Towerlands Campaign
From Towers
Categories: Campaign Background
| Table of contents |
Introduction
The Fifth War had plagued every living thing for the past 1200 years. Kingdoms fought amongst themselves as darker races ripped holes in space and slipped through magical gates into this world. Soon these dark races — fiends and dragons and eye tyrants and horrors of every kind — were at the top of the food chain. Some of the kingdoms were able to sign treaties and ally as a common force against evil, but it wasn’t enough. Some kingdoms made deals with the dark forces and became powerful, twisted nations. They helped to enslave many races and wipe out others. Only when all the good races could put aside their differences and unite as a single fighting force could they defeat the enemy kingdoms and lock the dark forces out of the middle world.
The land now called Thousand Towers was once part of three great kingdoms. Under slavery, these kingdoms were disbanded and broken into smaller areas and handed out to well-meaning barons for rulership. The Treaty of Lastmeet settled ownership of those baronies. Instead of everyone’s land being returned to the three royal families who used to rule many hundreds of years ago, the barons would keep their lands as their own kingdom so long as they could maintain a tower every 25 miles and at least one castle or keep within those boundaries. The Tower Law, as it later would be called, set the central lands into motion as ambitious baron-kings skirmished over small towers strewn across the countryside.
Today, forty years after the signing of the treaty, the Towerlands are still at war. Border skirmishes are the norm and larger battles take place occasionally. Many tower kingdoms have united as confederacies for mutual protection. Some of the larger tower kingdoms have conquered their neighbors and feudalism is beginning to return to the area. The common people generally want little to do with any of it but are often conscripted into military service.
The name Thousand Towers is not accurate. The Towerlands covers about five million square miles. Truly, there are probably more than 5,000 towers across the lands. Many kingdoms do attempt to fill in a tower every 25 miles but since there is no governing body to enforce the treaty, it does little good. Still, towers are a regular part of the landscape of this area.
Adventures
The Towerlands Campaign is one particular storyline in the Thousand Towers setting. This campaign will explore responsibility and duty within a small kingdom ruled by an aging king. Players will take on the roles of members of his court; many will play his children, all potential heirs to the throne. Other examples of courtiers include nobles, scholars, bodyguards, tutors, and ambassadors. Players are encouraged to find ways to tie the party together cohesively and coherently.
Adventures will run the gamut of possibility:
- running around the kingdom putting out fires of every kind
- interacting with scheming nobles at home at court
- keeping a troubled barony going
- defending the kingdom from marching armies, horrid monsters, and fell arcanists
- exploring the unknown and uncharted territories within the kingdom's borders
- extending the kingdom's power through deal-making, land-conquering, and exploration
In line with the main Duty theme, this campaign will explore duty to family, friends, kingdom, and homeland. In particular, the love and rivalry between player-character siblings should offer many fantastic role-playing opportunities.
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