New Campaign – Petrichor

Petrichor

Many odd places exist in the Sea of Stars, one such place was the Wash, a large island that was constantly under pounding rain.  While a few hardy (or unfortunate) souls set up small settlements to sell fresh water to passing ships, expeditions into the exterior never returned or came back with stories of washed out plains and low hills of mud.  Even the expansionist powers gave up on settling the fringe of an island whose only resource was rainwater.

Then, the rain stopped, entirely.  The omnipresent clouds, blew away.  Suddenly, the Wash was just another island.  Cautiously, exploration began, after all the rains could come back at any time.  To their surprise, there were forests, mountains and lush grasslands, rivers and streams, even ruins.  It was as if the real nature of the land had been held ayont, waiting for the rains to stop before they returned.

Now, there is a great rush to claim this new land.  While in the capital, lawyers and surveyors argue over who owns the lands, everyone knows that it will be the facts on the ground that ultimately decide the division of this new realm.

Setting: The Sea of Stars, a new frontier thereof.  We would agree upon what nation /  organization the player characters are representing and what their sponsors are seeking from this new world.

•    Continuity: Episodic with continuity, season arcs.
•    Rating: PG13, themes of colonialism, slavery and exploitation are likely to appear.
•    Style: Exploration, politics, community building.
•    Tone: Serious but not aiming for dark, just thoughtful.

Rules: D&D5 , with standard Sea of Stars modifications.

Characters: Characters who are part of an expedition / colony / settlement to this new land and who will be willing to explore and aid the expedition (it is fine if you backstory is that you did not want to come, as long as the character is willing to pitch in now).

•    Character History: A few paragraph would be nice, ties to at least one of the other characters.
•    Starting Power Level: 3rd

Where do we Play?: Usual time and place.

•    Down Times: There will be opportunities for both roleplaying and task advancement in the downtime between adventures.
•    Social Contract: Our usual.

The players were given the chance of various factions that they could work for and they chose:

Vereenigde Wassen-Eiland Compagnie (VWC)

Chartered from Asterdahl and given monopoly rights to explore and trade with the Wash.  Primarily merchants and explorers and a handful of soldiers and support staff.  Markus Van Der Meer is their chief Factor.  Based out of the fortified port of Nieuw Asterdahl.

Nieuw Asterdahl  is a simple port town protected by a trench and stockade forming the bailey of a motte-and-bailey castle under construction.  The top of the hill is currently used as a lookout post and impromptu astronomy observatory.  A small river runs alongside the town and is, barely, navigable by small boats.

Notes: More to follow I hope, first adventure here.  And the name, Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɨkɔər/) is ‘the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil’ (from Wikipedia) which seemed appropriate.

Photo by AlmazUK and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.