Intro
Pariah. A mercenary company of both fame and infamy, known throughout the lands of Edras for their great deeds and feats of daring. A rough and tumble band of Progeny, Echoes, and Others, Pariah takes the contracts that other companies can't or won't. They go where 'soft-skins' are afraid to tread, fight battles other companies could never hope to win, and take the fight into the depths of the Ascendant Realms of the Primordials in ways that sane folk would consider imminently suicidal. Notably lacking in manners, tact, social charms, and impulse control - Pariah is nevertheless highly sought out by the kingdoms and nations of Edras, and richly rewarded for the violent application of their particular set of skills. And your time with them has long since ended.
You are a retiree, for one reason or another, from the famous band of ne'er-do-wells:
- Perhaps you completed your contract with the company and moved on to bigger-and-better things. Did you start your own company? Magic college? Church?
- Maybe you were forced to resign your commission by important matters of family, deity, or kingdom. Did the High King of Eglarest request that you join his court? Did you want to settle down and pop out some kids? Did a Scion of your deity task you with a quest the led to your retirement from Pariah?
- You may have been forced into retirement. Were you injured too badly to continue fighting with your comrades? Did you develop a crippling phobia or mental ailment that made you a liability on the battlefield? Were you branded a traitor or a failure and kicked out?
Whatever the reason, it has been seven years since you left Pariah and life has, more or less, been both fulfilling and rewarding. Things have been peaceful and quiet for so long that you've almost forgotten the days of sleeping beneath the roots of ancient mangroves deep in the Gulthas Swamp, bracing for the cavalry charge from across the Field of Brigsla, and delving into the forgotten tombs of Golgotha. Do you yearn to return to a life of danger and adventure? Or do you relish the peace of your current life? Are there regrets that still haunt your soul - battles you haven't yet fought, foes you haven't yet defeat, treasures you haven't yet 'recovered for historical preservation'?
Six Truths of Vile Appetites
- Ereshkigal, the Abyss of Agony, rises as a blood moon in the sky each night and has for a full month with no sign of stopping. The astrologers and astrotheurges can't explain why Magog's ascendant realm has defied its normal orbit of 666 years to menace Edras.
- Signs of a twisted new cult have begun to appear in The Grande Duchy of Orlia. Some whisper of cannibalism.
- Trade between smaller villages and towns has begun to cease. Some say entire settlements have been found slaughtered and devoured. Cities of the lands have begun to close their borders and seal their walls. Even they do not know exactly why.
- A famine begins to spread across The Grande Duchy of Orlia as livestock turn up mutilated and successful hunts become rarer and rarer.
- A rot of ghouls calling themselves the The Black Harvest, led by a wicked creature known only as Le Tatterdemalión, have supposedly sacked Chateau-du-Sevrie in the north-west of The Grande Duchy of Orlia.
- A great black and green storm swirls over The Spire of Shattered Teeth. Sages say the very atmosphere over the mountains has changed.
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