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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ColinChapman" data-source="post: 9598300" data-attributes="member: 6779742">There is certainly reason enough for some oddities beyond those I mentioned. Here's the campaign setup:THE PASTThe lands of Centauri were thriving. The dual suns and daystar shone down on a period of peace. There was little strife and the depredations of the Fey had been much reduced following countless battles and torturous pacts.Arcane research led to the creation of schools of wizardry, breakthroughs such as teleportation circles linking population centres, and the first forays into creating less intensive autonomous labour constructs. Simpler, less expensive creations than the golems of old.The Enlightened Peace lasted but a century.No one is sure how it began. If it was accident or plot. But all know where the Great Darkness blossomed: the palace of King Marinus II of Aurumea, an aged coastal city-state and major crossroads for trade. Survivors’ tales told of billowing clouds of darkness rent with green lightning flowing from the palace, and of the undead stalking within. Aurumea fell in a day of horror. The undead invasion since known as the Great Darkness had begun.A slow, inexorable tide, the undead spread across the lands of Centauri, each victim swelling their ranks. Alliances of city-states and tribes pooled their resources in the face of armageddon. The new constructs intended for a time of peace were turned to war, armies of Myrmidons sent to battle the Dead alongside beasts-of-war wrought by alchemy and magic. The greatest sorcerers of the age brought spells of such destruction to bear that whole battlefields were rendered ash. The greatest sorcerers of the age armed the greatest warriors with potent magical items. The tide barely slowed.Refugees fled the advancing darkness. But it became all too apparent that no city, no town, no village was safe. The sorcerers, the architects, the leaders of the remaining people realised safety would have to be built. Across the land construction started in earnest. Settlements called Beacons were made, many subterranean. Reinforced with thick stone walls, silver latticework to block the incorporeal, vault-like doors, and cunning traps, they were to be refuges for all-comers. As the Dead drew closer, people huddled behind their gates, looked at the hastily-enchanted wards and sigils, and waited. All assumed the Great Darkness would subside in a handful of years. They were wrong.THE PRESENTTwo centuries have passed since the Great Darkness began. Two hundred years of struggle, survival, and diminishing hope. Hope that was almost extinguished. But almost is not entirely. What is now clear is that something has changed. Initial forays indicate that the undead have receded, and auguries, divinations, and scryings support this.Now, the few surviving Beacons, places such as Sanctum, are looking at the outside world again with rekindled hope. And the first tentative steps are being taken on the path to resettling the lands the Dead overran. Lands now unrecognisable, littered with ruin and peril.Many Beacons did not survive two centuries of isolation, falling to the Dead or a lack of resources. Worse, others were brought low by their own worst impulses or treachery. The survivors of the Great Darkness are scattered, isolated communities in a world where the Dead are still very much in evidence, where the Fey still lurk. Where malfunctioning construct soldiers scuttle across old battlefields, and where sorcerous beasts and mutants prowl.For all the danger, there is beauty also. Nature has overgrown abandoned cities, towns, and villages, a blanket of green. Animals roam in number. Potent magical items lay waiting to be wielded again. People hope for any sign that they are no longer alone.There is a world to explore and reclaim.</blockquote>

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