Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zacaros 03-25-08, 04:30 PM	Hi, i'd like to post the setting i'm using to run my adventures in the Known World, to discuss it, and as a source of inspiration for other GMs. The civilizated nations lost their accounts about how it started 7 hundred years before the main events, but one thing is sure : it was about that time, that the immortals became what they are in current times, the nemesis of everything that lives, and even to everything that dosen't.Every immortal turned into a ruthless, insane, unpredictable monster, a twisted form of its formers self, dedicated to the eradication of the mortalkind. The radiance, once a benevolent energy connected to the immortal's power, is now an oppressing presence on the material world, consuming and corrupting everything that comes in contact with it, turning even the most resilent materials into glimmering white dust. Everything that used to be sacred turned to the be sacrilegous, the shrines, the temples, the statues, evn the most innocent sings of dedication to the once proud protectors of the world was issued to be burned, destroyed or in any other way eradicated from the civilizated areas, because even the slightest use of the power derived from the spheres spelled disaster and tragedy upon the land. This wasn't an immediate change, it began slowly, when clerics turned unknowly, even to themselves, into cultists, doing the biddings of their now crazed patrons.Then the invocations became anathemi, the most common spells produced uncontrollable effects, and then people's mind became possessed and infected with thoughts of destruction behind mortal comprension, making murderers and madmen out of common people. The interrogated oracles responded suggesting senseless wars or mass suicides, and those who tried to contact the immortals by their own, lost their minds, or simply ventured to not be heard ever again.The situation was turning critical, when end-of-the-world style cults started to rise in the most populated cities, and the governments tried to understand if it was really the end, or if the immortals were at war, or if this was some kind of necessary passage for the known cosmology.While debating this, entire cities turned fanatical, armies of indipendent warmasters amassed ready to sacrifice thousand lives in the name of ixion or karaash, the knightly orders fought themselves seeking to prove that the others were wrong and conspiring against their faith. The turning point came in the form of a tome created in glantri, proving the existence of an alteration in the radiance fluxes that corrupted the sphere of time, and then influenced the other ones, releasing untapped sources of power, and limitations for the users. The complicate text was studied and discussed, but even with the effort of the most talented archmages, a solution wasn't found, and the entire situation became suspect, because of the connection between the radiance studies and the glantrian school of magic.The fear for spies, or infiltrated servants of the immortals spread, and the researchs were stopped.In those confused times, diplomacy failed to stop governators, nobles or even commoners from commiting acts of violence, and military represion was issued in many cases, leaving behind weakend countries, and wretched warzones. Magic was disappearing, the faiths seemed to be the worst thing to ask for, and evn the most ancient creatures felt the change that was consuming the world.Some beasts simply disappeared, other mutated into deadlier forms, and other ones, like the dragons, changed into new shapes. And then, when a quartier at the outskirts of darokin city burned, and lit the signal for the civil strife in many countries, a destiny was placed upon those who lived such times : one of heroic sacrifice.In those years the heroes appeared, the champions of the weak and oppressed, defenders of the terrorized masses, mortal nemesis to the bestial cults. A time for heroes, and martyrs, warriors and avengers like Prodenes, Agannar, Fulvio, Maslania, Kinvars, Bethol, Larannith, mortal men and women that turned the tide against the darkness. and then the tide turned again, when vestland conqured half of ethengard and imposed their new visions, and created the immortal Krimisha warriors, and engaged themselvs into transfiguration rites, try to call upon the immortal powers.Half ethengard was riduced into a sea of white dust, and the spirits of the once proud warriors became chained to their mortal bodies, making them inhuman and unstoppable. The perfection of the sword, the perfection of the war science inside an empty mind and a corrupted body.This lead to a war directed to the other side of ethengard, and the rest of the world.When there weren't enemies for the 2 treacherous nations, they fiought one against the other, seeming