The Quelmar Realm

X Worldbuilders:

GM James R

Quelmar has 4 major landmasses and 3 minor

The Quelmar Realm (or just Quelmar) is the Prime Material Plane of this many-planed universe in which all of the Quelmar-based Campaigns take place.

About

Quelmar's sky is red, folks. It's red. It always has been.

Quelmar is the Prime Material Plane of games set within the Quelmar universe. Prime Material Planes are considered the lynchpin and seed of a universe, as creating a Prime Material Plane exerts an immense amount of force even for the greatest deities. For this reason, many gods are content with governing their existent universe, rather than create new universes. Some Deities, however, are present in many universes, and have been attributed to the creation of several prime material planes.

Moon Planes

When creating a prime plane, the swirling energies of proto-matter used to dictate the space-time typically collide and regroup through gravitational collisions after prime-creation. This phenomenon means that creating a prime material plane almost always guarantees the creation of several additional planes which now exist within this new universe. While some can liken them to other planets, it is more appropriate to look at them as moons, as all planes within a universe gravitate around a prime plane through the Great Wheel cosmology.

A common map of the realm around 465 PR

Shape

Quelmar is a flat plane with only a slight positive curvature. Sailing off the edges of the mapped oceans places the unfortunate soul in the ethereal plane.

History

See also Timeline of the Quelmar Realm

Pictured: A crude imagining of the super continent Ywrought. Notice how Oppidan fits snugly when the Dolina peninsula swings out, and how the north and southern biomes match as well. The most popular images of the continent place Levinkan either on the far west, or in the northwest (adjacent to Isonhound)

Ywrought

It is mostly accepted by scholars that Quelmar was created as one island surrounded by an outer sea. The name Ywrought has been given to this island, though this is only a contemporary label. Evidence of this claim can be found in the unusual peninsulas of Amusa and Pteris, as well as the the matching coastlines of south Osugbo and north Amusa. Because no coastlines seem to explain Kiston's position or shape, it is also accepted that Kiston either was an addition to the realm after the landmasses split or was the reason for the split to begin with.

The Levinkan Warp Controversy

Theorists of the super continent theory have also struggled to piece together the presence of Levinkan in current south Osugbo. While the matching coastlines of Amusa and Osugbo seem to indicate connectivity, they can not be joined with Levinkan in the way. One radical theory speculates that Levinkan originated from the far west, and some prehistorical event either physically moved or teleported the continent to its current location. Little evidence of this theory exists besides anecdotal scrolls known only to the Levinkan lineage. One popular theory speculates that, because most major populations in Quelmar originated in the east, the Levinkan channeled or hired powerful forces to place his empire in the middle of the most activity.

The End

Pictured: The Tourbillion

Following the sinking of Kiston and the Fracturing of the Weave at the end of the PR era, the sinkhole where Kiston once stood became a slow ticking timer to armageddon. As the oceans drained, the landmasses of Quelmar floated slowly but surely towards each other. The massive red arcane sinkhole became energized with the remnants of the magic of the realm, and while the realm moved almost indiscernibly, by the 400s CR, the logarithmic rate of the flow meant that the continents had picked up considerable speed. By 595 CR, the continents had clashed and massive chunks were torn from the terrain and into the sinkhole.

Weather

See also: Quelmar Seasons

In Prehistoric Times, Quelmar's seasons were sporadic and unpredictable, and most races lived either in dense woods or underground as nomadic life was difficult in unpredictable weather.

But eventually after the War of Essence, the elemental chaos was sundered into equal planes, which would then determine a regular pattern of seasons. The four planes drift closer and farther to the material plane in a four year cycle and this causes seasonal shifts across the continent. The closer the conjunction between two planes is to the material plane, the stronger that season. When the meeting of earth and fire is closest to Quelmar, fall is the dominant season, and even Breme may have a month or so of warmer weather out of the years-long fall season.

The weather in Quelmar is determined by the realm's nearest planar neighbors: the four elemental planes of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. A geographical location's proximity to the planes is the reason for its climate. For example, at the conjunction of air and water planes there is a vast ice sheet. The winds and climate of this ice sheet creates the endless winter seen in Breme. The meeting of fire and air planes causes an inferno, and therefore central Pteris is a dry, arid desert. Overall, the combinations of the planes causes winter to be the dominant season in the NW of the world, spring in the NE, fall in the SE, and summer in the SW.

The shining example of Quelmar weather is the climate on Kiston. At the direct center of the world, Kiston truly experiences all four seasons evenly over the course of four years: one year of winter, one year of spring, one year of fall, and one year of summer.

Geography

Major Continents

• Pteris
• Isonhound
• Amusa
• Osugbo

Minor Continents

• Kiston

• Breme
• Levinkan

Other Land Masses

• Gulfithorpe Islands
• Isle Meregrund

Behind the Screen

Pictured: The original sketch of Quelmar done in class in 2013.

Quelmar is an original world built by DM James in early 2013, the Quelmar realm has gone from a notebook sketch to a fully fledged and continually expanded world full of rich history, epic tales, and an extremely exotic selection of locations, environments, creatures, and people. It draws most of its inspirations from Eberron and the Forgotten Realms, but is also home to original races, creatures, gods, cities, and most importantly: Heroes. Quelmar has now been home to over 450 sessions from over 32 different campaign game masters (and innumerous one-shot GMs), spanning 55 campaigns across a trove of RPG systems, running well over 2000 collective hours of gaming, worldbuilding, and character development. Because it is such a fledgling world, many DMs have been working together to flesh it out. If you have ideas, feel free to put them on the wiki or find the Tales of Quelmar facebook group.

More behind-the-screen history of the realm, the community, and more can be found on the Real History of the Quelmar Realm page.

Gallery

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