Journey into the West

Western Oerik has been on my mind again lately, emerging once again in a weird way that setting concepts do after months or years languishing on the back-burner. I don't know what triggered it; it happened a few weeks ago after watching de Undeadwood Critical Role series. My mind went to the subject of Murlynd, the paladin-sherrif hero-god of the Greyhawk setting and I found myself asking: "Where did he get those six-shooters?"

I know the formal answer is "From Gygax's Boot Hill home game," or something along that line, but I went in another direction. I thought, wouldn't it be cool to combine my foray into flintlock fantasy with the world already developed here on this blog and in my 5E home game, set it in Western Oerik and add in some more crazy things? So I did.

A thousand years ago, refugees from two dying empires, lands consumed by war, fire and devastation, fled into the wild lands of the west. Encountering jeweled city-states and tribal kings, monsters, orcs, elves and each other, their destructive war continued, on a smaller, more primitive scale. But their new, savage environment demanded more and less of the survivors. In order to live, thrive and survive, the peoples had to adapt to their new home. Over a few generations, their inherited enmity petered out. Struggles for ideology and supremacy faded into the background, devolving into more common conflicts over land and resources. Within a century, the old hatreds had faded, bands of survivors and local tribes intermarried and new towns and alliances developed, coalescing into Nine Kingdoms.

The most powerful of these new towns came to be named Aurora, city of a new dawn. From the westernmost coast of the land, Aurora’s influence spread across the Nine Kingdoms and outposts and trade roads were established. Secrets of a forgotten past were discovered, and magical lore reached new heights. Across the sea, contact was made with the peoples of the Utter West. Many tribes and city-states united under the banner of the Dragon Empire. Yet war continued. 

The War God, Stratis, strode across the Savage West, playing an intricate divine game of dragonchess, setting the Nine Kingdoms comprising the Dragon Empire against one another, sharpening the machine of conflict. Never peace, always war, the Dragon Empire wasn't able to build a sphere of protection and security. 

One man, a priest, sought to change that. His name was Aenarys and it was he - a prophet of peace - that dared to challenge the God of War. He failed even as he succeeded.

Stratis died, but his dying breath changed the land. A red veil covers the land, scarlet shadows bring forth terrible monstrosities and the Dragon Empire crumbled. The Crimson Shroud brought madness and despair to the metropolises of the Dragon Empire. Instead of ushering an age of peace, Stratis' death fanned the flames of war as armies clashed and survivors gathered into warbands. Dragons claimed new territories in the wilderness, reducing the free peoples under their wings to savage slaves. New monsters and aberrations flooded the towns and castles of the Nine Kingdoms, the great Tarrasque among them. Civilization was brought to the brink of extinction, clawing to hold on. Only the heavily fortified cities of the Liga Elves in the interior, and the well-defended band of holdfasts, including Aurora, on the Agitoric coast were spared the destruction.

Now, centuries later, the Nine Kingdoms have rebuilt themselves, in the image of a forever war. Using magic and military might, and the mineral known as bloodstone, the Kingdoms have eked out a perimeter of safety in the vast and savage land. 

This is a land of stark contrasts, savage beauty and howling wilderness. The Savage West is home to a large variety of environments, flora and fauna. From the scorching deserts of the southwest, to the forested mountains of the Agitoric Northwest, to the Great Plains abutting the Redwall Mountains to the east, to the humid jungles of the southeast, every climate and all manner of beasts can be found here. During the day, the sun bakes the interior highlands into searing deserts, while providing a comfortable warmth in the northwestern forests. At night, the pale moon of Raenei sheds wan light on the lands beneath, accompanied in quarterly phases by her aquamarine sister, Kule. 

