The Omen Star

[MoonHunter]

I know. I know. I promised to stop creating new major projects while I still had others unfinished. Things are moving. My game is being rewritten. Kerren is being nickled and dimed. As is Arth (though it is more like being nickled and pennied). The Imperium has yet to actually even be started. I have a couple of projects floating around in The Forge. Yet, here I am.  I had a burst of brilliance about this setting. Rather than let it be forgotten, I am posting it down.

The Omen Plague is the inspiration for this setting. It is the Keystone of the setting actually. Read this first, so you have an idea.
http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=33139#33139

When the Omen Star has been in the first house of stars important events have occurred: The Dragon Line Wars, The War of the Stone Rose, The birth of Zarath and his rise to power, the coming of the Messenger, and many other events of historical note.

The Omen Star is rising, the rest of the portents do not look good……

This Project is both a setting and a primary story arch to set your own campaign in. The overcampaign shows the march of history, as events unfold because of the Omen Star’s Plague.

A little about the world:
Codal is a world of wonder, alive and full of magic. Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, and Humans live in a discordant harmony.

There is magic here: It is mostly what some people would consider “cantripâ€?. Great spells take time and effort.  Magic items require skills to empower them.

Two continents on the map: Northern is a rugby ball shaped thing with a large gulf out the south eastern side. This is where our campaign is centered. The Western coastals is Elven lands. The northern lands are Dwarven. The dwarves used to have people in the south eastern mountains… but they are long dead – lost to the Dragon Civl War. The rest is Human Lands: six kingdoms remaining of the Great Kingdom. Psuedo feudal fantasy.

The Southern continent is a backwards comma that could fit into the gulf. It is ruled by the Priest Kings. It is very hot. The sailors are very skilled. Our people there look like Asian-African crosses.  The 100 tribes were united under one tribe and the priest kings.

Sounds like your everyday fantasy doesn't it? Good. Because from this prosaic begining will come something different.

[MoonHunter]

The book needs to be broken up into four phases

Part for sectional organization, part to use the phases and sections as a timeline.

Phase 0: History and things not directly impacting today.
A prehistory, b history, c last century or so

Phase I: Current world
  A  The Last century or so
  B  The Last decade or so
  C  The Last Year or so

Phase II: Plague Days
  A  The Winter and days before
  B  Rest of the year/ begin time of change
  C  Time of change, the next year

Phase III  After Days
  A  First years
  B  First Decade or so
  C Last Elven ship leaves to one century.


There will be a number of Event Lines: Each one with a number major events (and how they unfold), some minor related events you can toss in, and how this impacts you in other places.

There is
1)   Elf Line  
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36123.html#msg36123
2)   Dwarf Line  
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36123.html#msg36123
3)   Goblin Line
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36078.html#msg36078
4)   DarkLord Line
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36078.html#msg36078
5)   Wizard Line
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36262.html#msg36262
6)   Kingdom Lines  Northern corner
7)   Kingdom Lines  Southern Coastal
8)   Kingdom Line  Armalia a wizardly empowered kingdom in the north east.
9)   Religion Line
      http://www.strolen.com/guild/index.php/topic,2616.msg36262.html#msg36262
10) Good Line (how goods and services will increase and decrease over time)
11)  Priest Kings/ Southern Continent
12)  

This setting is more about "the process of change" than it is the setting.

Players in this setting, if the campaign lasts for a few years, should travel a decade through time... from pre plague to post plague and all the changes that will occur. Ideally, the campaign should last 20 years, 3 or so before to 17 after...

It is a unique. Sure it is a setting. But the setting has an Metastory arc, the plague and the change to the mundane. And it is more of a campaign process. You can take the work I am doing and impliment it in any fantasy world.

You want to shake up your campaign, insert the omen plague... all of a sudden magic slips away....
Especially since only those with magical potential (like clerics and desperate mages)... will have contact with The Dark One...Creating a serious anti-magic backlash... that plus the disease targetting them. Since magic items create magic... people will avoid contact with them... to avoid taint

So you will see religion, political stuff, social changes/ upheavals, and the loss of magic. In short, you will experience a very cool set of novels through your characters.

