Seldarn Empire Notes and Suggestions - help wanted

Just starting a companion thread about the Seldarn empire games which feature in my storyhours. A place where people can leave suggestions and comments, as well as ask questions about the world.

Given the brotherhood of Yip seems to draw the most interest at the moment, I'll start with a capsule description of the order.

The Brotherhood of Yip (AKA Yipmonks)

Kobolds, IMC, come in civilised and uncivilised versions. The civilised kobolds mostly came into society at the lowest rung, living in sewers and doing drudge jobs that few others were willing to take. The most common paths out of this come in three ways. 1) Thieves guilds recruit them for their natural agility and small size. They make excellent pick-pockets and catburglers. 2) The empire tends to scoop up as many fledgling sorcerers as they can to work for the governemnt.

Three is the brotherhood of Yip. The order was started two centuries ago by the temple of St Cuthbert, who realised the small, swift kobolds would make an excellent force when trying to flush theives out of the sewer dens. While not strong, they are stealthy, naturally sneaky and have advantages when manuvering in the dark. So they scooped up three clans and trained them as monks.

The current order are the decendants of the original three clans. In order to make the kobolds easier to controll, the orders were left without identity. Every kobold became Yip, and they were trained to think of themselves as a unit rather than an individual. For nearly two centuries, they were regarded as little more than a rumor. Only in the recent wars against the troll and humanoid forces did the brotherhood come to prominance, when their thief hunting skills were used just as effectively to flush orcish and goblin forces out of their warrens. The downside of this is that a number of the vetrans of the war were granted...independence...and are slowly trying to find their way as inidividuals in the world (albeit with strong ties to the church).

Planning for the future.

Some stuff I'm thinking of using in future games that I'm looking for suggestions on:

- Evil cats of some kind. Two players in one game are from the Company of the Random Encounter, and I'm a big supporter of Justice for Scratches. Evil Cat encounters are greatly appreciated.

- Some kind of Tiefling Trade Company. Extradimensional slavers, traders and merchants.

- Interesting things to do with the Church of St Cuthbert.

Well may I put a vote in for something I loved that my brother threw at us once.

It was in the Underdark, and we encountered three huge columns of stone, basically stalatities and stalagmites that had grown together. The only way in at ground level was in the nearest column. Drow lived in there.

We had to fight our way through three bloomin' huge columns of stone full of drow, golems and other weirdness, to battle the archamge at the end who had the item we were looking for.

The thing that made it so memorable is that we were roundly slapped the first time we went in, so coming back with a plan and dishing out revenge was great fun. We spent about two hours planning our assault. Hah.

Of Sound Mind Spoiler:


In the St Cuthbert story, the cleric heals the horse but the scab doesn't go away, but one of the ways to destroy one of the Splinters is to use healing magic. Did you read about that?

Of course, I've ran OSM twice, and both times they caught/ knocked the horses out and then healed them, which is kind of annoying.

Hmm. Didn't even notice that one on the re-read when I was preping to write that bit for the SH. At the time, I was mostly keeping an eye out for sonic attacks and making sure I did the spot checks as secretively as my tired mind could handle.

I think I would have left it that way anyway. I like having a sense of unease associated with the horses, and the scab certainly worked in the long run.

And Geoffery was very, very happy when he finally got to dig around in the horses cranium with his dagger

The next session should be fun, though. They managed to find their way up the mountains, but didn't stop the goblins. There's now an annoyed Thimdrull running down the side of the mountain with the dragonstone clenched to his chest and a small band of warriors after him. Improvising a hunt the session after the ranger dies - always fun

History and Time In Seldarn

Time

The Seldarn Empire runs on a calendar that corresponds with Earths. For the sake of simplicity, earth months and days are used. The empire measures years in terms of Before Founding and After Founding, referring to the number of years before and after the Alliance of Three, which bound Chuldur, Seluri and Thilt to Seldarn as satellite states. The current year is 518 AF, and both campaigns have started within the month of August.

History

The following timeline gives you some idea of major events in Seldarn’s history.

-15 BF: The combined tribes of the Sulrathi kingdoms invade Chuldur. Once the peaceful farming nation has fallen, they take Saluri and attempt to invade Thilt.

-2 BF: The Sulrathi Invasion is turned back. The first negotiation that lead to the Alliance begin, with Seldarn promising increased protection and aid in rebuilding in exchange for the other nations swearing fealty to the Seldarn Crown.

0 AF: The Alliance of Three is signed, and the Seldarn Empire is formed.

14 AF: Thilt, unhappy with their position in the alliance, shows the first signs of revolt. News of a rebellion is common throughout the empire.

