Campaign World Background

Mythictom's WB FMAG Game
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mythictom
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Campaign World Background

Post by mythictom »

The story begins in Mirabilis, the City of Many Names, the capital of the Kingdom of New Kell. The kingdom itself is quite young, being just three years since Duke Stavian Konstin III sued for independence from the nearby Empire of Byzantia to the east.

Formerly a feudal duchy of the empire, the land of Kell was once an independant kingdom until it fell to goblin and orcish invaders nearly three hundred years ago. The remaining human, elf, and dwarf population were able to hold the invaders in check, but not before the Byzantian forces conquered and settled the southern peninsula, where the city now called Mirabilis has served as a port for millennia. The leader of that settlement was Stavian Konstin I, regent of the land. After his death, his son Stavian Konstin II was made Duke after bringing a modicum of peace to the land. Building upon his father's success, Stavian III brokered peace with the former ruling clans of the country, eventually meeting, falling in love with, and then marrying an heiress to the fallen. Kingdom of Kell. This political marriage, and genuine desire for unity, helped Stavian broker the disparate factions of the duchy and marshall around his bid for independence.

The Kingdom of New Kell is still a country with many powerful factions.The southern peninsula juts out into the sea, providing ample opportunities for trade with neighboring countries. To the far west lie the borderlands with Byzantia. A rough and tumble country, it is still sparsely populatedby civilized sorts, instead being home to orcs and goblins.

To the south of the borderlands, along New Kell's souther coast lies the Gnarled Elderwood, an ancient forest still hom to many elves. Legend claims that deep within the great old wood there is a great lake, and in the middle of that lake lies the Isle of Avilion, whereon the Faerie Queene Elphame rules the elves from her throne of spun crystal. No elf will admit having seen it when asked though.

On the western border of New Kell lies the County of Vangko Mallupin, the "Bad Wolf." Known as a deadly fighter, Mallupin made a fortune training merceneries for Byzantia. His support for independance is thought to be the deciding factor that pushed the Emporer to consent (in addition to the considerable bribe Konstin offered). Mallupin is rumored to be involved in many shady businesses, from smuggling to kidnapping to piracy and even slavery. As of now, these accusations are rumor and conjecture, but the King (and his spies) want hard evidence before confronting such a formidible ally.

To the far north lie the Stonewall Mountains, great impassable peaks where dwarves, gnomes and giants dwell. They serve as a natural barrier against invasions from northern countries (should they turn hostile), but few have traveled beyond them.

South of the mountains lie rolling hills and valleys, where gnomes and halfling dwell alongside humans. The land between the mountains and the southern peninsula is excellent and productive farmland. The communities here have few natural defense against the tribes of goblins and orcs that still climb from their caves and barrows, but they endure.

Lastly, at the center of New Kell grows another hearty forest, named Oakheart in honor of the elves that live there. These elves are less secretive than those of Avilion. Oakheart's elves pledge loyalty to a sovereign calling himself the Erlking. Like the Faerie Queen to the east, the Erlking cares nothing for Stavian's claim to the land; all three sovereigns seem to desire the people to prosper, so the elven king and queen focus on the lofty goals of their immortal kin, leaving the ephemeral worries of statehood to the humans.

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mythictom
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Re: Campaign World Background

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Mirabilis

The City of Wonders

The City Afar

The Great City

Amerlin

Safe Harbor

City-by-the-Sea

A mighty seaport has always been in this location on the southern peninsula. When the elves first emerged from their forest homes, they found a city, abandoned, in ruins, filled with white ash. The elves re-built the city, using the city to expand their reach into the world. The city was used in this way for nearly two millennia, until the dwarves came roaring down from the mountains, driving the elves back into the forest.

The dwarves re-made the city in their image, using stone to pave streets and secure foundations. Their reign lasted five hundred years, until they too lost control of the city to rampaging barbarian humans.

The humans who seized the Great City in those ancient days held it for fewer than a hundred years until throngs of goblins, orcs and ogres overwhelmed them. The chaotic bands of monsters were, in turn, pushed back by a new alliance of humans and demihumans. Within a century, the humans rose to prominence in the alliance and established the Kingdom of Kell, the leader of the humans and first king of a new dynasty.

The Kingdom of Kell ruled from the city of Amerlin, a city built on the ruin - and labor - of all the people who had lived there. The Kellians dwelled in an unsteady peace for four hundred years, untill they too fell to a horde of monsters raging from their hiding places in the wildlands. Threatened by the long-established Byzantian Empire to the east, the people of Kell were pushed to the lands south of Amerlin, where they were quickly conquered by Byzantian legions sent to quell the oncoming horde.

An uneasy truce emerged as Byzantia claimed the southern peninsula and pushed the horde back to its hiding placed. Renamed Mirabilis, Amerlin, the capital of old Kell, receded from common usage.

Now, Mirabilis shines like a jewel on the coast. Trade is plentiful. Peace abounds. King Stavian rules wisely, and most old grudges have been laid to rest. But, in the wildlands, the goblins, orcs, ogres, and their kin stir once more.... Will Mirabilis withstand the next conflict?

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mythictom
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Re: Campaign World Background

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Mirabilis

Major city, population 20,000+, 90% human

Major neighborhoods:

Portside aka Old City - consists of docks, warehouses, usinesses catering to travelers, old neighborhoods, criminal element, ruined finery of old money, working class

Highcrest - consists of the patrician class (and their servants), high-priced inns, shops & boutiques, elaborate temples, newish "suburb" along the west side of the river leading to the sea, outskirts of city

Estates - manor houses run by benign feudal lords, circle the northern edge of the city, buffering the city walls with villages andsmall towns (functioning as defacto suburbs in the modern sense)

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