**Player character responses should help determine if the changes will lead to a renaissance or a dark age (or how brief the dark age will be)? The GM must follow the player's cues about being defensive and reactionary vs being progressive and creative. ***


Note:
If you have this book, the players are going to expect something… like the Omen Plague. So you can give them what they expect or
1)   Have the Dark Lord Invade
2)   War could occur because someone was assassinated
3)   Invasion by the Priest Kings
4)   Mini Ice Age
5)   The Dragons come back, in force.
6)   Hit um with something from your own imagination.
7)   THEN HIT THEM WITH THE PLAGUE!!!!!!

Of course, you can always fix your own campaign by inflicting the plague upon them. you can then use the book as a guideline for what to do next.

If you want to make them nervous, carry this book with you for months before it is going to be implimented. It will build the anticipation for the Omen Plague.

[MoonHunter]

1.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: When we build our game environments, we know all the details (hows, whys, whens). Then the campaign starts; history stops. Unless it revolves around the player characters, in most games, nothing else happens. A reminder, CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT. The rest of the world is "in play", as well as the characters. GMs: The players may or may not have an impact on the march of history. If they want to, let them influence events.  
 
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2.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: History is made every day. Events that occur today will affect tomorrow. Apply this idea to your game. Treat your world as it is "under construction". It's never finished. This keeps your mind open to possibilities. Keep recording history in the game environment's time line. Apply "events" in places where the characters are not. The world does not have to revolve around the characters, but it does need to move around them.  
 
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3.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: Change is the only constant. The game world does not have to revolve around the characters, but it does need to move around them. Events should occur when and where the players are not. When applying history and change to your world, keep track of the results.  
 
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4.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: Sometimes an idea is more important or powerful than an army. When a new idea (a technique, a new technological thing, a new spell, a new weapon or armor, a new way to make more things faster, a new application, or an idea (paper money, the corporation, the internet)) occurs in a place, determine what factors will help it spread (or stop it). These are such things as how fast the change will be accepted (how useful is it and who supports it), how far change spreads (based on communication), and lastly what barriers prevent such changes. Change doesn't always occur easily. Cultural elements may stop things from evolving. However, change happens or something occurs to suppress the change.  
 
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5.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: History moves forward. Don't have things happen too fast, or no one will know what is happening (unless future shock or chaos is a theme for the game). Don't try and alter events to fit particular goals. You can easily destroy the proper pace of change in your campaign. The flow of history is a tool for the GM, not the dominant element.  
 
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6.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: To control the flow of history in their campaigns, some GMs create a list of "future events" and "innovations" that they want to see in the campaign. By thinking of the things you want to happen in the future, and their results, the GM can be totally prepared for the event, even if the players are not. The GM applies the events / innovation when it seems to fit the story.  
 
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7.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: When creating a world, you should always create two timelines of history that stop at "now"- the current game year. The first is the world's true history. The second is the acknowledged history, or the history everyone on the world (and the characters) know. There will be overlap between these two timelines. If you are having a long term campaign, you should create two more timelines, extending the "history" into the future. Events on these possible timelines are applied as appropriate to the campaign. This gives you a feel for where the campaign is going. By seeing what is no longer appropriate, you know the effect of your player's actions.  
 
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8.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: The March: As a GM, you can use "history" as a guide for how things will proceed on your world. How I love history. Then again, I love a good drink, but I don't approve of drunk driving. While basing events on actual history is a good idea (they come pretested), it is not always applicable. Many historical events occurred because of a random element or some thing that did not occur in your world. It is too easy to toss something into the game world and say "it happened that way in history." The "history excuse", copying an event and throwing it into your game environment (or worse, looking up a historical event like ones in your world to justify their existence) ignores the whys and hows of history. Remember those classes you took? History is whys and hows mixed with whens. Why should your game world's history be any different. History is great for research, but it's a lousy excuse. Use history to understand, but make sure you understand first.  
 
