Difference between revisions of "PrincesOfTheUniverse/OVAHistory"

Revision as of 20:01, 11 April 2007

Recent situation

All was well in the land of (Montréal, Québec, Canada)'s Exalted gaming. PotU:OVA satiated the leftover players of PotU, and while new players were introduced, one of them stayed and one of them left (for reasons as immature as they were sudden). But all in all, it was A-OK.

Subsequently, the maker of PotU decided to start a new campaign. This time, with new players. Perhaps he associated PotU's demise with the incompatibility of the previous players' gaming style. Or perhaps he simply wished for a clean slate to work on. Some would even dare suggest it was because he found the old players too proactive! Whatever the reason was, it happened. And so, four players selected, and ka-bloooey, off went PotU2.

The setting? Why... it would be quite irreverent to start off with that. Let's recap PotU first.

Princes of the Universe : The Recap

Azrielle Termalen, Shunika, /ShadesOfMovingWaters and Bancha Sakamogi meet in a tavern. I know, it's the standard beginning, but bear with me here. Eventually, they meet up with Egryst Lozaras and they have all kinds of stupendous adventures high and low, all relating to the Big Bad Deathlord, the Devourer of Stars. They meet a lot of fun characters, some of whom join and some of whom don't, like Kaerbasi, Katherine, Alyra, Maxwell, Dumbur, Zeneshka and many more. Now, the Devourer eventually gets enough power to be on par with Lookshy, and the party helps with its defense. They then set off in search of the Devourer's One True Weakness, due west. They eventually reach Rathess, where they meet with Javane, Eagle of the Seas . And a bunch of other people, like Nobium, Flickering Yura, Minako, Akito and Shadow. Some of them follow, and they head off due west. Somehow, they find the Devourer's weakness, but in the process get jumped 1½ years in the future.

But in the meantime, the Devourer somehow took over the Imperial City. Yes, you read right. He took the fucking Imperial City! That bastard! So the party sets off, and eventually, they assemble a Large Army and beat back the Devourer, and then send a small force consisting of themselves to finish off the Devourer-- forever.

Then comes the ultimate trial: attuning to the Imperial Manse. They knew it would come at a price; at the very least, the sacrifice of one of them. And so, three were chosen. Zeneshka was chosen to attune and be the new Empress, Alyra was chosen to be the sacrifice and accepted it, and Shades of Moving Waters went with them... for some reason. They went in, and passed the trials, until the final trial: the Sacrifice. But suddenly, Alyra was... not herself. She claimed she was to be the new Empress, and for some reason, Zeneshka became possessed of the desire to self-sacrifice for the good of the world. Shades of Moving Waters just stood there, incapable of mustering up the courage to react. Zeneshka gave her life, and Shades and Alyra were allowed to move on inside the Hearthroom of the Manse. After verification that the Manse's ley lines *did* lead to the room, and there was no doubt the room was the Hearthroom, they entered, finally allowed to claim their prize and save the world.

...Or so they thought. What would have seemed like the final room was but one more trap, and they were stuck. Meanwhile, Bancha Sakamogi suddenly decided to go inside and find the Hearthroom, and dragged Azrielle with him. And at the same time, somehow, Kaerbasi and Javane got a message telling them to go and save Alyra and Shades, as they were stuck inside. So, they went to the rescue, while Bancha and Azrielle went for the prize. Yup, you read right again, the good-natured, good-willed couple going for power! As improbable as it seems.

Eventually, Alyra and Shades were saved, and Bancha and Azrielle claimed the Manse for themselves. Bancha stepped forward, and asked his companions for help in conquering the *rest* of the Realm.

But they weren't really interested.

They wanted to do other stuff. Like adventure on the high seas in search of an ancient underwater city, filled with riches, strange creatures and potential adventures and stuff.

And so they went, and they found it with zero resistance and it was theirs to claim. The End.

That's where the campaign for PotU ended.

Then what's the setting for Princes of the Universe 2?

Good question, dark red bar of the Wiki! Well, here's what happens next.

The party separates. Shunika sets up a new civilization in the Southeast. Javane and Shades keep the First Age underwater city to themselves and set up a city with refugees from the Realm. Which is at war with Bancha. Yup, Bancha. Apparently, the Manse comes with a battle division of combat automatons. For some reason, Bancha allies with Lookshy. But that's not how he does it. Nope.

Bancha conquers the whole Realm non-violently. Quite a task, eh? Here's how he does it: he goes to every city, and requests an alliance with him, in exchange for extremely abundant crops.

You read right. Extremely abundant crops. In exchange, they ally themselves with an Anathema. It seems the Realm's tired of the war already, and they want to make up.

So they unite under the banner of the Saffron Kingdom, with Bancha Sakamogi as the Saffron King.

This goes on for about 250 years.

250 years later. The Saffron Kingdom is the most resplendent and powerful nation in the world. Every citizen - every one of them - has at least Resources 3. Solar Exalted are highest-ranking members of the nation, and then there are Dragon-Blooded and mortals. Life is very high-tech; flying vehicles, guns, the works.

Enter Ishae, Filyon, Camine and Hakai. Along with them hang out Poufkin and Dior Magnum. They are special agents hired by the Grand Vizir to figure out who's killing the King's councilmen. Long story short, turns out it was the Grand Vizir himself who hired assassins for it. Then, when the time for confronting the Grand Vizir comes, Dior Magnum reveals himself to be... Bancha Sakamogi, the Saffron King! Seems the Saffrom King himself wanted to go out, and investigate the case. Then he and the Grand Vizir go on with a Showdown.

But the players were on the Grand Vizir's side. It seems they figured they were used by the King to do his footwork for him, without being told the factors, the risks, etc. And during the showdown, they tried to separate the King and the Vizir, and somehow ended up impaling the Vizir on their weapon. But he still ends up escaping, and gets shot down by another NPC, while he was trying to escape in his flying vehicle. The end, the PCs are heroes, though the doing was done mostly by NPCs...

So the players were left... shall we say, unsatisfied. Never fear! A brave young Storyteller, with extremely few games under his belt, has undertaken to making a worthy continuation and ending to this game... Ring a bell? That's right. Leftover players from PotU2 will be able to bring their campaign to a close, thanks to yours truly. But we'll see that in the Campaign as it advances.