A Call to Adventure...
You have found yourself here, in what is commonly called northernmost "province" of the Kingdom of King John. His City of Kias in the south is besieged by the
God King Mok Turosh, the farthest north his reach extends is here, only recently released from
war with the Elves of Westfolden. You seek freedom from service in the army, and
perhaps a life for yourselves, on your terms, and if your lucky, maybe an
adventure or two that does not involve dying on the front lines in the south,
as the lands of Men begin to fall to the Kordic nations.
At least in the north there is no
real rule of Law. Inbaranen of the Elves, and King John have agreed not to enforce their rule in these lands and so the truce between
them stands, for now. While it is said
the Emiisaries of Inbaranen can be met on the road. They are sworn not to rule the Northern
Province or as they call it Honilee, nor invoke or enforce their laws there. The same is true for John, though the Sages
guild exists and servants of the Hidden Tower are everywhere. Boats are landing each month with refugees
and retired knights, soldiers and adventurers, but no courts, no dungeons, no
Guard, and no Army.
The Northern Province or Honilee,
is a world in itself, bordered by the two most powerful nations left in the east,
the Elves of Westfolden, under the rule of the Heirophant Inbaranen, his
Leafwinders and the Legendary Invoker Army.
The way to their doors lies to the west, high up in the mountains that cradle
the lands. While The Kingdom of King
John is now accessible by boat alone as the dead of the Incusion war that
littered the Bench, rose almost overnight and now prove the main trade road to
the north unpassable be even the King.
Many stories have come to you from
the North. Many wonders and deeds
whispered down past the Break from tinkers, travelers, merchants, hermits and
sailors.
Tenwillows Cove
It is said that Witches hide and
ruin the lowlands of the Province and devour men, and hoard hearts, and pervert
women to witchcraft and malevolence.
It is said they tutor the mind and
addict the soul to darkness.
It is the very best of the lands of
the south that they control, fertile, dairy’s, farm lands, orchards with
gardens that seem to produce abundance without reason. And the men there are slaves and prisoners of
the will of the witches. That the women
seek seed for a private army of monstrous slaves, that they feed on blood and
the unwilling, that the fruit is cursed with illusion and that the tables are
full of lies, not abundance.
Will you venture there, to Tenwillows, Mora, Lakewater and the other abundant and beautific towns to the south, perhaps to free the people there from the grip of this evil? Can you untie the true knot of the Coven of Tenwillows and burn the rot of the witches from the south with the Light of Aday?
Inbaranen and the Invoker Armies of Westfolden
Stories have also reached you that
the Truce between John and Inbaranen is about to expire. That the cause of further peace must be taken
up by the people of the province, a hero, or hero’s who with their will alone,
chose to face the Druids Champions and sue with their own blood through combat
a peace of another 100 years.
Will you face them on the open
road, the Dreaded Emmisaries of Inbaranen, will you confront the Invoker Army,
will you challenge the Son of Idigbrien on the peak and buy this peace with
your very life?
The Gate of Akua
The stories also tell of a great
Nature Blue dragon that has come to the province, that sinks boats and
terrorizes the road, claims the lands and asserts power through slaves.
They say it is Akua returned. Aku of the Ballad, Bell and Akua. Akua the progenitor of the great lance the
Fang of Akua, wielded by that ignoble Vampire in the south. And Bell the half elven knight that defeated Akua and threw him down from his peak in over the plains of the south those many hundred years ago.
They say the Dragon is as old as
time, and has all but locked the province in its house, taken the few heros
that dared to face it and devoured them and turned the other powers to its
will. They say the cities will fall into
service to the Dragon unless someone defeat its slaves, and force it from tis
lair and possibly kill it, if you Can kill a Great Nature Dragon.
Can you? Have you killed a wild dragon? Can you face its slaves and defeat them on
your way to its lair in the Hills of the Outcast, can you free the peoples,
open the road, save the ships from the bottom of the sea and send off the
dragon that seems intent on enslaving the entire province?
Myskateel
They also say a great and powerful
Assassin, the leader of the Smiluvenni, has made the Northern Province his home
since before time. That he is
deceitful, invisible, secretive and works through his Understay to put out the
light that is the race of Man and the rule of Gods.