98 AF: Members of the Thiltian Rebellion are found to have infiltrated Seldarn’s government. Several high ranking Seldarn nobles are discovered to have been Mind Seeded, numerous high ranking members of the military are Telepathically controlled, and Thiltian Psi-Warriors make a successful attempt on the Emperor’s life.

99 AF: The Psionic Purge Begins. The New Seldarn Emperor, Sirus II, orders the elimination of psionics throughout the empire. The practice of Psionics in any form is illegal, punishable by death. An inquisition begins to hunt out psions, and much psionic lore is destroyed along with thousands of psionic items.

15 AF: The court Magus of Seldarn creates the Purge Virus. The virus, a partially arcane creation, causes normal people to become mindless killing machines in the presence of psions. The Virus is responsible for the death of many Psions and psionic creatures that have fled beyond the empires borders.

18 AF: It’s discovered that the Psionic purge has created a partial unraveling in the nature of magic. Psionic powers, which were once considered a third strand of magic, has somehow become unraveled from the other two branches (arcane and divine magic). This unraveling kills yet more psions, virtually eliminating the art from the continent.

60 AF: Silus III takes the throne. Trained as a member of the Church of Heironous, he’s horrified at several of the tactics used during the purge. He calls for an end the Purge, although does little to help those few remaining psionic practitioners rebuild their art. He creates the Imperial Senate, a council of Diplomats from the Empires nations, the most learned sages in Seldarn and the Heads of the Three Principle Churches, to monitor the Emperor and ratify all laws.

112 AF: The dwarven Kingdom of Dunelthan signs the Alliance, becoming part of the Empire. There is no reason behind this choice, but it’s assumed it was motivated by the kingdoms sacred duty to guard the White Grail.

119 AF: The Isles of Blood and the Kingdom of Gaunt is discovered. Gaunt and Seldarn attempt to engage in diplomatic negotiation, but these fail.

123 AF: The first Gauntian agent is discovered in the Empire. Serving as the leader of a cult that worships demons and the undead, he is put to death under Imperial lore. Although the two nations are too separate to engage in a land war, skirmishes on the seas begin along with a cold war.

212 AF: Reldengard is swarmed by a horde of Sahaugin and undead. Although they hold out for a considerable length of time, they are eventually forced to look for aid from Seldarn. By November, the Sahaugin horde is vanquished and Reldengard is a part of the Empire.

318 AF: News of strange, misshapen beings and demons becomes increasingly common along the Halark Coast.

319 AF: The first demonstone is discovered in a demon-infested cave. Through unknown magic, this stone is found to transform mortal creatures into abyssal abominations, as well as serve as a gate to the outer planes.

321 AF: News of more demonstone discoveries plagues the Halark Coast. By 321 AF entire armies of the warped, demonic creatures have formed. These armies slowly move throughout the region, taking over small towns.

323 AF: It’s discovered that a Gauntian Teifling Noble, known only as the Red Hand, is in command of the demonstones and intends to use them to claim the Halark coast. The Demonstone War begins.

325: Seldarn forces march into the Halark Coast to assist in the Demonstone War. Combining with local forces from the Halark City-states, they only just manage to keep the demon hordes as bay.

328 AF: The Lords of Khest, former adventurers who have become lords of a small town along the coast, manage to break into the floating castle of the Red Hand and destroy the force powering the demonstones. This allows a combination of Khest forces and Seldarn armies to destroy the bulk of the Red Hands forces.

330 AF: The Demonstone War ends. Halark is officially united as the Kingdom of Halark, a part of the Empire. The three lords of Khest become to rulers of the region.

436 AF: The Northern continent is discovered (or rediscovered) by Reldengard explorers.

486 AF: The Kingdom of Bor is founded on the new continent in the name of the Empire.

488 AF: The first conflict between Beastmen and Tsari Plainsmen begins. These are the first conflicts of the Trollmist wars.

503 AF: Silus IV takes the throne of the Empire. The boy, not far out of his teens, is named the boy king. As he grows, it becomes obvious he is leading the Seldarn court into a time of Decadence. With little interest in ruling, he leaves most of the empire in the hands of the Imperial Senate

506 AF: A combined council of Tsari Warlords gather to sign the Seldarn Alliance, becoming part of the Empire in return for aid against the Beastmen swarming from the Trollmists.

508 AF (Present Day): The Trollmist Wars are officially declared over. The hordes of Beastmen filtering through the Trollmist Mountains is stemmed, and the largest forces are driven back into Urlac. Although small skirmishes are still fought, no sign of the hordes has been seen for over a year. Much of the Seldarn army is sent home, and settlement on the Tsari plains begins.

Geography

The following should serve to give you some idea of how the Empire is put together, as well as the relationship between it’s various parts. At this point, both games are set within the same region of the Halark City-states, but it’s expected that sooner or later both parties will move into other areas. Information on the local campaign area (The area surrounding Hommlet) will be provided separated to account for the differences in the two campaigns. For those seeking to place Hommlet, assume it’s in the southern part of Halark, about a week and a half’s journey from the Great Swamp.


