Disclaimer

This is a fantasy world I originally created for hobbyist purposes. Primarily as a TTRPG campaign setting.

Things to note:

• I require that everyone who wants to use Zol for their own purposes credit me in their project. To acquire Zol for usage in for-profit scenarios, please contact me.
• The main concept I wanted to play with when writing the world of Zol is agency. For a common person in Zol, life is very dangerous. There are many forces, gods, monsters, and people who are much more powerful than the average individual. For most people, the main obstacle in their life is to achieve some sort of agency so they can make a life for themselves. This is a great challenge in Zol as the world is extremely dangerous. Even if one is able to overcome threats of death, there are many political and social challenges as well.
• This collection of information was written as if it was from the perspective of an academic within Zol. With a few tid-bits of information added that would not necessarily be known by the people of Zol for the sake of storytelling/explanation. This means that almost all of the information in here could be known by an extremely smart person within the world.
• There are gaps intentionally left for the sake of speculation, expansion, and creative addition for anyone using this for their own purposes (Ex: TTRPGs).
• The world is provided in a way where there are many locations, characters, historical accounts, and other things of the like, however it is not meant to give one everything that they would need for something like a TTRPG campaign. Zol is meant to be added to beyond that of the material here. If I were going to write a TTRPG campaign in Zol, I would create 70-80% of the things that are going to go within it and use this as a skeleton for the story.
• There are some more controversial topics within Zol. I have included them to explore stories around overcoming these issues. For someone using Zol for their own purposes, you do not have to include any of these. The are not integral to the core of Zol and are to be seen as narrative tools rather than a foundation.
  • In Zol there is no transgender or sexual discriminations of any kind in its cultural history. However there is the inclusion of:
    • racial (in the context of Zol, Races are fictional species of humanoids. It is not based on skin color, or other physical traits) and religious discrimination. This is done for narrative device only. The discrimination is between fictional species of humanoid races and fictional religions and is not based on things like hair, skin, eyes, or anything else that would reflect a more real-world scenario. In the case of Zol if there is a racist character, or one who would suppress religious freedoms, they are ALWAYS meant to be an antagonist. There are no exceptions.
    • There is little-to-no gender discrimination. I originally had the idea of no gender discrimination, but I had changed my mind on this after a good deal of thinking. It is included because I think stories of people overcoming these societal barriers are really important (Not that the stories of people overcoming the issues I have intentionally excluded aren’t, I just didn’t feel educated enough yet on those topics to include them in this way). I hope to tell similar ones within this world. The extent of the social issues regarding this topic would be things like: a specific gender identity being expected to act a certain way, or a career/field of study being dominated by one gender. It does not include things like the systematic oppression, or other great mistreatments of one gender. Again, anyone who would suppress one’s freedoms or act in a sexist manner is always meant to be an antagonist, there are no exceptions.
  • There is also Slavery within Zol. It is meant to be viewed within the same lens as other injustices included, where slave owners, or other characters who perpetuate Slavery are always to be considered villains. The inclusion of such an inhumane practice is done with the intention of highlighting the vast differences of agency individuals have in Zol, and provide challenges for the characters of the stories to overcome.
  • There are allusions to modern day Christianity with topics like The Trinity being a major part of Zol. I personally am an atheist who grew up in a Christian household. I used the religious frameworks I was exposed to as a child to create a world where characters can explore the concept of agency and religion in a way where I felt like I could do it justice. There are parts of Zol that may seem very pro-religion or anti-religion. I am in no way aiming to make a blanket statement of the rightness or wrongness of modern day Christianity with Zol. I personally aim to illustrate the wrongness of suppression of personal freedoms or beliefs through religion, specifically in a way I am familiar with.
  • No people groups within Zol are meant to represent real-world people groups. Any connection is coincidental.
    • One thing that I have included in the world that has cultural significance outside of this piece of fiction is The Tarot. A tradition of reading tarot cards to divine information about the future. My reasoning for this inclusion is I have experienced many TTRPG players wanting to explore this concept. My efforts here were to create a unrelated history of tarot so that its connections to European traditions would not be carelessly appropriated. This was done with the hopes that anyone utilizing the setting who wished to include this concept didn’t have to base it on real-world cultures if they did not have good reason to. In short, this fictional representation was meant to honor it rather than appropriate it.
  • No events within the world are supposed to be representations of real-world events. Any connection is coincidental.
• To create many of the image assets of the site I used Midjourney AI. I personally feel that the usage of AI to replace artists is a bad thing, however for a project of this nature I decided to use it. This is a 100% hobbyist, and I would never want to use AI art for profit. The time investment for me to create my own art for this would have made the vision I had for it impossible.
• There are some things in the Zol which are directly based on other pieces of media. This is because I enjoy running my Dungeons and Dragons sessions with parallels to the stories me and my friends enjoy. Some examples of this are: The Greatwinds and The Highstorms of The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson, and the Beast Ire plague and Bloodborne. This isn’t done with the intention to steal from other creators, but instead create an environment where my Dungeons and Dragons party can explore elements of other pieces of fiction we enjoy.