SagaciousAscendingHero
Member
I came across this chronicle thread and it looked like it would be fun, so I'm going to yank it for my game. Plus I thought it would be worth showing over here for people's opinions on it.
http://www.thefreedomstone.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=36
http://www.thefreedomstone.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=36
Deimos said:Cities of Steel and Steam:
The Locust Crusade is over. And it was not the mighty Legions of the Scarlet Empire or the actions of the heroes of old the Solars and Lunars that stopped this army of a dying primordial. It was a disease, the Great Contagion that centuries ago nearly destroyed Creation. The First and Forsaken Lion, having seen the Armies of the Machine God and coveting their hoards of First Age weaponry unleashed the Great Contagion on them.
And what he coveted more then the contents of the dying primordial was the death primordial himself. With it he could control a force powerful enough to free him from his prison.
Over the course of but a few weeks the population within Autochthon was ravaged by the Great Contagion. As the functions of the great Machine God began to falter and break down, the Alchemicals rallied the remaining populace and led them on a great Exodus. All across Creation portals similar to the one that had opened in the southwest. Shepherding their charges through the strange and dangerous lands the Alchemicals led them to the two greatest bastions of the Autochthonians left over from the Locust Crusade, New Kadar and The Lap. The 4 million survivors of the Great Contagion is been reduced to 2 million before they all arrive.
Over a thousand strong and armed with weapons that even the remnants of the Shogunate has lost or forgotten the Alchemicals have managed an uneasy truce with the Scarlet Empire. They pay lip service to the Empire with minor tributes. This territory extends west from The Lap all the way to the coast. While Paragon was never freed through combat, it’s return to the Empire was on of the concessions the Autochthonians made. Part of the truce is that no Legion shall set foot on the territories held by this new nation. The Wyld Hunt also holds no power in this region and it has been made abundantly clear to them that any attacks on the Alchemicals is a death sentence. This arrangement has angered many of the noble houses who believe that military force should be used to simply force the lands to pay greater tribute and accept the Immaculate Order and the Wyld Hunt. However, entrenched in their own politics as they are no one can rally the forces that we be necessary to win such a campaign.
New Kadar is watched over the Lissome Avid Engineer. Her calming architecture designs have made New Kadar into a city that the Autochthonians can recognize as home. And her inventive defenses as well as the large contingent of Alchemicals of various ages have kept the city safe so far from every form of trouble that has appeared. New Kadar is every bit an Autochthonian city packed with tall metal building, piping that carries everything from sewage to drinking water to steam that powers most of the city. Only the most important buildings and defensive weapons are powered by currents of Essence generated by Engineer. At the center of the city, built into the extensive cave systems is a building that none save the Alchemicals are permitted entry.
The Lap continues to serve is function as an agricultural base for the Autochthonians. Only a small portion of the Laps citizens are Autchthonians. Most are the original inhabitants who know how to farm the land much more effectively. They are not slaves but citizens of this new nation, all bearing a soulstone like that of the Autochonians. Steamworks do still run through parts of the city, but they are much less extensive then those of New Kadar.
The Guild does brisk trade with this new power and helps maintain the trades routes the Autochthonians have set up with the neighboring lands. Mostly importing foodstuffs and sometimes magical materials, they export a large amount of artifacts and small trinkets. Part of the cost of transporting the goods through the Guild routs has been blunted by the Autochthonians donation of two airships to help patrol the routes. Inside the Autochonian territories there is no true standard monetary system as the Autochonians belief that as long as you worked you were provided food, clothes and a roof to sleep under. While this had led to a greater lack of personal possessions among the populace, there are virtually no citizens starving to death. Local forms of currency have been adopted on a region by region basis in areas where there is enough excess of goods for money to be needed. Seeing little value in the bits of low quality jade that the guild and Empire usually use as currency, the Autochthonians instead barter directly for what they want versus what they have to offer. Though the Guild has gotten the better end of a couple of trade agreements the Alchemicals are hard to fool and those that have been caught have typically ended up as the slave laborers.
This new power in the Southwest has thrown the Sidereals into even more chaos then before. They cannot predict any events of true importance that may happen in that region making advising the Reagent of the Empire effectively a virtual impossibility.
The Lunars are welcomed with weary gazes into the territories of the Autochthonians. As long as they cause no trouble they are free to trade, stay at inns and conduct other forms of business. Though few Lunars will step foot into the Autochthonian cities given their strong dislike of civilization.
The Underworld has been thrown into chaos as well. With the disappearance of the First and Forsaken Lion an enormous power vacuum has created and every Deathlord is looking to fill that vacuum. In the Underworld his territories are being consumed by any Deathlord close enough to lay claim to a region and hold it. The only bastion of his territory left unmolested is the Thousand as even without the First and Forsaken Lion present the defenses are formidable. Few have the military strength to take the Thousand and even then would probably incur losses that would make them vulnerable to attack from another Deathlord.
The Fair Folk have been oddly silent during these events. Their raids, while still frequent, have dropped significantly. They seem to avoid the Southwest like a plague ridden land, concentrating their attacks either farther West out to sea or staying to the Eastern jungles. No one is sure what exactly has triggered this respite but few are asking why too hard, focusing on instead building up defense for when the lull inevitably ends.
In Yu-Shan Gaia has all but vanished. She rarely attends the Games of Divinity anymore, nor does she spend much time with her consort Luna. Whenever she does show her face, she seems tired and distracted. No one beyond the Maiden of Secrets knows what’s behind Gaia’s strange behavior and the Maiden of Secrets isn’t talking.