Seldarn
Seldarn is the center of the Empire, the seat of power and home to the Imperial Legions. It is a fertile land, rich with mineral wealth and bordered on three sides by the Greystorm Mountains and the Silverfoam Sea to the north. With relative security against invasion and the resources to develop a strong army, Seldarn was known as the center of learning, magic and warfare in the old kingdoms. When the Sulrathi invasion began in the years before the empire, it was natural that the bordering nations turned to Seldarn for assistance.

Seldarn didn’t create the empire through conquest so much as coincidence and diplomacy. The empire was founded in 0 AF, with the signing of the Founding Alliance. The three nations that Seldarn aided in the Sulrathi war, Seluri, Chuldar and Thilt, all agreed to become part of Seldarn in exchange for continuing defense and aid in reestablishing their nations. Over the years, this tactic has served to absorb several other nations into the Empire and Seldarn is considered the shining jewel of the Old Kingdoms, home to the imperial legions, the grand Academies of Magecraft and the Imperial Palace and Senate.

The current Emperor, Selias IV, is maintaining a tenuous grip in the empire his forefathers built. Still in his teens and coming to his position to young, he’s in the process of turning the imperial court into a place of decadence and frivolity while remaining unconcerned with the running of the empire. AT present, the Senate (a congregation with representatives from the Empire’s other states, the High Priests of the Imperial churches, as well as notable individuals from Seldarn) is running the kingdom in conjunction with the Emperors advisors, but even their hold is slipping. There are rumors that Thilt and Dunelthan can see their first chance to escape the empires grip, and the first groundswells of revolt may yet be forming.

Seluri
Seluri is a mostly-forested kingdom that borders Seldarn’s southern border. One of the three kingdoms invaded by Sulrathi raiders at the birth of the empire, it willing allied itself to Seldarn and later swore the first oath of fealty that birthed the Empire. Almost as civilized and populated as Seldarn itself after five centuries of close association, Seluri is home to many of the empire’s elven population.

Chuldar
Another Kingdom on Seldarn’s western border, Chuldar was populated mostly with farmers when the Sulrathi invasion began. With little by way of defense, it quickly fell and was only barely saved from total destruction by Seldar forces. Apart from the few descendants of the royal family that have retained power, little of the traditional Chuldaran culture remains. Instead, it can be seen as a more rustic version of Seldarn itself. Chuldar was little more than a puppet state at the time of the Founding Alliance,

Thilt
The Kingdom of Thilt was a pastoral realm on Seldarn’s western border that supplied a great deal of Seldarn’s trade. Thilt was originally protected by an elite order of psi-warriors, and many of the nations inhabitants were gifted with psionic talent. Further, Thilt has a long history of being pore in base metals, and it’s people spent long years learning to fight without weapons or armor. Many of the martial arts styles that have become popular thought the Empire have their origin in Thilt.

When the Sulrathi invaders swept through Chuldar and threatened Thilt’s borders, the kingdom held out for over a year while petitioning the Crystal Kingdom of Charos for aid. When the Crystal Kingdom failed to send help, it was with great reluctance that Thilt gave itself over to Seldarn aid. Although the third nation it agreed to the Seldarn alliance, Thilt was always the least eager to owe fealty to Seldarn. A strong resentment existed in the kingdom, and an active underground was maintained by the psionic orders that originally defended the kingdom. It was the attempted assassination of the Seldarn emperor in 98 AF that lead to the psionic purge in the Empire, an assault that Thilt has never recovered from.

Thiltian natives tend to be a dour, grim people. Unfriendly to strangers and still begrudging in their alliance to the Empire, they are the least trusted of all the imperial people.

Dunelthan
Dunelthan is a dwarven kingdom, hidden beneath the Ironspine Mountains that separates Thilt and Chuldar’s western border from the Sulrathi desert kingdoms. The dwarves conceded a great deal of the aboveground land in their kingdom to the Empire in return for greater trading rights and the right to conduct their own affairs undergoing. The empire agreed to this arrangement in 112 AF, and it has remained in place ever since. Although Dunelthan is tied to the Empire in fealty and treaty, its dwarves are the sole imperial nation free of Seldar control at a ruling level.

Duenlthan is responsible for a great deal of the Empire’s armament, and its dwarves are master craftsmen. They also have a long history of mechanical innovation and disdain for magic. In the recent Trollmist wars, Dunelthan unveiled a newly discovered range of black-powder weapons that proved to be of great effectiveness. Although far from being widespread, it is rumored that Dunelthan’s access to weapons with a greater range and more power than a bow may soon represent an attempt to wrest its surface dwellings back from Seldarn’s control. Many fear an alliance between the newly armed Duneltharn dwarves and Thilt will spell a split in the empire.

