Hello everyone! This week we will be meeting Veliccinia Everdeen, a knight from the Farassi League.

Veliccinia lived a happy peaceful life in her families estate. She spent much of her time with the house master at arms learning how to fight, politics and intrigue was never her thing. The Everdeen family ruled over the city Palavin. Known for its master craftsmen if you wanted to be the best at your craft you went to Palavin. Her family was the best smiths and enchanters in the Farassi League, and perhaps all of Astoria.

The powerful Everdeen family wasn’t without its enemies. The Grimaldi’s had a bitter rivalry with the Everdeens and after years of subtle back stabs and slights they took violent action. Under a banner of repairing the two houses relations the Grimaldi’s attacked, slaughtering the Everdeen household guard and Veliccinia’s parents. Veliccinia barely escaped with her sister, Liliana. The only things they had to remember their home was the swords that their father had crafted for them. The two traveled for a few days until they reached a nearby town. Their plan to call for help was halted with a Dominion army marched upon the city, their invasion having just begun. The two sisters were separated in the chaos.

Veliccinia traveled the countryside doing her best to survive in the war torn land. A group of bandits would attack her, attempting to steal the well made sword on her. She drove off the bandits and caught the attention of a near by soldier. This soldier, Artorias, would teach her more in the arts of swordplay and she eventually joined the Farassi Militia in the last years of the war.

After the war Veliccinia took to searching the countryside to find where her sister went, hoping to find her alive. And to maybe someday get enough allies to take back Palavin. This adventure would lead her to Greenbriar, where our campaing will start… once we get through the backstories of the rest of the party. Next time we will hear about Iniel, the Freedom Fighter.

Greetings reader! Today I will briefly describe the continent of North Syonel, giving you some background information before jumping into character backstories.

The world has just exited a period of chaos and recovery. Surviving a horrible war against the demons of the abyss that left the world scarred the last few centuries have been recovery. While nations still bicker over land scholars have declared a new age, one of progress. Ancient ruins from before the war are being unearthed and explored, brave explorers have left the continent to explore the ocean and see what lies out there, and arcanists explore distant otherworldly realms and discover new forms of magic. It is an age of discovery. The story starts in North Syonel.

While there is more to the continent shown here, we will only be seeing the southern end of North Syonel and won’t be seeing any of South Syonel today, i’d like to welcome you to the fractured nation of Astoria!

This is Astoria. Seven years ago the nation was invaded by the Varani Dominion, a powerful empire that puts humanity before all other races. The Dominion exists mostly in South Syonel, and is often mistrusted at best by others due to their antagonistic leadership and being the only nation that still allows slavery. The conflict lasted 2 years, Astoria being occupied for most of that time. The war ended thanks to Astoria’s northern allies, The Kingdoms of Oudora, driving the Dominion back. With many of the archmages and noblemen that held the nation together dead the kingdom fell apart and is now four separate kingdoms: The Morabassi Coast to the south, The Farassi League to the east, The Oorakardi Steps in the center, and Remnants of Astoria making up the rest of the map.

Someday our heroes might reunite the greedy Morabassi merchants, the bickering Farassi lords, and savage Oorakardi tribes but their story starts with the Remnants of Astoria.

The Remnants of Astoria, often called the Heartland, is the former capitol of the nation. While no battles were fought on the territory many people left to fight in the war and didn’t return. While I thought i’d show you where the campaign is taking place I want to avoid detailing anymore so you can learn of the different locations along with the players!

This is only a glimpse at the world i’ve been working on. If you would like to learn more feel free to leave a comment, approach me after class, or shoot me an email.

Before I start regaling the tales of my Dungeons and Dragons party, the Redstone Alliance, I should probably explain what Dungeons and Dragons is. Dungeons and Dragons is a table top role playing game. Typically played by 5 to 7 people, one being the Dungeon Master (DM for short). The DM runs the game and presents a narrative or obstacles for the players to overcome.

What does the Dungeon Master do?

The best description for what a Dungeon Master does lies in the 2015 Dungeon Masters guide. “The Dungeon Master (DM) is the creative force behind a D&D game. The DM creates a world for the other players to explore, and also creates and runs adventures that drive the story. An adventure typically hinges on the successful completion of a quest, and can be as short as a single game session. Longer adventures might embroil players in great conflicts that require multiple game sessions to resolve.” (D&D Dungeon Masters Guide pg 4).

The dungeon master plans the adventures. Setting up the people they meet, monsters they fight, and everything in between. The dungeon master is functionally the narrator and everything in the world other than the player’s character. My next post will go over the world I created for this campaign and some of its history to give you all some context before jumping into who the characters are and the players behind them. Speaking of players…

What does the Player do?

The players purpose is simple on the surface, all they gotta do is play the game! But looking into it there are nuances to it that are not immediately clear. To play the game you need a character. Making a character is more than just deciding that you want to play a Fighter or a Wizard but its making a person that you will role play as. Its like writing a protagonist from a movie or a book. Someone with personality traits, flaws, motivations and more. Who was this person before they became an adventurer? After I write about North Syonel, the continent my campaign is taking place on, I’ll write on the five characters in the campaign to show what all goes into making a character! Stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.