Twenty Quick Questions for [My] Campaign Setting (1)

21 Jul, 2026

Back in 2011, Jeff Rients wrote a post entitled "twenty quick questions for your campaign setting." I intend to answer those questions for my campaign setting, Uurn. I warn you now, dear reader, that I will not be answering these questions briefly. I'll make a post for each question that I find suitably applicable to the world I've created.

First and foremost, Uurn is only a small portion of the world, which hosts no creature with such dominion over it to give it a proper name (no creature has devised its true name, which it does indeed have,) and most thinking creatures simply call it "the world" or "reality." One day, I will prepare an overview of the entire world and its myriad lands and cultures, but today is not that day. I will link to that post here when it is made.

If you play at my table, I beseech you read no further, so the great mystery of the universe is preserved.

What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

Given their omission from the rules of Warlords & Wizards, a character being a cleric is not possible. That said, there are many creeds of variable validity that one can devote themselves to. The primary faiths are detailed below.

The Chapel of One

A "revivalist" (see "God") monotheist cult gaining significant traction in Uurn. Followers claim that there is a sole supreme creator of everything and everyone. The majority of adherents agree to call this being "Inziza," though local dialects vary. Inziza is usually represented as a tall human woman with a shaved head and black linen robes. High priests and priestesses are required to shave their heads, claiming it affords them a closer connection to the Great Mother, and other adherents have followed suit as a symbol of their faith and as an exercise in humility. Adherents of the Pantheon of Cosmic Harmony write off the Chapel of One as fanaticism and claim that belief will dwindle over time.

According to the Chapel's scripture, known as the "Treatise for Man," the Great Mother is said to have created the first man in her image and named him Erin. Certain sects claim this to be the same individual as Eirin (see "God" below,) however most theologians of the Cosmic Harmony believe that Erin did not exist, or was an avatar of Ensiar, embodying the creation of thinking life.

The Chapel of One (with the Cosmic Harmony) is one of only two religious beliefs with sufficient adherents to warrant a bureaucratic institution to facilitate worship. The Chapel's organizational structure is simple, and follows the general structure below:

Prospective believers in the Great Mother are encouraged to follow their belief at any stage of their life—the majority of converts, in fact, are folk of middle-age and above. You may notice the coarse stratification of the organization, especially compared to that of the Cosmic Harmony. Truly, only the most devoted followers ascend to the rank of "Knower," whereupon they are bestowed the knowledge of the Mother's Great Mystery, the divine intention behind human existence. This follows education in the esoteric language of Erish, the language in which the original scripture is written before translation to everyday tongues—the Mystery resists translation entirely.

Members of the Faithful, who attain the highest-level understanding of the texts in their pure form, are permitted to establish their own monasteries and parishes officially sponsored by the organization. These folk gather bi-annually at a summit for decision making, which is conducted democratically in a large forum.

While the Cosmic Harmony, see below, generates funds primarily through donation, recovery of artifacts and treasure of religious significance, and paid research endeavors sponsored by rulers, the Chapel of One's chief source of revenue is tithe, which it extracts prudently from each attendant at Chapel sermons, services, and other events. The rate at which this is conducted varies by region but could be called "exploitative" in any case.

Skeptics claim that the Chapel of One, or their Great Mother, is responsible for "the Fall," an anomalous seismic event recorded some hundreds of years prior, in which all but the most stalwart structures in Uurn collapsed to rubble simultaneously—this event coincides with the beginning of the movement, though no mention of such an event appears in the Chapel's own scripture. This is, incidentally, the official stance of most Cosmic Harmony Theologians, though very few of them make public claims of the sort. No official statement has been made by the Chapel organization at large to confirm or deny this.

The Pantheon of Cosmic Harmony

The primary polytheist faith, with a roster of deities in the hundreds, ranging from major (presiding over life, death, the infinite sea, and the creation of man) to the most minor household or temple deities, who preside over a single locale, crop, or herd.

Below is a table containing the deities of the Cosmic Harmony whose divinity are most widely acknowledged by adherents:

The majority of Cosmic Harmony worshippers believe that their souls, which are immortal, are loose threads during their lifetimes which will be weaved back into Misharu's Tapestry, which she weaves tirelessly at her loom. It is thus the fate of all creatures to join in one collective consciousness, and as such there are many pacifist, vegetarian, and vegan adherents to the faith.

As previously mentioned, the Cosmic Harmony is one of two religions with an associated bureaucratic institution. Unlike the Chapel of One, however, true admittance to the Harmony's rich monastic tradition is a lifelong endeavor that, for most, begins at birth. Monks who are not born into the institution by member parents are those children given up to the faith at a very young age—it is traditional for the firstborn child of adherents to the faith to be donated to the organization, but more moderate sects do not explicitly encourage this practice.

The organizational ranks are as follows, increasing in rarity and difficulty of attaining from left to right and top to bottom:

The maximum title attained by most followers of the faith is sister or brother, and this is the maximum rank attainable by those not born into the faith or adopted by the organization—these members begin as monks. The administrative positions in the organization, archaeologists who dedicate themselves to the discovery and recovery of relics, theologians to the study of said relics, the interpretation of holy texts, and the recordation of new deities and their origins, and ministers who oversee the operations and finances of the organization, are reserved for the most discerning, intelligent, and devoted members. There is only ever one Oracle deigned thus by the faith, if one exists at all—the Cosmic Harmony often goes stretches of hundreds of years without one. The Oracle is said to be the living mouthpiece of the gods, and their word is thus law.

Some fringe branches of the institution also allow a certain degree of mobility based on pure monetary donation, rather than demonstrated devotion, prolonged worship or meditation, contributions to archeological study, and so on. However, this practice is denounced by most adherents.

