The Verdant Hollow
Campaign Setting

The Defeat of the Dark Lord

Fifty years ago, the Dark Lord's armies marched against the gates of Haven, the last of the Free Cities upon the banks of the Pirate Bay, as a final triumph against an afterthought of civilization. Its beleaguered mercenary defenders were joined by the outcast remnants of the Dark Lord's subjugated lands who rallied around the City of Guilds with no expectation of success but only spite for the darkness which had swept away their homes. For fourteen days, the Dark Lord sent shambling waves of undead to batter the tattered city walls, and without rest, the desperate defenders held the waves at bay. The sound of the violence echoed through the sky and the empty, barren fields and into the very roots of the earth itself. And when all looked darkest, and the walls cracked and fell, and the Dark Lord took to the field himself, in all his dark glory, with mighty footsteps that shook the very foundations of the earth, attended by the greatest of his generals, dark powers, and risen magic, to finish the conquest of the world he started many years ago...

He failed. His advances were repulsed, his armies burned and torn, his very life snuffed out upon that bloody field. But not by the war-weary mercenaries, nor the despairing refugees, nor any angel, prophet, king, or sunrise, nor any ally known in all the world. No, the salvation of the last haven of the free world came from a direction entirely unexpected, with an earthquake to herald its arrival.

In a single moment, the battlefield was split asunder, a great pyroclasmic Rupture appearing from below the rubble of the broken gates. Fire and volcanic gasses melted through the attackers, followed by an even greater explosion: the greatest battle-cry of a millennium. Pouring forth from the newly-hewn chimney pored an army: an army of earth, wind, air, and fire; an army of passion and grace, of duty, of savage fury, and unquenchable rage; an army of legend and myth. From this cavernous maw beside the broken gates of Haven poured forth a horde of creatures long thought gone from the world or never known to inhabit it by those who lived upon its skin...

Led by a horde of dragons, breathing ice and lightning and fire, and a legion of djinn, floating upon the breeze or riding the swells of lava, came the allied forces from below: prismatic regiments of eladrin knights leaping into the skies upon the backs of shimmering pegasi, howling hoards of vicious shapeshifters, and the gathered tribes of many strange and hitherto-unknown races with faces and forms like beasts or men leading a charge of well-trained dinosaurs.

This army of myth was joined by the reinvigorated defenders of Haven, who rallied together and crushed the Dark Lord's armies between the mountains and the rocky shores. And with this, the terror of the Dark Lord finally broken, the only thing left plaguing the survivors was a question: who are these, our saviors, and from where did they come?

The Verdant Earth Beneath Us

The answer to this question was the greatest wonder of all, for our heroes were not conjured from some distant demiplane by a mad magician, nor called down from the Heavens or up from the Hells, but were simply our humble neighbors all along, just below our feet. Less than a mile below the surface of the world, lies the Verdant Hollow, a vast and cavernous wilderness of vibrant life and unstable magic.

The Explorer's Guild, which had disappeared from Haven into the cracks below the city years before the Dark Lord had turned his eyes upon it, with little word of warning, and who had been much maligned for this decision at the time, had actually done it! They'd followed the rumors, and delved into the deep to find the hope living in the world below. Working for years without contact with the surface, they found legends, artifacts, and allies and rallied them to venture to the surface world in just the nick of time.

You are the inheritor of the legacy of this proud endeavor, a member of the guild which foremost strives to explore the unknown and retake that which was lost. Will you work on the surface to push back the forces of darkness which still envelop the world? Or will you delve into the strange and vibrant world upon the other side and experience a new life in the splendors of the Verdant Hollow?

Whatever you choose, the Explorer's Guild welcomes you into a world that has rediscovered its light. But choose soon, and work quickly, for the darkness that was thought vanquished cannot so easily be dispelled. Even now, it grows on the horizon. Perhaps one such as the Dark Lord is not so easily slain.

Part 1: The World Above, A World at War

The world above is characterized by conflict. The survivors of the Dark Lord's conquests struggle to retake their lands from the fallen enemies who hold them tightly, awaiting a great reward upon their Dark Lord's prophesied return. Expeditions leading out into the wastelands rarely return unscathed, should they return at all. Yet even so, the frontier presses ever onward with the valorous efforts of the reclaimers. The City of Guilds has laid claim to the Rupture and controls the travel into the verdant hollow. It leads the shifting alliance of surface factions seeking to restore the world and turns away any disordered forces of darkness that attempt to creep into the lands below.

