A land of fantasy, sword, and sorcery, the planet of Jaern is the main setting of PFC. About 90% of Jaern's surface is water, with archipelagos and small landmasses dotting the world. Although planar-traveling adventurers have brought technology and knowledge from all sorts of ages, the main technology level of Jaern is similar to Earth's Age of Exploration (1500-1600). A single pantheon exists on Jaern, made up of fourteen gods.

Welcome to the world of Jaern! The historians of this little blue orb seem to insist on centering the entire cosmos around it. Little do they know that the Center of the Universe is in fact on a different plane entirely, on another little blue orb, in a place they call “Oklahoma.” - An excerpt from Mimir's Grand Enchiridion

This section focuses on Jaern’s place within its (current) solar system, and its history within the cosmos. It details other bodies within this solar system, some of which are home to extraterrestrial life, and could make for interesting backstories and campaigns. While this chapter gives some general remarks about the orbits, rotations, and tilts of various astronomical bodies, more detailed measurements for the scientifically curious are provided in Astronomy.

Jaern is a water world - its surface is mostly water, with islands scattered about. These islands are where the vast majority of Jaernians live, with the largest landmass being Kratal. Many lizard populations live and swim beneath the waves, and the elusive Onivero do the same - but when it comes to adventuring and most activity on Jaern, the islands are where to go.

(AHN-rah) Yellow in color, Onra is a main-sequence star that is about 950,000 miles in diameter. The star has been very stable for as long as the recorded written history of Torandor, and the best magicians and scientists of Jaern do not predict this changing in the foreseeable future. A slow, 23-year cycle peaks in periods of high solar winds and flares. These rarely affect the surface of any planets with protective magnetic fields. This results in a luminous aurora on Jaern that can be seen even in the day.

The Onra system is quite large, totaling seven planets. From closest to Onra to furthest away, these include Hydor, planet of lava; Bastrador, an arid desert world; Jaern itself; Kleemudor, an icy world inhabited by a unique race of lizards; Lassidor, a binary “planet” made up of two orbiting moons; Peridor, a greenish gas giant around which orbits the moon of Chysyl, ancestral home of the Avians; and Icador, an unknown and icy world. The system also has two asteroid belts: one composed of Torandor's shattered remains, and one composed of dust and ice named Sahndi.

The vast seas and bustling islands of Jaern are split into three general regions, broadly defined by climate and ocean currents. Seafarers refer to these collectively as the Oceanaj. The Oceanaj of Jaern are the northerly Azurian Seas, the equatorial Sunovarm, and the southerly Malhelakvo.

Northernmost of Jaern's Oceanaj, the Azurian is densely populated, containing some of Jaern's most major population centers. It is known for freezing over during the winter months, and boasts a high population of humans - who moved northwards after landing on the planet from Torandor.

The Rhine Archipelago: Located in a northerly section of Jaern, the Rhine is an archipelago filled with seafaring adventure. It is home to one of the most major powers on Jaern, the grand island and metropolis of Centralia.

Lojem Region: One of the longest-settled and the largest landmass of Jaern, located in a more temperate area of the world. The history of Lojem is as storied as Jaern itself. Major cities within Lojem include Rougtero and the adventurers' city of Midnight's Rest.

Frøsland: An island far, far to the north on Jaern, even intersecting part of the northern polar cap. The land is largely desolate, with less than two percent of it being suitable for agrarian needs during the end of spring and the summer months. The government of Frøsland is loose and uncoordinated, only coming together once to face a great threat. Each city instead, is left to rule itself under the leadership of a Jarl. Jarls come and go based on tradition set in each city, which can vary.

Named “sun's warmth” in Paroli, this region lives up to its name: tropical and balmy year-round, Sunovarm is where many of Jaern's crops are grown. The warm, shallow seas are filled with coral reefs, schools of fish, semi-aquatic lizard settlements, and drifting Onivero villages. After landing on Jaern, most of the elves and dwarves elected to stay in the Sunovarm instead of moving towards the poles.

Ageron: One of the larger contiguous landmasses of Jaern, the land of Ageron is fairly new - having been created by the joint efforts of earth mages. It is located in Jaern's southern hemisphere, and maintains a mostly subtropical climate. Many adventurers have taken up residence in Ageron, particularly in the psions' city of Uzumi and the necromancers' city of Toth.

Geleia: Perhaps the oldest settled landmass of Jaern, and the ancestral homeland of Jaernian elves. Geleia is a mostly agricultural and rural place, split into three provincial Realms: The Kingdom, Southam, and Liston.

