Introduction

History Led Us To This
Aroen ("the known world" in ancient Kharse) is a land of magic and conflict.   Hundreds of years ago, a great war ("The Dark War") had consumed the lands and people of Aroen.  The kingdoms of Khune, Khadid, and Kumlar, descended from three brothers, overcame their endless internecine squabbles to unite against the Mondain, creatures of nightmare, myth and legend.

When the Mondain took Javid, the capital of Khadid, Kumlar and Khune spellcrafters unleashed a devastating attack.  But something went wrong;  the Forbidding was stronger than expected. The Kingdom of Khadid was torn asunder, whole regions made unlivable.  But the war was won.  In the face of such destruction, the Mondain withdrew and were driven across the Aren Plains and back beyond the Mondat range, the mountains to the North.

Where We Are Now
Now, it is generations later.   The great Aren Plains have been claimed by the Tarenti, riders and nomads, ever vigilant for signs of the Mondain. Khune is ruled by the Dragon Emperor, intent on plundering the remains of Khadid.  Kumlar is a crown republic, a unification of city-states bound together by the need for mutual protection.  And between them, the haunted wasteland--what once was Khadid.  It is now far enough along that none remain alive who recall the battles, the war, the destruction of Khadid.

On Magic
Magic is ubiquitous; everyone can use it.  But since the forbidding, a special few can harness pure, unadultered magic.  These evocateurs command great fear and respect.  For though the destruction of Khadid may be far in the past, the lessons of the abuses of magic have not been forgotten.  What dangers does this more direct, destructive magic bring?

The Veiled Hand
The Veiled Hand is the name of a conspiracy to protect the queen of Kumlar and see to furthering Kumlar's interests.   The Queen is publicly attended by hooded and veiled attendants (both male and female).  It is rumoured that there are seven attendants in her service at all times.  Many of the Veiled Hand were former attendants.

Who Are You?
You are a member of the Veiled Hand.  As part of an active cell, you are privy to state secrets and diplomatic incidents that may affect the republic.  And, in a time when war threatens to loom on the horizon again, the republic needs all hands on deck.  Even the veiled ones.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:35, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

The Kingdom of Kumlar covers an area of 506 thousand square miles. Of this, 46% (235 thousand sq. miles) is arable land, and 53% (270 thousand sq. miles) is wilderness.

The Kingdom of Kumlar has a total population of 39.5 million people.  The largest city, Druvir, has a population of 82 thousand people, the second largest 24 thousand. There are 3 other cities of note in the kingdom, and 80 towns. The remaining population lives in numerous small villages, isolated dwellings, etc.

Castles
Kingdom of Kumlar has 809 active castles and 268 ruined. Of these, 607 castles and 201 ruined are in civilized lands, and 202 castles and 67 ruined are in the wilderness, along borders, etc.

The Nobility
The city has 260 noble houses. The peace is kept by 320 guardsmen, and there are 77 advocates to assist with legal matters. For those more concerned about their soul, there are over 2000 clergymen and 150 priests.




Derived by plugging numbers into:
https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/demographics/#town_name
https://www.rpglibrary.org/utils/meddemog/
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:08, Wed 04 Nov 2020.

Factions
(Tarenti Riders) - Plains of Arend (nominally part of Kumlar)
Khadid
Khune (Khunic Empire)
Kumlar (Crown Republic)
College of Mages
The Veiled Hand
The Mondain - Nightmares of myth and legend.

People

The Living

• King Dorian, Kumlar
• Queen Jia Eldrian (first of the line of Jorvir)
• The Hierophant
• The Dragon Emperor Eric Markov (known among his people as the Radiant Dragon)
• Etzagith
  
  • Duke Leguraff of Uxuria, Etz's paternal uncle, now 84 years old and surprisingly healthy
  • Rugulus Truminsen, Etz's father, now 73 years old and on his deathbed
  • Marguarite, Etz's mother, now 48 years old
  • Ashtoric Rugulusen, 30 years old, respectively
  • Thurgon Rugulusen, 28 years old, respectively

The Dead

• King Jorva:  Princess Jia Eldrian's father, who died 6 years ago
• Duke Trumaine of Uxuria, Etz's paternal grandfather, who died 28 years ago

Places
Aroen (The known world)

• Mondat Mountains, norther range of mountains
• Kingdom of Kumlar
  
  • Druvir, Capital City, Eastern coast of Aroen
  • Province of Aren (Plainsland) north of Druvir, south of the Mondat mountains
  • Uxuria:  Duchy that Etz's father comes from, which his eldest brother now rules.  This is the least of the dukedoms in Kumlar
  • Harvisborough:  Barony that Etz's father now rules.  This should be immediately adjacent to the Outlands, somewhere that real monsters sometimes come out of the ruins of Khadid.
  • Lee:  Dukedom that King Dorian comes from
  • Trade City of Cyren - City of Coin and Blood (North end of Sacks Island, East of Druvir).
• The Wasteland (The Scar), formerly the Kingdom of Khadid
  
