction ended the Godfall War, but its aftermath still tears through the world. Nature goes wild, the sun alternately rages and flickers, and strange mishappen beasts wander the land. Great rifts tear through the fabric of reality while the cosmos starts to fray at the edges.

-The Core Races in Creation
Elves and Eladrin: These mortals were once servants of the god of nature, who took a neutral stance during the Godfall. Fearing that the nature god would side with their enemies, both Liberators and Loyalists sent hosts that destroyed the nature god. Both races now have a marked xenophobic streak.
Baalim (Tieflings): Humans who swore ancient pacts with the Iron-Handed God, the Baalim were twisted and shaped, and given lordship and dominion. Many Baalim rose to prominence among the mortal servants of the gods during the Divine Imperium. The race as a whole has tendencies toward the Redeemer factions.
Mandrakori (Dragonborn): The Mandrakori have always been champions of the Liberator cause, but nearly all of the dragons that survived the Age of Gods have an unexplained hatred of the entire race.
Humans: Created by the commingled efforts of the gods and put under the charge of fallen Destiny.
Dwarves
Halflings

-The Godstones
(Taken from “Godstones: An Alternative Hypothesis”, by Albertus of Jorat)
*Under Construction*

-The World
*world map under construction. Rough geography of the Daemonscar surroundings have been defined.*

-Geography, Mundane and Magical
The Daemonscar: Ground zero when the Song of Destruction ended the Godfall War. A twisted mass of barren deserts, portals to the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Wilds, earthbergs and other magical landforms, the treacherous terrain of the Daemonscar also shelters the greatest concentration of ruins from the Age of Gods.
Traitor's Gate: A city that sits upon the only safe entrance into the Daemonscar, the tiefling warlord Goran, Lord of the Scar, keeps Traitor's Gate as an open city and neutral waystation for expeditions into the Daemonscar.
The Fort A dwarven citadel sitting in the middle of the Ruined Sea, the Fort has never fallen during its entire existence.
The Ruined Sea: Once a verdant inland sea, this region is now a desert whose highlands hide the ruins of once vibrant ports.
The Thousand Coasts: The cataclysm that drained the Ruined Sea also flooded these lowlands creating a sea filled with islands, swamps, wetlands, and treacherous shallows.
The Hartland: A forest twisted and mutated by the Godfall, the few remaining enclaves of nature in this place are maintained by the White Hart, an exarch of the fallen god of nature.
The Ruins of Tarkonis: *under construction*

-Cosmology
-The default D&D cosmology applies with minor localization changes.
-The Material Plane: The material realms have been devastated by the Godfall War, and five millennia of chaos have not helped things recover. The death of Nagthar, the Shining Lord has left the Daystar wild and uncontrolled, it’s flame blazing wildly in sunstorms or weakening to a shadowy flicker.
-The Astral Sea Due to the death of the gods, the divine planes of the Astral Sea lie derelict and untended. What creatures might hide in these drifting realms of the Astral Sea? Remnants of the old Celestial Host? Parvenu devils seeking to usurp the mantle of the Gods? Or perhaps something more sinister.
-The Far Realm: The Far Realm is a real place whose influence begins to extend into the material world in places like the Hartland and the Daemonscar. Eldritch horrors and madness seek to engulf the carefully cultivated balance of creation with disturbing degrees of success.

-Organizations
Modern-day factions:
Redeemers: Loyalists of the old gods who see the godstones as a means to reawaken their divine masters.
Liberators: Mortal supremacists and rebels who freed the mortal races from the Divine Imperium. Divided on the issue of the godstones, some see them as tools to be harnessed in the new Age of Mortals, others see them as hated vestiges of the old gods.
Reconcilers: Mortals, immortals, and fey who have abandoned the conflicts between Liberators and Redeemers to focus instead on preventing the rapid spiral of decay and chaos in Creation.
Nagthari: A Redeemer faction dedicated to Nagthar, the Shining Lord, these servants of the Daystar feed their godstone, the Heart of Fire, with mortal heartsblood in an effort to keep the sun alive.
The Grey Wolves: (Wolves of Maldeen article converted into BT) Wandering Liberators who seek to fight oppression and tyranny in any form.
The Wyrm's Vengeance: A Redeemer faction dedicated to punishing the dragonborn who do not repent for their act of deicide.
The Tarkonis Remnant:
The Ravens and House Darkhope
House Lasirlan
The Angelslayers

Read up and crit in the parallel In Discussion thread.

Stickied. This is a priority article.

I had the "Dried Astral Sea" theory, that I've posted repeatedly on these boards. At it's core, it explains why angels are in the mortal Coil, what the godstones are made of (though we won't explain that yet), and why the Far Realm seems closer. I suggest we include that.

QSG is realtively low on the update priority atm, but we do need new material for:

The Dwarves
The Halflings

Updated Approved Thread

Bonethrall Quickstart Players Guide
Alpha 2
(Updated intro, races, godstones. Geography and organizations still WIP)

-Introduction
Welcome to the world of Bonethrall, a desolate wasteland struggling to rise from the aftermath of a cataclysmic war. For aeons, the gods, assisted by their angelic hosts, had kept their mortal herds as chattel, feeding off the power of mortal faith. But tyranny plants the seeds of its own downfall. Half a millennium ago, a rebel host of angels and mortals rose up against the tyranny of the Divine Imperium. The war pitted Loyalist angels against their Liberator brethren, and split the unnumbered mortal herds between the Faithful and the Free, and though thousands of Free mortals and whole flights of Liberator angels fell to the radiant fires of the gods, the Godfall war ended with the death of every single god on the face of Creation.