to hate eachother.For 60 years, this situation held on, with raids, and skirmish, and uprisings, and so on, in an endless tide of decadence for the defenders, and an unstoppable promise of conquest for the aggressors, culminating when, with enough knowledge and spilled blood, they finally mastered both the secret of trasfiguration, creating the lupine mutacrogens and the souless armors of Weng, the new house for the krimisha, and the powers of the dread sea, casting its waves and new created horrors upon karameikos, minrothad, thyatis, submerging the five shires, trapping Ierendi. New powers emerged, new servants, and the war was declared.The heroes and their successors tried to contain the armies invading the last outskirts of civilazion, but te invaders weren't ranks made out of criminals, commoners, mercenaries at the orders of some crazed cultist, neither brutal but clueless orcs, or villanous but fair villains, but professionist warriors turned in professionist mass-murderers, with siege weaponery, fleets to sail the sea, ranks of trained to death and beyond monster-soldiers, and merciless spellcasters.It was a desperate first year of war, only the harshness of the ylaruam's desert slowed the invaders a bit, but didn't stopped them, neither their assaults .Without magic, without provisions for another full year of all-out war, without a faith to shield them, the people of the known world simply understood that waiting for death to come was the last, dignitous thing to do. And then the death answered. At a first sight, the defending force tought about an undead army spreading out from desecrated graves but when they saw the skeletal corpses, the haunting spirits, the the carcasses engaging the attackers, and marching against them, without fear, pushing back the immortal's servants from where they came, they lowly began to understand...those weren't mindless deadeits under the control of some lich or necromancer of sorts, but they were the dead, fighting back to protect their land. in the ammassed forces of the once living heroes of the past, still wearing reagalie from their times were sought, some of them even commanding the undead in various actions.The conflict changed in less than two weeks, and the invading asrmies had to turn back and regroup, suffering unexpectd losses, nd losing parts of their battalions in the retreat. The most amazing thing was the inefficency of most of the spells used by the aggressors, wich puzzled the reasearchers of the time.At the end of the conflict, the dead returned to their own graves, tombs or simply last resting places, but a few of them informed the commading groups of darokin, karameikos and thyatis about what they truly were : they were not slaves of entropic magic, no more, and no subjected to any other spell, becase they were the ancestors, the ones who will always guard upon the descendants. From this point on, the final decision about the immortal's worshipping was to forbid it in every country, and to introduce the cult of the ancestors, studing their lessons from the past.This wasn't easy for many, the teachings of the immortals still ran deeply inside the brun societies, and removing the icons, the paintings, and demolishing temples was just too much for some people who didn't accepted it, and tried to fight back.Once againg, military repression broke rebellions and keep them at bay, and, for simplify the overall job of cleansing the cities from the immortal's cult once for all, the new clerical orders worshipping the ancestors forged themselves toghether with the knightly orders, becoming a military and religious armed force.It was hard, it was extreme at times, but it was necessary, and, in the end, proved to be a truly successfull idea. With the passage of the years, new schools of magic rose, teaching to use the summoned powered of the ancestors and the inner power of the vital energy.Many other things occurred, but for now, even if hard at times, people survived in those centuries, even if the strife against the immortals goes on.
Spellweaver 03-26-08, 04:03 AM	If you edit your first post, making more paragraphs seperated by an empty line, it would be more readable :) . :-) Jesper
Hugin 03-26-08, 10:18 AM	If you edit your first post, making more paragraphs seperated by an empty line, it would be more readable :) . :-) Jesper I have to agree with Spellweaver. I did skip over it due to the difficulty in reading it. Place some spaces in there to create some paragraphs and you'll be golden :D . Once you do that I'll be happy to read and make some comments for you. (I haven't noticed you here before so if you are new, welcome to the Mystara Board!)
Agathokles 03-26-08, 10:25 AM	Welcome Zacaros, and, indeed, I agree with Hugin and Spellweaver -- paragraph breaking and capitalization would go a great length toward increasing readability. G.
