Scope
The motivation behind building Edus - Ancient Kingdoms
This is the Hard Reboot of my AD&D campaign world, Edus. Ancient Kingdoms is the title where I plan on having multiple continents, Edus being the main attraction. Edus has had 5 previous iterations. When a chapter of my life closes, a new chapter begins, I will destroy Edus and attempt to rebuild it. But as the book says, All things forgotten, do not always stay that way. History from the previous Ages is still canon. Actions that players have taken in the Second Age, are part of my natural history in the tomes and scrolls of Sages of this Age.
The goal of the project
My campaign world is created by me, but molded and changed by my players. My world is not just my own, but each footprint a player's character makes on Edus, changes the world permanently.
Edus - Ancient Kingdoms's Unique Selling point
In one sentence, best describe my world:
"Actions have consequences, and your characters actions are permanent."
If you sack a fort. and destroy it, it stays destroyed (until someone claims it, or monsters infest it and remake it.) If a character kills a king, this isn't wiped away and I do NOT "reset my campaign" each new game. That king will be dead in every campaign after, and the characters will live in infamy in the history books. Almost every NPC, King, Duke and even gods were once a Player creation. You pray to the god of invention and smithing, I can AND WILL text the player that created that god (once as a mortal adventurer that ascended to godhood) and see what your 'god' thinks. You sack a small fort on the border of a known Baron, I will email that Baron and ask him what he will do about a group of ratcatchers sacking a vassal's home.
Theme
Genre
High Magic Fantasy Castles & Crusades Campaign World.
Reader Experience
The world feels ALIVE.
Wanderlust should rule your decisions. The world feels raw and ready for definition. Like fresh clay on a potter's wheel.
Reader Tone
The tone is Dark. But not oppressive. The world is Dark as it's first oepning it's eyes after a long time of darkness. Coming out of a cataclysm, the Sixth Age is upon you. What will you rediscover?
Recurring Themes
Recurring themes of Ancient Kingdoms include:
- The unending conflict of Law Vs Chaos
- How power can corrupt and different cultures clash
- Darkness isn't always evil, but evil can also be bright and smiling.
Character Agency
Characters have complete and total agency and as i've been told, Character Agency actually overshadows my or any DM that runs Ancient Kingdoms. The players and their characters decision change my world. and leave it as they left it.
Focus
The Conflict of Law vs Chaos.
Politics and the evolution of man and he progresses through time.
The power and follies of the Deities and how man now holds more power than the gods.
Drama
Gothmyr is the largest nation in the known world of Edus. The capitol is King's Watch, And it is at war with Pennimair with its capitol is Falconus.
Racial prejudice and fear of the unknown abound across Edus, and those can cause conflict.
Deities are realizing if afollower of their begins to have followers of his own, He becomes a Gloried Soul or Pietist, gaining powers of their own, from followers.
Just as Edus has forgotten kingdoms buried under rubble and forests, there are lost and forgotten magics and even gods, hidden from the world's knowing. Evils that would terrify mortals to death lie in shallow graves, waiting to be unearthed, or remembered.
The "known world" of Edus is about 30% of the continent. The remaining 70% is known as the Wildreach. An unmapped, unexplored mass of lands to the west, where adventure and often times, danger, await.
