It currently is the year 1329, Avard, and many things have yet to happen. Some things are in the midst of happening, that I don't want the regular PCs to see -- until it's too late. Here are a few plot ideas I still have waiting in the wings...
Creatures are in order of increasing Hit Die.
| Savannah | Forest | Undead |
Being a Dungeon Master requires crafting a suitable setting, but an awareness of the past is often an invaluable tool. Whether the Player Character knows it or not, thousands of man-hours in thought and design have gone into many aspects of the game -- and Gaeleth reflects this wealth of information and work. However, knowledge is power; therefore, provided below are a list of topics and subjects with which a DM should be familiar, though a PC may or may not know:
The Hobgoblin Kings The hobgoblin kings have taken the traditional tor bees and boreing beetles that are the allies of goblinkind, and applied druids, rangers, and new tactics to them and their goblin keepers. The kings have also made allies among the surface world near the savanna, recruiting mercenaries and forming alliances with bandits and the like. Inspired by the success of the Ogre Nations despite the Inquisition, and further inspired by internal tumult in the Empire of Vridara, the hobgoblin kings are unafraid of organized attacks against them, even with the Empire of Vridara so near. In all likelihood, each kingdom of the goblins will have to be destroyed individually, but only if the alliance can be broken. So long as the hobgoblin kings cooperate with one another, the goblins will be able to take down any large army sent against them with their growing numbers. In all likelihood, the goblin kings would be unable to expand beyond the Amaran Savanna, but the goblins of the Toomaran Plains might seek to perform a similar feat, touching off a wave of goblin wars in eastern Halganath. To be perfectly honest, one of the hobgoblin kings is an ogremai, sent by Itzak and the Ogre Nations. Recognizing humans as the dominant force of the Inquisition, Itzak is slowly weakening the churches through flanking and rear attacks -- attacks of the faith, and not of the body. With the goblins rising up, and no Crusade or Inquisition nation able to eradicate them, the last five centuries of Inquisition domination will end from within because of fractionalism in the wake of the War of the Undead, and the Avard Accords. I expect the hobgoblin kings' alliance to be broken by 1330 Avard, and the goblinoids sent back into barbarism by about 1335 by a combined Toomaran/Empire task force launched out of the Brevit. The Toomaran horsemen will not stand idly by when their lands become succeptible to invasion by the goblin hordes, though they bear no good will towards the Amarans themselves. Nor would the Empire move very quickly to help the Amarans, either, so they will be forced to become powerful guerilla fighters. Expect the Amarans of the near future to be a considerable force of nature, as the druidic faith spreads, and rangers become very experienced.
The War of the Churches The war will slowly heat up, and small repercussions will be seen in the campaigns. Sects of one god or another are moving to circumvent their sister sects, and will need champions -- not just mercenary armies, but escorts for rare and valuable scrolls, items, and persons. Knowledge of the goddess Agincoth's role in the War of the Undead will begin to surface in bits and pieces, as the Church of Lul begins to reassemble the history of the Storm Wars. The Church of Brigain will begin heavy-handed tactics to change Destiny: the War of the Churches is a way to temper all of Gaeleth for the Second Sister Worlds War. In addition, many peoples will try to take advantage of the brewing tensions within the churches. In Karanal and other nations, there will be efforts to remove the power of the church from ruling the land. Traditional 'Circles of the Priests' that aid in governing many places will be ousted from co-rulership. Travelling bishops and cardinals will become the targets of bandits that intend to take use the chaos to accomplish what was once unthinkable -- ransoming a high member of the churches. As well, the sects will scurry about, searching for lost or forgotten relics and items to aid them in the coming battles with themselves.
The Dragon Nation An Inquisitor Winter of Kur Maeth, stationed in Rakore as a spy and reviled mage-guardian, made an interesting report in 1326 to ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord:
...There remain considerable questions in regards to the wild mage Jandor Firelight, and his companion Sadic Brevit. The sudden leveling of a barony upon the desert elf, and the leveling of a Master's position upon the wild mage, is questionable, but many things here in Rakore are questionable. Baron Sadic's fortress is considerable, and seems to have sprung up overnight. I can find no records of masonists, carters, shipments, mining, or any of a thousand other necessities required to build a fortress of such size and magnitude. This bodes for considerable power, either at the hands of the baron, or at the hands of the wild mage. Truly troubling are the continued reports of a dragon with greenish scales, living in the lands of the barony. The baron's men laugh, and say that such is the issue of illusions and the like, as Master Jandor has a magical research laboratory in one wing of the castle.
