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General Introduction

    Most large-area maps, most place-names, and some details of culture and government detailed herein are copyright TSR, Inc. (a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.) while many names for demi-human gods are, in fact, owned in trust by Tolkien Enterprises, Inc.  Most other individuals, descriptions, cultures and cultural elements, and other assorted odds and ends are the creation of Jerry Alan Sayers and his associates, and should not be used without permission (write to dusty@sayersnet.com).  Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Please do not sue me.

    This campaign setting has been under construction since 16 May, 1991.  Most serious work on the present form of the World has been undertaken since March, 1995. The long and haphazard nature of this world-building has, at times, resulted in a less than perfectly consistent setting, and certainly in less than perfectly consistent writing, as the texts include work by authors ranging in learning (so far) from Jethro Clampett's sixth grade education to museum directors and holders of multiple graduate degrees, and they were originally written with a variety of motives and goals in mind.  Keep this in mind as you read, but remember that everything here is more or less official, regardless of the date or nature of its provenance.  Feel free, however, to report any mis-spellings.

    Most of our recent adventures (in the second incarnation of the World, originally conceived as taking place about five centuries before the wild events of the first series of adventures) have been based out of Fort Nell, as it is in a convenient location for any number and nature of heroic endeavours.  Fort Nell also played two small and inconsistent but highly memorable roles in our earlier adventures--beware the Giant Carp and the justice of Lord Nell.  Consequently, it has been chosen as the emblem of this site (please do not sue me).

    Presently, the resources available for players and Dungeon Masters are limited to the Field Guide to Northern Darokin, the Field Guide to Central Darokin, certain maps and illustrations, and the condensed works that outline the privileges and duties of Clerics and Paladins of the Church of Draik (the principal human religion in the Republic of Darokin and the Kingdom of Tralada), although not all of these are yet available on-line for a variety of reasons.  In addition to these game resources, Fort Nell On-Line may eventually have information about using an IRC programme for on-line gaming.  If this is made available, technical information and information regarding all formalities and conventions associated with our system of on-line gaming will have their own chapters of Fort Nell On-Line.

    The introductory passages and 'A Brief Chronology of Darokin and the Surrounding Lands' from the Field Guide to Northern Darokin have been excepted to form their own chapters of Fort Nell On-Line.  The provincial and town descriptions from the Field Guides form chapters of their own--one for each major region.  These are written in the form of travel guides, and will help players and Dungeon Masters find their way around the cities, towns, High Roads, waterways, byways, and back ways of the Republic of Darokin.  Each Field Guide regional chapter contains all pertinent town information, and has a hyper linked index to the towns.  Each volume of The Way of Draik and the Edicts of the Church Militant, the principal reference works for priests and paladins of the Church of Draik, forms a chapter of its own on the site, and is available for download in Microsoft Word format (presently the books are formatted in Word to be printed out on legal paper for binding--feel free to edit the formatting, but not the text, of these works).  Relevant maps, coats of arms, and other illustrations will, when scanned, be attached to the texts to which they are most pertinent, or else grouped under some other convenient heading.

    In the future, it is our intention to add other resources of a more informal, 'hats-off,' nature to help familiarise players and Dungeon Masters with the World in which Fort Nell is located.  These resources will give a guide to accents, suggestions for creating names and backgrounds suitable for characters from various parts of the World, and other assorted historical, social, and religious facts for which no better home can be easily found.  We also hope to add more regional Field Guides and greater detail to existing Field Guides and histories, as well as some 'hats-on' works of a literary or religious nature (for example, chapters from the Almanac of Tarvo, the Path of Akor, and the Book of Draik, as well as the long awaited literary reviews of such classics as Love in the Breaking and its neo-Romantic 'sequel' Carmine, descriptions of reference works such as the Encyclopædia Magica, abstracts of works of magical and scientific theory, and synopses of such self-help books as Phil's Netiquette).

    We are also keen on pretty pictures, if anyone wants to illustrate anything for purely æsthetic reasons and submit it by mail or as a scanned image (mail dusty@sayersnet.com for submission details).

    Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, along with other Role-Playing Games, often suffers from a bad reputation in certain religious circles.  Some RPGs, or at least their players, probably deserve this reputation, but it is our opinion that AD&D, at least, is a tool that may be used without moral opprobrium.  One way the creator of this setting has chosen to reduce blasphemy and heresy in daily play has been to create religions for game use that do not involve any real-world religious figures (assuming, at least, that any exceptionally backwards Greeks do not take offense at the expropriation of Posei-Da-on, Da-Mater, or Argeiphontes for their inclusion in the Thyatian pantheon; likewise, we hope the King of Norway will forgive our use of Wotan and his friends in the Heldanic pantheon).

    The author and the majority of the players who have enjoyed this world are practising Christians.  The use of invented religions is not meant as apostasy or the denunciation of the Christian church or any other faith.  The creation of Draikism was an expedient to allow Player Characters to call on the name of their god without the players themselves feeling any danger of transgressing the Third Commandment.  While it is the official opinion of Fort Nell On-Line that the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, can effectively turn undead, cure serious wounds, and generally improve the world at large, it is felt that His name should not be casually invoked for the purposes of game play, even when the players are aware of the difference between fantasy and reality, and even when their characters are using their faith to perform good works.  Likewise, the employment of created religions permits the Dungeon Master to effectively role-play villains, monsters, and those annoying Minrosian Witnesses who knock at your portcullis, any of whom might wish to deny or denounce the Player Characters' religions, with a clear conscience.

    This is a game.  Have fun!

    Address any questions, comments, suggestions, legal problems, or other correspondence to Jerry Alan 'Dusty' Sayers.
 

Updated 21 November, 2007