The campaign is bases in the world of Valinor a land ravaged by a bitter hatred between two countries on one side and a region filled with demons on the other and so here we go.
Valinor is split in to four regions, the kingdom of Gilead, Durador, Forlorn, and the Ancient Lands of the Psion. The Dragons Spine separates the Ancient lands and Gilead and the Plains of Discord separate Gilead and Durador. Forlorn is separated from the Ancient Lands on their north border by the Psion Wall and the Blood Sea on the east border. Forlorn and Durador border each other in the far south.
About two thousand years ago the region known as the Ancient Lands of the Psion the psion gathered and formed their own nation. Over several centuries the psion became more arrogant and withdrawn barring entrance to their kingdom to all but other psions. The Psion Wall was built on its southern border and with the Crystal Sea (now the Blood Sea) to the west and the Dragon Spine to the East their kingdom was isolated from the rest of the world. About a thousand years after they started their kingdom at the top of Mount Murran (now called Demons Peak) a magical catastrophe was unleash and a gate to the plane of the Abyss was opened and thousands of demons poured out and laid waste to the psion and the land around it. The gate was mysteriously closed and most of the demons banished but not before almost the whole kingdom was destroyed. The blood of the victims filled the rivers and flowed down into the Crystal Sea and started staining it blood red.
Now the region just ancient ruins filled with demons and Demon Peak is constantly covered with a massive thunder storm that can be seem for hundreds of miles. The demons only stay around the huge lone mountain but occasionally set out to cause pain and misery else where.
Two centuries ago the lands of Gilead and Durador were joined under one crown in the Kingdom of Sillamar. The King of Sillamar Jarren and his wife Kallen were expecting a child and weeks before Kallen was due to give birth a small force broke into the king’s manor and kidnapped her. Jarren was quick to gather some troop and pursue the kidnappers and when he caught and killed them all he found his wife dead holding two newly born twin sons and Jarren named them Gilean and Durad.
The two brothers grew up friends in the capital city Mema-Nova and were inseparable until they met a girl named Vallaren and both brothers fell in love with her immediately. No one knows what really happened but Durad took Vallaren and disappeared from Mema-Nova and were said to have fled to Mema-Zarath the sister city in the south and Gilead changed from that day forth. For several years Durad and Vallaren lived in Mema-Zarath and even had a child but one night Vallaren was killed by some mysterious intruders. A month later in Mema-Nova King Jerren was killed in his room by a group of assassins and Gilead was injured while trying to stop them but none of the assassins were see of hear from again. A couple of weeks later Durad arrived in Mema-Nova to attend his father’s funeral and find out who would take the crown. The second night Durad was there he and Gilean met for the first time since Durad fled to the south and after a heated argument Gilean stormed out of his room calling for the guards to arrest Durad accusing him of assassinating their father for the crown. Durad managed to escape and fee to the south again and protested his innocence saying the Gilean was the one that killed their father and even went as far a accusing him of killing his wife. A year later the brothers formed their own countries Gilead and Durador and their armies met in the Plains of Sillamar (know the Plains of Discord). Durad was out numbered about three to one and his army was slowly losing the battle so at night Durad and an elite group of soldiers snuck across the battle line and attacked Gileans command tent. Durad challenged Gilean slew him while Durads troops kept the gathering army back. Once Gilead was killed the Gilead army surrounded Durad and his small group and butchered them and with is last breath Durad laid down a curse “My men and I will not rest until Gileans line has ended.” Now in a frenzy the Gilean army stormed across the battle line and killed the remaining Durador army.
The Gilead army gathered their King and prepared to march back to Mema-Nova before pushing south into Durador but when night fell the spirits of the Durador army, lead my Durad himself now a wraith, arose and swarmed over the Gilead army and destroying every last living person.
Today the Plains of Discord are patrolled by Durad and his army of ghosts allowing no living creature to cross the border between Gilead and Durador. The two kingdoms now have a bitter hatred for each other and have launched some small raids on each other but nothing major has developed.
The trade route Gilead’s Run was created to connect Gilead and the ancient kingdom of Forlorn after the plains were blocked. The route travels north through the Ancient Lands of the Psion past Demon Peak and then turns east in the city of Narath-Dur and continues to Keeper Dale.
The city of Keepers Dale guards the entrance of the Dragons Divide, the only safe route through the mountains to the Kingdom of Gilead. This city also guards Gilead west border from invasion and from the demons that wander out from Demon Peak. Keeper Dale is often used as a safe haven for adventurers exploring he ruins of the Psion kingdom and a place people go to ‘disappear’, you will be starting there.
I will post some details about the city in a while and some minor details about each kingdom so you can add a little to your characters background and personality.
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