Hey People,
Thanks for responding. I tend to agree with the "not compromising the integrity of the campaign camp," and I respect the differing opinions also, as they reveal motivations from players' perspectives. The only area of concern I have is that I explicitly stated the parameters of my campaign, and the player has read about 50 pages of material on it that I sent him. I figure we will work something out.
As for the not allowing barbarians and druids queries, here is a bit of an explanation.
The land most of the players hail from is a highly-ordered, insular, and powerful former Mark of the High Kingdom of Belendour where some of the most ancient families of the fallen Realm of Splendour who survived the Great Sack reside. One member of the Melphi, a quasi Numenorean race which appeared from the Frozen Wastes in the midst of the WizardWar with the Eater of Magic, discovered the Mark when he fled from battle with one of the Eater of Magic's most powerful followers into the vastness of the Eagle Rocks. An eagle demi-deity is protector of the Eagle Rocks and his intervention saved this person who, aided by lesser elementals, made his way to the Spring of Erehoe, the patron deity of the Mark, and returned to the WizardWar, more powerful than before after being healed by Erehoe and having made a pact with the deity to protect the Mark and Erehoe's waters in the ages to come.
The Mark was the commercial center of the High Kingdom, with a well-developed infrastructure and benign Wardenship. When the Sack occurred, the Warden sealed off all passes through the Eagle-Rocks to the west and the Bear-Claws to the east. To the south lies the Faer-Wood, a huge enchanted forest full of Feys and Grey Elves. To the north lies the Old-Wood, an ancient cousin of the Faer-Wood and then the Frozen Wastes. The Wardens have kept alive the traditions of Belendour in terms of training and education, and the military is highly trained and sophisticated. The land is basically lawful and there are some dwarven mines and recent halfling and gnome settlers fleeing trouble from the south. The military guards all the passes and each Castle Captain is allowed to act as he or she sees fit in dealing with any incursions.
And, of course, there are enemies, ancient enemies with an undying hatred of the older families and the principles of the Mark. Barbarians were badly defeated ten years prior to this campaign (in the last campaign I ran IRL), and are now under the Wardenship, and the chieftan sons and daughters are held as "guests" in the capital. No other barbarians are allowed to cross the boundaries of the Mark and if they do, they are killed. Orcs attack every year, now with increasing frequency, and the general aim of the Warden is to annihilate any group that the military finds.
He is doing this because 1) the Grey Elven lords have reported to him that the orcs are in league with the ancient enemies of the Mark and are trying to resurrect an ancient evil; 2) the orcs slaughter whoever they find and in many villages there were no traces of the bodies (as in the entire village) to be found; 3) the nature clerics, having been contacted by the Druidic guardians of the mountains (whether these druids were actually druids or avatars of the Guardians is an open question), have stated that the fundamental nature of the Mark is being attacked, led bny Orc shamans and sorcerers receiving guidance from outside the Mark.
Druids hold an ancient secret that could lead to the destruction of life or resurrection of the First Goddess who created the world, and are a major part of the background plot that players are getting bits and pieces of now. The NPC druids are secretive, powerful, mysterious and not necessarily trusting of anyone besides those they know, and they are in direct contact with some of the primal, elemental spirits/deities that surround the Mark. Nature clerics would have contact with the druids and know a bit about the druidic mission, but not a lot, as the druids are more guardians and the nature clerics celebrants and reverents.
Here is the email I sent the player (this is after he received all the background info):
The party is about to confront an ongoing villain, with some suprises (of course). One is the youngest son of the oldest and most powerful family of Delmark (they are not the governing family), whose heritage hails to the ancient times of the High Kingdom of Belendour (see documents). His older brother stirred up the events that are now occurring in the Aelrith (the campaign I ran six years ago), and is one of the most powerful swordsmen known to the age.
The party is about to embark on a quest to stop someone from resurrecting one of the Devoured, a follower of the Eater of Magic who destroyed the known systems of formal arcane magic. Delmark has recently led devastating raids on the Five Bandit Lords, who controlled much of the lands to the west of the Bear-Claws. There is going to be some mix of wilderness and fortress encounters, and then a fair amount of big city stuff, so this may be a consideration in terms of your character.
Anyway, here are the parameters of my campaign in terms of races, classes, and alignments, and a bunch of attachments that detail the history and cosmology of parts of the Aelrith.
Alignments: all Good, LN, N. (The campaign is definitely good vs. evil with some moral dilemmas and political complexities thrown in.)
Races: Human, Elf, 1/2 Elf, possible Dwarf.
Classes: Fighter (I have variants on these), Paladin, Ranger (I have variants on these), Cleric, Sorcerer, Rogue, Bard.
Mutliclassing: I allow two classes max and you need to have at least two levels in one of the classes. If you want a third class, there needs to be a strong in-story argument for it.
Attributes: You get 83 points to distribute as you like, no attribute above 20 at this point. The character will be lvl 6. You will also get some extra skill-points once we have worked on the character. I also allow feats from other d20 supplements, so will help you out there, too.
As far as the character you presented, it may not fit in well, because of being barbarian and half-orc. If we were in the eastern part of the Aelrith, this would work better. Orcs are pretty much killed on the spot here, and the lands are either highly settled and organized, politcally developed smaller holdings guarded by small city fortresses, wastelands, elf-settled ancient woods, or under the influence of Golt, the massive free-port and city state. Barbarians are basically unheard of in this particular region.
If you can give me an idea of the style of character you would like to play, within these parameters, I can work with you on developing something that will fit. The party looks like it will be Hum ftr4/rog4, Hum cler7, Hum Archer6, Elf Ftr3/Rng3 and you when you join. I am absolutely fine with another melee type as this is a low-magic campaign world. There also are not a lot of people walking around in heavy armor. Speed, maneuverability, and the plain bother of heavy armor are severe restrictions in this regard.
Some options to help out are:
1) To be coming from Delmark itself (soldier lost or captured in the wars with the Bandit-Lords
2) Come from Veluna or Velarna, two small city-fortresses who have been caught between the wars of the sorceress to the south near the Marches of Celedron and the Bandit Lord rampages
3) A renegade Bandit who has changed sides because of things you found out (dark plots, evil alliances and all)
4) From Golt itself (Attached a brief sketch)
5) From the vales of the Bear-Claws, or the eaves of the Wizard-Wood (wilder type but still with knowledge)
6) From the Marches of Celedron, which is embroiled in political intrigue, dark plots, machinations of Houses from Golt, the war with the sorceress, and is the home of the bad guy the current party is battling.
These are some ideas and we can flesh them out as we email. If I were to start the campaign over, I might allow some more character possibilities, but I don't think it is fair to the other players if I allow it now, and I set up all of this the way it is because of the nature of the Aelrith. I also make a strong effort to weave the character's backstories into the ebb and flow of the camaign, so the more detail here the better.
Also, here is the email address of one of the players who has been in this campaign since its inception, so you can get an idea of things from a player's perspective.
OK, I can't type any more.
