Whitereach Ethos

Design Goals
If I could sum up what I want to achieve with Whitereach it's this:


 * Whitreach is a story told by its survivors, bloodied and broken.

To expand on how I hope to accomplish this
 * 1) Focus on what D&D does well - As much as we like to think otherwise D&D is designed for small group combat with monsters in the pursuit of treasure guarded by said monsters.
 * 2) Characters are born naked and stupid - Characters technically don't exist before their arrival in Whitereach. All that matters to them is what drives them to go where no sane person would dare tread, and what they believe they deserve from it. They will discover who they are during play, not before.
 * 3) Growth through strife - Characters should be constantly brought to the brink. This is what they signed up for, this is their last hope. The civilized world has no place for them, so their only hope is to face the absolute horror in the wilds and seize an existence from the jaws of death. How can you know what you'll die for if you never knock on death's door?

The World
The main character of this type of game is the world itself. Every character you create and every adventure they undertake is helping to flesh out the world and the characters' place in it. No matter what the world persists.

A few rules about the world to set the theme are as follows:
 * First Things First. This is not the Forgotten Realms. Do not use material wholesale from other D&D settings, change things, rename things and put a unique spin on everything you do. Create your own gods, nations, organizations and the like. That is not to say that we need to throw out the entirety of D&D's history. Anything that is setting neutral is fine, like Vecna, the shadowfell, Sigil, the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords etc. Feel free to remix these elements as well.
 * Whitereach is isolated. Whitereach is a Greenland sized island far to the north of more civilized lands and people don't usually go there if they have a choice.
 * Its Got History. That is not to say that Whitereach has always been barren. Legends tell of ancient civilizations that made their home there and the island has seen many attempts at colonization by multiple nations.
 * Civilization is usually safe. Cold Harbor and Pinefall are the only two main hubs of safety and human civilization in the region. The next closest landmark is Fort Crescent a months journey by the south road and 8 months out of the year is unreachable by land.
 * Suburbs. There are brave (or foolhardy) settlers who seek to carve a life for themselves outside the safety of city walls. Here is where adventure can happen, rescuing kidnapped settlers, defending farms under threat or even protecting them from some ancient horror discovered under the earth. Therefore, places outside the main cities are small, isolated and a hairs breadth away from being wiped off the map. Otherwise the place don't seem so dangerous, does it?
 * Adventurers are Special but Hated. It takes a special kind of individual to want to trek through the frozen wilderness that is Whitereach. Though, through their trials and tribulations these individuals acquire power that normally takes decades of intense study or training (if they survive). This gives cause for people to fear and loathe adventurers. Magic academies and military schools are all controlled by nation states and the best and brightest are quickly brought into the fold of national organizations. What foul transformation happens out in the land beyond a city's walls to those who seek 'adventure' is beyond the control of the established orders. The histories are full of tales of those who return to civilization with newfound power and reshape the political landscape of nations or sometimes worlds.
 * This World is Abandoned. There are gods in the world of Whitereach but they are distant and immutable. Some would say long dead and all we hear are their echoes. Whitereach is simultaneously Post and Pre-apocalyptic. Will your character stave off the apocalypse or bring it about?