gamecat's Super-Unfinished Campaign Setting!

[gamecat]

[first of all, this game is as anti-tolkien as possible. Not that I hate JRR, its just that every other game seems to draw from it... This game has lots of arcane magic, and not too much divine. Magic items are excessively rare in that anything that isn't a wand/potion/scroll/+1 armor or weapon is a leveled magic item. More on my rules on that later. I'd like some input on the East, and ways to accent the oppressiveness of the campaign.]

Neer is an oppressive place, split between three greedy empires. Each has its own set of skeletons in the closet.

The Imperium of Greater Axis

An oppressive magocratic nation that persecutes psionic people and sorcerers with a nazi-like fervor, under a law called the "Hereticus Doctrine", complete with jackbooted-SS troops, the Halkur Legion. The nation is ruled by an empress with the title of "Asura". The Asura is supported by several noble houses, each specialized in magic, in some degree.

There are 7 noble houses, each heading a guild, that prop the Asura up.


Brotsch...........Illusion........................[yet unnamed guild]
Daskara..........Conjuration..................[yet unnamed guild]
Echt................Divination.....................Scara Guild
Hatecraft.........Transmutaion................Jarok Guild
MacDuff...........Vivimancy*..................[yet unnamed guild]
Westenberger..Evocation......................Hawarden Guild
Zanitos............Dementia Summoning*..Morkoth Guild



I kinda need help developing the names of the guilds... Brotsch has a north german nationality, Daskara a turkish-barely middle-eastern, MacDuff scottish. Vivimancy is a prestige school imc that deals with altering living things greatly, so MacDuff is better catagorized as Necromancy. Dementia Summoning is a type of magic that makes your nightmares, complexes, and assorted other inner demons materialize and fight for you, so Morkoth Guildmages are typically Illusionists.

The Blessed Catterick Imperium

A totalitarian empire established by a LN-LE elven race, the Blessed Catterick Imperium believes it is their divine right to rule the universe, and they have pioneered spelljamming technology to those ends. The head of the Catterick Imperium is refered to as the Evincar. The Catterick religious system all features deities with a hindu look (six arms). These six-armed divinities inspire the race to an endless war, with what humans call "truces" the Cattericks call "rearmanent". They have yet to have lost a major battle. With the death of Vlar Rednax Catterick, the previous Evincar, his hot-blooded son Amedus Catterick has taken to the throne, and this period of rearmanent is drawing to a close. Fast.

In designing the Catterick race, I wanted to get away from the "blonde-womanly-archer-graceful-disgusted-at-everything-not-elven" archetype. To surmise, I took the elves as Vulcans, and made my Romulans. I'll post their stats later.

The Maracawa Shogunate

A system similar to Feudal Japan, the Maracawa Shogunate replaces Zen Buddhism with psionics. (not much else)

[not much, but back in Neer 1.0 I just plugged Rokugan in. Need a lotta help here]

...

Some ideas would be wonderful. I appreciate any input.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

For the Imperium, is there any major reason why the guild and House names have to be seperate? Theoretically the guilds could change hands, I suppose, but it probably isn't something that happens very often. It seems to me it might be easier to just stick with the seven names you have- in my experience, players have a hard enough time tracking these things as it is (though my players don't really have great attention spans or anything).

As for the Shogunate, you might want to try and get a copy of The Hunt: Rise of Evil. It features a LE samurai nation headed by a demon lord. Essentially, the demon was accidentally summoned centuries ago, and it promptly took over the island, made itself emperor, and arranged for several friends to join him. Essentially the setting has all the caste stratification like Rokugan (ie samurai and priests on top), but to be considered noble you have to have at least some demon blood in you, traceable back to the emperor. He has half-fiend children who rule the various provinces, and they all have extended families of tieflings handling their business, that sort of thing.

Since the system has been in place for several centuries, things are getting quite decadent. For instance, one of the few ways to raise yourself above your birth caste is for a woman to marry one of the tainted nobles- if she gives birth to a child displaying the proper otherworldly traits, then she becomes elevated to the same caste as her husband and child. So wealthy merchants and up-and-coming nobility would actually be looking to pair their daughters off with demonic outsiders. It's the sort of setting where the heros would either be lawless outcasts, or people working within the system who are often forced to make tough moral choices to accomplish some good.

 

[gamecat]

The separation of House and Guild stands because guilds have began switching loyalties of late: House Westenberger was deemed too irresponsible for the influence of the Hawarden Guild (and thus a great control over the destructive school of evocation), and was stripped of titles; House Hatecraft was awarded control of the Hawarden Mage Guild, as well as Westenberger's siridar fief of Haugdenbourg.

I like that idea for the east, making it pretty dark. Hmm. A player in the game is one of the noble family, but he is an NG human, so I'm not sure how to fit it in...

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Well, if you're running in the eastern empire then they'd have to try and conceal it (might require some house ruling re detection spells). Or the family could consider them the simple-minded, hopelessly naive child who will never amount to anything. Or they could use the person as a front man with groups that would appreciate his attitude (downtrodden peasants, victims of monster attacks, etc) but keep the kid out of the real business. Sort of like Michael in the first Godfather movie.

Otherwise, if the campaign is set elsewhere, he could be on the run from enemies he's crossed trying to do the right thing (maybe even his own family) or could have been exiled, or sent away on purpose to keep him out of "trouble" (ie trying to help people and consequently getting smoked by another House).