Ruins and dungeons of the centuries-distant Age of Wonder dot the wilderness. Ancient magic and forgotten lore can be found in the remains, if one is brave enough to face the dangers these expeditions entail. When traveling the Savage West, one can stumble into pockets of high magic, demarcated by an electric buzz playing on the skin and a strange sensation. These Wildlands are pockets of primal magic, connected to dragons, monsters and magic. Most times, these fading lands are wild and beautiful environmennts but sometimes these pockets are shadowy and dark, pulsing with the energy of death. These Shadowlands give rise to spirits, ghosts and the living dead. The Savage West is beset by wild monsters and dark magic. Yet there is hope, for brave adventurers venture into the wild to aid burgeoning towns, fight monsters and establish new outposts. To plumb forgotten dungeons and seek out relics of the past, and to discover and mine veins of bloodstone, to forge into new tools and the foundation of a new age of peace and light. 

The most powerful of these tools are the weapons of the current age, bound to the Crimson Shroud, unable to function beyond the western lands bearing Stratis' curse. Made from bloodstone, yet effective all the same, these Firebrands are  brandished by Legions of wielding soldiers, raining elemental fire and hot lead on the battlefield. Aided by the automaton-cannons known as Pulverizers, armies march across the wartorn landscape, fighting monsters, warbands and enemy nations.

Welcome to the Savage West.

Draconis Blog Index

As work on the setting continues, here are all posts pertaining to the first iteration: Draconis.

Setting Information
Short Description
Rules of Magic

Places
The Plaguelands
The Keep

Monsters
The Red Dead

Player Resources
The Trader Rogue Archetype
Player Handout

History and Mythology of Draconis
Early History
Fall of the Empire

Draconis Player Handout

So I've compiled a document for new players that enter the Draconis campaign. It's a sort of Setting Bible slash Player's Handout. And instead of listing dates and timelines and dreary histories, I've opted to show, not tell.

Curious yet?

Click ye here.

The (Walking) Red Dead

The Red Death originating out of Aurora quickly spread to the surrounding, prosperous cities of the south. Those infected with the plague who managed to travel from Aurora to its neighboring settlements spread the infection. In a matter of months, the southlands as well as the heartlands of the Empire of Draconis were overrun with walking dead.

When infected, a victim of the Scarlet Plague suffers from a sickening fever. Within hours, the victim dies of the infection. A victim's skin turns unnaturally red (hence the name of the disease). A short time later, which can be minutes or hours, the deceased victim reopens its eyes, now shining with a crimson light, to spread the infection further.

RED DEAD
Medium humanoid (undead), unaligned

Armor Class 8
Hit Points 9 (2d8)
Speed 20 ft.

STR     DEX     CON     INT  WIS  CHA
11 (+0) 6 (-2)    10 (+0)  7 (-2) 8 (-1) 6 (-2)

Damage Immunities necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive perception 9
Languages understands the languages it spoke in life but can't speak
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Strength in Numbers. The Red Dead has advantage on attack rolls when adjacent to another Red Dead.

ACTIONS
Grapple. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, contested by the targets Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. Target is grappled if attack succeeds. The target can escape the grapple on its turn by succeeding another contested check.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d6) piercing damage. The target contracts the Red Death. Every hour, the target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution save or suffer one level of exhaustion. The Red Death can only be cured by magical means such as Lesser Restoration or Remove Curse. A victim dying of the Red Death rises 1d4 hours later as a Red Dead.

ENVIRONMENT
All

A Trader subclass for 5E

In the deserts of Athas, the setting of Dark Sun, great merchant houses ferry the goods needed to survive from city to city. The characters that serve a key purpose in these merchant houses are the Dune Traders. 

In the post-fall wilderness of Draconis, trading goods between communities has become essential to survival. In the Plaguelands, the powerful faction known as The Guild is only just now emerging on the forefront. With a strong presence in Trade Town, the Guild is a key organization in the supply, survival and travel needs of the communities of the Plaguelands. With dozens of thieves, assassins and vagabonds in its employ, it is also a network of less reputable individuals. None are so valued however as the Traders. 

TRADER is an archetype for the 5th Edition Rogue class. Traders are rogues that specialize in merchandise, profit, social contacts and negotiation. Without Traders, the economy of the post-apocalyptic wilderness communities would quickly collapse. They provide a strong network of tightening economic dependency between the communities. As a Trader, you quickly grow into an economic linchpin of your party.