The repeated stories of a dragon in that area, and the vast tracts of forest in which it could feed unnoticed, make me wonder. If Rakore has discovered a dragon -- and a forest dragon, at that -- then this could bode ill for us... The dragons were supposed to have been wiped out. Extinct. If I have learned nothing else from Rakore, I have learned that nothing is impossible... The dragon is actually a druid-dragon, and not a forest dragon (or green dragon) as Winter erroneously reported. The dragon may or not not side with Rakore in any conflict before the date of 1328 Avard -- for on that date, it will journey with many other dragons to the Wuron Swamps of southeastern Halganeth, near the maelstroms between the Sea of Kiriath and the Aboriac Sea. Before I go into detail in the necessity for a dragon nation, I must backtrack a bit, and explain a few things. If you read about the weapon Chuk un Drikthalon, you'll learn a little bit of the history of the First Crusades. To condense things considerably, dragons rouse roughly every hundred years to feed. In the interim, they may be awake, but more akin to drowsing, and rousing only enough to sustain themselves. The hundred-year cycle lets them gorge enough to grow, and presumably molt. Each dragon keeps to its own cycle, and its rare for more than two or three dragons to be active at once -- under normal conditions. The Storm Wars roused all dragons, and pressed many of them into service on one side or the other. After the wars, they had a chance to rest, and carve out their own little niches in the new world order. Unfortunately, they all roused near the same time, and their voracious appetites actually precipitated the First Crusades -- which at the time were called the Dragon Wars. Most of the dragons were wiped out, aided by the Inquisition. Those that were left went into hiding, staying as far from the dreaded Seekers and Inquisitors as possible. Unfortunately, they roused not long after the Second Crusades had been organized, and their 'official extermination' became a side-bar in the campaigning that went on. Those that survived learned their lesson -- stay low, or be killed. Although holding to the traditional color-coding of dragons, I feel that individual personalities are variable among dragons, and they should have class templates to add to their considerable power. This makes slaying them a truly heroic episode, and at the same time, gives them the kind of variability that makes them feel more alive than a cookie-cutter 'ancient red wyrm'. The dragon in Rakore, for instance, is named Vristilistalamar -- pronounced vri-Stil-is-STAL-uh-mar, is considered ancient, and has a 7th-level 'druid' template slapped on top of him. Vris was one of the Kartikan Druids in charge of the western lands of Halganath, until his cowardice before the Nathelian invasions in those lands had him ousted from the Alliance, and the druidic circles. Perhaps learning gumption, after two near-deaths in the crusades, and some nasty fighting with roc-hawkes in the Ogre Nations, Vristilistalamar has decided that it's time to fight back against the Inquisition. Vris is not the only dragon rallying to the cry of Sthisvantanalich -- one of the oldest of the black dragons. Sthisvantanalich has issued a cry for all the remaining dragons to heed, but even she is disappointed in the number of dragons remaining to answer the clarion call of vengeance and battle, peace and rest. Sthis is, incidentally, a 20th-level rogue, and 4th-level Epic template, slapped on top of a very ancient, very powerful black dragon. Neutral Good in her outlook towards the dragon race, she probably appears Lawful Evil to the rest of the world. Sthis, and Vristilistalamar, and many other dragons -- mostly greens and blacks -- will build a nation on the backs of the trolls of the Wuron Swamps. Wuron'Sfa and the Samite Hills will serve as a new bastion of magic -- and one much closer to Karmen than distant Rakore. As the dragons ravage the Toomarans, they will activate their ancient alliance with the Vridarans, and a pretender to heroism will bear a fake Princess Sword to help unite them. Together, the two nations will go to war with the dragons -- but invading a swampland filled with trolls and dragons will be next to impossible, especially with the olde dragon-slaying weapons lost and forgotten. Seekers galore will search for the old weapons, and ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord of Kur Maeth will face a grave decision: sending his greatsword, Chuk un Drikthalon, to aid the Vridarans. Even the Alekdan Princes will be drawn into the conflict, to aid besieged Sandar, whose lands will be ravaged by the far-flying dragons. Kinshasa and the Granite Clan of dwarves will also be drawn into the conflict, as the Fifth Crusades are organized to battle the dragons. But some of the new crusaders will face decisions as grave as Talon Bhramord's... Guarding Kur Maeth from the roc-hawkes of the Ogre Nations is Artanusalanthanth -- a titanium dragon, and the bonded mount of the Chosen of Arpelos in Kur Maeth. Because of the pasts being dredged up within the churches, remembrances of the Karatikan philosophy, and the druid philosophy are forcing many to question the evil of the dragons. Could the churches have been wrong? Could the Inquisition have been wrong? The answers to these, and other questions, will finally boil over into the War of the Churches. But not until the second Dragon Wars is complete. Who will win..? I haven't decided. Who will die? Who will thrive? And how will the face of Gaeleth be changed, when this is complete? For up in the peaks of the tall Heavensbane Mountains lie nearly two dozen white dragons, who have made the peaks their peaceful home for millennia. They have never had a leader. But soon, one is coming to them.
The Second Sister Worlds War Jazed, a world of psionicists and weak gods, will remain blissfully unaware of Brijanis' plans and Gaeleth's existance until nearly ten years before Brijanis invades. Looking down upon the non-psionic citizens of Gaeleth, and fearing the awesome powers of Brijanis' immortals, Jazed will attempt to seize as much of Gaeleth as possible, as well -- and invade just after Brijanis sends in the first wave of barbarians and sailors. Agincoth, Goddess of Knowledge and Magic on Gaeleth, knows that these things will come to pass. Her agent among the lesser gods, Brigain, God of Storms and Destiny, will set in motion events that will prepare Gaeleth for the Invasions: wars, pestilence, famine, and terror. There will be periods of recovery, periods of growth, and a chance to expand beyond the limits of anything seen before, but Brigain will begin a tempering of all Gaeleth into something to withstand the onslaught of two other worlds. Not all the gods will idly stand by while Brigain usurps their authority. None of the gods will be told of the coming Invasions, and so many will resist the God of Destinies with all their might. Strife is coming to Gaeleth, and will continue to engulf the planet for decades to come. Whether Gaeleth survives the Invasions is something undecided. The future is murky at that time, and none can foresee how events will unfold. But when the Invasions begin, everything will change, forever. |