D&D 5E [D&D 5e] It's a Brand New World [FULL]

[pathfinderq1]

With all of that, still not a lot closer to an actual concept- though I am getting some help as others post their own concepts; it helps me narrow the field. Possibly, as noted in my earlier post, someone out to find out what is happening to the island. A herdsman/farmer sent to find answers, before their own village is wiped out, or a resident of the decadent city of Silverport trying to give their family an edge by providing crucial information?

1. Half-orc Ranger (+Fighter or Barbarian); Outlander (tribal nomad), a goat-herder and part-time prospector from the central badlands; a simple fellow chosen by his tribal shaman to seek answers 'across the water'. Direct, physical, and totally out of his depth...
2. Human Ranger/Fighter; Folk Hero, farmer- who went to Silverport and got no help from the elven nobles who own the estate where her village is, and has gone farther afield instead of returning home empty-handed.

3. Half-elf Rogue/Bard; Entertainer (gladiator); a swashbuckling professional sword-dancer and duelist who killed the wrong man; only a truly important discovery will allow her to return home.
4. Human Rogue/Ranger; Outlander; the youngest in a long line of warriors with were-lion blood (or so they say) who were among the Sultan's most valued bodyguards. After a disastrous failure, the entire lineage is in disgrace and in need of some great success...
5. Half-elf Rogue; Urchin- a product of the twisted streets of Silverport, a professional "street rat" who robbed the wrong person and fled aboard ship for far-off lands.

Just tossing some basic ideas out for now. I'll see if I can develop things a bit more tomorrow.

 

[pathfinderq1]

From what I've seen so far, perhaps we might "begin" in Kingsport?

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

From what I've seen so far, perhaps we might "begin" in Kingsport?

That seems to be the logical choice.

 

[Phoenix8008]

Pathfinderq1, where are you envisioning the city of Silverport to be on Island #2? There is a city on the map already called Foghollow that I was thinking of building up in my story. Can Silverport be a ways away from there or is that the place you were planning it to be?

 

[pathfinderq1]

I was actually planning for it to be in the marked city, but it is too small to read in my usual browser window. The concept as I posted pretty much takes over that entire island, including names and geography. As noted, if I have overstepped let me know. Otherwise, perhaps that smaller island (#4)?

 

[Phoenix8008]

No problem. I may use Port Angeline on Island #1 if there isn't anything written by anyone there yet. Or I'll make up something and stick it somewhere else, or just use Kingsport after all since we're likely to start in that area.

 

[Phoenix8008]

Altered map to show the ancestral lands of Count Lucius Umbra III, member of the nobility of Kingsport, and secret pirate and political protector (and high ranking member) of the Thieves Guild. The mansion, castle, etc of the Umbra family is on the inner shores of Heartbreak Cove. I'm imagining an inlet big enough for ships to get through from the ocean, but small enough to be easily defended.

Thieves Guild and Pirates of the Grieving Sea have an alliance and help each other out. The thieves in Kingsport are kept on a tighter leash than the pirates. The pirate havens on the southern side of Isle #2 are where they go to rest, spend, whore, and gamble until the next job. The reason the southern routes are so impassible is because they've been trapped and made unsafe by the pirates themselves. Each Captain knows the primary path to negotiate in order to reach the pirate haven town called Plunder. The secret of the route is heavily guarded and filled with so many twists, turns, and deadends that most would by sunk and lost before accidentally finding their way in past the ship graveyard known as Keelbones. They import everything they need, because the land won't grow anything by where they are in the center by the big bay on the southern shore opposite of Silverport. They're mostly protected from a landward assault from the north by the blasted wasteland riddled with cracks, crevasses, and sinkholes of ash and fire.

If DM thinks that's too big of an area for one noble, I understand and maybe agree. It was the easiest to make a rectangular section, but I'm feeling guilty, so let me try this again...

How's that instead?

 

[industrygothica]

Garrison is a half orc who was taken from Largo by an unknown noble, and left in a strange land after travelling with his master's wife. Why would his master's wife want to travel here, and why would she need a mule? My guess is shopping in a foreign bazaar

Justice is a paladin stranded in a strange, abandoned, desolate land where he finds religion before being rescued and returned to civilization. Why is this land abandoned and desolate? Maybe some sort of natural disaster about 2500 years ago?

If only there was a place that fit both of those concepts...

 

[industrygothica]

I have some issues having anything really piratey so close to Kingsport. Granted, my knowledge of such politics is limited to, say, nothing, so maybe you can help mitigate those concerns. It's pretty simple, really. Kingsport is the good guys, with mostly good noble houses. Sure, there are exceptions, but I tend to think that anything so blatant as piracy would be strictly dealt with by the king.

I would think (and again, I'm no expert) that by allowing any sort of piracy in the region around Kingsport, the king would be shooting himself in the foot, since the only way he can get supplies to his city by ship is through that river. Maybe I'm understanding you wrong?

 

[Phoenix8008]

I have some issues having anything really piratey so close to Kingsport. Granted, my knowledge of such politics is limited to, say, nothing, so maybe you can help mitigate those concerns. It's pretty simple, really. Kingsport is the good guys, with mostly good noble houses. Sure, there are exceptions, but I tend to think that anything so blatant as piracy would be strictly dealt with by the king.

I would think (and again, I'm no expert) that by allowing any sort of piracy in the region around Kingsport, the king would be shooting himself in the foot, since the only way he can get supplies to his city by ship is through that river. Maybe I'm understanding you wrong?

I wasn't saying the pirate HQ would be in Umbra's lands. They would be on the south shores of Island #2 (opposite side of the island from where it's marked Foghollow (that pathfinderq1 wants to rename Silverport). So the pirates are on a whole other island, but they prey on boat traffic between the 3 main islands. Count Umbra would be a villainous sort that hides his evil side in polite society and poo poo's the 'criminal scum' in public while secretly being part of both the Thieves Guild and the Pirates. Think of Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels. Has most people totally fooled that he's an upstanding citizen while he enjoys slumming with the pirates in an alternate identity. His pirate ship, The Bloody Wake, would never sail into Heartbreak Cove and moor at his private docks. He want's to keep those two identities far apart as possible.

I think the pirates are a problem for everyone, not just Kingsport. But maybe they're too firmly entrenched for anything beyond a united effort by most major governments from all the islands to actually defeat. So they are dealt with piecemeal and various countries offer bounties or Letters of Marque to make interested ships officially sanctioned pirate hunters. With so much ocean around, I can't help but think naval travel and shipping have got to be huge. This would always invite naval based criminals (namely pirates) to prey on them unless they are chased out of an area or the government pays for heavy patrols. So the area close to Kingsport is probably heavily patroled, but nobody can project enough naval power to cover all the shipping lanes. Unless they send guard ships with every convoy, which gets expensive fast.