The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic=Serving the Council]Removed.  See the website.[/ic]

[ic=Betrayal]Removed.  See the website.[/ic]

[ic=The Anurans]Removed.  See the website.[/ic]

[ic=New Lands]With the lizardfolk discovery of the Lizard Isles, my people began to desire exploration of new lands again.  We knew that the lupines had come from a land west of Atlantis, but we had promised to leave that land in peace.  We suspected there might be other land masses south of there, however, and eventually, Mahucatah and others pushed for exploration.

The Council would only allow him to lead the expedition if he resigned as Councilman, since he might be gone for a long time.  He admitted this, and he and Tzununiha resigned the Council and began gathering encarans for an expedition to the west.  Only a small number of humans were selected for the voyage, and some anurans that were still seeking new lands.  Some of the humans feared sailing off the edge of the world; no matter how hard we tried to explain that Kishar was round, they would not listen.  Perhaps that is why few agreed to go.

Before they could leave, we needed two new Council members.  Finding them proved somewhat difficult, as many of the more politically active of my people desired to join the expedition to new lands.  After some debate, Telthai, a scholar from Ur, was called in.  There was a great deal of debate about who would be the other choice.  As the debate dragged on, the ships were allowed to leave when the Council realized it would take time to reach an accord.  Eventually, a young woman from Korosus petitioned for the position and was granted it.  Her name was Athen.

The ships landed at a large island which my people named Zacoba.  Some of my people settled there, finding primitive humans already living there.  We can only believe they were descendants of those humans the lupines had brought over nearly four thousand years earlier.  Other ships split off, some going north, some south.

On Zacoba, Mahucatah began construction of a new city, while another encaran named Quitze made contact with the local humans, able to establish peaceful relations.  From the humans, he learned there were also some catfolk present in Zacoba and other nearby lands.  These catfolk seemed to be from different sub-species than those we were familiar with.  We do not know if they were also carried over by the lupines or somehow found there way to the west on their own, but it was rare for catfolk to build ships, as they do not seem to trust the sea.  Mahucatah and Tzununiha named the first city Tikal, after their daughter Tika.

To the north, my people landed on another large island.  The locals called this place Teoti.  From them they learned there was a large land mass to the north, were the people feared wolf-men.  Realizing this must be the land of the lupines, the expedition leader, Teno, ordered that this was as far north as they would sail.

To the south my people found many more islands which we named the Mantean Islands, and another large land mass, which we named Kalakti.  Exploration began of these new lands.  These regions had only sparse populations â,¬' a handful of savage humans and catfolk.  In Kalakti, after some years, my people found a small tribe of lizardfolk that had apparently arrived not too long before they had.

My people left most of the Mantean Islands to the anurans and humans, building only small settlements to teach the local humans and help enforce the peace.  On Teoti, they began construction of a new city that would be called Tenoch, located on an island in a great lake.  In Kalakti, they began construction on a city in the mountains called Paititi.

As word reached of these new lands, my peopleâ,¬,,¢s excitement grew, and more decided to settle there, including some additional anurans, lizardfolk, and humans.  More traveled across the sea.

Some years later my people began a project to settle in Hyperborea.  Officially, it was not announced, for we desired to create private research facilities and we doubted how comfortable others might be in those domains, even with the more advanced geothermal technology Daedalus had designed for the site.  We also feared there might still be lupines in those lands that would not welcome us.  A small number of my people sailed north and thus began building a settlement there.  They found no signs of life throughout Hyperborea.

Years later, Dagdan received a strange report from Dasia.  She had been exploring Lemuria, and she found something.  Something deep beneath the surface.  She believed it was ancient technology far beyond what the elves, or even ourselves could have built.  She did not fully understand it herself, believing it might have been powered by some kind of mystical force, rather than our â,¬Å"pureâ,¬Â technology.  She requested an assistant to help her study the technology, but she wanted to keep the information secret, lest the elves learn what she had found and try to use it, which she feared might be dangerous.  Dagdan agreed to send her an assistant, Karsus, but on my request, allowed me to go, as well, to see this for myself.  We had believed the only creatures older than ourselves were dragons.  What she found threatened to challenge that most basic of our beliefs.[/ic]

[ic=Buried Ruins and New Allies]I traveled across Midgard with Karsus, to Lemuria.  There we met with Dasia and she took us into tunnels deep beneath the surface.  She said an earthquake had opened these shafts.  Based on her findings, she believed the area must have been sealed long before the rise of the Empire.  We traveled well over a mile beneath the surface and came upon things unlike anything I had ever seen.  It was in a way, like a city built from metal, which strange pipes everywhere, carvings we could not understand, machines of colossal size.