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9.    Thus suggests MoonHunter: A ruler and some tape: When creating a world, it is often best to create it to a steady state several hundred years in the past. Take the world from there, evolving it as you would a game you are playing in. That way when your player characters arrive a few hundred years later, they feel the world is in motion, that there is life beyond their "patch". GMs, see the March for more on this idea.

[MoonHunter]

Goblin
Phase 1-c: Tribes begining to be infected by hunting the migratory birds. Those that don't pick it up after raiding human trash or small villages.

Phase 2-a: Dark Lord begins to influence them... they begin to rise up and strike out against humans... to take advantage of the Omen Star

Phase 2-b: Sensing weakness, they attack civilized peoples in the outskirts... then deeper in.  They are the infected and spread the infection with their marauding. Lots of them go mad and attack each other

Phase 2-c: Dark Lord abandons them. They are leaderless and squable.

Phase 3-a: The dying off - in mass - begins. They begin to turn on each other. Between that and the disease... they begin the dying off. This occurs from phase 2-c to 3-a.


Dark Lord
Phase 0: We have a Dark Lord that has corrupted the Elder Races, creating the Goblins (Goblin Elves- Orcs, Goblin Dwarves - , Goblin Humans - Goblin Dogs- )  He gets defeated again. His soul cast into the purgatory and bound there. He slowly begins to work on it.

Phase 1-C: Starts causing a surge in Goblin Population. He needs future warriors. Unfortunately the increased numbers increases the tribes disease communication.

Phase 2-A: Begins to send out his minions.

Phase 2-B The illness and fever madness causes problems. They are not getting very far.  He abandons them.

Phase 2-C: He begins to work on getting Human Minions. He promises them immunity to disease, to save them. Thus only those with a little power ability (those who can hear him) are corrupted. (See Religion Thread 3-a). The priests are the only power users that seem to be surviving.

Phase 3-A: The minion begin to destabilize Human kingdoms, making changes... undermining moral and political instutions of long standing... those that have a tradition of stopping him. Certain organization is targetted out of spite.

Phase 3-A: Reaching out to magic item users. They to are being tainted.

Phase 3-B: WitchHunts begins and end his chance this Omen Star cycle.

Phase 3-B: Part of the WitchHunters is hunting down magical items and either destroying them or locking them away.

[MoonHunter]

Elves
Phase 0  The War of Stone Rose  This sets the seed of Elf Dwarve agression and hatred. The Stone Rose is the symbol of their peace, for they would never fight each other again. Directly.

Phase 0-b Dragon Empire Rises, Dragons and Humans work together to pacify the continent. The Elves are early supporters. Eventually Elves become part of the empire. However, centuries later, the Elves move to be indpendent client state.  

Phase 0-c Various factions begin to destabilize the Empire. Eventually civil war between the two main dragon factions breaks out. The Elves support the Cloud Wing Clan, the clan with the longest tie to the Imperial line. Without the Dragon's Wisdom and power at their side, the Human states begin to spin apart.

Phase 1-a The Dragon Empire fractures under the civil war. There will be no reconciliation. There are now only three dragons left. The Elves realize their folly and try to make things right for the Humans and their empire. The humans wage war upon the Elves, rather than each other. The Elves retreat to their coastal lands and defend.
Note: Supposedly, some Elves try to use the Humans against the Dwarves, but the Humans rebuff them.

Phase 1-b Elven Prince and Dwarven High King meet and discuss their futures. The Elves and Dwarves reconcile their differences realizing that a stable and unifed humanity is in their best interest. Both sides begin to use their political and merchantile power to improve things.

Phase 1-c The Elven King makes an unpresidented stately tour of the six human Kingdoms. The King makes The Elven Court Astrologer confers with others, The Omen Star is coming. They are making preparations, trying to defuse the complex relationship between the Human Kingdoms.

Phase 2-a The Elven King manages to cobble together a human alliance that will last. It is being held together through force of his will. A pity he falls sick. He will come back in the spring.

