Campaign Book

A campaign book containing complete Histories, Fiction, new Law/Chaos channeling magic system, New Races, New Classes, Empires, World Maps, Pantheon, and much much more... Enjoy some samples below! The Age Before Time In the beginning, there were only the Three … they existed in the endless void for an eternity and yet never, for time had yet to be conceived of. Out of the void, one of the Three had grown bored with "his" existence, and transformed into something that henceforth was to be called Time. Now, the universe was charted in a measured pattern and could be classified as a dated existence. Time descended upon all planes, and he sought to change all that was into what would be. The Two that were left behind soon noticed Time and its constant passing, and they too grew weary from boredom. One of the Two saw the universe as an even, continuously growing sphere, and dedicated himself to changing its outcome by adding variables. He shifted into what was known from that point forward as Chaos, and he viewed his new existence through the scope of freedom. He wanted the universe to adapt to his very whim, though his rash attitude had an unexpected effect, and the last One was immersed in his path of discourse. The One retaliated against the new threat by taking on a new shape, Law, the complete antithesis and exact opposite of Chaos. Wherever Chaos drew his path of destruction, Law brought order and reliability to the havoc. Law created the guidelines by which Chaos existed, while Chaos constantly sought to undermine Law's ethical code of honor. For eons the battle would last, and the constant struggle between Law and Chaos caused stars to implode and new galaxies to be born. Red and blue seas of energy soared outward as the universe expanded in all its glory. Chaos soon became outraged and spoke to Law, "Brother, you have desecrated our sacred trust and thus have angered my spirit by doing this thing. This hatred swells now in my bosom, and I must destroy you before it consumes my being entire." "Nay, Brother, I have done this thing to save you, for you cannot exist without an opposing force," Law exclaimed. Chaos became too maddened to listen to his Brother, however, and he immediately threw himself at his foe. They fought valiantly for ages, but the fight was for naught, for in the end they were equal in their powers, and neither ever gained a true advantage. Eventually, after recording all the events and realizing its overall meaning, Time spoke to his Brothers. "You have fought many of my passing. In your battle, though, you have failed to realize what has become of your arena! Cease, and behold what has been created from this thing!" Indeed, Time was right, and in accordance to his testaments, whenever the Two touched forces, something else had been left behind in its wake. All around them were spots of Law and Chaos, radiating energy in their personal struggles. The Two stayed their fight for a moment and gazed about the Void. "Brother," exclaimed Law, "our beautiful Void has been ruined through our wearisome struggle! We must halt this altercation immediately!" This humbled Chaos. "Yes, Brother, we must undo what we have done," said he and offered reconciliation. However, Law cared not for the Void, for he had been caught up too far in the struggle, and was envious of Chaos' power to disorder everything, which he wanted for himself to make the Void a true reflection of himself. Thus, Law reinstated the conflict when his Brother was distracted and snatched up some of his power. The fight was renewed, and for a few more passes of Time, it looked as thought Law would overcome Chaos. In the midst of the battle, Chaos pleaded with Time to help him, but Time refused, pronouncing that he was above their petty battles, and only wished to keep passing. Chaos was outraged. "If you will not aid me, I will create Another who will!" And from the body of Chaos, he formed images of himself to help fight Law. Law was caught off guard, as he never expected the Anothers, nor that they could even exist. Law was beaten back for a few passing, but this would not last and decided to get some help himself by creating an opposing force to be reckoned with. More Anothers were created, but in the incarnation of Law. The Anothers soon fought each other, and fathomed new images of themselves to help in the war. This continued for the longest amount of passing, counted by Time, until Law and Chaos lost their sentience and became pure forces, whose only purpose was to oppose each other. This affected the Anothers as well, and they became lesser forces of total opposition, and thus Physic was born. The Anothers below these had long ago locked in an embrace of battle, and they too also lost their sentience, until they became floating bodies in the Void, Law locked around Chaos, Chaos surrounding Law, and thus Planets were born