World of Alderia 3.0

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History

History of the World of Alderia, as compared to both 'Earth Prime' and the 'Pirates and Plunder' campaign world.

Battle of Point Carse

Monday, 24 March 2008 12:16 Lightfinger

The Battle of Point Carse marked the end of the domination of Alderia. It allowed the rebellious nations of the world to gain their freedom. It also led to the removal of the lich, Hadrian Ashawahenon Antonius, from the throne of the Emperor of Alderia. Lastly, it established a permanent existence of both mercenaries and piracy around the Alderian sea's trade routes. The town of Point Carse was founded years ago on the island of Sicily. It was not a large town by the time of the battle, but it held a vitally strategic position. Control of Point Carse could split the fleets of either the rebels or of Alderia if pirates controlled the straits. All shipping would be in range of the piracy threat.

Prologue

Emperor Ashawahenon had a plan. If he could trap the rebels in the strait, his forces could surround and destroy them. However, the pirates could interfere. Knowing money talks, the lich decided to bribe the pirates with a promise to give them Point Carse after the battle. He reasoned removing the rebels should be the priority the Empire of Alderia. Once united, he could remove the pirates at will.

What the Emperor did not plan on was the pirates being wise to the end result of accepting the offer. The pirates decided to send a captain to negotiate, Antoine Bussey, but another captain called David Lightfinger was able to cause a long delay in the negotiations. This would prove to be critical in the upcoming battle. The lich went ahead with his trap. He planted a rumor saying his fleets were going to undergo a refit at Point Carse. Using his magic, he disguised half of his fleet under invisibility. The remaining forces were led by new Grand Admiral Zangrieve Julianus. who had only ever met images of the Emperor and never the man in person.

First Stage

The rebels argued amongst themselves concerning the planted rumor, showing signs of the later differences. Nieton moved her ships towards Point Carse, while Rohaj delayed as they pondered it being a trap. Penta, whose fleet had been destroyed in the Battle of Actium, boarded Al-Rezaq's fleet and moved towards the area. As Nieton headed to the strait, Al-Rezaqi and Pentan forces landed on the island to try and take the city. They were not prepared for the land ambush awaiting them.

The Emperor had formed a force of undead and monsters on the island that engaged the rebels. Panicking, the ships from Al-Rezaq fled from the shores, despite warnings by the priests of Typhon. The Pentan forces on land were trapped into fighting an unwinnable battle. Eight individuals suddenly appeared in the midst of the losing Pentans. These eight, with force of personality and power, were able to shift the battle into a stalemate. Shortly thereafter, the Cybaline forces arrived to reinforce the beleagered Pentans. It is believed they arrived on ships provided by the pirates.

Second Stage

Nieton's fleet fell directly into the sea trap prepared by Alderia. The battle looked evenly matched as it was, and the Emperor was overconfident. Thus, he did not spring his ships out of invisiblity. While the Nietonian fleet were brutally engaged by the fleet of Alderia, two other fleets appeared on opposite horizons. First to arrive was the ever-cautious Rohaj fleet. Considering the timing of their arrival, Nieton would later claim the Rohaj fleet had suckered them into being cannon fodder in order to get the glory of victory. As the Rohaj fleet moved into engagement distance, the Emperor dropped the invisiblity screen shielding his fleet of undead. Though both the Nieton and Rohaj fleets knew they were in trouble, they pressed on into the battle. The second fleet though coming from the south concerned both sides.

The pirates had arrived.

Third Stage

The pirates had been delayed, supposedly, as they had mopped up the remnants of the fleeing Al-Rezaqis, who had been engaged by a number of sea monsters. As the pirates approached, an individual flew from the lead ship to the flagship of Alderia on a hippogriff. Meanwhile, the remaining pirate ships lined up, but they were still outside of the range of the continuing battle. The admirals of the Nnietonian and Rohaji fleets were nervous, as the pirates would tip the scale in the battle against them. If the sea battle were lost, the land battle would follow shortly even with the help of the eight heroes and the Cybaline forces. On the other hand, Alderia had committed so many resources into this battle, the pirates could tip the scale and then nothing could stop the rebels from invading Alderia proper.

