Nations Page: Added the respective nation skill bonuses. As well as a paragraph on each nations government.

Cosmology Page - a Description of the different “splinters” of Infinity, as well as a bit of how one travels between them.

Updated:

Races Page – Tweaked the background for the Warforged a bit.  Seems more grounded now.

Nations Page – Added more description for each of the nations to replace the old old OLD nations page.  Debated whether or not to build up more of detail into specific locations like before, but I liked the idea of keeping the world more abstract and wild.

Deep within the Dragonborn territories of Essederos stands Pyreborne Keep.  An ancient fortress that dates back to the Primal Ages.  For the past 100 years, Pyreborne has been home to the Champion’s Guild. A place of training and harnessing one’s strengths.  While some find themselves fighting all their lives to gain admittance into the guild, others are chosen to join the ranks.  You are one that has been chosen.  Recruited as a child, you were placed in a Thett, a small group that would train and live together until ready to undergo the Rite of Initiation.  You have spent your years training with your Thett for that one moment.  They are your brothers and sisters, and they are your shield and your sword.  Now the Rite is upon you and your Thett and if you conquer it, you shall be granted member status in the Guild and permitted to leave the walls of Pyreborne Keep and venture into the world to find glory, riches, vengeance, power…  the choice is yours and your Thett’s…

You as a character have grown up with the other characters as a Thett.  You slept in the same room, ate together, and trained together for years.  But what of before? Were you recruited from the gutters of the Imperial City? Were you raised by a wealthy family?  Taken from a strict Cerrillian boarding academy?  A Warforged awakened into a new world after a thousand years of slumber? A Drow that foundthemselves lost in another splinter of time?  There are many possibilities here that may influence your choices and your actions later on.

What do we need to begin? All I want from you the player is a character concept.

Examples:

“I want to be an Essederian Dragonborn Fighter that is kind of the defender, but knows how to lay the hurt down.”

“I would like to try an Imperial Warforged Cleric of Erathis. Because he was originally created back in the end of the Primal Ages to help found the Old Kingdom, he’s devoted to smiting those who would try to steer the world toward savagery and away from civilization.”

“How about a Dwarf Druid from Tolsit?”

Remember, that regardless of your character’s past, they have been training at the Guild for YEARS.  They are not “fresh of the boat” in the modern world.  But their past can inform their attitude and their interactions with their Thett.

The format for the games would mostly be smaller adventures built around your characters adventures in a troubled world that frankly could use Heroes like yourselves.  While there may be reoccuring villains, or themes, the game would not be a single narrative story like our current campaign, but a series of smaller adventures that have beginnings and conclusions.  The adventures are not always aimed to finished in a single setting, but are not going to be months of storytelling either.  While there will still be ample chances for roleplaying, the general idea of the adventures are much simpler “You are asked to retrieve this item from the hands of the vile goblin horde that stole it”  “This town is terrorized by a group of cultists.”  etc etc etc  Clearer objectives, smaller stories, and more of them.

The game will more or less follow the basic 10 successful fights = 1 level up.  I will be doing most of the characters pre-gen’ed (I make them) based on YOUR concept for the first 10 levels.  From their you should have enough of a handle on your characters and their classes that you can figure it all out in the Paragon tier and beyond.

A big part of this is also INPUT.  Do you want something specific in your experience? Something you came across while reading up some D&D stuff that you’d really like to explore? Some aspect of your past that you want to seek out? Not really that keen on one of your powers and want to retrain it at Level Up Time? TELL ME!

Also note that I am not asking for much in the ways of character backgrounds or anything this time around.  I figured that most of that can be thought up and implemented on your end.  If you want an example of how that would work, I would suggest looking up the D&D Podcast and downloading Penny Arcade/PvP Podcast Series 3. (Technically, all three series are hilarious and worth your time).  But Binwin in Series 3, responds to a mentioning of the Ambershard Dwarves as the ones that destroyed his family’s honor.  That’s taking something from the adventure, and making it part of your character.  You don’t HAVE to do that, heck, you don’t really HAVE to have a background for your character.  It’s entirely up to you.

Salix and Luzader prepare to fight the Azure Jelly that has downed Korpan.

> After arriving in Outpost 17, a small town surrounded by massive walls, and a Keep of Dwarven make. The group sought to meet the Captain.

> To their surprise, the Captain of the Keep is Captain Erilys, the young captain that the group helped retrieve a package for back in Hallistor. He was arguing with the leader of a local tribe of Wasters.  After not reaching a consensus, he asked the group to lend what assistance they could in settling the manner, peacefully or otherwise.  He pledged his assistance and the assistance of the Dragoons in the Wasteland.

> The group headed out and purchased some Travler’s Kits that contained rations and water for 5 days travel into the Midwastes.

