GM Adrian's page

"Brevoy is a proud land, known throughout Golarion
for producing able warriors, regal nobles, and clever
rogues. Yet Brevoy’s two regions, Issia and Rostland,
have long held one another in contempt and now stand
on the verge of civil war. Both Issia and Rostland were
independent nations until Choral the Conqueror’s barbarian
armies and red dragon servitors united the regions into
a single kingdom two centuries ago. Until recently, the
iron rule of House Rogarvia maintained a fragile peace
between the two regions. But a decade ago, House Rogarvia
mysteriously disappeared, and the conniving leaders of
Issia’s House Surtova supplanted them as Brevoy’s rulers.
Now a labyrinthine political landscape plagues the nation,
full of secret alliances, provincial loyalties, and nefarious
plots; civil war seems inevitable. In Rostland to the south,
the swordlords see in many of Issia’s recent political moves
the swift approach of such a war. They rightly fear such an
event, for Rostland is smaller than Issia, it has fewer armies,
and its rolling hills and grasslands offer very little in the
way of natural defenses. Worse, unlike Issia, whose northern
border stretches along the Lake of Mists and Veils, which
offers some defense, Rostland’s southern border lies along
a stretch of wilderness infested with bandits and monsters.
If Brevoy falls into civil war, it won’t be long at all before
the violent, opportunistic vultures to the south move to take
advantage of Rostland’s problems.
This southern region of wilderness is called the Stolen
Lands. While these lands are technically a part of the
River Kingdoms, several of which have advanced claims
in the past, Rostland has long viewed them as “stolen”
from it by bandits and monsters. Many attempts have
been made to settle the Stolen Lands, but to date, none
have succeeded, making these 33,000 square miles of
unclaimed wilderness the largest swath of unclaimed
land in the entire River Kingdoms. As tensions mount
in Brevoy, some of Rostland’s swordlords hope to change
that fact; they have issued charters to several groups of
adventurers, sending them south into the Stolen Lands.
These initial charters are simple enough: re-open the
old trade routes along the rivers and scatter or defeat the
bandits who have made them too dangerous to use. Beyond
that, it seems apparent that Rostland wants to encourage
new nations to grow in this region—and believes that by
supporting these nascent kingdoms as allies, it’ll gain
loyal support in any coming conflict with Issia. It’s a bold
and brilliant political move—for if Rostland turned its
own resources to the task, not only would such a move
weaken its defenses against the north, but the blatant
power grab would certainly force Issia’s hand. By sending
free agents south, the swordlords of Rostland hope to
create new allies without sacrificing their own position
of power in Brevoy.
Yet as with most complex and brilliant plans, there are
plenty of opportunities for disaster."

"Your group of characters begins the Kingmaker Adventure
Path as one of four groups sent south into the Stolen Lands
to defeat bandits and, hopefully, to establish one of four
new nations in the River Kingdoms. It certainly won’t be
an easy task. Before any such settlement can even begin,
the bandits and monsters must be dealt with—and once
that initial task is done, the danger will only increase. As
you struggle to foster a fledgling kingdom, build up its
cities, and expand its farmlands, your group is destined
to face rival warlords, ferocious beasts, strange cults,
invading barbarian hordes, and even the mysterious fey
denizens of the near-mythical First World. Can you tame
the Stolen Lands and forge a lasting settlement amid
such opposition? Who will survive to rule your kingdom?
Who among you possesses the makings of a king?"

"Your group is but one of four groups chartered by the
swordlords to explore and settle the Stolen Land. Here’s
what you know about the four regions in the Stolen Lands
and who Brevoy sent to explore them. If you wish to learn
more, your characters will need to ask around once the
campaign begins.
The Greenbelt: Dominated by the woodland known as
the Narlmarches and the rolling hills of the Kamelands,
this region is the one your group has been chartered
to explore. Bandits are particularly rife in this area, and
the rumors that they’ve organized under the banner of
a bandit warlord who calls himself the Stag Lord are
particularly troubling. You are to explore as much of the
northern half of the Greenbelt as you can and, if possible,
to find out more about this “Stag Lord” and remove the
bandit threat from the region. Other rumored problems
in the region include a tribe of mites, a tribe of kobolds,
mischievous fey, and numerous dangerous monsters
and wildlife.
Glenebon Uplands: The swordlords sent a relatively
experienced band of adventurers into the westernmost
reach of the Stolen Lands—an area that is supposedly
under the rule of the bandit kingdom of Pitax (although
that River Kingdom has done very little to prove its claims
over this area).
The Slough: The East Sellen River runs through the
swamps known as Hooktongue Slough. Rumor holds that
the swordlords sent actual Brevic government agents into
this swampy area.
Nomen Heights: The easternmost reaches of the Stolen
Lands contain a low mountain range and border the longruined
realm of Iobaria. The swordlords sent a band of
mercenaries into this region, rumors hold."