LONGFALL REGION | POWERLESS p1 [FREE]

DARK TIMES CYCLE

Peaceful times can't last forever. Unexpected wars will take thousands of lives in a couple of days. The great storm will make huge kingdoms starve. The curses sent by the gods will change the ordinary life for hundreds of years, destroying families, communities, and nations. But even in such dark times, there are those who want more. They are ready to lead the others. They know that it can't end like this.
The Dark Times cycle will provide players and GMs with three regions that suffer from various disasters. Adventures can make them fight and go into great battles, force them to defend, search for resources, gather allies, and prepare for upcoming attacks.
It's up to you to decide what happens in your campaign.

POWERLESS

So many terrible things have tortured these lands. Years of cold that cause famine. Floods washing away the villages behind them. Hurricanes that took away all of the living. But each time the inhabitants of the lands coped with disasters, appeasing their gods or other forces.
And who would have thought that the toughest trial of these lands will be its inhabitants.

LOST AGE
The people of this land have achieved so much and gone so far. No wonder they thought they were equal to the gods. Magical and scientific powers have generated many benefits for the inhabitants, but they have also become the tools in the hands of people who strive for power.

The last old day. The centuries of conflicts and wars that affected every nation and every family stopped on one day. Some call it the "Liberation Day"; some call it the "The End". On this day that the symbiosis of scientific achievements and magical discoveries showed people that none of them came close to divine. On this day the inhabitants observed a beautiful but deadly phenomenon - numerous shimmering rays soared to the sky and quickly began growing wider and wider, turning into foggy walls as high as the sky. During the day, they destroyed everything that got inside them and disappeared.
New times. The rays reached large sizes, covering many territories, some of which remained untouched. It is not known what was the better fate - to be absorbed by a powerful force and die quickly or try to avoid being killed by those who survived. The forces of the old world were destroyed. Kings and kingdoms, empires and emperors died on just one day, leaving their survived citizens alone with fear. Beasts and monsters that felt the advent of new times began to seize the territories they owned thousands of years ago. The power of law did not exist anymore, unleashing the hands of the most dishonorable and violent ones, who quickly assembled into groups for raids, looting, and control. Survived groups of the peoples moved away from once crowded lands, trying to find new lands for their families.
Consequences. In just a few days, the population declined several times. Not only those who had fled to the safe lands, untouched by the magical Sky walls, survived. Those who never had any magical abilities or talents managed to survive the deadly attack too. However, most of them died due to demolition inside the Sky walls.
Search for the culprits. Over time, the legends about people who caused such events began to spread over the lands more and more. There was no doubt that the deceitful emperors and duplicitous kings were involved in it. But who did they listen to more than anyone else? Who did they pay huge amounts of gold to destroy their enemies, to live forever? To be like the gods they had stopped listening to long ago?
The magicians. Old sages, with their blood full of contempt for everything living, natural, and spiritual.  Young sorcerers who knew no boundaries of knowledge and wanted power like no other. Usual visionaries who lured ordinary people to their bonds, promising them wealth and land at exorbitant prices that got higher and higher.
People with a piece of divine, supernatural powers that are beyond their control became guilty, in the opinion of those who survived the most terrible disaster these lands have ever seen.

SURVIVORS
A few months later, the lands were divided among several factions.
Communities of survivors. Communities of people united by a common problem. They try to live their own lives without getting into conflicts with others. Such communities may allow the presence of magicians, which enables them to meet their needs quicker but also causes great aggression among their neighbors and even among the people inside the community. Some communities expressly forbid people with magical powers to be on their territory. They are slower in coping with survival challenges and are more likely to lack resources.

COMMUNITY FEATURES
1. The community is headed by a famous magician who has a lot of resources and means for survival. However, he also have more enemies.
2. The community is headed by a survived independent representative of the old elite and maintains class inequality.  Such communities only keep in touch with communities of the same kind and buy off their enemies with their resources.
3. The community features a large number of people from different classes, races, and nations. Frequent disputes over responsibilities, disunity, and lack of a sole leader make it a desired target for external enemies.
4. The community has a violent and strict authoritarian regime. Its success stem from the hard work of individual residents, whose patience cannot be eternal.
5. A religious community that worships specific gods or a god. It includes only people who believe in the same gods and has its own rituals and traditions.
6. A community entirely consisting of members of the same race or nation. May have an expressed disregard to other races or nations, communicating and accepting only members of this community.

