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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Munin" data-source="post: 2805057" data-attributes="member: 5722">I have the core element of an upcoming one-on-one campaign in my head, and I want your help in fleshing it out. This is going to be an urban based campaign, set in a low-magic(read: Grim Tales) world with some dark themes. The city in which the campaign takes place is Lustmord, the largest city in the campaign world, with a population of over one million inhabitants. The city was once an absolute monarchy, but as the population exploded over the last two centuries, more and more power has been siphoned off the monarchy to competing members of the aristocracy, a couple of powerful religious orders, and a particularly influential mob family. As the campaign begins, a plague is sweeping the city. This plague is arcane in origin, a terrorist attack by one of several chaos-themed cults that operate in the city. I imagine that the early part of the campaign will involve the infiltration and abolition of this cult, but that is actually only a distraction from the main theme of the campaign....One of the early victims of this crime is the ruling Monarch's young and beautiful bride. Her death comes as a particularly tragic event. Not only is the Monarch in desperate need of an heir, this marriage united him with the most powerful of the noble families in Lustmord. Not to mention the fact that he was deeply in love with her.Soon, the Monarch begins to search for a way to return his bride to the living. Since this is a low-magic campaign, this will be an especially difficult task, even for the ruler of the most powerful city-state on the continent. Not only is magic rare and dangerous to wield, necromancy is a forbidden art, shunned by all but the most depraved arcanist. The reason for this (which brings me to the central theme) has to do with the transition from life to death in the campaign world. When a person dies, he goes on to final rest, to await the Last Day. This is the state of the vast majority of humanity who have passed away, including the Bride. However, certain beings, human and otherwise, have the power to resist this calling to final rest. Some are powerful arcanists who sought immortality, others are cursed souls denied rest for some heinous act, others are far worse, beings of immense power who to this day cling still to some perverse form of unlife. Collectively, these beings are known as the Houseless (a term I eagerly lifted from Tolkien).The Houseless are, by their nature, much more powerful than the typical newly dead. The danger of attempting to return a person to the living, then, is that one of these Houseless, seeking to return to the living, will overpower the soul of the one called back and inhabit that persons body. Most arcanists are aware of this danger and therefore refuse to take the path of necromancy for fear of what they may unleash upon the world.The Monarch has now employed a powerful necromancer to attempt this very feat. The necromancer has been kidnapping and murdering young woman in an attempt to perfect his spell before he uses it upon the the Bride. If he succeeds, one of these Houseless will gain control of the Bride's body, and will become a Queen of the most powerful nation around. The campaign will revolve around the discovery of this plot, the preventing of it, or dealing with the aftermath if prevention fails. Sorry if I rambled a bit there, I'm looking for your input and opinions. Thanks!</blockquote>

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