Setting the Scene of Dragons of Night

Rules of the World

What are the fundamental differences in the natural laws of your world?

• Magic exists.
• Magic is the ability to channel the subtle energies of life to change and/or affect the world in different ways.
• Some beings, like dragons, fae, giants, Rephaim, Jinwu, Oneiroi, and the spirits, possess this power innately, while others like the average human must learn and take the oaths the crafts and gramarye to practice magic.

Cosmology

How did this world come into being?

No one knows the origins of magic for certain. The dragons, the fae, the Rephaim, and others each have their own stories about it. Some, like the Uraei Elders, believe that they are all human because of their ability to breed amongst one another.

Geography

What does the geography of your world look like?

Since the stories take place primarily on earth, it looks like our world. The Otherworld around Blackwood County mirrors the terrain of our world, but with golden leafed, silver barked trees so common there.

Does your geography have any special properties or features?

Still water acts as a portal to the other world and hills and mountains concentrate power and through stone circles can amplify magic.

People and their History

Who used to live in Blackwood County, what is their history?

The bloody history of the Province of Avalon mirrors that of the exiled Maryland. Eventually, Dark Lady Ina Blackwood lost much of her county and Aernadael restricted her control over Avalon and to Blackwood County in the Province's west.

Which species/cultures live here now and what’s their history?

The Sith Thyrsa of Aernadael moved into the region to found the states of Vinland, Markland, and Helluland, Practitioners of the Trivian Way, The Dark Gentry, The Seelie Court, and the several other smaller cultures moved in.

What do they need, and what do they need from each other?

The Sith Thyrsa

The Sith Thyrsa need to maintain the barriers of their world so they can stave off the powers of Darkness and preserve the wild. They require:

• The continued blessing of the giants to keep their drycraft and gramarye.
• The power of the Dark Gentry to maintain the barriers and to shield their homes.
• The cooperation of the Seelie Court to not only control the Unseelie, but to maintain their secret existence from the exiles.
• Rephaim to use their influence with the spirit world to maintain order and to intercede on their behalf.

The Rephaim

The Rephaim need refuge from the exiled world that persecuted, hunted, killed them before the rise of the covenant, but they wish to maintain their culture and practices. They require:

• The support of the giants to secure their place under the covenant.
• The cooperation of the Dark Gentry to keep the peace with the spirit world.
• The acceptance of the Seelie Court who have traditionally seen them as a threat.
• The tolerance of the Sith Thyrsa to stop trying to convert them and to respect their nature and culture.

The Dark Gentry

The Dark Gentry needs the freedom to feed without fear of retribution with reasonable restrictions. They require:

• The giants to continue to explain their vital part in the covenant to the others.
• The Sith Thyrsa to allow those who will give of their life to the Gentry so they might survive.
• The Seelie Court to maintain the peaceful alliance despite the centuries of animosity and violence between them.
• The Rephaim to continue to support the Gentry and to suppress their tradition of hunting dragons.

The Seelie Court

The Seelie Court needs to maintain their control over the Otherworld because even they have allowed some outposts there, they fear the Otherworld descending into the madness of the world beyond. They require:

• The giants to continue to support their exclusive right to the Otherworld.
• The Dark Gentry to maintain the peace.
• The Sith Thyrsa to show them the same respect as they do the Dark Gentry.
• The Rephaim to keep their distance from the Otherworld because they do not belong there.