Fantasy Adith: Dawn of The Dark Age

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You open your eyes, a heavy fog lies on the air around you like a curtain, nothing is clear but a small oak table. You look closer at some strange mass that now appears clear in the middle of the table, you know this object as a deck of tarot cards, but the origin of this knowledge is lost or maybe you never possessed it in the first place. Suddenly you notice opposite your side of the small table is a hooded figure, who like the cards seemed almost cloaked in the mist yet the only object of focus in it. "Ahh, so you have all finally come then?" an old and withered voice lays words drearily upon you. You don't know this woman and yet she speaks as if to a close friend... or group of friends?


"I am Nyph, and I shall be your guide through this slumbering place, and in the land of the waking, but you all seem confused so allow me to explain," she says before giving a wry chuckle. "You do not see the others for none of you are tied yet, your destinies are unstated and undetermined, and that is where I may help." She waves her hand over the dark oak table and a series of twenty two cards appear in line. Out from behind right side her steps another hooded figure, but darker, taller, and far more grim in demeanor. From beneath the hood you can see the glow of a small blue flame in what appears to be the silhouette of a skull. From her left side steps a young and fair woman carrying a small golden water wheel in her hands, her exact features are obscured by a translucent veil, but an heir of beauty exudes simply from her presence. "Now we may see what fate has in hand for you all, what fortunes await you, and how you may die," Nyphs word carry heavily to your ears.


"The world of the waking is vast and full of adventure, the mortals call it Adith, wanderers, your duty is shrouded in within this mist and within Adith together, in order to realize your purpose, your truth, you must undergo this journey with my guidance." The mist begins to lift from around the trio, " Now away with this fog, let me see all of you and tell me your names, and then I may divine your paths."


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This is where your journey begins. The world of Adith is torn and on the verge of it's largest civil war yet. A corruption dwells deep within the hearts of gods and mortals alike sending the world into a panic. Humanity is all that remains of the races of old, but its members are anything but united. Those few born with the pyromancer's brand are persecuted as outcasts in much of the land and some are even being hunted down and executed by decree of the Order of Light. Humans born with an affinity for magic taken from birth and trained to serve their respective states, any unaligned mages are often labeled warlocks and enslaved or worse "beriddled", but an extremely small few have managed to slip through the cracks occasionally. There are also the daring few who make gain the rare opportunity to make pacts with spirits, sometimes before birth as a spirit, to gain a connection to the magical force of the world at the cost of something dear that the user possess, these people are called Scarrendered after the dark, black, tatto-like scars left to represent what was sacrificed. It would seem the world nears a new age which one adventurer alone cannot begin alone. It would seem this mysterious Nyph intends to push forward this age with her so called "wanderers" in the city-state of Tisgar. What great event could she predict there, who is it she intends to send, who will help change the future, is it you?

Tisgar


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Adith is a vast and interesting land. The main continent of this adventure is called Karreth, and it is divided into four major sections of land, each different.


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North: The largest kingdom in Karreth, Dolgan, lies in this region and takes up all but a small fraction of the northern division. Dolgan is a kingdom risen from a long history of fallen kingdoms of past and their civil wars. It was once small but forty years ago it was expanded in a number of conquests led by the current ruler, The Ash-Fed King. The small piece of land in the south east that lies unclaimed is the Bolhend Swamp which he for reasons publicly unknown he refuses to conquer, even though it is supposedly uninhabited and only around a fifteenth of the land of the northern division.

A small prosperous town common in Dolgan


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South: The south of Karreth is split into thirds all bordering each other. Volgar is the northernmost nation bordering Dolgan on the Harst river. Volgar is moderately temperate like most of Dolgan but the southern border is in almost constant snow and cold. It's south-eastern border is protected by a tall mountain range. On the other side of that mountain range is Sol, a highly religious nation stuck with land that is predominantly a desert, the Holy Desert, except for the dangerous western border. Sol is home to the Order of Light headquarters and the center of modern religion. The western territory isn't an official nation but a land loosely congregated by many tribes of barbarians who often send raiding parties into their neighbors lands. It is a cold barren and mountainous land called The Waste, partially bordering the Ash Lands

Volgars Capital City

The Head Chapel in Sol


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East: split between two main nations that often argue. Jolhiem, the northern half, is a land with a lively trade market and strongly diplomatic society, it's terrain is fairly hilly with many forests and plains but tame overall. The southern half is Harst. Harst is split into two a river running from the sea and through most of the continent. The northern part of Harst is often rainy and quite rocky, while the southern part is mostly dry grass plains and partly desert.