Phase 2-b The time of morning begins. The elderly (by elvin standards) king is gone. The prince is distressed. There is general morning. The loss of magic is heavily felt in the magic heavy Elven society. The society has taken heavy losses. And a few are lost to suffering unsolvable without magic. Questions about children begin to be raised.

Phase 2-c Ritual suicides begin, as a culture whos emphasis is on children can no longer conceive.

Phase 2-c: Elven parties go out en mass, to kill remaining monsters and every Goblin they can find.

Phase 3-a The time of morning is over. Unfortunately things have changed so much that all the prince's father's work has been undone. He tries ineffectively to interfere in Human society, but fails. he would of been okay in more civilized times, but things are changing too fast for the New Elvin King to keep up. Ambassadors are sent to other places, but they are lost in the shuffle of change.

Phase 3-a: The Elves begin to dress bizarely and macably. Painted faces, goth clown garb, they are a people in mourning for themselves.

Phase 3-a: Elves determine that re-opening channels opens one back up to the disease as it currently exists.

Phase 3-a/b Elves begin to sail to the sunset of the West in macabe garb.

Phase 3c: The largest sailing ship ever made, with 16 masts, holding thousands of people, is created. The Elves sail to the sunset.


*****


Dwarves
Phase 0 The War of Stone Rose  This sets the seed of Elf Dwarve agression and hatred. The Stone Rose is the symbol of their peace, for they would never fight each other directly again.

Phase 0-b Dragon Empire Rises, Dragons and Humans work together to pacify the continent. Dwarves, after a few "conflicts" become a client state of the Empire

Phase 0-c Various factions begin to destabilize the Empire. Eventually civil war between the two main dragon factions breaks out. The Dwarves support the Fire Soul Clan, the clan of the Imperiator's mate. Without the Dragon's Wisdom and power at their side, the Human states begin to spin apart.

Phase 1-a The Dragon Empire fractures under the civil war. There will be no reconciliation, things have been too broken. The war soon ends after the Dwarves of the southern range are destoryed by the last great Dragon Battle. There is now only three dragons left.

Phase 1-a The refuges from the Southern Ranges take "The Long Walk of Shame" from the Southern Ranges to the Northern Ones. Their presence distract the Human wars. Dwarves "mix" with Humans for a time. Dwarves begin to provide more weapons to anyone who wants them. They hope the Humans will kill each other off.

Phase 1-b Elven Prince and Dwarven High King meet and discuss their futures. The Elves and Dwarves reconcile their differences realizing that a stable and unifed humanity is in their best interest. Both sides begin to use their political and merchantile power to improve things. Dwarves swear off mass weapon making.

Phase 2-a: Humans settlements with Dwarven craftsmen see them go down.

Phase 2-b: Little is known about the early days in their lands. A lone Dwarf stumbles out of the nearest hall. He is ill, as are most humans (or have been). He will eventually return to his hall, even though nobody else is there.

Phase 2-b: A few scattered dwarves are marching through the Lands, most of them are heading for Elven Lands, but some are looking for specific Humans. (These Humans did something to them or their clan durring the Dragon Civil War). A few are looking for the remaining dragons. Basically, they are committing suicide by war. (They have lost their entire clans... and feel they have no one left).

Phase 2-c: The few remaining Dwarves are sticking with their ancestoral halls. The few remaining eventually die alone.


*****************************
Phase II: Plague Days
A The Winter and days before
B Rest of the year/ begin time of change
C Time of change, the next year

Phase III After Days
A First years
B First Decade or so
C Last Elven ship leaves to one century.

[MoonHunter]

Magicers

Phase 0: The Dark Lord enters the world. To counter it, The God give Humans the gift of divine healing and a few secrets of magic.

Phase 0: Dark Lord defeated again, and bound...

Phase 1-b: The mages realize the comming Omen Star will be bad. But the signs are confusing.

