The Sothik, meaning “spreading darkness” in the ancient Caerun language, have very dark origins. In the beginning, they were a small settlement of outcasts, exiled criminals, and fugitives that found safety in numbers while trying to survive in the unforgiving Caerun wastes. They were thieves, rapists, murderers; generally dangerous, undesirable people. Eventually, they grew bored with scraping a living in the harsh environment and began to travel, in search of a new home. This search led them to strange and beautiful places that they had never dreamed were possible, both in and out of the wastes. Instead of finding a home, they found a new way of life. They became nomads interested in exploring all the lands this world had to offer.
In the beginning, as they picked their way from place to place, their criminal nature had them killing and looting to gain what was necessary for their survival. In time, their new way of life changed the way that they viewed things. They threw away their hatred and greed and embraced a life of survival. They realized that hoarding money and belongings not only encumbered them, but that these items were generally useless to them now. The Sothik now tend to keep just enough money and possessions to barter with other travelers or people in the communities that they encounter.
Eventually, the Sothik grew so large that they split into multiple groups, each called a Trais. Members of a Trais look out for one another, as you would expect in a close knit village community. These groups adapted very quickly to the new climates they discovered. They were the ultimate survivors.
The Darmen are a hearty, spiritual, and historically peaceful people, a nation founded 120 years ago by a citizen of the Imperium who changed his name to Michael Sall. Sall claimed to have been visited by a great being who healed him of a disease that physicians had deemed terminal. Following his recovery he began preaching about this being, which he called Dar, and many people who knew of his disease came to follow his lead and share in his belief. When the Imperium condemned his preaching and threatened to imprison him if he did not renounce his claims, he and a hundred or so others left the Corelands to find a new place to settle. After the founding of the small settlement of Prophets Fall an agreement was reached; the Darmen would pay taxes to the Imperium for their ability to govern themselves and continue their religious practice.
The Darmen live by a set of rules set forth in the Codex of Dar that govern their behavior in all things. Some of these are:
The Darmen are known throughout the world for this simplicity. They are predominantly farmers, supporting themselves off the land that they care for. Many are also known for their talent as healers, caring for people with the same quiet dedication. Those that leave the Darmen lands tend to be worldlier, or seek to be so. Some are conscripts of the Imperial army, some are missionaries, some are tradesmen seeking to sell their plain but well-crafted items and bring the money back home.
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The reclusive Maruto Jen live on an island across the Sea of Shadows from the mainland continent of Marutius. The island’s true name in the Jen tongue is Li’Aliko, although it is most commonly referred to by outsiders simply as the Jen Island.
Travel to the Island is extraordinarily restricted. While in recent years the Jen have become more involved with the outside world, setting up ports on the coast and trade relations with other countries, little is truly known about them. Seldom have outsiders set foot on the Island, and fewer still have been allowed to travel further inland than their ports. Those honored guests have told tales of graceful architecture, serene gardens, and a pervasive sense of calm and order.
What is known to the greater world is that the Jen produce excellent quality blades and have advanced technology in the form of basic guns and some steam power. While nearly every country seeks trade from the Maruto Jen, little is offered, increasing the rarity of Jen goods and naturally adding to the price. Art from the island is of exquisite quality, and many will pay handsomely for their sculptures, silks and blades. Technology is rarely traded, and only in very small quantities.
The Imperium. For over a thousand years this word has been the very definition of power and stability.
The nine Imperial provinces began as separate small nations engaged in a series of long and bloody border wars. Tempered on those fires, they eventually unified, and emerged the most powerful nation in modern history.
The prosperity gained from this unification was unquestioned. The Imperium thrived, and the continent of Marutius saw order for the first time. The original nine provinces make up the Imperial Corelands; each retains a distinct regional character, although the constant interplay of goods, styles, food, and ideas over the centuries has resolved itself into something recognizable in essence as Imperial, no matter where in that nation you are. Fish from Padria is seasoned with herbs grown in Leheron and Ered. Marble quarried in Melce is carved into statues of military heroes in Brahm. The empire’s strength is in the diversity of its land and people, and it sustains itself and grows strong with this system of exchange.
Centuries ago, the Rakkovi were cursed by Issu, an ancient necromancer, one of their own. In his defeat he swore that his people would be plagued by disease; that they would be unable to touch metal without suffering harm; and that he would come again in every generation to work his will on the world again.