in the equilibrium. The Planets were helpless against Physics, and were forced into a ballet of gravity and inertia, orbiting the immense power of Pure Law and Chaos - Stars. The smallest of the Anothers had little power or sentience, and had chosen to battle on the other ranks of his ilk rather than in the nothingness and tribulation of the Void itself. Soon, all but the weakest and tiniest of the Anothers had lost most or all of their sentience and became either Planets or forces. The tiny Anothers did not become forces as they too had little power to speak of. Instead, they blended over time, and Life was born, remaining stable only because of Law's stealing of Chaos' power early on. Life developed further, forgetting about the older struggles, and soon breeding, a left over habit of creating Anothers of ones own flesh, ensued. However, Life had but little power and it required two Lives to create more Life. The tiny Lives, results of the breeding, soon learned to consume power from other forms of Life, and they grew in their own power, and bred even further as replenishment became common. The Age of Life had begun. The Great Yahn - Empire of the North Hailing from the mountainous northern realms of Geador, the Empire of Great Yahn has long been the champion of humankind in Le Andarra. Through tactical and diplomatic genius, King Troy of Yahn has stretched his influence from the Northern Shores on the Tempests Sea, as far south as Neisor and the Shevado, and southwest to the frontiers of Fenith. By giving aid to other human cities against the Churg and Sethen, Yahn has made vassals of most of Geador. The Clans of Yahn each have a favored weapon, giving the King a large and effective army with which to expand his reign. From the north are the Waeluhr clans, the Hammers of Dunothor, the Axes of Ethor and Hidurith; The Ashen clans comprise the Broadswords of the Ishathen and the Longbowmen of Shenig. From the headwaters of the Endel River come the Halbardiers of Gardin, and the City of Yahn hosts the King's Royal Legions. Leading each clan's soldiers are the mighty Thane, esteemed and feared Battlelords. Augmented in times of need by the Keep Guard of Neisor and footmen from his various vassal lands, the Armies of Great Yahn are the largest in Le Andarra. Gladiator Arena Great Yahn owes much of its present stability to the Arena, where disputes among noble clans are settled in contests before the King. Meritorious performance in the Arena is often one's entry into one of the King's Royal Legions. As of late, King Troy has been spending much of his energy on the border of Fenith. While annexing some lands for himself, he has been trading crops for weapons with the humans of Northern Fenith in anticipation of a revolt against the Sethen. Prince Darach, the King's younger brother, holds court as the Duke of Gardin. The swords and halberds of Gardin are equally as intimidating as the Royal Legion, and the dashing young Prince has made much of the expansion of Yahn into Fenith. Pantheon The Gods don't really exist. They are just different manifestations of the various Anothers. The way it works is that for each god, as Humans see them, there is in reality several Anothers with traits that people ascribe to these Gods and Goddesses. The Humans tap into the various Anothers when praying to the deities. This is not to say that divinity is a powerful moving force in the world. The Anothers are capricious and usually don't give a damn as to what the Humans (or any of the other races, for that matter,) are doing. Note: People who call themselves Priests (or other servants of the Gods) are not actually the chosen of the Anothers who make up that deity. "Priests" have no more power than any other person, and the Anothers do not pay them any more attention than they would anyone else. Balthor -- The God of War, Blood (also called The Blood God) When appearing in mortal form, Balthor always takes on the form of a well built warrior, heavily armed, but no armor. Instead, he prefers to don a bearskin. On his head is a bear's skull, worn as a helm, covering his flaming red hair. Either a huge two-handed sword or a huge war hammer are his weapons of choice. When seen, either weapon will be covered or dripping in the blood of his opponents. Balthor is said to take an interest in large, major battles, especially those which are extremely bloody. Also, those that are crucial to the victory of one side or another of a war. However, Balthor has also been known to take an interest in small melees, when the participants are noble and valiant warriors. Legend has it that those warriors who impress him will be rewarded with immortality, as Balthor will make them part of his own immortal army. Anothers: Strategy, Strength, Ignorance, Courage, Violence, Destruction, Retribution, Ambition, Discord Symbols: bear skull, bear's head, bear Clan: