Normal Sunday Game

Known History

Kalarath the mad, he would be come to be know as. He began his rise to infamy with the idea that the gods' power should be his. In his early years, he wheeled and dealed with any who would call him ally. He collected power and influence behind the scenes avoiding notice by all but the keenest eyes. By the time people had pieces together what he was doing, his plan was already in motion beyond stopping. He made deals with dragons and demons, offering them various sacrifices or large swaths of land they could call their own.

A group of heroes assembled as Kalarath's final ritual began. The sky grew dark and plants began to wither all across the land a the heroes led their assault on Kalarath's fortress. During the final confrontation with Kalarath, the group's warrior, a human named Erik, was tempted by the offer of power that Kalarath presented him. He betrayed the party, throwing the fight into a spiraling chaos. No one knows who it was that thought to strike the polished circle of obsidian that Kalarath was using as a catalyst for his ritual, but when it was destroyed the resulting explosion was strong enough to tear continents asunder.

The energy released by the ritual's disruption forever changed the world. Not in the way that Kalarath had meant it, but it was no less drastic. The lands shifted drastically, whole kingdoms falling into the sea, mountains exploding from the earth as tectonic plates collided and shifted. Magic ran rampant, causing a plethora of odd changes. Some as simple as changing the color of a tree's leaves from green to pink. Others more drastic, like altering the flow of the weather.

Most of the world was plunged into a state of perma-cold, existing somewhere between fall and winter at the warmest and icy frozen winters at the coldest. Only the area around the equator seemed to be free from this perma-cold that had befallen the rest of the world, although even it had not escaped the changing climate. The climate around the equator now followed a pattern closer to southern Indiana with a warm summer and rather tepid winter that was too cold for crop growth, but did not turn the land into the frozen wasteland like the rest of the world.

Despite this, life went on. It was a difficult and harrowing, the threat of death loomed around even empty plate or cold night, but the spirit of survival had not yet left the people of the world. New civilizations began to form out of the ruins of the old. Although much of the world's former glory had been destroyed during the Calamity, enough remained to give the survivors an edge against this unforgiving new world. Now, life exists in small town and villages scattered across what livable land remains. A few larger cities dot the world, but none have enough sway or influence to call themselves city-states.

It is in these cities that the curious and determined gather to try to uncover as much of the old world as they can. Seekers, they call themselves. Their primary goal is to recover and put to use as much knowledge as they can. Along with them sprung up the Lawbringers. Those dedicated to upholding law against the tides of savagery. When a Lawbringer sets forth from their training facility, they find an area or town that does not have one and embed themselves there. They care not what the laws of the land are, only that they are enforced. The signature weapon of the Lawbringers is an imposingly large crossbow.

World Map

World map with travel distances

Places

The Wastes

A ruined landscape that is inhabited by a variety of small nomadic tribes, although primarily Orcs. It was theorized to have been a rolling grassland capable of producing enough food to feed the world's current population before the Calamity. Now it is a chilly desert. During the day, with the sun beating down, The Wastes can reach about 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit(think of some fun fantasy word for this) and will routinely fall well below freezing at night. This tends to have strange effects on the sand, which will sometimes remain frozen solid on cooler days, creating odd looking formations. Some believe these formations are the gods attempting to speak, but there is no proof that this is true.

Thrax A town on the border of the Wastes. Primarily, it serves as a stop on the route to the larger town of Hag's Rest, further away from the Wastes.

Hag's Rest A larger than average town, it sports Lawbringer and Seeker outposts and is often used as a staging ground for expeditions into the Wastes.

The Spine Mountain Range

This mountain range was one of the few to survive the Calamity in tact. It is inhabited and fiercely defended by several clans of Dwarves, who believe that this is their birthright and the actions of the other races brought an end to the world.

The Skull Mountains

These three mountains sit north of the northernmost end of the Spine Mountains, hence their name. They also managed to survive the Calamity, but since no living creatures appear to inhabit these mountains, or at least none that wish to speak with or interact with the outside world, very little is known about these three mountains.