 

[gamecat]

An interesting thought. (This game is Axis-centric until about level 14, when the Catterick "rearmanent" ends...)

I think, however, He thinks that the Maracawa Shogunate is all human. House MacDuff is a serious set of bad guys in the game, and given their love of mingling blood, I think that great-great-great-great Grandpa Maracawa was killed and replaced with a fiend, but a different kind, one that doesn't cause tiefling deformities.

/me rubs hands at character emotional breakdown

 

[widderslainte]

That's pretty cool stuff. Do you have anymore on a website?

 

[gamecat]

That's pretty cool stuff. Do you have anymore on a website?

Uhhh... Homie don't play html... But ask away. The Cattericks I have the most info on, but I appreciate input from EnWorlders anywhere.

 

[gamecat]

House Closeup: Hatecraft

The first in my series of house close-ups: The Hatecrafts.

House Hatecraft, seated in the siridar feif of Kashin, is a economic powerhouse, a skilled player of the diplomacy of the magus council, and a military power on level with the Asura's troops, as well as the head of possibly the most powerful guild of Axis, the Jarok Guild, specializing in the school of Transmutation. Hatecraft also specializes in Abjuration, for in 1252 IHER (in her excellency's reign, the calendar system used by the Empire of Greater Axis) House Hatecraft militarily conquered House Mauer and absorbed the Erithizon Guild into Jarok. Given that a survivor of House Mauer married into House Westenberger, the bad blood between Hatecraft and Westenberger is well-known throughout Axis.

House Hatecraft is readily identified by its giant yellow-and-black banner, complete with a stylized crest of an inverted isoceles triangle with two sillohuettes of serpentine dragon heads in the center, with the Jarok insignia below it.

House Hatecraft fills its seemingly endless coffers with the gold gleaned from sales of grain. Neer is a cold place, and the weather-control magics monopolized by the Jarok Guild make Kashin one of the most fertile spots on Neer. The byproducts of these potent meteorological dweomers is that Kashin is surrounded on all noncoastal borders with twelve miles of dead forests, that none have bothered to clear, and House Hatecraft enjoys the isolation it provides.

Militarily, House Hatecraft fields the largest House Guard of any Great House of the Magus Council. Standing sixteen legions (each of 10,000 men) strong, House Hatecraft ruthlessly trains its troops to be the strongest they can, and teaches them to work in tandem with mage support. The Jarok guild, in return for Hatecraft's financial support which far exceeds any other similar house support, agrees to have every Guildmage serve at least 4 years in the Hatecraft House Guard. Hatecraft soldiers are average combatants in melee, but are the best crossbow archers on Neer. Each man is ruthlessly trained in the use of his bow, and put to exacting standards. Hatecraft crossbows rival Catterick weapons in quality, and are distinctive due to the large stock they have. (in game statistics, a Hatecraft crossbow is a light crossbow, but the weapon stands 4 1/2 feet tall.) The Hatecraft House Guard is known throughout Axis for their common demonstrations of power, in which the people of Kashin flock to see. (To not do so is treason) Hatecraft soldiers have an inordinately high step when they march, similar to the whermacht of Nazi Germany.

Typical Hatecraft Soldier, Male Human Ftr1: CR 1; Medium-size Humanoid (Human); HD 1d10 + 2; hp 12; AC 16 (Touch 12, Flat Footed 14); Attack +2 melee (1d6, 19-20/x2, masterwork short sword) or +6 ranged (1d8, 19-20/x2, masterwork light crossbow with masterwork bolts); SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Skills and Feats: Bluff +2, Climb +3, Craft (Fletcher) +7, Intimidate +2; Weapon Focus (Light Crossbow); Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot.

Possessions: Masterwork Short Sword, Masterwork Light Crossbow, 40 Masterwork Crossbow Bolts, Masterwork Fletcher's Tools, Studded Leather Armor, Buckler.

(Hatecraft soldiers have an inordinate amount of gear to account for the financial success of the House)

The members of House Hatecraft are an exception to the human-supremacist nature of Axis. Everyone in the Hatecraft family is a tiefling, yet House Hatecraft is among the most rabid supporters of the Hereticus Doctrine.

Magus Jenfis Hatecraft (Male Tiefling Tra 19): Jenfis Hatecraft is a ruthless man, a callous oppressor with an eye for tyranny. After his marraige to Arika, he has been less concerned with House Hatecraft's military expansion.

Lady Arika Hatecraft (Succubus Sor 14): A powerful succubus summoned with the coerced help of House Daskara, Lady Arika Hatecraft is a cruel creature befitting the mortal she has entered the bonds of marraige with, for in doing so, he has freed her from her demon lord.

NaMagus Jhonen Hatecraft (Male Tiefling Wiz 7): Jhonen Hatecraft is as cruel as his father, with a large ego to match. Jhonen's most distinctive features are his tiefling deformities: a pair of hands that sprout from his throat, as well as small horns on his temples and pallid skin. In addition to being a powerful spellcaster, Jhonen Hatecraft is a ruthless swordsman, fighting with a pair of longswords. It is expected that he will be trained as a sword mage.

 

[bebo]

hey gamecat homie dont play thee d&d we have deadlands and shadowrun we play know rember ,am you have a really bad memory haha props to anyone who know's what deadlands is