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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cryptos" data-source="post: 4310928" data-attributes="member: 58439">Very nice.  I've been working on a campaign setting of my own where there all of the fallen empires of the past had their own empire-enhancing devices, or doomsday devices to take out rivals.  They were each powered in turn by captured mystical energies from the devices of the first empire.  These rediscovered devices (stationary artifacts, mostly) can also be repowered by appropriate amounts of residuum, but not many factions realize that.There's an organization that fronts itself as a cult, but their real goal is to use the power of past empires to make it possible to build a new empire in the present day.  There's also a radical organization that is trying to get rid of all the magical items and artifacts left over from the fallen empires.  They might seem like the good guys, initially, but at the highest levels they are actually a cult trying to pave way for the awakening of their god.  So they wind up being mirror images of each other.As this applies to you, perhaps this might give you some additional ideas of what they could be doing with the residuum, as with your Barony's Skyfleets:Star Shrines: The most ancient empire of the land worshiped primordial beings from the Far Realms.  Sort of Cthulhu-style.  They captured mystical energies to commune with these beings.  The purposes of the shrines are not widely understood today, it is only widely understood that the positions of the shrines across the land correspond roughly to the positions of the stars in the night sky overhead at certain times of convergence.  This is where the modern name for them comes from.  There are all manner of theories as to their purpose, but modern man can only use them at best as a land navigation aid. But if they are repowered, it is possible to contact one of these "Celestials."  For a price (they'll make you do things that advance their own unfathomable goals) they can provide accurate prophesy, provide the location of items of power, and so forth.  Knowledge is the benefit, but it's always twisted somehow despite being accurate and useful.  Most Star Shrines are dormant today, the energies that powered them looted by successive empires for their own tools.  The average person has no idea what the odd statues were for.  (As a side note, the lost civilization that used these were the ancestors of present day Dopplegangers, giving me an opportunity to add a shapeshifter conspiracy plot some day, if desired.)Warforged:  I never thought I'd use them, but I got this idea after thinking of the legions terracotta soliders found in Chinese tombs and ruins.  One of the fallen empires had legions of these things that served the emperor directly, and when that emperor died the warforged legions were deactivated and buried with the emperor.  The warforged were "given life" by transferring power from the ancient Star Shrines to the constructs, and they are deactivated by taking that power back.  The vessels for that power were stored in the emperor's tombs, but have since been robbed by various individuals and successive empires.  Depending on what happens over the course of a campaign, this also makes a potential PC race "unlockable" for PCs that follow.Dragonfonts:  The biggie, which is a large part of the cause for the "Points of Light" setting, for the world I'm working on:  The mystical energies are used to create a summoning pit, from which monsters from other dimensions and worlds spring forth.  Monsters brought into this world were under the control of the individuals that maintain power to the Dragonfont, as long as they maintained power to it.  The Arkhosian Empire used it in their campaigns against the Bael Turath, and as the Bael Turath were getting hammered, in order to survive they then made their fateful pacts with devils that transformed their race and caused both empires to crumble.  The devils tainted the Dragonfonts so that their masters would lose control of the monsters they brought forth over time.  Unbeknowst to many, the devils' taint also made the 'target realm' (the realm where the creatures are drawn from) of the fonts gradually shift... they will eventually allow the legions of the Nine Hells to enter the world freely.Anway, I just thought I'd share these, as you can do a lot with a culture that values residuum or quantifiable mystical energy.  Or if you like, you could even have some of these turn up at some point in your campaign, perhaps adding a new layer to things by suggesting that the Barony wasn't the first civilization to use residuum in big ways.</blockquote>

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