Warriors of Blood Empire: Yahn Empire Magic: Law : Chaos : Fire Theory of Magic Before this place existed there was but Law, Chaos, Time and the Void. Time grew bored and in essence, became one with the Void, adding his own dimension to it. The Void became Void space, not a space like our universe, because there were no physical laws. The only forces were the magic of Law and Chaos. Law and Chaos soon splintered, and their magic splintered as well. Some of the Anothers became Laws of nature, or matter. Their magic was solidified into a rigid form that obeyed predictable laws. This destroyed the magical Void space, creating a multitude of planes, realms, and partial dimensions. In our plane, the other shards of the great magics became new magics of their own right. Of these, five have been discovered by the inhabitants of Brennan, there may exist many more. To focus these powers from without requires focus within. An aid to creating physical manifestations of these powers is a physical focus object. There are a very finite number of focus objects in the universe. They were formed when some of the initial Anothers became physical laws of nature and are the last remanent of what existed before physical laws in the Void space. They are both physical and not physical. Although they exist in the physical world they cannot be destroyed. They merely take on a new physical guise elsewhere. Focus objects vary in power and polarity. Foci naturally align themselves with the magics of our plane. A focus object, to the untrained eye, is just a normal object, whether it be a brick or a feather or a shoelace. When the brick is smashed or the feather is burned, the focus takes residence in some other random object somewhere in the world. The entire history of Brennan can be explained in terms of the resurfacing of certain Chaos objects, their use, and their "destruction". Although no one is born with a natural talent for focusing (except for a few beings of myth and legend) there are a few personality traits that make good mages. Focusing takes concentration, imagination, force of will, a strong threshold for pain, vision of what is not seen, and awareness of ones surroundings. Focusing magic releases powers as old as the universe itself and the power rush is both exhilarating and highly addictive. Mage training involves countless hours of self reflection and self realization. Without a strong sense of self, a mage's personality can be consumed by his/her new found power. We have seen the horrible consequences throughout history of talented individuals who were not prepared. These beings were seduced and then reduced into vessels of unbridled, chaotic power. This is why mages are hated and misunderstood. There are typically three types of mages, collegium mages, freelance mages, and priests. Collegium mages are teachers, philosophers, and experimenters. They typically specialize on one school of magic and develop mastery of that school. Freelance mages on the other hand have more of a mixed bag. Since freelance mages often use their powers to make their way in the world they pick and choose useful spells from different schools. They often have very limited access to magical knowledge, so they scrounge whatever they can. Priests are very special category of mage because they are often not thought to be mages at all. Priests are taught the ways and rituals of their religion and the spells they produce are thought to be acts of the gods they worship. In fact its just ordinary magic. While conventional magic usually involves efforts by one or more skilled mages, priest magic draws mana from the untrained members of the congregation. Although the untrained mind can not summon forth much power, when thirty or fifty such minds concentrate on a focus object, minor magical spells can often be conjured. A focus object is typically built into an altar or rod or some such device. The worshippers concentrate upon the focus object and the priest takes their mana and shapes a spell with it. Thus priests are not trained so much in the increasing of their own potential mana, but in the channelling of mana from the unskilled, and the inspiring a large crowd of people into a state of intense concentration. Race: Tarel Aida stared off into the fire while she waited for the young ones to gather. They were restless tonight, but she was certain she had a story that would settle them down. It was a story that would make them proud and afraid at the same time! The Tarel had not always been the desert nomads they are now. Once they dwelt in a city built by their own hands. She stood, quite aware of the fire, casting strange shadows across her white fur. Low whispers were hushed as golden eyes focused on the Shaman. Aida, Shaman of the Kashka tribe, a favored of Othark, began to speak, her words heavy with purpose, "During the Age of Life, two brothers were born from the hand of Othark, God of Wisdom." A murmur rose up from the adults listening, "All heed the words of Othark, for he is wise above all others." Aida continued, "The brothers, named Tarel and Tarek, had the features of wolves and the bodies of men -- yet they were as different as night and day. Tarel's coat was snowy white, while Tarek's coat was a black as coal." She had to glance away to keep from smiling at the frightened expressions of the children at the mention of the Dark Brother's name. "Tarel walked often beside Othark and became wise in all things, while his brother, Tarek, cared not for wisdom but for decadent pleasures. After a time, Tarek grew envious of the attention Othark lavished upon Tarel. So, in a fit of rage, he attacked his brother. Tarel was forced to serve Tarek as a lesser being, and while this saddened Othark, the god would not intervene. Instead, to comfort Tarel, he created a mate for him. Ever jealous, Tarek demanded a mate as well. Othark did make Tarek a mate, but in his great wisdom, placed a condition that Tarek release Tarel and leave him in peace. And so it was done." "Beneath the loving eye of Othark, Tarel and his mate, Sheeva, raised many children and lived long, happy lives. Those children beget children until they were a tribe known as the Tarel. They lived near the rivers of the plains where they tended crops." A collective gasp ran through the group of children and this time Aida allowed her smile to show, "Yes, we were once farmers…but let me continue." The children settled down once more and Aida let a bitter tone enter her voice, "Tarek was never happy, no matter how his mate tried to please him, or how much wealth he accumulated. Over the years, his hatred of his brother only grew and he infested his children with it. After his passing, they became known as the Tarek. A time came when they decided to hunt down their cousins and kill them. They returned to the homeland and fell upon the Tarel. The Tarel then were not warriors, and while the battle continued for many months, they were eventually driven into the desert where they were hunted mercilessly." The childrens' expressions turned into those of anger. Aida felt a sense of satisfaction at their response. "Othark turned the snow-white fur of the Tarel to the color of the sand, to better hide them. So the Tarel learned to survive in the desert and became fearsome warriors and adept healers, as we are now." "The persecution of the Tarel at the hands of the Tarek continued until the Tarek made a fatal mistake. They murdered a Shaman named Osula, a favored of Othark, and they destroyed the first temple. Othark rained fire upon his dark children and the few who survived ran howling into the darkness, cursed with a terrible madness. It is said that on moonless nights, the Tarek call to us from the shadows, but a Tarek has not been seen by us since Othark's Rage." A howling came suddenly out of the darkness and the children began running and screaming, scattering. A short, black figure burst out of the brush. It was Rafeo, a dark one. Aida's fur was all white, it was rare and considered a blessing -- she was a 'favored' of Othark. However, Rafeo was dark-furred from head to toe. Some considered him tainted with the soul of the Dark Brother. Aida didn't believe such superstitions and so she refused to force him out of the tribe, as other dark ones before him had been. Perhaps, she thought, she could save him where she could not save her own brother -- who had also been a dark one. Rafeo was rolling around laughing while Aida regarded him with an amused expression. "You will only make them fear you more, Rafeo." The young Tarel stopped and caught his breath then sighed, "I know…but I don't mean anything by it. It was just so much…fun." "Yes I know, Rafeo. However, they do not understand. You must learn to control yourself." A strange howl full of pain and anger pierced the peaceful night and Aida looked out into the darkness. They would not dare come here, not while she was present. But still they had never dared to come this close before. Something was going to happen soon. Not tonight, but soon. She sent Rafeo to his bed while ignoring the worried whispers of the elders, then began adding more wood to the fire. Always more wood to the fire. Class: The Strider The Hunter of Prophecy, these wilderness warriors track down their enemies and kill them with precision. They learn their enemy and the terrain that their foes live in so that they may better defend their homelands from enemies that may threaten them. Weapon and Armor Proficiency All simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor and shields FAVORED TERRAINS The Strider can choose a terrain that they expertise in. All wilderness lore, climb, Craft (trap making), hide, intuit direction, move silent, spot, and search checks are at +2 while in this terrain.