> After 1.5 days of travel, the group arrived at the Temple. Half submerged in the dead earth.  Outside, a battle was about to ensue between a group of Imperials and a group of Wasters.

> The party first approached the Imperials who were nervous about the imposing Waster forces.  After a brief talk, the party said they would negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict and ventured across the field to the Wasters.

> The Wasters told the group that they were ready to protect their land with their lives. They were insulted by the Imperials audacity to claim a right to enter the temple.  They asked the group to help defend the honor of their clan and to expel the Imperials from their lands.  They would give them permission to enter their temple and their assistance in the Wasteland.

> The group decided to join forces with the Wasters to fight the Imperials.  After a quick battle, they succeeded and entered the temple.

> Once in the temple, the Heroes were posed with a choice.  To their left was the growl of beasts, ahead of them was a hall with Black Dawn cultists and the right was a slow rythmic chanting that the group recognized as a religious chant but were unable to descern the form of worship.

> The group ventured up into the main hall of the temple.  Many Black Dawn cultists were shuffling about the room, but didn’t seem to cause any alarm when the group approached one.  He shook at their approach and answered their questions. A name appeared: Jhorash’tar.  Only various mumblings of a mad cultist followed.

> The group decided to speak to another cultist about the temple.  He only mumered “Jhorash’tar kills. Or-Bain saves.”  When asked where Or-Bain is, the cultist motioned to the opposite corner.  Upon asking about the growling heard earlier:

“Jhorash’tar’s pets.” “So, Jhorash’tar is a person.”  “Hehehe…  no… Jhorash’tar is a devil.”

> Korpan made a slight remark about the Black Dawn being Demon Worshippers, to which the cultist lashed out crying “We worship a GOD!”

> The Group wandered to the direction of where Or-Bain was pointed to be.  Upon arriving they found him preaching to various other cultists about how ‘The Master’ needed to take undesriables like Hobgoblins into the depths of the Temple in order to preserve the ‘pure’ that will inheret the land in the ‘glorious new dawn’ from the terrors and spirits that dwell in the lower levels.  Upon arriving in the room, he called attention to our Heroes.  He smells and listens to know that they are outsiders.  He claims that he knows that they are unfaithful that took down his ‘brothers’ in Cogsband and ordered the other cultists to avenge them!

> The battle resulted in Korpan taking quite the beating from the blinding Or-Bain and his archers while Salix and Luzader attacked a tough soldier. But finally they were able to take them down as Or-Bain rushed to open a locked door off to the side.  But he fell to Salix’s axe which split his back open.

> The group’s curiousity raged as they used the key Or-Bain carried to open the locked door.  Ignoring warnings of “Do Not Open” and “Keep Out” on the door, the group peeked in to find a lump of blue slime crawling around in the corner, and a fascinating looking helmet on a dead corpse behind it.

> Deciding that they could take the slime in order to claim the treasure they entered combat, finding that the unsuspecting slime was more than expected.  Disabling and attaching itself to it’s foes, it quickly dropped Korpan and began to work it’s way towards Salix.

Now, with Korpan making death saves and Salix and Luzader fighting an ooze that after 70 damage is now just bloodied (How do Ooze’s bleed?), what can they do?  Who is Jhorash’tar?  WHERE IS A SAFE PLACE TO SLEEP?! Oh, and where has Enna wandered off to?

> The Group entered the church’s basement through a cellar door, upon talking to the guards inside, and implying they might have had something to do with the attack in the Markets, the party was jumped.

> After battling through the guards and a fire trap, they found a crack in the wall that gave them a view into a vast subterranean world.

> The group defeated a large group of Black Dawn worshippers at a strange shrine door that led into a labratory. The group acquired LUCKBENDER GLOVES (given to Enna).

> Upon entering the labratory, the group fought through wave after wave of undead monsters till they reached the man in charge, Orfor the Corruptor. They defeated him only to find that he had activated a machine in the other room. The Group acquired SHARED SUFFERING PLATE ARMOR and 300G OF COMPONENTS.

> The Machine was a massive eldritch device combined of modern, Old Kingdom and strange foreign technologies. Slowly it began to convert people into Zombies. The team worked hard to break the machine. Eventually disabling it and freeing a good number of the people inside including Doria, the Caravan leader for the Blue Line Caravans and her daughter. Unfortunately, her Husband did become a Zombie. Group acquired FLAME BURST PISTOL and a CARAVAN PASS.

> Upon exiting the room, the party finds that Orfor’s body is now missing. As well as several canisters of the Zombie Creation Ooze.

