Sleeth historians place the fall of mankind in an obscure year of 2239. How they came up with this number has baffled human historians for a generation or more. As to what year it is by the old calendar is a thing of debate. That's unimportant to most people and their day to day struggle just to survive. The long and short of life is that the ancients messed something up and now the survivors from so long ago have clawed their way back to power. Family units became villages that became cities and town. Humans are still the most prevalent of the genotypes, but they are now joined by humanoid animals, thinking plants, and the occasional synthetic.

This Campaign will start in the Town of the Well of Hope. The town is separated by a river known as Appom River. Those with strength of arms took the northern and western area of Appom River as their own given it's fertile land, abundant waterways, and open area for building their familial homes. The Well of Hope, as it's called in casual conversation, was an ancient city that has been reclaimed and recycled to the point that only one of the ancient building complexes still stand. On the eastern side is a large area only known as Westrock. The denizens of the area chuckle at the name given it's location, but few will enter its depths. Strange beasts roam its buildings and metal monsters hiss and wail at odd times of the day. What they are doing is hard to tell, but their product, sawdust and an odd liquid that is highly explosive and flammable. The sawdust has been conveniently packaged in large blocks that are set outside the complex's wall for anyone to take and there is a large vat near the complex's wall that someone long ago was able to tap. The sawdust, more like chip wood than what we would know it as, is used to heat homes and fertilizer. The odd liquid is solid far and wide and has several military and domestic uses. This has led to speculation as to where the wood is all coming from as nothing goes into the complex, but the leading hypothesis is that there's some ancient technology that is creating the wood out of something else. What this is is anyone's guess.

Just to the south is an area known as Ortee. Deadly flying metal birds patrol around its environs, searching for trespassers. The few that have entered Ortee and survived to tell about it say that it has several different locations. A building that produces standard goods out of thin air and another with any type of food you can think of and more. There's also a building with ancient arms that is more heavily patrolled than any other section with only one person surviving entrance and exit. That individual, Granox, a mutated bear, only lived for a few hours afterwards as he had taken several shots from a burning weapon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:21, Sat 27 Mar 2021.

There are several factions that vie for control of whatever they can acquire. Some just want to know more about the world, others want to dominate it.

The Archivists are worshipers of the items of the ancients. They are known to buy them from anyone without question and usually for better prices than any other merchant even those that are broken or have stopped working for some other reason.

The Brotherhood of Thought are peaceful loving people who only defend themselves. They are never the aggressors and have been manipulated several times over the years because of this.

The Created is a loose alliance of synthetic beings that are very hard to locate.

The Followers of the Voice are similar to the Archivists except they are more interested in nowhere windows and speaking machines. What they do with them or want them for is a mystery.

The Healers are a loose affiliation of beings that are focused on the well being of others. They are a mutants best friend when they have been pumped full of lead.

The Iron Society is a group that believes altered humans and other mutants are the rightful rulers of this new world. They are not afraid to enforce this view through strength.

Knights of Genetic Purity believe that the best being is a pure being, whether that be human, animal, or vegetable. While they don't go out of their way to kill mutants, they are very distrustful as many mutants will have abilities no one will know about until they use them.

Peace Brigade are a mixed bag. If the come to town, sure their improvements are a good thing, but its the exorbitant "taxes" that come after. These taxes aren't enough to destroy or enslave a community, but they are demanded rather than agreed upon.

The Radioactivists are a secretive lot that live in and around areas of the burn, a mysterious sensation that may or may not have a known reason. An area near Ortee has an about a mile wide that is filled with the burn, but no one knows why. These adherents are more mutated than most folk.

The Ranks of the Fit are the mutant opposites of the Knights of Genetic Purity. They believe that animal kind has been changed so that they could replace mankind. While most are more violent in their actions, some just look down on humans as lesser. Might makes right in their enclaves, and only the strong are respected or able to lead.

The Restorationists name gives away what they are about, they wish to bring back the glory of the old world. Unlike the Knights, they aren't xenophobic as who can be a member of their society, all are welcome.

The Seekers are interested in disregarding the machines of the ancients blaming their technology on why the world fell in the first place. They generally abstain from using technology unless it is something that has no side effects. Their ranks are made up of mostly men, but all others are welcome though rarely to levels of any prominence.

Zoopremists, like the Ranks of the Fit, are made up of mutant animals exclusively, but they don't wish to exteminate man like the Bonepartists do. They, however, are not above enslaving them.

While this campaign will deal more with The Restorationists, it is not outside the possibility to be from any other cryptic alliance. Their motives might clash, but they all will have a place in the adventure.

Each person will need to have a reason to be helping the Restorationists to play. You could be an infiltrator from the Ranks of the Fit looking for items or power or a Speaker of the Voice looking for a hidden god.

