The Place
Sundered Valley's not a bad place to live… if you're quick on your feet and have a good place to hide. Pinned between the coalition of the Arcane Lands and the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea, it occupies the only sizeable gap in the mountain range that separates the two, rulers are few and far between, and they don't tend to last long. Five years ago it was trampled by the most recent White Crusade and it hasn't really recovered since, especially as the valley's ruler at that time disappeared just as the crusade swept through.
Most of the people of Sundered Valley are humans and halflings, there are also a few dwarves and the occasional village of ogres that doesn't kill everyone in sight. The Valley is heavily forested and has a few swamps, as well as few noteworthy towns. The town usually considered to be the "capital" of Sundered Valley is Algamesh's Stand, where the titular warrior once defeated a dragon that was menacing the place. No one remembers what the town was called before then.
The People
That's you, you're descendants of the last ruler, Algamesh Threefingers(he still had all his, but he inherited the name from a pirate ancestor). A reclusive adventurer who often spent years away from his lands with his party, he managed to "sow his oats" well around the world, and you're one of those. You might be half human, full human, or neither, just someone who's faked the papers to get a piece of the glory, but what little authority Sundered Valley has, managed to track you down. You jumped at the opportunity to get rich, to make a difference or just to get out of whatever you were in.
Your stats: 24d6, split them between your six stats. You must roll at least 3d6 for each stat, and a max of 6d6 for any one. If you roll more than 3d6, the three best dice are kept and the rest are discarded.
Ruleset: Player's Option, Skills & Powers. We're doing it by the book, no huge changes except possibly to racial level limits if we hit them. Fighting schools from Savage Coast are permitted, as are custom fighting schools(subject to GM approval), the CP cost for one weapon proficiency for your class buys you two Secret Passes from your fighting school.
House Rules: Mages benefit from the extra spells/day that Clerics yet, but governed by Intelligence instead of Wisdom. Custom fighting schools.
Starting XP: 7500
Starting Gold: 1000
Unusual Items: Scrolls can be purchased for 100xTheir level^2, so 100 gold for a 1st-level scroll, 400 gold for a 2nd-level scroll and 900 gold for a 3rd-level scroll.
Requests: Please no races that are too "wacky" and try to limit any arcane powers.
Earning more Character Points: 4 CP awarded per level above 1st, divide by your number of classes if multi-class.
The Neighbours
The Kingdom of the Ivory Sea is a seaside realm that has swallowed up every minor state between where the barrier mountains reach the sea in the north, and the Bleak Marshes in the south. They're ruled by a royal family that gets their authority from the Ivory Lion, a deity who preaches Purity and the Natural Order. Their clerics are mostly devoted to ferreting out unholy/unnatural practices(necromancy and arcane magic foremost among them), and both are completely banned in the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea. Healing and blessings are only used in times of war, or if members of the royal family or their advisory council fall ill or are seriously injured. Most of the Kingdom is fields, forests and rolling hills, most of the residents are human, high-elven or dwarven.
The Arcane Lands are what lie beyond the Barrier Mountains, a loose coalition of small kingdoms, duchies and princedoms where magic is freely practised. There are no limitations on what any mage is allowed to do, as long as he adheres to laws of the land he's in(and often the mages wield enough power to write those laws.) and no mage ever tries to impose his will on another. Unfortunately this lax attitude means that for every well-intentioned enchanter or beneficient church that's been driven out of the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea, there are a dozen necromancers and fiend-summoning arcanists. But without this alliance of necessity, the mages of the Arcane Lands would long ago have been picked off, state by state, by the Kingdom of the Ivory Sea. The lands of the wood elves lie to the far north-east of the Arcane Lands, but little else is known about their distant borders.
The Remaining Details
Start Date: 1st of April, 2011(not an April's Fools joke)
Run Time: Approximately 6pm, Fridays(EST).
Misc Info
Just stuff I'm too lazy to note down anywhere else.
Naming conventions
Ivorian: French/German
Dwarven/Gnomish: Russian, Slovak, Polish
Gray Elven: Iranian/Arabic
Orcish: Chinese/Indian