The Halark City-States
The Halark Coast, on the Eastern side of the continent, is still a relatively wild and dangerous place despite centuries of Seldarn rule. For centuries the coastal region was a contested area between Seldarn and Gaunt, while the true rulers were a line of merchant-princes and Self-made lords capable of maintaining small, independent settlements that escaped notice while the two nations established military outposts and supply camps.

For all its supposedly neutral leanings, the coast was plagued by problems. Agents from Gaunt often tried to ferment trouble in various settlements, evil humanoids and worse creatures took advantage of the area’s disorganization and often the minor lordlings that established themselves were little better than the monsters and conflict they were supposed to be protecting the people from. Little by little, settlements turned towards Seldarn for assistance.

The nail in Halark’s independence came in 318, when a Teifling lord from Gaunt raised an army using enchanted Demonstones that warped mortal beings into monsters and enslaved them to his will. The coast was over-run with fell monsters and demons, and while a small local army fought against the invasion, only the leaders of a small town called Khest and the imperial forces managed to hold the demonic forces at bay and destroy the Demonstone. Those settlements that had been holding out against Seldarn control eventually capitulated and Halark was named a unified kingdom under the control of the Lords of Khest. Halark is still ruled by two of the Lords descendents, while a third – the elf Simon Humanborn, serves as advisor and High Priest of Tymora in the kingdom.

Control of many cities and towns along the coast remains with the descendants from the original lordlings and Merchant Princes who survived the Demonwar. Those settlements that didn’t have true leadership were soon settled by Seldarn nobles and were garrisoned with imperial guards, consolidating the Empires power. The history of Halark has been plagued with trouble since the war, and there are still many dark places that were corrupted I during that time that haven’t yet been cleansed.

The Halark coast itself is immense and hard to control. Many wild regions and ancient forests still exist within Halark’s borders, and there are numerous hilly and mountainous regions that are home to dwarf clans, gnomish villages and orcish tribes. The southern portion of the coast is dominated by the lizard-folk infested Great Swamp that separates the kingdom from the Southern Beastlands.

The Eastern Isles
The Eastern Isles were settled only two hundred years ago, after Halark came under imperial rule. They’re little more than a few small military settlements set in place to keep Gauntian ships out of Seldarn waters, although the capital city of Eaglespire has boomed in recent years with the discovery of a vast dungeon beneath it’s streets. The home to many adventurers and ne’er do wells seeking to plumb the treasures of the depths, Eaglespire has become less a military encampment and more a city of intrigue.

Reldengard
Reldengard consists mostly of small islands that bridge the gap between Edul and the newly discovered northern continent, as well as some land on the northern edge of the Halark Coast. A small kingdom, it was home to a race of tall, fair-haired humans who excelled in the arts of shipbuilding, warfare and navigation. The Reldenfolk raided the Halark kingdoms and the northern coastline of Seldarn for centuries before being conquered by the Empire in 212 AF. Since then, Reldengard has become known for its sailor’s position in the Imperial Navy and its new-found focus on trade. It was Reldenfolk explorers who first discovered (or, if the sages are correct, rediscovered) the northern continent, and the first party of settlers is under the command of a Reldenfolk Thane.

Bor
The First Imperial kingdom on the newly discovered Northern Continent. Bor is a small kingdom, controlling little more than its original township of Valar as it struggles against monster raids and unfamiliar terrain to expand. The majority of the settlers thus far have been hardy Reldenfolk, but interest in Bor is high and many younger nobles are considering re-establishing themselves there in the hopes of being granted their own fife.

The Tsarli Planes
The Tsarli plains are vast grasslands that separate the southern borders of the empire from the Trollmist Mountains and the Beastlands beyond. Originally inhabited by a race of proud, horse-riding nomads, it was nearly over-run thirty years ago at the start of the war. Although the nomads had remained free in the face of Seldarn offers of alliance for centuries, it was the invasion of trolls, orcs and ogres from the Beastlands that finally crushed their resistance. For nearly twenty years the Tsarli Plainsmen held the Trollmist forces at bay, but eventually their force was worn away to the point where an alliance with the Seldarn was the only hope of survival. Even with Seldarn help, it took over a decade to force the Trollmist forces out. Seldarn is in the process of rebuilding the Tsarli planes, slowly going through the process of converting former army camps into small towns and cities. The Plainsmen have been made citizens of the empire, and depleted as they are, have allowed to live free as long as they do not disturb the Seldarn settlements. Of the forty tribes that once road the grassland, it’s estimated that only seven remain, with the remnants of the others slowly filtering into the towns and learning Seldarn ways.