The Reclaimers: The Kingdom of Brightfall

Even in the wake of the great victory, the vast project of reclaiming and purifying the fertile lands to the north of Haven required nothing short of a miracle, or perhaps, an angelic intervention. Though present during the siege of the Haven, renewed faith in the Divines has also bolstered the power and presence of their emissaries. Valkyries flock to the defense of the newly established, so-called "Kingdom" of Brightfall and many of the newly-branded nobles have been blessed with their divine power, becoming Aasimar. Ruled by a celestial warrior priestess, the Kingdom can now boast a territory encompassing nearly all of the expansive plains between the Pirate Bay and the High Mountains. But simply retaking the land is just the beginning. Defending it, and its new capital, Gleimendûn, may take much more. All are welcome in Brightfall, as long as they abide by the laws of the Divines, including those who find only rejection elsewhere, such as goblins or the dhampir.

The Remnants: The Shadowfall Alliance

The Dark Lord's conquest of the three elven homelands left them in ruins--one a sunscarred desert, one a misty dreamland, and one a plague-ridden swamp infested with horrors. Retaking them seems to most a feat not only impossible to achieve, but something not worth attempting at all. Yet in recent months unlikely allies have taken up the cause. Dusk elves (also known as drow) keen on retaking their lands and saving their transformed banshee, hag, and drider kin have united with the lizardfolk clans from below the surface, offering them a homeland of their own should they be able to defend it. Halflings, plagued by strange dreams and drawn towards the mists, have begun calling themselves the ghostwise, and join the journey into the shadowlands in droves. Finally, those dhampir who seek vengeance against their former vampiric masters or who find solace for their conscience in slaying monsters upon the frontier, act as scouts and generals for the gathering forces of the misfit alliance.

The Refugees: The Flotillas of the Pirate Bay

As the darkness swept across the land, many found safety upon the wild seas. Pirates were already common before the chaos of the fall, but with many new vessels swarming the waterways, they became ubiquitous features of daily life. Soon shipwrecks and foodstuffs became as valuable commodities as silver or gold for those living shipside and groups of pirates joined together to form vast flotilla barges for sharing food and finding safety from other, more experienced pirates. Soon, even these joined the flotillas, and ascended as pirate lords, declaring themselves the true rulers of the Pirate Bay. Today, some of the flotilla communities have come to ground, joining the alliance and even venturing into the verdant hollow to lend experience upon its strange skyseas. Others remain within the Pirate Bay, pillaging coastlines and laying claim to plunder stolen from the Dark Lord's armies. As anyone can claim the title of Pirate Lord, many races can be counted among the number of contenders, including lightfoot halflings, tritons, islander goliaths, air and water genasi, and even undersiders such as the eccentric kenku, and wild abyssal tieflings.

The Renewers: The Summer Court of Oerwoud

Where many choose to fight the forces of death with the tools of death, there are those who instead choose to transform the barren world using the primeval powers of life. Inspired by the strange sights of the verdant hollow and latent power therein, and emboldened by early success in seeding such bounty upon the surface, a commonwealth has arisen upon western banks of the Pirate Bay and the Oerwoud Archipelago. Though originally an effort primarily sponsored by refugee moon (or wood) elves, forest gnomes, and firbolgs, the commonwealth has also attracted a great number of tabaxi to the surface, who find the spreading jungles to be just like home. The sudden surge in primal power has also attracted a great number of fey creatures to the region and a contingent of eladrin nobility has now stationed itself upon the largest island with the purpose of studying and dealing with the strange and unknown creatures.

The Rebuilders: The Republic of Grund

Though their traditions may strike outsiders as odd, the ettins, giants, goliaths, hobgoblins, bugbears, orcs, and firbolgs of the Republic of Grund are making grand strides to unite the clans of the Rubblelands into a nation focused on building new opportunity for anyone willing to work for it. Reclaiming the ruin-strewn former kingdoms in the wild regions to the north and east of Brightfall, the Republic holds a grand frontier festival every ten years to elect a new High Chieftain and then builds a new capital from the broken stonework right there on the footsteps of the polls. In recent years the eclectic bunch has received a great number of mousefolk who, despite their size, prefer the egalitarian nature of the wilderness and the warmth of the sun to the confusing social mores of the city and the churning tensions of the eternal day in the world below. The frontier is rife with threats, but as the Grundar say "No need to fear the darkness. We're the danger."

The Conquerors: The Draconic Sky Warlords

Many dragons heeded the call to venture to the surface and aid the alliance in destroying the forces of the Dark Lord. But unlike most, who returned to their homes when it was over, many dragons, upon seeing the wonders of the skies above, betrayed their guildpact to gather unto themselves the vast riches this new world had to offer. Now they sit upon thrones of golden bounty just like their ancient kin of old. Those who serve the dragons of the sky risk much in service to these fickle and pernicious masters, but are often richly rewarded for their efforts. Though remaining independent, the forces of the draconic warlords brook no allegiance with the Dark Lord and can be counted upon as allies should the pot be sweet enough to earn their aid.