The Rakkovi mainly live in the mountains of the southern continent, where they can be closer to the sky and the moon, whom they honor as a goddess and protector. Because of their roots and their relative isolation, they kept some of their magic, mostly ritual and runic, when it was thought that all magic was lost to the world.
Unable to wield metal weapons or hold the metal coins that the nations use for currency, the Rakkovi became ever more isolated, the more so because their reputation for disease caused others to revile them. The truth of their curse was not widely understood, and so the people of other cultures blamed their constant disease on an unclean way of life. The tribal villages of the Rakkovi are thought primitive by the more advanced nations, who have long relied on greatly exaggerated stories of the filth and squalor of the Rakkovi to support their contemptuous avoidance.
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(Editor’s Note: You may wish to start with Part 1 in this series, and return here when you’ve finished.)
Part 2: The Awakening
Some people say it happened at a particular moment, others say it happened over time, but one thing is certain: the world has changed.
In the first year many strange things began occurring more frequently: strange creatures never seen before terrorizing cultures, people manifesting magical powers, more sightings of the enigmatic Kinfalis.
After two years the Imperium called a great Symposium to discuss all of the strange happenings in the world. They invited members of all recognized governments, including the Geisst, the Rakkovi and the Paczam Xaol. The Sothik were not invited, their reputation as thieves and beggars providing reason enough for them to be excluded, though it was known to some that they snuck delegates into the conference anyway. The Symposium represented the first time in the known history of the world that representatives of all the world’s governments were together under one roof without hostility occurring.
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The Vallese are a nation with a proud and noble history. Governed by a feudalist system of aristocracy and peerage, for centuries their nobles increased their fortune as the premiere traders of the Imperium. The Vallesan nobles were well-known for their love of the finer things in life, and by this measure they grew richer every year: they had the best wines, the most exotic spices, the most elegant fabrics and splendid jewels. Under the protection of the Imperium’s military might they transported goods from one side of the continent to the other. And though they paid a fraction of their profits in taxes to their overlords, they made sure to reserve their best goods for themselves.
Then came the Nyphian Republic. Though they were not connoisseurs with generations of experience in seeking out items of quality, they had one advantage over the Vallese: ruthlessness, which they possessed in abundant supply. The Nyphians began to trade indiscriminately, seeking bargains in places where the Vallese feared to travel. This became the Merchant War, just short of outright hostilities, but nothing less than a winner-take-all competition for control of the world’s trade. And the Nyphians were winning. Vallesan fortunes, hard-won and jealously coveted, dwindled and vanished.
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The Paczam Xaol came out of nowhere almost ten years ago. Bands from all of their tribes started spreading throughout the world speaking in a strange guttural tongue and referring to the land as Caerun. Even before the awakening they possessed strange magics, mostly tied to nature, and in the days since, the power of that magic has grown considerably.
After briefly warring against the Imperium and their vassals the Paczam Xaol have mostly withdrawn to the southern continent and have built two massive cities in the Caerun Waste. It is rumored that they are the direct descendants of an ancient civilization pre-dating the Imperium.
Their society is comprised of five major tribes; each worships a different aspect of the natural world to which they attribute names and which they revere as Gods.
(Editor’s Note: This primer is meant as a brief recap of some of the major points of the game that took place. A primer for where things stand now will follow behind it.)
Part 1: The World That Was
For one thousand years the Imperium had ruled most of the known world with a firm but fair grasp, seizing control of new nations that arose, peacefully when possible, by force when necessary. As any great power is want to do, they sought to protect that which they had gained and in doing so tried to control everything they could, and eliminate or suppress that which they could not.
Magic had long since left the world and become the stuff of legend. Ten years ago that began to change.
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The Geisst lands occupy the inhospitable Orkin Peninsula, a rocky, blasted landscape in the far north of the world. Once an Imperial province, they won their independence 150 years ago in a bloody, short, and brutal war. As a nation they have a history of being unapologetically hostile, and retain a dislike for the Imperium even now.
From the outside they are seen as little more than a war machine, a proud people who would rather die than fail. They are a nation of fierce warriors who fight for the glory of their country, accepting nothing but victory or death.
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