Song of Shattered Blades
Introduction
This D&D campaign started out around 1997-8 on AOL and AIM as a chat room and message board based game using AD&D 2nd Edition rules set in a homebrew world called Paylen. In that time I was a relatively newbie GM and honed my storytelling and writing skills, meeting a great bunch of folks over the Internet to boot. The players came from all walks of life, house wives and working husbands, old crusty fogies who knew their way around the original 1st Edition OD&D rules, and young folks still trying to find their way in the world (I’d include myself in this latter category). It was great fun playing the game over the years and, though not without its share of drama and heartache, they were good times. When 3rd Edition rolled around, we were excited to convert to the new system and played 3.0 for a while.
Eventually it came to a point where we all had to take time off to go our separate ways and the campaign went into limbo indefinitely during 2000-1 in the middle of a particularly long adventure arc involving a ruined volcanic city. I myself went to school before joining the US military, and for a while gaming was a luxury I could ill afford since I just didn’t have the time. After talking about it for a few years, now one of the original players from way back (and a good friend of mine) and I have decided to revive the game in 2007, continuing where we left off, only this time we decided to focus more intimately on a smaller number of characters with a split-style of political and intrigue-heavy storytelling using 3.5 rules (and the Unearthed Arcana gestalt variant), and less on globe-hopping antics and MacGuffin-seeking adventure hooks as we’ve done in the past.
In a way, it was going back to the roots of the game and made us remember why we played in the first place. With 4E just around the corner, I’ve come to realize that time sure does go fast (whether or not you’re having fun though I’d prefer to be than not, heh), and us young folks aren’t as spry as we used to be, advancing in our respective careers and/or getting married and raising a family. Still, we felt bad and more than a little nostalgic at having left the game of our youth when there was still so much left of the story to be told. For the time being, the campaign has returned in the form of play-by-post e-mails, at least until we ever get to a point where the game can resume a chat based or even a face-to-face tabletop format.
Eltera, daughter of House Trellust and a dark aelf warrior exiled from her native homeland of Nyctalinth, is the story’s main protagonist. And though she may have more than a passing resemblance to a certain dual sword-wielding hero, her story is a bit different as she tries to piece together the fragmented memories of her shattered past and escape the inner demons that continue to pursue her even to this day. The flip side is a relatively new character, Fharis Aquilla, an Arcturion (sort of a warrior/mage trained to defeat casters and preserve the balance of magic in the world) and leader of the Quasi Lamna, or Shattered Blades, an adventuring turned mercenary company. His investigations into the intrigues of the Empire and the nobility within Drace and without will invariably lead him toward many dangers and plots that threaten the kingdom.
Events that happened before in the game will be explained either in the story’s narrative or with footnotes. I won’t fool anyone by saying we’re trying to write Shakespeare, but we try to have fun with all the various themes we have going and that’s all that matters. The campaign world also borrows a few themes from several sources, not the least of which being Eberron, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara, Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth novels, George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, and other odd bits and pieces that may or may not be recognizable to the reader. That said, a few real world cultures and nations are painted with very broad strokes in this story, but we’ve never claimed that we’re running a historical gaming sim, heh.
Without further introspection, I hope anyone who reads this enjoys the story and I’d be happy to answer any questions or comments they may have, thank you.
Synopsis
Below is a preliminary map of the Paylen continent. The game takes place in the northern kingdoms with a central focus on Mordrake, the vaunted high Kingdom of Dragons. Six years have passed since the B’astyian Empire invaded the weakened Republic of Veracia and crushed it beneath its iron heel. The Veracians themselves were as much to blame for their defeat as the Imperials, having given themselves over to hedonistic excess and wanton corruption many long years before the invasion. Nearly four score prior, the mad Veracian King Aermond the Usurper led the Republic on a self-righteous crusade against Numia, the Millennial Kingdom of the First Men (known as the Numina) far to the south, utterly destroying the ancient kingdom and casting Veracia into financial ruin and social upheaval.
