Coppervale 5e

Coppervale is the core of a campaign setting that's still under construction, with plenty of holes in the map for players to fill in with their own backstories. The centerpiece of the setting is the eponymous Coppervale, a valley where a mysterious ancient civilization was wiped out in a magical cataclysm a millennium ago, leaving behind an array of tantalizing mysteries and baffling curses that current-day peoples cannot penetrate.

The wild magic fallout from that disaster receded enough in the past century or two to allow settlers to move in nearby. Most of these settlers are refugees seeking to escape wars or oppressive feudal governments in the "Civilized Kingdoms" to the west. But they've inevitably fallen back into their old habits, and the feudalism and corruption have found their way into this refuge. The settlements have organized themselves into County Hawksbeth, named for the mountains at the edge of the Coppervale, ruled by an enigmatic Countess who owes nominal fealty to a feudal king in the West; but this is mainly a facade that lets the locals pretend that they're not living in a lawless frontier.

The Coppervale itself is a place of magical ruins and magical monsters, still occasionally scoured by pulses of wild magic. Adventurers flock to County Hawksbeth from all over the world to win fame and glory through discovery and exploration, to test their mettle against the magical beasts of this exotic place, or to simply enjoy the freedom of the frontier, and of frontier justice. Also thrown into the mix is the forest of Twillburrow, a place of fairies and elves that borders with and overlaps County Hawksbeth, and adds a further source of danger and intrigue for the settles.

The technology level is low (late medieval, early Renaissance), but "little magic" is very common: cantrips and magical trinkets can be found everywhere. Powerful spellcasters, magical items and artifacts are rare wonders usually associated with the realms of fairies and angels, and the mysterious "Valian" civilization that was lost a millennium ago. Thus, the Coppervale setting juxtaposes the parochial world of a medieval frontier with the frightening world of ancient wonders and powers.