09-30-2015, 02:59 PM
Campaign Setting Workshop: Gaia
This is an idea I had for a setting and possible adventure path based on FFVII. The setting is called Gaia, and it has a history very similar to the events established in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (except with better writing). The campaign itself would be called "The Planet in Crisis" and it would begin like Final Fantasy VII but how it turns out should be vastly different. Right now I only have rough timeline to show, but I'd like to flesh out locations, characters, and religions.
Timeline:
The Era of Birth
-Gaia is formed in the aftermath of Kefka’s sealing. Minerva, the eidolon of Gaia, forms out of the Lifestream.
The Era of the Ancients (Before Calamity)
-A race of Humes called the Cetra becomes the dominant civilization of the world. They revere the Lifestream and commune with the Planet. Another race called the Nanakim lives in their company. They learn of the prophecy of Omega and the esper Chaos.
The Calamity
An enormous meteor strikes the surface of Gaia, wounding the Planet, forming the Northern Crater and causing an enormous amount of dust to choke the sky. The Cetra and the Planet channel a lot of Lifestream to heal the damage. In doing so they were able to lessen to environmental impact but they still suffer from countless deaths and mass extinctions. What’s more, the mass of Lifestream near the Crater awakens a dark passenger of the meteor: Jenova.
Jenova seeks out living creatures to infect like a virus. Her goal is to not only absorb living creatures but to absorb the life of the Planet itself. Towards this end, she subtly manipulates the intelligent creatures she infected into worshipping her. In the wake of recent events, she uses the illusions of lost loved ones to turn Cetra and other races against their brethren.
The Planet becomes aware of this threat and awakens the WEAPONs, living constructs born to protect the Lifestream. However their method is to extinguish life where ever they detect Jenova’s presence because even death of non-infected life strengthens the Planet. In the worst case scenario, they are to eradicate all life on the surface of the Planet so that it could channel the Lifestream into the Omega WEAPON, which would then leave barren world to seed new life into the cosmos.
Fearing this possibility, the surviving Cetra wage war on Jenova and eventually manage to seal her in the Northern Crater. The WEAPONs go into a dormant state to await any future threats to the Planet. The war itself was costly to the Cetra
The civilization of the Cetra collapses in the aftermath. They live on as a people, but they come to be known as the Ancients amongst succeeding Hume tribes.
After Calamity
1st Century AC – Several Hume kingdoms are founded on the Eastern Continent. The Nanakim and Humes on the West Continent instead form into tribes.
2nd Century AC – The chocobo knights of the kingdom of Midgar allow it annex territory in the Kalm plains but they find themselves harrowed by the goblin tribes and other monsters.
3rd to 4th Century AC - The Goblin Wars
4th Century AC – St. Junon leads a campaign that vanquishes the goblins from the Eastern Continent.
Mid 4th to 5th Century AC – The Mythril Wars.
10th to 13th Century AC – the Kingdom of Midgar conquers Mideel and Odinheim, becoming the dominant power of Eastern Continent.
14th Century AC – Wutai unification.
15th Century AC – The printing press is invented.
16th Century AC – Colonies are founded in the western continent. Some people settle in the Northern Continent.
17th Century AC - The founding of Nibelheim and Corel.
Mid 17th Century AC - Midgar attempts to invade Wutai but they are repelled.
18th Magitek is invented. Discovery of the steam engine.
19th Century AC - The Industrial Revolution. The First Magitek War is fought across the Eastern Continent.
1890’s AC – Kefkanites assassinates the Royal Family of Midgar in order to take their magicite (archaic term for materia) and sow chaos across the nation. They pin the blame on Wutai and spark the Second Magitek War. They also awaken the Jade WEAPON. A group of warriors, including an Ancient Summoner, unite to foil their plot. The desperate struggle ends the war and pacifies the WEAPON, however the warring kingdoms have been devastated.
20th Century AC
1920 AC - The Gi Tribe wages war on the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon.
1945’s AC – Dreyfus Shinra of Nibelheim theorizes that magicite is formed from the Lifestream crystallizing after centuries of pressure.
1954’s AC – Dreyfus Shinra successfully synthesizes a form of magicite by applying his theory. He dubs the product “materia.” With his son, Arnold Shinra, he founds the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Works.
1959 AC – Shin-Ra Manufacturing Works discovers the process of refining Lifestream into form of fuel called mako. Seto ends the war against the Gi Tribe by sacrificing himself.
1960 AC – The first mako reactor is built in Nibelheim village. Shin-Ra Manufacturing becomes the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. Computer technology and genetics are discovered.
