
Iridion is a 5E-compatible adventure setting inspired by classic JRPGs. Are you or your group looking to recapture the magic of the 16-bit days? Then give this article a look!
Welcome to Iridion, a fantasy setting featuring three major species: The Skypeople, humanity, and the Aeluro, a species of short, cat-like humanoids. This article covers the basics of the setting’s political factions, magic, and religion. A future article will have a starter adventure for parties interested in exploring the setting.
This article is dedicated to the main continent of Iridion, generally referred to as “the mainland” if specificity is needed. This continent is roughly the size of North America, and is the only major landmass, though many island chains dot the oceans.
The humans of this setting are more or less standard humans, aside from the fact that each person has some form of unusual coloring. In some, this is as small as a black band around a bicep, in others, this can cover most of their body in various shades of blue. Marks are inheritable, but there is no form of discrimination related to them. They are as unremarkable as eye colors are to us.
Humanity has lived on the surface of Iridion for several generations, long enough that the exact circumstances of their exile are hazy and have passed out of living memory. In that time, they have spread across the main continent, forming two major nations: The Empire of Darhaddin and the Kingdom of Keddoran. They live alongside the Aeluro, a species of small, cat-like humanoids.

The Kingdom of Keddoran
The Kingdom of Keddoran is a small nation occupying a coastal region, known for its advanced medicine production. The Kingdom of Keddoran is ruled by King Breach Keddor the Third, an inept but well-meaning man whose only real ambition is maintaining his comfortable lifestyle. Keddoran maintains a healthy relationship with the aeluro of the area, considering them “non-citizen subjects” as long as they are within the borders of the kingdom.
The Kingdom of Keddoran has a central state faith, known as the “Sky Watchers.” They believe that all of humanity carries a stain of guilt and must toil on the ground as atonement. The primary holiday of the Sky Watchers is the “Grounding,” which they believe is the anniversary of the day humanity was cast down to the surface. They celebrate this event at the beginning of spring, which may or may not actually be correct. Smaller holidays, like the ending of the year’s first successful hunt, are also commonly celebrated but not “official” holidays.
The Kingdom of Keddoran is ruled by King Breach Keddor the Third, an inept but well-meaning man whose only real ambition is maintaining his comfortable lifestyle. A line of green trapezoids encircles his left wrist.
The capital of Keddoran is Keddoria, a city on the coast of the Southern Sea. Keddoria is a port town, hosting a small fishing fleet and serving as a central hub for trade between the minor nations of the south coast. Its most prominent feature is the stone castle at the north end of town, overlooking the warren of wooden buildings between it and the docks.
Keddoran soldiers typically wield spears and wear dark green tunics with black and gray breastplates.

The Keddoran Institute for Research
The Keddoran Institute for Research is a state-funded entity that gathers any artifacts that crash in Keddoran land. Its headquarters is a fort-like stone building in Keddoria, where artifacts are stored, studied, documented, diagrammed, analyzed, and assessed.
Brent Klaine, analyst. Klaine is a researcher with brown hair, green eyes, and no inside voice. He carries a notebook with him at all times, filled with near-illegible notes on Skypeople artifacts.


The Empire of Darhaddin
The Empire of Darhaddin is an expansionist power, crushing smaller nations under its military might and taking their resources for their own. The Empire is ruled by an Emperor, who is elected by a senate composed of hereditary members, wealthy entrepreneurs, high clergy, and five people pulled off the streets of the capital for every session. The Daraddins’ ultimate goal is to take revenge against the Skypeople, and they have been scouring all the crashed sky-islands in their territory for any relic that could help them achieve their goals.
The Darhaddin observe a day of mourning at the start of every fall, which they believe to be the date that humanity was cast down to the surface. This holiday is observed by fasting from dawn to dusk, and practicing with arms and armor.
The capital of Darhaddin is the city of Skywatch, built around an observatory that fell from the sky. Its intricate telescope is now used to jealously watch the movement of the sky-islands and airships above.
The Darhaddin are ruled by Emperor Gattus, a black-haired man with pale skin and a mark in the shape of the Greek letter Ω on his left hand. Gattus has a burning hatred of the Skypeople, and his troops are scouring the continent for any artifact that can help him take revenge against them.
Darhaddin soldiers wield shortswords and bucklers, and wear armor made of many layers of linen glued together. This provides protection roughly equivalent to chainmail at half the weight, but can be quite uncomfortable in wet weather. On their left shoulder, they wear a metal pauldron whose color indicates their rank. Yellow is the lowest rank, followed by blue, and then red. Red pauldrons indicate a regional commander, and anyone ranking above that is exempt from uniform requirements, and often wears a distinctive and flamboyant outfit designed to their own preference.

