OPEN SIGNUPS Lords of Old Night - Adventuring in a Forgotten World

[ze_kraken]

LORDS OF OLD NIGHT

For centuries, we have been told that to venture east of the banks of the Comranto River is suicide. We were told of the memories of Old Night, of the time a cowardly king excused his own incompetence with stories of the unholy specter of walking corpses.

"When King Derevar died, he left a shattered kingdom in his wake too busy picking at the scraps to bother caring what truth there was in the myths of the walking dead and their masters. The time has come to look eastward, to uncover what has been kept from us.

Come all 'ye who dare to imagine a better world, one bigger than the remains of the 100 Kingdoms of Derevar. Come all who will dare the unknown and reclaim what has been denied us for so long. Come all, let us boldly go unearth the truths of Old Night and spit on the grave of the king who fabricated it.​

I - THE WAR of the DEAD

“They came at us in their hundreds at first, then their thousands. Arrows did not break them, nor did they flinch when they came upon our spears. Cavalry smashed their flanks, but where men would run in terror at such an onslaught, they merely fought on unperturbed.”

- King Derevar II, The Battle at the Comronto River​

THE BEGINNING of the END

Since Creation, mankind has existed in the material realm, but possesses a latent ability to touch that which lies beyond. This immaterial realm has gone by many names throughout the ages. To the ancient Astrinean Empire, it was the realm of their gods known as Hatesian Mons. To the first peoples of the Taigha, it was the call of the goddess of the earth. To more modern minds, this immaterial realm is but the opposite end of the physical realm’s coin.

In this realm, the tenets of reality can be known in their truest form. Earth, water, fire, air, stone, and so forth are all pillars of reality but are malleable in the immaterial realm. Speaking the words of the immaterial realm, something all waking minds cannot grasp but the sleeping mind can, conjures forth its power. Throughout history, countless tyrants and benevolent rulers wielded their skill at speaking the language of the immaterial to leave their mark upon the world. Most powerful of these words are the Names of Power, ones that describe the very nature of the pillars of reality themselves. Knowing a Name of Power lets one bend the Named object to their will.

By the height of King Derevar II, Ruler of 100 Kingdoms, several the Names had been spoken at one point or another throughout history, but the Name of Life had yet to be uttered. That changed when Diarmad the Damned, one of the vassal lords under King Derevar and a master of the practice of manipulating the immaterial, uttered the Name of Life spurred on by grief over his dead son. The Name conjured forth life and imbued his son with it, but when his son’s eyes opened they were still as dull and inert as had been the corpse’s eyes. When he spoke, the words were unintelligible, and he moved as if a simulacrum of himself - a puppet pulled by the strings of his father.

Diarmad had no choice but to slay his son to spare him the horror of this half-life. He told no one of the Name he had discovered, but already the seeds of destruction had been sown. Having the power to call back people from the dead, not as they had been but as tools, tempted Diarmad. With such power, he could reshape the world and usher in an era of progress built upon the backs of a purely subservient workforce. No longer would the serfs need to toil in the fields for scraps. No more would wars need to be fought at the expense of true human life. The Name of Life would be the word of salvation upon Diarmad’s lips.

THE GREAT WORK and the HUNGER

Diarmad’s Great Work as he called it began slowly. Diarmad knew that if shown to the wrong people, the Great Work would end in disaster. It would not be the first time that certain Names of Power had been expunged from the record of human knowledge, and any trace of its use burned out like a cancer. So he gathered supporters in secret, tempting them not with the power to cheat death but the ability to build a utopian world. Key lords were swayed bit by bit, and even a handful were taught the Name of Life to test for themselves.

Once Diarmad had reached a critical mass of supporters, he unveiled his Great Work to the world. The fruits of his labor - a totally resource-independent workforce and army - debuted at the Council of 100, the annual summit of the vassals of the King of the 100 Kingdoms. As predicted, King Derevar and his loyalists were appalled at the unnatural and arrogant use of the Names of Power and calls to expunge the Name of Life from living memory were made. Diarmad was able to sway the court with his rhetoric, and support at arms of at least a third of the Council of 100, and so Derevar let the Great Work continue.

Under Diarmad’s golems as they came to be known, the 100 Kingdoms flourished. Great constructions were finished in a fraction of the time, the serfs were left to put their work to the advancement of society rather than squander their labor in the fields, and wars became a pointless exercise in pride as nobles opted to test their skill using consequent-free golems as stand ins for soldiers. For reasons unknown, however, as the months turned into years the golems began to experience the Hunger. They began to attack and consume the living flesh of whatever they could get their claws into. What’s more, because of the link needed to maintain control over the golems, their masters began to experience it as well.

The Hunger could be temporarily sated by flesh and blood, and it seemed that the core problem was one of grammatics. The sentences used to form the golems from the Name of Life left out a source of lasting energy, as is common for even minor feats using any power that touches the immaterial. With the belief that corpses did not need food, no thought was given to what was powering these automata, and so as the power of their initial creation waned they resorted to violence to sustain themselves. This same drive rippled back through the link between master and golem, driving them to the same Hunger. By the time that the root cause of the Hunger was discovered, it was too late. It had driven hundreds of Golemshapers mad, Diarmad among them. The War of the Dead had begun.

