Cosmos: The Dark Frontier

[Ariel Hapzid]

Cosmos the Dark Frontier

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"There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit."
    -A dead and forgotten emperor

The old Empire was huge, spread across the galaxy with 22 million inhabited human worlds before it crumpled beneath its own weight centuries ago. There are literally trillions of people who live and die without ever knowing that they are apart of a galaxy filled with human beings.

For thousands of years man conquered the stars through sorcery and might. Now, it is a dark age, a forgotten age of war and sorcery. There are horrors in the dark places of the universe that humans were never meant to see. It is a frontier of lost civilizations and hidden knowledge where death will come at any moment.

Only the quick witted and the deadly will survive in the Dark Frontier.

The Worlds of Cosmos

There are millions of worlds in the galaxy, each of them connected by sorcery. It is through magic that the starships are able to enter the dreaming and attain faster than light speeds. This is an account of only a small collection of these worlds. For even if I were to visit and chronicle a new world every day it would still take me about 423,076 years (by most calendars).

Khrysos
Once a complete and whole kingdom sworn to the Lotus Throne, it has now broken apart into a world rending civil war. Where once it was united, there are now 18 provinces ripping themselves apart.

Threlis
Home to the shining city of Arethet ruled by the guilds as well as home to the Order of Deltreon which has dedicated itself to categorizing worlds, fauna, flora, lost artifacts, and forgotten information about the galaxy. More ink has been spilled writing about Threlis than any almost any other world in our library.

Marad
Marad is broken into three kingdoms: The Kingdom of the Jackal, The Kingdom of the Scorpion, and The Kingdom of the Serpent. Each ruled by a powerful Caliph who wields a signet ring that allows them to command fealty from the armies of the dead. It is a dangerous and inhospitable place, but there are secrets

Letinsia
A once beautiful planet, it was tainted by corrosive sorcery leaving it a rotting husk of world. The beautiful twilight forests are now weeping sores bleeding acidic sap. The fauna have become mutated horrors that could drive a normal person insane.

Icthillion
It is an old world, where the blood of the old empire still flows like a flooded river. It is a land of kings, it is ancient and beautiful but plagued by a dark shadow.

The Twin Worlds of Aradar and Shol Lomenar
Also known as Dawn and Dusk (respectively). Aradar is a world of light and beauty where heroes are born and magic flows. Shol Lomenar is a dark world corrupt by a powerful Demonlord and dark magic causing it to rot from within.

About the Author
Ariel Hapzid is a Maiden of Secrets and Searcher of Lore. She has served in The Order of Deltreon for 40 years and has personally visited and documented hundreds of new worlds. She is most famous for her discoveries of Tombs of the Jernai Kings, the lotus sword of Braxisor, and her many books on politics among the stars.
[ooc]
What is Cosmos?
It is an entire galaxy of adventure. That being said, it is different from most roleplaying products, unlike a lot of published campaign settings, this is written in character with almost no rules to speak of. The reason for that is to allow a gamemaster and their gaming group decide what system they like to use the most. Maybe you love Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition or 4th edition, or the HERO System, or something you all cooked up yourselves. It doesn't matter to me, just as long as you're all having fun. That means it requires a little more effort on the part of the players and the gamemaster, but I think it's worth it.

I will be describing some of the miraculous alien creatures of Cosmos or some of the strange NPCs, but it's up to the Gamemaster what kind of stats they receive. In one game, a Borogroth is a creature a party of first level heroes could take on, and in another game it is an epic threat that only the toughest warriors could handle. Adventures I write will be more like novellas, with a prose chapter, followed by a section that describes the action in more gaming terms (maps, NPCs, creatures, and sweet loot!).[/ooc]