Flash Points

Each Aorlisian country comes with a series of flash points. Every month, the GM makes a secret roll on this chart, but the players only realize what is happening as it develops around them or as they get up-to-date news. The GM controls the duration of each flash point and how they get introduced to the characters. Since the flash point completions are open-ended, overlaps may occur, meaning that multiple flash points could go on at once. For clarity’s sake, limit them to up to three progressive flash points at any time.

D100	Event
01-60	No new flash point, although previous ones may still be unresolved and ongoing
61	Ethnic prejudice explodes, and at-risk populations are treated prejudicially, attacked, forced to flee, exiled en masse, or genocidally wiped out
62-63	Food Chain—The season might be too wet with crops rotting in the fields, or too dry with severely stunted crops, or ravaged by destructive pests. Wide-scale famine follows, perhaps compounded again and again for years
64-65	Key political figure makes an unwise mistake that results in a political mess
66-67	The death, imprisonment, or unexpected disappearance of a key political figure because of misadventure, kidnapping, or assassination leads to widespread unrest or anarchy at home
68	Mass high strangeness, such as weird births, rivers turning red, rivers running backwards, whatever. Refer to High Strangeness for more options
69-70	Monarch is a war hawk, and he constantly drains the royal coffers for conflicts that whipe out entire generations of young men
71	The monarch receives excommunication from the Church, and perhaps his country falls under an interdiction.
72	Monarch goes mad and becomes completely ineffectual or poorly suited to rule. Civil war or serious unrest is sure to result
73	Monarch surrounds himself with hated advisors and cuts out his jealous nobles
74-75	Monarch’s family wages civil war against him
76	Monarch’s power becomes deeply compromised by the peerage or Church
77-78	Natural Disaster—This could be a hurricane, titanic landslide, destructive earthquake, a volcano erupting, a serious drought, a cluster of tornados, or mass flooding
79	Omens fill the sky, perhaps taking the form of a comet, dancing lights in the sky, the moon turning an odd color, two moons appearing instead of one, a heavenly war high above, etc. There is no overall agreement on what the omen signifies, but social anxiety turns volatile
80	Peasant revolt and wage full-scale war on the elites
81-82	Plague returns, resulting in 65% death rate in the first year, 45% in the second year, 25% in the third year, and 5% in year four. Vary the mortality percentages by +/- 1-10 points
83	The royal treasury is in debt or arrears, and they levy massive and bitterly unpopular taxes
84	The monarch and nobles become at odds, leading to a civil war
86-95	Country specific flash point, covered under each country’s listing
96-100	Roll twice and produce a compound flash point, or make up one that fits with the current campaign