History TabletopGame / Banestorm

* LadyOfWar: Caithness has always been the only kingdom to allow female knights, ever since a noblewoman distinguished herself defending the independence of Caithness against Megalos and was knighted by the King. Numbers of female knights vary between knightly orders, but one order is mentioned having one female in five and another with one in ten. Also, a number of Caithness noblewomen prefer hawking as an entertainment to [[TextileWorkIsFeminine needlework]]. All of which works fine; Caithness is an easygoing country with room for both {{Proper Lad|y}}ies and {{Spirited Young Lad|y}}ies.

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Yrth has fairly conventional (human/horse-like) centaurs. Loren'dil has neither humans nor horses, so the mere existence of horses (initially seen as deformed or maimed centaurs) may confuse or horrify centaurs, and they dislike the paraphernalia of human horse-riding. They live in small nomadic herds across the plains of al-Wazif, al-Haz, Cardiel, and the Orclands. Most are brash, impetuous, footloose party animals, and not especially bright, but a few are highly intelligent and scholarly — thus reflecting both the Greek legends of thuggish centaurs (in toned-down form) and the atypical intellectual centaur Chiron.

* SingleBiomePlanet: None of the old worlds seem to have had environments as diverse as humanity's Earth:

** And, of course, there was the thorny question of whether non-humans could be converted or not. The Muslims noted the {{Djinn}} in their SacredLiterature and figured "if a spirit of fire can be a Muslim, so can a goblin". Christians had more trouble, since Literature/TheBible doesn't say much on the topic of non-humans, but they eventually concluded that it would probably be wrong and definitely be very impolite to ignore the possibility of conversion. Theologians even have theories about parallel evolutions from [[AdamAndOrEve Adam]] pulled through dimensions and such, or that they're outcasts from a different Eden, or somesuch. Another theory is also basically the premise of ''WestOfEden'': Adam and Eve left Eden and travelled east. What was on the other side?

* FantasyPantheon: In opposition to the real-life human religions, the elven and dwarven religions native to Yrth don't have gods at all, but follow the Eternal, [[{{Pantheism}} an animistic gestalt consciousness that pervades every piece of the universe's fabric]]. The elves worship the Eternal through animals and plants, while dwarves worship stone and metal as their chosen part of the Eternal. The other worlds of Gabrook, Olokun, and Loren'dil had their own pantheons as well, but few still worship the ancient gods, having converted to one of the human religions or turned to Eternal-worship, with the exceptions of the lizard men (those that didn't convert to Islam that is) mostly still worshipping the god of strength Bozdaag, the shark men wishing to bring their very active [[EldritchAbomination old gods]] over to Yrth, and centaurs being the only people of Loren'dil that fully kept their faith in the old pantheon (especially in Atallie, goddess of learning and wisdom).

* {{Medusa}}s are a ''race'' on Yrth, with the traditional features (including a petrifying gaze weapon — just looking at one is okay). They are always female; they interbreed with humans, elves, or orcs to produce more medusas (or occasional male babies with recessive medusa genes). Unfortunately, the petrifying gaze thing means that they are widely treated as monsters, which may in turn be enough to explain their mostly negative view of other races. One online article describes an island village ruled by a noble family whose womenfolk are all, unbeknownst to the outside world, medusas.

->''"Welcome to the land of Yrth, a magical realm of incredibly varied races and monsters – including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the cataclysmic Banestorm! Whole villages were transported – from such diverse locales as medieval England, France, Germany, and the Far East. Now humans struggle with dwarves, elves, and each other. The Crusades aren't ancient history here – they're current events!"''

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The point of the original Bane spell was to summon 'something that will deal with the orcs'. In a manner of speaking, ''[[GoneHorriblyRight it did]]'': it summoned humans, who promptly set about exterminating the orcs, but the elves swiftly realised that to deal with the orcs, they'd summoned people that, while marginally more friendly, posed a far greater long-term threat to them.

-->''“What '''harm'''?” he cried. “Ten long years ago, your orc pets burned a village on the coast of Araterre. Perhaps you have forgotten; they were just another few deaths among many, for a necromancer. But that village was home to the woman who owned my heart. Since then I have followed your trail across deserts and seas, and foiled a dozen of your schemes – today, you will pay for that murder.”\\
“Ah, yes. I do remember.” Suddenly the voice was no longer calm or even; it was amused...''