We mortals killed the gods, and the world has never been the same since. Without the guiding hand of the sun god, the Daystar flickers like a corpse-candle in the wind, before flaring up in storms of solar fire, and lancing the earth with flame. Wild magic courses through the battlefields of half a millennium ago, while great swathes of land have been burned to bare rock. The last survivors of the Free and the Faithful huddle around the ruins of the Age of Gods, barely scraping a living while a desperate few try to resurrect the light of civilization.

Central to the power of these successor nations and city states are the Godstones, mighty artifacts that some claim are the bones of the dead gods themselves. Tiny shards of a lesser Godstone may be used as magical implements, while the great Master Godstones may channel divine powers not seen since the Age of Gods. Nations are born and die by the power of the Godstones, and armies clash over the mere rumor of a newly discovered master stone. Some even believe that the Godstones may be used to ascend to immortality, or perhaps even to the divine thrones left vacant for five hundred years.

In the darkness, Faithful cults known as Redeemers seek to use the Godstones to bring back their divine masters and the golden age of the Divine Imperium. Freefolk zealots seek to eradicate every last vestige of the divine. The last surviving Liberator angels weep at the corruption of their dream, while Loyalist exarchs plot vengeance against the mortals that dared to turn against the divine. Fallen angels known as devils barter in the currency of souls, craving the power that the dead gods have left vacant. From the starless dark, the Voidspawn seek to return Creation to the primordial chaos from which it was formed. Caught in the middle of these struggles are the last surviving mortals. Will they restore the age of the gods, lead the last mortals into a new age of freedom, or find a way to reconcile the extremes?

The world is dying. It's been dying for five hundred years. Can your heroes save it?

-Core Concepts: (ala DMG The D&D World)
The world of Creation, the setting of Bonethrall, shares many of the same core concepts of the default D&D campaign setting, save for The Civilized Races Band Together, and Gods are Distant. In addition, these concepts can help shape your game and give it the feel of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world:

1. An Age of Mortals: The Godfall War destroyed the gods and most powerful immortals and epic creatures like the great wyrms. There are still survivors of the Godfall War lurking in Creation, but the struggles of mortals take center stage.
2. Ancient Mysteries: While the Godfall destroyed the majority of immortals, those that survived are creatures of wonder and mystery. While it's less common to encounter an angel or other such creature, those that you do encounter are far more likely to have some sort of unique power and flavor to them.
3. A Struggle for Godstones: Godstones are the center of power struggles between mortals and immortals, madmen and messiahs. Nobody knows how or why they can mimic the ancient powers of the gods, but all crave their powers.
4. A World Falling Apart: The Song of Destruction ended the Godfall War, but its aftermath still tears through the world. Nature goes wild, the sun alternately rages and flickers, and strange misshapen beasts wander the land. Great rifts tear through the fabric of reality while the cosmos starts to fray at the edges.

The Core Races in Creation
Elves and Eladrin: These mortals were once servants of the god of nature, who took a neutral stance during the Godfall. Fearing that the nature god would side with their enemies, both Liberators and Loyalists fought over the nature god’s realm. In the ensuing battle, the nature god was destroyed. Orphaned by the Godfall War, the elves and eladrin blame both sides equally, and many have developed a xenophobic hatred of other races.
Baalim (Tieflings): The Baalim were born from humans who swore an ancient pact with the Iron-Handed God, the deity of dominion and tyranny. The Baalim were twisted and shaped, and given lordship over their mortal brethren. Many Baalim rose to prominence as the mortal servants of the gods during the Divine Imperium. As a result, even after the death of the old gods, many Baalim still have tendencies toward the Redeemer cause.
Mandrakori (Dragonborn): Taught loyalty and justice by their god, the Emperor Wyrm, the Mandrakori were torn by the just cause of the Liberators and loyalty to their god. In the end, the leaders of the Mandrakori clans chose justice over loyalty, turning on the Emperor Wyrm and slaying him. This act of deicide has haunted them for centuries, and their elder kin, the dragons, hold a deep and abiding hatred for their treacherous brethren.
Humans: The human race was created by the commingled effort of the gods. Given over to the care of Destiny, spinner of fates and prophecies, it was an act of human defiance that gave hope to the Liberators when Uriah, consort of Destiny, slew the goddess with the first Godslayer weapon. The threads of fate were undone, allowing mortal humans to seize their own future.
Dwarves
Halflings

-The Godstones
(Taken from “Godstones: An Alternative Hypothesis”, by Albertus of Jorat)
The Master godstones and the godstone Shards are among the most important and least understood aspects of the Age of Mortals. The name “Godstone” is itself a misnomer, as these channels of divine energy can come in many forms, though the first and most famous were in the form of crystal and rock, such as the enormous, crimson-hued Heart of Fire, or the Healer’s Fist and its azure glow. More esoteric forms of Godstones include the rumored World-Ash tree that is said to grow in the midst of the tainted Hartland, or the fabled Moonblade.

The greatest of these artifacts, the Master stones, are fonts of divine energy. A properly trained individual in proximity to a Master godstone and can attune herself to the stone’s power, which they can then utilize according to their training (as a cleric or paladin, for example).

This channelling can only be done within close proximity. However, if an individual with divine training possess one of the so-called lesser Shard stones, the Shard can be attuned to the Master stone and allows the weilder to channel a Master stone’s power at a great distance.

In game terms, attuning to a particular Master stone is like choosing a character’s deity, providing access to particular Channel Divinity feats. Divine Implements incorporate these lesser Shards in their construction, such as a crystal affixed to a sword’s pommel, or a fragment of resonant metal at the end of a holy staff.

Feel free to edit the approved entry for ease.