THE WAR for LIFE

The book of war that had been steadily written ever since one man first lobbed a stone at another was completely useless in the War of the Dead. Though the Hunger stripped its victims of much of their wits and intelligence, when sated the Golemshapers were worthy strategic adversaries. Their armies were not constrained by the limitations of other armies. Though they needed food to sate the Hunger, and weapons to arm their soldiers to better combat their living adversaries, on the battlefield they were utterly deadly foes.

A natural immunity to pain meant a golem fought on long after its injuries would kill a normal man. They knew no fear, and would never turn and run unless instructed to by a Golemshaper. When allowed to fully succumb to the Hunger, they became rampaging monstrosities that could plow through ranks of men heedless of the spears piercing their body. They would ask for no quarter and give none. The first battles against the Golemshapers cost thousands of lives, which only swelled their ranks more.

As an immediate response to his first defeat at the hands of the Golemshapers, King Derevar II called for the Name of Memory be uttered to strip the world of its memory of the Name of Life. While this worked to strip it from the minds of all the living, the golems recalled it and preserved it through their link to the Golemshapers who could utter it without recollection to continue to raise the dead. Desperation mounted as the dead continued to press their advantages in a never-ending tide.

At the Battle of the Comronto River, it was discovered that if a Golemshaper was slain then so too would his creations perish of the Hunger almost immediately. Upon this discovery, the tide slowly began to turn in favor of the living who began assembling squadrons of brave fighters to cut deep into the foe and slay the Golemshapers. Such suicide missions were known as the Forlorn Hope, and often these men would march under a blood red banner to proclaim their fate. Still, as the living adapted their tactics, so too did the Golemshapers. They no longer risked themselves in battle, and leveraged their powers from afar to tip the scales. They would simply will their underlings to bring them food to sate the Hunger.

Over the grinding decade of the War of the Dead, the living finally drove the dead back to the original holdings of Diarmad the Damned by continuing to threaten the safety of the Golemshapers. Still beset by the Hunger and beginning to lose ground, the Golemshapers turned to cannibalizing their legions to sustain themselves. Over time, the dead dwindled into obscurity but in their wake they had utterly destroyed the 100 Kingdoms. All land east of the Comronto River was deemed lost and forbidden entry. Lastly, during the Cleansing, which took another decade to complete, the last traces of the Golemshapers and their creations were expunged from the lands west of the Comronto and all usable corpses east of it were destroyed. What became of Diarmad and his fellow Golemshapers is unknown.

At the war’s conclusion, King Derevar II, now an old man, called upon the Namers to once more use the Name of Memory. He urged them to erase much of the memory of Old Night, as the time period had come to be known, and leave only the memory that the land east of the Comronto is dangerous. The Namers were reluctant at first, but eventually conceded in the belief that without memory of the power of the Golemshapers or the Name of Life, never again would such a thing happen. The words were uttered, and the world forgot about the whole affair save for old wives’ tales that spoke of the dead that once wandered the land.

Derevar died shortly after the world’s memory was wiped clean of the true nature of the War of the Dead, and with him, what was left of the 100 Kingdoms fractured into feuding city states and minor kingdoms.

 

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II -THE WAR of 100 KINGDOMS

“Too much rested on the shoulders of one man. King Derevar passed on to the beyond, and left a fractured empire in his wake. Curious thing, him blaming it all on whatever lurks east of the Comronto before he died. Nothing’s come that way in centuries.”

​

- Lord Algamar of the United Comranto City States,
10 years after Old Night​

100 KINGDOMS and 100 CLAIMS

Though not all of the 100 Kingdoms survived the horrors of Old Night, enough of them endured to give weight to the old adage “too many kings kills the realm” and create chaos for centuries after King Derevar II’s death. Feuding nobles and opportunistic warlords waged war to carve out their own fortunes among the ashes of the old empire. Families came to power and were destroyed in the span of one generation, and countless lost their lives in wars meant to enrich the holdings of every upstart lord or lady.

This chaotic period of history has been generalized as the War of 100 Kingdoms, though actually refers to hundreds of smaller conflicts ranging from full on wars to small skirmishes that came to characterize the period. Mighty kingdoms emerged and collapsed, bloodlines rose to prominence and fell to grace, and throughout it all the Wall of the Comranto was manned for remembrances of what might lurk beyond. The War of 100 Kingdoms lasted the better part of a century and a half, over which time progress largely slowed to a crawl.

Part of this slow development can be attributed to the loss of knowledge brought on by Old Night. To say that the 100 Kingdoms were nearly destroyed puts mildly just how much damage was wrought. About 3 in 5 people living in the 100 Kingdoms perished, either to the dead themselves, shortages of food and supplies, or else put to the sword by their own rulers and burned to deny the foe new troops. Of those killed, several were the old guard academics that made up the purveyors of the immaterial, modernly referred to as Whisperers. Many were unwilling to save those they felt were indirectly responsible for the whole affair, and many times over perished on the battlefield wielding their arcane weapons of war.

As the War of 100 Kingdoms began in earnest, more Whisperers (then still going by the old title of Namer) were culled out of fear of Old Night, fear anchored in the ignorance brought on by uttering the Name of Memory.

