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History is told by the victors
Initial
This is an idea that's been plaguing my mind and I just
wanted to get it off my chest so it plagues me no longer. The general idea is
as the topic title suggests, History is told by the Victors. The victors was
the Chantry. What it they weren't as bad as they make them out to be?
Read it and comment if you so wish, heck, use it if you want.
To me, it would be a campaign idea or at least a world setting for a campaign.
Anyway, here is the basic idea:
The world is set at the Tevinter Imperium; before the first
blight and before Andraste. Take a page from Dungeons and Dragons here, they
are a heavily pagan society. Magic rules, society is built up around it and it
is sometimes considered more common than water... Well, onto the world
History
Before the Imperium there was chaos. The lands were
shattered into thousands of small factions; each and every one of them were led
by a mage (Powerful or not). For some mages their greatest aim for power is
lichdom (No, not the Dungeons and Dragons kind. Think the Mages chapter and
what the "evil guy" was trying to accomplish). It requires a blood
sacrifice of a hundreds of people and with it, they considered themselves to be
at the pinnacle of their kind. Few had actually attained this power but they
were considered to be the most feared and powerful mages in the lands. Their
power to rule all the lands were kept in check by the thousands of other small
factions willing to merge together for a temporary alliance (Along with the
other Liches looking for a quick and easy kill of their competitors).
In a small town that was said to be ruled under the worst of
these liches three mothers had twins. Three of those babies were blessed by the
Dragon of Silence to have, brilliant, magical prowess and the other three were blessed by the Dragon of Chains to serve
and protect their sibling with an unparalleled talent in physical combat.
Long epic story short, they combined the lands under their
rule. They then instated a society where magic is heavily regulated. Anyone
with any level of magical talent that was born in these lands was given a
necklace which reduced a person's ability in using their talent along with
monitoring their use of magic. People who overuse their gift will fast travelled
to the Imperium for an investigation. What is to be judged if the situation
called for that abuse of ones talent. Usually these cases end in the death
sentence (By burning, much like the witches in the medieval ages).
It wasn't long after they set their sights on the elves. A
magically advanced race (Which ignored the "petty politics" of the
humans outside their own lands) had enslaved thousands of humans (And dwarves)
for their own benefit. The Imperium considered this an affront to the God of
Chains, who teaches that any society must provide something in return for servitude
(Which the Elves did not). The elves, arrogant about their power waved off
these messages (To all I care, Spartan style). Forcing their hands, the
Imperium declared a holy war. The war took a good number of years to end but
the Imperium were the victors and the elves had traded places with their
previous servants.
The dwarves, now free from their elven masters, (And being
led by 7 dwarven brothers) moved to a new land. They kept their ties with the Imperium.
Some dwarves even went to the surface to honor the people who broke their
chains and served the society loyally. Somewhere down the line, this gets a
little twisted (Most likely due to the enslavement of the elves after the fact,
they were painted in a more positive light)
Society
Society in the Imperium is that wealth rules. Magical
prowess can lead to wealth, if you make the right connections. If you don't
make the connections, the necklace helps 'regulate' the power. Most of the
powerful families are headed by mages or at least has a Mage next to the head
at all times. The "order" of
childbirth usually describes the childs roll in life. The First born is to
lead, the second born is to be the adviser and the third born is to be sent to
"Rogue School". If the first
born does not have the talent (For magic) the third born can take the second born
place if he does (Unless the second born has a magical talent). Any child born
after that is usually considered of lowerclass than the first three. They are
just sent to become a Chained Protector).
