Fall 2024 Newbie Campaign: Gilded Slumber
As the Longest Night Festival approached, Ley’Ork was suddenly struck by a devastating attack. Sparkpoint Labs, an HTUC-run facility about sixty miles out from city limits, was allegedly attacked by a reportedly Shinnean agent named Sylas Concord, who stole a device purported to be a weapon of mass destruction, as well as a prototype airship model. The attack caused an explosion audible even from the city’s downtown.
Tensions are high and mistrust towards Shinneans is beginning to stir in the Ley’Orkian populace. The day’s events are reported on in further detail by the Murh 1 issue of the New Spire Gazette, the city’s premier newspaper published by Metropolitan News.
The next day, Sylas Concord himself made a chilling announcement at 11:45 AM, along with his followers, the Order of the Weightless Scale. They interrupted around 90% of Ley'Ork's radio broadcast signals. The announcement read as follows:
“People of Ley'Ork, welcome to the new world order. My name is Sylas Concord, and while I certainly have stolen your government's newest and shiniest killing machine, I can assure you, I am not associated with Shinneok, nor Pthora, nor any other nation of Cahyali. No, I hail from the Dreaming, and for too long we have suffered as a direct result of your plane. The connection between Cahyali and the Dreaming means that your thoughts and actions can have untold consequences on the world of my people.
Every war you start, every propaganda campaign you run, it all crushes, burns, and kills as the landscape itself moves with your anger. But no more! I now have the power to destroy any and all who yearn for war. You may not believe me, but don't worry, you will. At noon today, I will destroy Fort Helios, one of your military encampments. One less tinder on the fire you cook us over. From there, we'll have to see if your warmongering governments can amend their ways. But if or when they fail to do so, you'll hear from me once more. Until then!”
Around 3 AM on 7/9/82, An airship was struck by lightning in a sudden thunderstorm, a “freak act of nature” as far as the public knows, causing it to explode and rain flaming refuse from the sky over Lockford, Shinneok. Luckily, it seems that there were no fatalities and minimal injuries for Lockford citizens, and it is unknown if there are any survivors from aboard the airship.
On 7/16, Ley'Orkian President Amanda Walker and VP Glive Gunderson were found dead following a horrific attack on the Capitol building. Witnesses say they saw Sylas Concord standing on top of a nearby veterinarian hospital prior to a violent localized earthquake and an eruption of magma, destroying the west wing of the building where the two elected officials and their bodyguards were sitting.
About 50 people died in the attack, including several guards atop the nearby children’s hospital. With the President and Vice President dead, the chain of command falls to the Secretary of Offense and Defense, Hawks Stranglehold.
At the same time, during a public press conference in Sparkpoint Labs, yet another terrorist attack struck - thankfully injuring few. Only a few days later, chaos erupted at the 777 Casino in New Spire City as a blackout hit about half of the city's north side.
Shinneok is beginning to fall under blame and scrutiny, as the sleeping plague begins to spread through Ley'Ork - no longer limited to Shinnean shores. Eyewitnesses report a red airship flying a small Shinnean flag leaving the casino after the blackout, but authorities confirmed that nothing was amiss regarding foreign agents.
This event is ongoing! Check back for updates.
Jovial New Year’s celebrations in Shinneok were violently disrupted by news from Pthora and a brutal, yet short-lived attack on a military base on the eastern Shinneok coast: in retaliation for an attempt on the Pthoran High General’s life, Pthora has declared war on Shinneok.
This is no surprise to anyone keeping up with events of the past few years; the conflict has been a powder keg for a long time, and it seems like this attempted assassination finally blew the shed. The Shinnean army denies any such matters, putting any such attempts on the High General’s life up to the activities of an unrelated adventuring party.
Regardless, the New Year’s attacks have stirred ire in Shinneok. They now look westward to their allies in the Oxis and southward to Ley’Ork for assistance in a counterattack.