* FantasyPantheon: In opposition to the real-life human religions, the elven/dwarven religions native to Yrth don't have gods at all, but follow the Eternal, [[{{Pantheism}} an animistic gestalt consciousness that pervades every piece of the universe's fabric]]. The elves worship the Eternal through animals and plants, while dwarves worship stone and metal as their chosen part of the Eternal. The other worlds of Gabrook, Olokun, and Loren'dil had their own pantheons as well, but few still worship the ancient gods, having converted to one of the human religions or turned to Eternal-worship, with the exceptions of the lizard men (those that didn't convert to Islam that is) mostly still worshipping the god of strength Bozdaag, the shark men wishing to bring their very active [[EldritchAbomination old gods]] over to Yrth, and centaurs being the only people of Loren'dil that fully kept their faith in the old pantheon (especially in Atallie, goddess of learning and wisdom).

** While not of Christian origin, the Islamic sect of the Balikites qualify. They are lead by Balik Abdallah al-Firuz, a Shi'ite mullah from northern al-Haz who is extremely against magic and so consider mages infidels. While the Sultan of al-Haz hates the Balikites with a passion for their murder of one of his most trusted advisors and has put a hefty bounty on Balik's head, most Hazi mullahs are very apathetic towards the sect in spite of their murderous brutality. In al-Wazif, where magic is far more accepted, Balikites are treated as criminals and are sentenced to death by public torture if they are captured.
* HornyVikings. Invoked by some of the tribes of the Nomad Lands, which are in part descended from Norse settlers ... at least, those tribes that aren't descended from [[Myth/CelticMythology Celtic Warriors]], that is.

* LizardFolk: The Reptile Men, a race of reptile people originally from the Desert World of Gabrook.

* MedievalPrehistory: The bestiary includes "bushwolves", "paladins", and "treetippers" - from their descriptions and illustrations, they're evidently thylacines, glyptodonts, and giant ground sloths [[CallARabbitASmeerp by other names]]. "Striders" may be [[FeatheredFiend one of the many species of flightless predatory bird]] that appear from time to time in the fossil record.

** The homeworld of the goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, and reptile men, Gabrook, was an arid desert planet.
** Olokun, the merfolk and shark men's homeworld, was an ocean planet where all but small islands were covered by water for most of the time, save for violent daily tidal shifts that would briefly turn small islands into large landmasses before covering them up again.
** The centaurs, giants, halflings, and minonotaurs from Loren'dil remember their world as a verdant GhibliHills, made of plains interspersed with swathes of dense forest and thick meadows, with trees tall enough to reach the clouds.

* {{Wutai}}: The nation of Sahud, a definitely Japanese-inspired kingdom with strong Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian elements. This is justified in that, like all of Banestorm's human cultures, Sahud was founded by humans from the cultures it now resembles - but most of those transported were peasants who recreated their society based more on rumour than knowledge. In this case, tried to do the same as the Europeans but ended up with a society that looked less like any actual Asian nation of the period and more like ''Theatre/TheMikado'' on acid, as written by Creator/MontyPython.

* {{Wutai}}: The nation of Sahud, a definitely Japanese-inspired kingdom with strong Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian elements. This is justified in that, like all of Banestorm's human cultures, Sahud was founded by humans from the cultures it now resembles. In this case, tried to do the same as the Europeans but ended up with a society that looked less like any actual Asian nation of the period and more like ''Theatre/TheMikado'' on acid, as written by Creator/MontyPython.

** And, of course, there was the thorny question of whether non-humans could be converted or not. The Muslims noted the {{Djinn}} in their SacredLiterature and figured "if a spirit of fire can be a Muslim, so can a goblin". Christians had more trouble, since TheBible doesn't say much on the topic of non-humans, but they eventually concluded that it would probably be wrong and definitely be very impolite to ignore the possibility of conversion. Theologians even have theories about parallel evolutions from [[AdamAndOrEve Adam]] pulled through dimensions and such, or that they're outcasts from a different Eden, or somesuch. Another theory is also basically the premise of ''WestOfEden'': Adam and Eve left Eden and travelled east. What was on the other side?

* GorgeousGorgon: In this setting, {{medusa}}s typically have the Beautiful Appearance advantage.

* {{Medusa}}s are a ''race'' on Yrth, with the traditional features (including a petrifying gaze weapon — just looking at one is okay). They are always female; they interbreed with humans, elves, or orcs to produce more medusas (or occasional male babies with a recessive medusa gene). Unfortunately, the petrifying gaze thing means that they are widely treated as monsters, which may in turn be enough to explain their mostly negative view of other races. One online article described an island village ruled by a noble family whose womenfolk are all, unbeknownst to the outside world, medusas.