Bonus Proficiencies

At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in two skills or artisan's tools of the following list: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion and Calligrapher's Supplies, Cartographer's Tools or Jeweler's Tools.

Fast Talk

At 3rd level, you gain the ability as a bonus action on your turn, to make a Charisma (Persuasion) or (Deception) check, opposed by the target's Wisdom (Insight) to talk your way out of sticky situations. You can use your fast talk in bargaining situations or to gain advantage on your next attack roll.

Trade Tongue

At 9th level, you learn two additional languages. You are implied to have learned these languages in your career as a trader. They can be common as well as exotic languages.

Exceptional Contact

During your adventures, you have made contacts with various communities and organizations. At 13th level, one of these contacts - either a warlord or guild leader or community leader - develops into an exceptionally strong ally. At any time, you can invoke this ally's aid in a situation. For all intents and purposes, the ally acts as if under the influence of Charm Person. 

Leverage

At 17th level, your contacts, trading partners, personal standing and credit and personal wealth are such that you can immediately procure any service (including spellcasting services, as per the PHB's chapter on Equipment) you want. In addition, you can maintain an aristocratic lifestyle at no cost and suffer no expense for food, drink and lodging.

Plaguelands Map

The Keep sits square in the middle of the area called "The Plaguelands", a region swarming with Red Dead.

1 Hex = 6 miles

The Keep

Over the years, the survivors of the Red Death banded together into close-knit communities and even New Kingdoms rising out of the ashes of the old. The survivor-community of the Keep is led by Samira (9th level Cleric of Life), a Qahtani woman in her early fifties and original founder of the community in the wake of the Red Death. The authorities of the Keep are in fact all retired adventurers. Samira is the wisest and most charismatic of the bunch and their leader. Samira is unmarried but has in the past had romantic feelings for Roland, her second in command. She is still fit and beautiful for a woman her age. She has coffee-colored skin and mesmerizing green eyes. In conversation, she always pauses for a few seconds before speaking herself.

Roland (8th level Fighter Champion) is Samira’s primary field captain. He has salt and pepper hair and beard and an easy smile. Roland has a war story for every occasion and enjoys showing young explorers the ropes. Roland leads the wilderness patrols together with his lieutenant Tembe, a Qahtani (5th level Fighter Champion) and serjeant Amy (3rd level Ranger).

Tembe and his father were part of the second wave of survivors to enter the Keep. The elder Alqubulahni has since passed away and Tembe strives to live up to his father’s legacy. The young Alqubulahni is black-skinned and beautiful and remarkably perceptive for someone of his strength. Tembe likes to point out small details.

Amy is a woman in her early thirties with auburn hair and one hazel eye. Her left eye was stabbed out in a fight with some red ghouls and she has covered the socket with an eyepatch ever since. She always speaks in a soft, husky voice and is prone to understatements. She also gets most of her calories from alcohol and when she’s not on patrol, she is a visitor of the Saddled Dragon Inn. Amy was born in the Keep and is Rodrick’s daughter. Her mother died in childbirth and Amy practically spent her teenage years alone in the Keep or secretly sneaking outside through the Dragon Egress.

Allison (5th level Dragonblood Sorcerer) provides arcane support. Her arms, legs, shoulders and back are covered with small silver scales. Her hair is also silver and she likes to sway and twirl when idle. Allison is very energetic and interested in other persons. Allison came to the Keep only a few months ago and fell under Samira’s sway. She decided to stay and is loyal to Samira, if somewhat impulsive.

The patrol is further composed of 4 1st level Fighters (Sharon, Alex, Mark and Jessica) and 24 Town Guards. Patrols are typically armed and armored with plate mail, shield, lance, flail and longsword for all Fighters and scale mail, shield, light crossbows and a hand weapon (1d6) for town guards. Samira, Roland, Tembe, Amy and Allison all have magical and/or Bloodsteel items.