I was awestruck.  Everything I had believed about the origins of the world was thrown into question; nothing could have prepared me for this.  I could see why Dasia worried about the elves finding it.  If it was powered by in any way by magic, they might discover its workings, and in their rashness use energies they could not control or understand.

We traveled deeper, to where she had begun an attempt to translate some strange inscription engraved on the interior of a metal tower.  She believed it was some kind of warning about some terrible foe that the creators of this place had feared greatly.  It looked like they believed something lived within the depths of the world, something awful.  At first, I thought perhaps they spoke of some kind of dragon.  But as I studied the strange inscriptions and pictograms, I began to suspect it was something else, something we knew nothing of.

I asked Karsus to delve even deeper, to discover what secrets the place held, while Dasia was to continue her work in understanding the elves and ensure none came here.  I had to return and report what I had found to Dagdan and the Council.  I ran across Midgard, returning to Ys as quickly as I could.

When I told Dagdan what I had found, he said we must have a private meeting with the Council.  Grallo ordered a closed session, and I told them all I had seen, all I suspected.  After serious debate, the Council agreed to keep this knowledge secret, and to maintain efforts to ensure the ancient ruins were not uncovered by others while Karsus studied them.

I returned to my prior duties, but my mind would not let go of what I had seen.  Somewhere, out there, there were things we had not begun to imagine.  The thought frightened me.  But years passed, and we had only scattered reports from Dasia and Karsus.  They searched Lemuria, even the surrounding lands, finding other strange things that we had taken little notice of until given an excuse to look for them.  They delved deeper beneath Kishar, trying to understand a puzzle for which most of the pieces were long lost.

And then the Star created another new race, the sahagin.  We were fortunate to find them only a few years after their creation, a young race, born in the warm waters not far from Atlantis.  Our people discovered them in the sea and made contact, working to quickly establish peaceful relations.  We knew incorporating an aquatic race into the Empire would be difficult unless we earned their loyalty from the start, for they could go places we could not.  We had had only tentative success in keeping control of the merfolk and other aquatic fey races.

Young and primitive, the sahagin quickly accepted us, and we began to teach them of the things we taught all young races.  They agreed to join the Empire without hesitation.  Lir, who had made contact and been responsible for teaching them, said that if anything, they seemed honored by the offer.  We encouraged the sahagin to remain in the near area while they were young, to resist the urge to spread out across the sea.  We feared they would range too far before we could teach them enough, and thus create risk of future conflict with ourselves or other races.  Our fears were confirmed when we learned that some that had left had begun battling a merfolk colony.  We arbitrated as best we could, knowing it would be hard to enforce the peace if they broke it.
[note=Geography]Hybreasil was the encaran name for what is now the Wasteland.  After the fall of the Empire, it was divided into two countires, Scathac and Breasil.  They were in turn destoryed by Vritra, and the land became the Wasteland.[/note]
By this time, the explorers in the west had covered most of Kalakti and discovered another large land mass beyond it.  They called this new land Hybreasil, and began to settle there.  As they spread, talk began of sending explorers east from Khaltesh to see if the two sides would meet up.  The project was placed on hold by the Council, in favor of another.

We had begun to see new opportunities in our sahagin friends.  They allowed us to construct underwater facilities with much greater ease.  As they seemed more than willing to help, a new project was founded, to create another city called Slieve Faud, which would lie off the coast of Atlantis, beneath the waves.  Tunnels would connect Atlantis to Slieve Faud.  For years the sahagin helped us build the city and its tunnels.  The project was massive.  It was not only intended to be a chance for us to study the bottom of the ocean, but a meeting place for us and the undersea races, a research station, and a new colony.  The colony offered the appeal of being exotic, exciting, and new.  Perhaps it was decadence that we should need such a thing.  The construction was overseen by Lir, becoming his crowning masterpiece, though he consulted Daedalus on several occasions.

Some years later, the Council approved the plan to explore other areas of Kishar, even if we werenâ,¬,,¢t ready to settle them yet.  Several ships set out from Lagash, Khaltesh, Agria, and Kalakti, seeking new lands.  Many of the most adventurous of my people lobbied for a position on the crews.  Some crews even included humans, fey, or other races seeking adventure, though most were primarily encarans.  Many ships spent a great deal of time charting island chains south of Lagash and Khaltesh, finding most uninhabited, while some held isolated fey, or even the occasional catfolk, anuran, or lizardfolk settlement.  Most of these did not even remember our Empire existed, much less that their people were part of it.  Ships sailing east from Khaltesh did eventually land at Hybreasil, as well, meeting up with our people there.  We found more islands south of Kalakti, and charted the rough edges of the northern land masses of the west, gauging what lands the lupines had come from.  We found another large land mass to the south, which some lizardfolk had already settled, perhaps having come from Kongo long ago.  This land they called Terraust.  More islands lay beyond there.[/ic]

[ic=Loses]While the exploration continued, my people eventually decided to found more cities.  They became fond of one of the Mantean Islands and began construction on the city of Quivira, which was located in a secluded rainforest.  Later, construction began on Machu Picchu, another city in the mountains of Kalakti.  Though nothing compared to the project of Slieve Faud, Machu Picchu was impressive in its own right, featuring well developed terraces which aided in agriculture.

We spent further years charting more islands, more lands, creating ever newer, more accurate maps.  It had become the obsession of my people to map all of Kishar.  We found an icy wasteland at the south pole we called Niflheim.  It seemed even more inhospitable than Hyperborea, so we charted its area but did not explore it.

As Slieve Faud was completed, our studies and exploration moved beyond just the surface to the oceans themselves.  Mostly we relied on reports brought back from the sahagin or merfolk, though we made some attempts at further tunneling to explore other areas.

After many years, I received a disturbing report from Dasia.  She had lost contact with Karsus.  He had not reported in at his normal interval, and was now well past due.  She searched for him but could not find him.  Dagdan sent me back to Lemuria to locate him.  I returned and met with Dasia.  She said that she had been witnessing elven experiments in controlling elemental energy.  While I was interested in the subject, I feared we needed to find Karsus quickly.  She took me to where he had last reported exploring.  Again, it was a tunnel far beneath the surface, opened by an earthquake.  Dasia had begun to suspect Lemuria was suffering so many earthquakes due to the use of excessive of magic here.  I asked if they were actually attempting to move the ground, but she said she believed it was just a side effect unrelated to their actual intents.

I climbed down the tunnel she had indicated.  At first I thought it might be more ruins of the same people that had built those I saw before, which Dasia had been calling the Builders.  I quickly dismissed the notion, as I did not see giant metal machines, but strange carvings molded right into the stone.  The deeper I went, the more the place appeared to have been reshaped by some great hand, like molded clay â,¬' clearly designed, yet with no signs of workmanship, no cracks, no seams, as though carved not by tools but by water.

I found a few scraps of paper that Karsus had taken notes on.  He believed he had located evidence of some race other than the Builders.  His notes called these beings only the Old Ones, and he believed this place was constructed by them.  He said they were incredibly ancient beings from some alien place.  I searched the ruin for him, but found no sign.  Half the place was flooded.  The water was murky, but not deep, so I tried searching underwater, and found Karsusâ,¬,,¢s sword.  I could not imagine where he had gone, but I feared the worst.  Something about the place made me shiver, even in the warm weather.  I climbed back out and told Dasia what I found.  She said she had searched the area thoroughly and found no sign of tracks leaving the site.

Uncertain, we decided we had to seal the place up.  There was something unnatural about it.  We induced a land slide, burying the tunnel.  I never saw Karsus again.  I can only assume he died before I ever reached Lemuria.  Once again, I returned to the Council with information we had to keep from the general population of the Empire.  I did not like where this was going.

And yet, once again, things returned to normal.  The years went by, our knowledge of Kishar ever growing as we explored and mapped the land, pioneered new areas of science, and delved beneath the seas.  We began an intensive study of theories of tectonic plates to determine whether the frequent earthquakes in Lemuria were natural or, as Dasia believed, a result of their activities.  Such studies were difficult, and took time.  When the final report came in, it indicated that there was more seismic activity in Lemuria than there should have been.  We tried to warn the elves of this, but they would not hear it, or did not understand the science, and so we let it go.

Many years later, Daedalus attempted his greatest experiment.  He had created a device he believed could be propelled with enough motion to allow him to fly.  This device resembled a giant bird, which was to take to the sky.  But the experiment was ill-conceived, and we were not meant or not ready to fly.  It was grand in design, and terrible in its failure.  The device took to the sky, but Daedalus was not able to control it, and it crashed back to Kishar.  Daedalus and his son were killed in the crash â,¬' even their encaran healing abilities were not enough to keep them alive from a fall from that height.

My people were heartbroken at the loss of Daedalus.  Some called his experiment arrogant, claimed he brought his demise upon himself in his hubris.  But we were all diminished by his passing.  After seeing the crash, I traveled to Angkor, seeking solace.  I had lost two friends in the last few centuries, two I thought would always be there, and it pressed in on me.

In my absence, Perseus resigned from the Council, and Lasair returned from Ahn-Taran to retake his seat there.  Perseus made it his project to explore more of the islands in the Midgard Sea, occasionally sending reports to Korosus, copies of which were in turn sent to Ys.  As always, time passed, and we remained.[/ic]

I'd just like to note that I have finished the first post.  I know that sounds sad, but there is just an immense quantity of material here.  The detail present in your world's history is overhwelming, and everything seems to fit together well.  I appreciate the narative greatly.  

It pains me to read most of this however, largely due to a certain innate rebellion against the celtic influences in your work.  I really don't know why, but it rubs me the wrong way.  Your work looks brilliant, it just isn't my thing.  Keep writing though, somebody else will get the enjoyment I am deprived of.

Quote from: Natural 20I'd just like to note that I have finished the first post.  I know that sounds sad, but there is just an immense quantity of material here.  The detail present in your world's history is overhwelming, and everything seems to fit together well.  I appreciate the narative greatly.  

It pains me to read most of this however, largely due to a certain innate rebellion against the celtic influences in your work.  I really don't know why, but it rubs me the wrong way.  Your work looks brilliant, it just isn't my thing.  Keep writing though, somebody else will get the enjoyment I am deprived of.

Thanks.  It's always encouraging to hear people are reading it, even if only a little ;) and I appreciate your taking the time to delve through it.  There is indeed a lot of material, as is certain to be the case when one tries to the tell history of an entire planet.

You don't like Celtic culture? :?:  But...but...but...    :(

Kishar is inspired by many real-world mythologies, including Celtic.  Many of the character names for encarans are derived from Celtic, Greek, and Maya myth.

In a way the encarans are my own unique tragic race, in a way they represent the fallen golden age found in so many mythologies that speaks of better days and a time when people themselves were just greater.

The elven culture (which comes into dominance after the fall of the encarans) is largely Celtic/Norse inspired.

After the elves, the Demon Age, where there is a lot more Hindu mythology.

And then the age of man, where mythology starts to fall into the background and the heroes of previous ages are worshipped as gods, their legends grown so great that men forget they were but people.

[ic=Threats from Within]I returned to Ys and resumed my studies.  In time, we heard reports from Vija that a new race arisen in her domain and that conflict had begun with them, especially between the humans and the new race.  This was a race of rat-men that called themselves nezumi.  Vija was ordered to arbitrate, but found the many tribes of nezumi scattered and disorganized, causing the process to take nearly two years.  Eventually, however, peace was restored, and the nezumi accepted into the Empire, even if they were forced in at sword-point.