When Aermond himself was brought a head lower by the people’s justice not long after, it had sown the seeds for the Republic’s inevitable downfall at the hands of the Empire. Today, there are whispers that the B’astyians mean to bring about a second War of the Veil as their Emperor Helbanion has lured the enigmatic Spirian Witches into his fold with the promise of crowning their sorcerer-queen, Suspiria, as his new Empress. This has the Dracians ever concerned for it seems to be an alliance wrought with contradictions. Long governed by a stern theocracy, the Iron Imperium has made no secret of its hatred of arcane magic while bringing to bear the full force of its military might using steam-driven monstrosities and screeching iron to lay waste to their enemies.
Still mourning his Queen Amestris Sethira who had perished thirteen years ago when the Exarchate of Ilvernus was destroyed by the supposed wrath of the gods, King Kelvin Tessius of Drace has begun to pursue the elusive dream of peace with the Hrundir, war-like barbarians who hail across the Abrisseen (Sea of Talons) from the cold and unforgiving realm of Haeslund. The northmen have ever been at odds with the civilized and law-bound Dracians as each side fought skirmishes to a bitter stalemate and launched coastal raids upon the other since time immemorial. Still, Tessius is of a mind calling for truce and a possible alliance with the proud Hrundir and their implacable Jarl lords. After all, should Mordrake fall to the Imperial war machine, where else would the B’astyians think to look upon for their next conquest?
However, the immortal sisters known as the Nornir would see that the fates of these warring nations take a different path of their own choosing. And all the while, a small band of guardians and keepers of the peace called the Arcturions stand at the ready, watching for any change in the tides of war. For many ages since Alhazarde’s Covenant was forged and the founding of Mordrake finally realized have members of their order stood vigilant against the threat of those who would bend the force called magic to their will and use it in the pursuit of dark ambitions. Her steps still haunted and steeped in blood, a lone exile from the lightless depths will have her part to play in this mummer’s farce, as both king and fool alike are mere puppets dancing upon strings held by forces yet unseen.
Introduction
This D&D campaign started out around 1997-8 on AOL and AIM as a chat room and message board based game using AD&D 2nd Edition rules set in a homebrew world called Paylen. In that time I was a relatively newbie GM and honed my storytelling and writing skills, meeting a great bunch of folks over the Internet to boot. The players came from all walks of life, house wives and working husbands, old crusty fogies who knew their way around the original 1st Edition OD&D rules, and young folks still trying to find their way in the world (I’d include myself in this latter category). It was great fun playing the game over the years and, though not without its share of drama and heartache, they were good times. When 3rd Edition rolled around, we were excited to convert to the new system and played 3.0 for a while.
Eventually it came to a point where we all had to take time off to go our separate ways and the campaign went into limbo indefinitely during 2000-1 in the middle of a particularly long adventure arc involving a ruined volcanic city. I myself went to school before joining the US military, and for a while gaming was a luxury I could ill afford since I just didn’t have the time. After talking about it for a few years, now one of the original players from way back (and a good friend of mine) and I have decided to revive the game in 2007, continuing where we left off, only this time we decided to focus more intimately on a smaller number of characters with a split-style of political and intrigue-heavy storytelling using 3.5 rules (and the Unearthed Arcana gestalt variant), and less on globe-hopping antics and MacGuffin-seeking adventure hooks as we’ve done in the past.
In a way, it was going back to the roots of the game and made us remember why we played in the first place. With 4E just around the corner, I’ve come to realize that time sure does go fast (whether or not you’re having fun though I’d prefer to be than not, heh), and us young folks aren’t as spry as we used to be, advancing in our respective careers and/or getting married and raising a family. Still, we felt bad and more than a little nostalgic at having left the game of our youth when there was still so much left of the story to be told. For the time being, the campaign has returned in the form of play-by-post e-mails, at least until we ever get to a point where the game can resume a chat based or even a face-to-face tabletop format.