1. What level does everyone start at, and how is gear / wealth determined?

It's a fairly prosperous town set at the mouth of a trade route, so you can get just about anything you want within reason. If there's something you want, just ask and we'll go from there. Otherwise it's per class as per normal Pathfinder rules

2. What is the terrain like? How far apart are the two towns on the rivers? Is there some kind of map I can see? But also, is it hot, cold? Is it a wasteland if you go too far away from town?

It's one town with two sections and then some complexes around it. I don't have a map as of yet as this is a custom setting and I just haven't found a good enough program to put one together on a Chromebook. I wish I had a PC, but this is what I could afford at this time. Well, to be fully honest, I have little kids and don't want to sink a lot of money into something they might spill water into. The weather is fairly temperate as it's set in what we know as the mid eastern seaboard. Plant life is a tad on the lighter side, but not so sparse as to be desert like. I haven't decided that yet, I figured that this would come up organically and I'd flesh things out as the PCs move along.

3. Just how advanced is technology? Are there things like laser guns and power armor, dirtbikes and quads, color TV and rockets, or as far back as steam engines? Or is it still plate mail and swords, or more like the cowboys in the wild west?

As to the technology that beings can produce, it's pre industrial revolution. So there is some clockwork out there, but it's rare. While muskets and flintlocks are very common, repeating rifles are also starting to show up more frequently and revolvers are just starting to be designed from ancient examples. It's not uncommon to see laser guns and power armor, but they tend to be glitchy or even broken. Powered vehicles are still a long way off and most ancient vehicles don't work. There are stories of marauders that have acquired ancient vehicles, but no one's seen any in at least a generation or two. While swords are still very useful, armor is starting to wain given that bullets can rip through all but the most advanced or heavy armors. You would mostly encounter leathers and bulletproof vests before you'd see a set of full plate armor except for the human cryptic alliance called the Knights of Genetic Purity, though even they don't wear full suits. Chain and Banded mail are somewhat common with breastplates used primarily by the KoGP and the Ranks of the Fit. As for feel it does kind of line up with movies like Cowboys and Aliens and John Carter

Some items left by the ancients work perfectly if one can figure out their purpose. Most, however, are corrupted and can produce effects that weren't in the design. Sometimes this can lead to explosive results and sometimes these effects aren't noticed in the beginning. None is more noticeable than in medicines left by the ancients. There are stories of beings using the chemical concoctions of the ancients many times, but then suddenly they will go insane attacking themselves or others. These effects are normally temporary, but one houndfolk had her entire personally rewritten as if they were a new person.


So, Seekers, be careful and if your friend suddenly strikes you after using ancient technology, just given them time to recover instead of returning the attack in kind.

I'm have a little mechanic to advance the village of the Well of Hope. PL4 items can be given to the town to reverse engineer. Generally this takes 1d6 months or the party can help this along with three successful Know (engineering) checks vs the craft DC of the item. This doesn't mean you can randomly find these items without researching them, they just aren't guaranteed to be available. Items that are PL 5 are currently unavailable for mass production, though that may come about in the future.

Current Items available for purchase:

None at this time
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:00, Thu 17 June 2021.

The Sczarni are a group that have been in the Well of Hope for a very long time. Some say they were hear near the fall, though I found this to be dubious at best. They aren't a bad organization for they do allot of good for the city itself. They police the more dangerous parts of town and are not engaged with the more violent crime. There are six major Sczarni 'clans' in the city: the Creepers, Doolun's Lads, the Gallowed, the Tower Girls, the Washside Wringers, and the Wreckwash Blades, with the Gallowed being the most powerful Sczarni clan.

Law and Order:

The guard only has one crime they will punish with all efficiency that they can muster - Murder. Killing another sentient creature within the city limits will gain you a swift trial and execution. All other crimes are handled much more leniently given the small size of the guard in relation to the rest of the populous. They just don't have the manpower, so instead, they rely mostly on gangs and the population to police themselves, hence the personal guard position is a lucrative profession with many homeless moving into this field. Only the mercantile district is heavily policed. This is not to just protect those that are wealthy, but to make sure that the Well of Hope remains a safe haven for trade. What is traded is none of the guard's concern, they are only interested in prosecuting thieves and pickpockets. Those that cheat customers, however, will eventually find themselves outside of the guardmen's gaze and open for financial ruin. The guard is funded by taxes that are taken in from imports and distributed evenly. This keeps the merchants from cheating on their taxes, since it pays for the guards that make trade possible, and little graph since all are paid equally.

The Well of Hope is run by a council that is made up of 13 members made up of equal parts merchants and members of the strongest Cryptic Alliances, which usually means one person from each Cryptic Alliance and one from each merchant guild, except one person. The 13th member is chosen at random from among the populous through a lottery once a year. This 13th member only casts a vote when there is a tie, but can argue their viewpoint just like any other member. The other members are rotated out every 2 years with death being the only way to break this. Once a member is part of the council, they must wait 4 years before they can join again. This makes for a very unusual mix of members and very rarely allows the council to come to any kind of decision making the populous think that they do nothing, though this is by design.