It was not long after this time, however, that the Council held a meeting to which all encarans were called.  The meeting was to discuss a matter we had all begun to suspect, but no one had wanted to face.  Asclepius confirmed what many feared â,¬' our birthrates across the Empire had been steadily and rapidly declining for centuries.  We were becoming a barren race.  Some immediately claimed the Star had forsaken us.  Others wanted to blame elven magic â,¬' some saying it was intentional, some merely another side effect.

Grallo ordered my father to begin an in-depth study to find a solution.  We were to keep this news from the non-encaran population to avoid creating a panic.  The years that followed were stressful, as all other concerns become secondary.  My father worked closely with Dagdan and myself, consulting with Dasia, eventually concluding elven magic was probably not responsible.  It seemed possible the Star had forsaken us, but there was nothing to be done if that was the case.

My father began the most extensive and focused studies into biology ever attempted.  He extensively studied race and propagation.  After working with plants and animals, he arranged volunteers to participate in breeding programs for actual races.  He developed a theory about the traits living creatures carried inside and passed to their offspring, calling this science genetics.  When most of the experiments with encarans failed, he began attempts to cross-breed other species.  He tried humans and encarans as a means to save the race, but the tests failed.  He convinced some elves and humans to try to reproduce, but those tests also failed.  He finally concluded that different species have certain distinctions in their genetics that make them incompatible and thus unable to produce offspring together.  The projects continued as he bred other humans together to see what traits he could produce.  The experiments would continue until the time of the rebellion, and while they greatly increased our understanding of biology, they found no solution to our condition.

Even as these experiments unfolded, we continued to settled new areas.  We began to form colonies on the island chain of Bana.  There we created an extensive terrace system in some of the mountains and an irrigation system to bring water to it.  As exploration and settlement in Bana increased, Kirran found something odd.  Perhaps if he had read the report I had brought from where we lost Karsus, he would have known sooner what he had stumbled upon in a deep, flooded cavern.  But that report was classified, and Kirran trekked on, entranced by the strange carvings.

That cavern, however, was not empty.  He foundâ,¬Â¦something alive, there.  Something ancient and terrible, living beneath the waters.  He said that he had one of the fiercest battles of his life against the creature, but he would not speak more of it.  Whatever he saw, it left a terrible impression on him.  He drove it off, and sealed the cave.  After making the report, he retreated into solitude, and it was long before anyone saw him again.  All we really know of what he faced, was that he called it a Dweller.  I resolved to research the beings further, but to use caution, for they were clearly powerful and dangerous.  I do not know where he got that name for it.

As our experiments in biology increased, the elven magic experiments reached new levels, mostly unnoticed by us.  They apparently no longer cared about the restrictions we had placed.  In Shal-Taran, Lemuria, Lagash, even secluded parts of Atlantis, their powers grew and their experiments increased.  Small wonder, then, that they would discover something out there.  What they found was not immediately brought to us.  They discovered that beings other than elementals existed beyond Kishar.  Beings of power and magic far beyond their own.  These entities they named cosmic beings, suspecting they held the hidden powers of all the universe.

Their experiments and research continued, until they finally managed to contact one of these beings, to summon it to them.  The being promised them great power, infinite knowledge, and they began dealing with it.  But Dasia secretly observed this, and burst in, demanding they send the being away.  The elves cast out the cosmic being, and Dasia reported to Dagdan, who took the information to the Council.

The Council was terrified that something else was out there beyond the world.  There had been theories that life might exist on other planets, but it seemed we were talking about something far greater.  Some feared the elves cosmic beings were the Old Ones, I do not think so.  I expressed my feeling that they were something else entirely.  Grallo issued a command forbidding further attempts to contact such entities, fearing they represented terrible danger.  While some of the fey objected, as far as I know, they obeyed, at least at first.[/ic]

I've read a few more posts, and I'd just like to say your narrative is a good read.  Since it seems so set already, I doubt you would change the history, so I merely give you encouragement here, as I hope you keep writing.

to clarify: More!