  • Javid, capital city of Khadid, now ruins
• Empire of Khune
  
  • Liscora, Capital City

Things (Intangible)
The Edict of Pantheistic Unity - basically "do what you will so long as it harms none"
The Forbidding - "The great ritual which destroyed Javid and turned vast regions on Khadid into a wasteland
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:24, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

Technology
As technology is a great method of placing a society's stage of development, Aroen has the following:
Exists:

• Paper,
• Magnifying lenses,
• Magnetic compass

Early dissemination:

• Printing Press (not yet movable type),
• Paper currency (not heavily in use)
• Electricity - chemical batteries, crude electroplating

Does not yet exist:

• Weaponized gunpowder,
• Steel,

Magic
In Kumlar, the practice of harnessing evocation magics (direct, line-of-sight, elemental, instantaneous) is strictly regulated and overseen by a college of magic.  The graduates are sworn into service to the crown.  A big part of their training is an imparted sense of the risks and responsibilities inherent in the use of such magic.

The Kingdom of Khadid was destroyed because of great and powerful ritual magics, and the emergence of evocation magics is believed to be a direct side-effect of that tremendous application of magical energy.    Both Khune and Kumlar have strict approaches to magical safety.

The use of unregulated evocation in Kumlar  may involve press-gang initiations into the college of magic, but attending the college should mostly be seen as an honor and a privilege.  Of course, no viewpoint is ever universal.

Religion
The Hierophant is the head of the dominant religion, adhering to the Edict of Pantheistic Unity, which proscribes that, with some notable exceptions, people are free to worship as they wish, so long as the practices do not negatively impact the community.  This is a highly vaunted position but also one fraught with headaches and never-ending politics between religious factions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:27, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

The Veiled Hand has been around for a long long time.

Originally, it started by being a retirement package for the Queen's attendants.

At that time, the Queens Attendants were chosen from all stations and walks of life in the kingdom.  The reasoning behind that was to help the Queen foster a greater understanding of different cultures, peoples, castes, etc in her region.  The Queen has typically been the PR face, the kind hand to the king's iron fist.

The Queens Hands were almost always veiled.  Their identity was not to be known by the larger public.  This was on purpose, to reinforce the idea that her retinue were both nobody and everybody.    The Queens Hand has had heroes and criminals both on retinue.  And after seven years term (or one year after the death of the), the Queens Hand were freed from their office.  Some returned to their lives; most were relocated to live their lives elsewhere in the kingdom.  All were sworn to some levels of secrecy.

The Veiled Hand is still a loosely bound network of informants.  Former Queens Hands tied by their loyalty and friendship to the Queen (or her predecessor) and certainly bound to loyalty to the crown, often pass on information that may be of interest to her majesty.

Now, this current queen...  she's taken a much more active role in activating the network, likely in response to Dorian's decaying health and increased tensions in the world.  She used what tools she had available to her.  And The Veiled Hand isn't largely acknowledged as a group, let alone a bona fide conspiracy.

It is considered a great honor to serve the Queen thusly.   It is rumored (but not true) that an attendant serves for seven years.  The public believes The Veiled Hand refers specifically to her handmaidens.  The general public is not aware of the existence of this conspiracy network.

There are a couple of dozens of Veiled Hands across Kumlar, and even some (though much fewer) in Khune.   This is not a heavily active network.    In their new life, these people simply pass on information that may be of interest to the Kumlaren crown.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:39, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

The basic setting is a generic fantasy medieval western culture, along the lines of feudal Europe in the middle ages.

Kumlar is a feudal system.  The king own the land.  He is responsible for the safety well-being of his people, usually through the system of nobility.  As a reflection of the ruler's nature, Kumlar is largely a collection of mostly-autonomous regions & city-states.  I think there's simply more potential for drama if each region, province, city, etc. is an entity unto itself, except for The Kings' Law.  There is no formal consitution or charter of freedoms, no Magna Carta.

The King's Law
The King's Law lays down some fundamental laws that all in Kumlar must follow.  This is separate from the system of tithe and obligation.

• Human Sacrifice is Forbidden
• Cannibalism is forbidden
• Slavery is forbidden (although "indentured servitude" is a thing)
• All Evokers will attend the College of Mages for training
• Murder
• Rape
• Theft

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:28, Mon 20 Apr 2020.

This is the breakdown of coin in Kumlar...

