Post by gamedave on Jan 25, 2009 16:54:16 GMT -5
NOTE: I know some of the following info contradicts some of what I told players last time we played. I was making stuff up off the top of my head as the campaign jumped the rails; I now have had a little more time to put some thought into it. The following supersedes anything I may have told players during the last game session. Suck it up and drive on.
THE TURAKIAN AGE
The Turakian Age is a time of myth and legend, with an ancient past shrouded in the mists of history, and a future that is an uncertain road, its path to be determined by the great heroes and villains who have arisen in this time.
The Age takes its name from its greatest city, Turakia, the City of the Rising Sun, which dominates all the lands around it. Scattered throughout the wilderness that dominates the world are other great cities, Mhorecia, Vornakka, Thun, Kumasia, and Mitharia, the great forests of the Westerlands, and the snow-swept wastes of the Far North. But it is Turakia that shines the brightest, that attracts the best - and the worst - that the age has to offer.
AN AGE OF IRON
The Turakian Age is sometimes also referred to as the Age of Iron, and its men, Men of Iron, for it is iron, the iron of weapons and armor, in which political power lies. Warlords rise and lead their armies sweeping across the lands, conquering or razing countless small villages, seeking to wrest control of the great cities themselves. They are opposed by dauntless heroes, heroes of will and sinew as strong as iron, who seek to defend the downtrodden, or seize power and glory for themselves.
AN AGE OF MAGIC
Despite what most warlords will tell you, others say that true power in the Turakian Age lies not in iron, but in magic. Wizards practice High Sorcery, using rituals to master the world, and summoning and bargaining with its spirits for magic and power.
The Elemental Mages, the most common, command the magics of the four elements, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. Their rituals can rend the earth, summon the winds, raise the waters of the deep, and call down rains of fire. They traffic with Gnomes, Sylphs, Undines, and Salamanders, the spirits of the four elements. Some Elemental Mages seek to command all four elements, but the most powerful pour all of their knowledge and will into mastering a single element.
The Necromancers, dark and secretive, use rituals to command the very forces of life and death themselves, and call upon the spirits of the dead to give up their secrets. They are outlawed in Vornakkia, Kumasia, and Mitharia, only truly tolerated in Thun, where they rule.
Theurgists eschew the magics of the lower realms in favor, and use rituals to command the aethyr, calling upon Celesital beings, seeking to influence the very Heavens themselves.
While Wizards practice the grand magics of High Sorcery, witches content themselves with petty magics. Looked down upon by true Wizards, witches are mostly called upon by the common folk, who treat them with fear and suspicion, but who have no better alternative. Witches perform what Wizards regard as mere tricks, fortune telling, mind reading, potion brewing.
Finally, there is a secret order, discussed in hushed whispers by Wizard and witch, lord and peasant alike, the Null Mages. Some regard them as mere legend, a tale told by aggravated master Wizards to keep their apprentices in line, but any knowledgeable weaver of magic knows that they are all too real. Null Mages have mastered secret arts that allow them to absorb magics cast upon them, even to devour the magics within a Wizard or witch, rendering them impotent. While it is commonly thought that they regard all magic as an abomination, Null Mages actually view it as a dangerous resource, which must be carefully managed and controlled. They use their powers, not to hunt down and devour the magics of any magic user they come across, but to weed out those who abuse their magics, and endanger the balance of the World itself.
THE RED KING
A powerful figure calling himself the Red King has seized control of Turakia and its environs, using it as the capitol of a grand new empire. His forces have quickly spread throughout the lands, with city after city falling by force, or quickly surrendering to spare itself a harsh fate. The Red King commands a massive army, which seemed to arise out of nowhere, and he himself is rumored to command potent magics of a type previously unknown in the Turakian Age. The Red King will brook no rival, and his Legions hunt anyone who might be a threat for public torture and execution. No one, no general, no Wizard, no iron-thewed hero, has thus far been able to defeat the Red King and his Legions, but some still try to resist, to fight for freedom, to protect the down-trodden, or merely to avoid the worst of his tyrannical rule. A rag-tag band of mismatched heroes is all that stands now between the Turakian Age and a new age of tyranny, an age red with blood.
