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A Demon's Story

Young Boy: Grandfather, where did all the magic go?

Grandfather: oh, Magic, well... the word conjures as many dreams as nightmares. The last magickar,

Loris the Splendid, could barely produce a flame on command, or move water into a cup, and his death

500 years ago marked the end of an age.

Young Boy: Why? Where did it go?

Grandfather: Gone, for the better, I suppose. Look what magic has given the Iztar. Their empire once

stretched past the four seas of Govanna, to the eastern shores of Boletaria and as far north as

Everwinter. Now, it is an empire of dust, cities ground to ruins and rats the only citizens. The

Boletarians, seeing the void, decided to look into it and pull Iztarian knowledge for themselves. Now,

the entire continent is covered in dreadmist, and none have set foot in that land for a thousand years.

Young Boy: What of the crusades, the magic ones father talked about?

Grandfather: The Golden Wars? Well, magic played no part in them, not really anyway. Pretenders,

charlatans, magicians playing at secrets too large for them to imagine. You are too young to know much

about them, but ... what you want to know is of the Before Time, , The Unnamed Age that marked the

last time that magic was seen in the battlefield. Around the time of the fall of Boletaria, we were also a

nation of magic users, and boastful. We tried to subjugate Rhoi then, and failed. Our magic, it seemed,

meant nothing to the blasphemous firewalkers and flameworshippers. Then the Great Dark came, and

they laughed, warmed and wreathed in their flames as we struggled to deal with our new

circumstances.

Young Boy: Great Dark?

Grandfather: Yes, it seemed that the more we used magic, the longer night became. The sun would

blot out for days, weeks, and the colder it seemed to become the more magic we used. That is, until

Lord Walther Falholland , as well as the Clerics of Thorlound , found the clue. A piece of Iztarian

wreckage, a ship known only in legend as anaithnid, unknown vesselin the old tongue, bore a treasure.

Boletarian markings on the box denoted its origins. Whatever lurked inside was the bane of Iztar, bane

of Boletaria, but Lord Falholland would not let it be the bane of Vergaria.

Young Boy: What happened then?

Grandfather: Well, officially magic ended. Schools were disbanded and in a great purge magic wassilenced. That is all you really need to know of that. There is a reason it is The Unnamed Age. We do

not like to speak of the purges.

Young Boy: Ok, grandfather, then, what happened to the artifact?

Grandfather: Nearly five hundred dark years went by. Lord Fulholland, for his work ascended to the

throne. The Eldastar dynasty was the one that formed. A dozen generations of rulers, and dozens of

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generations of wars over the artifact led Baldvin Feber Eldastar II to finally send it back where it

belonged. As such, the heroes of the Golden Wars, Noveyre the Vanquisher, Veskall Banebreaker and

Godric Stormblade were sent with the finest soldiers of the wars, the Holy Vinidicators of Ergamell,

better known as the Knights of the Darkmoon, to send the artifact back to the chasm or evil from

whence it came. They were never heard from again, but the Dark Age ended with their disappearance.

Young Boy: And that is why we can see the sun again?

Grandfather: Yes son, that is why.

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MAJOR AREAS AND EVENTS

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Vergaria: A large land, just north of the planet's equator. Mostly plains of white-gold grass, though

some mountains do exist. Few major forests but the riverlands area is known for its wines and fruit

orchards. Currently, two seats of power have been established. Ancar, the royal capitol, made of white

stone and red cobble taken from the Twin Irons to the east. Despite its reputation, it has been in many

ways overshadowed by Mennivar, a subordinate principality on the eastern part of the continent under

the administration by the acting prince's brother, Castigan. Located just north of Rhoi and south of

Lordran, this is the land where your journey will start at.

