The Uncaring Light of the Stars - Primer

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Fear and doubt lurk behind every corner, preying on and pitting players against each other while they catch the rare glimpse into the truly incomprehensible unknown. It will be a fight for survival, of the body and the mind. This game will be a mix of occult, cosmic horror, and fantasy themes set in the homebrew universe of the “Legends of Galea.”
Journey with 3-5 tenuous allies beneath…

[ The Uncaring Light of the Stars ]

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Things you will need to know before you make a character in this game of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition:

Mechanics

Every player character starts at level 4 and will level up during the game ending at level 6-7.
Every alignment is available for player characters, and many races and classes are as well (if they are an unusual race or a non-core class, then come see me).
It is recommended that players choose a race that would regularly interact with the most populous races of Galea, and if this is untrue, then to see me. If your character is not a core 5E race or a monster race, please let me know.
Players may be stat’d for combat, exploration, investigation, etc, or a mixture of several of these. Each player will be useful in some way.
Characters with occult backgrounds or knowledge may be better-suited than other individuals during the situations of the game. But fish-out-of-water are the spice of D&D games as well.
New player characters at level 4 will have 800 gold pieces to spend as they see fit for items, gear, weapons, armour, etc, as well as one minor magic item. This magic item can be used for defense, offense, or utility. One example of each would be a shield enchanted with fire resistance, or a blade that provides +1 to attack and damage, or a goggles of darkvision respectively. Please feel free to come up with your own, but keep it within the power level inferred by the above examples.

Setting

Themes! This game will be a departure from the lighthearted tone of previous campaigns to a world of stifling dread. Suspense and horror will be the atmosphere with psychological elements and horror elements like body horror and cosmic horror. The game will drive your characters to wonder if what they are doing is right, or if what they are doing is of their own free will at all. Is the world they’re trapped in a dream of their own making or another creature’s terrible waking nightmare?
The game will take place in the homebrew world of Galea, a high-fantasy world of magic and technology experiencing a magical renaissance. Seriously don’t even hesitate to get creative with neighboring celestial bodies or orbiting satellites.
The game takes place two months after the events that unfolded in “Flowers for the Dead” on the first new-moon of Autumn’s Cusp. This does not mean you have to play the same character!
The location of the game is unimportant, and your characters may be from any of the three continents or possibly beyond. The name of the central continent is Surrexit, home to the feuding, corrupt baronies of the human kingdom. To the east, Galeanna, a land of extreme weather, exotic cultures, and vicious, untamed badlands full of titanic creatures. To the west is Latria, ancestral home to many races including the elven high nobility, it is a place where magic is wild, and diabolic cults scheme between the cracks of the ruling magocratic cabals.
Should you require any information on any locations, please ask me.

Backstories

Players are encouraged to, in their backstories, not let the universe hold them back from executing any ideas they may have. Essentially, you can do what you want, within reason.
Your characters may know each other beforehand, been past or current rivals, friends, family, brothers-and-sisters-in-arms, or none of these. Your characters may be brought together by means of the alignment of the planets which falls within the next few days. Your character might have knowledge of astronomy through formal study or the phases of the moon and other planets through druidic rituals, but many esoteric communities and organizations understand that this alignment, whether it be a boon or a curse, is significant in some way.
If you are unsure of the name of a coastal city or an island hamlet or whatever else you need, then feel free to create one and even list its denizens, dialects, or allegiances. If you need any help, just ask me.
Players may also elect to designate their character as a member of any myriad of adventuring guilds or the esteemed Pathfinder Society, a group of explorers, cartographers, and adventurers that discover unknown regions, flora, fauna, and phenomenae on the promise of payment, and their discovery being shared in the great libraries of the Pathfinder Society.
It is also recommended that players create a real character that is driven by realistic emotions, doubts, fears, strengths, and weaknesses.
Characters may know each other or be complete strangers and may be all manner of insane or mild-mannered, brutal or peaceful, and social or antisocial.

Criteria!

A player is required to submit a backstory at least half a page that describes briefly the character’s personality and life up until this point, at least another individual in their life, as well as their motivations, beliefs, and anything else you feel important for me to know.
The backstory should state a serious fear the character has (ie secrets getting out, heights), a grave sin they’ve committed (ie specific murder, bribery resulting in tragedy), and their ultimate goal (if any, not a lot of people actually have one).

