New Fantasy Game

[Cynical Cat]

And so with the fall of the dark kingdom of Andir a seventh territory and a sixth prince was added to the glory of Sendan. For two hundred more years their was peace and glory, but that was not to last. The Three Brothers War over the throne shattered the central and southern provinces in nightmare that lasted terrible years and left the kingdom vulnerable to the depredations of the Senjaz. Mogul-Hsa had risen to great heights, gathering a fierce horde to him and he unleashed them on poor Sendan. His riders pierced the mountain ranges and all was beset by sword and flame.

So Sendan fell, even the Queen of Cites, oh immortal Hemjah, now a jackal haunted ruin. None could gainsay the mighty ilkhan and his eldest son, the incomparable Suboi-Zhao set his eyes north towards unspoiled Gandelon. Prince Rahes wept at the news and then marshaled his war host.

Three times they met in battle and three times Suboi-Zhao was victorious. Rahes's battered forces retreated back to the Celenor. The Senjaz were unskilled at siege warfare and they had begun their campaign late. Even to the southernmost of Gandelon's three cities winter came early. Suboi-Zhao razed the city, but the snows were upon him.

He fell back to the south, but winter took it's toll. More than half his men and herds died and his father had perished from an infected arrow wound. Now civil war stretched out its bloody hand to the Senjaz and the Great Horde died.

In the north Gandelon survived and nursed its wounds. Celenor was rebuilt and Rahes's son Esteran was crowned king, but Gandelon's power was weakened. Fractious hill tribes broke away and Esteran was forced to give land and power to buy armies and marshals he could not pay with coin. Civilization retreated and the dread wild closed.

An army of kroth ravaged Kardin before the city could be relieved. Knowledge of the ancients and priceless relics were consumed by fire. Men bled, fought, and died to hold and reclaim land that was theirs by right but the world was indifferent to their virtue. Slowly Gandelon retracted, always losing more ground than her valiant defenders and doughty freemen could recover.

It has been three hundred years since Sendan fell. Contact with the south is only through erratic contact with far traveling trade caravans whose quests for profits drives them through dangerous territories. Some say something evil plots in the darkness and the cold. Some say that the torch of civilization may yet be reignited. In the name of the Father, the Mother, and the Son I pray the latter are correct.

Jehesus
Court Scribe
In the 13th Year of King Madell
311th Year of Gandelon

So, anyone interested? There's more stuff to come.

[The Nomad]

Is it an original universe? I might give it a try

[Cynical Cat]

Is it an original universe? I might give it a try

Yes, more details forthcoming.

[Cynical Cat]

Questions and Answers

I want more info! And fluff! I love fluff!

I'll be writing more fluff descriptions of the world.

So can I play a half-dragon half-troll vampire? I have this cool idea for a Jaghut . . .

No, everyone is playing a human.

But I don't want to play a northern white boy!

You don't have to. There is contact with distant other nations, if the the peoples of Gandelon don't appeal to you.

Is there magic? Can I make cool magical shit? And can I fry people with fireballs?

Are you kidding? Who's GMing? Of course you can. I'll go into detail regarding the craft of sorcery and the science of alchemy.

Religion?

The gods are not interventionalist. Would be paladins will have to rely on their grit, skill, and natural gifts. Training from the Son's warrior brotherhood does help.

Power level?

Skilled professionals is the base level. There's room for some variation. So you'll start badass, but not totally badass.

Gear?

Respectable. This will not be one of my infamous slave caravan/jail cell starts.

I have other questions!!! *Bounces up and down*

Then ask them.

[SirNitram]

Horrific, unnatural fusion of magic, clockwork, and occasionally, people? Y/N

[Dark Silver]

Clockwork at all?

[Comrade Tortoise]

I am interested, pending detail

[Jason_Firewalker]

If there is some magicka and fighting I would be interested in playing a theif/wizard type.

[The Nomad]

If alchemy can make explosives (Moranth powaaaaa!) I'd gladly play a sapper or an alchemist/wizard

[Dark Silver]

With Clockwerks, I shall ve de Artiviser.

[/bad german accent]

[The Nomad]

I smell the demolition team... Alchemist + artificer + stealthy guy so far...

[Charon]

*looks around*

I kinda want to play a giant clockwork machine of death...

Or golem, that is still a machine of death...

In short, a machine of death.

[Cynical Cat]

No Clockworks.

Everyone is human.

Alchemical explosives exist. There are some good gases, incinderaries, acids, and other substances. Also, the best weapons and armour are manufactured through alchemical processes.

A sneaky wizard will work quite well.

[The Nomad]

And a boomy wizard counterpart?

EDIT: I'm thinking of some sort of a young Bauchelain, if this kind of character would fit the campaign.

