Shadow of the Equilibrium, an Introduction
Part of the Codex of the Equilibric Age
"The year is 114 AE, After the establishment of the Equilibrium, that is. Autocarriages cross by occasionally on the busy streets of the city of Thenohiria. Most of them bear the seal of the Golden Flame Party, but since most people here in this part of town work for the government anyway, this is not strange. The streets are filled with people going about their day, people that could all be brothers and sisters of eachother. All pale skin, brown hear and while the men bear trimmed beards, the women slim dresses. Although people are just going on their day, going to and from their job, eating from street vendors and talking with eachother, the stench of overwhelming fear is the only thing stronger then the perfumes of the women. It pierces both skin and bone, leading some visitors to go mad simply being here, not that there are any... Suddenly a flash comes through the sky, when it hits the street a red mist paints it red, noone even flinches, but quickly move away in alleys and buildings. Doors and windows close, strangers jump in other strangers' autocarriages, just be out of vision before the Blood Watch arrives at the scene. Being a witness to suicide is bad for the morale and dedication of the state after all, and the Blood Watch are not the kind of people that like to leave that to chance..."
Welcome fellow fellow, to Shadow of the Equilibrium. On this page I, your Keeper of Arcane Lore and writer behind the setting of which you are currently in its WorldAnvil Codex, aim to give you an overview of what you are to expect in the campaign would you sign up as one of our Investigators.
Concerning backgrounds and occupations, please pitch any character concept and background to me first before making your sheet. I am totally okay with a lot, but I urge you to please read the lore part of this page carefully so you avoid the situation of pitching a cool idea to me that I'll have to turn down because it does not work with the setting.
- Signed, your Keeper of Arcane Lore
Welcome fellow fellow, to Shadow of the Equilibrium. On this page I, your Keeper of Arcane Lore and writer behind the setting of which you are currently in its WorldAnvil Codex, aim to give you an overview of what you are to expect in the campaign would you sign up as one of our Investigators.
Contents:
- Part 1. Home rules and character creation options
- Part 2. About the setting
- Part 3. A history of West-Argo
- Part 4. Campaign teaser
- Part 5. Communications and practicalities
Part 1, Home rules and character creation options
We will be using the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu, by Chaosium. To make things clear, I am an inexperienced Keeper. I have ran various editions of D&D for the past 5 years and played for a year longer, but my knowledge on CoC is as of writing this still quite limited. This is why I plan to keep the amount of 3rd party / homebrew material at least for the start to a minimum, as I feel unable to judge it's balance. However, as I am porting over West-Argo into this new system, a world that was by its very nature a fantasy world, some home-brewed rules of my own creation have been implemented concerning Character Creation, notably other player races. You can find the rules for the races of West-Argo here.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kwLE9v89bGAzupXbJ7oB19juOWRYAXsiVQI_rwLKSKU/edit?usp=drivesdk
Part 2, About the setting
West-Argo is the most western continent of the world called Argo, a world that I have been continuously worldbuilding and playing in since 2018. Over the years I have ran 6 separate campaigns in it and numerous oneshots in the many different regions and ages of this world. It is a world that has history, both in game as well as outside of it. This leads to both good and bad sides. On the good side, I and many of the more experienced players can tell you a great deal about nearly any facet of the world and how that facet has changed over the course of history. On the bad side is it nearly impossible to write all of that down without the liberty to do this as a daily job, although this Codex is my best effort to do so anyway. It also makes so that it is very hard to come up with your own original lore for characters without a deep understanding of the preestablished lore. However, when exploring this Codex later it must be said that all subjects in here discuss the world how it was during the 1st Century Before the Equilibrium, so many things you may read may be incorrect in the current day and age. I will try to explain a introduction to the state of the world and a short recap of it's history, although that can also be found on the Timeline (to be found at the homepage if the Codex).Part 3, A history of West-Argo
It began long ago, Argo was created by the mysterious Old Beings or Master God. He has many names, but all important is that he created, the sun, the stars, the moon and all the ten layers of the world . He also created children, the Ornal , curious creatures that roamed the new world. Magic flowed freely in those days, and the Ornal mastered it quickly, and over tens of thousands of years they became lords and masters of the world. But they were not the only children of Creation. For the true history of the world only starts in the chronicles today with the coming of the gods to Argo.The Pre-Historic Age had ended, the Age of Creation began.
They exterminated the Ornal and set out to create a world to their will. The oceans were filled with the blue waters and the hills were covered by trees and bushes. The gods created all the life on earth, first the plants, then the creatures of the sea, then of the earth, lastly of the sky. It was later that the first humanoids awoke. First the elves on the planes, then the gnomes on the islands north of West-Argo, then the dwarves in the mountains, lastly the men beyond then. From deeper layers Ogres, giants, orcs and uruque came to the surface and some of the gnomes turned to goblin. The first empires arose, first the elves and their great merchant republics on the coast, then the Ogres in their nomadic tribes in the steppe, then the Dwarves in their valleys and mountain holds. It was after the elves were ravaged by dark sickness and their realms fell that the first men crossed the mountains and came onto the planes.The Age of Creation had ended, the First age of the Man begun.
