Nemmerle: How the World Works

Every setting for every tale is different. That's what makes them interesting. What follows are general guidelines for the atmosphere of the world of Nemmerle.

The History of Nemmerle

The History of Nemmerle is marked in 500-year spans called "Ages." Each Age bears a name of some distinguishing features or events of that period. The system was designed by the Elves, who live to be 700 years or longer and regard 500 years as the standard by which to measure generations of their people. The Elven Council in Adulien marks the ages of time and keeps this calendar.

Each age begins with a calendar year of '1' and counts up to year '500'. The First Age began following the Battle of Vail, estimated at 4000 years ago. Anything before that is referred to as the "Lost Ages" and little is known of that time. The first four Ages (the 2000 years following the Battle of Vail) are collectively known as the Ancient Ages. Most civilizations used ancient versions of their languages that are indecipherable except for studied scholars and historians. The next four Ages are referred to as the Modern Ages.

Wizards among the kingdoms of men quietly set their calendars to this system and these in turn are adopted by the courts of rulers without question. Ordinary folk are ignorant of the system, marking the years within their own Age and considering anything before it to be ancient history. Outside of Elves and Wizards, Bards are the only humans who pay close attention to the Adulien Calendar. Dwarves, halflings, and gnomes all have their own quirky ways of keeping time but among them all scholars know of the Adulien Calendar.

A year in Nemmerle is as long as a year on Earth - 365 days. But it's passing is marked by 13 months of 28 days each. The first 12 months are familiar to us with the thirteenth month named Athas. Each month is four 7-day weeks with names for each day familiar to us as well. The 365th day of the Nemmerle year is special - marked outside of the rest of the year, signified by the aligning of planets and stars in a magical way. It's name is Draíochta and strange and wonderful things happen on this day.

Titles in the World of Nemmerle

Nobility : Titles in the middle ages were a complicated array of landed and non-landed nobles. For the sake of simplicity in a gaming campaign, nobles will fall under the following titles. These are used mostly for the kingdoms resembling Medieval Europe, namely Treviland, Plenios, Tirudor, Erigoth, and Kyre. Other kingdoms may have other titles and systems for their ruling classes.

This system will serve for most scenarios but there will be exceptions. In areas where civilization isn't as advanced then chieftains and their warlords will serve in the same hierarchy.


The Churches : Across all religions there are standard titles by which the faithful are known...

Knights and other special servants on hand

Knights (these could be fighters, clerics, paladins, or rangers)

Wizards and/or Clerics on the payroll

Guidelines for mustering armies

Each noble is able to amass the following army in times of war:

These guidelines observe the rules for compositions of armies as described in the 3.5 DMG on p. 133.

These guidelines observe the rules for generating populations of settlements as described in the 3.5 DMG on p. 137. A nifty calculator tool can be found to do the work of generating settlements - it is found here: http://www.dndgamer.com/town.htm

Reference Material:

Important Historical Periods Here are some dates to keep history in perspective: