Dungeon/Lore24: The Shattered Vale by Magnus

Roleplaying Games
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Good Morrow, fellow devotees of the Hex and Presser thereof!

I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon with lore24, but I’ll be combining it with the general prerogative of last year for a bit of #dungeon24!

I’ll be using the setting I’ve been running my World’s Without Number game in (check out the Hexmap sharing megathread for some images of my map and scrawled key haha).

To make up some time, I’ll start by filling in this past week with some lore tidbits I already have, and then hopefully springboard from there to fill out remaining villages and also get some dungeons drawn up! (Hence the #Dungeon24)

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Awesome! I’ve added your thread to the megathread! Good luck! :grin:

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Day 1

This was my Campaign Pitch, following a template I found at blackcitadelrpg.com and serves as the only “deep” lore for the game as of right now:

The land now known simply as The Veil has always been a land apart. Encompassed by treacherous mountains, deep enchanted forests, and a furious sea; through these natural barriers and the unity of the dwarves and men of old, the realm prospered.

Then came the Sundering.

The Realm of Old is now but the foggy memory of only the most venerable elders. Little remains save the moldering ruins of a great aqueduct which reached from the peaks of the mountains nearly to the shores of the sea. Its splendor now but a looming stone shadows of the past. In the lowlands men, dwarves and more struggle on, though the lands are ever-shifting and magic and monsters bubble up from just below the surface.

Into this world you have awakened.

Themes

Exploration/Discovery, Rise from the Ashes, Sword-and-Sorcery, Medium Fantasy

Play Style

Mercenary adventurers, High Combat and Exploration, Dungeoncrawl, Hexcrawl

Touchstones

Battle-Brothers, Elden Ring, The Witcher

Player Buy In

You will be playing a group of adventurers/mercenaries making their way through the ruins of a once-prosperous kingdom. Whatever else your characters strive toward, wealth of material and knowledge awaits those brave and foolhardy enough to find it.

There is opportunity to search for answers regarding the World Before and what befell it, as well as to unite the remaining peoples of the Veil and reestablish civilization.

Additional Notes

While magic is not uncommon in the Vale, it is poorly understood and subject to much superstition. Mages are usually tolerated, but many people will keep their distance.

Less tolerated by some communities are anything seen as affiliated with the “Fair Folk.” This most often refers to those of Fey ancestry, including Elves. “Fey” and “Eldritch” are virtually synonymous in this world- the denizens of the Otherworld are as alien and potentially horrifying as those from the darkness between the stars

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Day 2

The Veiled March, or simply the Veil, is so called for its isolation- shrouded as it is by great mountains, trackless woodlands and a furious sea.

Generations ago, the men of the Veil and the Highlords of the dwarven realm made a pact, together founding the realm of Strathforge. Its twin pillars were the Fireheart Hold- the city of the Dwarves- and the city of Men by the sea. From the High peaks, across the whole land, these united peoples built a massive aqueduct to become the lifeline of the realm.

Precious few could hope to enter the Veil save by way of Fireheart or the sea. Trade flowed, and the Realm flourished.

The Sundering

None but the most venerable of ancestors or learned of sages can say with any certainty what begat the Sundering, and even they know not what has become of the World beyond.

What is known is the earth began to move and quake and the mountains began to burn. Fireheart Hold burst most violently, covering a violet sky with ashen clouds. The Dwarven Highlords fled into the lowlands before rivers of boiling rock. Simultaneously, the sea seemed to boil and shrink before rising in titanic waves to batter the Shoreborne and lay low their capital. Horrendous monsters crawled from the depths of the broken earth or the shadowy glades of the deepest woods.

The remnants of Strathforge coalesced along the Aqueduct, but even as ash and burning rock rained upon them physically, the very weave of reality seemed to fray. Magic potential waxed and waned like the tides, and the skies whirled in madness. One by one, the Holdfasts fell, until naught but Fenhearth remained…

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Day 3: The Rise and Fall of Fenhearth

The final battle of the Sundering took place among the hills and across the fields surrounding the last holdfast of the old kingdom. Little in the way of straightforward histories can be found of this time.

Under frothing skies, men and more fought back thrumming legion and ravening horde alike. Fire, oh such baleful fire did heaven rain upon the world, and earth in turn spit forth in defiance. Lo, amid the wheels of flame and peals of terrible thunder did sword, axe and pole littler the ground, till the soil itself seethed red with boiling blood. Since the days of first damnation, no such calamity and ruin had ere been wrought. - From Song of the Unbowed, author unknown. Translation patronized by the Bladegrove’s of Lanceford

The Last Holdfast endured, but the Great Aqueduct had been severely damaged, and the surrounding lands were forever changed. About the city, the converging rivers swelled and washed across the fields, and from then on the city was known as Fenhearth. In time, as the world began to settle and the skies became clear, Fenhearth would stand as a lone city-state, the last remaining shard of a once mighty civilization.

But it was not to last…

Fenhearth stood proud, a beacon of light amid the darkness for generations. The calamity of old was nearly forgotten. Whether through negligence, complacence or ignorance none can say for certain, but the festering wounds of the Sundering could never lay dormant forever.