Mankind built their great empire, the Empire if the Guided Man, also known as the Melistern Empire. For 600 years they ruled the lands before infighting, uruque raids and cultural polarization tore them apart, leaving mankind scattered to the many part of the continent.The First Age had ended, the Second Age had begun.
Yet fortune would smile on men once more, for on the steppe lands a nomad boy would unite the scattered tribes of the steppe against the common evil of the northern sorcerers and witchcraft. The Empire of Prabai was born, and for almost 2000 years they ruled the world before slowly declining, but never falling.The Second Age had ended, the Third Age had begun.
After the coastal parts of Prabai revolted against its suzerain, the newly founded Kingdom of Vexan quickly became a world leader, as the world entered a period of relative freedom and peace, yet it would be short lived. In the east, the former dwarven colony of Bočechnia would revolt successfully, and from the mutually hostile states a small theocratic state would rise to conquer the others, fighting to turn the tides of their holy revolution. From the north, the gnomes of Gotkolh had developed mighty technologies, among others firearms, magically powered steam engines and zeppelin flight. They started their colonial race for resources for their engines in the mountainous goblin lands of Raethreag, but in securing victory against the local kings and warchiefs lost the secrecy of their technologies to the wider world. It would spark an arms race the world had never seen. Along with the growing colonial powers' animosity towards eachother it would all spiral out of control in the 145th year if that age, when total war erupted in West-Argo, leading to the Great Argoan War. Lasting for more than 25 years and taking many millions of lives. Wrought steel, flesh and sulfurous gunsmoke covered the continent. Yet is was not long after the war finally ended that the age that only just began would end abruptly.The Third Age had ended, the Equilibrium had begun.
Sudden earthquakes shake the continent. The sun goes up and under thousands of times in a single day before going back to it’s old pace. During this time, mass panic erupts worldwide, as magic and all direct communication with divinity of any sort ceases to function properly. The world was cut of from that it found so normal for so long. The aftermath of both the war and this arcane catastrophe led to the greatest crises the world saw for a very long time. Nations fell, millions starved amids total economic collapses and new political visions rose to give the hope that the gods could not give the masses anymore. A world of growing extremism, with both godlessness and total piety and both anarchy and total autocracy, with only few to find a middle ground, that is the world of today. Welcome, to West-Argo.Part 4, Campaign teaser
Shadow of the Equilibrium is an campaign that will take start a little over 11 decades after the establishment of the Equilibrium, in a time that both technologically, scientifically and culturally is comparable to our late 1920's / early 1930's. When the Equilibrium established, it not only divided the people, but also the year. It is widely known that due to unknown reasons, during half of the year all children are born still. Leading noone to be born in roughly the summer or winter, these periods are called the Dark Days, whereas the other seasons are called the Light Days. Magic, truly gone in its known arcane form, seemingly has still some presence on this world, although its workings are badly understood, leading to the rise of specific gentleman's clubs and secret societies, although this rise has led to plenty of cults and shady religious movements, leading the entire subject of the "new magic" to be quite taboo in many places. Overall, the world has seemed to get used to these changes. The nations of Prabai and Vexan, victors of the Great Argoan War, have had a great post-war boom, with population, scientific knowledge and popular freedoms reaching a highpoint. On the other had, the gnomes of Gotkolh, the dwarves of Urunkhar and the men of Thenos have reforged themselves by other means. Gotkolh has fallen to peasants uprisings, following the teachings of a popular revolutionary called Ambroxio. Urunkhar's empire was devided after the war, its corelands turning to nationalism and pro-clerical dictatorship, with the former dependant of Syntecratic Peasant's Republic of Nunulga falling to Syntecracy. The Republic of Thenos too fell to a nationalist dictatorship, but of a way worse kind. Their Golden Flame Party, led by the all powerful Ladteow (or leader) Iberio ó Brolchaín. Their party harks back to the days of the Melistern Empire, citing the crossmixing of the "Imperial Blood" not only as the reason behind Thenosian loss in the war, but as the reason behind the entire Equilibrium. They rule the nation as a totalitarian police state completely shut off from the outside world, with state enforced genetic segregation to the utmost extreme level. Yet why are they so important here if they keep to themselves? Well, there are multiple factors that make Thenos interesting to the rest of the world, particularly to potential connoisseurs of occult knowledge like yourself.- First of all, rumor goes that Thenos has seemingly found a way to birth live children in the Dark Days.
- Secondly, it is said that they are the only state that has a government agency specifically on Occult matters and witchcraft, they seem to know a lot on the subject.
- Thirdly, rumours go that some of the members of government are in fact demonic shadows of men, just acting like their human counterparts.
Part 5, Communications and practicalities
O how much I'd like to run this campaign in real life, yet experience learns that that is practically impossible if one also wants a decent rate of play. I aim on having one session every 2 weeks, with downtime being handled in between. Most likely, at least some of the sessions will be done the dedication Discord server. Here also an in-character roleplay text channel exists, a channel that you can use to in between sessions have some in-character talks with your fellow investigators. I hope that with this I have informed you enough on Shadow of the Equilibrium and I hope to see you soon in game!- Signed, your Keeper of Arcane Lore
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