CULLING the NAMERS

More Whisperers perished in the outbreak of the War of 100 Kingdoms than at any point in history, at least as a relative percentage of their remaining population. Perhaps 1 in 2 died in Old Night, but then of those remaining another 4 in 5 would not survive the first generation to live in the new world. Geographically isolated and comparatively weak already after losing much of their accrued knowledge, the Whisperers were swiftly dispatched and driven to establish their own communities where they could rule and defend themselves. These later would serve as the basis for the Universities of the Arcane, the modern elite institutions for noble education in Naming.

Still, for Whisperers living through the War of 100 Kingdoms, life was often short and miserable. They were hunted, burned at the stake, hanged - the list of ways to kill and maim them are as numerous as the kingdoms that once made up the realm. In the culling, many Names were lost - either because reference to them was destroyed, or else the only individuals who knew them were slain. This perpetuated a vicious cycle of weakness begetting yet more weakness, as knowledge that was destroyed left future Whisperers less capable of defending themselves, which in turn led to more destroyed knowledge.

Few Whisperers managed to secure themselves a stable and comfortable living as the weapons of war of a choice handful of warlords willing to trust them. These Whisperers became a sort of second-class nobility, better off than the serfs but still not held in the same regard as their peers. Even these were eventually frowned upon or else viewed as inefficient, as weapons technology improved giving rise to gunpowder and the lesser-regarded but still potent Alchemy grew more widespread. Increasingly, to become a Whispererer was to become an academic with (admittedly powerful) parlor tricks.

THE MYTHS of OLD NIGHT

The Name of Memory had never before been used in such a violent manner as when it was used to expunge any traces of the War of the Dead. Its consequences were impossible to predict, the damage too widespread to accurately account for. In its aftermath, not even the Namers brought together to utter the Name and lend their strength to its effects could recall exactly what it is they were doing all together in the same chamber. The period now known as Old Night has lived on in the histories not as the time humanity was nearly exterminated by a waking nightmare, but instead a period of civil unrest and widespread war spurred by mysterious foreign invaders.

These narratives were largely adopted and spread throughout the fractured kingdoms in the wake of Derevar’s death. After all, many upstart nobles eager to assert themselves as the rightful ruler of the remains of Derevar’s empire found blaming their neighbors for the whole affair quite useful in establishing legitimacy. As the War of 100 Kingdoms raged on, countless noblemen staked their claims on the false belief that the former empire was responsible for bringing about Old Night. Their armies fought and died for hatred of an utterly imagined foe.

As for the dead themselves, news of their resurgence was common throughout the War of 100 Kingdoms. Most of these rumors were discredited quickly as drunken ramblings or else confused, illiterate peasants letting their imaginations run wild. Any supposed sighting of golems or Golemshapers were quickly dismissed, but the dread of what might lurk beyond the Comranto River remained vivid in the minds of even the most so-called rational lords and ladies of the era.

Those along the Comranto claimed to report movements along the opposite bank, but no undead hordes came rampaging across the river. A Comranti noble might claim this is because the bridges, once grand testaments to the skill and artistry of King Derevar’s age, had been destroyed and all possible crossing points heavily patrolled. Others instead claimed that there was nothing but an empty continent for leagues east of the river. With greater concerns west of the river brought about by the century-long war and no walking dead to inspire an immediate response, curiosity of what might lurk beyond the banks of the Comranto was put to the side.

END of the WAR

There was no formal declaration of peace that brought an end to the War of 100 Kingdoms. As the generations went on, spurred by an increased value on the individual laborer in light of such a substantial decline in the population as a result of Old Night compounded by almost non-stop violence, the economic value of fighting grinding wars of attrition dwindled. Whereas before the era of the 100 Kingdoms was characterized by feudal oaths of loyalty sworn to one king over them all, and a proto-democratic system of checks over that king, the era following the empire’s fracture was one of several individually powerful states. It simply became cheaper and more effective to manage relations diplomatically as populations began to recover and productivity increased.

The arbitrary year 231, with year “0” being chosen as the year of King Derevar II’s death, was chosen as the formal end to the War of 100 Kingdoms. That did not mean war was to end forever on the continent - in point of fact, centrally powerful states still operating in a zero-sum world were just as violently inclined as their feudal and warlord-driven predecessors. However, the wanton destruction and instability of the War of 100 Kingdoms had passed, and the modern wars among great powers were just as ever-present but not as all-encompassing as had been the case previously.

 

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III - CROSSING the COMRANTO

“For over two centuries we’ve wondered what lurks beyond the Comranto. We’ve cut down every tree along the border, destroyed every bridge, and keep our feet planted firmly this side of the water. What if this has all been to avoid the ghost stories of a king too afraid to let his subjects break free from his rule?”

​

- Lady Geleveer III, Matron of the Aimaran Duchy,
Spoken in defense of the Comranti Expeditionary Force​

THE MODERN WORLD

Since the War of 100 Kingdoms, the number of recognizable states has declined to about a dozen. Where the line of statehood is drawn is the subject of fierce debate - are the United City States of Comranto one state, for example? Or a collective of strategically aligned states? Are the Astein Steppes their own territory, or a no-man’s land? Borders are also in a state of flux as individual nobles flex their strength, either by declaring often short-lived independence or else conquering their neighbors in small, petty skirmishes.

