About Vakasiya

History & Literature
The world is ancient, but recorded history is extremely recent. First, because this setting leans more toward the beginning of the middle ages, so books are still quite valuable. Mavarin's capital city of Throne was best known to many for its immense archives of historic literature. The wealthy have private hoards as well, but generally speaking the eons of knowledge have been lost.

A big reason for this is the same reason we have little to no records of many ancient civilizations, whether classified as "pre-historic" or not. War destroyed culture. Books are still hand-copied by scribes on paper of their own (or close adjacent) making. Being literate, in most places in Vakasiya, is the exception, not the norm.

Family Life
As you know, most people gain their "family name" by location, profession, achievement, etc. A woodworker brave enough to work anywhere near the Neversung might end up being known as "Elfwood," and a line of candle-makers might be the "Chandler" or "Fatwick" family.

Family life borrows heavily from real world reference. Farmers and craftsmen and others, generally working in independent enterprise. "Corporate" interest -- mostly by way of guilds -- is largely restricted to urban centers, and most prevalent in Vezuna.

Human-Kind, as well as most other races, is neither patriarchal nor matriarchal. People's views are very individual, without much in the way of overriding cultural influence toward being superior or inferior on the basis of gender. A mother is just as likely to be the breadwinner as the father, and the idea of "male" or "female" profession doesn't really exist. If you can do it, you can do it.

Social Issues
Every culture in Vakasiya has its individual social stigma and pitfalls, but misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc. are not part of that picture. Many authors lean into our own history of bigotry in the name of "authenticity," but to my mind there is absolutely no reason a fantasy world has to have identical struggles as the real one.

This has both internal and external motivation:

First, I am completely uninterested in marginalizing people who play in my world the same way they are already marginalized in real life. We cover a lot of tough issues. We're not starved for drama. We have had, and will continue to have, members of the LGBTQ+ population in both our cast and community. I want those people to feel welcome. We're not going to exploit their (and our) stories for a bit of emotional porn.

Second, Vakasiyan cultures are distinct from the real world in many ways. When you have eldritch entities or velociraptor-like griffons to contend with, each person's personal happiness in love is something that is lauded, rather than demeaned. We also don't have the pervasive religious motivation toward these beliefs, because we don't have the religions that helped to normalize them.

In the same vein, traditional racism (and colorism) are largely non-issues. Geographical origins have influenced pigmentation -- for the typical geological reasons -- but the color of someone's skin is extremely unlikely to affect someone's social position or prospects. Racial tension exists -- people are largely afraid of the mountainous orcs on the other side of the mountains, for instance -- but melanin is not the problem.

Many places in Vakasiya -- Oth-Amon in particular -- do have some major issues with !classism. How the poor or infirm are treated varies wildly from place to place, but the richer the society, is the wider the divisions between its people become. This is largely unavoidable in any world where currency exists, because greed exists.

All that is to say that I strive to eliminate senseless versions of real-world oppression where the seeds of those things have been artificially introduced in our world -- but I still want to be true to a concept of human nature, with all its inherent flaws.

Economy
A copper/silver/gold-based economy was functional in Mavarin, though the material world of something was roughly divided by 10. That is to say, each coin was roughly 10x as valuable as in the rulebooks. This was primarily a flavor decision, meant to make copper and silver a more viable currency, and eliminate the Scrooge McDuck level of gold that parties eventually had to carry around.

In the time since the Walk of the Child, currency has largely collapsed. Bartering is much more common. However, Oth-Amoni Marks have entered circulation. These are coins of iron, with their value being an average of the amount of food that one person could survive on for one day. The currency is "guaranteed" by granaries owned by the Merchant-Princes. But the further you go from Vezuna, the less you are likely to find people willing to take a piece of metal that represents the promise of a meal in a place they may never even see.

Faith
There are many entities and traditions of worship in Vakasiya. An organization surrounding the worship is referred to as a "Cult." The "Cult of Adwar," the "Cult of Yezwa," etc. In Vakasiya, "Church" is a word invented by the Rahkzanites to separate themselves, since they see themselves as above the world's other religions. "Cult" does not have the same negative connotations it does in our world. It is the default terminology for a collective faith.

Mazelight
The sun's light now shines in a sallow ring of gold, surrounding a void. For reference, its appearance is that of a solar eclipse. The rays of light that shine down are no longer straight, but instead rack the land at jagged right angles.

Every day is dimmed, though not dark. Crops grow weak and slender, if the night's chill does not kill them outright. The day's muted heat turns bitter beneath the stars, turning even summer cold for a few hours of every cycle.

And while staring into the sun has always rendered men blind, gazing toward the Mazelight is worse. Blindness, yes -- but madness besides. Someone who challenges the glare of the Mazelight is often struck with an obsession to reach it. People climb to their roofs and leap, most falling to their death. Alas, even this is not the worst. Some do not fall. Some...rise

On any given day, you can see the specks of figures floating up and up. Sometimes, on the wind, you can even hear their delirious rapture. Do they reach the god, and so commune? Are they incinerated in their approach? None can know.

The Veil
We've defined the Veil to some extent in our discussion of the gods, but -- as the name of the campaign implies -- there is more to be said. While this explanation will no doubt leave more room for questions, what follows is an attempt to explain it as concisely as possible.

The Veil is Vakasiya's god of death, though that in itself is a drastic oversimplification. The Veil is the living boundary between life and death, stretched across the World Between, also called The Hallows.

All souls dwell within the Hallows, but are bound to mortal flesh whose eyes cannot perceive it. When the Spark is separated from the Mind through the death of its mortal shell, it wanders the Hallows in search of the Veil.

The Veil is nowhere and everywhere. It is a curtain of infinite height and width, rippling against an unseen wind. Sparks (souls) wander the Hallows until they encounter the Veil, and then pass through.

No one knows what lies beyond. No devotee, no prophet. It is believed that even the gods know not what lies on the other side, and that they too will someday be forced to meet it. The Veil is inevitable.

Vigils, Servants of the Veil
In our world, many serve the passage from life to death. All manner of holy men, coroners and undertakers and funerary workers. Vakasiya has the Vigil.

A Vigil is all of these things, and more. They are itinerant monks (the profession, not the D&D class) who have sworn vows of poverty, relinquishing the trappings of life to place themselves between the here and the hereafter.

Vigils sit with the dying, counsel the grieving, and perform last rites. They are sustained only by the charity of the communities they serve, but they lack for nothing. No one would dare disrespect the memory of the fallen by depriving one of their servants of food and rest.

Vigils are easily known by their black, deeply-hooded robes, which include an opaque veil so that they appear to be nothing more than a shadow. The best reference I have -- and quite imperfect -- is the ringwraiths as depicted in the Lord of the Rings movie adaptation, minus their weapons, armor, and replacing malevolence with quiet sobriety.