1. Core Ethos Sentence.
Tova, a world where the growing power of mortals has forced the heavens to turn against them.
2. Who are the heroes?
Hero is a relative term on Tova. The gods have covertly created artifacts that power different mortals organizations, known as Cabals. These Cabals openly war for dominance over the others, and heroes and villains alike can be found within most. Their power cowers the scattered city-states, and many young men and women flock to the Cabals to make a difference in the world. Others organize to resist all of the Cabals.
3. What do they do?
The gods manipulated the cabals to be polar opposites of each other. While the members do not know of the artifacts origins, they do know each Cabal has one. They also know that when a Cabal has captured another’s artifact, that organization loses any and all powers until the artifact has been recovered. Heroes who identify with one of the Cabal’s goals will find themselves fighting their enemy Cabal while being dragged into the wars between other Cabals.
Some example Cabals:
Valor (goal: destroy all arcane magic) vs The Tribunal (goal: become gods through arcane means)
Heralds of the Ancient (goal: spread undeath) vs Servants of the Dawn (goal: fight necromancy)
The Arbiters (goal: forge a totalitarian state) vs Barons (goal: destroy all organized powers)
Other heroes who suspect the actions of the gods will find themselves marked as heretics, and spend their lives fighting the theocracies that control the scattered city-states of the land.
4. Threats, Conflicts, Villains
The gods and the cabals create the main conflict and source of villains, but there are others:
*The gods fear the collective power of dragons, and the Cabal artifacts need to be annually bathed in dragon blood. This has lead to dragons, good and evil, to ban together to fight against their own extinction.
*A twisted inbred family controls many of the rogue guilds of the world. Their desire is simple: wealth, and few have more treasure then adventurers.
*Finally, a secret holy organization called the Shadowstalkers scours the earth to slay any arcane casters who have gained to much power.
5. Nature of magic
Magic is just as natural as gravity and light, but long ago powers from beyond this plane found away to channel that magic through the belief of mortals- creating divine magic.
They did not plan for the mortals to find a way to channel that magic themselves- creating arcane magic.
As the scope of mortal arcane magic grew across Tova, the commoners began to lose faith in the gods- draining the heavens of some of their power.
This is what has led to the creation of the Cabals- turning the mortals against each other, and to the gods for protection.
6. What’s new? What’s different?
The gods themselves are passive antagonists, and become more active when facing powerful mortals. (making more use of Deities and Demigods).
The cabals serve to offer different types of campaigns (intrigue, exploration, open warfare), and a host of powerful prestige classes- potentially a book exploring each Cabal.