Phase 1-b/c: early The mages fight it out, as some are trying to rebind the Dark Lord. Others begin to stop them from messing with the grand binding. When the dust clears, the binding has been improved slightly, several mages are dead, and most of the mages have fallen into one of two camps. There is an uneasy truce between these two orders (Ptorans (binders- active against) and Celsians (others - cautious) named for their founders).  Ptorans have been claiming that the Dark Lord is comming so much that now people ignore them. Celsians are looking for what the Omen star means this time. Both sides agree it is going to be bad.

Phase 2-a: Mages begin to get sick. Ptorans see the Dark Lord Everywhere as the Goblins take advantage of the illness weakened border towns.

Phase 2-a: Mages and apprentices begin to drop dead. A few mages take advantage of this to settle old scores, before they fall to it.

Phase 2-a Late: Mages start looking for apprentices to pass their knowledge on. They find that they are sick as well.

Phase 2-b: The last of the wizards and all of the Elven Magicers begin to die. Their magic can not sustain them or make them immune. Mages of both guilds begin to follow the Dark Lord, but in the end it does them no good. Several Magical advisors impress the concept of Human Dark Lord Minions upon the leaders.

Phase 2-c: The last mages, those who are more secluded, finally contract and die. Direct magic lore is lost. The books remaining are less than useful, should anyone gain power. A few apprentices are all that are left, some of them have become minion of the Dark Lord to survive.

Phase 2-c: Several Suriving mages and apprentices search to find new apprentices... to keep the practice of magic alive. Unfortunately, they find no one who can work magic before they die.

Phase 3-a: A few charlatans grab for power and prestige pretending to be mages. Most of these are hunted down by mobs as minions of the Dark Lord. Late: Official Witch Hunts are organized sporatically.

Phase 3-b: Witch Hunts begin to hunt down minions.

Phase 3-c: Anyone with a hint of power is subject to a witch hunt.



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Clerical
Phase 1-c: Many churches begin to hold prayer vigils to ward away "The Evil Omens". The Church gears up its fighting orders.

Phase 1-c: (early) Many clerics begin to denounce the tampering by the Mages.

Phase 2-a: Many of the "Blessed" Church magical users begin to fall. Many elderly priests also begin to fall sick. People begin to congregate in churches to pray to stop "This plauge" or "The End of the World" .

Phase 2-b: Many sects begin to scramble around to codify everything about the Church. Other sects see this as a chance to "change things" doctrine or political positions. The Senior Clergy and Blessed are falling victims to illness.  

Phase 2-c: In the Choir (the Vatican) a few Senior Clergy fall from grace. In an attempt to save themselves, they make pacts with the Dark Ones. They make a few minor "strange decisions" about things.  

They are found out by the heads of more militant orders, using their "Weapons against the Dark Lord".  However these militant orders are also losing members, as they have magical access to work their magical weapons.

Unknown by most, a few mid level priests have also fallen from grace. The militant orders also have begin to have a few secretive members that have become minions.

Phase 3-a: A few mid level priests begin to advocate "change", change in the way we view things... change in the way the church is orders... Some of these are good, some are bad (think indulgences). The Church denounces certain rulers and organizations as "ungodly" during the crisis (witholding aid) and in general. (Clerical finger pointing begins... The common people begin to look for minions)  Witchhunts begin;, some official with militant priests and their empowered weapons; others as "grass roots".

Without the powers (political and magical) of the Elders, the Church moves from a rigid form to a more fluid nature. Mass is now in local language, church addresses the needs of society and people rather than just their souls. Social justice is a concept introduced. Sure there will be the indulgences (buying your way into heaven if you die between confessionss) and certain families that became "sainted" (yet a generation or three later were some of the most evil folks), but for the most part the religion shifted from the dogmatic to the useful.

It will be found that later, only a handfull of these priests were minions.

Phase 3-b: The militant orders begin to Organize the Dark Crusade, a war against Witch/ Minions. By this point the only people with magic are those who are minions. Yet they are actually following evidence. As time goes on, it becomes more systematic... as there are fewer and fewer who can weild "the weapons against the Dark Lord".

Phase 3-c: Power access is now seen as the mark of the Dark One. The Dark Crusade begins to fall, as the militant sects begin to hunt each other.