Still, the modern continent of Pledoya (from the old tongue meaning “land of plenty”) can broadly be said to contain the following stately entities:

• The United City States of Comranto
  
  • Mercantile city states unified by a common culture and historical significance as defenders of the Comranto
• The Aimaran Duchy
  
  • A small state that broke off from the United City States of Comranto to break up the “monopoly” of cross-river travel after the various border wars to gain access to the riches of the east
• The Kingdom of Vidrid
  
  • A centralized kingdom north of the Antimond River characterized by a constitutional monarchy more akin to an aristocratic democracy
• The Federation of the Sudost Land
  
  • Unified noble estates bound by mutual agreements to defend and trade with one another whose wealth is found in precious metals mined in the Ortanyian Mountains
• The River Principality of Etholia
  
  • A rich land ruled by a prince or princess flanked by the Antimond and Teribon Rivers to its north and south beset by frequent raids between the Iron Highlands to its west along the Astein Steppes
• The Astein Steppes
  
  • A satellite state funded by Buspeca and Bruedor to check ambitions of the Derevan Empire known for its rugged landscape, warring strongmen, and love for the horse
• The Principality of Buspeca
  
  • A minor nation to the north of the Astein Steppes, often seen as a splinter faction of the Asteini culture that maintained political independence and stability on account of its strong historical ties to the original rulers back in the era of the 100 Kingdoms
• The Kingdom of Bruedor
  
  • A small kingdom south of the Astein Steppes protected by the Aroen River to its north and west and the rugged Iron Highlands to its east with high levels of iron and steel production
• The Kingdom of Verina
  
  • A “independent kingdom” in name only, the Kingdom of Verina has been absorbed via political marriage by the Derevan Empire and has only maintained its historical borders by way of an agreement for a phased period of assimilation into the empire who culturally stems from a blend of Derevan and Asteini practices
• The Sudland
  
  • A fragment of the western end of the continent perpetually stuck in civil conflict with no clear ruler at any one period, left largely ignored beholden to its vastly complicated social and political web
• The Derevan Empire
  
  • A massive political powerhouse seated at the old court of King Derevan, claiming to be able to trace the lineage of its ruling families back to King Derevan himself currently conquering ever-eastward through a combination of harsh military actions and political maneuvering to assimilate what territory it can
• The Independent State of Usha
  
  • A rebellious faction of the Derevan Empire currently able to assert its independence by way of its natural choke point across the mouth of the Ushari Peninsula and its high production of high-quality gunpowder

Broadly speaking, the political culture of Pledoya is more similar than it is disparate, even if individual cultural and religious practices might otherwise differ. Coming from the same cultural progenitor, each of the current great powers was seeded with a preference for feudal rule that has steadily developed into more centralized states as the power of the respective crowns grew. Still, over the almost three centuries since the collapse of the 100 Kingdoms, the shared, unifying culture under Derevar II quickly disintegrated.

In the modern era, the further east one goes the more rugged and tough the populace. The east suffered the least in the War of 100 Kingdoms in terms of infighting, but was always a resource-poor portion of the old system that required trade to sustain itself. As the other great powers splintered and waged war with one another, it left the east starved of vital trade and many starved or else died of disease. Indeed, the move to venture east of the Comranto was thought by many in the east a balancing of the scales to make up for the devastation of the War of 100 Kingdoms and to rival the increasing hegemony of the west under the Derevan Empire.

Those located in the center of Pledoya faced the worst of the direct combat of the War of 100 Kingdoms. Hemmed in on both sides by desperate people to their east, and militarily powerful opponents to their west, the central states and kingdoms were often plundered and ravaged. The current central states are inhabited by fiercely independent and stubborn folk. The Asteini Steppes are the extreme of this philosophy, but this is also evidenced in Buspeca and Bruedor as well who share sympathetic if not outright politically aligned relationships with the people of the Steppes.

Lastly, in the west, there was still fierce infighting as a result of the War of 100 Kingdoms but the culture was more cemented on account of its proximity to the old capital of King Derevar II. Many of the old wonders of King Derevar II persisted in the west, and the devastation to its academic and ruling castes was less extreme in Old Night, putting the west at an early advantage over its fellows further east before accounting for its ample rivers and fertile soil. The Derevan Empire’s rise to prominence was the catalyst for scholars declaring the War of 100 Kingdoms at an end, as it was the first power to not only stabilize itself, but also assimilate and conquer other cultures and maintain the stability of its holdings for more than a generation.


THE COMRANTI EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

By the beginning of the year 300, there were growing calls to cast off the ignorance left by Old Night and venture east of the Comranto River to explore what lay beyond. This was first suggested by the United City States of Comranto, and news quickly carried throughout the continent. By the time it reached the ears of Derevan rulers, the United City States were already best upon by their neighbors and those further by way of coastal invasion. This aggression was less out of fear of what might lurk beyond the banks of the river, as increasingly the continent was growing skeptical of the legitimacy of denying themselves a potential bounty, and more motivated by missing out on whatever riches might lay beyond.