1962 AC – The Shin-Ra Corporation now has a monopoly over the energy industry. Dreyfus envisions a city powered by mako reactors. The Golden Saucer is founded.
1963 AC – There is a record decline in crop yield at Gongaga. Other settlements will report similar phenomena.
1964 AC - They branch out into other fields such as transportation, entertainment, medicine, and weapons development.
1966 AC – Construction begins on a city in the plains of Kalm. The city is named Midgar after the fallen kingdom.
1968 AC – Mako poisoning, a condition of chronic lethargy found among mako reactor workers, is first diagnosed by Doctor Spurius Crescent. Shin-Ra spends a considerable amount to keep this discovery from the public eye. Dreyfus Shinra himself falls victim to the condition and his son becomes the President of Shin-Ra corp. The Turks are founded.
1969 AC – Dr. Crescent’s daughter, Lucretia, is granted a full scholarship by Arnold Shinra. However this is partly blackmail to keep Spurius from trying to go public about mako poisoning.
1970 AC – Professor Gast Faremis becomes head of the Shin-Ra’s Science Department.
1971 AC – Crisis Theory is introduced by a researcher of the Cetra claiming that prolonged use of mako is depleting the Lifestream of the planet leading to the degradation of the environment. Eventually there will be a Crisis in which energy becomes too scarce to support civilization and the Planet can no longer support life.
1972 AC – Shin-Ra silences any public support of Crisis Theory. Privately they begin several projects to avert the Crisis while maintaining their monopoly. They fund a space program and an expedition to the North Continent, believing the Ancient legend of the Promised Land to be an infinite source of mako.
1973 AC – Dreyfus Shinra passes away. After years of lobbying, Shin-Ra Corp is granted the right to their own private military: the Shin-Ra Security Forces (SSF). An expedition composed led by colleagues Professor Gast Faremis and Grimoire Valentine along with protégés Hojo, Hollander and Lucrecia travel to explore the ruins of the Ancients. Bone Village is founded near cache of fossils.
1974 AC - Rocket Town is founded with the intent of finding a new planet to immigrate to in the event of Crisis. Professor Gast and team are lead by the writings of a corrupted Cetra to a dormant body in the Northern Crater. He believes it to be the body of an Ancient called Jenova. Grimoire and Lucrecia discover the Omega Prophecy of the Cetra, translating the text leads them to a mysterious cave where a unique materia is unearthed.
1975 AC – The expedition returns from the Northern Crater with Jenova. While researching the Chaos Magicite at Shinra Manor, a mishap leads to the death of Grimoire. As an act of contrition, Lucrecia ceases her project and joins Professor Gast’s team.
1976 AC – Midgar is completed, Shin-Ra moves their headquarters to the city.
1977 AC – Local militias dwindle as most potential recruits find Shin-Ra’s privatized military branch to be more lucrative. Midgar’s population swells as local villages continue to experience crop failure. Shin-Ra commissions the Jenova Project hoping to clone an Ancient capable of finding the Promised Land.
1978 AC –Professor Hojo deduces that Jenova is not a Cetra but he keeps that information secret from Gast and the rest of the team. He is intrigued by how Jenova’s cells react to the presence of the Lifestream. The Turks assign Grimoire’s son to guard the research staff.
1979 AC – Lucrecia marries Professor Hojo. She reluctantly volunteers their unborn child for the Jenova Project.
1980 AC – Professor Gast mysteriously disappears. Hojo becomes head of the Science Department after a brief power struggle with Hollander. Shin-Ra takes interest building a reactor in Wutai, but the government refuses to sell them the land they which is considered sacred. The Jenova Project produces three infants: Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis.
1983 AC – In an effort to force Wutai to relent, Shin-RA lobbies high tariffs on all goods imported from the nation. After a mysterious incident at Shinra Manor, Agent Valentine is listed as KIA amongst the Turks.
1984 AC – Lucrecia disappears.
1985 AC – The Jenova Project is deemed a failure at producing an Ancient. However, the children produced demonstrate enhanced abilities giving them military potential. After a brief a sabbatical to the Icicle Lodge, Hojo brings a woman and infant into custody.
1986 AC – Professor Hollander transfers to the department of robotics. Banora White Apple Juice becomes a top export of the village. Select members of Shin-Ra’s army are drafted into a top secret project called SOLDIER.
1987-1988 AC – Many SOLDIER recruits are issued disability decommissions due to cancer and mako poisoning.
1989 AC – Dead land beneath Midgar is noticeable. Information on Crisis theory and mako poisoning is leaked to Wutai. This renews their resolve to resist Shin-Ra.
