Children of Cain

I was listening to an adaptation of Beowulf on cd and giggled when the mythical monsters of the world were attributed to the progeny of Cain. I guess that if you are going to paint our world in black and white, this is not an unreasonable way to look for the divide. While Judeo-Christian mythology can have a place in our alternate world, we have to separate each culture's perspective from the cold genetic history of each mythical creature's origin.

As I mentioned previously, defining the origin and rise of the intelligent races is key to designing the world. Dominate cultures tend to erase weaker cultures in the course of time, and the addition of numerous intelligent races to compete for resources raises the ante.

In fact, it completely puts the history of human cultures in our past on it's ear. Consider how many intelligent races are represented in classical D&D:

human
elf
dragon (several varieties)
gnome
halfling
orc
goblin
bugbear
giants (several varieties)
brownies
dopplegangers
dryads
ettins
gargoyles
gnoll
lizardfolk
hobgoblin
kobolds
jackals
were-creatures (several varieties)
lycanthropes (several varieties)
mermen
mindflayers
ogres
pixies, nixies and nymphs
sahuagin
satyrs
cyclops
trolls
tritons
troglodytes
titans
sprites and sylphs
Not to mention the ones in Monster Manual 2 or Fiend Folio...

Well, you get the point. Most of these races have a home territory and are integral to the ecology of the region. They each compete with the other races (and among themselves) for resources and influence. These are not recent additions to our alternate earth, but have been developing over the eons. The resources and areas that they inhabit are not open to expansion by humans or other races without conflict. This many intelligent races means wars are a common aspect of history. It also means that many human cultures that developed on our earth never happened on our alternate earth.

In fact, much of the migrations of humans might never have happened. It will be critical to the success of our game to understand this concept and design a world largely unknown to humans. I'm inclined to give each ancient culture its due, but must consider limiting expansions of cultures. Survival pressures are higher and technological advancement aided by magic is in play.

My original concept was to have a world developed to about 800 AD with regard to cultures and technology, but I now view that only as the absolute limit going forward. It seems reasonable to go back to 10,000 BC, place the mythical races and wildlands (where all the monsters live) and develop forward. By sketching each culture's pre-history from this point, the history will be realistic. Of course, we may decide, reasonably so, that some races peaked in power and influence before this point. The Tolkien formula is to have most of the non-human races in decline, with forgotten histories shrouded in history. I prefer to have most races still actively fighting for survival. All the races can have great(and not so great) fallen civilizations in their past, but I do not want paint the elves or any other race as descended from a more powerful races and having extra long life-spans and such. While human mythology in our world commonly makes humans to be descended from god-chosen prototypes that lived longer lives and did not have to struggle just to survive (and Tolkien's Silmarillion echoes this), I'm not inclined to follow this old pattern.

Instead, the races developed over the eons. Some may have discovered agriculture, language or magic first, and this will determine dominance. Strength alone may dictate that Hobgoblins dominate Kobolds, but magic can be the great equalizer. Certainly, some races will dominate and enslave others. So, races will have high and low points depending on their circumstance, and they may all feel like their gods chose them to rule, but that is not how I want to go about designing it.