THE PLOT
THE 5 KINGDOMS
The 5 kingdoms are situated on the world of Solun, a land which was, until recently, filled with all the positive energy of life and good. Fourty years ago, the 5 kingdoms were a pleasant, if a little eventful place to live. Despite the large numbers of bandit raids, undead hordes, magical beasts, and multiple Armageddon type situations, life was good for the people of the land. The kingdoms were a bunch of previously warring factions which were united hundreds of years ago by the mighty Human king Horukk the Destroyer.
Despite his bad reputation for being a berserk, murderous, thieving, womanizing and megalomaniacal barbarian warlord, Horukk did a much better job of being in charge than the previous lords of the individual realms had, so the people rejoiced, and the realms prospered under his rule. He erected a mighty city in the middle kingdom, which he called Hells Gate. The people of the land were well used to their lord’s “Eccentricities” and so it was also called Tur’Nahin (‘city of the king’ in the language of the middle kingdom) by popular vote when the king wasn’t around.
From Hell’s Gate/Tur’Nahin, the king rule wisely and well, with a fist of iron (actually Horruk’s fists were much harder than Iron), which was exactly what all of the softy races of light had needed to whip them into shape after millennia of just milling around doing nothing. Under Horruk’s guidance, the 5 kingdoms became industrious and massively populous lands. In fact so prosperous were the realms that for six generations of his family’s rule there was not one single rebellion, or one massed protest against any of his heir’s decrees. (This may have also been due to the fact that all of the really violent people were the ones in charge of the kingdom, everyone else was fairly peaceful).
This all lasted until 40 years ago, during the reign of King Pollux the 3rd. Pollux was a wise king, but for the first time in all of Horruk’s bloodline a pacifist had arisen. The people were pleased to see the civilization of Horruk’s bloodthirsty lineage, but the wise were worried. They knew that Horruk’s line had gradually been deteriorating, becoming nobler and kinder. It had been nearly 200 years since any of them had been a real psychotic bastard like Horruk himself, and in truth it had been that imminent threat of painful doom that had made Horruk such an effective king. The wise men and women prophesised doom for the kingdom, and banded together to form an order called Horruk’s Doomsayers, dedicated to restoring the strength of the bloodline.
The doomsayers were, by and large quite correct, doom was upon the kingdom. You see, Horruk was much wiser than anyone had actually thought. What many people simply failed to realize was that Horruk didn’t see the need to beat around the bush with naming of things, for example, when he called a city “Hells Gate”, it wasn’t because he thought it sounded good, it was because as far as he could tell, it was situated upon Hells Gate.
A huge portal to another, darker realm lay hidden beneath Horruk’s fortress palace in the capital city, closed for millennia, it had been opened in the campaigns of Horruk to unite the Kingdoms. Horrible demons had spewed forth, and men, women, plants and animals had been twisted into savage monstrosities. It would have been the end of the Kingdoms but for one thing. Savage amoral mass murder, combined with pillaging and ravishing of the womenfolk was Horruk’s specialty, and he was better at it than the evil demons were. He grabbed his axe (big Killer) and his sword (Little killer) and marched on the portal (alone). After four weeks of brutal all or nothing warfare, the creatures of the other realm admitted defeat, they declared Horruk invincible and fled to their home realm, Horruk declared them softies and built a castle on their door just to spite them.
He realized however, that none of his descendants could possibly match his own glorious killing power, and sometimes woke in the night in a cold sweat after dreaming that one of his descendants might be as soft as the demons were! Therefore, in his wisdom, he created the order of Slayers, a band of elite soldiers whose job it was to watch over the portal and destroy any demons who came through. They were good at it too, over the years they built up resistances to many of the demonic powers, and learned new and interesting ways to kill them. In fact the demons impression of our world was that it was filled with invincible killing machines. So they sat and cried in the corner at the thought that Horruk might one day find a way into their world.
What they did not realize, because they themselves were immortal (unaging anyways), was that Horruk had, by this point, been dead for centuries. When they did realize it, all hell was about to break loose. A leader among the evil ones, known to the people of the kingdoms as Jarrek led a massive strike against the slayer order. The slayers fought nobly and killed many of the attackers, they called for reinforcements, and King Pollux the 3rd pledged to send the entire army. Jarrek was absolutely mortified, his men were chipping away at the slayers slowly but surely, but would never break through in time before the entire army arrived. It was however, the slayers turn to be mortified, as the entire army consisting of twenty humans, a half orc, three goblins, and an old man with a stick, turned up.
