Sanguine LuxIntro: Late into the night, you were startled by a knocking on your door. The rhythmic tapping was calm but persistent though it ceased as you went to investigate. A slow chill entered the room making you instinctively ready yourself and back slowly away from the door. The floorboards themselves creaking with cold as you walked backwards. A flicker in the moonlight gave you but a second to turn before an open palm slammed into your side knocking the air from your lungs. In the still darkness of night you heard nothing as blows rained upon your incapacitated body knocking you quickly unconscious. Waking but briefly some time later to a flickering warm glow on your eyelids you struggled to sit up only to find yourself tightly chained and bound in a small cage, your burning home all you could see from the back of a wagon. A short humanoid figured clothed in a robe as black as the night air looked in at you, silhouetted by your ruined home. With a hushing sound it dropped a heavily scented canvas over your cage, the fumes overpowering your senses and knocking you back out.
Over the next days you spent more time sleeping than awake, being thrown food by a figure that only seemed to exist at the corners of your vision before hearing a distinct hushing sound which carried you back to unconsciousness. Eventually the sounds of cheering and excitement overpowered whatever drug was running through your blood and you awoke just in time to feel yourself tossed down a stone chute. Landing unbound in a pile of musty smelling hay,you found yourself in a slightly larger cage illuminated by lamp-light from outside the bars. In the cage with you was a large chest containing most of your worldly possessions. On either side of you, you could make out figures in similar cages donning a wide variety of arms and armor. Moving about you felt a sharp pain on the back of your hands, holding them up to the light you saw matching silvery tattoos of an eagle in flight.
You look up to see a pair of soldiers in royal attire following behind a spindly figure wearing a porcelain mask adorned with the same eagle as what is tattooed upon your hands. The masked person turns to the cages and speaks in an unnaturally flat sounding voice “Good… the last of my pawns is here. You all look rather tough for criminals sentenced to death, should put on a good show this year. Try not to die too fast in the arena, I paid good money for you all. If you somehow win I’ll even let you go, it.. is tradition. Hehehehehe, not that I’ve ever had a team win the scum games, that is firmly in the court of the Emperor's Executioners after all.” The masked figure continues to snicker as other prisoners shout out their innocence, or how it was all a misunderstanding. The figure waves it’s hand and says “Well then, you won’t have any problem proving your innocence by winning now will you?” It then turns and stalks away down the rows of prisoners.
Donning your gear quickly, you have but little time to consider the situation as the cage starts to rise into the stone ceiling above. Who abducted you under false charges of criminal activity? Why did you not receive any trial before being sentenced to death? But most importantly how to best exact revenge, for you know you are innocent and vow to prove it.
The continent of At’Xant The current calendar is based on the time of the apocalyptic event that occurred at the city of Xant, capital of the continent of At’Xant. 437 years ago, the Aetheric Comet crashed into the center of the city despite the best attempts of the magus living there. The resulting impact destroyed the city and the land underneath it completely, as well the following earthquakes flattened the vast majority of cities on the continent. Very few survived on At’Xant and the tidal waves that flooded outwards from it devastated much of the surrounding world. Decades afterwards however, magic users felt the call of a vastly untapped power originating from the destroyed continent. It was the glorious Sun King who lead the masses of pilgrims and settlers back to the destroyed continent, to discover a newly formed volcanic island with the Aetheric Comet flying like a beacon above it’s peak. Many multitudes of monstrous beings had felt the call as well, and the battle to take the island from their evil clutches took vast numbers of lives. The survivors formed the New City of Xant, in honor of the lost civilization. Meanwhile the Sun King, now declared the Sun Emperor, sailed back to his northern empire to tell his people of the transformed continent that was now theirs.
The Colosseum Founded by the victors of the battle for New Xant, it was erected off the coast of the volcanic island using their new found magic. In it, people would fight against monsters, beasts and criminals as a mock-reenactment of the battle to win the island. Over time however, the tradition spread to many towns and cities in the sun empire as word of it’s entertainment was carried forth by bards and victors of the arena. The bloodsport continued to gain in popularity and the profession of gladiator was born, though many combatants continue to be condemned criminals, slaves, monsters and even magical constructs.
New City of Xant With the Aetheric Comet burning brightly over the city, it continues to act as a beacon to magic users world wide. The laws of reality are easily manipulated on the island, and many colleges of magic have formed in the ever growing city to teach the constant stream of pilgrims and apprentices. The magical abundance and draw has seen the city grown back to the pre-comet fall days, with nearly a million people calling the slopes of the volcano home. The waters around Xant itself are full of life, as the waters which spring forth from the volcano bring rich nourishment for the sealife. Many fishing ships and trade ships can be seen coming and going from the island of Xant at all times of day, and it serves as the integral center of the Sun Empire’s foothold on the Continent of At’Xant. In recent history however, the city itself has been run by the Archmages who claim loyalty only to the study and advancement of knowledge in the world. For the time being, the Sun Empire has not the power to overthrow the many members of the Archmages Guild and is simply content exploiting the rich natural resources of the new continent.
City of Dusk:Oligarm Home to the descendants of those who survived the Aetheric Comet’s fall on the continent of At’Xant, it sits inside a great cavernous expanse beneath the giant's wall. Originally inhabited by Dwarves and a small population of Gnomes, it opened it’s doors to all survivors. Now an extremely multi-cultural city, it is a stretching realm of barely illuminated dusk. Great spiraling carved stalagmites hold an unknown number of residents, while small candles and lanterns give the appearance of a great many stars throughout Oligarm. Troubled greatly by wars with beast tribes and drow during the period of the Sun King's pilgrimage to Xant, Oligarm swore it’s loyalty to him in return for the assistance of the Sun Empire's military. The city’s leaders remain to this day largely the original dwarven clans, they hold their promise of loyalty to the Sun Emperor close, since for them it was a promise made but a mere generation or two ago.
MapThe Game:
We will be playing using the website roll20, with games once a week. I live on the Atlantic Coast of canada, and timing for me would be best suited as starting at 9:00pm UTC:+0. That would be 5:00pm my time, and it can be any day of the week or weekend, though preferably Tuesdays or wednesdays of each week. I can however start up to three hours later than that each day, and ideally the game will run for 3 to 4 hours each session.
We have a discord server so that I can help you with character creation, answer questions about the world, ect, ect. If you are interested in joining please hop in and chat!
https://discord.gg/3fsrpPWMicrophones will be necessary.
Character CreationUsing the rules on this page of the pathfinder wiki:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/character-creation/Characters start at level 3, with 3000 gold to spend on equipment.
Your attributes are using the 20 point buy (high fantasy)
You may be any race from the core or featured lists, with the exception of Drow.
All core, base and hybrid classes are allowed, as well as non-third party archetypes. Unchained classes are not allowed and synthesis summoners are also banned.
To make the game run smoother, we will be using the character sheets available on roll20 as it allows the automation of many attacks, ability uses, and even a handy spell catalogue. As such, please contact me on discord to receive an invite to the roll20, and I will give you a sheet to edit at the same time.