> The next day, the party hops on the Blue Line and heads off into the Wastes. During their time there, each person goes and does there own thing. Korpan drinks with a goblin and hears the story of a legendary artificer’s lost equipment. Salix meditates and sees a vision of Melora. Enna gets drunk and sees a vision of her God. Luzader gets into a gambling duel with a cheating dwarf and takes him down a peg. The group acquires GADGETEERS GOGGLES, A MAGIC SCROLL, A HOLY SYMBOL OF DIVINITY, and A FLAGON OF ALE PROCUREMENT.

> That night the group wakes up in a cold sweat with the exception of Salix. Apparently, everyone had some intense dreams.

> The group witnesses a wreakage caused by the Wasteland Soldiers, covered in mutilated bodies and burning machines.

> The group arrived at Outpost 17 after 2 days of travel.

Added Pages:

Nations: now changed to be a hub page for each nation, instead of the “races” page it used to be.

Races: a brief description of how each D&D race works in Infinity, as well as how common they are.

Deities: Changed the Tabrilyn Divines around a bit.

History: The history of the world. Broken up into some major events mostly.

More coming soon!

Races: The Races after looking at them are remarkably easy to work into the Nations of Infinity.  Elves come from Tolsit, and are native to the region.  The nation of Cerril consists mostly of Eladrin, Warforged and Humans.  Essederos used to a great Dragonborn empire, but throughout time fell apart and the kingdom became the home of the Dwarves, the two are still a bit bitter about sharing what each feels is rightfully theirs.  The Veston Empire is primarily a Human nation, inhabited also by some of the more urban orientated races such as halflings. Gnomes occupy Tolish and Cerrilian lands, and occassionally turn up in the Empire.  The Wastes are home to a great number of races, many who no longer have a home to call their own, such as the Tieflings, Half-Orcs or the Goliath.  Other species have more unique histories, such as the Deva or Shapeshifters and Changelings.  Deva would have arrived via The Crossroads in the Coroken, and the Shapeshifters and Changelings moreso the result of experiments done in the name of science.

Magic: Before about 60 years ago, the force known as Magic was thought to be dead in the world.  A thing of myth that the Fey races would tell people.  As such, science and technology were the major field of development in the world of Infinity.  But about 60 years ago, archeologists began to uncover ancient ruins of a forgotten society simply called The Old Kingdom.  A Society that was built around the use of real Magic.  Since then, the rituals and powers that this ancient world once used have become a hot topic of discussion and research, creating a surge in the understanding of how magic actually works and the rise of spellcasters like Wizards and Sorcerers, and those who have learned to blend the world of machines and the world of magic (the Artificers), who found ways to give the lost souls of the Old Kingdom (and the dead in general) a new chance at life through putting their souls into machines (The Warforged).

Divinity:  The Gods in Infinity can easily go either way, you could simplify it by going with the Gods in the PHB or go with the current gods listed on the site.  However, instead of simply channeling energy through the focus of worshipping a god, the Divine powers are actually channeling the powers of the Gods themselves, who do exist (but do not directly interfere with the world or walk amongst its people).

Monsters: The more traditional fantasy like monsters of D&D would be easier to integrate into this world, as no changes to how they came about or why a giant flying lizard would be there. It’s a dragon.  Those are Zombies.  Hey look a vampire.  That stuff.  The Wasteland is covered with demons and fierce creatures.  Goblins and kobolds are frequently found hiding and pillaging where they can across the Eastern Continent (and especially in the Empire, where a Black Market “Goblin Marketplace” can be found).  The Black Dawn worship Orcus, and are actively seeking to unleash him and bring the world into a state of utopian undeath.

The Planes:  The Feywild is connected through ancient gates in the Western Continent, which explains the amount of Elves and Eladrin in the region, but are normally heavily guarded and not easy to find unless you know someone who has been there already.  The Underdark lies deep beneath the Wastes and is responsible for the corruption and destruction that created the Wasteland.  The Abyss is only accessable through portals opened to it, although any access to it in the Coroken has been destroyed for safety reasons.  The Gate to the Astral Sea lies hidden in the Crossroads, an area of the Coroken that is nigh unreachable by the likes of normal people.

Other than that, the world would pretty much be the same, closer to how Fable II was able to merge Victorian/Steampunk in with fantasy that out and out doing away with magic.  It’s an interesting thought that might be worth a try in another campaign at some point, pity I didn’t put this together earlier… it would’ve been an easier go of things atleast on me, because they way we went about made me have to come up with how everything actually functions in a semi-realistic sense.  I can’t just say “It’s magic” or “Cause he’s a wizard”.  There’s no Necromancy, so now I have to concoct a way that “technology” creates “zombies”…   granted it’s a neat excercise in  imaginative thinking but hell, even I get writer’s block.   Also for some reason “Fantasy” settings are easier for me to envision that “Scifi” or even straight “Steampunk” (Especially steampunk, where as my experience with Steampunk is limited to only Steampunk artwork and never anything with a narrative structure.) Hell, with some minor tweaking since we’re only like at lv2, it might be still doable if anyone would get a kick out of it.  All we would do is tweak your races to traditional D&D races, and heck the storyline thus far wouldn’t even change.