Rhoi: A land of deep crags, canyons, and rolling hills leading to mountains. The Red Queen rules here

with an iron fist, praying to a pantheon of flamelurkers and charred demons. Though heretics, theirlands have a rich deposits of resources like iron, gold, and wood. In many ways, the Vergarians hold

envy over these rich lands, which they feel are wasted on the barbaric people of the region, an

interesting mix of human and orc for the most part, with shadowmen in the south and Stone Dwarves in

the far east. When it rains, it floods, and the dirty red waters truly show how how this land of near

endless conflict earned its name as the "Land of Flowing Blood".

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Lordran: A temperate area, once an outlier of the massive Iztar empire, now long abandoned. Much of

the land is dotted by shrines, parishes and rolling ghettos and continuous cities. Now, the only

inhabitants are ghosts, myths, and nameless wanderers who seem to become lost and entranced. Entire

hordes and scores of en could be hidden here without ever being detected. In the far north, the massive

metropolis of Anor Londo was once a sight to behold, and its palace was said to have riveled the

Imperial Palace of Iztar. Shame that no one has seen it since the fall of Iztar or have never returned to

speak of it.

Boletaria: A shadowy land that covers an entire continent, much like the dreadmist that covers it. Once

this was a land of prosperity, of high castles, proud soldiers and mighty lords. Due to their hubris, they

looked directly into the void and embraced it, though they, in their folly, weren't ready for when it

embraced them back. The land, once full of forests, plains, mountains and wonderful natural wonders

has largely been transformed into a bog, wet and cold. None have stepped foot on its surface since the

calamity, but fisherman, the few who dare get close swear to hearing dragons, seeing wraiths along the

water's edge and corpses walking.

Iztar: The cradle of civilization. Once a proud empire, now merely a shadow of a name, assigned to a

barren waste of a continent in the far west. Little is known, for even less men have seen it than

Boletaria, and the few who did rarely wrote about it. From the scant few sources available, either it is a

land of promise, filled with treasure to be found and ancient secrets to discover, or it is a desolate place,

worthy of the tile of "the empire of dust". A land of risk, danger, adventure to be sure, but who knows

what anomalies and aberrations stalk the land, in the dark places left by the Iztar.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION

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You are who you are. The reasons for your coming to Vergaria are your own, but maybe the party has

something to do with it. The Prince's coronation. In the capital, Prince Vapian, the eldest, has

succeeded to the throne after Charle Claudestine the Great had mysteriously fallen to an unspeakable

illness. No expense has been spared, the prince loves to indulge himself in the many tastes of the many

wastes of life. His brother, shrewd and calculating, runs the kingdom while his brother plans his

succession. And yet, the kingdom is happy, at least for now. But outside the knowledge of this world, of

its people, darkness is stirring once more from its slumber. Destiny, fate, instinct or luck, you are here,

now, at the party of the century, and you have no idea your role in the universe except for the fact that

you are here, now, and ready for whatever the future holds.

Notes to know:

You will start at level 10 No race is limited, but keep in mind that humans are the dominant species. Dwarves have long

disappeared into mountains and elves have always seemed to be more myth than reality. Some

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races may provide you with benefits, others with negatives. These people are superstitious, so

traditionally evil races are stil evil (ex Orcs, drow, goblins, etc).

No monster races! Also no chaotic evil. Evil is permitted, but if you derail or purposefully harmthe other members of the group, you may feel the DM's wrath.

This is a low magic campaign. That being said, realize that magic is a thing of unimaginablepower, corruption and something to be feared. Using it haphazardly, in the wrong place, time,

or for the wrong reasons can have serious and unforeseen consequences.

Gunpowder weapons do exist, in rudimentary and experimental forms. If you decide to go for agunslinger or gun related profession, realize weapons and/or ammunition may be rare.

Your character background may be in certain cases integral to the story. We may move throughlocations you mention so feel free to make a detailed background with as descriptive areas as

possible.

The reasons for why you are at this particular starting location are your own, and can be as deepas you want them to be. However, I advise you from making any particular attachments to any

of the known rulers, since you may suddenly find yourselves tied to certain decisions that may

hinder your ability to play the game in an open fashion. After all, choices are the important

thing in this kind of game, so it is important to keep them open until you know your options.