Zacaros 03-26-08, 11:58 AM	thanks for your help, i'll edit my post asap
Zacaros 04-23-08, 08:55 PM	main changes guidelines : - immortals are no more as you knew them, now they are twisted, cruel, unfathomable forces dedicated to the destruction of brun and the rest of the world - it is known that a small number of immortals are sane, but who, and where it's a mistery (rafiel is most certanly sane but he seeems to have disappeard) - the radiance seems to be corrupted - arcane magic is forbidden, and has been repleaced with inner magic and ancestors power (both used by losing HPs and "infusing" them into reagents or sacred objects) - the undead are neutral and come back to protect their own people, as living ancestors - for unknown reasons ethengard and vestland aligned themselves with the immortals and accepted them as their masters - the shadow elves integrated themselves in brun....but they still keep on spying other people.They have a lots of cleric and are quite keen in the studies regarding the ancestors - the immortal cults are forbidden, and their formal worshippers became dangerous cultists, with their own terror agenda - the immortals anyway seems to hate eachother, not all of them, but is usually so - the world is filled with people willing to stop the immortals, even by questionable means, such as treachery, secret biddings and the use of baneful powers, as the chaos ones - it is impossible to forsee the future, only the thyatian mages can, and the maximum they reaced was one hour in the future - it is impossible to resurrect someone, or at least, to ressurrect people straight away : it now requires complex machines, powerful magics and a lot of studies, most of them forbidden - it is impossible to time travel or to teleport, even by using constructed portals : it will just lead you in other space, to a nearly imminent death - there is a cultural gap now, portions of the former written history seems to be lost or somehow missen - many magical creatures changed into more powerful, more dire forms : your "usual" troll it is now a gigantic, nearly umbeatable monster (luckly its neutral), and as many other monsters have settled for solitary isolament, left only for hunting or other pragmatic reasons - the beholders are now 3-eyed and entropic powered : luckly they are solitaire and never associate with other creatures - economy changed : the silver coin is now the common one, the bronze one is the lower-class common, the gold coin is unusual and used to pay works and favors on demand (for example : a sword cost you 9-10 silver coins, a commisioned custom sword will cost you a gold coin or even two).Platinum pieces are common only in legal or politic affairs. - the dread sea in now even more dread : it cause mutations and tries to erode the coasts - there are some powerful new technologies around : the double chambered guns, the rifles, the cannons (thyatis have magically powered cannons, quite accurate indeed), minor steam machines, lesser chemical solutions, ome mechanical working machines - many cities turned into fortress cities - the dragons seem to have disappeared... - the orcs are now red!nd they are slender - the goblins are now blue, are a rare sight and sports new misterious powers - the esp powers are banned : they are too dangerous, as the immortals can try to control your mind (mind was a sphere under their influence).But there are studies to take back those poweres anyway - watch out for hollow world invaders, as most of the underground civilizations, milenians aside, are loyal to the immortals! and many other things... comments ?ideas ?suggestions ?
Zacaros 04-25-08, 07:28 AM	uhm, nobody home?
havard 04-25-08, 08:16 AM	I think Yellowdingo would have liked these ideas. ;) Havard
maddog 04-25-08, 11:11 AM	With that many changes you may find it easier to draw a new map and do a homebrew setting instead. Just add a few courties and a timeline and I think you'd be 95% finished. --Ray.
Hugin 04-25-08, 12:27 PM	Have to say that the changes are so vast and immense that it is basically a homebrew setting that incorporates Mystara elements. Not that I think they are bad ideas to try, some of them are interesting twists, it's just that using all of them at once really changes the setting almost beyond recognition. :D It would be difficult to explain exactly why and how these changes happen if you keep it on Mystara. However, if you just call it a homebrew with a Mystara basis, you can create all the changes you want without having to explain the sweeping changes.