The Magnificents

This pantheon is not as common in Uurn as the Cosmic Harmony, and its primary adherents are elves and half-humans, who are largely excluded from the extremely anthropocentric Chapel of One and (slightly less so) Cosmic Harmony. It consists of a much leaner pantheon of thirteen deities of various power and relation to one another, who are sometimes pejoratively referred to as the "Old Gods." These gods are ostensibly "less human" than those of the Pantheon of Cosmic Harmony, and purportedly meddle less in the affairs of humans.

Below is a table listing the Magnificents and their respective domains:

Notable family relations include Durn and Servays, who are brothers, Tolgyn, who is the son of Durn and Nadra, Tesp, who is the daughter of Servays, Helast, and/or Jelas (the latter two are combined in some sects,) and most importantly Kve, who is variously worshipped as the mother/father/both to all others. You may notice the ambiguity with which the sexes of the Magnificents are presented; most worshippers postulate that, in their divine grace and power, Magnificents are able to change their sex at will, or occupy a transient, sexless space. In any case, these gods may be represented as either sex in statuary or other iconography, depending on the beliefs of the artists or if a particular effect is desired.

A branch of extremist Magnificent worshippers who call themselves the "Eternal Dreamers" claim that the entire world, and all that is real, is a construction of the commingled consciousnesses of all the gods. Some particularly nihilist Dreamers commit ritual suicide in sacrifice to Kve, to help facilitate the cycle of birth and rebirth within the minds of the Magnificents—to the Dreamer, there is no notion of "escape" from this cycle, nor should they want for it.

The Unbroken Rider

To outlanders, very little is known of the ruler who roams the steppe, waging war on the lands outside the reach of the Chapel or the Cosmic Harmony, claiming land for the Empire of Salatence.

They are said to tower a staggering 10 feet, heads above the troops they command. No man has lived to see their face, which is always concealed by a dome-shaped mask of thin metal mesh and linen the color of sunflower petals, which flows in the wind as they ride—their steed a monstrous gazelle nearer in size to an elephant than a horse. Their preferred method of combat, it would seem, involves some sort of lance or otherwise pointed weapon, which judging from the wounds present on recovered casualties corroborates the Rider's purported size.

The Unbroken Rider is as much myth as reality, it would seem, and the militant worshippers of Salatence, who call themselves the "Blades of Grass," exalt the Rider as their King and their God. Practice understandably includes ritual killing and holy war, the end goal of which remains unknown to defending civilizations. Thus far, the Unbroken Rider has never led an army to defeat, and is said to possess the ability to raise fallen comrades with a mere touch—those raised in this way call themselves "the Reaped," and attain an elevated military standing.

Little else is known of the group, its intentions, or its origins. Archaeologists of the Cosmic Harmony have noted mentions of the army dating back some thousands of years, in regions no longer held by Salatence, and suspect that the current Unbroken Rider could be an imposter. Theologians of the Cosmic Harmony similarly speculate that, should the rumors surrounding the Rider be true, they could well be a descendant of the denizens of the Brass King's holy city, or one themselves. Suggestion that the Unbroken Rider is the Erin of the Chapel of One's scripture is considered blasphemous, and warrants expulsion from the Chapel.

The Brass King, or "God"

The Brass King is the most ancient deity in Uurn, and is not worshipped except by some dwarfs and fringe cults in the sparse sequoia-wood abutting the ruined city. Worshippers often make pilgrimage to the old city in hopes of finding some remnant, clinging to scant hope that some of its immortal denizens yet survive. Due to the ubiquity of worship during his rule, the Brass King was singularly referred to as "God" himself.

The Brass King himself is said to have been a twenty-foot man of apollonian beauty, made of pure metal that glowed slightly with the warmth of summer. Instead of statues, which could not hope to be created in adequate proportion or grace, his divine city was dotted with empty plinths, upon which the King was known to pose and himself serve as art. Thus, despite the best efforts of millennia of rapacious bandits, no icons depicting the Brass King remain—only the city's fastidious records tell of his elegance.

From his temple-palace, approximately 400'x600' in dimension, the Brass King ruled the great city with humility, wit, and love, and crucially without error. The city was constructed in the likeness of a great amphitheater, with the palace at the center, and thus God's decrees were conveyed to the entire city. These typically, according to record, were delivered through seraphic poetry and song, and when he spoke he spoke with a thousand voices of equal confidence and charm. His character is said to have been impenetrably kind, patient, and accepting, as reported by his subjects, who themselves appeared human, though around 12' in height at the maximum.

Some 20,000 years into his reign, the Brass King was murdered in cold blood by Eirin, a subject of the city who claimed injustice and despotism. With his spear, he pierced through God's heart, instantly obliterating him to golden sand with a flash of pure white light. The immortal citizens despaired to discover that their own longevity was dependent on the King—without him, they began to age and die, and the city shortly collapsed, and none of the twice-men to this day persist, unless one believes the claims of the people of Salatence.

The information above is what has been passed into legend. Its veracity is unknowable.

Who's Right?

As in real life, the answer to this question is endlessly complex. To answer it inaccurately and succinctly, they all are. It could be that the Great Mother is the combined consciousness of the Magnificents, or the deities of the Cosmic Harmony, and that Erin truly was Eirin, who slayed the Brass King, and that the Unbroken Rider is a descendent of the immortals, or Erin himself. In general, each religion believes themselves to be fully correct, at times through absolutely gymnastic reasoning. Of course, the Pantheon of Cosmic Harmony is the only religion in Uurn attempting to systematically prove the validity of their beliefs.

Thank you for reading this far, and thank you to Jeff Rients for the prompt!

#uurn