For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.
But before I started talking about the mechanics, it felt important to begin with the world itself.
Ancient evils awaken. Kingdoms burn, and armies gather beneath dark banners while heroes rise to stop the apocalypse.
But the most interesting stories often begin before the end. In the world of Orders & Omens, people still argue over politics while the dead stir beneath their feet. An age where old rivalries blind nations to a greater danger.
This is the heart of the Orders & Omens world.
A World of Uneasy Balance
The world of Orders & Omens is divided between four races.
- Humans.
- Dwarfs.
- Orcs.
- Elves.
Each struggling through a barbaric age, convinced the others are either dangerous or misguided.
The Humans
Human kingdoms dominate much of the east.
They are ambitious, expansionist, and convinced civilisation itself is proof of superiority. Human nobles celebrate their conquests. Frontier lords build their reputations fighting Orc clans.
To Humans, Orcs are little more than savage beasts. Young nobles travel into the frontier on so-called “Tusker Hunts,” returning with severed Orc tusks mounted upon shields or armour as marks of honour.
Humans distrust the Elves of the north after the devastation of the Ashen Years two centuries earlier, when northern towns burned beneath silver armoured armies for reasons that are still debated to this day.
They respect the Dwarfs. The Dwarfs do not return the sentiment.
The Orcs
The Orcs are perhaps the most misunderstood race.
Human histories paint them as savage raiders incapable of civilisation, but the reality is far more complicated.
Orc society still follows the teachings of the Prophet Sarod, revolving around clan identity, survival, and honour. They do not enslave their own kind. Their dead are burned upon great pyres after battle, with tusks removed and returned to the clan before cremation.
And whilst the Human kingdoms congratulate themselves on civilisation, the Orcs increasingly whisper that mankind grows weak and soft behind its walls.
The Dwarfs
The Dwarfs dwell within vast mountain cities built high amongst the peaks of the west. Each hold is an entire mountain realm.
Great bridge-roads span impossible chasms between peaks. Hidden valleys beneath the mountains sustain terraced farms and reservoirs. The visible fortress crowns the summit, whilst halls descend layer upon layer into the mountain itself.
The Dwarfs are masters of engineering, stonework, and memory. Entire histories are carved into stone tablets rather than parchment. Oaths are treated as sacred obligations regardless of how many centuries have passed.
This creates constant friction with Humans, who rise and fall so quickly the Dwarfs struggle to take them seriously.
The Elves
The Elves remain the most mysterious civilisation in the setting. Most Humans will never see one in their lifetime.
They dwell within the far northern forests and rarely intervene openly in the affairs of other races. At least… that is what most believe.
In truth, the Elves have spent centuries quietly shaping history from the shadows through subtle intervention.
The Elves believe civilisation must remain in balance. No race can be allowed to dominate another. Most of these interventions remain hidden from history.
The Omens
The Dwarfs may be the first race to have realised that something is terribly wrong in the world. In recent years, an increasing number of isolated holds have gone silent. At first it was blamed upon cave-ins, famine, or ancient tunnel beasts. Then recovery expeditions began returning with stranger tales. Feasting halls untouched, forges left burning. Doors barred from within. No bodies. Travellers speak of voices echoing from abandoned roads at night. Most dismiss such stories as fear and superstition. For now.
The Chroniclers
Throughout history, the deeds of the races have been preserved by their chroniclers, and certain names appear again and again.
Vaelorian the Listener. Belen the Chronicler. These are wandering scholars and philosophers.
Unlike most Elves, Vaelorian travelled openly amongst the younger races. He listened to their stories, studied their histories, and documented their wars.
Belen the Chronicler hails from the Human kingdom of Miamor, hoping to enlighten his race and record all he finds for posterity.
Orders & Omens
The title itself reflects the central themes of the setting.
Orders
Mechanically, the battlefield command systems that drive the game itself.
Omens
The signs that the balance holding these civilisations together are beginning to fail.
The world still functions. But something ancient and terrible has begun to spread through the cracks.
And for the first time in centuries the Elves no longer seem certain they can control what comes next.
This is only the beginning. Future articles will explore the factions, battlefield systems, omens mechanics, campaign ideas, and the broader development of Orders & Omens as both a setting and a wargame.
