The continent of Catanoh. The year is 1884 PF1. Twenty years after the end of the Fourth Ecthrian War, the Grandiose Empire of Thryla is the most powerful nation in the region. The economy is booming, poverty is low, crime rates drop, and merriment is made among the land. A sudden, effective social-progressive movement has ensured equal rights for man and woman alike. Relations are good with neighbors, and inventive uses of steam and magic2 usher in a new golden age for Thryla.
Thryla is a powerful country on the Catanoh coast. With an epic history spanning thousands of years, Thryla is one of the most respected and wealthy nations in Catanoh. King Alexander Dathan III's prime minister, Sir Driscoll Emerson, oversees the House of 1000, a grand, two-house parliament at Adain Palace, in the capital at Luminaris. A great system of railways stretches across the countryside, connecting the great metropolises of the nation. It is a highly industrialized nation, and this has led to the proliferation of powerful steam technology throughout the country. To the direct east of Thryla are some of their protectorate states, such as Eclasia and Skia.
To the north and west of Thryla are Ecthria and its protectorate countries, the home of the dwarves, whose industrial power rivals even that of Thryla. Though their people toil to become the strongest power on Catanoh, they have yet to match Thryla's might. They are a constitutional monarchy with a one-house parliament known as the Zweihund Herren. Their king is Gunnar XI, who has sworn peace with his neighbors, unlike his warmongering father.
To the south is Antiplos, the homeland of the elves and Thryla's long-time national rival. Though tensions have cooled over the past century, they are bitter over Thryla's economic success. They are renowned for their refined culture, famous thinkers, brilliant scientists, and avant-garde artists. They are ruled by a parliamentary body known as the Great Assembly, and their prime minister is André Lemaire.
Far to the southwest, countless miles beyond the edge of most maps, is the land of Yuhi, where strange beings, half-man, half-beast (e.g. ratfolk, catfolk, lizardfolk, etc.) dwell, all under the imperial rule of their Dragon Emperor, who only a rare few easterners have seen in person. It has in recent times opened up to foreigners, and both cultures have a marked fascination with each other; most easterners today have an image of Yuhi as the place where animal-men live in paper houses, eat rice, wear strange clothes, and fight each other with curved swords.
Luminaris
Luminaris is a grandiose, cosmopolitan city in the foothills of the Eacrig mountains that occupy much of the land in eastern Thryla. The great Ruith River runs through the eastern half of the town. It has a population of approximately 6.6 million people. Luminaris is a great center of trade and commerce, and located there are countless factories, businesses, and warehouses. The center of the city is a high-class area populated by urban elites and the headquarters of large corporations. Much of the city is occupied by slums where the working class lives, but there are also several middle-class residential districts. Areas near the river are largely occupied by the factories and warehouses that make the city an economic powerhouse, and as a result, the river is not exactly the cleanest body of water, so to speak. The Lord Mayor of Luminaris is known as Whitney Ross.
The upper class of Luminaris--the aristocrats, the landed gentry, the business elites--composes a very small portion of the population. Though some of them devote their fortunes to philanthropic causes, among the middle and working classes, there is a commonly held position that the upper crust of the city's society is greedy and decadent, if not outright corrupt. Notable local members of the upper class include Norman Spearing and Theodore Seward, of ISL, King Alexander Dathan, and Prime Minister Driscoll Emerson. The upper class mostly lives in luxury downtown.
The middle class of Luminaris--the solicitors and barristers, the accountants, the doctors, etc.--take up a large portion of the city's population. There is a generally moderate political sentiment among the middle class, who for the most part seem content with their lives in the city. Although many members of the middle class resent the upper class, an even greater portion seek to emulate them and obsessively pursue the latest fashions and trends in the city. They primarily live in the southwestern residential district and work in the businesses downtown.
The lower class--the workers of the steel mills, the foundries, the locomotive factories--are the single largest portion of the population. Among the workers, there is a growing discontentment with their stations in life, and once a month or so, there is some worker's protest or strike. The politicians are typically slow to respond to their demands, if they respond at all. This lower class is primarily housed in the slums on the outskirts of the city and work in the eastern industrial district.
