The United Baronies, Malmuth and Balmuria: Info

[Anastasia]

RECENT EVENTS TIMELINE

- 5 years ago, 393 DK:

January 9th: The Malmuth Empire withdraws the last of it's troops and declares formal reconigtion of the United Baronies. King Sardian the 9th abdicated and flees south. His young son of 15 years, Balmuth, takes the throne. Janurary 9th becomes Secession Day, a national holiday.

Feburary 27th: Baron/General Lord Rickshaws Salman is proclaimed Archbaron and Lord Protector of the United Baronies on his 33rd birthday. This day becomes known as Foundation Day, another national holiday.

March 2nd: With the news of an official new regime in former settlements, combined with even worse returns in the old iron and metal mines of Central Malmuth, dissent raises considerably in the Empire. The new king does little to curb the situation.

June 6th: As the internal situation has slowly stabilised, the baronies look to internal affairs. Of note, Archbaron Salman turns out to be as wise a ruler as he is a general - he asks each barony for represenatives to advise him, setting his capital at the western city of Selunialuna.

August 12th: A border skirmish on the border of the United Baronies and Malmuth leaves a handful of soldiers on both sides slain. While cooler heads eventually prevail in diplomatic entreties - strengthened by King Balmuth proving to be timid and accepting blame for the affair - the still unstable border situation becomes a considerable issue. The Old City of Balmuria, already seeing new life as a trade town, is now beginning to be seen as a fortress as well on the wild frontier.

November 20th: By decree Old City Balmuria becomes Fortress and Trade City Balmuria. Archbaron Salman travels to the city to personally found a new military academy and garrison. The Lord Salman Academy and the Crimson Guard, respectively.

- 4 years ago:

March: 18th: With internal dissent over a lost war and incompetent rulership, Malmuth teerers on a severe uprising - or would if not for a coup. King Balmuth is 'exiled' (Read: Shallow grave) by his Uncle, Archduke Ferdi. He promises a return to glory, galvanising many dissidents as he goes.

March: 24th: In reaction to the royal coup, Archbaron Salman orders two army divisions to deploy to the border.

April 5th: In a message, King Ferdi pleads for peace and trade, claming his kingdom is on the verge of collapse. He asks for a non aggression agreement and a 420% increase in trade, primarily iron. After a few days of intense deliberation Lord Salman agrees.

April 30th: In an internal review of the treasury, it is noted that the cost of relocating and mobilizing much of the army cost over 25% of the national treasury. The United Baronies, while rich in resources and good land, are still poor and will be poor for years to come due to war debt and such issues. With an only marginally friendly western neighbor - The Desert Fiefdoms, worshippers of the desert pantheon - and the need to defend the capital, the Crimson Guard is expanded. While still short of being worth even a division of soldiers, they have much to do.

September 11th: Iron trade reaches full bloom. Money flows into United Baronies, iron flows out. Debts are slowly worked off.

- 3 years ago:

July 2nd: It's noted that obvious signs of dissent in Malmuth have dropped vastly. However, so has access - the nation has become more introverted, trade the main means of getting in. King Ferdi acts with a steady hand. A very quiet year.

- 1 year ago:

May 30th: A border patrol based out of Balmuria limps back to town, half of six man contingent dead and the other three wounded. They claim it was Malmuthian soldiers, tensions rise.

June 19th: The Empire denies it was them, Lord Salman accepts for now. However, attention fades from this soon, as...

June 29th: Ruins are found deep under the guidance of a priest of Gond, Leyrin. Much excitement surrounds this, but advancement is difficult indeed. It's known that old cities were here in ages past, but...it's a long path down full of dangers and promised wealth. To complicate this, many priests in the United Baronies and Malmuth have visions proclaiming it a potential holy land. For the rest of the year, much attention is on these ruins, even if little of note gets done.

Yet Malmuth stays strangely silent, even as the royal treasures empty out to pay for more and more iron. More traders, more people inside of the city...

December 1st: The Royal Salman Academy releases it's first fully trained class. A small handful of these stand out in particular.

The game begins on January 30th, 398 DK.

Racial information.

Dwarves are known of but very rare. They live deep under the ground, after a struggle with a forgotten race beneath. They have almost no contact with humans, but a rare few are known to peek out and see what is in the world above. A normal human has never seen a dwarf and knows very little about them.

Elves live in a very stereotypical great forest, far away, past the barbaric wildlands that act as a buffer between humanity and elvenkind. They're not as rare as dwarves, though natural xenophobia keeps them on a short leash. Elvencraft is often valued for light arms and armor.

Gnomes do not exist but in legend. Tiny bringers of trouble, serving Hill God Daa-vid. The stories of children are full of them, but it's nothing but bardic lore, right?

Half Elves are rare but exist. They're usually full of angst, rejected by both societies and all that good stuff. In theory, though honestly a majority of this very small race are well enough adjusted. They're just incredibly rare.

Half Orcs aren't known of by most, but anyone that cares to investigate can find that a equavalent exists in the barbaric lands. Related to goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears and all those humanoid pests?

Halflings do not exist in any known sense in this world.

Aasimar and Tieflings are known of, at least in theory. They're usually respect or feared, respectively.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND AND SITUATION

For the last four years, a small group of gifted, promising students have trained at Lord Salman's Academy. An electic mix of strange souls, gloryhounds, noble soldiers, new born patriots, the poor looking to advance, outsiders looking to blend in and more all have worked hard. Many did not make it under the strict teachings of Sir Hellman Oberuth, a noted war commander.

