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The kingdom of Eurotas is not doing well: the king’s oppressions grow by the day, and internal strife is beginning to break out. The greatest knights of the kingdom, the Indomitable, are corrupt and bribed near to the point of being wholly mercenaries. The Old King, Kanidas, focuses more on internal threats to his rule and the suppression of subjects and groups he considers inferior, doing less and less to hold back the barbarian threat from the East, violent desert-dwelling savages who bind demons and loose them in combat.
A rebellion has begun to organize, and though rumors abound, they are still an underground movement. Their numbers grow, and those who are not officially among them tend to sympathize with them. Support for the Old King is nearly nonexistent, however he remains in power through mercenaries, corruption, and sometimes the individual power of himself and his high advisers: The Old King has lived for 80 years, yet seems not to weaken much with age, and many suspect the use of rituals to extend his lifespan.
The rebellion (and game) is centered in the second largest city of Eurotas. The city, commonly referred to as Demonsgate, sits right on the border of the Eastern desert, and in the olden days as now was the first line of defense against the barbarians. It is a large and bustling market city, but with its fair share of soldiers and warriors, with even most common folk ready to serve as a militia if the barbarians ever organized at large, as they did a century ago.
There is a prominent single monotheistic religion, believed universally throughout Eurotas. The central figure of this religion is the Sky-Father, who sacrificed himself on the side of a mountain so as to become one with all people alive and yet to be born, in doing so showing them the way to his hall in the afterlife. The religion preaches honor, kindness, and knowledge. (How much are these ideals followed? It varies.) There is a small division within the religion’s beliefs: a prophetess, Selene, believed by some to be a creation of or messenger from the Sky-Father, and by others to be simply an important political and religious historical figure. Selene prophesied that one day, the souls of the ancient dead and of those who did not follow the Sky-Father’s will in life would return to destroy the world, and those who live as the greatest heroes could join Selene after death in her vigil to watch and wait for that day, so they can fight to stop it. Orthodox believers, and followers of Selene, tend to get along reasonably, with some arguments and disagreements, but no widespread violent conflict. (I have a fair bit more myth to go with this, primarily afterlife-based, but it is in fact wholly fluff: flow has nothing to do with Selene’s prophecy or the Sky-Father, aside from the way PCs religion influences their political opinions. Which may be a lot!)
Fun fact: all of this is religion. It is wholly faith-based, rather than fact based. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s not proven, God does not walk among us or talk to people unless they claim he does, etc. It is though, universally believed in Eurotas. Even Demons, ostensibly from the fiery pits deep beneath the Earth, are actually just terrifying semi-intelligent vicious animals who live in volcanoes. While it is universally believed, it is not vehemence/heresy kind of belief: if somebody didn’t believe in the Sky-Father, they’d be considered very strange, definitely wrong, and would maybe be a bit shunned. They wouldn’t be stoned to death or anything like that.
There is a wider world, but Eurotas is largely cut off from it. It doesn’t really come up in game, at all.
Magic! It exists. It’s not a very high magic setting: magic items aren’t really a thing, and while everybody is usually capable of extremely simple magic (light, sparks, that kind of thing) fairly few people actually have magical talent to a practical level. Magical education is basically practiced only within the clergy. Priests of the Sky-Father, and the often followers of Selene (sometimes non-clergy followers) will practice and learn magic to the point that it’s actually useful for anything. Magic is fairly standard energy-centered fantasy magic: energy, elements, healing, etc. Spells aren’t usually a thing, though rituals are sometimes on a very large scale. Game may have a ritual or two in a flow-context, but it’s not something that people can do individually or generally.
PC Teams
Who are the groups in the game? (Limit 250 words per team)
The Indomitable: The greatest knights of Eurotas. The Indomitable believe, above all else, in not showing fear, standing firm in the face of impending death, etc. Very capable warriors, almost universally followers of Selene, often egotistical, generally believing they will all join Selene’s guard upon their deaths as great heroes. The Indomitable tend to be wholly out for personal gain, and are so easily bribed they are practically mercenaries. They tend to be bullies, although are not necessarily actively evil (usually mostly amoral, but not immoral). While supposedly loyal to the Old King, the Indomitable know public opinion is shifting against him, and even their leader, the Prince himself, is beginning to plot against the Old King. In game, there will be several veteran Indomitable who are likely particularly unpleasant people, and several recruits to the Indomitable, who will be encouraged to design their characters with the above traits, as those are the sort of people who would attempt to join the Indomitable. Technically, the Indomitable are all PCs. One or all of the 2-3 veterans will know the gist of flow, and the role that they may probably, but not necessarily, take in it. 2-3 veterans, 2-3 recruits.