The Fallen: The Dark Lord's Own

Though the bulk of the Dark Lord's forces at Haven were routed, much of his Empire remains intact. The ancestral homelands of the hobgoblins, dwarves, elves, orcs, halflings, and many others are all but overrun, their peoples decimated, and most are far beyond the reach of the newly formed alliance to liberate. The Dark Lord's many holds are guarded by his surviving generals and the remnants of his ever-loyal, ever-vigilant army of undead, as well as those unfortunate souls under his magical thrall, and those desperate enough to who have willingly sworn loyalty to his cause. In the distance they gather, sometimes subtly, sometimes with great bluster, fighting among themselves for prestige or position. Sometimes the losers of these battles, or their freed thralls, seek to defect, arriving at the gates of Haven with little but desperation and unspeakable memories of the time spent among the darkness and the dead. Some are found out as spies and executed, but those whose stories can be believed reveal that there is no shortage of enemies to face, no lack of fresh horrors to be witnessed in the dark, and no more time to waste.

Part 2: The World Below, A Ceaseless Roil

The world below is characterized by chaos. The home to unbound elemental energies far more powerful than any upon the surface of the world, and seemingly vast beyond measure, the verdant hollow is home to the most unique and magical biomes imaginable. Great creatures filled with primordial power ceaselessly vie for dominance and territory, transforming the lands around them as they migrate. Mortal races, imbued with mighty magics, build great civilizations amid the churning roils and tame the untameable inhabitants by becoming just as wild and defiant in spirit. Empires rise and fall upon the whims of fate and the relics of a dozen ages litter the corpses of hundreds of forgotten fallen empires. At its center, the Maelstrom, an elemental vortex of unrivaled power churns like a thousand erupting underwater volcanoes to provide a wavering source of heat and light to the inhabitants, but unlike the distant and predictable Sun and Moon of the surface world, the Maelstrom never sets and never relents in its fury. In this eternal flickering day, the inhabitants of the verdant hollow live rich and passionate lives knowing that each day has something new in store for them.

Fractured Lands, Fractured People: The Shattered Isles

The Skyseas combine the joy of endless flight with the existential terror of the deep ocean. Waterfalls tumble into empty air and the endless rain pools in rocky bowls only to be spilled out again or turned to steam when they collide. Swept along currents of thick cloud, the Shattered Isles are an expression of raw elemental magic and are populated by those who do not fear the constant change it brings. Dragons, aarakocra, and other flying races rule the skyseas, lashing together islands to form vast and complex mountain-palaces protected from the roil which surrounds them. Where the aarakocra tend to keep to themselves, the dragons of the skylands engage in constant bickering and warfare, often by proxy via their dragonborn and kobolds servants. In the Isles, flying mounts are common, with most families able to afford a heron or wyvern, and the greatest warriors tasked with raising the youngest of dragon wyrmlings in the traditions and methods of battle of their clans themselves.

A United Project: The Great Tree

The greatest trees grow the deepest roots, and the greatest tree of all is the Great Tree of the United Tribes. Laying claim to the largest area of any faction in the Verdant Hollow, the Great Tree's roots extend from the edges of the Shattered Isles to the lightless shores of the Trackless Sea. Worshiped by its inhabitants as the source of life itself, the Great Tree holds together both the literal lands of its community and the figurative bonds between its people, who live and work together to serve the ideals of growth and prosperity the Tree embodies. Beneath its branches can be found people of many races including yuan-ti, tabaxi, lizardfolk, and eladrin. The number of creatures living in the United Tribes is said to be nearly uncountable and certainly exceeds the population of any of the cities upon the surface of the world, including Haven itself. The United Tribes are governed by an elected council of elders who beseech the Tree for guidance and find answers written in the language of its many fruits. The elder druids of the council have long sought after whisperings of a land beyond their own and welcome any from the surface with open arms and hearts as long-lost children of the tree of life.

Elemental Tyrants: The City of Brass

Metropolis-sized City-State

Genasi (Earth, Fire)

Oppressive Paired Diarchy Mageocracy (Marriage between a Geomancer and a Pyromancer)

Vale of Rainbows

Feudal Noble Estates

Eladrin

Protected from above by some radiant magic bubble that keeps out anyone who isn't invited by the Eladrin lords. Home to a big magical academy and an army of Pegasus riders.

The whole thing is divided in half with mountains on one side and dinosaur jungle on the other. Something something based on the preferences of the types of eladrin.