Champions, Regiments and Wizards
A dungeon crawl-type dark fantasy adventure roleplay on a grander scale
The Story So Far: The small island realm of Everstrine is under siege by Gargth the Fallen; a powerful wizard he was, made corrupt by the pursuit of power, and turned into something beyond the ken of Mortal Man through his tireless experiments with forces best left undisturbed.
From his Wizard's Tower located in the centre mass of Everstrine, and protected by a powerful and unbreakable barrier of arcane design, Gargth has waged war against the good people of the island. He summons legions of warriors from the fabled Shadow Realm; each one of their heinous forms constructed from the fallen arts Gargth has mastered, and imbued with the souls of those that inhabit that dark place. Gnashing fangs, brutish strength and immortality avail these vermin, and they have struck Everstrine's inhabitants hard and fast.
Already, the three townships of Amberth, Haglesrike and Sandbrick are under siege, with little hope of reprieve. The Count of Everstrine, a certain Lord Hugar Trechspir, has made several heroic attempts to beat back the forces of the Fallen Wizard, but alas, for what can these islanders do against forces so numerable, against forces so mighty?
With defeat looming, and the fate of a half a million people in the balance, Lord Trechspir finally relented his stubbornness in refusing to request aid, and ordered his Court Wizards to send out a call for help. Dutifully, they communed with their peers from across the seas, and spoke hastily of Everstrine's fate should help not be sent.
The Moonsong Alliance was quick to respond. A hundred mighty nations, bonded by political and economical unions, marshalled their forces and sent them across the great waters with the intent to rapidly put the Fallen Wizard's evil plans to the fire. However, disaster struck them, for they had greatly underestimated Gargth's new found powers. The Wizard from atop his tower instilled a devastating storm across the breadth of the approaching Moonsong Armada, and not even the greatest sorcerers, clerics and wizards in the entire Alliance could counter such powerful magic.
Six hundred ships sailed to Everstrine, and none made it there - none returned. Fifty thousand warriors and heroes with titles so mighty, were gone in an instant, wiped from the face of the planet at the whim of a deluded mad man.
With no help coming, the Count of Everstrine prepared for the worst, as did his people, for now the Wizard turned his full attention on them. Again, and again the fell-legions of the Shadow Realm crashed upon the walls of the Count's townships, and yet they were repulsed each time - albeit with grevious losses. But it was a war of attrition that the Count could not win, for every time a Shadow Warrior was felled, its soul would return to Gargth, and its body remade anew.
Realising the urgency of the situation, though shocked almost to inaction by the loss of their relieving armada, the nations of the Moonsong Alliance mustered a second, yet much smaller force. A hundred kings, queens, pirnces, warlords and magi realised that an army of tens of thousands would be spotted from far away, and crushed just as the first. But an army of a few thousand? Composed of the very best, and led by the greatest Champions the world had ever seen? There was a chance they could slip through, and cut their way to the decaying core of Everstrine.
Thus, the second invasion fleet sailed across the sea, a few scattered ships, and approached Everstrine's southern coast without even so much as a passing glance from Gargth's agents...
A Synopsis of Sorts: You take on the role of a Champion, who commands a contingent of their greatest retainers. You have landed south of Sandbrick, alongside other Champions and warriors. Together, you form a small but mighty host, and together, you look on with dismay or perhaps anxious delight at the sight of a town besieged by the hordes of evil.
Your mission will not be an easy one, and it will be fraught with peril. Many will die, perhaps your Champion included. The Fallen Wizard is protected by a barrier that will reduce a man to ashes upon touch, and it cannot be broken by any means available to you. The only way to destroy it - or so it is suspected - is to circumvent the barrier, travel around the island, liberating besieged towns as you go, until you arrive at Merandor's Stone - an ancient obelisk, that has been corrupted by Gargth. The obelisk is thought to be the key to the barrier's inexhaustible energy, and by destroying it, you should be able to gain access to the Wizard's Tower.
Whether all the might in the world could bring this corrupted man down, remains to be seen however.
Forces of the Enemy: Gargth is approaching God-hood, and as such, he is able to craft the forms of beings from anything. Give him a twig, he'll forge it into a monstrous walking tree with claws and fangs. Give him a stone, and he'll turn it into a hulking titan of rock. What he can't do however, is create life, but he can steal it, and bend it to his will.