A pack of pirate ships broke off from the main group and moved towards shore as men appeared on their decks. It was obvious the pirates were going to join in both battles, which surprised all observers. Everything seemed to stand still as both the hippogriff-mounted negotiator and the pirate ships moved into position. Finally the hippogriff landed on the flagship. The Emperor could be heard laughing in triumph. He moved towards the messenger, as the messenger dismounted from the hippogriff. Not wanting anyone to miss the conversation, the Emperor cast a spell so his image and that of the messenger's displayed above the battle large enough for even those on land to see. The messenger's back was towards the image, as he moved towards the Emperor.

Suddenly, the messenger turned around and dropped both his own illusion and that of the hippogriff. Pirate Lord Lightfinger addressed the battle, "People of this world," he exclaimed. "You are working for a fraud." Moving faster than the Emperor, the Pirate Lord grabbed the cloak making the Emperor appear human and tore it from the Emperor's shoulders. Standing before everyone was the Emperor's true form, that of a lich.

Panicking, the lich-emperor cast his escape spell. With a sudden burst of speed both to shore and into the sea engagement, the pirate ships attacked the undead forces commanded by the Emperor. The Grand Admiral, Zangrieve, was stunned for a moment then ordered his human-crewed ships to stand down and surrender to the rebels. The shift overwhelmed the undead forces on both land and sea in short order, giving complete victory to the rebels.

Aftermath

When news of the loss of the Alderian fleet was heard back in the city of Alderia, the Emperor had already fled with many of his allies. Grand Admiral Zangrieve sailed into the city of Alderia with an escort of Nietonian, Rohaji and pirate ships. The people, stunned by the news of their emperor being a lich, loudly cheered Zangrieve when the Senate declared him Emperor. As his first act, Zangrieve granted the lands of Rohaj, Nieton, Penta, and Al-Rezaq their freedom.

During the resulting celebration, the Nietonian admiral confronted the Pirate Lord, Lightfinger. Lightfinger told the admiral the lich had fled because he allowed the lich to witness Lightfinger's true nature. In response, the admiral accused the Pirate Lord of letting the lich escape and jeopardizing the freedom being celebrated by showboating. The Rohaji admiral approached and accused Lightfinger of the same. Lightfinger pointed out the bantering back and forth between the two supposed ''good'' countries had caused far more damage than a little showboating ever could, and he stormed out of the celebration. The pirates, seeing their de facto leader at the moment leaving in anger, followed suit.

Thus things came to pass. Lightfinger and the other pirates went back to their profession emboldened by the fact they had freed the world for more commerce ,and thus more plunder capabilities. Nieton and Rohaj engaged in a cold war of sorts, each blaming the other for almost losing the chance for freedom. Penta was devastated. With no fleet and few warriors left, men and women of all types were able to enforce their will on the various cities leaving Penta a shattered mess. The only thing that unites Pentans is the hatred of being abandoned by the forces of Al-Rezaq. Even the gods were angry at the Al-Rezaqi cowardice. Hausbeck was discovered northeast of Alderia, though the fact the former lich-emperor had taken control of that country was not known for some time. Halflings took some of the land in Northern Africa that had been ignored by the others and turned it into Thuringia. Cybaline has become one of the leading trading partners with all nations, due to the heroics of their small force. Lastly, the eight heroes and the Pirate Lord Lightfinger were declared to be called the Nine Immortals, saviors of humanity by the general populace.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:51 )

Battle of Actium

Monday, 24 March 2008 12:15 Lightfinger

Sea battle that destroyed the Pentan fleet and formed the basis for the future of Penta.

Ambassadorial Plotline

Monday, 24 March 2008 12:14 Lightfinger

Summary of the Events in the Ambassadorial Campaign before suspension of the campaign:

The players are hired for a year to help ''guard'' the new ambassador to Alderia from Nieton

The original ambassador was assassinated

He had in his possession an unholy symbol of unknown origin gained from a group of kobolds that attempted to attack his entourage
He turned to the Al-Rezaqi ambassador to see if he could divine anything from it

The loss of the unholy symbol upset someone who sent agents after it

Players have discovered the unholy symbol was altered into a fake, which is why the Al-Rezaqi ambassador could not find anything from it

Players know the real unholy symbol is that of Hyperion of the Titans of Myth. The fake was actually a symbol formerly used by one of the creator beings
Players know the race called the yuan-ti follow Hyperion and that one of that race was the assassin
Players have defeated the assassin and a small squad of dopplegangers, which is rare for so many to be in one place

