Arcanis

Arcanis is an award-winning campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons game, created and supported by Paradigm Concepts. It is also the name of the fictional world where the setting takes place. The setting was launched in 2001 and is known for its odd twists on the fantasy genre, as well as its wide member approval and community-based design and construction.

Arcanis is set on the continent of Onara, where a crumbling Coryani Empire (reminiscent of the Western Roman Empire) struggles with newly created nations such as Milandir (reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire) or Canceri (reminiscent of Russia during the Middle Ages and the Balkans).

=Races of Arcanis= The playable Races in Arcanis differ from the traditional races in other Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings. There are seven primary races: Dark-kin(Infernaly Tainted), Dwarves(Cursed Giants), Elorii(Elves), Gnomes(Child of a humans and a dwarf), Humans, Ss'ressen(Two Tribes, Black Talon and Ashen Hide), and Val(Touched by the gods, many different bloodlines).

=Nations of Arcanis=

The nations of Arcanis are mostly human affairs, all related to the First Imperium that fell thousands of years ago. The human nations are:
 * The Republic of Altheria
 * The Theocracy of Canceri
 * The Coryani Empire
 * The Hinterlands
 * The League of Princes
 * Milandir
 * Ymandragore

The three Elorii Nations are:
 * Elonbe
 * Entaris
 * Malfea

The Dwarven Enclaves are:
 * Solanos Mor
 * Nol Dappa
 * Tulipet
 * Tir Betoq
 * Encali

Altheria (The Republic of)
East of Coryan and north of the Morass is The Republic of Altheria, origin of blastpowder (gunpowder) and many mages in Onara. Altheria is distinct in that the god, Althares, is sort of a national god and has 'given' the people of Altheria three gifts, only two of which are known. Constantly at war with the Ssethregoran Empire, a multi-national force called the Shining Patrol helps to protect Altheria. The Altherian people are analogous to people of North African or Middle Easter decent in the real world.

Canceri (The Theocracy of)
Dark swampy land dominated by three distinct religious groups banned in the Mother Church of Milandir and Coryan: the Nerothians, the Nierites and the Sarishans. The capital city of Canceri is Nishanpur, in middle where the three subgroups meet. Nishampur is the main city for the Sarishans, Ventaka is the main city for the Nerothians, and Hunder is the main city for the Canceri Nierites. Another group of Nierites, known as the Erdukeen Nierites, hail from the city of Erduk, in the Hinterlands of Onara.

The religious groups in Canceri form the Church of the Dark Triumvirate, which reveres Neroth, Sarish and Nier in their traditional forms of worship, some of which offend greatly the sensibilities of the other nations. These forms of worship include undead and the summoning of infernals.

Coryani Empire
The pinnacle of civilization on Onara. The empire is home to the Legions and the Mother Church. Coryan is divided into several provinces.

Milandir
A meritocratic kingdom just south of Canceri and east of the Blessed Lands of Onara. The people of Milandir are analogous to Germatic people in the real world. The country is divided into several smaller dutchies.

League of Princes
Five nations west of Coryan that have mostly mercantile interests.

Hinterlands
Lands north of Canceri but south of the Wall of the Gods (later the Sealed Lands) with nomadic tribes.

Ymandragore
Home to the Sorcerer King, who sends out the black ships and harvesters that look for any human with the arcane spark.

Freeport and the Pirate Isles
Isles dominated by pirates east of the Hinterlands.

Elonbé
This Elorii nation is centered in the Vastwood.

Solanos Mor
"The City of Shameful Penance". This Dwarven enclave worships Illiyir and seeks to break the curse through Illiir's word.

Nol Dappa
This Dwarven Enclave, unlike Solanos Mor, wishes to break the dwarven curse while thwarting the other enclaves.

Encali
=Religion in Arcanis= The Deities of Arcanis are sectioned off into different pantheons. The main pantheon is the Pantheon of Man, of which human gods reside. Other pantheons such as the Pantheon of the Elves, are broken, or destroyed leaving only one or no gods behind.

