Setting Description

 Sanctum – OOC Overview 

The Sanctum setting represents several elements taken from standard D&D lore and multiple real-world mythologies. As such, it represents a complete thematic overhaul to the D&D cosmology but retains several familiar tropes. Where applicable, all settings documents will indicate where standard D&D mechanics and/or narrative elements prevail. Anywhere this is not indicated, the content is original and not subject to D&D rules. This allows the D&D system to be an organizing framework without being a prison.

 Setting – General/OOC 

Sanctum is literally the only world left in existence. The myriad planes, civilizations, and worlds of the previous multiverse were utterly destroyed in a protracted war called alternatively The Reaping, Ragnarok, or simply “The End” approximately 5000 years ago.

Sanctum was created as a refuge early in the war, eventually becoming the only safe harbor left for both mortals and gods as the conflict continued. Divinities brought entire civilizations with them to the sanctuary world, merging into a collective pantheon of divine survivors and their mortal followers.

The war was won, and life, both mortal and divine, persist in this one small oasis in a now-empty cosmic expanse. Characters in the setting will emerge into a world that has rebuilt and endured but must now determine its larger fate. There is no threat that the world will end—your heroes or villains are not here to save it. That battle is over. The challenge they now face is how that world will continue to evolve, both socially and physically. Much of the world outside of the handful of cities and settlements is unexplored, and Sanctum is approximately twice the size of Earth.

Your characters have all chosen a life larger than the boundaries they have known. Whatever their reason, they have chosen to leave the safety and familiarity of their home realm and train to become something more than just a survivor. You will each start following the completion of the training for your class undertaken at the Port Kraken Athenaeum—a settlement designed expressly for sharing knowledge, resources, and fellowship in a vast world of many cultures.

 Setting – Realms and Backgrounds 

The known civilizations of Sanctum are divided into seven Realms—roughly analogous to city-states. Each has a capital city with a network of smaller settlements that provide to and receive resources from the capital. Although by definition not a civilization, the wild places of the world represent a seventh Realm for the purposes of background and origin for your characters. As part of creation, you will select one of these seven Realms as your character’s homeland. This will give you a minor skill bonus as well as a framework for your cultural background and views on other civilizations. These will be explored in detail in a separate section.

 Setting – Divinity and Faith - Overview 

The gods of Sanctum represent a single pantheon worshiped universally. Unless an individual is a member of the clergy, they pay homage to each of the gods in equal measure according to those forces each holds dominion over. Priests (the term “cleric” is not used in-setting) and Paladins, as well as certain types of Rangers and Druids choose to dedicate themselves to a specific deity or subset of deities but continue to acknowledge the plurality of powers in the world.

The gods of Sanctum do not function as the gods of the D&D universe. Their power is not derived from their followers. They represent the custodians of once-universal forces and ideas and remain empowered unless their divinity is extinguished through extraordinary circumstances (such as The Reaping). They should be considered constants in the setting, though the deaths of previous gods will be referenced extensively and still echo through the world. All divine spells come from the Pantheon, including Druidic powers.

Sanctum has another class of divinity with only two members – Titans. Gaia has incarnated as the world of Sanctum itself, remaining in an eternal slumber. Nyx, the Titaness of Night, acts as keeper of the balance between the gods. This will be explored further in other settings documents. Neither Gaia nor Nyx have followers, empower priests, grant spells, or even acknowledge mortals in most circumstances. The broader population knows of their existence and role in the world and respects this boundary (there are no splinter priesthoods of either, etc.)

 Setting – Divinity and Faith – The Nature of Magic and the Divine 

With very narrow exceptions covered later, all life and matter remaining in the universe is fueled by divine energy. Divinity is in an innate property of everything in existence, and as such, the gods can manipulate anything in existence. This does not mean that there is no distinction between Divine and Arcane magic, only a difference in focus. Priests would say that Arcane spellcasters are manipulating the fundamental forces that the gods oversee without the reverence to thank them for it. Arcane spellcasters would argue that the nature of magic is so vast and complex, to view it only through the narrow lens of one interpretation or deity necessarily limits one’s understanding.

Divine spellcasters are empowered solely by their patron deity. Should that deity remove their favor, a divine spellcaster retains no knowledge or ability of how to cast any spell or manipulate divine energies. Arcane spellcasters are not directly limited in the same ways but may still have their power influenced by the gods should they apply it in an extraordinary fashion (either positively or negatively). For instance, a wizard who firebombs a temple of Astraea will likely not escape some form of retribution—their nature as an Arcane spellcaster does not grant them immunity to divine will.

Two gods take special interest in Arcane magic and its practitioners. Hekate is considered the Goddess of Magic in all its forms and Thoth is considered a patron of Wizards. Warlocks choose alternate paths to understanding magical application through pacts with primal forces usually beyond mortal comprehension.

The exceptions to the supremacy of divine power were essential to the victory over The Reaping, but are now deliberately non-existent, and knowledge of what they were has purposely been purged from mortal understanding. Discovering what these were and if they can be re-created is a potential plot arc for your characters.