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Birthright (campaign setting) | HearLore
Common questions
When was the Birthright campaign setting released?
The Birthright campaign setting was released in 1995. It won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1995 the following year.
What is the Blood War in the Birthright setting?
The Blood War was a cataclysmic event at the Battle of Mount Deismaar where gods sacrificed themselves to defeat the dark god Azrai. This explosion released divine power that entered the blood of those present, creating the bloodlines that define the setting.
What are the five regions of Cerilia in the Birthright setting?
Cerilia is divided into five regions named after the primary human groups that settled there. These regions are Anuire, Rjurik, Brechtür, Khinasi, and Vosgaard.
Who are the Awnsheghlien in the Birthright setting?
The Awnsheghlien are powerful abominations who inherited the blood of the dark god Azrai. Examples include the Gorgon, the Sphinx, the Spider, and the Vampire.
What is the domain level system in the Birthright campaign setting?
The domain level system allows players to control large-scale organizations and manipulate events through regency. Regents use regency to build castles, muster troops, issue decrees, and establish treaties over three-month domain turns.
Which races are available as player characters in the Birthright setting?
The primary races include humans, elves, half-elves, halflings, and dwarves. Gnomes are listed as monsters and are not available as player character races.
Birthright (campaign setting)
In 1995, a single game rule changed the fundamental nature of power in fantasy roleplaying forever. For the first time, players did not just fight monsters or explore dungeons; they became the monsters' rulers. Birthright, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting released by TSR, introduced a mechanic where divine power flowed through bloodlines, creating a system where a character's ability to rule a nation was as important as their ability to swing a sword. This was not merely a setting about war or magic, but a complex simulation of statecraft, where the very act of governing a province required the same strategic depth as a battle. The game won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1995, a testament to its unique approach to the genre. It was a world where the most powerful individuals were not the ones with the strongest spells, but those with the strongest blood, a lineage that granted them Regency, a measurable force of command that allowed them to build castles, raise armies, and shape the destiny of entire continents.
The War That Made Gods
The history of Cerilia began with a cataclysm that shattered the old world and created a new one. Before the current era, the continent was home to elves, dwarves, and goblins, but the arrival of human tribes fleeing the corruption of the dark god Azrai from the continent of Aduria changed everything. The conflict escalated into the Battle of Mount Deismaar, a confrontation that involved not just armies, but the gods themselves. Azrai, the dark god, had manipulated the elves and corrupted the human tribe known as the Vos to fight against the human tribes and their patron deities. In a desperate struggle, the gods of the old pantheon sacrificed themselves to defeat Azrai, resulting in a colossal explosion that destroyed the mountain and the land bridge connecting the continents. The divine power released by this event did not vanish; instead, it entered the blood of those present at the battle. The champions who were closest to their patron gods in virtue and physical proximity became the new gods, while others received a fraction of this power, creating the bloodlines that would define the setting. This event, known as the Blood War, established the core mechanic of the game: divine power is inherited, stolen, and fought over in the blood of the living.
The Five Cultures of Cerilia
Cerilia is divided into five distinct regions, each named after the primary human group that first settled there, creating a tapestry of cultures that range from the feudal west to the frozen north. Anuire, located in the southwest, mirrors medieval England, imperial Rome, and the fictional Gondor, with its river Maesil serving as a great highway through the heartlands. To the northwest lies Rjurik, a land of sparsely settled pine forests where the climate and culture are modeled on Scandinavia and the Celts, home to druids and jarls who trek in longships. The central north is Brechtür, a region of mountainous shores and the Great Bay, where the Brecht people, similar to the Hanseatic League, prefer ship travel and value individualism and trade. The southeast is Khinasi, the warmest region, known as the Cities of the Sun, where Moorish and Arabian influences blend with a society that holds wizards in high regard and accepts magic as a common part of life. Finally, the northeast is Vosgaard, the Heartless Wastes, a frigid and unforgiving land populated by dangerous creatures and a warrior society based loosely on Slavic culture, where the people are descendants of those who fought at the Battle of Mount Deismaar and now worship gods of violence and winter.
