Session 0

General Summary

Long ago – so long ago that the details of the conflict have been lost and only the merest legends remain – the world of Velgareth was wracked by sorcerous wars. The population was decimated. The land quickly turned to wilderness and was given over to the forest and the magically-engineered creatures that had been used to fight those wars, while the people who remained fled to the eastern coastline, there to resume their shattered lives. The surviving races prove to be resilient creatures, however, and it was not over-long before the population once again was on the increase, and folk began to move westward again, building new kingdoms out of the wilderness.
One such kingdom is Valdemar. Founded by the once-Baron, Kordas Valdemar, and those of his people who had chosen exile with him rather than facing the wrath of a selfish and cruel monarch, it lays on the very western-and-northernmost edge of the civilized world. In part due to the nature of its founders, the monarchs of Valdemar welcome fugitives and fellow exiles, and the customs and habits of its people have, over the years, become a polyglot patchwork. In point of fact, the one rule by which the monarchs of Valdemar govern their people was "There is no one, true way." Governing such an ill-assorted lot of subjects might have been impossible – had it not been for the Knights of Valdemar.
The Knights served many functions; they are administrative overseers, dispensers of justice, information gatherers, even temporary military advisors; answerable only to the Monarch and their own circle of peers. Such a system might have seemed ripe for abuse – and it would have been if not for the Companions. To the unknowing eye, a Companion might seem little more than an extraordinarily graceful white animal, but they are far more than that. Sent by the gods at the pleading of King Valdemar himself, it was the Companions who chose new Knights, forging between themselves and their Chosen a mind-to-mind bond that only death or repudiation could sever.
While no layman knows just how intelligent the Companions are, it was generally agreed that their capabilities are at least as high as those of their human partners. Companions could (and do) Choose irrespective or age and sex, although they did tend to Choose youngsters just entering adolescence. The commonality among the Chosen tended to be a specific personality type: patient, unselfish, responsible, and capable of heroic devotion to duty. Also fairly common was that the Chosen had at least a trace of magical ability. Contact with a Companion and continued development of the bond enhanced whatever latent paranormal capabilities lay within the Chosen. At some point, "True magic" as faintly remembered from the time of the great sorcerers had been disrupted and lost, with no record of how such magic had ever been learned or used, but the Knights were trained to the extent of what the individual was capable of.
Laws laid down by the first King decreed that the Monarch must always be a Knight. Thus it was ensured that the ruler of Valdemar could never be the kind of tyrant who had caused the founders to flee their own lands. For generations it seemed that King Valdemar had planned his government perfectly. But the best-laid plans are still capable of being circumvented by accident or chance.
Midsummer approaches and a steady stream of people are pouring into the kingdom of Valdemar. Midsummer marks a year since the Tedral Wars, a long and bloody campaign between the nation of Karse and Valdemar, had come to an end. As did the reign of King Tyrdel, the well-beloved monarch of Valdemar for the past thirty years. When he was killed on the battlefield along with his wolf Companion, his young heir, the princess-knight Selenay, had assumed the mantle of monarch there on the blood soaked ground. Another effect of the tireless war, the magical barrier that had kept the knowledge and practice of "true magic" out of Valdemaran lands had been battered by the sorcerous might of Karse and the Tedrels to the point where it had finally collapsed and Valdemar was again open to the arcane arts and influences.
Time, and the depletion of forces on the Karse front, has given Valdemar a chance to heal and begin its recovery. The Queen is as well-loved as her father and she leads her people with grace and intelligence. Per her decree, word had been sent out, not just in Valdemar, but along all the allied trade routes as far as could be made in time to allow a journey back to Haven, the capital and crown jewel of Valdemar. In an effort to replace the Chosen Knights who had been lost and to strengthen the ties between the various kingdoms, Queen Selenay had invited any and all who would come and be judged in the Gods Grove at the Palace; to see if they were deemed worthy of the Gods' favor and be Chosen by one of the legendary Companions. Any Chosen would be granted citizenship status and, if old enough, be sworn into service to the crown as a Knight of the Realm. Younger Chosen would be trained until such a time as they could also be sworn to service.
This unheard of opportunity quickly spread throughout the various surrounding kingdoms and several people felt a calling deep within them. Members from all backgrounds and races, both highborn and low, began the long trek to the northern capital and the ceremony that could define their fates looming at the height of the Midsummer festival.

Report Date

08 May 2023