Eltera, daughter of House Trellust and a dark aelf warrior exiled from her native homeland of Nyctalinth, is the story’s main protagonist. And though she may have more than a passing resemblance to a certain dual sword-wielding hero, her story is a bit different as she tries to piece together the fragmented memories of her shattered past and escape the inner demons that continue to pursue her even to this day. The flip side is a relatively new character, Fharis Aquilla, an Arcturion (sort of a warrior/mage trained to defeat casters and preserve the balance of magic in the world) and leader of the Quasi Lamna, or Shattered Blades, an adventuring turned mercenary company. His investigations into the intrigues of the Empire and the nobility within Drace and without will invariably lead him toward many dangers and plots that threaten the kingdom.
Events that happened before in the game will be explained either in the story’s narrative or with footnotes. I won’t fool anyone by saying we’re trying to write Shakespeare, but we try to have fun with all the various themes we have going and that’s all that matters. The campaign world also borrows a few themes from several sources, not the least of which being Eberron, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara, Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth novels, George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, and other odd bits and pieces that may or may not be recognizable to the reader. That said, a few real world cultures and nations are painted with very broad strokes in this story, but we’ve never claimed that we’re running a historical gaming sim, heh.
Without further introspection, I hope anyone who reads this enjoys the story and I’d be happy to answer any questions or comments they may have, thank you.
Synopsis
Below is a preliminary map of the Paylen continent. The game takes place in the northern kingdoms with a central focus on Mordrake, the vaunted high Kingdom of Dragons. Six years have passed since the B’astyian Empire invaded the weakened Republic of Veracia and crushed it beneath its iron heel. The Veracians themselves were as much to blame for their defeat as the Imperials, having given themselves over to hedonistic excess and wanton corruption many long years before the invasion. Nearly four score prior, the mad Veracian King Aermond the Usurper led the Republic on a self-righteous crusade against Numia, the Millennial Kingdom of the First Men (known as the Numina) far to the south, utterly destroying the ancient kingdom and casting Veracia into financial ruin and social upheaval.
When Aermond himself was brought a head lower by the people’s justice not long after, it had sown the seeds for the Republic’s inevitable downfall at the hands of the Empire. Today, there are whispers that the B’astyians mean to bring about a second War of the Veil as their Emperor Helbanion has lured the enigmatic Spirian Witches into his fold with the promise of crowning their sorcerer-queen, Suspiria, as his new Empress. This has the Dracians ever concerned for it seems to be an alliance wrought with contradictions. Long governed by a stern theocracy, the Iron Imperium has made no secret of its hatred of arcane magic while bringing to bear the full force of its military might using steam-driven monstrosities and screeching iron to lay waste to their enemies.
Still mourning his Queen Amestris Sethira who had perished thirteen years ago when the Exarchate of Ilvernus was destroyed by the supposed wrath of the gods, King Kelvin Tessius of Drace has begun to pursue the elusive dream of peace with the Hrundir, war-like barbarians who hail across the Abrisseen (Sea of Talons) from the cold and unforgiving realm of Haeslund. The northmen have ever been at odds with the civilized and law-bound Dracians as each side fought skirmishes to a bitter stalemate and launched coastal raids upon the other since time immemorial. Still, Tessius is of a mind calling for truce and a possible alliance with the proud Hrundir and their implacable Jarl lords. After all, should Mordrake fall to the Imperial war machine, where else would the B’astyians think to look upon for their next conquest?
However, the immortal sisters known as the Nornir would see that the fates of these warring nations take a different path of their own choosing. And all the while, a small band of guardians and keepers of the peace called the Arcturions stand at the ready, watching for any change in the tides of war. For many ages since Alhazarde’s Covenant was forged and the founding of Mordrake finally realized have members of their order stood vigilant against the threat of those who would bend the force called magic to their will and use it in the pursuit of dark ambitions. Her steps still haunted and steeped in blood, a lone exile from the lightless depths will have her part to play in this mummer’s farce, as both king and fool alike are mere puppets dancing upon strings held by forces yet unseen.
