So reading too much Tribe 8 recently, and a discussion with Ben Monroe about a “Stress” mechanic for RuneQuest III, lead me to a new campaign setting, currently in use for my Thursday evening game:
July 2nd 2014, 12:17:32 GMT. In the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland, a unique collision event occurs. At the Great Circle of Mortimer’s Crossing, in the realm of Shistaval, Queen Mab of the Houses of the Exile attempts a great weaving to escape the oncoming night.
Two events collide. A door is unbolted, briefly, just as a battering ram is applied to the other side…
The scouring expands at near light speed, with a depth of some 700 milliseconds. Inside the wave front space, time, matter and energy have different properties. After its passing, things are almost as they were before. Almost.
Approximately thirty percent of the planet’s life forms and complex structures (organic and inorganic, natural and artificial) are killed or rendered non-functional by the Scouring and nearly the same again are changed by the Scouring’s passing in such a fashion that they are very rapidly dead or destroyed after it has passed. The surviving changed and unchanged population crashes in the chaos of the immediate aftermath: the planets magnetic field has reversed, the industrialised infrastructure of the world collapsed beyond recall.
September 22nd, 2036. The last day of summer, a time of offerings for the dead. Prince Peter, Warlord of New Sarum (built in the Iron Age hill fort outside the ruins of the old world city of Salisbury) has been persuaded by his chaplain to send a covert embassy to his fellow rulers of the free city states between the English and Bristol channels, in what is now the north of England.
The way is long and the roads hard: hostile communities, rampaging bands of wild Polymuffs, and the Northlands are home to many strongholds of the Stalking Ones allied to their great hold, the White Castle at Stonehenge. Prince Peter will select candidates from those loyal to him but not widely known as Prince’s men and those currently awaiting trial in Sarum’s Gaol with the skills to protect and guide the envoy, Brother Aldwyn, on his perilous journey. The Seers have gifted their blessings to Brother Aldwyn and offer prayers that the Spirits will watch over the expedition.
But there are hidden agendas at work, and those both within New Sarum and beyond who have other plans for Brother Aldwyn’s little band.
Further updates will include one players IC journal / account of events…