Zacaros 04-25-08, 06:32 PM	don't forget that all the changes happened only in brun (and they happened 700 years after the sha of the shadow lord), the rest of the world is sane and (well, mostly) safe.For example, in davania things are nearly identical and mostly unchanged, same for the savage baronies (only the sea seems to be a bit more deadly than before), and for the most, everythings still there, and still unware of the fate that struck the known world, creating quite of a stage for adventures away from brun, where trying to explain that the local "gods" are turning into ravaging madmen it's not so easy, but springs many ideas (for example, the aztec-esque civilizations may be aware of the change, and following the idea of "dead gods" of the original inspiration). I worked this ideas around thinking about a major change in culture, inspirations and motifs, but still keeping an heroic, epic feeling, of desperate struggle, mighty challenges and lifechanging adventures, making of the known world a "big place" againg, that takes you months to be explored, documentaded and discovered.The changes in the magic system were done to create a brand new, not generic felling to the overall magic, instilling more mystarian-native magic, less "lifesaving" spells, make the losses of party members, npcs, friends and people more serious (resurrection at the local temple is something i leave to forgotten realms and similiar settings), and plus, making of spells like magic missile and fireball an exotic thing, quite uncommon to be seen. The change of choosing ancestors above gods or immortals was a risky but challenging one : i wanted to create a form of religion that wasn't easy to employ as a mean to get into war, something that will not tell to slay the evildoers because your god said so, but i wanted to keep the feeling of "an entity for every aspect of life", creating a mass of ancestors guarding upon many things, and with different behaviours, especially in the most "foreign" countries. And i especially wanted something that stopped the abuse of the undead a menace everytime that a war/subtle plot/political unrest/younameit happens : seriously, if you played d&d for at least 10 years, you have faced so many form of undeath for the most absurd reasons (they're evil, undead, cruel, undead, wicked, undead and they're invading us!go and stop them!), that in the end they became just another template, and meaningless one too.Turning them into the vengeful spirits of the ancestors willingly coming back to protect the descendants to me seemed a fresh, respectable idea, and a tested one : think about lotr. For once you'll talk to the undead and send them to the their rest without turning them. The choice of ethengard and vestland as the traitor countries came from 2 different ideas : for ethengard, the one of a dangerous "illumination", a semitrascendent spiritual study gone wrong, that plagued the khanate near its end (but admitting that, without the corrupted radiance in it, the benefit of this teachings were real), and the idea of a "post-ragnarok" shock for the vestland people, who believed that the gods were dead and gone, and that the time of strife finally came.The end of the immortal pantheon had to be a no-turning back point for someone, so i picked them, and i hope i picked the right ones. I changed to orcs to make them less generic-common orcs from monster manual : the mistaryan orcs, expecially the ones created by the rain of fire had a good background, and were soething more than your next menace on the world map.I wanted to explore the possible evolution of their kind and even try to give them a future, a possible next step, and the red form is one of them, but not the final.I wanted to make og goblins something to be scared of, creatures more akin to fairies and more twisted that you can imagine, little gods of their own lairs.And i wanted to erease all those "monster filled supermarkets" that the common dungeons are, making monsters big, nasty, and known by name and surname even by the commoners : you will not fight a troll in a swamp, you will fight slaughtroar filthback, the maneater of the swamp.Ouch. I didn't cancelled dragons, i just make them more legendary and more rare to be seen, making the draconic race a mythical one once againg, making npcs saying "you're telling me you saw a dragon?I'm not a kid boy, you'll not pull a leg on me!dragons exist only in childish fantasies!", and this is something i'm proud of. The idea of not "ressable" deaths is a one i'm fonded of : the death of a party member have to be tragic and touching, not beign a routine.Plus, a dead friend is someone that the party's cleric will hear, now that the lost one became one of the ancestors and think about the emotional and epic feeling of carrying a friend's suol with you, it's quite something, imho. Anyway, many of you probably are missing the possibility of becoming an immortal : that posibility still exist, in secret.The are in fact new immortals in my version, they are called titans, and they're trying to "code" 5 new spheres to fight the 5 old ones.The titans work in secret, and only a strict number of them can exist, and only if a titans is killed, he can be replaced (making immortality less trivial).Those individuals found a new source of immortal power studing the willpower of living beigns itself, a power that trascends time and even space, nd the last hope against the immortals menace. In the end i wanted something that sounded like a real plot, not a retcon.I don't believe in mass resets, i believe in good stories. Epicity, struggle, never-seen before magic, forbidden teachings, and lessons from a troubled past, the ingredients to make of the best d&d setting ever something even more particular and even more unique. Next, i'll exaplain you the campaign i'm playing with my friends. Anyway, who is yellowdingo?
maddog 04-25-08, 09:15 PM	Anyway, who is yellowdingo? YD is a fellow with very different and interesting but way over-the-top ideas about Mystara. I found them to be interesting to read and though he should put that energy into writing but I guess that wasn't for him. He certainly has the descriptive (fluffy) part under control. Now for the rest of your post..... I see what you're doing. You're putting color and excitement back into the setting by changing some of the background expectations. Sure it's changing things but at the same time it will keep the veteran player on their toes (Blessed Ixion (or whatever in your campaign)! That Beholder has three eyes!) Perhaps it could work on Mystara. It just has to be delivered in the right package. :) --Ray.