Might add a map up there for the outposts and regions later.

The heroes attempted to make their escape through the streets, some stumbled, some took shortcuts, and others simply avoided the whole mess and snuck off down the opposite end of the alley, but as they busted through the crowd through the Waste Gate, they found both Dealman Agents and Imperial Guards attempting to chase them down.  But through some quick foot work and some rather bold words, the group found some good hiding spots and eluded their persuers.  Now, they had finally reached their goal of entering the Wastelands as they emerged in the scorched, dirty and panicked city of Cogsband.

Once inside the city, the group made there way to the Markets. A large bustling area that was less populated than usual due to the giant blocked off scorch mark in the center. The source of the explosion.  While attempting to get some information, they found a street preacher for the Black Dawn. He talked of the Will of Jhordem and the coming purification at Jhordem’s hand.  After talking to him for a while, the heroes found out that the street preacher’s superior, a man going by the name Orlem, was downing drinks at Crux Brews, a dingy little bar in the outer ring of the city.  They’re arrival was met by another drunk as well, a Caravan worker who’s boss had gone missing.  He told them a bit about how the Wastelands operated.  The three major cities: Cogsband, Vesk and Morishan being the primary hubs along the Borderlands, with outposts counting counterclockwise going from Outpost 1 to the west of Cogsband to Outpost 18 just to the East.  He also explained a bit about how a few of the caravans worked around the Wastes (The Red Car, the Blue Line and The Gold Line).  Meanwhile, Caletan had some fun sneaking about and pickpocketing a bunch of drunks out of a few loose gold.

However, Orlem was much more informative about their task.  Dropping cryptic drunken riddles about the use of an Artificer in their works, his growing frustration with the Black Dawn’s unwillingness to promote him, and something about making “mindless zombies.”  The group was able to get a name out of him though: Orfor.  A contact within the Dawn looking for volunteers.  Now all they had to do was find him.  The ever eavesdropping Bartender was able to point them to ‘The Compound’.  A central location where the Imperial Guard had set up shop in the city.

Upon arriving at The Compound, it was a bustling panic of soldiers attempting to figure out anything they could about the explosion in the Markets.  Unwillingly to deal with a bunch of random questions, the Guards pointed the group towards Dennis, the Record Keeper for the building.  Dennis was actually helpful in his own weird sort of way.  Locating paper work that showed that Lady Korlyn’s daughter had departed on a caravan headed East that morning, as well as giving them directions to the best place to find Orfor: The Church of the Keeper in the West End.

However, before heading off, the group decided to stop by the markets one more time to gather supplies and poke around for a few more clues…

What awaits our Heroes at the Church in the West End?  Will they ever catch up with Korlyn’s daughter?  What could the Black Dawn possibly be needing volunteer’s with and could it possibly have something to do with the explosion in town?  All this and more… NEXT SUNDAY!

1) Unless you hear from me (AJ) via text, call, or this blog stating otherwise: Yes, there is D&D this week.  Yes, it will be at 3pm as per usual.  Yes, it will be on Sunday, do try and remember AT LEAST what day it is. ;P

2) Snacks: Despite the game having to be called this last week, I did provide snacks for those who did show up.  This means the last person on the “Great Snax Rotation” is Joe.  You’re on snack duty this week.

3) Facebook: Yes, I deactivated my facebook account. No, it’s not because I was being whiny and emo.  Yes, it’s because I’m fed up with it and how ‘MySpace-y’ it’s gotten. Yes, it’s because I’m hardly ever on there.  No, I’m not gonna keep typing this way…    Anyway, so now the best means to get in touch with me are via email (augustsexton@gmail.com), my cell phone, or AIM (the8bitjunkie).  I’m pretty much perma-logged in on AIM, albeit not always there to answer, but it’s a great place to just leave me a message or somethin’.

4) New Person: Although we had to cancel the game on Sunday, we did have a new person joining us (only temporary though, she has to go back to school as I understand it): Caroline – who will be playing a Wastelander Ranger as I understand it (Caroline, I’ll add the details on to this blog once you get a name and backstory worked out.) But since her time to play with us is short, it is the utmost imperitive that yes we do play THIS next Sunday. Which brings me to my final note…

5) THIS next Sunday: Yes, we are still playing.  You’ll have 2.5 days after new years eve to sober up.  There are no excuses! (Okay, that’s a lie…  I mean, there are legitimate excuses.  Still being thrashed post-New Years however is not one of them.  Forgetting that it’s Sunday isn’t either. ;P)

//GMAJ