Seeing an opportunity to establish a foothold in the east that it had previously lacked, the Derevan Empire applied political pressure atop the armies pressing on the United City States. It began probing individual city states for weakness or greed, and found their champion in Lady Geleveer of the City State of Aimara. They convinced Geleveer to let Derevan troops land on her shores, which given the Empire’s position as the premiere military power on the continent would spell the end of the United City States if they did not capitulate to the Empire’s demands.

Again seeing the opportunity to shape eastern sympathies in their favor, the Derevan Empire brokered a peace that saw to the independence of Lady Geleveer’s city state as a newly minted Duchy. This, representatives of the Derevan Empire claimed, would break up the “monopoly” the United City States of Comranto held on the river crossings into the so-called Osterlands by opening up another point of access. In exchange for this deal, the Derevan Empire would withdraw its troops from Aimara and lend funds to help facilitate what would be called the Comranti Expeditionary Force, a commercial venture with the intention of identifying what riches there are to exploit east of the river. These riches would then be split according to a percentage outlined in the Treaty of the Riverland War, heavily favoring the Derevan Empire.

The Expeditionary Force is not so much one unified body as much as it is several individual merchants, mercenary companies, and so forth competing with one another for contracts levied at the collective expense of the continent. They are contracted to venture east of the Comranto River and return with any valuable goods or else with credible surveyor reports of any rich natural resources. The force has existed for the better part of two years, and has already returned material benefits several times over its cost.

Not only did the Expeditionary Force uncover that communities of previously persecuted or adventurous types exist east of the river, often refugees from back during the period of the War of 100 Kingdoms, but there were the skeletal, overgrown remains of once-great monuments and cities. What’s more, these cities and monuments looked to mirror their counterparts west of the river. Further yet, the languages used in the texts uncovered seemed to match the old tongue in the time of King Derevar II. Mysteries answered only ushered in more mysteries, and suddenly there was a gold rush to cross the river to learn more funded by more than the joint venture set out in the Treaty of the Riverland War. Universities of the Arcane, upstart nobles looking for potential claims to power, and the like all added their wealth and resources to the search.

The current state of affairs east of the Comranto is complicated. Not only is there the tense peace maintained by the Treaty of the Riverland War complicating how the various interested parties interact, but increasingly friction between the westerners and the easterners has sparked into open conflict as those who previously fled persecution and mass death are now being exploited for their resources. Additionally, there is increasing concern as to the legitimacy of claims regarding the golems and Golemshapers east of the river. Often, search parties will vanish without a trace or else maddened survivors will return with horror stories of what they found in old, abandoned cities.

 

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IV - TRUE NAMES and ALCHEMY

“Words have power. Not in the sense the poets mean, or the great orators galvanizing their supporters. No, the sleeping mind knows many secrets about the world the waking mind has never ever thought to question.”

​

- Arch-Whisperer Kelemera​

THE LANGUAGE of POWER

All humans possess the ability to gleam understanding of the immaterial realm, where power can drastically alter the characteristics of the physical realm. To call this power sorcery is old-fashioned and outlandish, as the properties of modern so-called magic can be described as scientifically and objectively as the emerging fields of chemistry and biology. All things in the immaterial realm can be described using words and phrases in a tongue unrecognizable to a human’s waking mind. The closer to the true essence of a thing one comes to stating in these words, the more efficient and potent their power is.

For example, to craft a fireball one might say something to the effect of “gather this energy in the torch and lift it with force to throw in this direction” to some effect. Someone who knows the Name of Fire may simply say the Name and control the fire as they wish. This language can be shared and practiced in an academic setting, though is no less difficult to transcribe for its ephemeral nature.

Names, the truest of any material concept, are another matter to these words. A normal individual with enough study and reflection may unearth a great many words, but never any Names. Names only come to a person after hundreds if not thousands of hours of study and practice, or else through some extreme duress or stress. Only then will the Name reveal itself to the user, and after a Name is learned it is virtually impossible to communicate this understanding to another person except to hint at its properties.

Mechanically, this language “links” elements of the immaterial realm’s power to physical objects or physical manifestations of energy. This can be objects such as two coins, the fire in a brazier, or likewise. The words then use energy, either from a linked object or the speaker’s own body heat to funnel the power and produce the desired effect. Less efficient words or sentences require more energy than is needed to perform the desired task, though unless a Name is used all tasks leveraging the words of power will inevitably cost more energy than simply performing the task itself and only through proper use of grammar of the words of power may one minimize this dead weight loss.

ALCHEMICAL WONDERS

The modern study of “Alchemy” is simply the process of Naming and using the words of power on a lesser scale. Due to the collapse of much of the base of knowledge pertaining to the immaterial realm during Old Night and the subsequent Culling of the Namers, as new arcanely-talented individuals emerged, they called their newfound gifts Alchemy both to distinguish themselves from the Namers of old and to add an aura of scientific credibility to their practice in-line with the times.

To say that Alchemy has only been a lesser form of speaking the words of power is to do it a great disservice. The scientific approach and rigorous documentation of Alchemy has made it vastly more useful to many more people, as the concepts and powers it leverages are more concrete and less ephemeral than earlier attempts to describe the arcane. And in treating Alchemy as some sort of scientific study first, it allowed earlier practitioners to uncover a handful of universal truths about speaking the words of power at large.