The Great Rice Patty (GRP): An expansive shallow area of Jaernian sea, adjacent to Geleia, where much of Jaern's staple crops are farmed. Much of this land is shared between dominion of Centralia, Ageron, Geleia, and certain powerful adventurers. [WIP]

Kratal: Located on the other side of the globe from the rest of civilization, Kratal is an isolationist land populated mainly by dwarves. Travel in and out of Kratal must be facilitated by portals, usually those accessible through the Centralia Mages' Guild's Alpha Site.

Keer'Levex: An island originally on Torandor that was transported to Jaern's equatorial seas by devotees of the dragons. Remains the center of Jaernian dragon worship to this day. Surrounded by a magic barrier that keeps invaders out, but allows merchants and peaceful visitors to come and go freely.

Paroli for “dark seas”, the southern oceans of Jaern are filled with mist and mystery. No major settlements from Torandor settlers have been established here, and few (if any) lizard civilizations have reached out. The Malhelakvo seems to have fewer large islands than the northern half of the planet, as explorers report nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see. Presumably, this region also freezes over during the cold months of the year.

Certain departments within the governance of Centralia City, Vesuna, and Geleia have been hiring adventurers to set off into the Malhelakvo in search of land - who knows what one could find out there?

Between the major settlements and beyond the sphere of civilization's influence are countless more archipelagos and islands. These are free reign for the enterprising GM; go forth and forge something new!

Jaern currently orbits the star Onra, but it is not native to the Onra System. Originally, the planet Jaern orbited a binary star system composed of a red supergiant and a blue main-sequence star named Bluto and Rebyc, respectively. This binary pair system was called the Athor system, and the stars Bluto and Rebyc appeared to outside observers as a single star. One of the native people of Jaern, the Onivero, had incredibly developed psionic powers, and were able to predict that the red supergiant Bluto was about to explode in a supernova. In a daring plan, the Onivero collectively harmonized their psionic magic across the planet to position Jaern in the blast shadow of the blue main-sequence star Rebyc, and create a psionic shield around the entire planet.

Through the help of some wayward time-traveling humans, Jaern was successfully protected by the shield, but was sling-shot out of the Athor system, and hurled through interstellar space as a rogue planet. The native people of Jaern went into a cryo-hibernation as their oceans froze over, with some lizards living deep beneath the waters subsisting on geothermal warmth to survive.

Jaern spent about nine million years traveling across 23 lightyears of empty space before it ended up drifting into the Onra System. Entering the system triggered a held psionic ability and reactivated the planet-wide shield, as well as charting a course towards the star’s habitable zone. Unfortunately, the Onivero did not anticipate that Jaern’s new home would already be occupied by another planet with developed life.

Within Onra’s habitable zone, the planet Torandor was home to the many races we categorize as humanoids and orcish, including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblinoids, and more. Jaern’s entry into the Onra System was seen as an apocalyptic calamity that spurred the people of Torandor to act, and a great human leader known as the Chaos Lord reconfigured a weapon of mass destruction into a city-sized ark known as the Kaaren of Destruction, in order to assure the survival of many thousands of people. Jaern collided into Torandor’s moon, Tysyl, destroying it and sending Torandor into a spiraling orbit into the star Onra, where gravitational tidal forces tore it apart and turned it into an elliptical asteroid belt. Jaern then took Torandor’s place within the Onra system, albeit orbiting the star in a “backwards” orbit compared to the other astronomical bodies.

The Ark landed on Jaern, and the Torandese refugees founded the Empire of the Veil on Jaern. The next few thousand years have been spent rebuilding what has been lost, and the Jaernian and Torandese peoples became the progenitors of the current population.

The Rhine archipelago is situated quite far north. During the months of Napen and Obern (the eighth and ninth months of the year, respectively), the islands are completely ice-locked (this period of time is called the 'Freeze,' which sometimes starts during Murh and occasionally lasts into Pim). It is during the Freeze that the islands of Northpoint and Southport come into their own. The two islands provide clear docking area for sea-faring vessals to load and unload their cargos. This cargo is transported to ice-skimmers that provide tha main means of inter-island transport during the Freeze. Despite the bitter cold of Rhine winters, many travellers visit during this time of year to participate in Centralian holidays and watch the popular skimmer races.

A few of the smaller islands, much further north than Northpoint, become inhabitable during the coldest weeks. The rest of the year is less eventful. The oceans thaw and life returns to its more normal state.

Centralia Island exists in the center of a large grouping of islands called the Rhine Archipelago. The Archipelago is large and has mostly been explored at one time or another. The people of Centralia, however, were not great cartographers and anything not immediately of value or entertainment was unfortunately overlooked and forgotten. Thus, many islands and locales may be hidden in the waters, places of untold adventure…

The Lojem Region is located about 2 months to the southwest. Ageron is located even further southwest, taking about a 5 month journey by ship to reach. Kratal is loacted about 4 months to the southeast.