They say the Smiluvenni are an army
of assassins that are the agents of the Understay. That they draw out and douse the Light
wherever it shines. That good rises only
as high as the intent of their blades.
That the King himself has killed many assassins, that hero’s are not
safe from their baldes or the will of their ultimate master the dreaded
Myskateel.
Can you infiltrate the Smiluvenni,
defeat the Understay and his army of assassins and find your way to Myskateel’s
lair and remove him from power?
Mok Turosh
In the south a war rages, the
Uprising it was called, until they wiped the City of Kesh from the map and scattered
those peoples, killed Korlain, and broke the last of the High Elvin houses on
their crude blades. That the Kords are
every evil humanoid thing, Ogres, Trolls, Goblins, kobolds, giants, all of
these evil things are united now under the banner of Mok Turosh, the God King
of the Evil Demi Humans, walking the earth, killing with its own hands, propelling
his army north to extinguish man from the world.
With all, only a handfull of City States remain free from or embroiled in a fight for their lives against the God King. The Elvin Kingdom of Westfolden, the City of the Last King, The Northern Province or as the Elves call it, Honalee, The Hidden City that was once called Free Winds, before the army swept through it and robbed it of life, Tulnimoon in the South, the City of Varmeylius, second of the triune children of Pholtus. There are the remaining City States of the Ptolegies, mans southern Sea King Cousins, there is Dan, Hardwall and Gap of the Vasting, hold out strongholds, all Plagued or beseiged by the armies, and in the north, there is still Lydia and Tarsus.
Oovardiis
They also say there was once, of
old, before the elves were ruled by a druid and were ruled by Great Houses of timeless Elvin Dynasties, that the earliest of them, Oovardiis,
had tamed Honilee by taking it from the dwarves, and driving out the Western
Men, who after that fell into legend alone and are now just myths.
They say the Great Lich made a
garden of Honilee and lived in its entirety as though it were his own house. They say the great western swamp that is
called the NeHi was his garden pool, that the high peaks of Olinal were his
apartments, that the Great Forests were his orchard.
They say also that he broke
himself into 9 pieces and in them slept the sleep of eternity.
They say that those Simulacra
wander and terrorize the Northern Province still, that John killed one of them during
the incursion war as they fought on the side of the Elves, and that an Evil Great
Nature Dragon killed another, that was seen as a threat to its territory.
They say the when the Simulacra
have all been destroyed, Oovardiis will rise again and only then can he be
permanently destroyed and his darkness and evil lifted from these, his ancient
lands.
Can you destroy the Simulacra of
Oovardiis in order to re-materialize him, so that he can be killed permanently?
The Wardens
It is
said that there is a lot of work to be done for the hope of Man and the
Light.
It is said the Wardens Service
seeks heroes of renown to find and to defeat evil and darkness across the
world. That there are more Great Nature
Dragons than just Akua and Myskateel.
They say that Oovardiis is not the
only lich that seeks to devour time itself.
They say the legacy of the Western
Men stands to fall open upon Darkness or Light depending upon who can find the
Tombs of Amon, and the Western Men, retrieve their artifacts and agency and
with that ancient power, stand up to the forces that seek to wash over men, to drown
their legacy in a permanent darkness
They say the Wardens seek to read
the treasures and magics of the world to find these evils and these tools of great
power and harness them for the fight they see coming, a final conflagration, an
apocalypse of all time, fought for the souls of the Gods themselves.
They say the Sages are their eyes
and ears, and that the greatest of these great evils are called the Circle of
Nine. An Antiparchy of terrible power that
if ever united, would easily clean man from existence.
Can you help them? Will you let the Sages guide you? Will you become a Warden, and ride their
magics to far away lairs and topple the evil within and resurrect the ancient powers
of the Western Men?
The Lock
It is also said that the dwarves
have built more underground than all beings of all times have built above the
ground.
They say that every cave, every
well, every basement, and every tomb is somehow secretly connected to a Great
Lock of passages, and roads.
It is said that long ago, the
dwarves contended with Orvardiis and lost, and that he flooded their mines, and
cities and passages with undead, and that only after centuries of struggle were
they able to reclaim the few of their cities and passages, the rest being lost
to powerful roving undead.