The Laws of Power are as follows:

1. Conservation of Energy: Energy may not be Created nor Destroyed
2. Likeness Principle: Objects of a similar kind linked together make for more efficient use of the language of power
3. Simulacrum Principle: A piece of an object can stand in for the whole object
4. Naming Principle: Use of an object or force’s Name removes lost energy

In practice, the first law means that the energy used to speak the words of power must come from somewhere, be it the speaker or some object linked in the words. For example, to lift a small rock a speaker might specify when linking the objects that the energy for the power should come from the open fire in the room. Without specification, the energy will come from the speaker’s body heat and can produce dangerous effects if not controlled.

The 2nd and 3rd laws are intertwined. In essence, objects that share similar physical characteristics require less energy to manipulate than totally unrelated objects. For example, it is possible to link a stone and a chair with the words of power, but lifting two stones of similar composition would be much easier. The 3rd law extends this principle, allowing for a small piece of something - say a chunk of the rock or a one leg of the chair- to stand in for the whole. This allows for a much larger object to be manipulated with less energy, though requires precise wording and can be difficult to fully leverage.

THE UNIVERSITIES of the ARCANE

The Universities of the Arcane can trace their history back to the various kingdoms, principalities, states, and so forth that emerged during the War of 100 Kingdoms to serve as safe harbors for the then-called Namers. Such communities often did not last long, either being crushed and put to the sword or else collapsing due to internal strife and lack of resources. Those that persisted, either through shrewd diplomacy, access to particularly powerful Namers, or else even selling their service in the various conquests of other nobility came to become communities-within-communities.

These separate provinces within the larger kingdoms in which they existed maintained much of their autonomy throughout the centuries. Some would still fail as their parent states collapsed, or else were turned on by their so-called protectors. Still, an ever increasing minority of such communities survived to the modern day. Under the Edict of Derevan, the Derevan Empire has enshrined these surviving communities of now-called Whisperers and granted them the funding necessary to serve as reinvigorated schools of the words of power. Additionally, under this Edict, any power that imposes harsh penalties or death upon its own communities of Whisperers shall face fierce and swift retribution from the Derevan Empire.

In this way, the Derevan Empire paved the way for the modern Universities of the Arcane, an interconnected network of quasi-independent institutions that number about half a dozen throughout the continent. Here, any paying prospect can learn to become a Whisperer. What distinguishes a Whisperer from an Alchemist is the character and rigor of the program in question. Whisperers strive to uncover lost Names and foster an environment of philosophical curiosity into the nature of the immaterial realm. Alchemists, and their respective schools, view the words of power as an extension of the natural world and a tool of progress like any other technology.

The Universities of the Arcane in many ways are more bogged down by pompous bureaucracy and navel-gazing than their non-arcane counterparts. Though the process is still the same from application to acceptance to paying for individual terms of study, the Universities of the Arcane in large part due to their historical victimization at the hands of more powerful states have become a secretive lot that prioritize keeping the extent and power of their knowledge hidden as a bargaining chip. In this environment, though curiosity may be encouraged, it must be in accordance with the proper rank of the student in question. Novices should not seek the answers to questions only a master should ask, the saying goes.

 

[ze_kraken]

V - ADVENTURERS LOOKING EASTWARD

“Just as the War of 100 Kingdoms sparked the era of the mercenary, and the rise of the Asteini Steppes ushered in adventurous sorts, so too has the push east captured the imagination of thousands across the land. So cosmopolitan a group I have never seen, arrayed in a wild display of colors, brandishing weapons as suited to the battlefield as a backalley scrum. Whisperers, sellswords, merchants, princes, beggars, thieves, all are welcome on that side of the River.”

-Prince Erelon, of the United City States of Comranto,

Letter to the Commissioner of Histories​

THE MARKET for the EAST

There are countless reasons one might venture east, fuelled by the profiteering and curiosity of wealthy individuals and institutions west of the Comranto River. The Comranti Expeditionary Force still offers contracts for any interested parties, but countless individual nobles and collectors and historians have all thrown the weight of their coffers behind expeditions eastward. Even the Universities of the Arcane, upon discovering similar institutions to their own on the opposite end of the river, have begun to commission teams to bring back evidence of lost Names or practices of the words of power.

With so many chances for wealth, it is easy to cast aside those that venture eastward for more than profit. Those curious to learn of what lies beyond, be it for stories of the dead or the ruins of a lost civilization, flock to the Comranto in droves, eager to discover what they might. Others still yearn to establish a new community, tired of existing in a world in which they feel all major discoveries have been made. Whatever the reason, there is one befitting a would-be explorer of the realms beyond the banks of the Comranto.

OUTFITTING an ADVENTURER

The equipment one carries across the Comranto varies almost as much as the reasons to go. Larger expeditions take entire baggage trains with them, or else broker supply contracts to maintain constant flows of supplies. Smaller ones may simply take that which they can carry, while lone individuals may opt to live off the land and bring very little. Specialized expeditions might also bring with them scientific equipment, surveyors tools, and the like.

As far the individual is concerned, the land beyond the Comranto is a dangerous place. There is fierce competition among expedition groups that often ends in violence, made all the easier when there is no central authority able to enforce the law so far east. Additionally, some local populations have not taken kindly to foreigners and organized mass resistance, sometimes even leading to small-scale pitched battles. Lastly, and most contested of all, is the potential for encounters with golems or Golemshapers, especially in the remains of abandoned cities.

