Originally Posted by Gidde
Exactly the effect I wanted. I have the coral pillars re-worked, using smaller brushes with more variety. I like the result, especially since, like the mangroves, it's stackable.
More background on the campaign world: Unlike most fantasy worlds, humans are decidedly NOT the predominant race in the Archipelagos. Instead, dwarves and elves compete (amicably) for that title. The dwarves survived in the mountains, which became the floatstone islands, while the elves are the very reason there are giant mangroves, marishrooms, and sea-trees. The dwarves have learned how to mine and use floatstone to create large floating sky-ships, and this technique has spread somewhat to other races. The elves, and indeed druids everywhere, cultivated the surviving flora and fauna, and have preserved griffons, hippogriffs, and pegasi. Obviously, horses have long since died out, cats have thrived, as cats always do. Dogs are only found on the floatstone islands. Many other small creatures have either died out completely or thrived. Birds are just about everywhere. Gnomes have become almost a subclass of dwarves, predominantly living among dwarves and rarely among other groups. Halflings have taken to the coral pillars and have even developed a sense for empire building that they lack in other worlds. Humans... humans are found everywhere. Just not in the same numbers except in the few floatstone islands they have claimed for themselves.
One of the things that always bothers me about standard fantasy fare is the perception that goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, etc. are inherently evil. This quality stems from their roots as evil fey in our European folklore. In the Archipelagos, however, such creatures can't afford to be evil. Thus, like humans, they are often found in any community, mostly in lower class positions, but no longer are they considered evil by fiat, even by elves and dwarves. It is because of this that half-orcs and orcs have actually become rather accepted and relatively civilized, though orcs generally tend to live in the mangroves. As a result, half-orcs exist anywhere the populations of humans and orcs overlap.
The general quality of the world is predominant, though not exceptionally powerful, magic is everywhere. Anyone you meet may be able to use a cantrip or two, and some people will learn a cantrip well enough to use it at will. In game mechanics, the campaign is going to be D&D 3.5, capped at 6th level, and thus restricting spells to 3rd level spells. Some higher level spell will be accessible in the form of rituals, none of which can take less than four hours to complete. For details of the house rules, look up Ryan Stoughton's E6 rules. (I think I spelled his name right...) Some of the racial characteristics of even the basic races have changed slightly to reflect the different world they live in.
And now... progress:
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