In Arcanis, "true" gods are unconcerned with petty mortal morality, so have no alignment as gods in other settings do; only churches have alignment, depending on what aspects of a god they worship. The Pantheon of Man, for example, does not have alignment, but the Ss'regorean Varn Gods do.

The Pantheon of Man
The three brother gods, the Head of the Pantheon and his two brothers, are the first three gods of the pantheon:
 * Illiir, the Patron God of Emperors and Order as well as the Sun God
 * Yarris, God of the Sea
 * Neroth, God of Death

Further, three Goddesses are their sisters:
 * Saluwé, Goddess of the Earth, consort of Illiir
 * Beltine, Goddess of the Soul
 * Anshar, Goddess of Pain and Suffering

These are the children of Illiir and Saluwé:
 * Hurrian, God of Storms and Honorable Combat, the Reluctant Warrior
 * Nier, God of Fire, War and Slaughter

The Child of Neroth and Beltine:
 * Larissa, Oracle of the Gods, and more recently, Goddess of Pleasure. Consort of
 * Cadic, the God of Shadows, Murder and Music.

They have a son:
 * Sarish, God of Oaths and Binding of Demons.

Part of the pantheon, but with no known relationships with the rest:
 * Althares, God of Knowledge, patron of the Republic of Altharia

Schisms
The Mother Church of the Pantheon of Man once held all the gods in equal worship, until a schism occurred which drove followers of Neroth, Sarish and Nier to form a independent church, the Dark Triumvirate in Canceri. The Mother Church and the Dark Triumvirate differ in several ways, primarily in that the Dark Triumvirate approves of activities the Mother Church fears: the creation of Undead and the summoning of demons and devils for the most part.

The Ss'ressen and Ss'regorean Gods

 * Fire Dragon - The Fire Dragon is the god worshipped by the Black Talon ss'ressen. The Ashen Hide split off from this group, believing that Fire Dragon was actually the human god, Nier.

The Ss'regorean Empire once worshipped the gods:
 * Kassegore
 * Yig

With the ascension of the Naga to a ruling position in the Empire, they have begun to worship a pantheon known as the Varn:

The Elorii Pantheon
The Elorii follow the Elemental Lords which created them, despite the destruction of four of them. The remaining Elemental Lord, the life spirit Belisarda, was believed to have been destroyed by The Other (or Umor, as the Elorii knew him), until the arrival of a Prophet who claimed this was not true.


 * Belisarda - Goddess of Life and Healing
 * Keleos - God of Fire
 * Mârok - God of Earth
 * Osalían- God of Air
 * Beröe- God of Water

Elorii Heresy
Recently a common movement among Elorii has been the practice of identifying elemental lords with one of the human gods that supposedly absorbed those elemental lords powers. For instance, some Elorii followers of the Lord of Air consider Hurrian, the Storm Lord in the Pantheon of Man, to be their God. To other Elorii this seems to be heresy and is considered to be so, although the Mother Church (and the Dark Triumvirate in the case of Nier) has little or no issues for Elorii who choose this path.

Umor
Not much is known about this god. In the story of humanity coming to Onara he is the first being to speak with the Elorii gods.

Myrantian Gods
The ancient Myrantian Hegemony had its own pantheon of gods, although much information about them has been lost to the ages. The Mother Church of Coryan considers worship of the Myrantian dieties heresy.

=Factions and Secret Societies= The setting also has secret societies, factions that have beliefs and goals that can either aid, or impede the mission of players in other cases. Each faction varies in its goal, as well as how secret each faction is.
 * The Orthodoxy seeks to eraticate heretical worship of the Human Panthenon.
 * The Hawk and Shield seek to eradicate the minions of the Sorcerer King or protect those who are arcanely gifted from his predetations.
 * The Emerald Society are Archelolgists who seek to discover anything and everything about the history of Onara, especially from the First Imperium
 * The Mourners in Silence believe that the gods of Arcanis have died and now work with other worldly allies towards unusual goals.
 * The Order of the Twilight Bough
 * The Swords of Nier

=See also=
 * Living Arcanis

=External links=
 * Onara Online, Official Homepage of the Arcanis Campaign
 * Paradigm Concepts' website
 * Living Arcanis Talk Yahoo group
 * Character Generation Guidelines