For these reasons, even the most soft-handed, inexperienced traveler will opt for some form of protection across the Comranto. Blackpowder weapons, still a relatively new innovation, are commonplace among lone travelers or small bands as they require comparatively little skill to use compared to traditional arms such as blades or bows. Such groups tend to opt for a mixture of pistols and muskets, weapons that are easier to leverage in small encounters but cumbersome in large groups. Larger expeditions, or so-called “peacekeeping” forces intended to clash with those local to the Osterlands, opt for arquebuses for their lighter weight and maneuverability, as is common among western armies.

Likewise, the pike and spear - dominant on western battlefields - see little use east of the Comranto. Such weapons can be cumbersome in close quartered battles or skirmishes fought between individuals rather than blocks of pikemen. As such, the sword, axe, and halberd are favored tools of the eastern adventurer alongside some sturdy metal armor. With advancements in metalworking, plates of steel armor are lighter, stronger, and more flexible than ever, though full suits are still rare both due to their cost and the prevalence of blackpowder weapons making their protection not worth the additional cost and weight.

THOSE WHO VENTURE EAST

The types of people who venture eastward are endless. Several are former serf laborers or mercenaries lured by the prospect of freedom and rich reward, but though they are the largest individual group they are by no means the only ones to stake their lives and fortunes out east. Aspirant nobles eager to make a name for themselves, or else experience adventure, or even stake a claim to land out east frequently fund or join expeditions. Whisperers and Alchemists eager to learn more of their craft also accompany such expeditions. Even merchants, themselves usually risk-adverse, will often accompany their own group of adventurers to get a better sense of the logistics and challenges involved with operating their businesses out of the Osterlands.

When gold and glory are involved, even disparate motivations can blend together into a cohesive union. It is not uncommon for expeditions to hire out other expedition groups, such as when surveyors hire out soldiers of fortune operating in the Osterlands for protection. Likewise, should one upstart noble be seeing out a claim to land in the east, then they may strengthen that claim by joining with fact-finders searching for lost histories to find any evidence they may have, dozens of generations back, owned the land in question.

As in all things in the east, the character and quantity of those invested in what is out there to learn, exploit, or profit from are endlessly diverse.

 

[ze_kraken]

VI - MAKING a CHARACTER

“What say you, lads and lasses? Take your chance, ‘fore the chance passes. East ‘o the Comronto’s the place I’ll be, takin’ what’s owed to me.”

- Verse of a common tavern song and marching tune​

RULES for ADVENTURERS

1. The world beyond the Comranto is a harsh one, and victory is never assured. This RP will operate off of a “yes, but” and “no, and” system whereby success is always followed by a degree of failure or consequence, and failure is compounded by a rise in stakes. You are free to dictate the flow of your posts as long as you follow this rule, and ensure that no victory is ever fully complete, nor is every failure unpunished.
2. There is no strict posting order, but GM posts will denote meaningful passages of time. I won’t offer up a strict GM post timeline, as some chunks of time will require more work to resolve than others, but the average will be ~2-4 posts a month.
3. There is no length requirement per post, but I expect that your posts will clearly express your character’s actions as well as flesh out the setting with enough description to avoid “blank void” syndrome where all your character’s words and deeds seem to occur in empty space.
4. If you ever want to drop out - either because you no longer wish to participate, or else life is taking precedence over your time - let me know via DM! We can work out what happens to your character, and what the game plan is if you foresee returning in the future.
5. After 2 weeks of inactivity (meaning periods of no communication through any channels) I’ll take over control of your character in a capacity limited enough to keep the plot moving. If this persists after a month, your character will be retired.
6. Collaborative posts (i.e. posts cowritten by 2+ people) are a personal preference of mine to condense as much meaningful plot progression in as few words as possible, and encourage people to read more than their own posts - unless your post absolutely needs to be a solo endeavor, you should look to combine efforts with your fellow players.
7. It should go without saying, but just a final reminder - all Iwaku site rules apply here.

FOR KING and CROWN, for GOLD and HONOR

You’ll notice that a lot of the world outlined above might feel a little sparse in detail. This is intentional on 2 levels - for one, I don’t want to inundate you with largely irrelevant background world details that are outside the scope of the story. For another, I want to encourage you all to engage with the setting and write some of it into your characters. If you have questions about anything specific, please feel free to reach out to me! The intention is not to give you too little to work from, but rather give you the freedom to experiment and personalize your character within the framework I’ve provided.

As a reminder, your characters may come from any socioeconomic background. Be they a promising Whisperer, an arrogant noble, or even a nomadic horseman from the Astein Steppes all can find a home in one of the many expeditions east of the Comranto. Your characters will be venturing out on a grant of the Comranti Expeditionary Force to begin this RP, gathering in the Duchy of Aimara on the western side of the river before heading off.

Regardless of your character’s background, your CS must include the following information, formatted any way you like:

• Name
• Age (No younger than 15, no older than 40 - average life expectancy in this day and age is ~50)
• Sex/Gender
• Appearance (Written required, picture optional)
• Primary Motivation
• Brief Backstory (Emphasis on the core details, and how that relates to their primary goals)
• Skills (Broad strokes what they excel at; does not need to be exhaustive)
• Typical inventory on any given day

LOGISTICS and THINGS

There will be a Discord server up once this reaches a critical mass of interest/potential participants. TBD on that, pending my technical skills at making a link that lasts more than 24hrs.

