Journeys Through Astera

I think a more fun alternative would be that "common" formed as some sort of an ultimate pidgin that eventually developed into a more-or-less universal creole. The different peoples that mixed together started using loanwords from each others' languages because their own doesn't have a specific word for that oddly specific thing, and their polyglot kids are already losing tracks which word for "horse" comes from elvish and which one was the original human word for "anvil" or "ship".

Having a handful of common languages (by continent or something like that: I fully agree with @probablyfunrpgideas​ that going by region is Good and going by species is Bad) is a good compromise, I think. As long as it’s okay for players to learn a new language when they travel. I mean, verisimilitude is great, but you can’t just shut down the party Face for two years in-game until they become fluent, right? How quickly and with what mechanics (if any) that happens is up to you, just don’t put the cart before the horse. The worldbuilding is there to support roleplaying, not the other way around.

As for “how did this Common come to be”, it doesn’t have to be like Latin / English, it can be like Sabir: imperialism didn’t do it, trade did, communication between people. It still needs some handwaving: Sabir and similar pidgins are usually rudimentary, you don’t use it to write epics, it has the vocabulary you’ll need on the docks; and people who don’t go near the docks don’t know it at all. So it’s more of an adaptation, a what if. Let's assume that for whatever reason this pidgin spread beyond established trade routes. And it’s still less of a leap than traditional common.

Yes! That’s exactly it, what a perfect way to put it!

This is it everyone, my final and favourite entry in Dinosaur Month! 🦕

Foliuvenators are amiable herbivores that are prized for the powerful build; they're strong enough to even support a kobold band's miniature fortress.

The foliuvenator is inspired by the Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, an ornithopod with strong hind legs and thick tail. You can learn more about them and other Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

My goal with the foliuvenator was to create a dinosaur strong enough to support a structure constructed by another creature, having been intrigued by the Ogre Howdah stat block in "Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse". Once I figured that striped kobolds would use foliuvenators as mobile turrets, I made the dinosaur agreeable and friendly to contrast with the kobold's chaotic energy. I also enjoyed incorporating a signaling adaptation through the foliuvenator's brightly coloured tail, which is meant to deter predators from pursuing them, not that the kobolds can recognise that.

Here's my fifth dinosaur stat block guys. Only one more until the end of Dinosaur Month! 🦕

Trabeasaurs are gentle giants capable of altering their size to suit their needs. Just don't feed them any suspicious-looking plants.

The trabeasaur was inspired by the Minmi paravertebra, the first ankylosaur to be discovered in the Southern Hemisphere. You can learn more about them and other Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

Now onto the fourth entry of Dinosaur Month! 🦕

Maxapeltills are patient predators that stalk stagnant swamps and defend their families from formidable foes.

The maxapeltill was inspired by crocodiles. I wasn't informed by any specific species or fossil discovery this time, but crocodiles are ancient and saurian enough I figured why not include my own version of a crocodile? All my other dinosaurs have been inspired by real life fossils discovered in Australia. You can learn more about Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

Ready for the third entry of Dinosaur Month? 🦕

Tremeraptors are friendly little raptors that love to play, but don't be close by when they start to get hungry, or you'll be first on their menu.

The tremeraptor is inspired by the Leaellynasaura amicagraphica, a small ornithopod well suited to cold climates. You can learn more about them and other Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

Time for the second entry of Dinosaur Month 🦕

The Planarostromimus (Planaroste to its friends) is a deadly, deep-sea predator that uses its specialised mimicry to manipulate its prey into traps.

The planaroste is inspired by the Platypterygius longmani. And by "inspired", I mean the planaroste can swim and is vaguely dolphin-shaped. Regardless, you can learn more about the Platypterygius and other Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

Consider this the beginning of Dinosaur Month!!! 🎉

Every five days or so during April, I'll be posting a new stat block for a different Dinosaur, all of which were inspired by fossils found in and around Australia!

First up is the Voxilosaurus, a mighty but gentle sauropod revered as a symbol of natural health.

I couldn't quite find what my original inspiration for it was (I made them months ago and my memory isn't that great), but the voxilosaurus is most likely based on Titanosaurs/sauropods like the Rhoetosaurus brownei. You can find out more about the Rhoetosaurus and other Australian dinosaurs from the Australian Museum here.

Also I forgot to add the credit box on this one, so here it is:

Designed by Asteran Journeys. Follow OP for more.

