About

About the DM

Russell Mickler. DCI: 4110-473-699. I’ve been role-playing for thirty-some years; played D&D in 1980 when it was the pinnacle of supreme geekery. I’m more into story-telling than dungeon-crawling. I’m just picking 5th Edition up and I’m looking forward to play with similarly-minded gamers.

When, Where, How

The gaming group meets on-ground at least three Wednesdays out of the month at Guardian Games in Portland, Oregon. Our sessions are condensed to three hours and adventures are broken into chunks of time between player character adventures and training.

About the Setting

Shae Tahrane is the larger campaign setting, the world as it were, otherwise referred to as The Land; Floreth is predominantly a human matriarchal society dominated by an aristocratic class and absolute monarchy.

There is an aristocracy class; lower-levels of government ruled by magistrates, operatives, ministers, delegates, and diplomats bestowed with the Queen Regent’s authority.

There are prestigious families and bloodlines that player characters will not belong to. They’ll be created throughout the campaign.

The human pantheon is goddess based and is polytheistic.

Reproduction, Gender Identity, and Wealth

Women have absolute control over their reproductive cycle due to a common herbal substance passed down through generations; human women of all social classes may choose the time and place for their pregnancies. They cannot, however, determine or control the gender of their offspring. The herbs are a liquid concoction made from commonly-found mosses and fungi; it’s consumed within 2-3 days of intercourse; all women of all classes know how to make it; the concoction works on human and halfling females.

Wealth and inheritance, therefore, follows women and their daughters; nearly all political, social, and economic forces are driven by women.

Men are workers, slaves, conscripts, physical labor, scholars, property, thieves/criminals, healers, seeders (studded breeders among the aristocracy that tend to produce more daughters than sons), and so on. Few men own property, commerce, or legal standing.

Some men are sponsored by a woman or her family and thus come to wealth. In the last twenty years of history, men have actually been armed and trained in martial weapons - an unfortunate necessity deemed appropriate in these troubled times.

Floreth's human population is generally polyandrous (women may take one or many husbands and/or wives if they choose but it’s not required or expected - it’s optional). Women control nearly all property and wealth; dominate politics and commercial activities; women command the militias and military; attend university and college; maternal bloodlines determine nobility, rank, and prestige.

Homosexual and heterosexual marriage is optional and a matter of spiritual consequence, not state sanctioned or recognized.

Transgendered women (male to female) are considered to be on a spiritual and physical quest for betterment and are admired; transgendered men (female to male) are shunned.

Homosexual men are generally elevated in the aristocracy but have no other social standing.

Eunuch males are diplomats, merchants, and traders of secrets. They have a degree of trust in the society not granted to males. Eunuch’s are not required for diplomatic activity nor is castration common. This is a voluntary action. It’s an act of allegiance.

There are counter-cultures that promote male equality and even attempts to assert male roles, gender superiority, and so on.

Conceptually, PC’s may eventually die or retire, but have a maternal bloodline that can be easily tracked through the campaign.