[Cynical Cat]

The Science of Alchemy

Isolation and the sacking of cities has taken it's toll, but the practice of alchemy has survived even if it is diminished. Alchemy is in its simplest form a craft based on combining materials and subjecting them to the proper procedures to create the desired results. Volatile liquids, high quality steel, poisons, stimulates, medicinals, and other substances are the product of the alchemist. The most exotic and potent parts of their lore require sorcery to bring into fruition.

The few remaining alchemists of the north practice their art, take apprentices, experiment, and try to reclaim the lost secrets of their practice. The work is not without rewards or patrons.

Some Famed Alchemical Concoctions

Dragonfire

The fabled incendiary is lost in time, although a small host of lesser substances have been concocted as replacements and through experimentation. True dragonfire burns bright green and cannot be extinguished by water.

Plate Armour

The steels required for this are beyond the skills of ordinary smiths, but not beyond alchemists.

Soporific Powder

The vulgar name is sleep dust and while soporific powder swiftly hinders the victim upon ingestion or inhalation, sleep does not always occur. It combines well with alcohol.

Blasting Powder

Unstable and dangerous, this coarse black powder is not without it's uses.

Red Steel

Names for the faint red sheen the complicated alchemical process gives to the metal, blades of red steel are best that can be forged in the North.

Crypt Kicker

An extremely powerful stimulant that can get even the exhausted and heavily wounded men to fight like lions. The strain it places upon the body is considerable.

Tears of Mercy

An elixer with more than one rare ingredient, the Tears of Mercy have an almost supernatural power to speed healing and aid recovery.

[rhoenix]

Well, the Alchemy section seems interesting. What of the types of magic?

[Cynical Cat]

Well, the Alchemy section seems interesting. What of the types of magic?

The Alchemy section isn't comprehensive, just a list of famous examples. Alchemist players can have their own concoctions that do different things. I don't have a monopoly on the good ideas. We'll hash that out when the time comes.

Sorcery will be a big post. It's the only type of magic, but there are specialties and linked skills.

It's hard to learn, but theoretically everyone can do it.

It's a craft, not a science.

It's strenous to perform, with dangers of backlash.

[Comrade Tortoise]

It almost looks like I can do the Darwin-Like sorcerer/naturalist I have wanted to pull off for the longest time. No one ever lets me do it. Either the system or setting is inappropriate...

[Cynical Cat]

It almost looks like I can do the Darwin-Like sorcerer/naturalist I have wanted to pull off for the longest time. No one ever lets me do it. Either the system or setting is inappropriate...

Quite possibly. The sorcery and the fauna section will probably help with that.

[Comrade Tortoise]

It almost looks like I can do the Darwin-Like sorcerer/naturalist I have wanted to pull off for the longest time. No one ever lets me do it. Either the system or setting is inappropriate...

Quite possibly. The sorcery and the fauna section will probably help with that.

"what? You mean you dont have a room in your house where you classify barnacles?"

[Cynical Cat]

The People of the North

Broadly speaking the people of Gandelon are derived from several major ethnic groups with a fair amount of interbreeding that makes these labels superflous. Not always so at the borders and beyond . . .

Social Organization

A king rules from the southern city of Celenor. Two princes rule as regents in the cities of Kardin and Haraway. As with the ruling Margaze dynasty, they are of mixed Sendanese blood. Hereditary nobles with the title of count survive from the Imperial era as protectors and administrator of territories and non-hereditary barons serve as commanders of fortress garrisons and military commanders.

Gandelon law accords its subjects with numerous rights and while slavery is technically legal, it is practically unheard of. Women have the same legal rights as men, with the notable exception of inheritance rights. Nobles in theory do not have any more rights than other citizens, but as everywhere wealth and power create exceptions of their own.

The majority of the rural population are freemen who own their own land with large land owners employing paid labor and sharecroppers. It is common for rural folk to own axes or spears in self defence and bows are common among those who live near the wild for both defence and hunting.

Mail is common among professional soldiers and swords are the weapon of choice by those who can afford them. Knights wear heavy scale or full mail hauberks. Archers and free militia warriors tend to wear less. Boiled leather armour is common among them.

In the cities guilds dominate most skilled professions. As these organizations are dominated by the merchants at the top, this has been leading to increasing labor strife. Combined with a slowly declining population and increasingly threatened borders, this has lead to a certain grim fatalism among parts of Gandelon's population. Among others, it has been a call to action

Sendanese

The now mixed blooded descendants of the southern conquerors make up the ruling dynasty and the majority of the urban populace of Gandelon's three cities. Northern blood has lightened their dark hair, eyes, and brown skin as well as increased their height.

Gandon

The native dwellers of the plains and woods before the Sendanese came. Generally taller and paler than the Sendanese, although there has been so much interbreeding that there are many exceptions to the rule. Some of their clan chiefs became nobles of the old empire and the population is thoroughly integrated. There is little difference between the groups now although Gandons tend to be taller, slimmer, and lighter in colour.

