Campaign Seed

An idea put to text that I probably won't use any year soon. But it's there, right? >.>


"We followed and worshiped Them,
We heeded and praised Them,
We marched to war in Their names,
We fought under Their direction alongside Their lieutenants,
We bled and died,
And for this, we are forsaken.
The Gods have abandoned us."

Chronicled by Lorekeeper Jastin Tayrn
It is the year 221 of the Dark Age. We are humble in the declaration, for we know much of what was before. We have seen the ruins, the tomes, and heard the tales of those that survived. This is an age of darkness, an age of striving to rebuild what we once had.
By comparison, the time before the Godswar was an age of marvels. Every nation had its patron deity, for those without such blessings and protections had long ago become subsumed by the greater realms. These Gods were worshipped and honored, and in return they sent their emissaries among the mortal people with advice and sorcerous arts to be taught. Magic was not common, but it was known. No town was without several practitioners of the arcane arts, those who tapped powers through rituals given from the Gods and those who invoked Their power directly. Spells harnessed spirits to aid and unburden societies and enchanted conveyances sped travel. Civilization flourish as barbarism and the wild lands were beaten back year after year.
Expansion, however, caused friction and jealousy. The Gods cared more for Their own realms than for peace, and one after another called Their folk of flesh and quintessence to arms. The Godswar shattered realms and cost untold numbers of lives. When the dust settled, the Gods and their emissaries were gone, leaving a broken mortal populous to pick up the pieces.
Now there are no Gods. The glorious creations of the Age of Gods have fallen into disrepair or crumbled outright without the divine energies that sustained them. Magic is all but unknown, save one secretive sect many have not heard of. Nations have been rebuilt - by desperate force more often than not - but stand only as shadows of their former glory.
In this time, it is our duty to hold the candle of knowledge against the unwavering dark that we may find a path once more unto the light.

The Enlightened Order of Arcanists
The Arcanists claim to practice sorcery as long-ago taught by the Gods, and from accounts this may hold true. Our current research, however, indicates that no known member of the order was a practitioner at the time of the Godswar. Theory states that the order was founded by those apprentices who understood the basics of sorcery, but were yet too untested to be taken into battle or otherwise affected by whatever catastrophe removed all known mages from existence. As sorcery is understood to be an art that calls upon primal energies within nature, such magics could continue to be effective with the absence of the Gods.
Regardless, the order is small - comprised of fewer than two hundred members spread across the realms, with perhaps a tenth of that number being mages of notable power. They appear bound to no specific government. A "master" within the order is permitted to take on apprentices they deem worthy. The exact criteria for instruction are unknown, but it appears to be a rare individual who qualifies.
Truth: The Enlightened Order is a front. The Arcanists are practitioners of demonic invocations, the eldest of which were actually involved in the end of the Godswar. The best-intentioned of the group are subtly manipulated by their demonic patrons toward evil ends, while some fully embrace dark acts in a desire for power.
Due to backlash across the web of quintessence that encompasses the world, "normal" sorcerers we killed at the end of the Godswar and most magical items failed. While it may be possible for someone to re-learn the techniques, the only real active practitioners of magic (and magic items) are those who use demonic magics. Such magic always has a price of some sort, even the most basic of enchanted weapons.

The Death Lands
This nightmarish realm was once the Kingdom of Peliel, where the final great battle of the Godswar was fought. It was here that the fate of ages was decided. Theories abound, but it is known something terrible occurred at the Battle of Peliel - something felt throughout the other nations. Though rumors crop up frequently of ancestors who fought in the battle, we have been wholly unable to substantiate any of them. As far as can be proven with surviving documents, no one - not mortal, spirit, emissary, or God - returned from the battle.
To put it simply, the land is cursed. Whatever may have occurred, within bounds of the former kingdom, nothing is known to grow. Even living explorers find their will, and perhaps their very life force, drained. Ghosts and the like were rare before, but reports from the Death Lands have caused us to devise an entirely new classification of being: the undead. The zombies and apparitions witnessed have all shown no intellect or an irrational, psychotic mentality. Thankfully, they appear to have no real organization and rarely push beyond the borders of the scarred nation.
Truth: The Battle of Peliel shaped the world more than almost anything else. Here a great ritual was enacted by demon-inspired followers that warped the very power of the Gods back upon themselves and their folk. This would not have been possible if the war had not dragged on so long, shaking belief in the Gods and making many desperate enough to believe what the demons promised.
Belief is everything for the supernatural in this world. Had mortal faith in the Gods not wavered, they would have remained immortal. Instead, the whisperings of demonkind strengthened the supernatural forces of evil to give them an edge.
Belief has aftershocks, too. Death (while originally a unique, but not overly-powerful being of quintessence) gained so much power in one fell swoop from the fallen in the battle that is now has the strength most Gods did at their height, even with few active followers. The undead actually help to keep it so powerful, in a cyclical symbiosis as Death's power infuses them with a semblance of life. Death resides in the former capital of Peliel, now having emissaries that taken on the role of reaper that it once held.
There are undead of all sorts here, including several Gods.

The College of Scientific Advancement
In the Kingdom of Hrenfeld, enough technology, information, and brilliant minds survived the Godswar to give an edge. The first king proved visionary enough to lure many other learned scholars from their callings elsewhere to aid in his reconstruction. And so the nation has founded the College of Scientific Advancement, striving to replace magic with invention of physical sciences.
The College has led to some notable achievements in its time. The capital city and some of the smaller towns are known to possess a form of power to provide light to the inhabitants. Similarly, advancements in metallurgy have made Hrenfeld products desirable throughout the realms. While these inventions are a far cry from the wonders of the last age, the College gives the kingdom a clear edge over most. What remains unclear is whether the king intends to make active use of this to gain territory and resources.
Truth: That's all pretty accurate, actually. The College/Kingdom has access to "Steampunk" level inventions, including some limited armored land/water vehicles and firearms. For the less-realistic stuff, they've managed to harness quintessence as a power source, allowing for the more fantastic.