1991 AC – AVALANCHE is formed as an environmental movement to protect the Planet. At first they practice peaceful protest and civil disobedience, but after being put down violently by the SSF and publicly vilified by the Shin-Ra-run propaganda machine, they eventually resort to increasingly violent methods.
1992 - 2000 AC – The Wutai War, at first the head for the department of Public Safety, General Heidegger, is reluctant to field what he sees as a bunch of mutants created by Hojo. Early in the war, Wutai gains ground with several victories due guerilla tactics and better knowledge of the terrain. After the SSF suffers heavy casualties, President Shinra orders Heidegger to deploy SOLDIER. The elite fighting force turns the tides of the war. 1st Class SOLDIER Sephiroth is decorated as a war hero and presented to the public as the face of SOLDIER, inspiring many volunteers who wish to follow in his footsteps.
2000 AC – Arnold’s son, Rufus Shinra, becomes Vice-President of the corporation. Lazard Deusericus, believed to be President Shinra’s illegitimate son, becomes director of the SOLDIER union. The Mass SOLDIER Desertion Incident.
2001 AC – Godo Kisaragi surrenders to Shin-Ra, officially ending the Wutai War. In response, many disillusioned soldiers desert the Wutai Militia and join AVALANCHE. Instead of building a mako reactor, Wutai becomes a tourist town. Hollander invents the shindroid, an intelligent construct. Shinra sees them as potential replacements for hume mako reactor operators. Wage laborers are unwelcome to the idea.
2002 AC – Nibelheim reports abnormalities with their mako reactor. Fearing potential AVALANCHE involvement, Shin-Ra deploys 1st Class SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Zack Faire to investigate. Nine days later, the town is set a flame and both SOLDIERs disappear. The Incident is covered up by Shin-Ra.
2003 AC – After the failure of the 26th Rocket Launch, Shin-Ra defunds their space exploration program. In response to the numerous layoffs in favor of shindroid operators, the town of North Corel threatens to shut down their reactor. During the dispute, the mako reactor is destroyed in a bombing by AVALANCHE. Shin-Ra accuses the township of collaborating with the sabotage and responds by decimating the population with military force. The surviving foreman, Barret Wallace, believes that the sabotage was a false flag operation executed by the Turks and thus joins AVALANCHE.
2004 AC – The Reunionist Cult sprouts up in the Slums of Midgar. They claim that a day of reckoning is approaching.
2006 AC – A nanaki is captured by the Turks.
2007 AC – Campaign Start.
This is an idea I had for a setting and possible adventure path based on FFVII. The setting is called Gaia, and it has a history very similar to the events established in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (except with better writing). The campaign itself would be called "The Planet in Crisis" and it would begin like Final Fantasy VII but how it turns out should be vastly different. Right now I only have rough timeline to show, but I'd like to flesh out locations, characters, and religions.
Timeline:
The Era of Birth
-Gaia is formed in the aftermath of Kefka’s sealing. Minerva, the eidolon of Gaia, forms out of the Lifestream.
The Era of the Ancients (Before Calamity)
-A race of Humes called the Cetra becomes the dominant civilization of the world. They revere the Lifestream and commune with the Planet. Another race called the Nanakim lives in their company. They learn of the prophecy of Omega and the esper Chaos.
The Calamity
An enormous meteor strikes the surface of Gaia, wounding the Planet, forming the Northern Crater and causing an enormous amount of dust to choke the sky. The Cetra and the Planet channel a lot of Lifestream to heal the damage. In doing so they were able to lessen to environmental impact but they still suffer from countless deaths and mass extinctions. What’s more, the mass of Lifestream near the Crater awakens a dark passenger of the meteor: Jenova.
Jenova seeks out living creatures to infect like a virus. Her goal is to not only absorb living creatures but to absorb the life of the Planet itself. Towards this end, she subtly manipulates the intelligent creatures she infected into worshipping her. In the wake of recent events, she uses the illusions of lost loved ones to turn Cetra and other races against their brethren.
The Planet becomes aware of this threat and awakens the WEAPONs, living constructs born to protect the Lifestream. However their method is to extinguish life where ever they detect Jenova’s presence because even death of non-infected life strengthens the Planet. In the worst case scenario, they are to eradicate all life on the surface of the Planet so that it could channel the Lifestream into the Omega WEAPON, which would then leave barren world to seed new life into the cosmos.
Fearing this possibility, the surviving Cetra wage war on Jenova and eventually manage to seal her in the Northern Crater. The WEAPONs go into a dormant state to await any future threats to the Planet. The war itself was costly to the Cetra
The civilization of the Cetra collapses in the aftermath. They live on as a people, but they come to be known as the Ancients amongst succeeding Hume tribes.
