The Empire of Faldera

The Empire of Faldera is the dominant power in Graywater. It’s vast, multicultural, and politically complex—but held together by one figure: Empress Ninsima. Once a fearsome warrior, now an aging ruler, she favors peace and unity and surrounds herself with former adventurers and skilled advisors.

Faldera brought stability to a chaotic world, uniting fractured territories under a single rule. Slavery was abolished, and decades ago, the Empress declared a jubilee that pardoned all debt across the empire. But time moves on. Debts have returned, and with them, the quiet reappearance of debtors’ prisons and indenture.

Today, corporations operate like noble houses, and power flows through contracts, favors, and arcane patents. Adventurers, mercenaries, and contractors are common across the empire, often working on behalf of private companies or imperial ministries.

Life in Graywater

For most people, life in Graywater is much like life in any other fantasy world: you work, you trade, you pray, and you try not to get eaten by something from the deep. The biggest difference is the sea. Everyone depends on it; whether you fish, farm kelp, crew a vessel, or work the docks; the ocean feeds and funds nearly every part of life.

There are few forests left. Old growth timber is rare and precious, especially for shipbuilding. Most structures are stone, salvaged, or magically reinforced. Land is scarce, and cities cling to rocky islands, cliff faces, and engineered plateaus. Travel by boat or airship is common, but dangerous.

At the heart of Graywater lies the Empire of Faldera, a sprawling, multicultural power whose influence rivals that of the old world’s legends. Its capital, New Falda, is massive and chaotic—an urban sprawl of towers, bridges, and floating districts teeming with trade, magic, politics, crime, and opportunity. It's a place where nobles rub shoulders with dockworkers, adventurers seek fortunes or fame, and entire corporations own city blocks. If you can’t find it in New Falda, it probably doesn’t exist.

Gods (Cultural/Species Specific)

• Icare, the Merciful (he/him) — God of forgiveness and equality (Human aspect).

• Icare, the Great Scales (he/they) — Dwarven interpretation of Icare, god of balance and retribution.

• Ariane, the Great Lady (she/her) — Goddess of beauty, just reward, and artistry. Patron of halflings and creatives.

• Perdix, the Barbed Lash (he/him) — God of punishment, law, and intimidation. Worshipped by orc judges and enforcers. 

• Elizdi, the Sea Bringer (she/her) — Elven goddess of the sea, sailors, and safe passage in life and death.

Demi-Gods and Godlike Beings

• Divo, the Voideater (he/him) — Ovid’s shadow, devourer of space and meaning. Not a god, but something close.

• Namora, the Breath of the Sea — Spirit of the sea wind, worshipped more as a superstition than a deity.

• Omid, His Human Form (he/him) — Said to be Icare in human form. Worshipped by humans; seen as prophet by dwarves.

• Nakama, the Promise Kept — Orc Demigod of promises and bonds. Appears in many stories, often disguised as a friend or lover.

Elves & Half-Elves

Elves in Graywater have a deep connection to the sea—spiritual, cultural, and practical. Since the Great Flood, they have adapted to a world where trees are rare and the ocean is inescapable. Wood Elves often live and die at sea, seeing the ships they live on as living extensions of the forests that once were. High Elves, on the other hand, are frequently drawn to libraries and archives, believing that paper and knowledge—born from trees—are sacred.

Elves are common across Graywater but never numerous. They can only bear two elven children in their lives, which has led to a culture centered around legacy, memory, and intentionality. Many elven communities are tight-knit and deliberate, built on long-standing traditions shaped by thousands of years of survival.

Half-Elves in Graywater are almost always raised within elven communities and traditions. They are seen in all ways as elves, especially within the Empire of Faldera. Most carry the same reverence for books, ships, and legacy as their culture.

