The Ghost Plains (Lux Arbor Lore & Map) (Patreon)

This year, one of the projects Robbie has been working on during Twitch Streams and between D&D sessions, is a new homebrew setting called Lux Arbor. Originally inspired by Dimension 20's Fantasy High and shows like Community and Parks & Rec, it is meant to be system agnostic and fantasy based.

With the help of the Discord and Twitch community, Lux Arbor has slowly been growing. If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, Robbie would love to read them. Just comment here or join the Discord or Twitch chat.

We also encourage you to use any of these posts if they inspire you, add them to your world, create a quest or one-shot for them, and let us know how it goes!

This week's entry is for the Ghostplains, which includes a battle map (also located in our maps folder) created by one of our community members, Kaylinn. If you're ever looking for custom-made VTT battle maps check her out. You should also drop by her a blog sharing thoughts on Dungeons & Dragons and TTRPGs.

The Ghost Plains

These vast flatlands to the south of Lux Arbor stretch all the way to the Calamity Coast, but the phenomenon that gives them their name is contained to a much smaller area. The Paleroad, named as such because it travels through the Ghost Plains, runs from the coast straight up to Lux Arbor.

The Ghost Plains was the site of an ancient and bloody battle between forces consisting of extraplanar and mortal forces. Little has been found recorded of this battle, but so many lives were lost there that the grass grows red from the blood that was spilled. There’s a permanent fog that clings to the area, like a veil to shroud the echoes of the spirits that still linger. While some real spirits can occasionally be found here, most of the ‘ghosts’ that people claim to see are just phantom echoes, what remains of a last, vague memory of one of the fallen, a spiritual resonance.

Over the centuries since this battle was waged, the remains have been buried or eroded, but if anyone digs or searches long enough, they’re quick to turn up bones, ancient weapons, relics or trinkets. The only other signs of this battle are the remains of two towers near the southern edge of the Ghost Plains.

Spiritual Resonance. When a soul is destroyed or leaves the Material Plane, its memories can be imprinted upon the location of its demise or some personal item.  As a result a ghost-like 'echo' or 'shadow' sometimes manifests playing out aspects of those memories. Over time, this echo can lessen and even vanish entirely. But in a location like the Ghost Plains, with so many of them, that resonance can also mix, spreading traces of memories or feelings from echo to echo. It was even reported that interacting with these echoes can imprint your own memories onto them. In most cases, these echoes are harmless, and are only classified as undead due to their connections to the dead. But they do not possess any sentience.

Other locations connected to the Ghost Plains include: Paleroad Village, The Wanderrer's Oubliette and Barbock Conclave.