Zacaros 04-28-08, 10:38 PM	in the campaign i'm running, the pcs are mercenaries "in training", learning the basics of the business in the city of Monfalstione, a medium-sized city , southwest of Favaro.Monfalstione is better known for its max-security prision, the Keep, build upon the rocky edges of a quite impressive (and unusual) geological formation unreported on maps, considerated an impenetrable defensive spot.For many years, the city was just an appendix to the prision, wich held some of the most degenerate and dangerous criminals of the republic.This uninteresting spot on the darokinian's maps became suddently hot when Warmaster Guntario Scalpi, headmaster of the "sword of Halav", a cunning yet brutal cult, with a series of calculated strikes,cut off favaro's communications, then order his henchmen to spread in Ansimont false news about a plauge, closing the city gates in result.Then, he aimed for Monfalstione, commanding his inside men to lit a revolt in the keep, then sended false prisioners to control it better.The impenetrable prison-fortress fell in the warmaster's hands in less than a week, and became a stronghold for his forces, plus being an extreme defensive point, higly valuable for an hardened siegemaster like Scalpi.There were dissidents inside the prision's walls that questioned Scalpi's authority, many of them being cultists themselves, who regarded a Halav follower as a lesser important, second-choice leader, unable to lead them to the real objective of this campaign : Darokin city. Then, cold as ever, Guntario showed them the head of Paulo Saudad, former Asteriu's demagouge, known as the devourer of riches, the despoiler of fortunes, the maximal authority in the Astariu's cult.The older prisoners were incredibly impressed by this archivement of Guntario, because Saudad's wereabouts were unknown to the majority of his subjects, being a well guarded secret.The warmaster now had the complete control over the prisoners, and was ready to prepare his army for the conquest : the testing ground was going to be Ansimont.Scalpi struck the cityfrom the inside first, and from the outside later, in a double siege, archieved by the use of complexes tunnels and terror troops : he choosed the most violent, insane prisoners and mind controlled them, amputated their arms and substituted them with shields and swords, and employed the rest in the most expandable ways, from technological skills to logistics, having them preparing the tunnels, building the siege engines and doing most of the hard work.The sword of Halav revealed a terrific power, adaptability and strategy, putting the city regiments in a series of catastrophic situations.When the warmaster thought to be unstoppable, something went wrong.Mercenary companies, heading back from an extensive campign in Akorros crossed his path : at first they were puzzled by the unexpected assault, but when the paymasters recognized Scalpi as "that guy who asked a lot of favors some time ago, and paid only the half of them", they armed themselves against the invaders.This was Guntario's biggest mistake : to think that the mecenary companies would not be back in time to get the other half of their payments.Even with his superior numeric forces and skills, Guntario couldn't stop his former "allies" from alerting the surrounding cities, and headed back to Monfalstione.The republic figured out the mess, and promised even some hangings for the mercenaries, but they needed their strenght, and sent them reinforcements to regain the control of Ansimont, and to lead an assault against Monfalstione.This was the hard part : it took 5 months to open a breach on the south-eastern path to the keep, another 3 to distract Scalpi long enough to organize an invasion.Even breached and nearly without an escape, the warmster demonstrated to be a formidable adversary, with a superior training and a fearful battle strategy, plus the gifts of Halav himself, that made him more a killing machine than a man.The invading forces seemed to be doomed, as the warmaster's soldier seemed to be in constant advantage, and able to heal quickly, to summon a terrible rage against the enemies, and to never sleep.Night, day, first morning's lights, they were always ready.All hope seemed to be lost, when, commander Silvano Urzio da Favaro of the "hanged man" company, appeard, covered in blood, without an arm, saying he had found the means to stop Scalpi.4 days after this, he lead a nocturnal raid against the keep, and somehow (nobody knows for sure) found the warmaster, faced him and killed him using some kind of power that stopped Scalpi's heart.The great enemy was defeated, the replubic catched its breath.Since then, the sellswords, the soldiers for hire, housed themselves in Monfalstione, as a sign of pride for the quite compossionate act (necesessary act : if they didn't fight the warmaster, the republic would have quite likely ordered their deaths) demonstrated in the historical battle. But never forget : where a servant of the immortals falls and dies, another one will rise and smile.I'll post the rest as soon as possible.