Known as the Yellow Bear, a famous warrior and wilderness ranger, he is the headmaster of the Academy and leader of the Fortress City's defenses and functions. A virile man in his 30s, he is fair and lawful. He possess 'Grand Striker', a magical blade said to bring death to even the hardiest goblin or other such humanoid from the east.

Regardless a small group has made it and graduated. One group of a few in particular is in the Crimson Guard, working under Sir Hellman directly.

THE CRIMSON GUARD INFORMATION[/b]

Rank: The members here and starting PCs are roughly the rank of a starting officer, a cadet. They can command around guardsman and the like if they need to, though it's not really encouraged for wet behind the ears rookies to command old war veterans unless there is a good reason.

Pay: 15 GP per month, as well as room and board. Any PC can have a small room in the barracks and basic, if not particularly tasty, meals provided. Individual lodgings and food can be procured if a PC wishes to have an independent place to rest, talk to me about monetary details. Basic equipment is also provided if needed - little things like rope, daggers, torches, ect as long as it's for job matters.

Uniform: In town it's expected to wear a red emblem of rank when on official business. This does not extend past the city gates for reasons of stealth.

Duties: Oh, here's where the fun stuff starts?

The members of this part of the Crimson Guard. Within the past few months, the PCs have done the following:

Mundane: Filled in with city guard when several members were hurt in training accident. Helped with gate duty. In other words, occasionally you're still low ranked enough to be used as fill in for emergencies. This isn't something that's common, and you can hope it'll end soon. It's also a sad situation on the manpower needs of the city.

Notable: Escorting traders to the border, doing basic scounting sweeps, scaring off adventuresome humanoids. Nothing too dangerous has happened on these, yet.

Unusual: None, but you do serve at Lord Hellman's discretion! With all the noise about the ruins, the visitors, the traders, and all these things and more, it's likely that you'll have stories to put here soon!

Time Commitment: Realistically, it's 4-5 days a week. It'll vary due to situations/GM's fiat for adventuring. Time off will be procurable if need be, of course.

RELIGIOUS NOTES

The pantheon is from Forgotten Realms. This is imported from the book 'Faiths and Pantheons for 3.5.

The following Gods do not exist, assume the others do:

Eilistrae (Does not fit in to world)
Lolth (Does not fit in)

Past this, assume that all the relevant demi human pantheons exist, though most humans will not even know the names there so this will be largely moot in game, at least for now. Otherwise, assume all the information in that book is accurate if it doesn not reference Toril only events. (Time of Troubles, ect.) Past that, more details will be flushed out in time.

Temples in Balmuria follwed by the name of the temple:

Waukeen, near the city's trading heart. Has a functioning cleric, who makes good money selling basic healing supplies and the like. It's said he'll give you really good deals! Promenade's Rest.

Tempus, a small temple in the garrisons. Has a cleric attached, but young Al-Lamar barely has battle scars on him body yet! Iron Vision.

Helm, a large temple. The diligent watchmen fit in very well to this border town. Has a few clerics, well manned. Vigilance.

The lack of clerics in this world and the effects on magic.

If one gets deep enough in their cups to listen to the bardic songs, they will hear of a time only existing in legend. A time when the Gods were freer with their magic, a time when many were blessed with the sacred gift of white magic. The dead were risen regularly and the world lived in ample gifts. Why did this change?

There are a thousand tales of why. Blasphemy, anger of the gods, humankinds failures, scorn of the race, decay. No one knows for certain, and the Gods never answer that question. They seem to only choose the best to be clerics, those that are shining exemplars of the faith. While most clerical magic is unchanged, one type is known to be restricted.

While it is possible to revive a slain person, only a few magics can. The spell Resurrection, one of the higher circles of priestly magic, can do so. Yet the gods are selective, the spell will only be granted when they choose so. Otherwise, only the powerful or foul arcane arts can stave off death, or the rarest artifacts...

The Gods are not without mercy. Clerics are instructed to be freer with healing magic, so that lives are not needlessly lost. Many good aligned gods dictate that healing comes before payment or worries of such. Just don't try that with Waukeen. Bitch.

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In game terms? Resurrection is the only spell that revives on the clerical tree. I'll post the revised version at the bottom. Otherwise, only rare artifacts or a wish can bring back the dead. Doing so with a wish is dangerous business, as only the greatest wizards can cast that epic magic. Some even feel that it infringes on the will of the Gods themselves, and risks their wrath supreme!

When revived, regardless of source, there is no penalty to the revived person. They regain all functionality and recover at full HP within a few minutes. The pickiness is strange - beloved kings stricken early by tragedy will lie forsaken, yet a mere peasant will be blessed, a cleric dispatched with a divine mission.

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Resurrection
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Clr 6
Casting Time: 10 minutes

This spell raises the dead. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method).

Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of level (or Constitution points) or prepared spells.

You can revive someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals or outsiders, but it can't resurrect constructs or undead creatures.

This spell cannot be selected freely. A cleric can request it if they wish, but only their patron can decide if it should be allowed. At other times, a suitable cleric will find themselves granted with this spell, often with a stark vision of what is to be done with it.

In rare cases a variant of this spell is granted, True Resurrection. It is to be cast only on one that died of old age, restoring them to middle age. This often comes with a divine geas or other such imperitive and has not happened for over 200 years.

Material Component

A droplet of fresh blood from the caster, to symbolize the rebirth given from the Gods.