[ic=Rebellion]Decades passed; we were too enraptured in our own troubles to notice what the other races were doing.  Perhaps had been watching the elves more closely, tragedy could have been avoided.  Perhaps it was inevitable.  It is unclear exactly how Jalamdhara reached Kishar.  Perhaps the demon was summoned by the elves and they lost control of it.  Others believe it was merely attracted by the intense fluctuations created by their frequent use of magic.

What is certain, however, is that a powerful demon called Jalamdhara entered the city of Ahl-Kirat.  There, he began seducing humans and elves with the lure of powers, corrupting them.  Our people discovered the demon, and some also gave in to his lures.  Others, however, did not and eventually confronted him.  Jalamdhara turned from corruption to destruction, laying waste to Ahl-Kirat, raining fire from the sky and shaking the foundations of the earth.  Kirran arrived â,¬' the first time any had seen him in years â,¬' and faced the demon, leading many encaran warriors.  They destroyed it, then turned on those it had corrupted.  The encaran warriors slaughtered humans and elves that had been tainted by the demon; neither race took the actions of the encarans well.  In total, between the demon and the actions of our own warriors, we believe some 12,000 humans died, approximately 2000 fey, and at least a hundred encarans.

The Council was furious, and debate raged.  Maeve was summoned to defend the actions of her people.  She claimed not to have knowledge of what happened in Ahl-Kirat until it was too late, but Grallo accused her of trying merely to protect her own position.  Argument went on for several years, until finally the Council passed laws forbidding the use of magic in the Empire.  The fey were outraged.  They denounced us in the streets, claiming we feared them because we could not use their powers.  As our control lessened, the Council tightened its grip.  Those that spook out publicly against the new laws were charged with sedition.  Dissent among the elves increased, and they convinced many other races that our regime held them back.

Many elves chose to ignore the laws we had set.  Our response was swift and brutal.  Perhaps in our anger, in our grief at our own plight, we forget that mercy had been one of our virtues.  Those casting magic were arrested and executed, recorded spells and books on magic were confiscated and burned.  Tensions rose, and things spiraled out of control.

But hope rose again when Grallo had a daughter, Lethleisia.  She was the first encaran born in two centuries.  Sadly, she was also the last that would ever be born.  While she was still very young, not even forty, she began to develop a relationship with Cocidius.  In prior years, Grallo might have discouraged romantic relationships for one less than a century old.  Now, our hopes for the future of our race rode on our people having more children, so they were encouraged, even if Grallo did not outright give his blessing.  I certainly encouraged her, in my own way, telling her of his many exploits.

It was not long after, that we had a strange visitor to the Council.  I was there that day, as were many other encarans.  We believed the man was human, but he came to us with what he claimed was knowledge of the past and future.  He called himself, Prometheus.  We did not know what to make of him, for he spoke of the Old Ones and the Dwellers of which we had told no humans.  He spoke a prophecy that we were to record.  He said that they feared only one thing â,¬' one thing called the Omega.  Prometheus said that we would endure terrible hardship, but that we must not lose ourselves in the process.  No one knew what he meant at the time, many believed him a madman.  He also spoke of the elves, said that magic was their birthright, that we could not take it from them, but that we were right to fear its abuse.  He said that there were far more terrible entities out there than Jalamdhara.  I wish, now, I remembered more of his exact words.  For he said other things, many things holding wisdom beyond that we believed endowed to humanity.  Though we were unsure who he was, we heeded his words about the Dwellers, at least, recording his prophecy in many of our cities.

Ten years later, the elves openly rebelled against the Empire.  The peace was broken.  The golden age had ended, and the most terrible war the world had yet known was about to begin.[/ic]

Quote from: Natural 20I've read a few more posts, and I'd just like to say your narrative is a good read.  Since it seems so set already, I doubt you would change the history, so I merely give you encouragement here, as I hope you keep writing.

to clarify: More!

Thanks again.  Well, when writing one always has to do some revisions, and this is not the first draft of the story, though the first one in such narrative detail.  Certainly the general flow and flavor I'm unlikely to drastically change, partly because it played a major role in the plot of previous campaigns in the setting.

Of course, specific suggestions will be thoroughly considered, and I do appreciate the feedback.