As of 1/10/10082, Ley’Ork has responded and sent troops, as well as supplies, to bolster the Shinnean forces. Arenti and Vervand have made no such moves, seemingly leaving Shinneok to fight this war itself. Some say this is a bad sign for the formerly tightly-allied Oxis…
This event is ongoing! Check back for updates.
The Space Between; Echoes of Another (TSB;EOA) - Joint campaign by Zoe Kogut (@shadowthorn15), Zachary Evans (@aieslwz), and Simeon Rice (@foxtrot_mulder)
On the third day of the sixth month, a haunting melody was heard across Vervand as the island of Mordrik, which mysteriously vanished nearly 5500 years ago, reappeared off the coast of Vervand. Initial studies show an unseen energy emanating from and surrounding the island and the public has been advised to stay away.
This strange energy is believed to believed to be connected to the instability of elemental magic currently affecting Ulos, reported issues of connecting to spirits in the Kurago,, and other strange phenomena. Adventurers are contracted by the government of Vervand to investigate. They left on 7/7/10081.
All communication was lost with the search parties until 7/28/10081, when the parties returned, confirming that Mordrik had been stuck between planes during its absence. It has stabilized back into Cahyali, marking a momentous occasion in Vervish history. The parties reported various phenomena and events, involving a strange eldritch entity that they had to expel from the boundary between planes.
By 8/10/10081, dimensional magic had begun to stabilize, and the anomalies seen with elemental and spiritual magic subsided. The topic of whether Mordrik should be fully reincorporated into Vervand was debated, but by New Year's Day of 10082 they decided to make the island an “Autonomous Administrative Division” of Vervand. It continues to govern itself while both Vervand and Ulos assist its reintegration into Cahyali.
Spurred by the strip-mining of the Raikougan land for the Ars Machina Engine and the brutality of the Turtle Bay Massacre - an event where hundreds of lives were lost on both sides - open war is but a straw away from fully breaking out between continental Ruefang and the Archipelago.
After the Ars Machina Incident was resolved, Zuanshi Hua was removed from office. The Kinland Order soon sent a High Paladin to investigate the matter. This investigation proceeded for two weeks, eventually ending with an indictment of Hua's actions and a charge of treason leveled against her. The other Commissions voted to disband the Commission of Industry.
The Commission of Raikougan was also disbanded, with Ruefang recognizing Raikougan as an independent state in efforts to prevent further conflict. However, it was at this time that the Ruefang Continental Army (RCA) went rogue under command of Admiral Nan Fengge, who declared himself head of the “Commission of Defense” and announced intentions to reclaim Juuken Island for Ruefang.
The three remaining Ruefang commissions denounced this act and the war, but could do nothing to stop the army - as it was mostly self-sufficient at this point. Civil protests against the war were widespread in most Ruefang cities save for Shanzhu, as were counter-protests supporting the RCA's activities.
In the fray was the Blood Hawk pirate Ryosuke, a seemingly unkillable man with enigmatic and terrifying storm powers. After killing Bakuhatsu Izumi, the ruler of Juuken,'s son as well as killing Kentaro Ryuji and slaughtering multiple Ruefang villages, a bounty was put on his head and a hit squad led by Kentaro Ryou, Ryuji's son, took off in search. This group reported their victory over Ryosuke on 8/17/10081.
After the end of the Second Cloudfall, it was revealed that Nan Fengge had been working with a group of conspirators to foster war in the Abundance. Him and his associates have been court-martialed and will stand trial by their respective governments, and the RCA has been disbanded and replaced by a Commission of Justice. Additionally, a Commission of Development in charge of reclaiming Ruefang's wilds lost to the leyline crisis and continuing infrastructure is being established.
There is no remaining alliance or partnership between Ruefang and Raikougan, and any lands claimed by the RCA during the war have been peacefully handed over to the Shogunate.