That sales pitch very much sums up the setting of ''GURPS Banestorm'', by Creator/PhilMasters and Jonathan Woodward. This setting book is the latest presentation of Yrth, the oldest fantasy world originally designed for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', which was originally detailed in the first edition of ''GURPS Fantasy'' (though it first appeared in ''Orcslayer'' as the setting for nine combat scenarios). ''GURPS Banestorm'' revises the setting material from that book, advances the setting date in parallel with the real-world publication dates, and updates the rules material from ''TableTopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 3rd edition to 4th edition. Additional information on Yrth has appeared in various published scenarios, magazine articles, and secondary supplements.

* EldritchAbomination: Implied about the old gods of Olokun, the world the [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merfolk]] and the [[SharkMan shark men]] came from. The merfolk seem to have hated/feared them so much that they are mostly atheists with a few Eternal worshipers mixed in and have a natural distrust of religion, while the shark men worship their deities the same as always, hoping to be able to one day draw them over to Yrth, which the book describes as a ''bad thing''.
** It is implied to be what [[spoiler:the massive slime-drenched tree growing in the center of the Blackwoods]] is.

* GorgeousGorgon: In this setting, medusas typically have the Beautiful Appearance advantage.

* {{Medusa}}s are a ''race'' on Yrth, with the traditional features (including a petrifying gaze weapon — just looking at one is okay). They are always female; they interbreed with humans, elves, or orcs to produce more medusas (or occadional male babies with a recessive medusa gene). Unfortunately, the petrifying gaze thing means that they are widely treated as monsters, which may in turn be enough to explain their mostly negative view of other races. One online article described an island village ruled by a noble family whose womenfolk are all, unbeknownst to the outside world, medusas.

** The snake-haired ''medusas'' are all female. They mate (carefully) with human, elf, and orc males to produce offspring. Their children are usually medusas, but some are boys with a recessive medusa trait.

** For Islam, it was the question of where do Muslims pray to. They are TrappedInAnotherWorld: they cannot go to Mecca or face towards Mecca in accordance to the ''qibla'' (direction of prayer), and they have no idea where they are geographically in relation to Earth either. Solution? They have a city called Geb'al Din in al-Haz, which acts as a substitute Mecca. According to the legend, it was founded on the site of the miraculous discovery of a large black rock with passages from TheQuran carved upon its surface, guarded by an old man who claimed to have been waiting sixty years for people to find it, and that here was where a new HolyCity should be built. Regardless of the story's veracity, the Muslims of Yrth now make the ''[[RiteOfPassage hajj]]'' (pilgrimage) to Geb'al Din, and orient the ''qibla'' towards its central rock.

That sales pitch very much sums up the setting of ''GURPS Banestorm'', by Creator/PhilMasters and Jonathan Woodward. This setting book is the latest presentation of Yrth, the oldest fantasy world originally designed for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', which was originally detailed in the first edition of ''GURPS Fantasy''. ''GURPS Banestorm'' revises the setting material from that book, advances the setting date in parallel with the real-world publication dates, and updates the rules material from ''TableTopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 3rd edition to 4th edition. Additional information on Yrth has appeared in various published scenarios, magazine articles, and secondary supplements.

* NamedworldAndNamedland: "Yrth", the name of the world, is the word "Earth" with a few letters short and pronounced almost exactly the same. Yttaria, the name of the continent, is simply a modification of the name Yrth.

** For Christianity, it was the question of who's in charge of the Church in Yrth. They can't contact UsefulNotes/ThePope, and no cardinals were transported. A few priests came through, so they've maintained [[MasterApprenticeChain apostolic succession]] (sort of), but they're completely out of contact with church hierarchy. They muddled around in confusion for centuries, dealing with sporadic religious strife as they did so, until the emperor of Megalos got fed up, had his troops abduct the most prominent Christian leaders he could find, sealed them all inside a cathedral, and demanded they work it out. Eventually they settled on establishing the Curia, a council to act as the Church's ruling body in Yrth, made up of the Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order, Grand Master of the Olybrian Order, Grand Master of the Templar Order, Grand Master of the Thomasite Order, an archbishop from Caithness, three archbishops from Cardiel, and five archbisohops from Megalos. It theoretically governs in the Pope's name, but since they have no idea who the Pope is and no ability to contact him anyway, in practice they govern autonomously.

* FantasyPantheon: In opposition to the real-life human religions, the elven/dwarven religions native to Yrth don't have gods at all, but follow the Eternal, [[{{Pantheism}} an animistic gestalt consciousness that pervades every piece of the universe's fabric]]. The elves worship the Eternal through animals and plants, while dwarves worship stone and metal as their chosen part of the Eternal. The other worlds of Gabrook, Olokun, and Loren'dil had their own pantheons as well, but few still worship the ancient gods, having converted to one of the human religions or turned to Eternal-worship, with the exceptions of the lizard men who didn't convert to Islam mostly still worshipping the god of strength Bozdaag, the shark men wishing to bring their very active [[EldritchAbomination old gods]] over to Yrth, and centaurs being the only people of Loren'dil that fully kept their faith in the old pantheon (especially in Atallie, goddess of learning and wisdom).

