The world where Science Fiction and Fantasy try desperately to tear each other's throat's out.
The gravity on Takæla is just under that of Earth, about .92G. It's circumference, however, is slightly larger by about two thousand miles. The rotational speed is slower as well, the day being roughly thirty (30) hours instead of twenty-four (24). This is no doubt due to less iron in the core.
The year of Takæla is comprised of sixteen months, all but two of which are twenty-four days in length. Those two are the eighth and sixteenth months and are twenty-two and twenty-three days respectively. This means that the year there is 476.25 Earth days, about 1.3 times Earth's year.
Culturally, the year is broken into two 'small years' of eight months each, with the month names being similar in each half.
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Takæla's climate is mostly tropical and sub-tropical sea coast. There are some temperate zones near the poles and partway up the mountains, and a few frozen zones on the tops of those mountains, but the majority of the world is hot and wet.
Most people therefore do not tend to be heavily clothed. The 'standard peasant costume' is a loincloth or breeches with vest or short sleeved tunic. The human nobility, of course, tend to cherish style over comfort, and prefer trousers with long sleeved blouses, for the men, and skirts and blouses for the women.
Waterbound Mer are more comfortable in skimpy, skintight, seasilk garments
MagicMagic on Takæla generally works as described in the Player's Handbook and the Tome of Magic, with a few alterations.
Official magic is coltrolled by the Psage Guild, and Guild mages have standard spells (taken from the PH, the Wizard's Handbook, and the Tome of Magic.) Their spell books are in the form of scrolls, one piece of paper for each spell, kept in ornate tubes emblazoned with the mage's name.
Non-Guild wizards and sorcerers take spells where ever they can be found. From a fallen mage, from locked chests, from their mentors. Unfortunately, since these spell casters don't have the benefit of the Guild's thousands of years of research, their spells don't always work, or produce unforseen side effects. (DMs: use the rules for Wild Magic in the ToM.)
Wizards are those who picked up their spells from a non-Guild source, but are, at heart, nice people, or at least not actively bad (Bards?). Sorcerers are evil persons, usually Pirates or Drow, totally dedicated to the ruination of good things in general, and the Psage Guild in particular.
PsionicsFor psionics rules, see the Psionic's Handbook and Psi Cards.
The Psage Guild also attempts to control all of the Psionic individuals on the planet. Those who do not recieve their training at the Castle are mystics or psychics. Mystics are those who have one or more wild talents, but aren't seen as good enough to be a threat to any one. Psychics are people who intentionally hide from Guild, training in secret by themselves or with another psychic.
The Church of the CreatorEach Order within the Church has a specific mission and heeds a particular Entity who is deemed to have a special empathy for that mission. This involves not only religious worship, but specific training and education in their area of expertise, and, of course, the use of specialized spells.
For example, the widest spread Order, the Order of Saint Hermes, practices the arts of communication. They consider their purview to include interpersonal communication (marriage counseling, translating), long-distance communication (messaging spells, couriers), formal communication (legalese, diplomacy, court pronouncements), and even the communicatory arts (music, dance, painting and sculpture).
Every village will have a chapel or shrine, usually dedicated to a particular Entity, often related to the work they do in the community. Towns will have a small temple, and cities might have numerous temples, shrines, and chapels. This does not, however, mean that only persons of that Entity's Order will staff any given place of worship.
A village shrine to the Saint of Agriculture could have a scholar of that order for the farmers, a healer of Asclepius, and a priest of the Creator for ceremonies and services. The various Orders may not always get along, but they each recognize the others' commitment to the same Creator and to Peace and Harmony and Takæla.
More info on specific Orders, and on Warlocks, the evil clerics.
the Psage GuildThis, they say, is to protect every-day citizens from accidents as well as ill intentions. With Guild tutelage, Mages and Psionics are reliable precticioners of their arts and hardworking members of society. Non-Guild practicioners, Wizards, Sorcers, Mystics, and Psychics, are dangerous to themselves and others, and could turn into ravening, power-hungry monsters at any time.
The Guild reinforces these beliefs, and catches the Talented at the same time, by running as many primary schools throughout the planet as possible. Not only do they instill Guild values, but they can test for Magical and Psionic ability from an early age. The local Guildman need not be a full fledged player class, he or she might have a single Wild Talent (Psi or Magic), or the person could simply be a good teacher, who's been trained by the Guild.
Once the Guild recognizes a person's ability, they give him or her a simple 3-way choice: become imprisoned; become Un-Talented; become a Member. An overwhelming majority choose the Guild. Training of the Talented takes place at the Psage Guild Castle, a floating stone fortress somewhere on the neverending oceans. Secondary schools around the world teach scholastic things, but only at the Castle can one learn anything about Magic or Psionics.
While not much is known, there are stories of people who are captured as young children and raised by the Pirates and who later escaped. These individuals tell of a people who run on bullying, laziness, deception, charisma, and technology. And that's just their home life! Parents treat their children as apprentices; get as much work out of them as possible, while teaching them as little as possible. These children pass the work on to their younger siblings, who pass it on, etc. To get ahead in their society, one must be able to control large group of people who are willing to do what one asks, or afraid not to. Those with the most 'friends' win.
The Pirates practice slavery as a way to get out of doing as much actual work as possible. They force the slaves to do all the work they find too demeaning, like farming, fishing, laundry, babysitting, shipbuilding, and so on. These slaves quickly pick up on the general scheme of things, and have their own hierarchy much like that of their captors. The actual Pirates who have left the floating cities were generally influenced at an early age by slaves who didn't succumb to the easy out of hate and laziness.
The floating cities are a great deal like the floating villages of the Mer, but much larger, to the point of occasionally being mistaken for a small island. The main body of the city is generally constructed around a central 'pool' or open space onto the sea below. This is usually surrounded immediately by the King's Palace, his garden, the Temple, and a gathering place for ceremonies. The next ring out is for the captains, who are the nobility and generals of the Pirates. They each have their own garden and quarters for their families, slaves, and best-liked underlings. After that, the 'normal' people live, with the docks and farms on the outside of everything.
The one sample the Psage Guild has had, held a population of 10,000 persons, Pirates and slaves alike. It was almost completely surrounded by crop-weed, growing everything those on land had long expected that the Pirates did without, some varieties were even superior to typical Mer crops. Under the city was a large 'pen', an aquatic fence like those in use by the Mer, which held a great multitude of different types of fish. All living off the wastes provided by the Pirates. As far as the Guild could determine, they even had plumbing and treatment systems, better than most land cities.
The Guild has claimed to have destroyed the Pirates, under the assumption that this was their only city, an assumption given weight by the abrupt decline in attacks on shipping. The merchants of Takæla certainly hope this is true, as soldiers to defend their ships are terribly expensive, and take up a lot of room, but no-one but the Guild is currently ready to proclaim final victory on the great battleground of Takæla's oceans.