Hornmar

Distantly related the the Gandons, the stocky hill people are a small minority within the kingdom, but plentiful without. Raiders strike at the weak and the vulnerable before retreating to fortified hill villages. They are a fierce people and worship savage tribal gods. Tattooing, branding, and piercing are common among their warriors.

Andirian

Once they ruled the north in an iron grip and plotted to conquer all that they could see. Sendan broke their power and their nation. Most of their blood mixed with that of others and vanished into the pages of history. A few retreated beyond Sendan's reach and managed to survive. In subsequent years they either allied with Hornmar or migrated back into Gandelon to rejoin civilization. Like the Sendanese their origins are in the south and they tend to be darker than the other peoples of the north, although like the Sendanese interbreeding his lightened their skin. They tend to be taller and slimmer than the Sendanese with light coloured eyes.

[Cynical Cat]

Institutions of Note

The Father, The Mother, and the Son

The Sendanese brought their gods with them to the north and they have mostly supplanted the local religion. The Father is the wise ruler, the skilled craftsman, and scholar. The mother is the healer and bringer of fertility. The Son is the patron of physical labor and the warrior. The priesthood has little political power because of the religion's emphasis on personal and familial relationship with the benevolent gods.

The Borderers

A group of rangers who patrol the wild areas at the edge of the kingdom, providing its rulers and officers with intelligence and helping protect the people. They have a formidable reputation. Their sign is the oak leaf.

The Pyre Warlocks

They the only surviving sorcerous school in the north. A monastic order of sorcerers, all who submit to join them swear eternal obedience and surrender all their worldly wealth to the order. Full warlocks wear cowled robes of dark brown or burgundy, although many students do not reach this lofty rank. Some lack the talent and become guardsmen or servants of one sort or another. The order maintains small chapter houses in Kardin and Celenor, with their headquarters being located in Haraway.


The Houses of Healing

A greatly respected institution with a house in each great city, the Houses of Healing train doctors. Much of the Sendan's medical lore has survived and the new lore has been added to it. Students of the houses provide free medical care to the poor, once they are judged ready by their masters, resulting in much less suffering than there otherwise would be. Such is their skill that men with gut wounds have survived in their care and more survive than do not from diseases that kill eight out of ten untreated. A minority of them are instructed in healing magic.


The Seekers of the New Sun

A semi-secret society of nobles, scholars, and others who wish to bring about a resurgency of Gandelon's civilization and power. Their ranks include high nobles, sharp eyed scouts, iron thewed champions, learned scholars, and duplicitous spies. Membership is not illegal, but many keep their affiliation secret. Their sign is a golden sun in a silver sky. The PCs will either be members or employed by this organization.

[Jason_Firewalker]

The more I read the more I am interested.... would love to know more about sorcery here.

[The Nomad]

Yup, will magic be akin to the Warren system of the Malazan Books, or closer to that of the Black Company? Highly showy technicolor, or more subtle stuff?

[Cynical Cat]

Sorcery

Sorcery is a craft, a practice with some well understood rules and procedures whose fundamental nature remains poorly understood. It advances in fits and starts by trial and error with rules of thumb and well practiced rotes being its defining features. At the heights of their power, both the Andirian and Sendan kingdoms possessed a greater store of knowledge and understanding of its operations, with their greatest practitioners perhaps having a glimpse of its fundamental laws. Such times are long passed and in this lesser age sorcerers struggle to reclaim the glories of an earlier age, not to surpass it.

Modern northern practitioners overwhelmingly fall into one of the following categories. They are either members of wizardly lines where magic is a family practice going back centuries, Pyre Warlocks, or members of the New Sun. Students of the Houses of Healing who are demonstrate potential receive instruction as well, although the magics are

Generally speaking sorcerous effects are energetic and short lived. Relics of awesome power feature prominently in fire side tales, but are rare in real life and beyond the abilities and lore of almost all living sorcerers.

The Great Laws

Sorcery is Beyond the Souless

Only humans can perform sorcery.

Nothing Without Price

Sorcery strains both mind and body and any slip in control results in backlashing magickal effects. Minor backlashes usually only increase the strain of the working, but more serious ones can be devastating to the local environment.

The Eyes Must First Open

A mental state of heightened awareness is required to perceive and utilize sorcery. Reaching and maintaining such a state for a useful period of time is difficult and requires much practice.

Without Control the Fire Burns Unchecked

Without the Will the Vessel is Empty

Words Rework the World

While in the heightened state, the sorcerer focuses his will on what he wants to accomplish, speaking a short phrase while mentally enunciating another phrase that modifies the spoken words. Thus requirements of extreme focus, directed will, and mental multitasking is extremely difficult to achieve, even with years of practice.

Sorcerers work exclusively in variants of living languages, dead languages, and artificial languages in order to avoid the inevitable drifts in meaning that occur with live languages in order to minimize backlash.