The players have also gained a second unholy symbol

The players, for this knowledge, retrieve a pendant from a nearby ruin for Hai Chou Ku, one of the Nine Immortals

While there, they discover the bodies of a slave and a senator from house Ahenobarbus. The ruin has also been desecrated by the yuan-ti

The senator was bargaining with someone from Hausbeck to give them the pendant
The slave was holy enough to use the pendant
The players, after defeating daemons, are able to have the embassy cleric raise the slave from the dead, as she had been preserved by the amulet
The undead and necromancer who were sent to retrieve the amulet ran into the yuan-ti and died

The tomb contained the grave of the Cybaline emperor of 2000 years ago. A third sarcophagus in the tomb is unused

Hai Chou Ku is the emperor's brother
The emperor left Cybaline on a holy journey
The emperor, using a shapeshifting mask of disguise, became the founder of house Ahenobarbus

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:55 )

Ambassadorial Campaign

Monday, 24 March 2008 12:14 Lightfinger

After losing the war, Alderia was not well-disposed towards their old colonies. Alderia closed its borders to trade goods from all but Zuricha and Cybaline, as those two nations did not take part in the war officially. During this time, Zuricha gained immense power due to being the one hub on the western side of the empire. Trade could pass through at a price. Slowly, Alderia realized it needed their former colonies, not only to expand trade and monetary wealth, but also as potential allies in case an excursion against Hausbeck would be mounted in the future. Thus, Alderia decided to reopen its borders to other lands and invite ambassadors to come to the city of Alderia to attend to the emperor.

Not too surprisingly, Dengar refused to send an ambassador as not only were the old hostilities present, but Dengar was insulted by the invitation being extended to Orgrosh. For Intor, the elves decided to go back to their isolation and also refused to send an ambassador. Of course, Hausbeck was not extended an offer and Thrajan is, as of yet, undiscovered.

As the ambassadors arrived and were greeted by Alderia, the political power games already intense in the Senate got even more twisted. Key to the campaign was what happened with the Nietonian ambassador. First, he was attacked on the way to Alderia by a band of kobolds, who had in their possession a strange holy symbol. Reaching the city, and discovering the Al-Rezaqi ambassador was a cleric, the Nietonian ambassador passed along the information on the symbol. Divinations though could not reveal anything. Shortly thereafter, the Nietonian ambassador was assassinated. A new ambassador was appointed and was given not only improved guards, but also a group of individuals ordered to investigate the murder. The player characters are the investigators and special operatives of the new Nietonian ambassador.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:56 )

New World Exploration

Monday, 24 March 2008 12:11 Lightfinger

In the midst of the celebration after the Battle of Point Carse, the newly formed countries of the world found out inadvertently about another continent to the west. Bringing the information back to their homelands, the new governments decided to colonize and exploit the resources of this new land.

First to move was Rohaj, whose fleet was the most intact from the revolution. Sending out three expeditions simultaneously, the Rohaj government hoped to find new resources:

Massachusetts - called the North American Trading Company, the group headed towards the northern part of the continent. What they founded was a colony in a protected harbor.
Pimlico - called the Central American Trading Company, the group headed towards the central part of the continent. They founded a colony first on a small island off the coast. When a sahuagin threat was assessed, they moved inland and joined with a native colony. Members of the company also discovered Thrajan involvement already on the continent, intending to subjugate the populace into an army.
Jamaica - called the South American Trading Company, the group headed towards the southern part of the continent. They discovered the harbor and island of Jamaica after being scared away from landing on both Guantanamo and on Hispanola.

An expedition was sent by Nieton before the Jamaica landing of Rohaj. They founded a location in Mobile, but instead called it ''Spot''. This colony was abandoned after the Great Tyler devastated it with his demonic forces called up from Thrajan allies. Nieton, with the demise of Tyler, has created a better plan for its next colonization attempt.

Alderia is the third country considering colonization attempts, due to having to reorganize from defeat. They have not been able to adequately send off a colonization attempt. The pirates of the Alderian sea have considered moving some operations to the new continent, but the current minuscule trade between continents is not thought profitable enough yet to start stalking.

See a different take on this sort of thing at the Pirates and Plunder Campaign website.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:58 )

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