It is said the many halls and
chambers and all the tombs of all the dead from the dawn of time to the death
of Boltar, are all but lost, and the vast uncountable riches of the many
dwarven kingdoms lies helplessly in the grasp of powerful undead.
Can you break the lock and destroy
the many dead there and so return the kingdoms of the Dwarves back to
them? Can you enter and overcome the
evil of those places and claim the wealth and power of the ancient lineages of
dwarven kings?
Malfator and the Gray
Veil
As all know. Malfator the Gray Veil inhabits and animates
the flesh of the dead. Malfator’s power
alone gives them the ability to step through the veil that separates our world
from the other side. His power alone
injects into this world through them for his evil purposes.
As we all know, the undead serve
him directly or indirectly through merely existing.
As we know, he sees us through the
eyes of the dead and can speak to us through the mouth of the dead.
We all know of the Aspects of
Malfator as well. The three faces of
living flesh that he wears to walk the earth as a living being. His Aspects, the Aspect of Suffering, the
Aspect of Deceit and the Aspect of Slavery, living beings that trod the earth
and seek out his dark purposes.
As we know, the only thing that
keeps the dead from rising again is blessing, through magic or divinity, the
body in death and a proper burial.
As we know, Undead are treacherous,
even the most benign of the newly raised from the field of battle to the
Vampire lords and the Liches and the Wraiths that haunt time itself.
As we know Malfator slew Leah’dah during
the Ushering, and she was divested of divinity, and failed to usher in the New Light, and so passed into etheria without leaving the world an heir of the light of Pholtus, but leaving also, many strong agents of Light, Healing and Life in the world
in her stead.
As we all know, Malfator stepped in and
slew her when the wheels of time coalesced and become the well of eternity for
that briefest of moments and he locked them open, stood in the place of Death
and spread his veil to cover the way from this life to the next, in the great
beyond, trapping all life an all souls here, in the world, to live or to sleep
here in death, or with his hand, rise again as undead.
As we all know, Malfator must be
confronted and slain in order to close the gates of eternity and allow the wheel sof time to again turn their separate ways, and birth again the god of death. As only he can repair the passage for our souls to find transition
and peace into the great beyond.
As we all know, His aspects must be
bound and laid to rest together in lost sanctity, in order to pull Malfator
from the Gap and manifest him in form and allow his own death to be achieved.
Just kidding, no one knows this,
only the Primerium of Facta Necromanta guards this secret, and she is not telling
anyone!
Can you open the Bench in the south
by driving the dead there to eternity? Can
you Tear the Veil off of Malfator, face and lay low the God and return the Legacy of Pholtus to the world?
Whatever Fate waits you or
whatever Destiny you hope to carve from the world, do not despair, you are not
alone.
The Leahdists are what remains of the practitioners and lay people
that worshipped Leah’dah who are, now that she is dead, the only thing that
remains of her religion.
They have taken over the
performance of ceremonies, marriages, offering burial rites.
They tend the shrines, worship at
the Temples and inter the dead, where they are able, and where evil has not
over run.
They love Leah’dah and the Old
God, though prayers do not bear fruit, and divine aid never comes.
They keep the stories of the
Ascendants alive and the sing the line of Pholtus, and guard the old rites
though they are divorced of the power that used to infuse and propel them.
The Exvocates are those of her Priestesses that still live, and
wander the world healing and aiding the ill, the wounded, the lame, the dying
and the poor. Though they never speak,
they guide how they can. They are always
attended by their Guardsman, many of home are venerable in age as they are
almost all human, and only those who were very young at the time of the
ushering are still alive. They visit
places of rest and healing rather often, and most towns have a Clearing that is
dedicated to the aid and comfort of the ill and wounded.
There are also Hermits, or, those who were not
priestesses or Guardsmen, but were involved with the Godess and her Order none
the less who still strive to make the world a better place and aid those who
would overthrow evil. They have
knowledge of secret paths and armories, they know the ways to the temples and
forts of Leahdah and they know the words to pass the gates and the guardians,
and some know the older ways, the places of Pholtus and the Tombs and Keeps of
the Ascendants, and will guide those good souls there for weapons and healing
and power.