The Black Forge
One of the prized holdings of the Darhaddin Empire is the Black Forge, a crashed Sky Island with an advanced forge on it. This forge allows them to churn out impressive weapons, but to create the famed crystal-blades, it needs raw elements only found on the other sky-islands.
The Aeluro
The Aeluro are hunters. They rarely use melee weapons, since they have claws, but they do make good use of bows and blowdarts. Most Aeluro live among the nomadic clans that roam the continent, but some have settled in human towns. The most prominent of these clans is Clan Larmhi, which frequently trades with both the Kingdom of Keddoria and the Darhaddin Empire.
The Aeluro have an animistic faith, but they generally view crashed Sky Islands as cursed places best avoided.
The Aeluro are generally between three and four feet tall, making them Small in 5E terms. Aside from this, they have the same species attributes as the Tabaxi as presented in Modenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.

The Skypeople
The Skypeople are a species of humanoids with pointy ears who live on floating islands in the sky. They are physically weak, but intellectually gifted, and have leveraged this advantage to create wondrous technologies, including the devices used to engineer humanity. Unfortunately, during the term of humanity’s servitude to the Skypeople, the Skypeople became quite dependent on the humans, and casting them down to the surface has led to substantial hardship in the Skypeoples’ floating lands. Crops have gone unharvested, infrastructure has decayed, and most concerningly, pieces of the Sky Islands have broken off and drifted away, sometimes crashing to the world below.
The largest remaining faction of the Skypeople lives in their capital, Nova Spheros, and is constantly fending off raids from the smaller factions’ airships.
Nova Spheros is ruled by The Seventh King, who has split his city’s remaining resources between defense and ill-fated attempts to genetically engineer a replacement for humanity.

Currency
The most common currency in Iridion is the Kaya, a diamond-shaped coin made of purple metal. These coins are produced by the Skypeople, and are thus commonly found on Sky Islands. Some groups use their own currency, either in addition to or as a replacement for the Kaya. The Aeluro prefer barter to currency, but groups in close contact with humanity have started to use currency regularly.
Magic of Iridion
The only arcane spellcasting class in Iridion (at least in the version of Iridion I’m giving you here – I can’t stop you from doing whatever you want) is the Wizard, who uses a magical crystal in place of the traditional spellbook. When used, these crystals glow and become quite warm, so they are generally mounted at the end of a staff.
Aside from that, magic works like any other 5E setting, albeit with a somewhat more technological aesthetic.
Languages of Iridion
Common. The language of the Darhaddin, Keddoran, and other human civilizations. This is the language that they were taught by the Skypeople, and while it has started to diverge between the kingdoms, the languages are still mutually intelligible. It uses a writing system in line with the English alphabet.
High Speech. The language of the Skypeople themselves, High Speech is a more complicated and flowery version of Common. It uses a complex system of ideograms for its writing system, and some of its sounds don’t have direct equivalents in “Common.”
Aeluran. The language of the Aeluro is a rhythmic, chittering tongue that is hard, at best, for the average human to speak. Its written equivalent is made up of sharp, angular lines, since it was developed by Aeluro using their claws to carve into wood. Several Aeluro clans have their own languages, and Aeluran serves as a common trading tongue between them.

