- The world : A Frozen version of Athas. We have zealot priests in some city states and wizard kings in other city states. the church has a complete monopoly on all forms of producing heat which the population desperate needs. Elves are hated by the theocratic city states and dwarfs by the magocratic city states. Arcane magic is viewed as using the power of Demons in theocratic cities hence using any spell that can't be masquarated as psionics a very dangeorous thing in theocratic cities(if I can create custom code for the spells, a system similar to masquerade break from vtmb will exist on this module). Arcane magic can't produce fire in that world, only divine magic. Over 90% of the world population live in the theocracy city states.
The wilderness will be pretty harsh, trolls and jotuns will gonna be relative common and during the winter will gonna exist almost zero trade between the city states. Resting on the wilderness will gonna take heavy toll on the characters. If they have a good source of fire, they will almost certainly attract attention of unwanted frozen monsters and if not, will take a hell of constitution damage and have a high chance of failing when attempting to memorize spells. Magical heat sources which doesn't draw attention are extremely expensive, only available in few city states for those with good relationship with the church and have charges(to prevent rest scumming and make the wilderness dangerous even for high level players). A lot of expeditions to find ancient stuff from the times where "anti athas" was a blue green planet will occur during the summer and even on the summer, resting will gonna be pretty harsh. Meat is rare among the theocracy and among the magocracy, is mostly produced by using exploiting trolls magical regeneration. Metal is expensive and only members of the church or with a license can lawful own metal weaponry.
All ""civilization"" outside of the city states are Barbarian tribes which has supernatural bodies and a religion about ancestral worshiping. They see any form of civilization as a corruption of natural order and a way to make weaklings who doesn't deserve to survive to survive.
The campaign - CHAPTER 1: The campaign will start in a major theocratic city. The starting level will gonna be something like 3~5(3 for arcane casters, 4 for half casters & psionics and 5 for pure martials, as training the magical arts is extremely hard in this world and often did in hidden and the church trains fighters). You will gonna be conscripted into a exploration force to try to find "ancient artifacts" for the holy church on chapter 1.
At end of chapter 1, you will gonna get framed by stealing a artifact and wanting to sell it to a evil necromancer wizard king, tortured with fire and then healed with magic till you ""confess"" and then, sentenced to die in the arena.
CHAPTER 2
The chapter 2 will gonna be all about surviving the winter as a gladiator and making escape plans, so you can maybe reach another city state in next year. You also get branded as a "heretic" by the church, meaning that you can't live in the theocracy anymore. The player should fight like 15 times in arena till the summer comes and he thinks in a escape plan. Using "masquerade break" spells during the arena can mean execution. The ways to escape the arena should include :
- Seducing the head paladin (only available for females and not dwarves)
- Developing a polymorph spell, by somehow getting books from executed wizards and assuming guards appearances ( only available for wizards )
- Convincing everyone to join in a rebellion
- Using brute force alone (the hardest way)
- Stealth stealing keys and other items and leaving the city without being noticed
- (...)
CHAPTER 3 :
The chapter 3 will be the chapter with most survival elements. PC's are expected to be lv 8~11 at this point. You will try to get into the "necropolis" till the end of summer to get answers. There is no hard time limit, but taking too much time means that the game will become extremely harsher as temperature drops. A lot of harsh encounters and optional ruins to explore will exist.
CHAPTER 4 :
When you reach the necropolis, the chapter 4 quest starts. Is similar to BG2:SoA chapter 2, but instead of money, you try to get "reputation" to get a audience with necropolis city leader. Many quests will require leaving necropolis and the city winter will gonna be harsher than the original city winter. The player is expected to be lv 10~14 at end of this chapter depending on how completionist he is.
CHAPTER 5 :
If you are a wizard, he will offers the chance to become a vampire lord after a side quest is completed. If you are a monk, he will offer the chance to establish a monastery on his city and get passive income. Death Knights, will get a chance to train with his Death Knights and each class should get a stronghold, except Clerics. HE don't trust clerics. Arcane casters also gain a wizard tower and can start to research high level magical spells (lv 7+) at high gold cost.
He will ask you to get a harsh mysterious artifact and you learn that the chapter 1 artifact was a orb of mass destruction capable of leveling entire cities and that the guys who he hired to steal it managed to steal but died in the way back to here. With no time to lose, you go in a adventure to get the artifact back and have to make a decision.
CHAPTER 6 :
Trying to find wereabouts about the artifact and expedition, you find that the artifact is now in the hands of a dragon who hates humanity trying to find a way to activate it. You climb a Vulcan mountain, fight the dragon minions and slay the dragon. He would be not only a very strong fighter, but also capable of casting fire spells empowered, maximized as a 20th level caster and reaching the dragon would be very hars, so hard that you will gonna see a lot of corpses of dead adventurers trying to reach the dragon.
CHAPTER 7 :
Now, you chose between siding with necropolis or clerics. If you side with clerics, you get "pardon" and have to defend the city walls from a siege from the alliance of all mages rulers till the clergy learns how to activate the artifact. IF you side the necropolis, same thing. After defending the city, the "cold war" between mages and clerics ends.
You can also destroy the artifact on chapter 6 and skip chapter 7 damming the world to a perpetual state of "cold war".