Faction: The Beloved of Imyya

Those who bear the serpent’s kiss will have no fear of death/

Their hearts will beat for their homeland*, or not at all/

- Translation of an archaic verse from the annuls of Tolv, 

*translators note: above, the word “Homeland” can alternatively be translated as “ Mother” and “Philosophy/Creed”, damage to the original document prevents us from determining the true meaning through context, as the word is used interchangeably throughout documents of that era. 

Setup: Formed in opposition to successive waves of conquerors looking to carve their homeland into pieces  the Beloved of Imyya ( or simply “The Beloved”) are at once a mystery cult, an assassination guild, and a political movement in equal measure. 

Once Relegated to the shadows, the group has earned itself a prestigious role in the current government after they helped to oust the most recent warlord and help to stabilize a native government that better represented the will of their city’s populace. Now the Beloved are recognized in the street and lauded for their service, taking up privlaged positions in the administration of their polis and performing lectures of their philosophy to the adoring masses. 

Still, these assassins have not lost their edge, and their warrior priesthood still practices the alchemical mysticism that made them famous: imbibing the venom of sacred serpents and secret concoctions that grant them preternatural foresight, speed, and a total absence of fear in the face of death. 

Adventure Hooks: 

While arriving in port, the party’s ship is boarded by a band of the Satrap’s spearmen, led by a Priest of Imyya. Despite the protests of the captain and quite a few of the passengers, the search the vessel top to bottom, eventually dragging a inconspicuous passenger ( who the party may have conversed with during the voyage) with them at spearpoint. As if to disrupt matters further, the priest seems to have taken a shine to the party, and asks them to stop by one of his order’s temples for a discussion on philosophy. 

Tea with a noble patron is interrupted when they suddenly collapse into unconsciousness, followed quickly by one or two of the heroes needing to save against poison. veiled assailants peel from the shadows with the intent of subduing the party. They awake in a darkened cave, hallucinating, stripped of their items and equipped with only a (drugged) waterskin and a murky lantern. A voice from the shadows interrogates the party about their patron’s political aims and spouts philosophy at them while they are forced to wrestle phantasmal serpents. 

A rash of poisonings and the appearance of numerous venomous creatures escaped into the wild puts the party on the trail of an alchemist and leads them to a fortified laboratory. Exploring this workshop reveals a prisoner, exhausted from experimentation and wasting away in her bonds. She reveals that the alchemist is in service to a cruel local lord, who’s family once participated in raids upon her homeland. On a mission to reacquire sacred relics and exact some petty vengeance, she was captured, and has been interrogated repeatedly ( though unsuccessfully) with the aim of discovering her order’s secrets. 

The Beloved have a problem. Namely one of those tyrants they helped to defeat was very fond of plundering the lands that she conquered and ended up hoarding all her treasures in a death-trap dungeon she built under the city. Tunneling into it could collapse it and bury numerous important cultural artifacts within (possibly one the party is seeking). Breaching the vault is a job for adventurers, but the leadership of the order is hesitant to trust sellswords with location or access to the vault.  An ambitious historian aligned with the Beloved seeks to sponsor the player’s initiation into the group. 

Desmond left this particular selection behind in a huff, so we best make use of it! Enjoy adventurers, its not often that dragons share their hoards!

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨!⁠ Hit the link in my story today for this new Druid subclass AND playable race: the Circle of the Grove and the Half-Dryad! Exclusively for $5+ supporters as part of their pledge, included with the art, cards, compendiums, and other bonuses that they receive!⁠ ⁠ Druids of the Circle of the Grove focus on their connection to plants as much as they do to beasts. In doing so, they can transform into a number of plant forms, or even as plant-like versions of the beasts they know! Their magic allows them to become as strong as hardened oaks and as flexible as a new-grown sapling!⁠ ⁠ • Become an innocuous plant or a fearsome tangle of vines and bark as a plant version of a Wild Shaped beast!⁠ • Cast plant-based spells while transformed, and hurl slicing leaves at your foes from afar!⁠ • Protect yourself with magical bark while you focus on spells, and entangle your enemies with spreading roots!⁠ ⁠ As a half-dryad, or sproutling, you’re inherently caught between the restricted world of your mother, a dryad tied to her bound tree, and the freedoms of your father. Where will you go, if anywhere, and what do you hope to find there?⁠ ___