Reaching into the Shadow Realm, Gargth is able to pull forth souls from the swirling nightmare mists, and instil them in the forms he creates. The resulting abominations are known collectively as Shadow Warriors, but share several other names depending on the culture describing them.
These souls are thus bound to Gargth, and will carry out his bidding so long as he is powerful enough to control them. When their mortal forms are destroyed, they return to him, and he simply inserts them into another body. Thus his armies are constantly regenerating.
The Champions and their forces will encounter several types of adversary. From fell-creations of rotting putrid flesh and rock-clad juggernauts to the ghastly visage of men formed from sand. Each type has their weaknesses and strength, and the Champions will need to demonstrate versatility if they are to survive.
The Shadow Realm: The Shadow Realm goes by many names. Hell, the Underworld, Death's Realm, Demonic Paradise, the Unyielding Fires and many more. However, most arcane (and even scientific) scholars agree that the Shadow Realm is a plain of existence that dwells on the borderlands between time and space.
It is a plain of great magical energy, and countless individuals - ranging greatly in power and skill - have attempted to tap the Shadow Realm from time to time, and all have failed miserably; indeed, usually they were killed in the attempt, and their souls sucked into the void.
It is called the Shadow Realm by those of spiritual and arcane prestige purely because of the way it appears to an observer; a land of eternal twilight, inhabited only by swirling mists that themselves contain the souls of almost explicitly "evil" individuals. Many however have never looked upon the Shadow Realm, and wrongly believe it to be a place of fire and eternal damnation, when really, no one is sure as to its purpose, or what draws the darker souls to it.
The Moonsong Alliance Explained: What happens when two nations possessing the means to obliterate large swathes of the planet come toe to toe in a conflict of political, religious or economic interest?
There are only two outcomes of this age-old conundrum. Mutual annihilation, or a reluctant peace.
The Moonsong Alliance was birthed from the latter scenario, between a group of warring nations many centuries ago. None had the power to both destroy their enemies and yet guarantee their own survival in a cauldron of war and death that had all but exhausted both their peoples and their resources over the span of decades.
Realising that they could not move forwards with continued hostilities, this group of nations instead formed an Alliance - creating a shallow peace in exchange for the liberty of conquest in areas that were not contested by conflicting interests.
This should have paved the way for mighty empires to arise, but it was not so. In their bid to expand their borders, the founding nations of the Moonsong Alliance raced each other to acquire land and influence. Rather than conquer smaller countries and isolated city states, they sought to bring them into their own respective blocs. A way of officiating this process, was allowing these vassal states into the Alliance.
At first, the founding members of the Moonsong Alliance and their political blocs ballooned. Large swathes of land came under their respective influences, and soon, over a third of the world carried the same banner - if only in name. However, it did not take long for these blocs to break down, as minor nations sought their own independence. Revolutions erupted across the land, thus fracturing what power the founding members held over all those that had once paid homage to them.
Fast forward five hundred years, and several thousand rewritings of the Moonsong Treaty, and the Alliance is now a loosely aligned patchwork quilt of over a hundred nations, all bound by the same flag, but little else. Petty skirmishes and minor wars are a common daily event, and any attempt at creating a central authority has proved a fruitless endeavour. Instead, the Alliance has so far maintained itself by a method of self-policing.
A country invades a neighbour; that neighbour's sponsors and allies rush to its aid, as do those who hold sway with the aggressor. Before long, nations from across the globe are dispatching soldiers to fight on the newest battlefield, until things come to a head and all parties realise that the only way forwards is mutual destruction. What usually follows is a slow de-escalation of violence, lengthy negotiations, reparations, and then the world goes on.
Several times the Alliance has come to the brink, where the greatest warriors and wizards of the land threaten to undo each other in an hour of senseless and wide reaching destruction - yet always reason has prevailed, and both sides back down after realising the futility of their struggle.
But this can't last forever; in fact, it wont last forever. Gargth's rise to power in Everstrine is perhaps the first time the Alliance has mustered its forces for reasons other than keeping the peace; this time, the soldiers of Moonsong fight to stop a great catastrophe from casting a shadow over the world.
Character and Regiment Sheets:
These sheets are open to manipulation if you feel some of the things asked don't cover all aspects of your characters or regiments. Furthermore, your characters/regiments are fully customisable within reason, though I do mention some examples.
Players who wish merely to play as a champion may do so; players who see no need to have a captain is likewise fine.
Post your application in the OOC first, and draw my attention to it. Once approved, you'll be instructed to move it over to the CS tab.
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