The Rhine Rhombus is an area of the Rhine Archipelago that is notoriously dangerous for ship travel. Until recently, no one who had ventured there had returned alive. A recent expedition to the Rhombus discovered a giant item on the bottom of the ocean there, which sucks down ships, trapping them and their passengers forever. The group managed to deactivate the item long enough to escape but it could start up again at any time. This region of seas is located to the southwest of the Rhine with the Rhine being the eastern point. It covers approximately 375 sq. mets with the western corner 30 mets away from Taegel. The northern point is 19.5 mets to the northwest and southwest.

The predominant language of Rhine is Ferric. In most cities Ferric may be the only language spoken. On Centralia Island, it is becoming increasingly likely to run into someone who speaks Paroli, caused by the influence of southern trading companies and the influx of refugees after the Siege of Karfelon. Other islands have a mix of different languages depending on their populace. There are many lizard settlements that speak a mix of Sel'ict and Paroli, especially in the reefs and atolls of the Rhine.

• Centralia Island
  • Centralia City
    • Guild of Wizards
  • Little Karfelon
  • Ocean's Ridge
  • Prall
  • Pregada
• Is'Damor
• Na'roo
• NorthPoint
  • Aurolis
• Southport
  • Port Davis
• Taegel
  • Helmrest
• Devimetra
  • Sunkissed Pier

• Cromwell Island
  • Fort Cromwell
• Dain's Isle
  • Dain's Cairn
• Southern Isles
  • Featherton
  • Slet'ceth
  • Fis'raj Atoll
• Scourgetide
• Saleen Isles
  • Port Saleen
• Ocean's Landing
  • Port Faraday
  • Port Respite
• Kashkava Isles
  • Eastbank Prison
  • Satine Hollow
• Sleavenska
  • Fort Trine
• Nikron Isle
  • Nikron Mines

• Southern Judas Island
• Chafram Island

A few groups have a social, political, and/or economic influence over large parts of the Rhine. These factions wax and wane in strength over time, some dying out entirely, others forming anew. Currently, these are the existing factions in the Rhine:

The Knights of Neptune was founded by Akvo’ka, the Ekvilibri of Helmrest's Natatorium, and a couple of their crew in the 10050's. It began as a small regiment of 3 ships, but quickly became known as folk heroes after saving a colony ship from a group of ruthless pirates. For the next 20 years, they’ve gained more in repute around the southwestern Rhine but are still limited to a handful of ships, crewed by firm believers in helping the common sailor and protecting the seas of Neptune. Recently, the movement has been gathering followers and equipment, and now has about 2 maraujos, 2 metioujos, and 4 kurujos, as well as a small number of patrolling attack ships. Their main focus is on protecting those who cannot protect themselves, or afford to hire the expensive services of the Stormfin Sharks.

Leaders: Akvo'ka (also goes by Akvo)

Heraldry: A white trident inside a seashell, emblazoned in the center of a dark blue field.

Based in Centralia, the Stormfin Sharks guild acts as mercenary ships for hire, protecting the interests of anyone with a bit of coin to throw around. Often, they have been hired by the Centralian Lords to follow their ships around to provide protection. They always fly a pair of flags, their main flag above a secondary flag that acts as a sort of “taxi light”. When acting as ships-for-hire, they fly a flag that looks like a ship’s silhouette with a deep blue background, as opposed to when already on a job, they fly flags that look like a ship’s silhouette with a bright red background.

Most of the Sharks act as 9-to-5 workers, bodyguards or insurance for merchant ships. They get annoyed when people mess up their name, since their brand is important to them. People sometimes mistakenly call them “Sharkfins” which they are quick to correct.

The Sharks have a working radius of 200’ before attacking ships that approach too close, firing a warning shot when a ship comes within 250’. This policy is made very clear, as they advertise this policy as much as possible.

Leaders: Oliver “Oli” Sharpe

Heraldry: A black shark fin facing the right, cut through by a black lightning bolt striking from the upper right to the lower left, in the center of a gold field.

The Pirates of Scourgetide name themselves as such because they believe in and uphold the agreement and pirates’ code established at the pirate town of Scourgetide. This code values honor and mercy, taking only what they need from those that can afford to lose it, and not killing unless it is absolutely needed. They believe that all pirates under this banner have a form of brotherhood and kinship, and that betraying that is condemning oneself to a lonely deserted island far away from any trade routes.

Leaders: Katura Jax (“Cap'n on High”), Fatima Abiduan (“First Mate”)

Heraldry: A white skull facing the right above a white cutlass (facing left) crossed with a white olive branch (facing right), in the center of a black field.