After Calamity
1st Century AC – Several Hume kingdoms are founded on the Eastern Continent. The Nanakim and Humes on the West Continent instead form into tribes.
2nd Century AC – The chocobo knights of the kingdom of Midgar allow it annex territory in the Kalm plains but they find themselves harrowed by the goblin tribes and other monsters.
3rd to 4th Century AC - The Goblin Wars
4th Century AC – St. Junon leads a campaign that vanquishes the goblins from the Eastern Continent.
Mid 4th to 5th Century AC – The Mythril Wars.
10th to 13th Century AC – the Kingdom of Midgar conquers Mideel and Odinheim, becoming the dominant power of Eastern Continent.
14th Century AC – Wutai unification.
15th Century AC – The printing press is invented.
16th Century AC – Colonies are founded in the western continent. Some people settle in the Northern Continent.
17th Century AC - The founding of Nibelheim and Corel.
Mid 17th Century AC - Midgar attempts to invade Wutai but they are repelled.
18th Magitek is invented. Discovery of the steam engine.
19th Century AC - The Industrial Revolution. The First Magitek War is fought across the Eastern Continent.
1890’s AC – Kefkanites assassinates the Royal Family of Midgar in order to take their magicite (archaic term for materia) and sow chaos across the nation. They pin the blame on Wutai and spark the Second Magitek War. They also awaken the Jade WEAPON. A group of warriors, including an Ancient Summoner, unite to foil their plot. The desperate struggle ends the war and pacifies the WEAPON, however the warring kingdoms have been devastated.
20th Century AC
1920 AC - The Gi Tribe wages war on the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon.
1945’s AC – Dreyfus Shinra of Nibelheim theorizes that magicite is formed from the Lifestream crystallizing after centuries of pressure.
1954’s AC – Dreyfus Shinra successfully synthesizes a form of magicite by applying his theory. He dubs the product “materia.” With his son, Arnold Shinra, he founds the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Works.
1959 AC – Shin-Ra Manufacturing Works discovers the process of refining Lifestream into form of fuel called mako. Seto ends the war against the Gi Tribe by sacrificing himself.
1960 AC – The first mako reactor is built in Nibelheim village. Shin-Ra Manufacturing becomes the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. Computer technology and genetics are discovered.
1962 AC – The Shin-Ra Corporation now has a monopoly over the energy industry. Dreyfus envisions a city powered by mako reactors. The Golden Saucer is founded.
1963 AC – There is a record decline in crop yield at Gongaga. Other settlements will report similar phenomena.
1964 AC - They branch out into other fields such as transportation, entertainment, medicine, and weapons development.
1966 AC – Construction begins on a city in the plains of Kalm. The city is named Midgar after the fallen kingdom.
1968 AC – Mako poisoning, a condition of chronic lethargy found among mako reactor workers, is first diagnosed by Doctor Spurius Crescent. Shin-Ra spends a considerable amount to keep this discovery from the public eye. Dreyfus Shinra himself falls victim to the condition and his son becomes the President of Shin-Ra corp. The Turks are founded.
1969 AC – Dr. Crescent’s daughter, Lucretia, is granted a full scholarship by Arnold Shinra. However this is partly blackmail to keep Spurius from trying to go public about mako poisoning.
1970 AC – Professor Gast Faremis becomes head of the Shin-Ra’s Science Department.
1971 AC – Crisis Theory is introduced by a researcher of the Cetra claiming that prolonged use of mako is depleting the Lifestream of the planet leading to the degradation of the environment. Eventually there will be a Crisis in which energy becomes too scarce to support civilization and the Planet can no longer support life.
1972 AC – Shin-Ra silences any public support of Crisis Theory. Privately they begin several projects to avert the Crisis while maintaining their monopoly. They fund a space program and an expedition to the North Continent, believing the Ancient legend of the Promised Land to be an infinite source of mako.
1973 AC – Dreyfus Shinra passes away. After years of lobbying, Shin-Ra Corp is granted the right to their own private military: the Shin-Ra Security Forces (SSF). An expedition composed led by colleagues Professor Gast Faremis and Grimoire Valentine along with protégés Hojo, Hollander and Lucrecia travel to explore the ruins of the Ancients. Bone Village is founded near cache of fossils.
1974 AC - Rocket Town is founded with the intent of finding a new planet to immigrate to in the event of Crisis. Professor Gast and team are lead by the writings of a corrupted Cetra to a dormant body in the Northern Crater. He believes it to be the body of an Ancient called Jenova. Grimoire and Lucrecia discover the Omega Prophecy of the Cetra, translating the text leads them to a mysterious cave where a unique materia is unearthed.