There is a price to being elven in this world. The god of the sea, Elizdi, is said to guide the souls of dead elves to their rest. If an elf dies too far from the ocean, these poor souls will not find rest. They rise again as powerful, dangerous undead called the Undrowned. The Undrowned are feared across Graywater, and every elven community has rituals to ensure their dead are laid to rest properly—often by returning them to the sea.

Half-Elves are not naturally affected by this curse. However, an Undrowned can spread the condition to both Elves and Half-Elves. This makes them not only a deadly threat but a contagious one. The fear of the Undrowned runs deep through elven culture, and few elves take the risk of dying far from the water lightly.

Orcs

Orc history before the Great Flood is shrouded in mystery. Whatever their origins, very little of their pre-flood culture survived. But in the wake of devastation, orcs adapted. Across the flooded world, they filled the niches left behind by lost peoples—inhabiting the ruins of dwarves, bugbears, elves, and more. Rather than discard the cultures they found, many orcs embraced them. They claimed the archives, customs, and identities of the fallen as their own.

As a result, orc culture is deeply varied and profoundly adoptive. Some dwarven clans see certain orc clans as long-lost kin. Elven communities whisper stories of orcish caretakers protecting sacred groves or abandoned archives. Though some older Falderans still cling to the outdated belief that orcs are "impostors," most now accept orc clans as legitimate cultural heirs. Under Empress Ninsima’s reign, orcs have become relatively well-integrated into Graywater.

Many orcs become historians, archivists, or cultural stewards—not out of duty to their own lost past, but to preserve the histories they’ve chosen to carry forward. Orcs often see themselves as guardians of memory, history, and legacy.

Orcs are especially common in regions that were hit hardest by the flood—places where few others survived, and orcs made homes out of what was left. Half-Orcs are widespread as well, since many orc cultures consider themselves fully part of the communities they inherited. Conflicts do arise—between orc clans and outsiders, or even between orc clans with different cultural origins—but so too do alliances, forged in shared survival.

Aarakocra

Aarakocra are rare in Graywater. Most who see one assume they are foreign, and many are. Though native to the Bottom Left Quadrant—particularly nations like Partridge Flock and Hawk Esson—Aarakocra have only begun migrating into the Empire of Faldera in significant numbers within the last few centuries, after the World Storm began to calm.

Despite their rarity, a number of Aarakocra have roosted in Graywater for generations. Small communities exist in the capital and surrounding cities, often taking residence in high towers or coastal spires. Others make their homes in the western mountains known as the Spear, where the wind still sings like it does in the old country.

While many retain the cultural traditions of their homeland—communal sky-roosting, oral storytelling, reverence for the wind—most have adapted to city life. Aarakocra culture in Faldera is a blend of ancestral customs and urban adaptation. Many Aarakocra still follow gods from the Bottom Left Quadrant, especially Adularia (god of humility and wisdom), The Flock (god of community), and The Hawk (god of individual strength and ambition). Some rare followers still honor Wakanama, the ancient god said to have split into both The Flock and The Hawk.

Whether long-established residents or recent arrivals, Aarakocra are often seen as observant, swift, and reserved—never quite out of place, but never fully at home.

Dwarves

Dwarves in Graywater are a people shaped by tradition, survival, and memory. Most are born as quadruplets, and traditional dwarven cultures lack gendered roles or expectations—outside of basic biology, dwarves are physically uniform, with thick braided beards regardless of sex. In the Dwarven tongue, there are no gendered pronouns; all dwarves are referred to with masculine ones by default. While modern dwarves have adopted and welcomed gender expression based on exposure to other cultures, many traditionalists find the discussion awkward, taboo, or simply embarrassing.

Dwarves share a deep cultural connection with orcs, despite having entirely different origins. When the flood came, many orcs inherited the homes, ruins, and traditions of dwarven clans that did not survive. Rather than resent this, many dwarves honor it. Dwarves care deeply about seeing their clan legacies endure, and orc clans that uphold dwarven values are often treated as spiritual successors: allies, rivals, or even blood kin.