The local politicians are primarily led by the Council of Fifty, a legislative body led by the Lord Mayor. They are elected every five years by men and women of sufficient income levels--roughly 70% of the city. There is currently a sentiment of distrust among the populace toward the current Council and Lord Mayor due to legislation passed over the last four years perceived to have harmed the lower and lower-middle classes for the benefit of the wealthier citizens, and much of the city looks forward to the elections at the end of this year.
The Luminaris Police Force is headed by Commissioner Thomas Bernard, a reputable middle-aged half-elf. Though the citizens largely distrust the local politicians, they put much faith in the police force, and Commissioner Bernard enjoys a status as a local celebrity. Their inspectors and detectives work tirelessly around the clock to stop the rampant crime around the city. The criminal underworld of Luminaris is a sprawling web of murderers, thieves, unlicensed alchemists, prostitutes, thugs, and tax evaders, among other unsavory sorts. Rumor has it that all the organized crime in the city eventually leads to one "Boss Underwood"; who "Boss Underwood" is, nobody is quite sure of, and theories range from an Ecthrian count to a Yuhian yakuza boss to Prime Minister Driscoll himself.
Steam Power
Widespread steam power has its roots in the 1850s. In 1852, Robert E. Outterridge invented the locomotive; by 1860, almost every nation in Catanoh had adopted its widespread usage. Sometime in the 1850s, multiple people similarly claimed to have invented steamboats. In 1864, Norman Spearing created the Analytical Engine, a steam-powered machine capable of performing mathematical operations with lightning speed; this has become a staple of middle-class households, and faster models are created every year. The greatest breakthrough in steam, however, came in 1871, when Theodore Seward and his team of researchers at the University of Luminaris created the airship, a massive, steam-powered hot air vessel, far greater than the primitive hot air balloons available before this. Airship travel soon became the preferred mode of transport for those with enough funds, and airship stations and mooring ports are standard features of any major city.
Spearing and Seward later joined forces to create International Steam Ltd., a corporation that produces airships and analytical engines. The "ISL" has a team of dedicated researchers working on creating new technology. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, steam technology has grown even more fantastical; although few things have become as widespread as the Analytical Engine and airship, many inventors have created even stranger and esoteric devices that have yet to be widely released to the public, such as miniaturized, personal trains (currently unavailable due to most governments' concerns about the roadway logistics) and steam-powered prosthetic limbs (difficult to obtain due to the wariness of most doctors to prescribe such experimental things to patients.)
[In gameplay terms; you can purchase an analytical engine for 2,500 gp, an airship for 50,000 gp, a steamship for 15,000 gp, or a train for a variety of prices depending on its size. Public airship, steamship, and train services are available to customers at a cost of 1 gp per mile, 1 sp per mile, and 1 cp per mile, respectively. Steam-powered prosthetic limbs are available at princes dependent on the surgeon and work exactly as well as regular limbs.]
1 PF refers to "post founding" and refers to the establishment of the city-state at Thalway, widely regarded as the beginning of modern history.
2 Magic, as it is understood in Catanoh, is defined as "the application of certain techniques beyond those achievable by the average man to push the boundaries of reality". Arcane magic, as defined by scholars, was heavily restricted until the 1850s due to the influence of the church. Scholars are beginning to comprehend the potential wider uses of it, but parlor tricks are the extent of practical influence at the moment. [In game terms, if you learn a spell any greater than 3rd level or so, it is groundbreaking research. Professional spellcasters are unheard of, with most spellcasters being university professors who perform it as part of their research. Magical items are almost unheard of and practically impossible to purchase.]