1975 AC – The expedition returns from the Northern Crater with Jenova. While researching the Chaos Magicite at Shinra Manor, a mishap leads to the death of Grimoire. As an act of contrition, Lucrecia ceases her project and joins Professor Gast’s team.
1976 AC – Midgar is completed, Shin-Ra moves their headquarters to the city.
1977 AC – Local militias dwindle as most potential recruits find Shin-Ra’s privatized military branch to be more lucrative. Midgar’s population swells as local villages continue to experience crop failure. Shin-Ra commissions the Jenova Project hoping to clone an Ancient capable of finding the Promised Land.
1978 AC –Professor Hojo deduces that Jenova is not a Cetra but he keeps that information secret from Gast and the rest of the team. He is intrigued by how Jenova’s cells react to the presence of the Lifestream. The Turks assign Grimoire’s son to guard the research staff.
1979 AC – Lucrecia marries Professor Hojo. She reluctantly volunteers their unborn child for the Jenova Project.
1980 AC – Professor Gast mysteriously disappears. Hojo becomes head of the Science Department after a brief power struggle with Hollander. Shin-Ra takes interest building a reactor in Wutai, but the government refuses to sell them the land they which is considered sacred. The Jenova Project produces three infants: Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis.
1983 AC – In an effort to force Wutai to relent, Shin-RA lobbies high tariffs on all goods imported from the nation. After a mysterious incident at Shinra Manor, Agent Valentine is listed as KIA amongst the Turks.
1984 AC – Lucrecia disappears.
1985 AC – The Jenova Project is deemed a failure at producing an Ancient. However, the children produced demonstrate enhanced abilities giving them military potential. After a brief a sabbatical to the Icicle Lodge, Hojo brings a woman and infant into custody.
1986 AC – Professor Hollander transfers to the department of robotics. Banora White Apple Juice becomes a top export of the village. Select members of Shin-Ra’s army are drafted into a top secret project called SOLDIER.
1987-1988 AC – Many SOLDIER recruits are issued disability decommissions due to cancer and mako poisoning.
1989 AC – Dead land beneath Midgar is noticeable. Information on Crisis theory and mako poisoning is leaked to Wutai. This renews their resolve to resist Shin-Ra.
1991 AC – AVALANCHE is formed as an environmental movement to protect the Planet. At first they practice peaceful protest and civil disobedience, but after being put down violently by the SSF and publicly vilified by the Shin-Ra-run propaganda machine, they eventually resort to increasingly violent methods.
1992 - 2000 AC – The Wutai War, at first the head for the department of Public Safety, General Heidegger, is reluctant to field what he sees as a bunch of mutants created by Hojo. Early in the war, Wutai gains ground with several victories due guerilla tactics and better knowledge of the terrain. After the SSF suffers heavy casualties, President Shinra orders Heidegger to deploy SOLDIER. The elite fighting force turns the tides of the war. 1st Class SOLDIER Sephiroth is decorated as a war hero and presented to the public as the face of SOLDIER, inspiring many volunteers who wish to follow in his footsteps.
2000 AC – Arnold’s son, Rufus Shinra, becomes Vice-President of the corporation. Lazard Deusericus, believed to be President Shinra’s illegitimate son, becomes director of the SOLDIER union. The Mass SOLDIER Desertion Incident.
2001 AC – Godo Kisaragi surrenders to Shin-Ra, officially ending the Wutai War. In response, many disillusioned soldiers desert the Wutai Militia and join AVALANCHE. Instead of building a mako reactor, Wutai becomes a tourist town. Hollander invents the shindroid, an intelligent construct. Shinra sees them as potential replacements for hume mako reactor operators. Wage laborers are unwelcome to the idea.
2002 AC – Nibelheim reports abnormalities with their mako reactor. Fearing potential AVALANCHE involvement, Shin-Ra deploys 1st Class SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Zack Faire to investigate. Nine days later, the town is set a flame and both SOLDIERs disappear. The Incident is covered up by Shin-Ra.
2003 AC – After the failure of the 26th Rocket Launch, Shin-Ra defunds their space exploration program. In response to the numerous layoffs in favor of shindroid operators, the town of North Corel threatens to shut down their reactor. During the dispute, the mako reactor is destroyed in a bombing by AVALANCHE. Shin-Ra accuses the township of collaborating with the sabotage and responds by decimating the population with military force. The surviving foreman, Barret Wallace, believes that the sabotage was a false flag operation executed by the Turks and thus joins AVALANCHE.
2004 AC – The Reunionist Cult sprouts up in the Slums of Midgar. They claim that a day of reckoning is approaching.
2006 AC – A nanaki is captured by the Turks.
2007 AC – Campaign Start.