Hugin 04-29-08, 10:54 AM	Zacaros, here's a friendly suggestion to help us read your posts. ;) Try making them look more like this: in the campaign i'm running, the pcs are mercenaries "in training", learning the basics of the business in the city of Monfalstione, a medium-sized city , southwest of Favaro.Monfalstione is better known for its max-security prision, the Keep, build upon the rocky edges of a quite impressive (and unusual) geological formation unreported on maps, considerated an impenetrable defensive spot. For many years, the city was just an appendix to the prision, wich held some of the most degenerate and dangerous criminals of the republic. This uninteresting spot on the darokinian's maps became suddently hot when Warmaster Guntario Scalpi, headmaster of the "sword of Halav", a cunning yet brutal cult, with a series of calculated strikes,cut off favaro's communications, then order his henchmen to spread in Ansimont false news about a plauge, closing the city gates in result.Then, he aimed for Monfalstione, commanding his inside men to lit a revolt in the keep, then sended false prisioners to control it better. The impenetrable prison-fortress fell in the warmaster's hands in less than a week, and became a stronghold for his forces, plus being an extreme defensive point, higly valuable for an hardened siegemaster like Scalpi.There were dissidents inside the prision's walls that questioned Scalpi's authority, many of them being cultists themselves, who regarded a Halav follower as a lesser important, second-choice leader, unable to lead them to the real objective of this campaign : Darokin city. Then, cold as ever, Guntario showed them the head of Paulo Saudad, former Asteriu's demagouge, known as the devourer of riches, the despoiler of fortunes, the maximal authority in the Astariu's cult.The older prisoners were incredibly impressed by this archivement of Guntario, because Saudad's wereabouts were unknown to the majority of his subjects, being a well guarded secret.The warmaster now had the complete control over the prisoners, and was ready to prepare his army for the conquest : the testing ground was going to be Ansimont. Scalpi struck the city from the inside first, and from the outside later, in a double siege, archieved by the use of complexes tunnels and terror troops : he choosed the most violent, insane prisoners and mind controlled them, amputated their arms and substituted them with shields and swords, and employed the rest in the most expandable ways, from technological skills to logistics, having them preparing the tunnels, building the siege engines and doing most of the hard work. The sword of Halav revealed a terrific power, adaptability and strategy, putting the city regiments in a series of catastrophic situations.When the warmaster thought to be unstoppable, something went wrong.Mercenary companies, heading back from an extensive campign in Akorros crossed his path : at first they were puzzled by the unexpected assault, but when the paymasters recognized Scalpi as "that guy who asked a lot of favors some time ago, and paid only the half of them", they armed themselves against the invaders. This was Guntario's biggest mistake : to think that the mecenary companies would not be back in time to get the other half of their payments.Even with his superior numeric forces and skills, Guntario couldn't stop his former "allies" from alerting the surrounding cities, and headed back to Monfalstione.The republic figured out the mess, and promised even some hangings for the mercenaries, but they needed their strenght, and sent them reinforcements to regain the control of Ansimont, and to lead an assault against Monfalstione. This was the hard part : it took 5 months to open a breach on the south-eastern path to the keep, another 3 to distract Scalpi long enough to organize an invasion.Even breached and nearly without an escape, the warmster demonstrated to be a formidable adversary, with a superior training and a fearful battle strategy, plus the gifts of Halav himself, that made him more a killing machine than a man. The invading forces seemed to be doomed, as the warmaster's soldier seemed to be in constant advantage, and able to heal quickly, to summon a terrible rage against the enemies, and to never sleep.Night, day, first morning's lights, they were always ready.All hope seemed to be lost, when, commander Silvano Urzio da Favaro of the "hanged man" company, appeard, covered in blood, without an arm, saying he had found the means to stop Scalpi. 4 days after this, he lead a nocturnal raid against the keep, and somehow (nobody knows for sure) found the warmaster, faced him and killed him using some kind of power that stopped Scalpi's heart.The great enemy was defeated, the replubic catched its breath.Since then, the sellswords, the soldiers for hire, housed themselves in Monfalstione, as a sign of pride for the quite compossionate act (necesessary act : if they didn't fight the warmaster, the republic would have quite likely ordered their deaths) demonstrated in the historical battle. But never forget : where a servant of the immortals falls and dies, another one will rise and smile.I'll post the rest as soon as possible. A little easier to read like that. Interesting story by the way. I love the idea of the 'hanged man' company.
