Introduction to Akadimía

Familiar, but Fantastic Lands

This world seems familiar, but the fantastic abounds. Twin suns rise and fall each day, and three large moons circle this world of Zihæt. Immense killer storms lash the sea. At night, the bright aurora threads between the moons. Magic powers fantastic effects and mythical beasts.
— Kassandra
 
The Dragonshome Islands are the starting point of the setting. A navigable sea surrounds the volcanic island chain laced with Japanese physical and spiritual influences. City-states of the island chain are home to progressive direct democracies with a dominant classical Greek flavor.   The Northern Continent, the next area of focus, is heavily wooded. It has a Norse flavor, while the continent's center is a more traditional central Eurasian steppe. Finally, the eastern areas of the northern continent give way to an alpine area with Frankish flavor.   On either side of the middle sea lay the eastern and western continents. Unexplored, they hold unimagined adventures.  

Diverse Bloodlines and Cultures

The cultures of Zihæt are as diverse as the lands they inhabit. A wide variety of theological, political, economic, and social worldviews exist. However, not everyone gets along.   A human-looking set of inhabitants dominate these cultures. These humanoids have a highly diverse range of builds, skin color, hair, eyes, and other features. But they all share a similar description. Underneath, however, is a different story. The blood of these families courses with that of other Zihæt species. This blood grants a range of powers and capabilities.  

Lost Natives

Dragons, Giants, and other fantastic creatures native to this world fill the stories of Zihæt. Yet on the surface, they are all but a myth. What happened to these creatures is a story known to only a few.  

Magic but no Gods

There are many familiar tropes and concepts for readers of fantasy and RPG players. Bloodline magic and Natural Magic exist. Magical technology has become more prevalent and avoided the need for traditional industrial-era technologies.   Except for the Holy Empire of Humanité, the Magic of the Gods has been missing for millennia. Only the strange and mysterious Miracles of Dieu provide a hint of divine power.  

Site mechanics and conventions

This world supports both dark and light themes and attempts to support a variety of mobile devices. If you come across problems on a particular mobile device, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a private comment or direct message me on discord, and we'll get that fixed up.   Fonts differentiate narrated and explanatory text. Narrative text, spoken by one of the story's characters, are found in Serif fonts. The main body of this page is a narrative passage. Explanatory passages provide the author or creator's supporting explanations. This callout is an explanatory passage.
Discover the Setting

Akadimía at a Glance

 

Gritty High Fantasy

The setting starts as a slice of life, just not an easy one. As characters become more familiar with each other, they begin to explore the broader world. Only then do the real epic conflicts reveal themselves.   Akadimia allows for Storytellers to focus on local, regional, intercontinental, or cosmic levels of conflict.  

Everyday Problems

The characters in this world start in the Drákos Akadimía. The initial storytelling starts with students struggling to get through an academic setting. Students face everyday challenges one would expect in their late teenage years, including their own biases and misperceptions. How they manage to overcome these as they work together will be critical when the scope then expands to the larger inner-family and inter-family conflicts within the island chain, and their homelands.  

Epic Stakes

As the characters in this world grow in power and understanding, they become aware of conflicts much larger and more daunting. Starting with inter -polity conflicts and inter-organizational contents that span their tribes/families, the scope expands to The Great War's unresolved conflicts. They soon learn that not everything is as it seems. Fantastic enemies confront them, and the world hangs in the balance.  

Alone in the Multiverse

Following the cosmic struggles of The Great War, a seal was put in place around the world of Zihæt, cutting it off from the rest of the multiverse. As a result, some common fantasy and roleplaying game elements are missing. Active pantheons of divinities, devils, and demons, and planar travel are all things of the past. There are enough problems here on Zihæt for a lifetime.  

Where to start?

Readers and RPG characters start at the Drákos Akadimía on the island of Froúrio nisí in the Dragonshome Islands. This academic setting expects great things from the students and a future of service to the Drákon League.

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