A veiw of the Harst river


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West: The west division has only a small part claimed, the Forxi lake. The Forxi lake is the very endpoint of the Harst river, and home to four city-states around it, one of them being Tisgar. Not far beyond to the west of the lake lies the Ash Desert, a vast barren desert of nothing but ashes, nothing grows there and only one man has ever supposedly entered it and returned, The Ash-Fed King.

A glimpse of the Ash Desert


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1. Follow the character sheet in character sign up, some fields you will be told to leave blank because they will be a bit random. I, the Roleplay master, shall pm you as to what to add in later, trust me it's just to add to the story and help prevent "mary sue's"


2. It's M rated so I believe that any situation by RPN rules that means that you only have to censor cursing and fade to black for "intimate encounters" and truly brutal gore, please pm me to correct me if i'm wrong and i'll edit this.


3. follow general RPN rules.


4. You know that alternate name for a donkey? yeah the one you laughed about as a kid, please don't be that.


5. At the bottom of your character sign up post please put the this word "DOGE" so that I know you read the rules, thanks and let's try to have fun.

 

[dcentral]

Nyph laughs. "That is all I can tell you for now, so go on into the waking world and find more wanderers, and then we shall all join here again so that I might review your progress, or maybe your corpse," Nyph said with a sadder tone. She waves her hand and all that you saw, the oak table, the tarot cards, all of the figures, they disappear. Now there is only fog, and an empty feeling of loneliness, yet just beyond that you get the strong sensation of someone else. It's as if someone is standing next- no right where you are. Suddenly the fog swirls, and you are falling but your eyes tell you you are going up. further and further you go, the mist blackening until there is nothing, no sight in front of you. You awake.


Alwart


Alwart jumped from his sleep. He looked around and saw the cobblestone sides of buildings. He remembered now as his grogginess faded. The alley way was cold and hard, but otherwise peaceful. Alwart rubbed his eyes ad stood up. 'What a strange dream,' he thought, 'but it was better than the nightmares in Harst. He walked to the mouth of the alleyway and looked out onto the street. It was early morning, the sun couldn't be very high over the horizon as it barely peeked over the high white walls that surrounded Tisgar. This was not a wealthy district of the city, as Alwart could tell from the ripped and torn clothes that most of the folk walking by were wearing. Even worse were the abundance of Darkbred taints, an obvious sign that this was the ghetto of the noble city-state. The solemn Darkbred mulled around with blank careless stares, their pale blue faces and deep yellow eyes showed only depression. They knew the fate that awaited them and it saddened Alwart to see so many members of a society ignored and shunned for a sickness they couldn't stop. In his culture everyone was considered a part of one's extended family and even those you did not like deserved acknowledgement. He hadn't heard of the taint until he traveled out of the mountains of Harst. Apparently it was some sort of curse that changes people into the pale blue beings before Alwart, but eventually they will turn into monstrous dark beings that must be killed. The Order of Light calls it a corruption of the soul, and are moving for all nations to eradicate those affected, but Alwart hopes that no nation takes the side of that horrid Order. He walked off into the streets with his spiky and ruffled golden hair, he was hungry and needed to find breakfast.


Calim





Calim opened his eyes. What an odd dream. Calim sat up and rubbed his forehead. He pulled his hand away at the cold of it's touch and looked at his metal arm. 'One day, I'll find your origin,' he thought to himself. He stood and began to get dressed. Several minutes later he opened the heavy wooden door to his room and stepped out into the early light the day. He trudged out into the trodden dirt of the practice field. New recruits sparred together in a large group to Calim's right and to the left were many wooden tables. That was where meals were usually eaten. The mercenary corp seemed like a more organized group of bandits hired to fight for Tisgar, in fact that's almost what it was. Calim liked to keep a bit of order, but emphasized the importance of being able to fend for one's self in battle, so that each soldier could take a small group of bandit's themselves. Aleena, Calim's first colonel and right hand. "Sir, urgent emergency, the Grand Lord has ordered that you report to the Castle." Calim sighed.


"Is this another one of the Pyromancer executions, I thought I didn't have to oversee those anymore," Calim disliked the idea of public execution, people should be given the right to die fighting at the least. Aleena reported that it was not another execution, and it was in fact something more out of the ordinary.


"You are being asked to escort our fair lady the princess to safety to the city of Olwen and back, and the Lord requested it be you leading the party." Aleena stood with a stern look saying just how displeased she was to have her commander running such a tedious and time-consuming errand when he could be training recruits. This was the reason Calim promoted Aleena so quickly, they thought very much alike.