Mages always have a chained protector (A fighter who's role
in life is to keep the mage safe) and a watcher (A rogue who keeps an eye on
the mage so that he does not abuse his power). The Mage society is divided into
ranks which depends upon connections and power. They hold their own tribunals
for magic abuse and have their own meetings to discuss problems. When you
attain a certain rank you will attain a new necklace which removes the magical
limiter and you are deemed responsible enough to know when a certain amount of
magic is justifiable in the circumstance (However, your use of magic is still monitored)
When a child is born the midwife magically 'scans' the child
for the talent. If he has it, an armband is placed on him until he is older. At
the age of four years the child is sent for another magical scan, to see just
how talented he is. If they have enough talent the child is sent to learn
magic. They are assigned a Chained Protector and a tutor that teaches the child
the world of magic (In return, the tutor can receive favors and/or elevated
status depending on how successful the child is)
Elves take their place as servants. Some take on the role of
a Chained Protector , others can become Watchers and the rest live to serve. The elves with the talent are sent to learn
about it. Sadly, they are taught at a second rate because they will never gain
status in the society (And thus, gain nothing in return) for a tutor mage to be
assigned an elf it is seen as an insult that cannot be retaliated against.
There are still cults of the old times, they are wizards who
wish for long and should be forgotten power. They plague the Imperium and are
prime examples of people who abuse magic and are driven for strange powers.
*Religion^
The Seven Old Gods are seen as major powers but under that
are hundreds of minor gods that cover the missing gaps (There are quite a few
missing gaps, mind you. I can't think of a pagan society that gives a god the
domain of Silence but not farming). At the capitol city each Major god has
their own temple but there is only one temple for all the minor ones (The
priests are required to know each god by name). In the smaller towns there are
usually only one temple and that would be dedicated to all of the gods that
they pray to.
Just one thing, people pray to the God of Chaos wishing for
the lack of it. To pray for Chaos is considered a sin and against the law. It
is usually an accepted theory that he is the cause of people being born with the
gift of magic due to the chaotic nature of magic.
Damned if I know what else to type for the gods, to me, a
lot of those gods seem very eeeeeevil (If you catch my drift) but I
could think of something if I bothered to do the research and/or imaginings (When
I'm just typing something up to get it out of my mind; details such as that
isn't my biggest concern.)
Onto the damned story
To make use of the origin count I give the following
combinations:
Human - Rogue/Fighter - Noble class (You are the fourth born
of your family. Your two eldest brothers had magical talent and were both sent
to learn magic. As the fourth born, you are seen as a mark on your family and
was sent away as a mere bother).
Peasant (Born of a poor family you were bought by the
Imperium and trained in the roll.)
Dwarf - Rogue/Fighter - Honoured Child (You are sent as an 'honored
child' to the Imperium. You are treated well because of Dwarven Reputation.)
Elf - Rogue/Fighter - Found as a babe (You were found lost
in the woods by your master. He raised you as his own and you took on his roll)
Slave Family - Your family was content and happy where they
are. They are proud of their families skill in the profession they sent you to.
Mage - Taken away from your family you are taught magic. You
were assigned an old reclusive mage of great power. He didn't really seem to
care who you were before he saw your face.
What I would think is a four chapter story, the first
chapter would introduce the world with 10 missions aimed to be 20 minutes each.
You would only have to do 5 missions to do the finale mission that introduces
the story (Damned if I know the story after the first chapter).
What happens in the story mission is that your trainer
screws up.
As a Wizard, he overuses magic in order to destroy a friend
turned Lich
As a Fighter, your master kills the person he was tasked to
protecting when you enter a room.
As a rogue, your master is caught up in a scheme of
smuggling artifacts were under lockdown that can be used in attaining Lichdom.
All of these lead up to the same story, recovering those
artifacts but the chapter 1 "Mega-super story choice" is that you are
the key person in either damning or freeing your master of his crimes. A deal
which basically entails "If you help us, we'll help you. If you don't help
us, something just hinder you." The people who are offering you this deal
know he is innocent (They would say it before hand) however, they have heavy suspicions
that your master supports something against the Imperium (They do not know
what) but they cannot prove it. If he was killed in this way, it would solve
their problem.
As a finale
If you read it all, thanks for reading this mess. I'm sure it
was horribly written but I just wanted to write it up and post it so it isn't
in my head any longer.
If anyone wants to continue and/or create the story, feel free. If
they want my input for the story, I'll try my best.
Retour en haut