Bandits. Criminal gangs of people united by the purpose of rapid enrichment, gaining power, and access to resources. Can be part of an ordinary gang or can form separate settlements of mobsters.

BANDITS FEATURES
1. The gang is headed by a magician who controls its people with his leadership skills and fear but is scorned by the others.
2. The gang is engaged in kidnapping and selling people into slavery.
3. The gang consists of magicians who use their abilities for looting and attacks.
4. A settlement with the leader of a large criminal gang trying to establish a network of bandits for joint attacks on big targets.
5. A criminal gang that offers its security services to settlements and communities. Attacks them if they refuse.
6. A large settlement for various gangster gangs, where any open conflicts and confrontations are prohibited. Gangs and groups of bandits solve their problems in a peaceful way here; find new goals and share territories. Here you can also order special services, find the necessary goods, or learn the location of a certain person.

Barbarians. Small nations, communities of tribes united by a strong leader. Their priority is only their own people and no one else, so they often resort to raids and looting of lands.

BARBARIANS FEATURES
1. The tribe is headed by a strong leader who wants to enslave as many territories as possible.
2. The tribe consists of racial and ethnic minorities with distinctive customs and culture, who only want to find fertile and safe lands.
3. A steppe tribe that uses its special skills in armament and horse breeding for rapid and quick raids.
4. A tribe from the far south, worshiping an ancient god who wants to conquer the deserted lands.
5. A northern tribe that makes seasonal raids from the shores of large rivers and seas to feed their families in distant lands.
6. A wild community of tribes, hiding from civilization throughout its history, uses primitive methods of struggle to survive in a new world.

Clergy. Religious people who believe in various gods. Some serve in monasteries, the others are members of ruthless cults.

CLERGY FEATURES
1. A cult ruled by an ancient and forgotten god who rose from the depths of history to gain his power. The cult members hide, trying to take the highest possible position in the new world hierarchy and recruiting more and more people to serve their lord.
2. The cult of new gods that has long waited for such catastrophic events and welcomed them. Those who believe in new, unknown gods that are supposed to replace the old ones persuade the world to anarchy, willing to build their own world on its ruins.
3. The order of knights, continuing to serve the perished king and old god to the end. It protects the former inhabitants of the kingdom, especially other clergy, regardless of their magical powers.
4. The order of fallen knights tries to seize as much power as possible for further restoration of the civilization with their gods, ideals, and rules.
5. A monastic order that predicts such sequence of events and dedicates itself to informing the people about real reasons for such an outcome.
6. A monastic order that tries to preserve elusive scientific knowledge by forming the largest library of the New Age.

Fallen states.  While the Sky walls swallowed up and destroyed the kingdoms and empires with their leaders, the following months have completely torn apart once great and glorious states. There is nothing left in place of many of them, and the locals have long forgotten the emperors they used to serve. But there are also some states that managed to preserve their image, formed by sweat and blood of their ancestors. Such states are often just one big city, open for trade and those who want to settle there and observe its rules. And of course, such territories are a luring target for all enemies around.

CITY-STATE FEATURES
1. The once great state is still headed by its king, who survived the disaster and became a sacred figure for his subjects.
2. A rich city-state that is a harbor for people with magical powers whose ready to pay a huge amount of money their safery.
3. A city-state of commerce that allows selling absolutely anything, including people, on its territories. It is protected by a criminal gang.
4. A city-state of the former empire, famous for its art of war. Currently, it offers military force for hire in exchange for resources to survive.
5. A city-state that is engaged in the search for magical artifacts and accumulates forces for expansion.
6. A city-state, which has accumulated enough forces and resources to expand its territories and regain its former glory and power.

***

Powerless p2 (soon)

Powerless p3 (soon)

Feel free to share your ideas and experience about adventure in the comments!
We greatly appreciate all of your support!