To start off there are very few overtly evil named NPC’s. Most of the major NPC’s will have varying shades of grey. In Superhero stuff the arch enemy is usually blatantly evil and must be destroyed utterly. There will be a few of those from time to time but in this campaign you will likely, with regards to human type adversaries, be able to accomplish as much with diplomacy as with a sword. I’ll not leave you diehard bricks with nothing to do, there will be ample room for the brutal to strut their stuff but there needs be room for the subtle too. One of the big reasons why obviously evil NPC’s don’t live to long is because they make such an inviting political target for the powers that be to gain brownie points with the populace. You will find that the ‘powers that be’ may well be employing you to get rid of these havens of evil “in the name of the King”. It is not a good thing to look more powerful or more benevolent than the King.
Speaking of politics and character creation I would like at least one of you to be a minor noble (contacts, wealth, etc.), probably a baron/baroness. I think it will be a nice way of both helping the party out of bad situations and getting them into more bad situations (royal work).
Kingdom of Risan, Capital City of Two Rivers(Zwei Flusse): Largest port in the known world, it is fortified tremendously. Two Rivers has fallen once to civil war and was fortified to its current levels by the current monarch, King Johan IV. The city gets its name because of the obvious, two rivers converge at the city.
One of the reasons why you see so few landed knights is because of the age of the Kingdom. Handing out land was the way to show favour, and raise the loyalty of, the lesser nobility. The simple fact remains that there is NO land left to hand out. Everything is has been apportioned to the point where the only way to hand out land is to go into "conquering Empire" mode, a military mode which the Kingdom is ill prepared at this time. Even if the King called in those fealty oaths and said we are going to conquer these people over here it doesn't, at this time, leave much at home to keep the peace and defend against other hostiles.
King Johan the Ready (nicknamed the Paranoid), age 58, location Two Rivers. Sons: Wilhelm, 19, location Two Rivers; Theodric, age 22, location Kol (neither son is married) Daughters: Olga, age 30, location Kol; Katrina, age 28, location Two Rivers; Harsa, age 25, location Two Rivers. (All daughters married to better nobility with children)
Kol: Trade city and only pass thru mountains north of the Broken Teeth. People seem rude but are just very terse in their conversations. Has never fallen to foreign invaders. Dwarves can be seen trading on occation. Rumors of new non human creatures to the south.
Rivers: Long River, more of a very long stream or brook. Easily fordable in most places but closer to the moutains the great chasms make for problems requiring bridges. In the spring, it can be a nasty frothing white spray. Green River, wider and slower then the Long River but more difficult to ford. There are more ferry crossings on this river then bridges and many shallow drafting boats that carry goods up and down river. It will spill its banks in the spring, making the area near it quite fertile.
Elves: Most magical using people known, will use magic before mechanical devices. The have used chemical explosives but only for entertainment purposes, using such things for warfare is vulgar and incredibly…human (even though the humans have yet to attain this secret). They have sent two envoys to the current King of Risan, that is twice as many as have come in contact with the rulers in the past 500 years. Why the elves have chosen this time to be more cordial is a mystery. There is still room for Elven players but let me know, it will be kinda special and you will be taking a lot of social disads.
Dwarves: The opposite of Elves in that their mechanical engineering skills are second to none. Engineeringwise they are easily 400 years ahead of the most advanced humans but as yet have not implemented chemical explosives (gunpowder) which they would view as a school of magic. The Dwarves have been in contact with the Risan people more then any other human culture, mostly because the Risan people are more technically advanced then any other humans this side of the Black Mountains. Dwarven players will be taking a bevy of social disads, though probably not as severe as Elven players.
Humans: Risan is by far the place you want to be if human. It boasts a very good standard of living even for the lowest on the social ladder. To the south, in a place referred to as the Broken Teeth Fens, are a backward incredibly superstitious people for whom magic is punishible by death. The southerners are said to worship snakes, whereas decent folks worship more humanlike gods. To the northwest, across a wide fjord, are low hills, parkland, plains, wonderful weather and the most unstable governments humanity has ever had visted upon it. There must be over two dozen petty kingdoms so small, and changing hands so quickly, that nobody ever bothers remembering who is in charge. Trade can be a nightmare because the rules can change mid voyage. The area is roughly referred to as the Chaos Plains. To the east of the mountains are more humans that bring trade but the land they come from is not known. Maps are vague at best because there is at least 100 miles of desert beyond the pass at Kol. How they manage to make that journey they are not sharing (they like things just as they are with their comfortable monopoly on that caravan route).
Hobbits: Yeah, right. Nobody has ever heard of such a thing, even in legend, let alone seen one.
Orcs: Um, are those what you mean by big Kobolds? Perhaps large Goblins? Both, Kobolds and Goblins, are known to eek out an existance along the western slopes of the Black Mountains. Orcs, like Hobbits, are things of Legends and most likely not real. The Goblins and Kobolds are on a decline and will likely become Legends in the past tense themselves in the next couple of decades.
Magic: There are three known magicians working directly for the King of Fair Haven, living in Two Rivers. Likely, you have never met them. Even the sophisticated among you know of their existance, much in the same way I know Barbara Boxer exists, but a meeting face to face is usually a once in a lifetime experience for most people. Sometimes people have met magic users and never known that they had. The open display of magic to ‘amuse’ the populace doesn’t occur for much the same reason the detonation of fision bombs doesn’t occur to amuse the populace. The general populace thinks that magic, when not directed by a clergyman, is sucking the spiritforce from its surroundings and they’d much rather that be from grass, trees or something other than themselves. You will find the more sophisticated are not as easily cowed by few cantrips though. Magic users can take the “secret identity” disad.
Religion: The Kingdom of Fair Haven has for all practical purposes one god, Rham. According to the lore of Rham there was a war in the heavens and Rham interposed himself to stop the war. It cost him (gender isn’t really known, we’re talking some vaguely golemlike God here) his place in the heavens and he fell forming the land everyone lives on. There are numerous cults that call there gods something else but as far as those who worship Rham those other cults are simply calling Rham by another name. There have been varying degrees of ‘tolerance’ depending on the political climate too. Some clergy of Rham are capable to channelling the very essence of Rham to good work, such as healing a broken leg, purging a desease from a wheat crop or making tainted water drinkable. For those wondering what type of characters they are, think more druidlike