Aday. One of the last living
Avatar’s of Pholtus. He is a demigod in
his own right, was the companion and Friend of Leah’dah. He was divine before Pholtus entered his own
Ushering and raised Leah’dah, Malfator, Varmelius, Matherial, Peytah and
Igyaya, his Generals, into godhood.
Aday still wanders the many places
of the province and contests the influence of evil in the realm. Adventures have met him, he has slain some who
have leaned to far towards evil, and others he has saved from traps and prisons
and the larders of dire and malevolent things.
He is found at the Field of Day where the strongest of warriors fight to the death for his favor.
Arnimoon. The Great Nature
White Dragon that watches the high places and guides the Council of Winds. She is a powerful force of good that fought the
Simulacra Archo above the Port of Brighton, she tore the Wing of Akua, and
Drove the Vampires from Tolacoro. She is
an active and invested agent of the Light and has her own force of agents and
hero’s who with her guidance, seek out and eliminate evil. She frequents the strongholds of her allies
and is not an uncommon sight in the northern province.
Suel. Another Great Nature
Dragon, a Green one. As old as Akua
herself, Suel is a friend of Elves and has sought to protect the Wild and the Fey
of these lands since Yula, the father of the Gray Elves first entered the lands
and named them Honilee. Suel fought with
men against Inbaranen’s Incursion against men and stood with Dual at the Bench
as Ayvathor the Leafwinder slew him with Tearbringer, and ended the rule of Men
in the Northern Province. It was Suel
the blinded him, and drove off the the other leafwinders and saved many
thousands of men women and children for three days and the arrival of John and
the front of his army and in the Vanguard, where he sued Inbaranen for peace
and they wrote the truce on the mule stone.
Suel is greatly invested in the
efforts of men as well, and when seen is often in the company of a sage from
the Observatory.
Suel aids all he can that seek the
destruction of evil. His glade is a
beacon to all those who strive against evil.
The Vale of Aden is guarded by powerful servants of good, and seems to
have a gathered quite a group of adventurers.
The Sages of the Sages Guild or
the Watchers, or Facta Diva, are the Great Sages in service to King John. They are in the world to guide all kinds to
the betterment of men and the protection of the light.
The Wardens Service, is an arm of the kingdom of King John. They are co-organized with the Sages Guild,
though many see the Warden’s as agents of the Sages. In fact, this “Service” is specifically the
far reaching hand of King John. The
Wardens are responsible for facing evil all over the world. They are often times teleported into lairs,
or regions that conventional travel might take years to reach.
With their divinatory powers, the
Sages Guild are able to investigate rare treasures that are brought to them and
read the past of them. This sometimes
leads them to artifacts that can either help human kind or hurt it. The Wardens retrieve evil artifacts and kill
malevolent evil of a powerful nature, and also help besieged soldiers, provide
aid to allies and retrieve good artifacts and magic items for use by the powers
of good.
As PC’s reach 5-7th
level, so long as they are good, will be contacted by the Wardens service to
work for or with them. Wardens have
access to the magical vaults of the King, and the support of the Sages guild. It is not uncommon for Adventurers to
encounter Wardens on some kind of mission.
An Agent is a character that is
inducted into the Wardens Service. Only
Sages or other Facta powers do not gain this title when attached to a Cleave. Agent is a permanent office. It comes with credentials. An agent is entitled to aid in the realms of
King John, but most of their authority comes with the completion of their
mission.
A Warden is the name given to the
Agent that is elected to run the Cleave.
It cannot be a sage or any other servant of the Hidden Tower. There are no other requirements other than
the vote of the Cleave. The Title of
Warden is only used during the mission.
After the Mission the Warden returns to the Status of Agent. A Warden makes all the decision’s of the
cleave.
A Cleave is the name given to a
group of Agents, and their Warden, along with their support from the sages
Guild and or the Hidden Tower. A cleave lasts only as long as the mission.
This is an example of how a Cleave of the Warden's Service works;
**A group of Warden's were teleported to Many Rivers along with Taritor; a
Servant of Facta Pria, Two sages, the Emissary Wellin, and Argent of the
Vistilry of Ingveroon. They spoke with some
of the adventurers gathered there and accepted 7 to their ranks for the mission
was to;
·
Re-enter Arbor,
a Leah’dic Fort eight days ride from Many Rivers, and to
·
drive out
the Wights, and their leader and any other servants of the Gray Veil that are
encountered, and
·
Verify or
restore operation of the Moonwell, that was likely destroyed by or prior to the
occupation of the Wights.