Classes of Iridion
Alchemists. There are many, MANY alchemist classes for 5E out there, and most of them work well enough in Iridion, since there’s weird stuff falling from the sky all the time, and the world is covered in unknown and strange herbs. Valda’s Spire of Secrets by Mage Hand Press has an alchemist class I’m fond of, but again, there are a lot of options.
Barbarian. Barbarians in Iridion typically hail from the Northern Clans, drawing on clan secret techniques to survive extreme challenges. An adventuring barbarian may seek to make a name for themselves or bring honor to their clan, or they may have been cast out of their clan for some misdeed.
Craftsman. Mage Hand Press’ Craftsman class (available in either Valda’s Spire of Secrets or on its own in Complete Craftsman) focuses on the creation and modification of complicated magitech devices, which makes it an excellent fit for Idirion. A craftsman adventurer is usually motivated by stories of strange devices and complex fabrication equipment.
Druid. Druids of Iridion are likely either aeluro or very familiar with the aeluro, drawing on their connection to the powers of the surface world, both in a mystical sense and in the sense of understanding what herbs make for good poultices.
Fighter. Arms and armor are a familiar sight on Iridion. The land between towns is dangerous, filled with brigands and strange creatures. “Fighter” is a diverse label, encompassing soldiers, bandits, gladiators, and more.
Monk. There are a number of possible origins for a monk on Iridion. Perhaps they or their parents hail from an isolated Northern Clan originally, and still practice their arts in secret. Perhaps their knowledge of martial techniques comes from the aeluro, or even Skypeople texts found in ruins.
Paladin. The Paladin is a somewhat awkward fit as written, but carrying a technological artifact of the Skypeople can easily justify the Lay on Hands healing or the extra damage from Smite. This is a less mystical explanation than the usual deity powers, but the paladin in question may not be aware of that.
Ranger. Much of Iridion remains to be explored, which is excellent news for the kind of person who is more at home in the forest than in a house. Rangers of Iridion are a diverse group: Some are simple hunters, feeding themselves and their towns with the living bounty of the forest. Some are explorers, seeking vistas no one has ever seen before. Some are treasure hunters, seeking the bounties that have fallen from the sky and been forgotten.
Rogue. The capital cities of Iridion have the usual populations of cutpurses and catburglars, but the skills of the rogue are useful in other places, as well. From the canny thief who infiltrates a traveler’s camp and steals their goods to the nimble-footed explorer who picks their way through dangerous sky-islands, roguish skills have many uses here.
Wizard. The primary spellcasters of Iridion are wizards, people who carry fist-sized octahedral gems that contain arcane knowledge and channel arcane power. Some of these gems are passed from master to apprentice, or parent to child. Others are found in ruined sky-cities. Others still are used as paperweights until someone with the right aptitude touches them. Wizards have no standardized style of dress, but their gems are often mounted to the end of an ornate staff, customized to their own purposes.
There are many, many third-party classes out there. If you’ve played old JRPGs, you know they can be a bit “anything goes” in terms of party member gimmicks. Want a gunslinger in your party? Great, there are a bunch of third-party gunslinger classes (including one in Valda’s Spire of Secrets, again.) Time displaced Normal Guy? Take a look at Ultramodern5 and stat up something from there. I’m only calling out the Alchemist and Craftsman from Mage Hand Press because I’m familiar with them and I think the Craftsman is just fun, either as a player character, an NPC, or just a toolbox for making weird weapons.
Afterword
I hope you’ve enjoyed this JRPG-influenced setting! I’ve spent an unreal amount of the last two weeks staring at the cover art for the Sega Saturn game “Albert Odyssey” while I worked on this article.
I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to allow every single PHB class in every campaign, and I hope my reasoning for limiting caster options here is clear. I swear it’s not just because I don’t like casters.
Until next time!
-Garm
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Former esports wannabe, current TTRPG streamer and TTRPG creator interviewer. I like science fiction and I have a soft spot for licensed tabletop RPGs. You can find all the campaigns I’m in and interviews I’ve done over on YouTube.

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