Zacaros 05-01-08, 12:14 PM	anyway, nearly 80 years passed since Scalpi's defeat, all is well....until now.The "Bear's fangs" company opened its ordalies, and accepted new recruits (the pcs) for the training courses required to become a full recognized "dog of war". Some days later, one of the local blacksmiths was found dead, in a desolated road near his house, with an awful bite on his neck, and several bruises.The local republican guard couln't investigate the fact at the moment, being assigned to a max-security prisoners transport. The investigations was passed to the bear's company, who sent the pcs to look after this mess, and to put down a report about it.They found no true evidence about the possible murderer, but they disovered some kind of fang hidden in his workshop, and a secret passage under one of his friend's cellar. follwoing the passage wich lead them to an ancient well, now dry, they found a small room with chains and silver hooks, and a door with some kind of symbol on it.The pcs opened the door and released a "shadow mass" who revealed to be a wolf-like creature, that tried to escape to the upper floors. They confronted the beast, but it was too late, as the first shadows of sunset hit the creature, it dissapeard from sight.Anyway, one the pcs managed to cut off one piece of the beast...that turned into a human finger. As fast as thy could, they gathered the few city guards and tried to hunt down the shadow creature in the abandoned part of Monfalstione.In the final showdown, they managed to defeat it with the help of a musket, after cornering the beast with torchlights.No corpse was left behind, as the beast turned into ash. Many questions remained : what was that?Why it assaulted the blacksmith?What truly was that chamber hidden at end of the well? As day passed, they discovered other clues : the blacksmith owned enogh silver to buy a well defended travel out of town, and seemed to cllect those strange fangs. During a sidequest, the pcs witnessed a second murder : a shady book seller who medded with medicine books of questionable use was found dead in an alley behind the main square.Againg, bitten to death. What they don't know is that the thing that they're chasing is a shruk, a lupine shadow servant, bounded to a witch.This creature has been summoned after a long sleep, to serve a new mistress, a witch called Miriana Stellione, an intelligent woman with a vast culture and great powers, who tracked down her lineage, from Akorros to the surronding area of Monfalstione. She discoreved in the diary of her granmother the proofs about a conection between her family and Silvano Urzio : it seems that the famous commander was a friend of Scalpi back in the days, and that the warmaster gave him part of his power, materialiazed as a stronger arm, to turn him in a loyal ally. For some reason, Silvano refused the gift as he discovered Scalpi's true nature, and tried to get rid of that gift by any means, until he crossed Miriana's granny, who explained him that the "blessing" placed upon him by the warmaster would not end , even if he cut down his arm, and it would keep him living and killing.He had to cut the arm, a give back to power to Scalpi to get rid of it. As story teaches, the commander did so, and the unexpected doing surprised the warmaster, who was overwhelmed by his own power, and killed.Miriana, after learning this, discovered even more about her family : a whole lineage of witches, fighting the immortals since the days of Vestland's invasions. By purifying rituals she acquired the means to contact one of her ancestors, and learned how much she could about the family's history, and tracked down her family recors in Monfalstione.To learn more about herr inner magic she started to transform her family stocking company into a smuggling syndicate, to obatian enough money for ancient books an rare reagents. After a full year of studies and training, she could control her on power with great skill...but discovered even more about it.It seems that she was to be new family's head, the heir of the past teachings, and that was a job for her : an immortal cult seemed to gather around Monfalstione, and she discovered one of her own men trading with some kind of cultist, looking for snake theet. after counsulting her ancestors, she decided to bring back the power of her dynasty and follow the family tradition to fight the immortals and their servants.But getting in Monfalstione unseen, unheard to study more about her powers, without being caught, would not be so easy. That city is known to be a not-so funny place, and a newcomer, not affiliated to a mercanary company would raise suspects.Until an idea came to her : to expose her smuggling activities.With the right connections, she would be sent to Monfalstione, and if she could