The Elven wizard Arasil (10th level) has a tower in the Keep but he is seldom present (1 in 6 chance every week), choosing instead his abode in the forest. He is reluctant in taking on apprentices but every once in a while sees the potential in someone of great intellect or charisma. Arasil’s appearance is unkempt and he dresses in dirty robes. He nevertheless has an indiscernible magnetism about him. He speaks in complex sentences and is not afraid to show his intelligence. His abode on the border of the marsh provides him with arcane power. Over the centuries, Arasil has forgotten more than most young humans have experienced.

The Keep is home to a community of about 100 survivors, half of whom can be called on to serve as Town Guards. They live in about twenty small dwellings, some in tents, within the walls of the Keep. The Keep is also a hotbed of trade and scavenging or adventuring, so no less than three inns can be found within its walls. One of its inns, The Saddled Dragon, is particularly adventurer-friendly and is source of tales and rumours.

Instead of various stores, the Keep has a trading post at its center around which essential services are provided. Being a community which relies on physical might for protection, it has a specialized armorer, Rodrick, as well as a blacksmith, Robert.

Rodrick, is an old man who in the days of the Empire was well-versed in the working of Bloodsteel. Though the Keep’s current facilities are insufficient to forge the magical metal from Bloodstone, Rodrick recognizes Bloodsteel on sight and is able to reforge items made from the stuff. He is a font of knowledge about mining, smithing, armor and metallurgy and is eager to pass on his knowledge, if only an able apprentice could be found. Rodrick is barrel-chested and muscled and despite his age still exudes strength. He is fond of bawd tales but very protective of his daughter Amy.

Robert, the blacksmith, is also broad of build. He shaves his pate but has grown a thick red beard. Robert isn’t much of a talker but he laughs (“HAR HAR!”) loudly at Rodrick’s tales. Robert was born in the Keep.

The trading post and surrounding market provide all the equipment found in the D&D Starter Set equipment list except for animals. These are so valuable that they are not for sale. Furthermore, as gold and silver were the coin of the old realm, barter is the method of purchase. Samira’s old adventuring comrade Durin (9th level Dwarven Rogue Thief) runs the trading post. As the center of trade of the Keep and its surrounding lands, Durin hears many tales and can provide adventurers with a large assortment of rumours and tips. He is still in his prime and has rough dark looks.

The Saddled Dragon Inn owes its name to its central characteristic: the saddle used by the Keep’s Dragonlord master in the days of the Empire. The huge saddle acts as the table reserved for regular patrons of the inn’s common room, as well as its proprietor Martin. The inn building itself served as the abode of the Keep’s Dragon in the old days and is very lofty and spacious with enormous double doors providing entrance.

One of Martin’s patrons, Prince Thelion of Vala, is the heir of one of the southern New Kingdoms. He has come to the Keep a few weeks ago, alone, to find resources to support and build his kingdom. He claims his party was lost in his time in the wilderness or felled by the undead.

The Keep was founded by a female Wizard Lord of Draconis utilizing a powerful spell of the tenth grade – Magical Fortress. As such, its walls, central keep and church appear as if carved from a single rock. That measure of power, however, demands an enormous amount of magic as the plains surrounding the Keep provide only the means to power spells of up to the fifth grade. That means that there is either a defunct ley line somewhere nearby, or that the Wizard Lord or her accompanying dragon utilized powerful artifacts in the Keep’s construction. The Keep has a powerful ward on it that keeps undead from entering its premises.

Finally, the Keep boasts a small Church, serviced by Samira and half a dozen acolytes. One of the PCs can be Samira’s apprentice.

The Defiance of the Dragons and the Red Death

Continuing the history of Draconis

The Empire of the Dragonlords did not last. Reigning from Dragonback out of Aurora, the realm of Draconis prospered. But with the settlement and development of the continent, the land's natural magic was diminished. In time, Aurora's lords and wizards grew entirely dependent on their Dragon allies and the mineral known as Bloodstone.

