Toy Killer
2012-11-29, 10:44 PM
Thirteen Dusks, the Redemption of Medicent
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Author's Current Notes
Added in the Objibrillian Cult description. Probably going to throw in an NPC/Organization glossary at some point when I work on the Table of contents.
Please PEACH and lemme know what you think.
Table Of Contents
to be added in later
Introduction
Thirteen dusks is a Horror Campaign. The backdrop of the story is that 160 some years ago, the forces of good learned that they could stop the flow of negative energy into the plane with a willing vessel to carry the metaphysical stopper. A proud Paladin took the mantle and accepted the responsibility to house this gift. as the days passed, the mortals of the realm learned quickly why they shouldn't tamper with things beyond their control, as the angels took the skies and started cleansing, the air became treacherous for those whom even bore an unclean thought. At the end of the 12th dawn, the plane would ascend to a lower realm of heaven, but Abolsen, the Paladin who bore the mark that stopped the encroaching darkness, saw what was happening to good people and decided that it was the capacity of choice in mankind, the choice to do good in the face of conflict, that was admirable. He took his own life to spare those who needlessly suffered for minor sins. Most of the people of the world don't know the role he played in the salvation of the many, but all enjoyed the fruits of his sacrifice.
With the sudden crippling of the forces of evil, peace was quickly established and held a strong hold across Medicent. Churches of Palor stood strong and proud across the world, and kept the secrets of the seal hidden safely within the arms of the Burning Shield, a Paladin order, as the ritual could easily be reverse engineered into something hideous.
Over the years, a paladin rose named Ventrek. he became the prize pupil in his academy, lead numerous charges against the evil hordes and without his keen mind and battle technique, the Orc race would have never been erased. (Despite the churches stance on the existence of Orcs, it's largely accepted that they, in fact, do still exist. Just not in as large of numbers). He was first anointed as the leader of the Burning Shield, and later appointed the Head of the Church of Palor.
But, it would seem that even the ever devout of Palor were blinded, As Ventrek was running a heretical cult under a second image known as Objibril. The Objibrillian cultist are heart set on destruction on a planar level, and with Ventrek's access to Palor's Seal, found a suitor to keep the holy energy from reaching Medicent.
The sky itself started to bleed, purple and bruised. Diseases and famine were nearly as common as panic. The dead, overwhelmed with unholy energy, refused to stay put in their graves and the clerics and Paladins of the forces of good are waning by the hour. The plane is literally sinking into Hell.
Welcome to my Parlor, said the Balor to the Sprite
The plane of Medicent is a rich home for many. The people of the kingdom of Henden have celebrated a relative peace among the civil beings in the world. Aside from a few Kobald hovels and goblin raids, the world is sweet with prosperity and good will. Roll for initiative...
I'm going to start a battle in media res, against an owlbear. As Jarring as possible, I won't tell them what they're fighting until they are looking at it's cadaver, I won't tell them whats around them until it come up and if they are taking too long to decide what they want to do, I'll skip their action and move along to the next player. fast pace and symbolic of the death of the game they used to know (at least in this campaign).
The world has been shattered at it's very moral core. Good and decent people are reduced to smouldering husks of depravity in desperation and fear. There have been Three dawns since the sky was scorched, and since then, things have progressively gotten more and more desolate. Beasts and animals die in grooves, filling the air with a heavy scent of disgust and decay. The grip of morality has loosened on everyone's mind, and the dead rose to ensure it's ultimately forgotten in the wake of hell that is swallowing Medicent whole. The days are painfully still, the Nights are an Oubliette of torture. There is no salvation here.
From here, I want a sandbox style game. One character will have a map of local towns, they will have limited food and each player will have a brief, light hearted description of the cities and villages. the day will consist of them traveling. On their way to the town, I'll give any build up tension to the horrors in each area, gentling foreshadowing the encounters and if the players decide to say screw the towns, they're just going to camp out in the middle of nowhere, I'll throw zombies at them with 'Chandler' (named after Chandler's law), A fluffed out Fiendish Cadaver Collector. Something far outside their capacity to beat (At least, early on, until they have more story and a personal reason to keep running).