Background

If a player decides to be a member of the Pathfinder Society, then I may provide a little background information. The Society is geared towards individuals who travel far and seek knowledge or adventure as a career or hobby. Example Character Concepts A radical human wizard from a traditionalist, apolitical cabal who opposes the exploitation of magic and only casts spells using old-timey riddles and esoteric ingredients like newt’s tears or blessed tree sap. He rarely shuts up about how things used to be “in the old days before the colleges.” A devilishly charming tiefling ranger with the criminal background who used to be a spy for the brutal, expansionist Orsahnian empire. Now he roams the lands looking for deep-cover members of the state-sponsored diabolist cults that seek to undermine neighboring nations to the ends of achieving self-forgiveness. A hard-boiled half-elven detective that works as a League expeditionary explorer as an expert on the Eternum in order to fund an ever-intensifying addiction to glimmer cosmetics. His senses, tempered by the indulgence of so much magic, makes him an asset for his incredible ability to sense ruins, but it is weakening him like a torch burning for too long. A philosophical orc druid investigating the source of blights and omens that have afflicted the land of his tribe. He must leave his sheltered forest community to find someone who understands the sign that keeps appearing in the animal bones found by hunters or the rashes that appear on the skin of babes.

Vocabulary

Aurum - The one true, mostly universally recognized god of gods. His domain is the sun, gold, and magic, for it is with his life (according to the elves) that magic became invested into the world due to a ritual conducted by the Ascora. After this Great Undoing, Aurum’s direct influence disappeared, and his power was spread to the earth and into the stars, with his seeming death giving birth to the pantheon of constellar deities.
Ascora - The first people of which nearly all races are evolved from. Said to have been made of pure energy, of what kind, it is not known, but it was connected to their identities and titles. Their civilization, the Eternum, was the largest and most ancient civilization before its fall.
Constellar Deity - Ascora that ascended to the stars at the culmination of the ritual of the Great Undoing. Their bodies were ripped apart and turned into stardust achieving the only known instance of apotheosis. Now they are seen in the sky as constellations, with their power waxing and waning with the rotation of the globe. Their role is more prominent in day-to-day affairs, their worshipers wielding direct power, and their boons elevating those who are faithful or those who are deemed worthy of their divine gifts. Not all constellar deities are benevolent, but all of them have names, identities, powers, and domains.
Eternum - During the First Age, the planet was dominated by beings of pure, focused energy called Ascora. Their technologically and spiritually advanced civilization spanned the four corners of Galea ruled only by the one true god, Aurum. This civilization was and will always be called the Eternum. The secrets of this time are lost, but their marvels and ancient works can be seen all over the globe, some in obvious spots like the Titan’s Bow of which the Matlunn Palace is built on, while others are still being excavated.
Galea - The world, currently experiencing a magical renaissance nearing the prophesied end of the Second Age, the Age of Change, while the first was the Age of the Eternum, or Golden Age.
League - The League of Arcane Study (often called the league) is the politically neutral society that regulates and licenses practitioners and all arcane spellcasting. Their offices and colleges are in all three continents, with their headquarters in the southern tip of Latria.
Covenant - The Covenant of Divine Purpose, a holy society of priests, scholars, witch hunters, and clerics, the Covenant is the most important group of divine practitioners in the world. They often butt heads with the League of Arcane Study, for they believe theirs is the purview of the study, catalogue, and worship of holy relics, artifacts, creatures, and landmarks. They have built and maintain churches all across the world where they take in the sick and the wounded to provide aid, and offer advice and counsel through their wise and empathetic chantry. Given the nature of the gods and their varied nature, many are sponsored for worship while others are banned, their records and holy scriptures proscribed or burnt.
Practitioners - Those with the ability to wield and manipulate magic either through holy casting or arcane casting. Warlocks and summoners fall somewhere within these delineations. An unlicensed practitioner may find a difficult time finding a job in a busy city as an enchanter or scryer, but a licensed practitioner must attend annual psychological evaluations and spellbook cataloguing in order to maintain their license and advance in their field. This practice is different but no less strict for holy practitioners.
Doktor - Practitioners of medicine, surgery, and the school of necromancy, they are often lumped with one another and reviled by the masses of society for their taboo interference with the dead. Many doktors are mundane, medically-minded scholars who study the bodies of the amazing races of Galea, while others may be apostate necromancers that abduct the folk of ill-protected border towns to fuel insane experiments. Currently the practice of necromancy is legal but never practiced in the open, and those without a license are treated very, very harshly.
Magic - Magic is a part of everything in one way or another. Either through investiture of mana or the calling of a godspark. Divine casters have other words for it, but arcane spellcasting requires several key components, including, but not limited to: position of local ley lines, abundance of mana, understanding of formulae magi, and tapping into their own godspark lest the mana use them as a fire would use firewood.