* NamedLikeMyName: The authors, Creator/PhilMasters and Jonathan Woodward, are ''not'' related to (respectively) the ComicBook/FantasticFour villain or the actor.

** For Christianity, it was the question of who's in charge of the Church in Yrth. They can't contact ThePope, and no cardinals were transported. A few priests came through, so they've maintained [[MasterApprenticeChain apostolic succession]] (sort of), but they're completely out of contact with church hierarchy. They muddled around in confusion for centuries, dealing with sporadic religious strife as they did so, until the emperor of Megalos got fed up, had his troops abduct the most prominent Christian leaders he could find, sealed them all inside a cathedral, and demanded they work it out. Eventually they settled on establishing the Curia, a council to act as the Church's ruling body in Yrth, made up of the Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order, Grand Master of the Olybrian Order, Grand Master of the Templar Order, Grand Master of the Thomasite Order, an archbishop from Caithness, three archbishops from Cardiel, and five archbisohops from Megalos. It theoretically governs in the Pope's name, but since they have no idea who the Pope is and no ability to contact him anyway, in practice they govern autonomously.

* TheKingdom: Caithness, formerly a Megalan colony that splintered off to become its own nation. Currently embroiled in a civil war between rebel nobles and loyalists to the crown.

* NewNeoCity: New Jerusalem, founded and ruled by TheKnightsHospitallers, and a semi-autonomous region of Megalos.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Banestorm actually ''{{avert|edTrope}}s'' this, believe it or not. Since the humans of the setting were initially yanked from TheCrusades-era Earth, the major human religions are Christianity and Islam, with most nonhumans having converted. The Lazarite cult of Abydos is this trope played straight.

* {{Wutai}}: The nation of Sahud, a definitely Japanese-inspired kingdom with strong Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian elements. This is justified in that, like all of Banestorm's human cultures, Sahud was founded by humans from the cultures it now resembles. In this case, tried to do the same as the Europeans but ended up with a society that looked less like any actual Asian nation of the period and more like ''TheMikado'' on acid, as written by Creator/MontyPython.

* {{Wutai}}: The nation of Sahud, a definitely Japanese-inspired kingdom with strong Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian elements. This is justified in that, like all of Banestorm's human cultures, Sahud was founded by humans from the cultures it now resembles. In this case, tried to do the same as the Europeans but ended up with a society that looked less like any actual Asian nation of the period and more like ''TheMikado'' on acid, as written by MontyPython.

[[quoteright:150:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/banestorm_cover_sm.jpg]]

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Centaurs are newcomers from Loren'dil, and live in nomadic herds across the plains of al-Wazif, al-Haz, Cardiel, and the Orclands. The existence of horses (originally seen as deformed or maimed centaurs) both confuses and horrifies them.

That sales pitch very much sums up the setting of ''GURPS Banestorm'', by Creator/PhilMasters and Jonathan Woodward. This setting book is the latest presentation of Yrth, the oldest fantasy world originally designed for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''. To expand on the story mentioned above, Yrth was originally populated by elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, and ogres. But a faction of the elves, deciding to rid themselves of the destructive orc race, designed a powerful magical ritual called the "Orcbane". It did not work as planned.

The resulting magical catastrophe, known as the Banestorm, [[MassTeleportation brought countless people and creatures to Yrth]], including humans from medieval Earth. And as humans tend to do, they soon expanded to take over most of the continent of Ytarria, displacing the native elves and orcs (the dwarves remained safe in their mountain fortresses).

* SummonEverymanHero: One NPC used to be an accountant from 1990s Chicago before being dumped in Caithness.
** A somewhat more deliberate example of this trope appears as a plot hook in the Abydos supplement; a professor at a magic school attempts to summon an archangel, but gets the [[PlayerCharacter PCs]] (humans from modern Earth) instead.
* TemporalThemeNaming: The advisors to the Heavenking of Sahud are known as the Eyes of Heaven. They are named Vision of Budding Flowers, Perception of Bountiful Growth, Glimpse of Falling Leaves, and Sight of Bone-White Snow, thus corresponding to the four seasons.

** WordOfGod says that Yrth also has ''euryales,'' a small all-female reptilian race, whose eggs are fertilized by eating their dead, and ''sthenos,'' a much bigger all-female reptilian race, produced by a virus that infects human (or orc or elf) women, and spontaneously transforms them if they are violently injured.

