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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kennew142" data-source="post: 4039702" data-attributes="member: 18490">My first 4e campaign will be kind of a PoL light campaign. It is discussed in my gaming blog (url in sig below).The basics:The area around the Sea of Endymion was at the northeastern expanse of the Old Livonian Empire, which fell to civil war and fragmentation more than 500 years ago. Although dominated by humans, this empire encompassed many races and helped to spread them throughout its territory. After the fall of Livonia, the region divided into many smaller nations, trade began to falter and the light of civilization began to dim.Then came Xandia, a tiefling adventurer from the far northwestern fringes of the old Livonian empire. She came to the region, defeated a horde of minotaurs, saved a city-state and earned herself the hand of a prince, and a crown to go with it. She was a powerful warlock who felt that she had a destiny to save the region from chaos and anarchy. She turned the peaceful city-state of Sadiroth into a nation bent on conquest. With arms and magic she forged the last Empire (or perhaps a brief pause on the path to barbarism).The Empire of the Witch Queen (as Xandia was known) brought all of the smaller Livonian successor states of the region under its banner. The Witch Queen herself was a ruthless tyrant, who crushed opposition, enslaved those who did not submit easily enough and brought order to the region. Trade began to flow again; the savage gnolls were driven back into the northern woods; infrastructure was repaired; learning began anew; and the blood of her enemies and the tears of the common folk fell like rain. Using unspeakable rituals, she extended her own life. Two centuries passed, and it seemed as if Xandia's empire would remain forever. But all things come to an end. In time, great heroes arose who killed the Queen, allowing the rebel armies to drive out her forces. What was once a single empire, living in fear and sweating beneath the yoke of tyrant, became a number of smaller nations. With their common enemy gone, they found little to unite them. Trade slowed, and then stopped as orcs of the Takkur horde seized the trade city of Asticon, gateway to the Great Eastern Road. Gnolls swarmed over the northern borders, fighting under the banners of their demon-gods. Things fell apart; the center could not hold.Now, 150 years after the death of the Witch Queen, the Kingdom of Maruvan is one of a few points of civilization amidst the savage lands surrounding it. It is a human kingdom, with large minorities of non-human peoples, including dweir (dwarves), eladrin, elves, issarians (dragonborn), kithauri (halflings) and scatha (changelings). To the south lies the Vale of Kurdan, once home to a dwarven civilization that was destroyed by a shadow eruption in the lower levels beneath the citadel. Now corrupt and aberrant things live in the shadows of that land, most of its people living as exiles in Maruvan.To the north lies Acherusa, the Wailing Lands, once known as Upper Maruvan. Gnolls control the countryside, looking for an unguarded ford across the Hylas river. Besieged within the few remaining cities, powerful warlords [not necessarily the class], magelords and tiefling strongmen hold sway.Throughout the region lie many strange edifices and caverns, made by no known hand. Within are ancient seals that block entrance to the mysterious shadow labyrinth, a malevolent contruct of the shadowfell. Although no one knows who placed the seals, they have become weaker over time. A few have failed completely, allowing the shadow labyrinth to overlay some of the terrain, and providing entrance to the world for undead, umbral creatures and aberrations . These events are called shadow eruptions, and they inevitably bring chaos and destruction.Shadowy cults of the Whisperer Beneath the Waves, the Unspeakable One and the Tattered King lurk in the shadows of society, serving their inuman patrons and waiting for something. The Cult of the Witch Queen longs for her promised return. They hail her as a hero, a savior who can bring order back to a world gone mad. A historian, an expert in the artifacts of long gone civilizations, gives seminars in which he poses disturbing questions. Who sealed the shadow labyrinth away from the world? Why are the seals fading? And most importantly, why did every civilization across the face of the world end five milennia ago, leaving only a few structures and tantalizing artifacts?In the city of Elocia, a group of adventurers lives a life of blissful ignorance, taking up their trade in the mundane hope of having their names added to the Stele of Heroes in the Old Forum....There's more, but this post is long enough.</blockquote>

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