Setting: The Gyldir Vale

Big hexes are 18 miles, little hexes are 6 miles.

I.

The Gyldir Vale is a temperate river valley enclosed by the sharp and rocky Red Range to the west; the ancient, forested Green Range to the east; and the magnificent, snow-capped White Range to the north.

The valley's name is derived from the Golden Flame, the mysterious source of power with which Rotangur barbarians conquered this land from the high elves 1,000 years ago.

The Common Church denounces the Golden Flame as the work of the Devil, but some whisper that the Flame was a gift of divine grace, granted to the Rotangur by the pagan gods of their northern lands.

II.

500 years ago, when the kingdom of Gyldria was at the peak of its prosperity, the king's oracle pronounced a vision that the Golden Flame would soon be lost and that the rule of his family would come to an end.

Desperate to preserve his rule, the king invited a covetous sorcerer into his court, who promised to study the Flame and uncover the secrets behind its power.

Instead, the sorcerer contrived to absorb the Golden Flame into himself. A terrible war ensued, in which the sorcerer—transformed into the cruel and cunning beast, MALOR—sought to conquer the entire continent.

Thanks to the combined efforts of many great heroes, MALOR was sealed deep in the dungeon beneath Gyldir Castle. But the Golden Flame was sealed along with him.

It was not long before the dramatically weakened Gyldir Vale was conquered by the Duke of Lergomby and the pagan people of Gyldria were converted to the Common Faith.

III.

Without the Flame to counteract ancient elven enchantments, the land itself now seems to reject cultivation, and the edges of the valley have been surrendered to ever-encroaching wilderness.

Only the heartland surrounding Gyldir Castle remains well-populated and possible to farm. On the fringes, strange and dangerous creatures settle into the ruins of the kingdom that once was.

50 years ago, a dam to the north collapsed, and the capital city surrounding Gyldir Castle was rapidly flooded. Now, Gyldir Castle sits on an island in the middle of a long lake.

A new capital, Castledock, has been built on wooden docks surrounding the island. It is chronically plagued by undead attacks in which the restless victims of the flood swim up from the old capital to assault the living.

Ongoing decay and increasing scarcity are beginning to produce widespread unrest. 5 years ago, the crown swiftly responded to a small peasants’ revolt with a violent crackdown and public executions.

There is a certain lingering feeling in the air, which no one can quite seem to name, that things cannot go on as they are.

IV.

Nobility, Church, Peasantry, Guilds, Academy.

The Gyldir Vale has five main factions. In the chart above, each faction is opposed to the two factions across from it and has a tenuous alliance with the two factions adjacent to it.

The Nobility. Petty nobles squabble among themselves for more titles and more land; the royal family focuses on staying in charge. Values the Academy as a source of advisors and physicians and values the Church as an institution that legitimizes its rule.

The Church. Teaches that all sacrifices to the old gods are needless because the old covenants have been broken by an ultimate sacrifice. Views the old gods as aspects of the Devil. Split into churches, monasteries, and nunneries; headed by an Archpriest elsewhere on the continent.

The Peasantry. The most radical peasants are planning in secret for the next revolt. The most conservative direct their ire towards the Academy’s alchemists and wizards, whom they are fond of burning at the stake.

The Guilds. Artisans and merchants banded together to resist rent hikes by their feudal lords. Increasingly critical of corruption in the Church; sees the Academy as an important source of learning and innovation.

The Academy. A school for reading, writing, math, and the like. The wizards and alchemists among its faculty are increasingly the target of Church-instigated witch-hunts. Lost a number of important volumes in the flood and had to construct a new school building in Castledock.

V.

The PCs are great heroes and martyrs from the war against MALOR, resurrected 500 years later to deal with new threats to the Gyldir Vale. (Their skills in battle and/or wizardry are somewhat atrophied, hence their starting at level 1 and their ability to level up quickly as they recall old skills.)

The characters remember a pagan world of chainmail armor, horse-drawn carriages, and little wooden forts. They wake up to the Common Church, cavalry in shining armor, and towering stone castles. The late-medieval world is about as foreign to the PCs as to is to the players, just from the opposite direction.