EndOfTheWorld

To The End Of The World

Preface

Imagine if you will, a house. It's not a fancy house, nor a large one. At least not on the outside. In fact, aside from it's locale, it is a perfectly innocuous little dwelling. Where is it, you ask? Why, this house sits at the very end of the world. Walk north by northeast, past the trees, past the tundra, past the mountains, past all but the blank, barren expanse of the arctic north and you will find this house, so close to the edge of the world that a single step further and you would fall forever, buffetted by an eternal gale of winds that blows against the straight bluff that marks the End Of The World. From the outside, it is apparent that someone must be home, or nearby, for it's chimney emits an eternal puff of black smoke. Nearby is a well, it's water eternally unfrozen and pure. Surrounding this house is a little white picket fence. As you step into the yard and walk up the cobblestone walkway to the solid wooden doorm, all around you noises cease. You no longer hear the sigh of the wind or the cry of the falcon. All you can hear is your heart, racing. As you grip the brass ring that serves as the knocker and knock three times, the door swings open. And then your heart stops...

This is the story of a young circle of Solars, their quest to the end of Creation, a book on unimaginable power, and the deeds, great and terrible, that they and their rivals are willing to commit in order to capture that mighty tome. Come with me if you will, on a strange and wonderful journey, a journey that covers nearly the whole of Creation and the conclusion of which will irrevocably alter the face of the world as we know it.

The theme for the series is dual. First, and foremost, is the Price of Power. This story intends to delve into the characters' psyches to determine how far they'll go, to what heights they'll soar or depths they'll plummet to for their desires. Along the way, they'll encounter all manner of adversaries, who'll serve not only as antagonists, but also as object lessons for the Price of Power and what it can do to a person.

The second theme is that of familial ties. Most of the players have issues regarding their family lives. Issues that need resolving. Although many of the characters hate their old lives, they cannot turn their backs on their blood for long. It will call to them, beckoning them, until they either resolve their pasts or are torn apart by them.

The mood I desire for this series is three-fold. It is a mood of tension, coupled with urgency, and mixed in with a healthy level of paranoia. Time is running out. The world's falling apart. It's been 8 years now since the return of the Solar Exalted, and nobody has stepped forward to save the world. Now the chance to make a difference has fallen into the circle's lap, and they must make all haste to seize it before one of many other factions, all nefarious, does so in their stead. Along the way, they must trust no-one, for the thing that they seek is wanted by many in power, who have ears on every street corner and assassins in every shadow. Can even the mightiest of the Exalted, those Chosen by the Unconquered Sun, overcome the obstacles in their path? That is what I intend to see.

One thing I should note is a few meta-game details I've implemented:

The Kick Andrew In The Nuts If He Changes The Game Again Contract. Pretty self-explanatory. I intend to finish this series. This is my insurance. If I change the game, I have given full permission to my players to get one free kick each square to my crotch. Seeing as my fiancee desires children, I have a certain vested interest in this game now.

The Dramatic Immortality Contract. Basically, unless both I AND the player agrees, the PC's are immortal. The story will work around their untimely deaths. This is to ensure the same circle throughout the story but also to prevent stupid and unlikely deaths (You mean my botch means that the blind/deaf/one-legged/one-armed peasant kills me!?). We're all in this to tell an epic story, and so I'm willing to extend a little leeway to my players in exchange for superb roleplay, which they never cease to produce. And yes, I DO trust my players with this contract.

The Timeline. In order to emphasize the sense of urgency in the world, I have bumped the timeline of the story forward 3 years. It is now RY 770 and here are the consquenced: In the South, Gem has been destroyed by a combination army of Fair Folk and the First And Forsaken Lion's forces. Now they march inexorably northward, taking their time to hunt down and slaughter any and all surviving refugees from that doomed Southern city. On the Blessed Isle, a sneak attack by the Roseblack on the Deliberative while in session triggered the Realm civil war. Now, the Isle is divided up into petty warlord states controlled by various Dynastic Great Houses. The Imperial City is pretty much a permanent bloodbath, with warring factions vying for control over the city. Elsewhere in Creation, things are likewise bad. Barbarians now freely raid the Threshold, with the nations of Coral, Lookshy, and Haslanti taxed nearly to their limits. Harborhead and Varang, no longer bound by Imperial decree, are now locked in a bloody conflict that rages over the Southeast. In Thorns, the Juggernaut's movements become increasingly erratic and in Mahalanka, Raksi's eyes have taken on a peculiar glint, as if she knows, or rather senses, something nobody else can. And yes, in Malfeas, the Ebon Dragon and the Demon Empress make ready for their triumphant return. Basically, the characters need to move NOW. There is no time. MOVE!