·
Find and
retrieve the mace, Arginald.
·
And if the
Fort is Corrupted, remove what remains of the Pholtic and Leah’dic legacies to
Phylukon for safe keeping
The Emissary Wellin, knows the roads and the lands and had visited the
Fort when Leah’dah lived.
The two sages are the preeminent experts on the Fort.
The Agents were selected for familiarity facing and fighting Wights,
and are comfortable in the mountains.
Taritor is seeking an Item likely held in Arbor, taken from a Peytic
Witch who died there at the hands of the Wights, and also has experience navigating Leah’dic ruins, and is
on Sebatical in the Northern Province for the Facta, and offered a hand.
Argent is seeking the Master of the Wights, a dark being tutored by Malfator
himself, and is the one responsible for initiating this Cleave with the Sages
Guild. He is also their to find and slay the Peytic Witch who was raised and perverted by Malfator into service.
2 of the seven adventurers invited into the cleave have been to Arbor
before and fought the dead there. All
the Adventureres have been a part of a cleave before. One was once an Agent.
They were successful in in
destroying the wights, there were 14 wights in all. Three of the adventurers died fighting them. One was revived by Matherial herself. One had a contract with the Sages guild for resurrection
and his finger was collected by one of the sages, and all of his possessions. The other was jarred by the dark thing that
controlled them and his body was destroyed in the fight. The Emissary was also jarred after the adventurer and he fled into the wilderness. The Fort
was indeed corrupted and the cleave gathered the few sacred items
that remained as well as Argineald which was wielded against them by the dark
thing. It blinded and paralyzed Taritor
who recovers still in the Hidden Tower.
At the initiation of the Sages, the relics were sent to Phylukon, and
three new agents arrived via teleportation to help the cleave, as the warden
determined that tracking down and freeing the emissary and destroying the dark
thing that possed her was their next course of action. All but one of the surviving adventurers
refused to go further, and were paid and released. From there, traitor also left, but Argent
continued on, as that was his primary objective. That is where their story ends for now and
that is basically how a cleave works.
The Servants of the
Hidden Tower are about in the world at large. Though the Hidden Tower was not always called
this, it used to be the College of Sorcery in the City of Freewinds in the
south. But the City of Freewinds fell to
the God King decades ago, but the Tower, well protected and hidden still
remains in the ruins of that city. Those
who come and go from the tower, do so magically or with exceptional skill and
stealth as the God King has taken it as a slave city.
The
organization of the tower and its Facta’s are detailed elsewhere but know that
Servants are abroad in the world, seeking to acquire Facta power and serve
their own obscure purposes. Purposes
that often align with the Kingdom but not always.
They
can be obvious in their appearance, and will often sell their assistance for identifying
magic, or reading the history of things or even casting some spells.
They
rarely hang out together, as they quite literally almost all oppose each other. If you have something they are looking for,
be carefull, they want it, and will rarely take no for an answer.
However,
they are powerful, independent agents for good in the world. They have an interest in the perseverance of
the world of men, and are sometimes able to be convinced to help causes that
abut or even overlap their own interests.
There
are 8 Facta’s, and scores of Facta Powers in the Northern province seeking their
own enrichment and growth as well as that of their Facta’s.
Adventurers abound
in the wide world and though most of the world’s inhabitants see them as psychopathic
killers and a-moral opportunists, for the most part, Adventurers seek the
survival of the world of Men, albeit, in a twisted kind of way.
Now our
Player Characters fall into this category and it is easy for farmers to see adventures
as a form of uncheckable evil amongst their own kind, it is hard to judge a
person who has come from nothing and now commands power on a level reserved for
demigods and eternal beings.
It is
wise for adventurers to seek out their own kind and develop contacts and
friends amongst their peers. A party may
need 8 strong fighter types, and that is a valuable pool of NPC’s to draw from.
The Freeblades Guild might
be the single greatest resource for adventurers in the world of men. Get your membership early, get your Chest,
and use the board. These are the
fundamentals or adventuring life, learn them early if you want a longer life.