King Pollux was a pacifist, remember? He had sold all of the army’s assets to pay for nice things like schools, parks, fountains and poetry. The kingdoms now had nothing to defend themselves with. Mercifully for the slayers, the old man with the stick was a powerful mage, so the leader of the Slayers created a plan for the Slayers to escape, which involved feeding the army to the Demons while the Mage teleported the slayers away. The plan was a resounding success (thanks to the sterling fight put up by goblin number 3), and the slayers desperately formulated a plan to save the kingdom while the demons searched their ranks for someone big enough to kick down the ludicrously massive gates Horruk had put up around the portal.
Things looked grim; the slayers couldn’t raise an army in time, and since they could hear massive footfalls on the other side of the gate they reasoned that time was short. Their salvation came, as the doors broke down, in the form of the young Prince Hector, and his best friend Kurtz. The pair had been drinking heavily the night before and had crashed out in the chamber of the portal gates. They were awakened by all the crashing and shouting, and were none too pleased. Hector was, you see, the product of the efforts of The Doomsayers, who had been attempting to selectively breed Violence and Bastardism back into the royal bloodline. While Pollux had been their ultimate failure, Hector was their success. With Kurtz by his side, he charged into the demon army, and as Horruk had before him, cast them back into the portal and sealed it. The victory was not without cost, however, in order to buy his friend time (or perhaps just because he was equally as psychotic) Kurtz had charged off into the portal itself, and was on the other side as it was sealed.
The kingdom grieved, Kurtz had been one of its favored children. Then Hector killed Pollux, and the kingdom rejoiced again. This began the reign of King Hector the 1st, which was a good reign, much more in the spirit of Horruk’s enlightened rule. The doomsayers rejoiced, and because of the internal friction and dogmatic dispute such rejoicing caused, the order was split into doomsaying factions and the happier factions which didn’t say quite as much doom. Hector ruled well for 40 years, until the events of last year.
It began with another opening of the Hell gate portal, not a totally unusual occurrence, the slayers were still at hand so no one worried. No one was prepared for what came next though. The demon horde was led by none other than Kurtz, who had vanished into the portal 40 years ago. He had become a timeless creature of darkness, and was even more murderous than before, and now had his sights set firmly on rulership of the kingdoms. The slayers could not match his might, for he drew his power directly from the dark realm beyond the portal, and so close to his power’s source, was all but invincible. He butchered his way through the castle to the court of his old friend Hector, now in his twilight years. Kurtz had determined that the power of the portal was held in check by the bloodline of Horruk, and so he massacred the royal family, the king, the queen, both princesses, and the prince. Then got really angry when nothing happened.
What Kurtz had failed to realize was that the doomsayers had continued their programme of Royal breeding and, viewing Hector as their ultimate success, they had made sure that he had bred with as many promising young ladies as was possible. As a consequence, the royal bloodline was now absolutely gigantic. Kurtz wept as he unfurled the scroll detailing the royal lineage, there were dozens of the buggers spread all over the world. Taking out Horruk’s bloodline was going to be like playing pokemon, and he had to catch them all. He hated that game though, so he formulated another plan. While he would seize any opportunity he could to kill off members of the royal bloodline, he would focus instead on slowly but surely corrupting the kingdoms, starting with the middle kingdom, and gradually spread his power over the planet.
PRESENT DAY
The middle kingdom is no more. It has been totally corrupted by the power of hell gate, the massive twisted citadel from which Lord Kurtz’ armies of Demons and mutated creatures spew forth. By and large, the kingdoms are ruled by Kurtz. Though he cannot himself stray too far from the portal, his minions spread his reign across the land. Only the kingdom of Kor’Nath’El (The barbarian land of Horruk’s birth), and the Mage kingdom of Kor’Fren’Ji still resist his rule, the barbarians more openly so.
Kurtz patiently bides his time, slowly twisting and corrupting the people of the land, so that his power can spread, and ever watchful for those elusive royal children. The doomsayers are not idle, however. They know the lineage well, and are tracking down the heirs to the throne. Many of whom are now quite happy to be much closer to the throne than they were before, but less happy about who is sitting on it. It is the hope of the Doomsayers that one or more of the bloodline will have something of Horruk’s strength in them, and will save the kingdom, seize the throne, and restore the peace their mighty ancestor created.
THE KINGDOMS
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
So called because it lies in the middle of the land, and is in the middle of the other kingdoms. It’s indigenous people, the gnomes, have long since been ousted from the top spot as its rulers, and it became the centre of trade and commerce between the kingdoms. Its inhabitants are a mish mash of all of the different races from all across the kingdoms. Or at least, they were.