The Great Aqueduct had long lay dormant- destroyed and none knowledgeable or resourceful enough to reconstitute it. But one day, the reservoirs filled, the norias began to turn… but the water was black and brackish. The earth shook and a haze seemed to rize over the spires… the haze of madness - Fragment, author Unknown

The very earth itself tried to swallow Fenhearth. The ground broke and the city descended. The Rivers Lance and Highmeadow were unbound and their newfound falls covered the city in mire and mist. Those denizens who were outside the city or near the walls were the only survivors… though rumor abounds that the rest of the populace suffered something worse than mere death.

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Day 4: Lanceford and the Fenlanders

Situated along the Lance River, the former Fenhearth suburb of Lanceford is one of the remnant communities of the old city-state.

Lanceford is primarily made up of citizen-soldiers and old military families, with relatively few aristocratic families having escaped the doom of Fenhearth. Everyone from what former nobles remain to the lowliest peasants are armed and maintain at least cursory level of skill in defending themselves.

Leadership:
Lord Commander of the Ford, Aunger “The Boar” is the de facto leader of Lanceford, though his rule is less than secure. A middle-aged, somewhat heavy-set man with graying mutton chops. Aunger exercises a spartan military rule over the community, though given the horrors that surround them, this is hardly an unnecessary reality. While strict, he genuinely seeks the betterment of his people and few would call him uncaring or indeed unkind.

Significant Locals:

  • Old Till: A venerable farmer; grew up in the heyday of Old Fenhearth.
  • Lord Caelric Whitecrow: Former nobility, now forced to farm. Retains a unit of veteran cavalry.
  • Lady Cressida Whitecrow: Lord Caelric’s daughter, wed to Aunger, though nearly 30 years his junior.
  • Bruno Bladegrove: a young scion of Lanceford gentry, which has since been displaced by House Whitecrow.

Current Problems:

  • Dangerous beasts lurk nearby. The Silkwood is infested with monstrous Spiders, and the hinterlands are host to brigands of all types.
  • Two families, House Whitecrow and the Bladegrove Family, are in a long-running feud
  • Supplies are scarce

Adventurer Offers:

  • Faction Favor: Aunger’s Garrison and House Whitecrow always have use for more muscle and agents.
  • Young locals willing to take service with the party
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Day 5: Fenlander Fort

The Old Fenhearth Gatehouse crumbled as the city fell, literally, into the ground by some hundreds of feet. While the exiles initially settled on the outskirts of the swampy ruins before moving south to settle along the Lance River. The crude fort was expanded into a proper Mott-and-Bailey and is the seat of Lord Commander Aunger the Boar.

Theme: Dissolution- falling apart from outside stress

Major Figures:

  • Cressida Whitecrow.
    Aunger’s young wife, seen by many as an ornamental spouse meant to secure the allegiance of Garrison and House. Those closest to her know better; Cressida is far from merely a pretty face.
  • Quartermaster Farald.
    Aunger’s neurotic quartermaster and informal spymaster. There is little in Fenhearth that goes unseen by his bespectacled eyes.
  • Brother Landon.
    Court Priest and, allegedly, mage.
  • Lord Leufred.
    Captain of the Watch. Sole surviving scion of House Oatglade.

Internal Problems:

  • A rebel in court is scheming against the commander

External Problems:

  • A former Noble wants the Court cut down to size
  • A traitor is helping a rival group’s attacks
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Day 6: More Lanceford Locals

I. Other members of the Garrison:

  • Captain Razo
    Commander of the Foot. A large scar crossed his bald scalp and down his cheek bone.
  • Notker, Notger, Brocard, Emme - Some of the Footmen
  • Ava and Randi
    Maidservants to Lady Cressida
  • Dietgard
    Lady Cressida’s Sworn Sword
  • Thorax and Dieter - dwarven smith and human counterpart
  • Galindus and Ervig - Grooms/Saddlers
  • Aldo - Tanner and Saddler
  • Eckbert, Gerfried, Ralf and Aldwin - Carpenters and Builders
  • Arnoul - Barber and chirurgeon

II. Townsvolk

  • Hulda Fire-eye
    Tavern mistress and alewife
  • Kaja, Hemma and Ubalda - her maidservants and apprentices
  • Lambert - Cart driver and cooper, husband to Hulda
  • Alberic - Woodsman and Hunter
  • Alfild and Odo - His wife and son
  • Liudger - A butcher
  • Adalhaid and Wivin - Bakers
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Day 7: Of Bladeshores and Bruno Bladegrove

The Bladeshore (L-14)

River rapids pass over land churned up by ancient magic. The bank is lined with thousands of weapons commemorating a battle long forgotten.

Features:

  • Pillar of the Unbowed
    Uphill from the Bladeshore, the fossilizing weapons grow dense, and some impossibly large. At the pinnacle of a crag towers a spire of fused weaponry thrust skyward.

Encounters:

  • Bruno Bladegrove
    A Young man of 22 with swarthy hair and dark eyes, Bruno is desperate to prove himself a worthy warrior and adventurer. A scion of the Bladegroves, the local gentry of Lanceford before the Fall of Fenhearth. His efforts thus far have earned little more than hostile attention from the Whitecrows and Aunger alike, despite the latter’s overall advocacy.
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