GrassSpider's Webs

General Description

The world called Benzoam is a planet roughly the size of the planet Jupiter in our own solar system.  The climate is similar to Earth, but with larger temperate and arctic zones.  All races from D&D 3.5 are represented on this world and each race has their own creation story.  Humans are a minority among humanoids and monsters are highly prevalent on the Material Plane.  The Ethereal Plane has a much weaker barrier to cross than in other worlds, which makes it far more common for spirits, ghosts and other incorporeal creatures to appear.  This barrier has been weakening slowly since the Gods' presence stopped being felt by the denizens of Benzoam.

Disappearance of the Gods

The disappearance of the Gods and Goddesses worshipped in the world of Benzoam caused a great deal of disturbance.  Other than the rare favored souls and seers who were warned of what was coming, none of the denizens had any knowledge of the events that lead up to the missing deities.  The Age of Peace had endured for over 1000 years and all of the good and neutral races knew only a sense of deep cooperation.  They lived together in complete harmony, as did the evil races on their own continents.  There was not even one among the long-lived elves who could remember a time when their world was not filled with peace and harmony.  Monsters were rarely ever sighted and there was not a conflict for which the people could not find a peaceful resolution.

For many years, seers and diviners tried to warn the people of a coming cataclysm that would change the world as they knew it.  They told tales of years to come that would be cloaked in darkness without even a single star to light the night sky.  Days where the dead would walk freely and without fear among the living, with no one able to do anything about it.  None of the people believed these few voices, so they kept their own council.  When the dark day finally arrived, there were only three left who had any clue what would become of them.  These three, who had found sympathetic ears in one another, vowed to keep all of the little information they had in trust for future generations.  They firmly believe that, though they didn't understand it, their notes held the key to reversing whatever the cataclysm had caused in the Outer Planes.

Contact with the Planes

The cataclysm had the effect of completely blocking all contact between the Inner and Outer Planes.  All of the deities were put into a state of suspended animation.  The demons and devils of the Lower Planes run wild throughout their domains and, having lost any hope of accessing the Inner Planes, began to war against the Upper Planes.  As the barrier wall between the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes grew stronger over the years since the Cataclysm, the barriers between individual planes in each of section are slowly growing weaker.  The Plane of Shadow dims the light on the Prime Material Plane, causing fewer hours of light in the day each year the problem with the barriers remains unresolved.

Magic Differences

With the barrier changes also came some changes to magic.  Innate or spontaneous casters slowly became more common while trained magic users found it more difficult to learn and remember spells.  In the current time, wizards are almost non-existant among the shorter-lived races and those among the longer-lived races are difficult to find.  Those who rely upon a divine connection are no longer able to replenish their spells or gain new ones, thus their pupils could not be taught more than theory about divine magic.  Only those whose faith is not at all tained with doubt are able to fend off the growing number of undead, and their numbers have dwindled dramatically over time.

...to be completed.