Hell gate now totally dominates this kingdom, and all of its inhabitants are either demons, or monsters. Kurtz rules here, and it is not a place for the mortal races. No one truly knows what goes on in here, because no one has entered and survived. It can be seen on the horizon though in nearby areas, a twisted nightmare, where blood rains from the sky, and fire scorches the lands. Suffice to say, visiting this realm is no longer too much fun.
KOR’NATH’EL
This translates roughly as ‘The land of those who fight well’, it is the historic homeland of Horruk himself, and his people the Nath’el (The afore mentioned people who fight well). The lands are underdeveloped and quite primitive at first glance. The Nath’El are a Spartan people who dislike excessive luxury, however they are extremely hard working and industrious. At a moments notice this kingdom can convert into an industrial super machine.
The Nath’El themselves are a nation comprised from wandering tribes of barbarians from all the races. They prize ability in combat above all else, however they appreciate and respect all aspects of combat. For example a stealthy assassin’s talents are prized as much as a powerful warrior, healers and wizards are also respected greatly for their uses in warfare. The Nath’El are violent but honorable foes, they have a strict code of conduct about how to engage an enemy
1.)Never engage a lesser enemy unless there is no alternative.
2.)If you must engage a lesser enemy, do your best to even the odds.
3.)Anyone who attacks you deserves whatever they get.
4.)Anyone who insults you deserves even worse.
Living by these simple rules, the Nath’El are equipped for world diplomacy.
The Nath’El are engaged in open warfare against Lord Kurtz forces, and for the time being are doing well. The battle lines tend to move back and forwards depending on supply chains, with one notable Nath’el offensive even pushing into hell gate itself. There is no doubt that the Nath’El are a nation under siege, but they are not a people locked in despair, this is the kind of thing they were born for and they are more than ready to meet their destiny.
KOR’FREN’JI
Translates as ‘Land of the not real ones’. It has this name because of the inordinately high number of magically created or supernatural creatures resident here. This is due to its high level of background magical energy. This also makes it the ideal place for Magi to train. Even the mighty Nath’el send promising Shaman and Healers to train with the Magi of this land. The main people of this land are the Magi of the Order of Emerald Flame. They were once a simple coven of wizards, but have grown over the millennia to be a nation unto themselves. Everyone here has at least some level of magical ability, but many do not overly develop it.
Kor’Fren’Ji has a political truce with the forces of lord Kurtz. The order of the Emerald Flame is too powerful for Kurtz to dislodge at the moment, but not powerful enough to attack him back, so both sides bide their time, attempting to build up their forces for an attack. The Magi hope to seal an alliance with the Nath’el, giving them the extra strength they need to fight back against Kurtz, while Kurtz hopes to destroy those same people before such an alliance can be formed.
KOR’LOR’EN
This translates as (Land of too many trees) and was named by Horruk during his campaigns here. It is a heavily wooded area, with varying densities of trees, from light woods all the way to jungles. It is the smallest of all the kingdoms, but is vitally important because of the vast amounts of natural resources there. This made it Kurtz first target after Hell Gate, and his forces now occupy all of the major cities. It is a difficult land to police, however, with ground units line of sight being limited, they can easily get turned around or lost.
There is a resistance movement here called the Champions of Light, a rather grand title for a poorly organized bunch of rebels. In fact the Champions were getting completely slaughtered until the Nath’El and the Order of Emerald Flame were able to sneak a few advisors into the resistance movement. Those advisors have turned the Movement around and are slowly but surely crafting it into a force worthy of its over ambitious title. As tales of their success grow, more people flock to them, this however only increases Kurtz’ desire to crush them once and for all.
KOR’NO’TO
This land was called ‘The land not worth conquering’ by Horruk when he visited it and placed his flag down. Its people, the so called Nath’orn (those who fight like softies) are intensely pacifist, and refuse to fight at all, even when Horruk came charging into their royal court, stole the queen and princess and ran off into the night, the king only wrote a letter asking for them back. Horruk of course replied that he wasn’t finished with them yet.
Horruk conquered the land simply by moving in and not leaving, Kurtz has done very much the same thing. His forces now occupy the cities of this land, and their rule goes uncontested even despite the incredibly harsh treatment they deal out. Most of the other peoples of the land would be content to leave the Nath’orn to their fate, were it not for the fact that they are the most learned scholars in all the land. The technical expertise of these people is tremendous, and so both the Nath’el and the Order of Emerald flame mount occasional expeditions to capture Nath’orn scholars.
And some heirs have been found :)
