The World of Telrhin: Sword & Sorcery Roleplaying Since 1981

From the Ignis to the Embers: the Telrhin Campaign Setting

Slash your mark across the half-tamed world. Make them remember the glory of your days.

Telrhin was born from twelve dreams, teetering now on the edge of destruction.

Conceived by two titanic beings, Hael and Syr, Telrhin was once a vast, magical reality known as the Great Dream. But the world is slowly drifting toward a cosmic precipice known as the Ehtre. If reality crosses this edge into Wake, slumbering Serpent Earth will rouse, shattering the magical dream into a sterile era of reason. And destroy the gods.

The Gods Want You to Die
Fearing the end of the world, the gods ripped the ancient First City of Eloche from the earth to create their own refuge in the spirit world called Atavis. But their survival requires a terrible price. To sustain their domains, the gods must constantly feed on the "Dying Glow"—the spark of creation released when a mortal dies. They are not benevolent protectors; they are divine parasites who secretly orchestrate wars, plagues, and famine to harvest the souls of the living.

Empires, Ruins, and Betrayal
In the mortal world of Prime, sprawling civilizations remain oblivious to this cosmic horror. Step into an early-renaissance world held in stasis by magic, navigate the bustling city-state of Larakan, delve into the abandoned subterranean burrowdelfs of the Boradun, and explore the overgrown ruins of the fallen Destinite Empire. A gritty setting where ruthless trade syndicates, corrupt mage guilds, and sinister cabals like the Brotherhood of Long Knives vie for power in the shadows.

Waking Nightmares
Dark forces are making their move. In the South, the Iron King marches his armies across the Grasslands in the bloody Red War. Deep beneath the earth, ancient, eldritch horrors known as the Ignum are stirring in their prisons. And above it all looms Talon the Severed Queen—a bitter demigod who seeks to wake Serpent Earth, unmake reality, and rule over the ashes.

Will you fight to return the world to the chaotic magic of the Great Dream, or push it over the edge into Ascendency?

Hacking Away Since 1981

A world of sword & sorcery with origins as far back as 1981. I mapped out the first dungeon, the nearby town and region, and named it Telrhin. 

In the mid-80s a snippet from one of our games aired on Swedish radio about the 'D&D phenomenon'.

Jody Stephens from Big Star played in one of the first games. Tommy Hoehn, and Lesa Aldridge (from The Klitz no less), played in a short campaign in the early years.

And to the bride's undoubted chagrin, Telrhin was mentioned in a wedding toast.

From its clumsy origins in Glen Echo Maryland, Telrhin has evolved into what it is now: an elaborately imagined world of sword & sorcery forty years deep.

We've run full blown campaigns on both coasts, one-shots in coffee shops, and a good few years of a campaign over zoom.

Ultimately it's just my home-grown campaign setting. Maybe sixty people total have slashed their way to gold and glory in Telrhin.

Adventure: Glory and Gold

The world cracks, it heaves, it writhes, and from those places come ancient wonders, ancient nightmares, and the secrets of it all.

Slash your mark across the half-tamed world. Make them remember the glory of your days.

As the campaign heats up the world opens: unearth the secrets of the lost realms, right the wrongs of dark years, and fight the scheming chaos of the Golden Queen.

More than just politics and the machinations of sleeping gods: the Tapestry and the Ilrajir, the forces of fate and destiny. The forgotten places of the Second World. The spirits realms of Atavis. The dreamlands of Oneiros.

Underneath it all is the story of the world itself, and the Twelve Dreams that shaped it.

Telrhin is caught between the Ebb of Dreams and the Edge of Waking: does the Waking sever the connection between the Three Worlds, sending the Embers and the Umbra tumbling back towards the Well of Dreams? Do they vanish in the haze of childhood memory?

And is this, ultimately, the vengeful goal of the Golden Queen, to see the world that wronged her die at the end of all things?

The world is waking. Will Serpent Earth cast the world back into dreams, or bring it bewildered and newborn across the Edge of Waking?

The world cracks, it heaves, it writhes, and from those places come ancient wonders, ancient nightmares, and the secrets of it all. 

Scattered across Telrhin are pieces of all of this: secrets and lost keys, gateways, items of power that themselves were part of the Ignis that started it all.

Unravel the mysteries, unfold the Ilrajir, find the Ignis Stones, set foot in the Court of the Tethered Duchess.

Do this and you unearth the fading embers of the Great Dream.

Do this and you rule the fates of the Three Worlds.

Serpent Earth and the Edge of Waking

The primal story of the world is buried in the dreams of the two Great Gods: intertwined beings who conceived the world and brought it into existence.

It started with the Twelve Dreams (and the Lost Dream). As these overlapping worlds drifted away from the Well of Dreams they merged into a single world.

The mythology of this is captured in the imagery of Serpent Earth, the different worlds coiled in her long -- and possibly endless -- body.

This new world, gathered in the contradictions and impossibilities of twelve worlds, fractured as it too continued the drift from the Well towards the Edge of Waking.

Some of the more fantastical and inexplicable elements broke off, Serpent Earth shedding them into either the Umbra (the place for spirits and god-like creatures) or the Ember (a place for the forgotten pieces of the mythic world).

Over the centuries this remnant world was slowly tamed under the boots of the Morden, the Kaladri, the Boradun, and the Grend: empires of fire, knowledge, and steel. Looking back only to see legends and fairie tales.

Now, in the midsummer of it all, the world drifts closer to the Edge: will it cross into the reasoned and rational world of Waking, or will it fall back towards the Well and the endless possibilities of the imagination?

Panache, that's what a world needs

Indago (Latin /inˈdaː.ɡoː/; Gender: feminine; Type: verb, noun): "explore, investigate, hunt for"

Adventure, sorcery, culture, mystery, a vibrant world with a rich history and a lot of color.

All of that and a good codpiece.

That's what Telrhin aspires to. But at first glance it's as boring as Greyhawk. Late medieval feudal fantasy with magic and dragons. The trick is to bring it to life, and let the players see how much more is going on outside the stolid safety of the tavern.

Because Telrhin is far more interesting once you understand the nature of the gods, the origin dream, and the inexorable drift towards destruction. Destruction the players might -- possibly -- avoid, their part in the great struggle, the ultimate agency to determine the fate of the world.

After all, the world is just a framework for your story: it needs to be cohesive and make sense, but most of all it needs to suit the story and the players.

It needs to be amenable to the twists, turns, creativity, and occasional bouts of the ridiculous.

When it all comes together a game world should be more than the sum of its pieces: it should be vibrant, intriguing, and have a sense of mystery. It should reward you for looking into the dark corners.

And it should be fun.

So jump in, paint the town, try the mortrew, and see what's on tap. Explore and make it yours.

Hack your way to glory with swagger and verve. And maybe save the world.