be considered in league with even more dangerous criminal, her sentence would be longer. Miriana is indeed a pure spirit under some circumstances : she needs not luxuries, big houses, or servants, she simply wants to be what she thinks she's destinied to.She willingly let herself being caught in league with a minor Asterius cultist, and was sent, exactly as she wanted, to the keep.Into the belly of the beast. In her lonely cell, she managed to summon the sleeping spirit of the shrucks, to seeks the places owned by her family in the past, and to hunt down a possibly raising cult of Djaea, thing that they accomplished successfully. What Miriana doesn't know is the fact that she is NOT the true descendant, destinied family's head, but only the descendant of the a secondary branch, appointed to protect the true heir, wich is a girl of Monfalstione.Even if her power is great, in the end she'll be unable to stop the Djaea's Great Harvester plans. Only Merezik,a strange old hag living in the city, last connection to the original covenant, can recognize the true successor, and the pcs will have to race against time, to discove the complicated plot, as the cultist already strated their machinations to poison the mercanary leaders to bound them to their biddings. If they will not stop the cult, soon, the once proud swords for hire will fall in the cluthches of the Great Harvester, that will succeeds were Scalpi failed.And he has plan to breed snakemen too! I hope they will join forces against the impeding darkness, as the ancient pact of the stones is their only hope.
Zacaros 05-01-08, 11:24 PM	well, how much it rocks? ......not even a bit?
Zacaros 05-04-08, 07:40 AM	hrm, anyway, i'd like to write down the gazetteers for this future versions of the KW countries, describing the full details.For darokin, i'd like to write about the various ancestors cults and the different perception of them through the republic, examining the various stories and viewpoints in the sacred pantheon regarding the replubic's heroes.Soldiers, mercenaries, commanders and all the other people from the military chaste would be described in detail, their own history, past quests, infamious or noble acts, possible employes, connections. the other important thing to write about, is the most complicted one : the republic itself.How much the govermnt changed, how it's different fgrom before, the old and new laws, the bancary system, the taxes, the tribunals, the archives, the different ministers and departments, the political games, the dream of freedom by equal rights....or by equal money. Another big part should be about the common people, the simple ones, their jobs, their ideas, the possibilities given to them, to rise from a lower grade to became a respected citizen, or the other way around.Dreams, doubts, beliefs, fears, superstitions, common sayings of the darokinians from this far future expolred and explained. Last, but not for importance, should be the treats sections, about the lost and forasken spots on the darokin's map, the monster infested nests, the lairs of beasts like the dopplegangers, the invincible gorgons, the mutant ogres.and of course, the cultists and their damned temples, their strongholds, secret temples, connections, inside men, grand masters and master plots. i think you may like this, to me, it sounds catchy and stimulating.
Zacaros 05-07-08, 02:04 PM	comments, suggestions? i'm quite interstead in your opinions about my vision
havard 05-11-08, 08:10 AM	Zacaros, I think you have many great ideas and you seem like a very creative and innovative guy. However, I suspect the lack of response in this thread may be a result of your vision being too far removed from the Mystara we know and love. At least that is how I feel when reading it. Events centered around destroying entire countries or even cities is rarely going to go down well with the community I fear as there is so much love for these locations here. Turning the Immortals into evil entities also seems wrong to me as I am so used to seeing them as the good guys. I'm not telling you what to do in your campaign ofcourse. Go on and have fun and tear the setting apart. However, I suspect you will receive more feedback on ideas that involve less destructive ideas about Mystara. :) Havard
maddog 05-11-08, 09:21 AM	Zacaros, I think you have many great ideas and you seem like a very creative and innovative guy. However, I suspect the lack of response in this thread may be a result of your vision being too far removed from the Mystara we know and love. Although I'm certain there is truth to this, I know that in my case RL keeps getting in the way. Not enough time to read everything on the board and post too it seems. I think your ideas for Mystara are interesting and would make a good campaign setting. --Ray.