The Objibrillian Cult
Objibril is not a god, nor entity, but a concept. The concept being the great equalization of the world. The Strong will become weak, the Weak will become strong, and those who do not Adhear will be destroyed. The poor, and the desperate are drawn to the dark promises. it's symbol is a moth on the end of a torch. They perfer the colors of grey and orange, and some sects, especially in large communities and cities, enforce scaring as a means of identification (as what they are doing is technically illegal under the rule of crown). Their is a written text, call Objibril, from which the organization gets it's name and it does speak of the apocolypse that has occured (at least, cryptically), however the book is traditionally hand scribed per sect, and 'variations' do occur.
The origin of the book of Objibril is debated. Some say a mad, yet brilliant Sorcerer penned it in spite for an unlawful imprisonment. Others say darker hands wrote the book due to the mortal tampering of the flow of cosmos. If anyone knows at this date, it's Ventrek, but even that is doubtable.
Promised power over thier currently meaningless lives, The Cult of Objibril is composed of mostly commoners with a few levels of Hexblade, warlock or the occasional Adept, Sorcerer and rouge. Frequently in the last few decades, cultist would offer their own children into servants of Objibrillian ideal, so they may uphold the great equalization. Cultist gather in secret in the various towns dotting across the landscape and discuss the bringing down of power of those in charge, stealing from the wealthy and currently striking against the church of Palor. their greatest assest is the sheer number of people and the access to their skills, wealth and privilages. The Hexblade is particularly fitting to them, due to the curse they can bestow apon the successful around them.
It's important to note, that the Cult doesn't believe in apprehending wealth, power or success for themselves as that would put them in line for their own equaliziation. Instead they work to 'relieve' the positive from those whom have it, and let whomever wishes to take the mantle set themselves up for their own equalization. The Cultist believe that if passing on, still unsuccessful and weak, their struggles will benefit them in the afterlife. [Important Campaign note: Heaven and Hell do exist, However, alignment is niether acknowledged nor enforced, and to the common man, their is no applicable proof of it's existance (Seeing as how it's a E6 game, and Ressurections are rare at the least)]
The cult grows much akin to a pyramid scheme. They go to an area and find someone down on their luck, the cult immediately tries to equalize the problem and offers them membership. The more people they have helping them, the more capacity they have infulance over and the more people they can recruit. Many times, the recruits were people victimized in equalization of prior recruits. Scorcerers are highly prized over (as true spellcasting is rare on it's own, and typical spellcasters are not interested in what the cult has to offer) and are oft celebrated for accepting membership (which they justify as an equaliziation due to the persecution of sorcerers before recruitment). Those who deny their offer are often shunned and occasionally driven out into the wilderness, fulfilling the second amendum to their belief. They claim to have no Hierachy, but typically the longest standing member has final word over what best fulfills the ethos of Objibril.
Post-apocolyptic, The cult is celebrating during the day and battening down the hatches at night. Spell casters (If available or capable) make food and fresh water for the members. Otherwise, they do their best to scavange and make due amoung the members. Communication is weak amoungst the members and many sects didn't even know the apocolypse was on its way until the sky bleed, despite the organization being responsible. Most sects recognize it for what it is, and know it as The Great Equalization.
Typical sects consist of 15-30 members, depending on the size of the community they reach from. When a sect gets too large, typically, the eldest members start having difficulties working together and they diverge out to other communities. Their largest sect is in Greystone, with over 60 cultists, to help them combat the efforts of the Burning shield, who also call Greystone home. It was due to this fact, that the Objibillian cultists were able to have a born-in member rise through the ranks of the paladinhood and obtain a secret that would allow the Great Equalization to occur.