* GorgeousGorgon: In the setting, Medusae typically have the Beautiful Appearance advantage.

* ALoadOfBull: Minotaurs look like giants with bull heads, but [[ImAHumanitarian eat other sapient species]] and are extremely violent {{Blood Knight}}s that go berserk in combat. Some minotaurs however manage to overcome their brutal nature towards other lifeforms to instead become PsychoForHire.
* MageTower: Octavius of Tyrvo has a carefully detailed tower.

* OneGenderRace: The Medusae are all female. They mate (carefully) with humans, elves, and orcs' males to produce offspring. The kids are usually medusae, but some are boys with a recessive medusa trait.
** WordOfGod says that Yrth also has ''Euryales,'' a small all-female reptilian race, whose eggs are fertilized by eating their dead; and ''Sthenos,'' a much bigger all-female reptilian race, produced by a virus that infects human (or orc or elf) women, and spontaneously transforms them if they are violently injured.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: They are newcomers from Loren'dil and live in nomadic herds across the plains of al-Wazif, al-Haz, Cardiel, and the Orclands. The existence of horses (originally seen as deformed or maimed centaurs) both confuse and horrify them

* OurElvesAreBetter: Subverted in that they have clearly fallen on hard times since the Banestorm, and are essentially a ''DyingRace''. They survive in small communities hidden away in the various forests of Ytarria, with their largest communities being in the two massive woodlands known as the Great Forest and the Blackwoods. One truly different variety is the Dark Elves, who are notable for being anything but Drow; they are actually a faction within elf culture, calling themselves "The Purifiers", with a philosophy of genocidal xenophobia, first against orcs, and then against anyone who isn't an elf.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: These cousins of dwarves, noted for preferring the surface world, have more or less evolved into go-betweens between humans and dwarves, but are otherwise unremarkable as a race, harkening more to the pre-Dragonlance versions of D&D Gnomes then the modern gadget-loving versions. This is in part due to the [[{{Medieval Stasis}} Ministry of Serendipity's enforcement]] of Ytarria's ''status quo''. Though it wouldn't be hard to imagine a hidden group of Gnomes experimenting with steampunk inventions...

* OurOgresAreHungrier: The Ogres of are among the Elder Folk of Yrth but by far the least advanced of everyone; even the orcs are cultured and intelligent compared to them. Their only saving grace is that they're stronger and tougher than every other species.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They are located somewhere between Tolkien and Blizzard orcs. Another race native to Yrth, they were once spread across the continent of Ytarria, before being pushed back away from the more fertile regions by the only race to rival them in aggressiveness, stubbornness, and constant breeding: humanity. Now existing mostly in the more arid region of the Orclands, they are divided into numerous tribes which wage war on one another when they don't gather to threaten their neighbors.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: People so afflicted turn into actual wolves. It's also not contagious; either you or an ancestor has to have been specifically cursed.

* NamesTheSame: Caithness is also the name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caithness a county in Scotland]].

* CrystalDragonJesus: Banestorm actually ''{{avert|edTrope}}s'' this, believe it or not. Since the humans of the setting were initially yanked from Crusades-era Earth, the major human religions are Christianity and Islam, with most nonhumans having converted. The Lazarite cult of Abydos is this trope played straight.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Banestorm actually ''{{avert|edTrope}}s'' this, believe it or not. Since the humans of the setting were initially yanked from Crusades-era Earth, the major human religions are Christianity and Islam, with most nonhumans having converted.

** For Christianity, it was the question of who's in charge of the Church in Yrth. They can't contact ThePope, and no cardinals were transported. A few priests came through, so they've maintained [[MasterApprenticeChain apostolic succession]] (sort of), but they're completely out of contact with church hierarchy. They muddled around in confusion for centuries, dealing with sporadic religious strife as they did so, until the emperor of Megalos got fed up, had his troops abduct the most prominent Christian leaders he could find, sealed them all inside a cathedral, and demanded they work it out. Eventually they settled on establishing the Curia, a council of archbishops to govern the church in Yrth, theoretically in the Pope's name, but since they have no idea who the Pope is and no ability to contact him anyway, in practice they govern it autonomously.

** Olokun, the merfolk and shark men's homeworld, was an ocean planet dotted with a couple of small continents, with huge tracks of land repeatedly bared and submerged daily by the planet's monstrous tides.
** The centaurs, giants, halflings, and minonotaurs from Loren'dil remember their world as GhibliHills, made of plains interspersed with swathes of dense forest, with trees tall enough to reach the clouds.