One Currency    = Next denomination down   = SP      = CP         = TP
======================================================================
1 gold weight   = 10 gold pieces       1,000 sp  10,000 cp  100,000 tp
1 gold pieces   = 10 silver weights      100 sp   1,000 cp   10,000 tp
1 silver weight = 10 silver pieces        10 sp     100 cp    1,000 tp
1 silver pieces = 10 copper pieces         1 sp      10 cp      100 tp
1 copper pieces = 10 tin pieces         1/10 sp       1 cp       10 tp
1 tin pieces    = 10 iron pieces       1/100 sp    1/10 cp        1 tp

Silver and copper are the most used currency in Kumlar, though tin is still in use.   Gold Pieces are in use, but not really seen for day-to-day purchases.  Gold Weights tend to be seen and used primarily by the nobility...

Anything below a copper piece is often kept track of by barter-stick or ledger-book.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:40, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

Aspects Associated with Khune, TheKhunic Empire, Khundari

A harsh land Breeds a harsh people.
The dry steppes of Khune are harsh and unforgiving, the soil alkaline and unsuitable for most agriculture beyond the herding of goats.  The Great Lake Lis is in fact an inland sea, and while its waters do support life, they are useless for the irrigation of crops.  With the scare resources the land provides, the Khundari should be a people made up almost entirely of fishers and herders, scraping out whatever meager existence they could in an unforgiving land. Yet the Khundari are so much more than that, so much greater.  They are a poroud people, possessed of a massive citadel of learning and trade.  Indeed, the many tiered capital of Liscora rises high above the plains, its thousands of hungry mouths fed on far more than fermented goat's milk and spiced fish.  For it is magic that is the heartbeat of the Empire, and the foundation of that magic is the Great Houses.


Mother's Magic is Life Itself
Magic is a very strange thing among the Khundari.  Like all peoples, any who wish to learn can master the basics of Ritual Magic.  Evocation is more rare, but only just, for most woman born to Khundari blood is capable of at least a single Discipline.  This means that the Khundari possess among them more Evocators than any other race of people.  Yet while they possess it in great abundance, individually their magic is fundamentally weak.  All but the very strongest Khundari Fire Dancer is barely able to summon more than a finger of flame, while their Stone Mothers serve better as architects and engineers than they do wielders of battle magic.  With their magic being hereditary and maternal, Clan is everything to the Khundari.  While the men of Khune are free to marry into whatever family and profession they choose, the women's path is determined by the Clan that she is born into.  Still, magic is undeniably power, and thus Khune is a matriarchal society.  Those within a Clan have the safety and protection of their name.  Those without have nothing, and barely exist within the law at all.  For many Khundari, it is better by far to sell oneself into slavery than to be Clanless.  Only the gangs offer sanctuary to those outside of the Merchant Clans, and that could hardly be called sanctuary at all.  Better to offer service to one of the Clans, or if possessed of Evocation, to join one of the Great Houses as a Dependent.


A Brisk Trade in Blood Debt
The Clan Matriarchs alone would not be sufficient to establish the mighty Empire, for while they are plentiful, their magic is not strong enough to reshape the land around them.  Instead, the Matriarchs are the foundations of the Great Houses, who serve to condense the magic of the Khundari people and focus it to a razor's edge.  It is the Great Houses who bring the rains which irrigate the lands, who modify the soil with their alchemy so that crops may be raised to feed Liscora's masses.  Through their Oathsworn, they gather the blood and power of their Dependents, concentrating it and refining it into the potent power that the Empire is built on.  The Houses are extremely competitive, a result of Khune's unique political structure, though they do not let such rivalries and intrigues carry over to murder and assassination.  Such would incur a Blood Debt, with power lost on both sides, and only serve to weaken both Houses in the face of the others.  Instead they seek to increase their networks of Debtors, strengthening the power of their Houses with every increasing arsenals of stored magic.  Through this, the Oathsworn are capable of feats of Evocation only dreamed of by the Clan Matriarchs, and are the source of endless fearful rumors among many at the College of Mages.  Indeed, the rumors swirling around the red and black jacketed Oathsworn are vast and terrible.  While no Collegiate Mage would likely breath a word of it to an Oathsworn's face, muttered whispers of "Soul Eaters" follow them wherever they go.



And a little on the Dragon Emperor

Power is a Game of Balance
In name, Dragon Emperor Eric Markov, known among his people as the Radiant Dragon, is the undisputed ruler of Khune.  In truth, it could be argued that he serves at the Great House's whim.  The fact that he has continued to serve as Emperor through the reign of supremacy of three separate Houses in the last three decades speaks to his power and political acumen.  The Dragon Emperor is Oathsworn to no House, but possesses the Boon Magic that is the foundation of each.  He is a potent force in his own right, having Bound some of the most powerful Mantles in the Empire to his personal Mantle or those of his War Mages through Blood Sacrifice.  He is rightfully feared on the battlefield for his skill as a leader, and operates as a sort of check on the Great House's power even as they operate as a check on his.