Many dwarves still live in mountain strongholds or vast tunnel networks carved deep into the earth. These underground halls were both shelter during the flood and the cradle of dwarven identity. Surface-dwelling dwarves tend to settle in marshes or wetlands, where they practice agriculture in harmony with the environment—an unusual skill set among the industrial peoples of Graywater.

Dwarves are known throughout Graywater for their smithing. The old ironsmithing traditions survived the flood intact and remain some of the finest in the world. Whether forging armor, crafting sacred relics, or defending ancient strongholds, dwarves take pride in doing things the right way—their way.

Goblins

Goblins are one of the most common peoples in Graywater. Unlike mammalian species, goblins are fungal in origin. They emerge in breeding pools as part of a large mycological pod formed around a sleeping creature known as a Grot Seed—a rare type of goblin who spends almost their entire life asleep at the pod’s center.

Goblin size and intelligence are loosely determined by their proximity to the Grot Seed during development. Goblins closer to the center tend to be smaller and sharper, while those that grow farther out often become larger, stronger, and more single-minded. In traditional goblin cultures, the communal sleep-pile remains sacred, with goblins clustering around the Grot Seed even after emerging. In cities and mixed cultures, this practice is often abandoned—but not always forgotten.

Goblin culture tends to emphasize reuse, adaptation, and communal living. Many goblins are expert scavengers, collectors, and salvagers—traits which have led to stereotypes in more hierarchical societies. But the truth is simple: goblins waste nothing, and find value where others see only junk.

Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears all speak the Goblin language, though only hobgoblins share their fungal origins. Hobgoblins and other “variant goblins” like Redcaps are formed from altered pod environments—soaked in arcane or toxic soil—and are not commonly found or playable in most campaigns. Bugbears, while mammalian, have long lived alongside goblins and share a symbiotic cultural history.

Aasimar

Aasimar are not a people or culture unto themselves—they are a phenomenon. An Aasimar may be born into any species, any lineage, and any nation, though it happens rarely. Somewhere deep in their bloodline lies a connection to a celestial being: an angel of Sinon, a herald of Ovid, or something stranger still. That divine spark may have slumbered for generations, only to awaken in a single child.

Because of this, Aasimar in Graywater come in many forms. Some are clearly touched by the divine: glowing eyes, radiant skin, voices like cathedral bells. Others seem nearly ordinary until fate—or magic—draws their nature to the surface. Even the gods may not know why one person inherits the spark and another does not.

Being an Aasimar is as much a question as it is an answer. It may be a calling, a curse, or a key to something larger. Most who carry celestial blood feel its weight, whether they follow a god or not. Some are hunted. Some are revered. Most simply try to live with the knowledge that they are... different.

Dragonborn

Dragonborn are exceptionally rare in Graywater. Most hail from a distant and largely uninhabitable homeland—the Charred Isles in the far north. Long after the Great Flood, a second cataclysm struck: a freezing extinction event that wiped out most of the Dragonborn population and their diverse bloodlines. Only those who had already left—or who escaped in time—survived.

As a result, Dragonborn are often seen as foreign or even mythical by Falderans. Most live as wanderers or scholars, carrying the weight of a lost homeland on their backs. Traditions, technologies, and cultural practices are passed down with great care. Among these are the tools that allow them to retain their ancestral breath weapons.

Most modern Dragonborn cannot produce their breath weapon naturally. Instead, they rely on assistive devices: tubes—external or internal—that connect to the bile sac within their throats. These systems regulate the release of breath weapon fluid, which is also used in digestion. Dragonborn often eat raw food and use this internal combustion as a cultural and biological adaptation. Some never undergo the procedure at all, and for them, the breath is not a weapon but a bodily process—more furnace than flame.

Dragonborn are treated with curiosity or reverence by those who know their history—and as strange outsiders by those who don’t. To play a Dragonborn in Graywater is to embody a legacy that burns quietly, but never dies.