At this moment, I will only be taking 5 players. Character sheets will be due ~the end of March, with a first post going up sometime a week after the cutoff for sheets. If we hit max capacity sooner, then the first post will go up sooner. I will notify you on an individual basis if your character is approved via this thread.

Accepted characters:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

 

[Pupperr]

😏 heeeello! I am interested!

 

[Ariel]

You caught my interest with the old school Larry Elmore art. I'm interested, might write up an Asteinian rider.

 

[ze_kraken]

You caught my interest with the old school Larry Elmore art. I'm interested, might write up an Asteinian rider.

Fantastic! I'm a sucker for old school ink art like that haha.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

 

[Luther]

Very interested in this!

 

[ze_kraken]

Very interested in this!

Great! Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Applo]

I would like to annouce me interest.

 

[ze_kraken]

Howdy folks! It's the end of March, so I'm sharing the Discord link here: Join the Lords of Old Night Discord Server!

Let me know if the above link doesn't work for you.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Isadore Etrish
Nineteen | Female | Noble​

---

APPEARANCE

ISADORE’S childhood nickname of Little Fox is not without obvious evidence. An impish beauty, she wears delicate, rosy features distinctively without harsh edges. Brilliant red, a crown of wildfire, cascades down her back, as often unruly as the flames they evoke, her eyes tourmaline gems.

Her form is petite and faun-like, with long, slightly gamboling limbs and narrow curves. While at rest she carries herself with a practiced grace, but not on the odd occasion, in motion, her appendages have been known to get ahead of her.

The tone of her voice can strike as adenoidal, but not unpleasantly so, warm and silvery, but for when she’s vexed, and it becomes abundantly clear that this is, indeed, the granddaughter of Cadigan Etrish, the Lion of Sudost.

“I may not be of much use… but that doesn’t make me useless.."​

✾

“Clever Fox, so Copper Red
Wherever will you rest your head.
The night has dawned with moonlight spread
But with the night there’s wolves to dread.

– Anonymous"

---

HISTORY

I just want to see the world… and discover something grand.
Primary Motivation | The call to adventure has pressed upon Isadore for as long as she has been able to read. Pouring through book after book in her family’s private collection, she was inspired at a young age to journey the lands and discover new and exciting things. An unfortunate betrothal to a rather uninspiring (and old) merchant has since properly motivated her to answer said call.

Brief Backstory | Isadore was born the youngest in a steady stream of Etrish children. The household, a long standing noble family, made its wealth many decades before and secured itself a position of power with its fiefdom located snug in the comforting embrace of the riverlands, separating western Sudost from Etholia. The lineage of Etrish remains both stately and strong, bearing leagues of wise, gentle maids and strapping lads, from The First Lord, Gadric Etrish down to Isadore’s father Cadrian. With six older siblings, four boys and two other girls, it was little wonder at all that the smallest would find herself rather spare. But Isadore rarely minded, finding plenty to do whilst keeping out of the way. Her most favorite hobby, of course, was exploring the vast personal library of the Etrish family - books and tomes gathered from the journeys of her predecessors from ages past. From the moment she was taught her letters, Isadore poured over the collection, finding a deep and rooted love for not only the written word itself, but the adventures within those pages, so lovingly crafted in bardic detail. It wasn’t until she was nearly twenty, and had been only just promised to a fat and balding merchant that those adventures became a thirst beyond the written page… and escape a treasure to be desperately hunted.

It was rather by commonplace luck (and a bit of stupidity on the part of her maid) that Isadore first hatched the plan to flee from home. The letter had come to her maid and been left in the open, a note from a family member seeking to travel east… a request for prayers and donations for travel, with the itinerary of when and where they were to meet the caravan. Seeing the letter as nothing short of a divine sign, Isadore packed a bag and unhitched a horse from the stables that very night, setting out beneath the moon with little more than the wind at her back and adventure in her heart…

And absolutely no blessed idea of what she was getting herself into…

✾

SKILLS

HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE | While not the most adept in certain less intellectual wisdoms, Isadore is quite a skillful historian, having memorized a great deal from her family’s collection of books over the years.

CHARISMATIC | Simply put, despite somewhat of a sheltered upbringing and her greatest love being literature, Isadore remains a charming, eloquent young woman, gifted in the spoken word as much as the written.

MEDICINE & COOKING | Among the collection of books in her family’s libraries were many on medicinal and culinary arts. While not something practiced, Isadore has a keen knowledge of both identifying curative and edible plant species, as well as their preparation.

ITEMS

TRAVELING GEAR | A fairly unencumbered travelers pack, complete with dry rations, spare clothing and coin. Outside of the pack hangs a length of rope, a bedroll and a lantern.

WEAPON | Also within her pack, Isadore keeps a flintlock pistol, black powder and a bag of lead shot. While she has very little actual experience with the weapon, she nonetheless found its addition to her supplies to be quite comforting.

JOURNAL and INK & QUILL | A small leather bound book, as of yet blank, as well as a jar of ink and a white goose feather quill.