Welcome to Yv’Lin
Yv’Lin lies within the Shney Peaks, the central mountain range of Frall that reaches high up, into the clouds. From here, an isolated hidden cabal of mages and casters looks down upon the rest of the continent in contempt, for they are the only ones to have discovered pure magic, on the favour of the Celestials, but only on a caster’s capabilities, craftsmanship, and training fuels magic in Yv’Lin. While there are rumours in the surrounding regions about this mythical land’s existence, no outsider has survived the steep climb up to the Shney Peaks to set foot into this realm. The natural terrain is nearly insurmountable to overcome, and the magical Academies of Yv’Lin bonded together to create magical barriers that protect and obscure the region’s border so that no one may enter or leave the area. The creation of these barriers marks the only time in Yv’Lin’s history that all the Schools came together and put behind their grievances and grudges with each other to shield the land from other mortals.
While the rest of the continent remains oblivious to the mischief high up in the clouds, the different magical Traditions of Yv’Lin stay in a constant battle, vying for power and influence in the region. This battle ranges from friendly competitions between the Schools to infiltration missions to steal each others’ magical secrets, to indirect attacks by letting loose newly created monsters. The last and final escalation has been avoided thus far, but it’s only a matter of time until total war breaks out the magical Traditions of Yv’Lin. Whose side will you take? The zealous Psychics’ side, the diligent Runemasons’ side, the artistic Thaumaturges’ side, the experimental Witches’ side, or the academic Wizards’ side?
What to expect from this setting
This high-fantasy setting highlights the struggle between different magical factions, also known as Traditions or Schools, who are escalating their efforts to outshine each other by creating more potent spells, more exotic magical beasts, and more powerful artefacts. Currently, the region’s factions are at a stalemate. But unbeknownst to the members of these factions, there are plenty of troubles brewing beneath the surface of the grandiose highfalutin existence of the mages: Hordes of creatures that have been left unchecked over the centuries are roaming the region, an increasingly dissatisfied non-magical society of people are starting to rile up and band together, and ignored reports of a mysterious new faction of mages. Yet, the Traditions have been mostly preoccupied with themselves, trying to outdo each other, while ignoring other problems, making the region a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.
A new set of custom mechanics are introduced, focusing on the extraordinary attributes and crafting to power up these attributes, emulating the magical Traditions. While extraordinary attributes are empowered and heightened in this setting, they also come with a set of limitations to create a fickle balance between powerful spells and resource management. These custom mechanics essentially recreate a spellcasting system for Open Legend akin to the spell slot system of other traditional and contemporary fantasy TTRPGs. Thus, Yv’Lin is well suited for high-jinx campaigns and players who have experience with the system and who like to tinker around with the base mechanics to customise their character with individually created spells.