THE TURAKIAN AGE
The Turakian Age is a time of myth and legend, with an ancient past shrouded in the mists of history, and a future that is an uncertain road, its path to be determined by the great heroes and villains who have arisen in this time.
The Age takes its name from its greatest city, Turakia, the City of the Rising Sun, which dominates all the lands around it. Scattered throughout the wilderness that dominates the world are other great cities, Mhorecia, Vornakka, Thun, Kumasia, and Mitharia, the great forests of the Westerlands, and the snow-swept wastes of the Far North. But it is Turakia that shines the brightest, that attracts the best - and the worst - that the age has to offer.
AN AGE OF IRON
The Turakian Age is sometimes also referred to as the Age of Iron, and its men, Men of Iron, for it is iron, the iron of weapons and armor, in which political power lies. Warlords rise and lead their armies sweeping across the lands, conquering or razing countless small villages, seeking to wrest control of the great cities themselves. They are opposed by dauntless heroes, heroes of will and sinew as strong as iron, who seek to defend the downtrodden, or seize power and glory for themselves.
AN AGE OF MAGIC
Despite what most warlords will tell you, others say that true power in the Turakian Age lies not in iron, but in magic. Wizards practice High Sorcery, using rituals to master the world, and summoning and bargaining with its spirits for magic and power.
The Elemental Mages, the most common, command the magics of the four elements, Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. Their rituals can rend the earth, summon the winds, raise the waters of the deep, and call down rains of fire. They traffic with Gnomes, Sylphs, Undines, and Salamanders, the spirits of the four elements. Some Elemental Mages seek to command all four elements, but the most powerful pour all of their knowledge and will into mastering a single element.
The Necromancers, dark and secretive, use rituals to command the very forces of life and death themselves, and call upon the spirits of the dead to give up their secrets. They are outlawed in Vornakkia, Kumasia, and Mitharia, only truly tolerated in Thun, where they rule.
Theurgists eschew the magics of the lower realms in favor, and use rituals to command the aethyr, calling upon Celesital beings, seeking to influence the very Heavens themselves.
While Wizards practice the grand magics of High Sorcery, witches content themselves with petty magics. Looked down upon by true Wizards, witches are mostly called upon by the common folk, who treat them with fear and suspicion, but who have no better alternative. Witches perform what Wizards regard as mere tricks, fortune telling, mind reading, potion brewing.
Finally, there is a secret order, discussed in hushed whispers by Wizard and witch, lord and peasant alike, the Null Mages. Some regard them as mere legend, a tale told by aggravated master Wizards to keep their apprentices in line, but any knowledgeable weaver of magic knows that they are all too real. Null Mages have mastered secret arts that allow them to absorb magics cast upon them, even to devour the magics within a Wizard or witch, rendering them impotent. While it is commonly thought that they regard all magic as an abomination, Null Mages actually view it as a dangerous resource, which must be carefully managed and controlled. They use their powers, not to hunt down and devour the magics of any magic user they come across, but to weed out those who abuse their magics, and endanger the balance of the World itself.
THE RED KING
A powerful figure calling himself the Red King has seized control of Turakia and its environs, using it as the capitol of a grand new empire. His forces have quickly spread throughout the lands, with city after city falling by force, or quickly surrendering to spare itself a harsh fate. The Red King commands a massive army, which seemed to arise out of nowhere, and he himself is rumored to command potent magics of a type previously unknown in the Turakian Age. The Red King will brook no rival, and his Legions hunt anyone who might be a threat for public torture and execution. No one, no general, no Wizard, no iron-thewed hero, has thus far been able to defeat the Red King and his Legions, but some still try to resist, to fight for freedom, to protect the down-trodden, or merely to avoid the worst of his tyrannical rule. A rag-tag band of mismatched heroes is all that stands now between the Turakian Age and a new age of tyranny, an age red with blood.