The Strong will become weak, the Weak will become strong, and those who do not Adhear will be destroyed.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Author's Current Notes
Added in the Objibrillian Cult description. Probably going to throw in an NPC/Organization glossary at some point when I work on the Table of contents.
Please PEACH and lemme know what you think.
Table Of Contents
to be added in later
Introduction
Thirteen dusks is a Horror Campaign. The backdrop of the story is that 160 some years ago, the forces of good learned that they could stop the flow of negative energy into the plane with a willing vessel to carry the metaphysical stopper. A proud Paladin took the mantle and accepted the responsibility to house this gift. as the days passed, the mortals of the realm learned quickly why they shouldn't tamper with things beyond their control, as the angels took the skies and started cleansing, the air became treacherous for those whom even bore an unclean thought. At the end of the 12th dawn, the plane would ascend to a lower realm of heaven, but Abolsen, the Paladin who bore the mark that stopped the encroaching darkness, saw what was happening to good people and decided that it was the capacity of choice in mankind, the choice to do good in the face of conflict, that was admirable. He took his own life to spare those who needlessly suffered for minor sins. Most of the people of the world don't know the role he played in the salvation of the many, but all enjoyed the fruits of his sacrifice.
With the sudden crippling of the forces of evil, peace was quickly established and held a strong hold across Medicent. Churches of Palor stood strong and proud across the world, and kept the secrets of the seal hidden safely within the arms of the Burning Shield, a Paladin order, as the ritual could easily be reverse engineered into something hideous.
Over the years, a paladin rose named Ventrek. he became the prize pupil in his academy, lead numerous charges against the evil hordes and without his keen mind and battle technique, the Orc race would have never been erased. (Despite the churches stance on the existence of Orcs, it's largely accepted that they, in fact, do still exist. Just not in as large of numbers). He was first anointed as the leader of the Burning Shield, and later appointed the Head of the Church of Palor.
But, it would seem that even the ever devout of Palor were blinded, As Ventrek was running a heretical cult under a second image known as Objibril. The Objibrillian cultist are heart set on destruction on a planar level, and with Ventrek's access to Palor's Seal, found a suitor to keep the holy energy from reaching Medicent.
The sky itself started to bleed, purple and bruised. Diseases and famine were nearly as common as panic. The dead, overwhelmed with unholy energy, refused to stay put in their graves and the clerics and Paladins of the forces of good are waning by the hour. The plane is literally sinking into Hell.
Welcome to my Parlor, said the Balor to the Sprite
The plane of Medicent is a rich home for many. The people of the kingdom of Henden have celebrated a relative peace among the civil beings in the world. Aside from a few Kobald hovels and goblin raids, the world is sweet with prosperity and good will. Roll for initiative...
I'm going to start a battle in media res, against an owlbear. As Jarring as possible, I won't tell them what they're fighting until they are looking at it's cadaver, I won't tell them whats around them until it come up and if they are taking too long to decide what they want to do, I'll skip their action and move along to the next player. fast pace and symbolic of the death of the game they used to know (at least in this campaign).
The world has been shattered at it's very moral core. Good and decent people are reduced to smouldering husks of depravity in desperation and fear. There have been Three dawns since the sky was scorched, and since then, things have progressively gotten more and more desolate. Beasts and animals die in grooves, filling the air with a heavy scent of disgust and decay. The grip of morality has loosened on everyone's mind, and the dead rose to ensure it's ultimately forgotten in the wake of hell that is swallowing Medicent whole. The days are painfully still, the Nights are an Oubliette of torture. There is no salvation here.
From here, I want a sandbox style game. One character will have a map of local towns, they will have limited food and each player will have a brief, light hearted description of the cities and villages. the day will consist of them traveling. On their way to the town, I'll give any build up tension to the horrors in each area, gentling foreshadowing the encounters and if the players decide to say screw the towns, they're just going to camp out in the middle of nowhere, I'll throw zombies at them with 'Chandler' (named after Chandler's law), A fluffed out Fiendish Cadaver Collector. Something far outside their capacity to beat (At least, early on, until they have more story and a personal reason to keep running).