Fall 2023 Newbie Campaign: Smoke & Steel
Following a long period of corruption and abnormal leyline activity isolating the country of Ruefang from itself, the Chongbai-based company Zuanshi Steelworks unveils its newest invention: the Ars Machina Engine, a locomotive capable of transporting people and goods as it runs along the leylines themselves! However, dissenters and scholars claim that the operation of this engine will not solve Ruefang's problems: instead, its operation may exacerbate the corruption of the land even more…
Days after the unveiling, a leading engineer on the Engine is murdered under mysterious circumstances. Adventurers are hired to investigate the murder, as well as look into suspicious actions of Hu Lan, an army general - discovering intent to stoke flames of war, all leading back to Zuanshi Hua, Commissioner of Industry, and the train project. In a battle to free Zuanshi Wei, inventor of the Engine, Hu Lan is killed.
Others are hired on by the Jaernian company Lithicore Mining, who has set up a headquarters near Tiancheng City in the north and seems to be importing advanced cybernetic technology developed off-plane. These adventurers assist a small underground resistance in fighting back against the company. Thanks to the help of these adventurers, Charles Lithicore falls and the Ranch comes under the control of its workers.
Still more adventurers investigate the mystical side of Ruefang, discovering and awakening the five great slumbering Long, guardian dragons of the land. They also discover the machinations of corrupted spirits who may be tangled up in the Ars Machina affair as well… seeking to use the engine to transport themselves and their influence across Cahyali. They devise a ritual to stabilize the lines, getting rid of the corruption that plagues the land.
Events come to a head as the Engine launches on schedule midday of 6/5 - however, every passenger car is left behind, as adventurers appear to have disconnected the engine and front security car from the rest of the train. Alone, these two cars speed ahead, and a fierce battle takes place: Zuanshi Hua, Charles Lithicore, and a coagulation of corrupted spirits face down the valiant efforts of adventurers and their allies, only to be defeated in the end as the engine approaches the leyspring.
As it passes the spring, the ritual is completed: using the effect of the train running over the spring, the leylines are finally stabilized. Leyline poisoning symptoms ease across the country, and the fog over the Sea of Fog finally begins to clear. The Engine is crashed on an uninhabited island, its control panel found completely bricked and inoperable. While this affair is over, war still rages on in the Raikougan…
Spring 2020 Coordinated Campaign: Terror of the Nightmare King
The land of Nahrūl is drawn into a dark demiplane controlled by the Nightmare King, a powerful demonic figure known as Azeroth. Nahrūl is his first stepping stone for a future assault on all of Cahyali as he seeks to conquer the entire world and add it to his domain. However, the efforts of adventurers defeated Azeroth, freeing Nahrūl from his tyranny and dispelling the dark cloud laying over the island.
Fall 2020 Newbie Campaign: Nature's Wrath
The existence of a leyspring within the Null Labyrinth became known to Ley'Orkian industrialists based in New Spire City, and they began preparing to claim it as a source of energy. This brought them into conflict with a druidic cult led by a nature spirit known as Kali, who retaliated with an assault on Ley'Ork Spire.
Through the efforts of adventurers, Ley'Ork was saved from Kali and her followers - through this, the industrialists were cemented as leaders of Ley'Ork in the Spire and in Metro.
After a long period of heavy presence in the southeastern Ulosian province of Kainoa, Ley'Ork suddenly moved in a large military presence and declared its annexation of the volcanic island chain. Its young monarch, Queen Pua'lani Kainoa, has been extradited to New Spire City and has not been heard from since the annexation. Tensions have risen steadily ever since, though Ulos has not yet made an official move nor a statement.
An ever-destabilizing governmental system known as the Throneless, coming off the tails of a string of dictators, was overthrown in 10003 by Katerina Zimina and her Ember Army. With relentless propaganda and charisma, she took absolute control of Pthora as its new dictator. Ever since, Pthora has been under its rule, and the Ystervius have been sent out as intelligence operatives, silently spreading the Ember Army's ideals and goals across the world. Being human, it is unknown how Zimina has retained her iron grip on the country for the better part of a century…