Priests of the Sky-Father: Fairly self-explanatory: these are people who have devoted their lives to the worship of the Sky-Father. They tend to be more educated, and are among the fairly few literate individuals. Generally devoted to honor and good. Game takes place on a minor holy day, an alignment of stars, and so they will be out and about, sermoning. Priests of the Sky-Father are also generally mages. These are wholly PCs, among the common people. Probably 2-3 players.
Followers of Selene: The dedicated followers of Selene are slightly less organized than the classical clergy of the Sky-Father: there are those who are wholly dedicated as clergy, much like the priests of the Sky-Father. (Think of Selene as like Muhammad in Islam: she was important, but even to her followers is a relatively minor figure under the true God.) There are also those who have dedicated themselves to the ideals of the Sky-Father and Serene, but aren’t actively part of an organized clergy. Followers of Selene are likely to be warriors to some extent, more combat capable. They also preach honor and good, although with a bit more of a self-improvement and self-focus bent. These are wholly PCs, among the common people. Probably 2-3 players (maybe more if people choose to dedicate themselves more to Selene)
The Caravan: A traveling caravan! Performers, storytellers, tinkers, etc. The caravan is filled with exotic and fascinating things and people, all of whom are both kind and fascinating. They will be extremely popular in the market town, very quickly catching everybody’s interest and appreciation. For the most part, while from variously far off lands, they are still believes in the Sky-Father in some form (perhaps with one exception for variety). The Caravan are also wholly PCs. Probably 3-4 players.
The People!: There will be other folk as well: merchants, nobles, out-of-work sailors (there are seas not too far off to the south, let’s say), city guard, and so on. Lots of variety, range, and choice. It’s possible that the Priests of the Sky-Father and the Followers of Selene won’t be cast entirely as distinct groups, but instead just as recommendations to PCs among the people (in which case recommendations would probably also extend to things like ‘city guard’ and the like for some or most players). The public generally highly dislike the Old King. Additionally, they are generally relatively combat-capable: living in Demonsgate means you are ready to be militia, if the worst comes. So everybody will at least vaguely know their way around one tool they can fight with. Everybody else.
The Rebellion: This is not specifically a group of people, but rather an additional trait spread throughout the other groups. Basically every group mentioned above could or will contain some rebels among them. The rebel movement is a fairly loose one, with people often being just a rebel in name and not having engaged in much large-scale plotting or action, though many have as well. The rebels are gathering in the market today to pass secret messages and discuss plans, whispered from ear to ear. They are considering acting soon: public opinion will be on their side, even those who are not among the rebels almost always have a positive opinion of them. Approximately half of the PCs, or slightly less.
The Monks of Mt. Aletheia: This small order of badass warrior monks are hyper-dedicated to Truth. They revile all lie and manipulation, and make their intentions clear in all circumstances. This may seem great, but they get overzealous with it. The Monks wish to overthrow the Old King for his corruption and lies, and will end up joining with the PCs in order to do so in the first third of game. However, they will make it clear when the Old King is defeated that their intention is to set up a government of highly oppressive, iron fisted truth and brutality, with the most severe of laws and punishments, and have no qualms or hesitations at going to any extreme to accomplish this. The Monks are mostly SPCs, though they may have one relatively young PC Monk or something of the sort. 2-4 people.
The Old King and his Advisers: The Old King Kanidas! And an adviser, or two. It’s very possible he/they will return from RE, early on in game, although I don’t know who’d be dying. Details. The Old King has been lengthening his lifespan with (probably awful) magic rituals. He and his one or two advisers are actually personally very very powerful, hence the Rebellions inability to simply stage a coup.
The King’s Enforcers / Other SPCs: This group of 3 or 4 people will show up a little ways into game to enact a new oppressive law, and round up undesirables (including the much-beloved Caravan, and some young/innocent looking PCs). They won’t exactly last long, between the PCs and the Monks’ entrance. They will return from RE as assorted single SPC figures for later diamond flow goals. 3-4 people.
The Barbarians / The Demons: The Barbarians will show up from RE near the end of game only, as a component in the final battle. They are brutal and savage, worshipping their blood god, and fighting for the blood and joy of it. The barbarians physically capture and chain Demons, often very large terrifying beasts, red and spikes and fire. The barbarians then release the Demons in battle, not to make them more likely to win (though it does, because they’re used to fighting Demons) but just to cause more chaos and death with this huge monster rampaging and attacking both sides.