The Objibrillian Cult
Objibril is not a god, nor entity, but a concept. The concept being the great equalization of the world. The Strong will become weak, the Weak will become strong, and those who do not Adhear will be destroyed. The poor, and the desperate are drawn to the dark promises. it's symbol is a moth on the end of a torch. They perfer the colors of grey and orange, and some sects, especially in large communities and cities, enforce scaring as a means of identification (as what they are doing is technically illegal under the rule of crown). Their is a written text, call Objibril, from which the organization gets it's name and it does speak of the apocolypse that has occured (at least, cryptically), however the book is traditionally hand scribed per sect, and 'variations' do occur.
The origin of the book of Objibril is debated. Some say a mad, yet brilliant Sorcerer penned it in spite for an unlawful imprisonment. Others say darker hands wrote the book due to the mortal tampering of the flow of cosmos. If anyone knows at this date, it's Ventrek, but even that is doubtable.
Promised power over thier currently meaningless lives, The Cult of Objibril is composed of mostly commoners with a few levels of Hexblade, warlock or the occasional Adept, Sorcerer and rouge. Frequently in the last few decades, cultist would offer their own children into servants of Objibrillian ideal, so they may uphold the great equalization. Cultist gather in secret in the various towns dotting across the landscape and discuss the bringing down of power of those in charge, stealing from the wealthy and currently striking against the church of Palor. their greatest assest is the sheer number of people and the access to their skills, wealth and privilages. The Hexblade is particularly fitting to them, due to the curse they can bestow apon the successful around them.
It's important to note, that the Cult doesn't believe in apprehending wealth, power or success for themselves as that would put them in line for their own equaliziation. Instead they work to 'relieve' the positive from those whom have it, and let whomever wishes to take the mantle set themselves up for their own equalization. The Cultist believe that if passing on, still unsuccessful and weak, their struggles will benefit them in the afterlife. [Important Campaign note: Heaven and Hell do exist, However, alignment is niether acknowledged nor enforced, and to the common man, their is no applicable proof of it's existance (Seeing as how it's a E6 game, and Ressurections are rare at the least)]
The cult grows much akin to a pyramid scheme. They go to an area and find someone down on their luck, the cult immediately tries to equalize the problem and offers them membership. The more people they have helping them, the more capacity they have infulance over and the more people they can recruit. Many times, the recruits were people victimized in equalization of prior recruits. Scorcerers are highly prized over (as true spellcasting is rare on it's own, and typical spellcasters are not interested in what the cult has to offer) and are oft celebrated for accepting membership (which they justify as an equaliziation due to the persecution of sorcerers before recruitment). Those who deny their offer are often shunned and occasionally driven out into the wilderness, fulfilling the second amendum to their belief. They claim to have no Hierachy, but typically the longest standing member has final word over what best fulfills the ethos of Objibril.
Post-apocolyptic, The cult is celebrating during the day and battening down the hatches at night. Spell casters (If available or capable) make food and fresh water for the members. Otherwise, they do their best to scavange and make due amoung the members. Communication is weak amoungst the members and many sects didn't even know the apocolypse was on its way until the sky bleed, despite the organization being responsible. Most sects recognize it for what it is, and know it as The Great Equalization.
Typical sects consist of 15-30 members, depending on the size of the community they reach from. When a sect gets too large, typically, the eldest members start having difficulties working together and they diverge out to other communities. Their largest sect is in Greystone, with over 60 cultists, to help them combat the efforts of the Burning shield, who also call Greystone home. It was due to this fact, that the Objibillian cultists were able to have a born-in member rise through the ranks of the paladinhood and obtain a secret that would allow the Great Equalization to occur.
The Strong will become weak, the Weak will become strong, and those who do not Adhear will be destroyed.