A footnote on religion: the dominant religion in Catanoh is the Primian Church. It is a monotheistic religion following the teachings of Primum, the Crystal Dragon who casts no shadow. Primum is said to be the pinnacle of all virtues; it is this fact that lead to most schisms in the church. (In gameplay terms, this means that clerics of Primum can choose whatever domains they want. Additionally, Primum's favored weapon is the longsword.) Primum's followers erect churches, cathedrals, and shrines of all sorts in the Crystal Dragon's name. (Westerners follow a complex, polytheistic mythology unknown to most easterners. It's not entirely clear why clerics of both mutually exclusive religions have their divine powers.)
1. Start at 1st level. 15 point buy. Pick 2 traits, no Finding Haleen.
2. Pick whatever class you like out of the ones in the following lists. Alignment restrictions are completely removed. If you're playing a spellcaster, keep in mind that arcane magic is practically a brand-new field of study, divine magic is almost exclusively used in rituals by priests, and the use of magic on another person is expressly forbidden outside of extreme circumstances.
3. Please try to provide at least two paragraphs (8-10 sentences) of backstory, ideally at least 3. This is going to be a relatively plot-heavy game, and certainly no beat-em-up dungeon crawl.
4. If you're unsure about anything or want to try something unconventional, feel free to ask me. I'm happy to let you fill in the details of the world with your own imagination, but please try to stick to the feel of the setting. I may have to ask you to revise details about your character; don't take this personally!
5. If I totally screw something up, please let me know! This is my first Pathfinder game and I'm still mostly used to D&D 3.5.
6. This goes without saying, but just to be clear: no joke characters or characters who exist solely as a vehicle for you to smash stuff. If you want to make a flat character and are mostly here for the fighting, that's fine by me; if you want to make a funny character who likes making jokes and isn't always serious, that's okay too! But avoid making characters who: are psychotically evil and commit heinous crimes for no reason;
are obviously stolen from other fictional characters; are obvious self-inserts or Mary Sues; have pun names and/or mostly exist to make references or jokes.
7. This is not going to be on a first-come, first-serve basis. I will choose the four characters I find the most interesting. Please don't take it personally if I reject your character--I hate saying no just as much as you hate being rejected. :\
8. This campaign probably won't run all the way to 20th level, as much as I'd like it to, so don't plan around having access to extremely high-level equipment and spells.
The basic setup of the game is that your characters are in the city of Luminaris for whatever reason--perhaps they live there, or they are merely passing through, or what have you--and circumstances pull them into a web of mystery surrounding one mysterious figure. I'm not entirely sure how you could write your character in such a way that these circumstances are impossible or outlandish, but try to avoid doing so anyway.
Classes:
Alchemist*, Antipaladin, Barbarian, Bard, Bloodrager, Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Gunslinger†, Hunter, Inquisitor, Investigator*, Magus, Monk‡, Ninja‡, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Samurai‡, Skald, Slayer, Swashbuckler, Vigilante, Warpriest
Gentleman's Agreement Classes: You may choose any class here only if you agree to deliberately hold back the full potential of the character to avoid trivializing the entire game.
Arcanist, Cleric, Druid, Oracle, Shaman, Sorcerer, Summoner, Witch, Wizard
* A note on alchemy: Alchemy, being more grounded in science than the other magical arts, is more commonly accepted than raw magical practices such as wizardry and sorcery. Some people even take up alchemy as a hobby. Unlike traditional magical items (such as enchanted weapons or wondrous items), alchemical items (such as sunrods and tanglefoot bags) are readily available.
† A note on firearms: Use the "guns everywhere" rules as detailed in the SRD (To quote: "Guns are commonplace. Early firearms are seen as antiques, and advanced firearms are widespread. Firearms are simple weapons, and early firearms, advanced guns, and their ammunition are bought or crafted for 10% of the cost listed in this chapter. The Gunslinger loses the gunsmith class feature and instead gains the gun training class feature at 1st level.")
‡ Please give at least 3 paragraphs explaining why you are playing a pseudo-Oriental character in a pseudo-European setting.
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Topic: Mystery in the City of Starlight (Pathfinder) (4/4) (Read 13822 times)