↳ This particular card is inspired by an important NPC in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign! Tyr is an agressive Tabaxi general who leads the soldiers of the Raze Empire in the Kingdom of Abjur. Known as the Fyrewatch, their speciality is burning- whether it be enemies, monsters, unruly magical forests, or deserters. As a new designer, I struggled with balancing this card- should he make tokens upon ETB? Or have haste? I think having a decent body to go along with a recruitment effect makes our pal Tyr an efficient protector of his men and a force in his own right!
↳ What omnipresent and omnipowerful empire gets anywhere without a few secrets? The Kingdom of Abjur, center of the Raze's territory, has more than it's fair share. Ruling from the Ignited Citadel and guarded by the highly selective Fyre Watch, Fyrelord and Fyrelady Rajaan are praised and hated in equal measure. When it comes to expansion (of the Fyreguard, of the realm's boundaries, of the Citadel's treasury), there is no price the Raze will not pay. Or rather, no price it's denizens will not bear.
daily mtg edit ➵ 25. blighthelm, vault of the arctic
↳ Blighthelm... a fitting name for the crowded, desperate society beneath the scourged, freezing arctic wastes of the Frostlands. Most of the population lives at least partially below ground, even if it’s only during the chilly nights. The echoing Underfrost caverns serve as protection from the Wyld ice storms and plummeting temperatures, in addition to being a source of marvelous and magical treasures. Dwarven crystal miners, elven relicseekers, dragonborn ice farmers, and even criminals and refugees can all find a home in Blighthelm. (As long as they can afford to pay the oils fees to keep their fires burning.)
Senelji [ SEHN-IHL-JEE ] is a homebrew Dungeons and Dragons medieval-fantasy world and an overarching location for a series of future connected campaigns and one-shots, based on a simple, burning question: How do sentient species respond to the knowledge that their realm is finite, and becoming more finite with each passing year? I’m interested in examining and exploring beyond traditional fantasy tropes, and engaging with the social, cultural, and political institutions and traditions that would arise over centuries spent watching the land shrink before your eyes. Have no fear - the world is vast, and select few ordinary folk concern themselves with distant, unknowable, and greedy borders. But across salty marshes and mist-drowned jungles, coastal cliffs and arid mesas, verdant steppes and arctic wastelands, a few rare individuals are watching: with trepidation, fear, and excitement.
As I move forward with planning and worldbuilding, I’ll continue to share more about the strange and diverse lands that make up this world. I’ve based a lot of my ideas on ancient civilizations, apocalyptic literature, and the idea that fantasy worlds should be as diverse, or more so, than our own. For now, here’s a little more about the fundamentals of Senelji: what governs it and what makes this world tick.
↣ Nature is alien.
Forests grow, self-seeding and expanding with alarming speed. Sandstorms batter like living fists at tumbling walls. Oceans turn treacherous, deeper and darker and constantly swept with storms. At the edges of the jungle, mists grow so thick and the air so saturated that even ocean-dwellers would lack breath and movement. In the arctic, despite entire civilizations building deeper and deeper in crystal caverns below the earth, nights wax cold enough to freeze raindrops from clouds. As years pass, the borders between inhabited land and the dangerous unknown creep forward. All of these forces act with a cold, deliberate intent, a vengefulness and ambition so intelligent it seems almost… alive.
↣ Monsters stalk the wild.
For centuries, creatures and beasts have emerged from wood and water and air as if shaped by a pair of experimental hands. Some call them god-sent, some call them predators, some a premonition or just another species. But most call them the Wyldwalkers, for the spaces they haunt and the aura they bring. Livestock sicken and crops wilt. Plague spreads, children vanish, and the shadows of flora and fauna gain a darker, threatening edge. These monsters turn the wild into the Wyld like flies spreading disease. And in response to growing numbers and constant threats, as they must, heroes, armies, and empires arise to protect the weak.
↣ Mortals, as always, have bigger concerns.
This world, with such pressing dangers, also beats like a cancerous heart with great and terrible forces: temperamental gods, awesome magics, tyrannical and innovative political powers in equal measure. In response? Most of humanity shrugs and goes back to their lives. Oh, sure, great minds in the world devote energy and resources to keeping back the Unfamiliar (land beyond the borders) and the Wyld. But what makes Senelji not a world, but a living land, is the familiar. Academics study at great universities. Students fall asleep on books. Knights train and duel and live and die by their swords. Historians research lost civilizations, and then go home and raise their kids. The impoverished dream of being nobility, and the noble dream of being gods. Roving minstrels train quips with traveling salesmen and exhausted priests in the local brewery as their pockets are picked by a clever thief. Once or twice a dragon crosses the sky. This is, after all, D&D.
Thanks for reading. I’m one of the founders of Midrangers, you can call me Icarian or Ikaros, and if you have any questions or ideas, send them our way!
