Tir Hathar — World Overview¶
Theme and Tone¶
Tir Hathar is a wounded world on the edge of war. A conflict lasting over 250 years ended within living memory — living memory only for the oldest Elves, who are not sharing what they know. The uneasy peace that followed is a cold war of maneuvering nations, competing intelligence operations, and political pressure rather than open combat. The prosperity of magitech masks both the tension underneath and the depth of what was lost.
Key tone pillars: - A world rebuilding from catastrophe, mostly unaware of how much was lost - Uneasy peace maintained by mutual fear and exhaustion - Magitech prosperity concentrated in Sigil bloodlines - Healing is precious and scarce — injury has real consequences - The Sigils divide society into haves and have-nots - War is always one incident away - The ceiling on magic, divine power, and knowledge is felt everywhere without being fully understood
See the World History document for the full context of the Long War and its aftermath.
Technology Level — Flintlock Fantasy¶
Technology sits at a "flintlock fantasy" level. Magitech is real and pervasive, powered primarily through the Sigils. Firearms exist and have largely replaced crossbows in professional militaries, though crossbows remain common among militia and the poor — the poor man's firearm. Magic and swords remain central; firearms supplement rather than replace them.
Armor functions as ablative damage reduction rather than making a target harder to hit. This reflects the reality of firearms on the battlefield and compensates for the scarcity of healing.
The variant rule Proficiency Without Level is in use. This flattens the numerical gap between characters of different levels — expertise and clever play matter more than level disparity. High-level monsters are dangerous but not mathematically untouchable. Skill investment is meaningful at every level.
Runes and Magic Items¶
Magic item crafting uses a rune-based system drawn from Iron Kingdoms. Runes are modular — items can be upgraded by adding runes, and there is a craft to the system that feels native to the setting. The House of Artisan operates at the highest end of what the rune system allows. Rune application is a core function of the Mechanik class.
Pre-war artifacts occasionally surface that operate above the current magical ceiling — items that cast spells no living practitioner can replicate. These are extraordinarily valuable, politically dangerous, and not well understood by anyone currently alive.
Warcaster Armor¶
A relic of the Long War. A finite number of suits exist; no new ones are being made — doing so would be read as preparation for the next war. Walking into a city wearing Warcaster armor is the equivalent of driving a tank down a street today. It is a declaration of intent that demands a political response. Best used as a temporary story element rather than a persistent player item.
Variant Rules in Use¶
- Proficiency Without Level
- Armor as ablative damage reduction (replaces standard AC model)
- Medicine skill restricted for most ancestries; Catfolk use rules as written
- Healing spells scarce; serious magical healing requires the Flame's healing clergy
- Spell level cap: no wizard or divine caster has access to spells above 6th level through normal means; see Magic System and World History documents for context
- No mechanical alignment system. Character (and creature) motivation runs on an edict/anathema/goals framework instead — PF2e Champion-style commitments generalized to everyone rather than one class. Porting the full framework setting-wide is still TBD. Where documents describe a people or a faith as "chaotic evil" or "lawful evil" (the goblins' demon patrons, the Giants'/Hobgoblins' devil patrons), that's cosmological flavor about what those outsiders are, not a stat tag applied to individual characters — see Religion document.
Geography and Notable Locations¶
- Taniere (tan-YEAR) — the Elven homeland; isolationist, ancient, guarding knowledge and guilt in equal measure
- Tallas — a major city with Greek/Roman naming feel; likely Confederacy territory
- The Blue Boar — a world-spanning chain of inns operated by the House of Hearth; universally recognized as neutral ground
- Dead zones, echo sites, and corrupted nodes — scattered across the map where the Long War left its deepest marks; see World History document
Player Races¶
Nine races total. Lizardfolk are an unconquered people rather than a player race. Kobolds are to lizardfolk as goblins were to orcs.
| Race | Notes |
|---|---|
| Human | Three cultural variants — Imperium, Confederacy, Scholar Nation |
| Dwarf | Mining monopoly, absolute monarchy, palatial underground cities |
| Elf | Isolationist, druid-aligned, oldest living memory of the pre-war world |
| Catfolk | Scattered, colonized, playing a long political game |
| Warforged | Created people; intentionally outside the Sigil system |
| Changeling | Shapeshifters; no nation, natural wanderers |
| Wayfolk | Wanderers and traders; no nation, wanderlust culture |
| Jinn-touched (Nasrin) | Descended from spirit-bargaining lineages; Scholar Nation adjacent |
| Ogrun | Oath-bound near-giants; traditionally bonded to the Dwarven Kingdoms as guardians, occasionally lent out elsewhere |
Race Notes¶
Elves are the only living people with direct memory of the pre-war world. The oldest among them were adults when the Long War began. They guard this knowledge — and their guilt — behind Taniere's isolationism. Their Primal magic draws on traditions that predate the schools entirely, untouched by the planar scars in ways that arcane and divine magic are not.
Warforged are intentionally excluded from the Sigil system. They have no Sigil bloodlines and no house affiliations, which makes them politically complicated in a world where Sigils equal economic access.
Changelings and Catfolk have an unspoken affinity — neither has a homeland, neither fully belongs anywhere. Not a formal alliance, just a natural understanding between people who know what it means to hide.
Wayfolk are wanderers and traders with a wanderlust that makes them useful as intelligence sources but unreliable as allies. Their loyalty is to the road. They lean toward the kender end of the spectrum without the compulsive theft — it's wanderlust, not kleptomania. See the Wayfolk document.
Jinn-touched (Nasrin) — Nasrin is a Persian name meaning "wild rose." This people emerged from generations of spirit-bargaining in the Scholar Nation tradition. Visually distinct: eyes that catch light oddly, hair that moves without wind, faint warmth to the touch, slight luminescence at the edges in darkness. Fully mortal but touched by something other. Jinn regard them as distant cousins; negotiations go differently for them.
Ogrun settle the Ninth Race question — not Trollkin, though Trollkin as a concept isn't necessarily dead; see Dwarven Kingdoms and Open Questions documents. Their oath-bound culture makes them a strange, valuable presence in a world built on cold-war deception: an Ogrun's word is genuinely unbreakable, which is either exactly what everyone wants or a source of real friction with people who assume everyone lies eventually.
The Sigils — Visual Identity¶
All Sigil-bearing individuals share two visible traits regardless of which Sigil they carry: - Purple eyes — constant, visible, immediately identifying; present from birth - Luminescent veins — glow purple when channeling any magic (Sigil or otherwise); intensity scales with power; cannot be hidden while casting
The houses' understanding of the Sigils is incomplete. The theoretical and theological framework that explained their full capabilities was partially maintained through divine tradition — a tradition that died with the God of Knowledge. What the houses know now is what survived in family practice, oral history, and fragmentary records. It is enough to function. It is not enough to be certain.