Talislanta is an exotic post-apoc fantasy world inspired by the fantasy novels of Jack Vance, and by other sources such as H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dreamlands, Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels, and The Travels of Marco Polo.
The game is set in a strange world of twin suns and seven moons that's overflowing with exotic peoples, places, and creatures. The time is the New Age, a Renaissance-like period 600 years after The Great Disaster, a cataclysm that marked the fall of the space wizards of the Archaen Age.
Talislanta has seas of glass, phytomantic bird-people, tattooed clone warriors, transmutation wizards who use quintessence to change storms into crystals, sindarans with two brains, warring cultists who have taken over entire nations, elemental demons, ice schooners running on glaciers, windships manned by astromancers, beastmen mutants riding two-headed mini-dragons, and a whole lot more stuff that's a combo of every prog-rock album cover you've ever seen.
This quick-start PDF for the 4th edition of the game is a good, short intro.
Aaron Price
Reference lists of various things (from gods to flora/fauna to magical treasures) in Talislanta for new GMs.
Hudson Kelly
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Andrew Wood
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Xavier Nguyen
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Julian Edwards
This map of Celadon is pretty wild.
>The Cobalt Jungles and North-Eastern Coast >Separated from the Hydran Plains by the swiftly running Batrachian Stream, the Cobalt Jungles stretch along much of the north-eastern coast of Celadon before terminating along the edges of the Chimerical River. The flora of this region, including the steely blue iron trees, copper deodar, acid plants, silverthorn, and creeping mantrap, are incredibly perilous for the unprepared. When the metallic branches possessed by much of the vegetation here clash together, great showers and sprays of sparks are sent skyward with every breeze. Given that there is almost constant wind from clashing tropical sea breezes and the dry parched air from the Temesian Mountains, these dangerous displays of pyrotechnics are a constant threat. Metallic creatures, such as iron wasps and silver dragonflies, are common in this area as are the glass terratoids who come here to feed on the metallic and crystal foliage. >The Upper Cobalt Jungle >Of the Cobalt Jungle regions, the Upper jungle is both the larger and more dangerous of the two. Waters heated by fire and flame deep within the ground bubble to the surface, creating pools which breed all manner of disastrous pest and parasite, while metallic trees send up fountains of sparks into the heavens.
Daniel Rivera
>The Glass Jungle >Delicate seeming crystalline and glass plants, such as the crystal dendron, prism plants, and crystalline versions of other trees and shrubs, overrun the Glass Jungle; although the wilderness appears fragile, it has withstood centuries of storms and eruptions from the volcanoes that line the Temesian Mountains. A strange vibrating hum is created when winds blow through the transparent foliage, and at sunrise and sunset, the light here is nearly blinding as it is refracted into thousands upon thousands of rainbows. The plants and trees in the Glass Jungle are crystalline, either made of glass or crystal. Some of them produce 'fruit' in the form of precious gems or crystal orbs (and other shapes) filled with alchemical concoctions similar to various potions.
Oliver Nelson
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Parker Carter
Sounds interesting. I've heard of Talislanta before but never really looked into it. Which edition should I be looking at, rule-wise or from a setting perspective?
