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Creating a new D&D world, part 8

I recently purchased The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide: Prompts and Activities to Create and Customize Your Own Game World by James D'Amato and it, and going whale watching, inspired me to create a new D&D world. So here we go! I'm going to use prompts from the book to begin crafting this world, but not all posts will be from there. These questions will pertain to the small island on which the adventure begins. 

You can read part 1 of my planning here, read part 2 of my planning here, read part 3 of my planning here, read part 4 of my planning here, read part 5 of my planning here, read part 6 of my planning here, and read part 7 of my planning here.

I am working on the factions section starting on page 78.

Lighthouse Faction

  • An order of mages maintain the magical lighthouses on the islands
  • Lighthouses have not been made in centuries and some outside the order suspect the knowledge is lost as to how to make them
    • It is not lost, but it requires a sacrifice and the mages fear what would happen to their public image would suffer if it is known
  • The strength of the lighthouses provides unity, safety, control, and possibility
  • Being a lighthouse keeper is an immense sign of respect
    • Being a lighthouse maintainer even more so (keepers man the lighthouses, maintainers provide service to them)
    • Keepers can progress to maintainers but they don't always
    • On some smaller islands, there is someone who is a keeper and maintainer
  • The knowledge of the lighthouses is a tie to the past and eases ocean travels
  • The communication of lighthouses can enable peace and beauty
  • The nature around the lighthouses makes travel possible and is a source of awe and power
  • The order of the lighthouses exalts and values what is sacred, and gives purpose to what is chaotic
  • Most of the larger islands have lighthouses and some smaller islands have them
  • Some islands have been demanding lighthouses, but have not been granted them
    • This causes some tension between the lighthouse order and smaller islands as well as between the lighthouseless islands and the lighthoused islands
  • The lighthouses exude a magical light and generally are attuned to the weather and will come on on command
    • However, they require blood to maintain their connection to this world so the keepers and/or maintainers must give their own blood for it
  • The lighthouses were originally built to try and search the water for the fae and, later, for the children the fae stole, but that knowledge has been mostly lost to time
    • A few books remain that make mention of this, but they are thought of as obscure dark folktales 
  • The lighthouses each have a name separate from the name of the island they're on
    • This name is the life that was sacrificed to make them--ideal keepers and maintainers are descended from the bloodline of the one that was sacrificed
  • The gods think the lighthouses useful as they help connect their followers, but they do fear that one day they will find the fae and uncover the secret world beneath the waves and thus make contact with Sioga whom most despise
  • The lighthouses also require basic maintenance like painting or patching the roof and they can be damaged in storms etc.

(Prompt from The Ultimate RPG Game Master's Worldbuilding Guide: Prompts and Activities to Create and Customize Your Own Game World by James D'Amato)

"Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)" by V.L.


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