Lore

There are those who want to get involved with the setting, who want to learn the setting and get immersed in it. And there are those who simply want to play and pick up things as they go along. Though since this is an entirely new and custom setting, some knowledge to start playing is required. Just so you don't log in and spontaniously shout out 'Let's go kill some goblins'. Go over the quick guide, and if you find something interesting, you can read the detailed article on the subject.

ESV: Manual
Introduction House Rules & Changes
Character Creation Race / Region Characteristics Occupations Skills Abilities Death
Lore - Starter's Guide Regions (Map) Arkham Innsmouth King's Port Borvoria Cobbler Region Gorstein Kingdom Factions City Watch Inquisition Military Legion Mad Science Arcanism Alchemy Paranormalism Supernatural Occultism Etching Crafting Weapons Tools Armour Tinkering Engineering
Mythos Lore
Guides Example Characters

Contents 1 Lore - Starter's Guide 1.1 First Steps 1.2 Kavera 1.3 Factions 1.4 Science 1.5 Supernatural & Occultism 1.6 Crafting

Lore - Starter's Guide

First Steps

Upon character creation you'll notice that 'human' is the only selectable race. This is because the main continent is mainly inhabitant by humans. Monsters and mythological creatures do exist, though the general population is not aware of them. Anyone claiming elves kidnapped their husband, well, they might find themselves in a padded cell.

Kavera

The main, L-shaped continent where everything takes place. The continent itself is divided up between several regions.

• Arkham Region: City State, Technological Advancements.
• Innsmouth Region: City State, Mining & Fishing industry.
• King's Port: City State, Trade & Crime.
• Borvoria: Empire, Military prowess & Alcohol export.
• Cobbler Region: Area between the city states, Farmlands & Lumberjacks.
• Gorstein Kingdom: Ancient knowledge & Archives, Alchemy & Mad Science.

Only one other continent is known, also inhabited by humans and supporting an entirely foreign culture. Some trading between the two exist, though both continents mainly keep out of each other's business. Those living in the more remote places, such as Cobbler farmers don't even know it exists.

Factions

There are loads of factions on the continent, though the following is a list of the most noteable ones:

• The Legion: Combined military forces of the city states. Exists out of several divisions, not all are focussed on combat or tactics.
• The Inquisition: On the surface, they are a moral police, enforcing good morals on the general public. Behind the screens they zealously combat the supernatural.
• The City Watch: Most prominent in Arkham, and recently they have been training members for other places in the continent, the City Watch grew from a rag-tag group of guards in to an effective police force.
• Scholar Society: Group of researchers from Myskatonic University.
• Arcanist's Society: Considered a part of the Scholar Society, see below for more info on Arcanism.

Science

Arcanism is the closes thing ESV has to arcane magic. In-game however it is considered a science and only practiced by few people. Those who know what it is, reckognise it to be very dangerous. Arcanism involves complicated philosophical theory, combined with tricky probability measurements. Although Arcanism looks a lot like magic, it is still limited to scientific law.

Alchemy is the art of mixing discarded Arcanist tools with mundane objects and ingredients. These discarded tools are often infused with Aether and the 'irradiated liquid' that can be distilled from these tools have odd effects on matter.

Paranormalism is under construction!

Supernatural & Occultism

As mentioned above, the supernatural is present on the continent. Those that do, generally seek power, worship strange alien entities or attempt to combat the horrors they know that exist, often with terrible consequences. Occultism is very ritualistic, spells often require much preperation and take a long time to cast. The results however are undeniable. Summoning and binding monsters, raising corpses and even opening portals to other worlds and dimensions are only a small part of this horrible, mind-rending art.

Etching is another part of the supernatural. Etching starts with the study of a runic language. With a special acid-solution, these runes can be applied too various objects, armor or weapons to produce different effects.

Crafting

Crafting isn't terribly complicated, though it is versatile. Generally, crafting an item is a simple matter of having the right components for the construction, followed by a dice roll of the right skill. The difference between ESV and the standard game are the possibilities of crafting, as the idea is to make nearly every item and object in-game acquirable by crafting.

• Tools: Crafting some items requires tools. Tools which in turn can be crafted as well.
• Arms & Armor
• Metallurgy: Convert ore in to useable metals.
• Tinkering: Tinkering involves traps, gadgets and toys. Clockwork can be used to create replacement limbs and primitive robotics.
• Engineering: Steam driven engines. Combined with tinkering it opens up the path to differential engines and more complicated machinery.
• Carpentry: Involves furniture for player housing, ship construction, etc.