Natural Bloodstone deposits amplify the flow of magic around them but when mined, the mineral can be forged into Bloodsteel, the key material of magical armor, weapons, and wondrous items. The armies of Draconis came to depend on their Bloodsteel equipment and the mined Bloodstone was used as the foundation of magical knowledge throughout the realm.

The advance of civilization and its accompanying disruption of the natural flow of magic, as well as the ruthless mining and exploitation of Bloodstone came to anger the Dragons. A rift grew between the humans of Aurora and the Dragons, culminating in what scholars now term "The Defiance of the Dragons".

Within one week, all Dragons on Draconis left their human companions and went into hiding in places unknown. High-level magical research ground to a halt and many of the realm's more advanced spells failed. Aurora's most gifted arcane talent, a man known as Aenarys, sought a way to continue the magical advancement of the Empire and he turned his research to Bloodstone.

For years Aenarys toiled in his laboratories. Researching draconic lore and experimenting with Bloodstone. On one fateful day, however, his experiments backfired and a crimson mist rose up from his arcane spire. Within minutes, the entire holy city of Aurora was blanketed in the red haze. Victims exposed to the mist died within moments. Only those strongest of will or body were able to escape its grasp. Those that died from inhaling the crimson vapor rose again as ghouls, their skin taking on a red hue and their eyes shining with an unnatural red light.

The mist slowly dispersed throughout the realm. The malady that gripped Draconis came to be known as the Red Death as thousands died and rose again as red-eyed, red-hued ghouls. The southern cities were the first to fall. Over the course of three years, the Red Death spread across the continent. Major population centers were depopulated and evacuated. The only respite came from the Church, whose clerics and paladins were able to turn and destroy the undead. Towns and cities where the Church was strongest were able to hold out untill the plague had run its course. Population centers without powerful priests were doomed. Many people fled into the countryside and organized themselves into warbands.

A generation has passed since the Red Death. Aurora has become an abandoned husk. The Empire of Draconis has fallen. Many cities are battlefields between the undead and the living. The wilderness teems with warbands and lawless rovers. Here and there, palisaded communities of survivors led by priests or warlords eke out a living in the countryside.

Amidst all this anarchy, rumours circulate that the Dragons have returned...

Empire of the Dragonlords

From the history books of the Loremasters of Draconis:

It is no secret that the ancient tribes of Mankind learned the ways of magic from otherworldly beings. Under the guidance of the Eldar, the Men of Aurora prospered. Great towers and palaces were raised unto the skies, shaped by the magic power of the land. The Eldar were wise in the ways of magic and arcane knowledge, including the mightiest of spells, was at its height in those early days of Empire.

Men being men, however, desired ever greater power. And even the mightiest of spells, of the ninth and tenth grade, were not enough to satisfy these desires. So men sought out the original sorcerers of the Earth - the Dragons.

Over decades, the wizard-lords of the Empire fought and subjugated the mighty Dragons. Eventually, an accord was reached by the more orderly Dragons and the wizard-lords of the Realm. The Empire of Draconis entered a new phase of expansion as Man and Dragon entered into an arcane alliance.

The Eldar, seeing their strict teachings disregarded and forgotten, fought against these Dragonlords but to no avail. The power of the Eldar was broken and the Dragonlords reigned supreme. The Dragonmen, children of the Dragons, established themselves within the borders of Mankind. The Empire of Draconis expanded to encompass the entire continent. Expeditions on dragonback established footholds on the eastern continent of the Enlightened, as well as on the continent to the south, the ancestral birthplace of Mankind.

The Eldar, broken and on the run, fled into the forests and glades, the hidden and secret places of the Earth. There, those that still upheld the arcane mysteries developed as the High Elves. The Eldar that abandoned the magical ways and embraced their lives in the wilderness became Wood Elves.

The Empire of Draconis, with Aurora as its capital, grew and prospered for centuries. But without the guidance of the Elves, Man's cities choked and blocked the natural flow of magic across the land. The Men of Aurora grew dependent solely on their bond with the Dragons, their magical knowledge slowly fading. As long as that bond lasted, the Empire thrived. But that bond, as all things, came to an end - as did the Empire.