Welcome to Lani

A brief history of Lani

Thousands of years ago, the land was not safe to travel, filled with warring factions and nightmarish creatures. Villagers would disappear in the night. Mighty heroes rose across the land to fight back against this darkness until one day, known as the Lighting, the last of the evil creatures were beaten back and destroyed, ushering in a new era of peace, prosperity, and joy. On the Lighting, at the capital city of Pua, their land was renamed “Lani”, meaning heaven, or sky.

The people of Lani flourished with their newfound freedom from the darkness. New cities were built up, lands were explored that were previously too dangerous. The idea of adventurers dwindled in people’s minds as this was replaced with the more common roles needed to allow a civilization to flourish: schools, trades, governments, legal, finance, sciences, and more. While some folks would become explorers and learn the ways of the land, heroes had become the thing of old folks’ stories told around a campfire, passed down from generation to generation.

All these centuries later, though, there are stories spreading. Things that shouldn’t be. People dismiss them as the tales as the stories of madmen who have had too much wine, but some folks have started locking their doors, just in case. 

Basic geography of Lani

Lani is an enormous island locked in by wide oceans in all directions. The town of Pua sits on the eastern shore, catching the morning’s first rays in the great Tower of Lighting. Though not the largest city, it is one of the oldest ones in Lani.

There are several other villages and towns spread across Lani, and the center of the island features tall mountain ranges that are the native ancestral lands of several races such as the dwarves, the orcs, the goblins, kobolds, and other folk that are happy within the darker mines and caves.

In the north of Lani lie the towns and cities of the elves, though over time many other folk have settled there. Rich in forests and fields, these are some of the most beautiful parts of Lani.

Humans have tended over the centuries to congregate in the south along major trade routes and cities. The larger cities tend to develop a mixed group of inhabitants and are often the best places to find places of learning and work.

Theology and species

Lani is an incredibly diverse land filled with many different belief systems and different peoples. Over the centuries of peace there has been an elimination of old racial tensions and religious persecutions. It is even fully accepted to honour no gods at all, if that is your path. Those who work with demons, once considered an evil thing, are now better understood and do not have to hide their practices any more. It is no longer unheard of to see a demon teaching a class at the Hexen tower, or a dwarven cleric of Tyr having candid conversations over dinner with a Dragonborn paladin of Tiamat.

While most species have had generations upon generations since the Lighting, the more long-lived races like the elves, dwarves, and dragons have a closer ancestral lore to the times before. They will still have clearer stories of the dark times and may even have oral histories from only a few generations back. The more short-lived mortal races such as the humans and halflings are so far removed from those millennia ago that it has become nothing but a vague celebration of festival dates or greetings without much understanding of the source.