But times change. A strange monster prowls the tundra, looking for prey. The fey in the nearby woods are riled. The orcs are shifting. At night, people dream terrifying nightmares. Something is going on, and delving into the mysteries of one missing wizard is only the start.

Kagen is an old wizard who specializes in abjuration. He is particularly notable for inventing the first effective anti fey ward, as well as a number of others. Any writing on magic by him would be incredibly valuable. He disappeared from the public 20 years ago, claiming he was seeking Aza. He spent 5 of those years in Issen, living alone in a mansion outside of town, before suddenly disappearing. At the start of the campaign, he hasn’t been seen for a decade. The first major plot hook will be investigating his disappearance.

Each character’s backstory must include a reason they would be interested in finding Kagen. I’m giving you free reign here. You’re his long lost child, his old apprentice, an old rival, someone he tried to murder, someone he saved, a scholar, a treasure hunter, whatever. Be creative. You just need a reason to be invested in finding out what happened to him.

Characters
Characters are 3rd level, and each have 3000 gold. 20 point buy for ability scores. 2 traits. You can select from Reign of Winter traits as they're almost appropriate, although some may need to be reflavoured (especially the ones concerning witches). I'm going to try to be as open to negotiation on anything as possible. You want an exception to any rule here, gimme a reason for it and we can talk.

Sources include any Paizo and any Spheres of Power, with a couple caveats. All casting is based on Spheres. 9 level Paizo casters don’t exist. 4 and 6 level casters should use the appropriate Spheres archetype, if you cannot make your character out of existing Sphere classes. All sphere casters need a casting tradition. The most common source of power is following old rituals, or communing with extra planar beings, and whatever casting tradition you choose, it will have roleplaying consequences. Feat tax rules are in affect.

In order to keep up the intrigue aspects, the divination sphere does not exist. It may not be selected. There may be rituals allowing limited divination, however. Paladins lose the detect evil class feature, to be replaced with something that I haven’t quite decided on (I’m thinking an extra smite evil per day).

Additionally, each character gets a unique item of choice, which is not counted against your starting purchases. I’m open to suggestions for what it is, but there should be a reference to how you acquired it in your backstory, and why it’s special. This item should be more than a +1 sword, and can break normal rules such as being a magic item with bonus abilities and no enhancement bonus. We can negotiate this item growing in power with you as you level. Instead of a magic item, it can be a ritual allowing you access to powers beyond your spheres, or something else entirely. You don’t have to hammer it out exactly, but I need some thoughts about this in your application. This is to help your character stand out as unique.

Faction
Finally, each character begins the game belonging to a ‘faction’. This gives you the ability to have a relationship with a couple of NPCs at the start of the game. As well, before the game starts I’ll send you some general knowledge of the town someone in that faction would have. The factions are as follows (or you an suggest one to me):
Adventurer – The Frozen Dream inn is home to a group of adventurers, who spend their days looking for trouble. They are distrusted by the townsfolk, but tend to be skilled in their disciplines and know a lot about the surrounding area. Many of them are treasure seekers, investigating Kagen. This is the most vague faction, and can represent any character who is a visitor staying at the inn.

Orc Tribe – A group of orcs who primarily use shapeshifting magic and other nature magic camp on the outskirts of town. They used to be strong, until a war with The Spirit Wolf, a mythical large wolf, tore them apart. The 20 or so that remain are still looking for a way to defeat the Wolf.

Townsfolk – You live in the town. The townsfolk tend to distrust strangers, but as one of their own you will have larger amounts of respect.

Messenger – A group of travellers escorting a messenger from one city to another.

Other – Suggest something to me.

I’m going to aim to post daily, although this may not always happen. We’ll see if we can find a working rhythm. I’m also content to go once every other day or something. No rush. Life comes first.

General history
Many many yeas ago, magic flowed freely. This led to an age of power, where many beings ascended and began ruling over the commoners and fighting each other. This ended when the God Pact was signed, a complex magical contract that bound all the newly christened ‘gods’ to follow certain rules. Now forbidden from interacting with the mortal plane, these beings retreated into the multiverse content to slowly consolidate power. Anytime a mortal reached a certain level of power, they were forced on threat of annihilation to also sign the pact.

When the pact went around, there was only one god who refused to sign. Aza the Planeswalker, the most powerful of the gods, simply left reality when the other gods tried to force her to sign. She returned a few centuries later, disappearing again whenever she drew the attention or the other gods. Eventually, they gave up trying to make her sign. She created a tower in the middle of Adina, a massive column of obsidian referred to as The Black Tower, and spent her days studying magic and exploring to unknown realms.

Many years passed, and Aza took on a series of apprentices. The 6 apprentices grew to be powerful mages under her teachings, and used their skill to aid the nations of Adina. Eventually for unknown reasons, the 6 betrayed Aza and tried to murder her. This brought on the Mage War, a horrific battle that ended with the 6 sealed away, Adina rendered inhospitable, and Aza having left the known multiverse, vowing never to return. Fast forward several centuries, and you find yourself in modern day.

Religion
Most people worship some or all of the normal gods, although some find their lack of interest in mortal affairs insulting and refuse to bow before them. However, this is primarily because the God Pact forbids any interference in mortal lives. There are many of these gods, especially because they keep having children. You can bring over any god from any other source you wish to be part of this pantheon.

A scattered few believe the Heretic Gods, or Aza’s six apprentices, are the only ones who can do the world right. They seek to free the Heretics, such that they may bring about a golden age. It is unclear whether or not the Heretics would, although many notable religious scholars feel that some of the Heretics are insane and would bring about an apocalypse for the hell of it.

The 6 Heretic gods are as follows:
Telloca the animist, god of creation, life, minds, and intelligence
Galhz the destroyer, god of destruction, fire, time, and entropy
Solroxoth the maw, god of hunger, shadows, nature, and the night
Opon the guardian, god of boundaries, walls, protection, and the home
Kimam the summoner, god of planes, outsiders, travel, and communication
Medolisy the universalist, god of magic, skill, knowledge, and luck

Worshipping Aza is an act few perform. She is seen as a merciful figure, a guardian of neutrality who aided people when the gods wouldn’t or who shut down planar incursions by strange forces to save the world. However, Aza is also known for sometimes refusing to do simple things for obscure reasons. Since she disappeared, her cult has shrunk slowly, as more and more people believe she’s a myth. Now, her worship is restricted to a tiny organization, who are respected by society and generally left alone.

The land
There are two known continents, Adina and Lyi. Adina is commonly known as the forbidden continent. After the mage war, it became uninhabitable and unstable. Magic fluctuates wildly there, and creatures mutate. No one has lived on Adina since it was hurriedly evacuated during the Mage War. The closest anyone has come to living on Adina is The Phleng Islands, a chain off the east shore of Adina. These islands are full of strange beings, and a native species of humans dedicated to protecting their own secrets and worshipping their own gods. A few small colonies have been established there, although their attempts to scout Adina have always been met with failure.

After the mage war, the fleeing ships met up with the few colonies on Lyi and set up shop there. This leads us to today, when two large nations rule Lyi. As they’re not that relevant to this campaign, I haven’t detailed them greatly. In fact, you players get a say in what they’re like, through your characters and backstories.