The divine power of the Blood War created two distinct types of beings: the Scions and the Awnsheghlien. Scions are the heroes of the setting, individuals who inherited the blood of the gods and possess the ability to lead, command, and perform great deeds. They can have a variety of divine powers, such as long life, the ability to detect poison, or project a divine aura, depending on the strength of their bloodline and the god it was derived from. However, not all who inherited the blood of the gods were worthy. Those who found themselves with the blood of Azrai became Awnsheghlien, powerful abominations whose bodies twisted to reflect their inner corruption. These creatures include the Gorgon, a stone-skinned being with a petrifying gaze, the Sphinx, an insane half-cat lover of riddles, the Spider, once a goblin-king who fought at Deismaar, and the Vampire, once a young hero who killed a blood abomination named the Sinister and thus became corrupted himself. The Awnsheghlien are the major villains and monsters of the setting, representing the dark side of the bloodline mechanic, where power can be stolen and corrupted, turning heroes into monsters.
The Domain Level of Play
Birthright introduced a revolutionary system of play known as the domain level, where players could control large-scale organizations and manipulate events in and around their domain. Regents, the rulers of these domains, use the power they gain in the form of regency to build castles, muster troops, issue decrees, and establish treaties. Domains are made up of provinces and holdings, with provinces representing the actual land, population, and natural environment of a domain. There are four types of holdings: law, temples, guilds, and sources, each representing the legal, religious, economic, and magical aspects of a province. The game uses three-month domain turns to model actions of rulers over nations, simulating time in much the same way as Dungeons & Dragons uses combat rounds to simulate the characters' actions in battle. This system allows players to engage in diplomacy, trade, construction, and war, making the development of these domains as much a part of the game as the development of the characters themselves. It was a game that required players to think like kings and queens, not just adventurers.
The Races of Cerilia
The primary races of the Birthright setting include humans, elves, half-elves, halflings, and dwarves, but with significant differences from other fantasy settings. Humans are split into five distinct subraces, each representing a different culture, while elves, known as the Sidhelien, are generally chaotic neutral and immortal, living in the ancient forests of Cerilia and being antagonistic to humans. Half-elves bridge the gap between elves and humans, not immortal but longer-lived, and are accepted into elven society despite their mortality, though they are treated with superstition and suspicion by humans. Halflings are a race that is native to the Shadow World, but fled to Cerilia when a force of evil corrupted their homeland, and they still bear the taint of their origins, able to cross over into that plane of existence more easily than any other race. Dwarves are a gruff mountain folk, whose bodies are twice as dense as other creatures, weighing 250 to 300 pounds despite averaging only 4 to 4 feet tall, and are often isolationist and reserved. Goblins are less hated and feared than in other fantasy settings, and Orogs are a fierce, militaristic race that live primarily underground, in endless war with the dwarves and just about every other race of Cerilia. Notably, there are no orcs or half-orcs in Cerilia, and gnomes are listed as monsters but are not available as player character races.
The Rise and Fall of a Setting
During its four-year run, 25 roleplaying products and five novels were published by TSR, as well as a computer game by Sierra On-Line, but the line was suspended before the publishing schedule was complete. The campaign setting was first released in 1995, and by 1996, it had won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1995. The boxed sets included the Birthright Campaign Setting, Cities of the Sun, The Rjurik Highlands, Havens of the Great Bay, and Naval Battle Rules: The Seas of Cerilia, while accessories included Player's Secrets for various regions, Blood Enemies: Abominations of Cerilia, and The Book of Magecraft. Adventures included Sword and Crown, Warlock of the Stonecrowns, and The Sword of Roele, and novels included The Iron Throne by Simon Hawke, Greatheart by Dixie Lee McKeone, and War by Simon Hawke. In 2005, to celebrate Birthright's 10th anniversary, Wizards of the Coast announced the free web release of a series of published and unpublished Birthright products, including the novel The Falcon and the Wolf by Birthright creator Richard Baker III, although only the first few releases were actually published. A version of Birthright was constructed for use with the revised Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons rules, a group project collaboratively structured over the Internet, and recognized as the official fan site of the setting by Wizards of the Coast.