I recently got Feral Indie Studio’s “into the wyrd and wild” as part of a bundle, and I’m struck by many of the similarities in vibe, tone, and procedural interest with the second edition of Yochai Gal’s Cairn that came out last november. At the same time, an exhibit of Caspar David Friedrich’s work, including the somewhat memetic Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog is going to be shown relatively close to me.
This led me down a rabbit hole of the artist’s work, finding it to be extremely fertile ground for campaign setting inspiration. Using the tools mentioned above, I thought it would be fun to work that inspiration into hexcrawl, as part of a larger a setting I like to rotate around in my head pretty frequently to explore relevant themes. I’m thinking of running this in something like Cairn, Heart: The City Beneath, or The Nightmare Underneath (ICBMoose’s TNU hexcrawl a breeze a mongst the thickets is a big touchstone for me).
Here’s the pitch: The world is a cursed one, of deep existential uncertainty and paradox. An unspecified disaster in the distant past erased the sun from the sky, leaving only the moon to guide the passage of time. Despite all signs to the contrary, this was not the end, and the world persisted in ways unpredictable and hostile to human life. People have had to take up strange modes of survival, and even stranger beliefs.
The valley of Kest lies at the remote borders of the world. The communities here have long struggled to eke out a subsistence in the centuries since the age of the sun came to an end. A succession of particularly poor harvests have emptied several hamlets and homesteads over the previous generation. Despite this, some still mark it as a destination, whether seeking respite from disease and the unique horrors of urban living, or on a quest for visionary enlightenment.
Two decades ago, a war between rival baronies devastated much of the area, but Kest was relatively sheltered. In fact, its position allowed some moderate developments in infrastructure to take route, connecting it to the wider world. Those with the means have been abandoning their agrarian lifestyle and flocking to the towns to attempt to seize on this new opportunity, creating an emergent petty bourgoisie. Among the more promising industries is a trade in artifacts, raw materials, and magical ephemera from the surrounding wood, which swells with arcane energy according the cycle of the Moon, although this is tempered by the severe danger this phenomenon entails.
Perhaps the players are on such a quest, or fleeing such a fate. Perhaps they were drawn here by their dreams.
Using the region theme generator on page seven of the Cairn 2E warden’s guide, I determined the culture of Kest is Mercantile in character, and focused on Security as an ambition. The people have an abundance of Trade Goods and a shortage of Tools.
I then rolled 3 times on the faction generation tables, creating the following 3 factions. In addition to the tables provided, I rolled a d10 for each faction to determine Planetary Alignment, an important element of this setting:
Type: Religious
-
A group of lay practitioners of the dominant Melchiorist faith who wish to form a community where they can distance themselves from worldly concerns
Agent: Laborer
-
Ansgar, a worker who has been set to clear the ruins of an abbey where the commune is to be established
Traits: Cautious, Bankrupt
-
Members of this faction are aware their presence may be mistrusted, and are not upfront about their goals those they suspect to be working with rival factions. Most of their members are bohemians, have either given away their worldly possessions, or used up their wealth in pursuing this project, and so can be easily bribed with cash that they can put toward their expenses.
Planet: Venus
-
In this setting, Venus is associated with outward appearance, iconic representation, and the visual arts. The faction is focused on capturing the the divine Image in the physical form of nature, and boasts a number of artists who wish to put their practice towards spiritual ends
Advantages: Popularity
-
The faction is following the larger trend of a sweeping romantic/spiritual revivalist movement, and holds considerable sway with intellectuals and clergy
Agenda: Establish a Colony
-
The faction is looking to establish settlement that will function as a mix of a religious retreat and artist’s commune. Kest is attractive not only because of its considerable natural beauty, but the unusual and intense dreams that are reportedly experienced by anyone who visits
Obstacle: Many must die, either as a necessity or consequence
-
Ansgar is haunted by visions of an apparition that pleads with him not to clear the abbey ruins. Unbeknownst to him, the structure was placed there to guarantee the slumber of an Elder, an arachnid monster from a previous epoch of life. Awakening the Elder will cause it to devour the nearest human population.
Type: Artisans
-
A powerfully family of blacksmiths that have recently pivoted to arms manufacture after buying or driving out their competition in the valley. They have encouraged farmers to abandon their vocation and sell their tools, which they are hoarding and either exporting or melting into weapons.
Agent: Farmer
-
A wealthy landowner who uses her marriage into the family to own the only farm with secure access to iron tools. She is fully bought in to advancing the family’s broader goals.
Traits: Fierce, Selfish
-
NPCs associated with this faction will come down hard on the PCs if they suspect them of threatening their mercantile monopoly or broader ambitions. They cannot be persuaded to act against what they believe is their best interest, which broadly involves fucking over everyone else.
Planet: Mars
-
Mars is here associated with bodily action, violence, and unsurprisingly, warfare. The family were able to rise to their current station by providing armaments to occupying armies, and see further conflict as a way to bolster there positon yet farther.
Advantages: Charisma, Information, Position
-
The family are seen as local heroes who managed to keep the fighting largely out of Kest with their skillful dealing. Their eldest’s son was able to afford an education in the nearest large city, and thus knows a thing or two about the law and a great deal about local politics. Their complete domination of ironware manufacture and trade in the Valley has left them at the center of the growing web of mercantile activity.
Agenda: Dominate Others
-
The family seeks greater freedom for private industry and their social class, which if you know anything about early Industrial political economy, you can see how that agenda is baked in. They have recently secured a deal whereby they sell arms exclusively to a neighboring barony to the east, in exchange for representation in the electorate of the regional government that would help liberalize the economy.
Obstacle: The outcome would lead to unavoidable war
-
Unfortunately, if the neighboring barony to the West (conservative, aristocratic, still nursing its wounds from the last war with the eastern barony) learns about this deal, all hell will break loose, and Kest will turn into a battleground. The family is taking every measure it can to keep this a secret - war is profitable, but not in your back yard.
Type: Cultists
-
A new religious movement seeking liberation through spiritual awakening, a large number of which are werewolves.
Agent: General
-
Lycanthropy is common in this setting, and in this part of the world those born with the affliction or cursed by a bite are by law press-ganged into military service. The General, now retired, was one such individual. She is a firm believer in the movement, and uses her decorated status to garner more followers.
Traits: Shrewd, Xenophobic
-
NPCs in this faction keep close tabs on the other two, and will provide information on a quid pro quo basis. They are distrustful of the Religious faction, seeing their beliefs as foreign and their presence as exploitative, and actively are working to disrupt plans for the colony. They distrust PCs who they believe to be working with them.
Planet: Moon
-
The Moon is associated with dreams, emotions, the subconscious, and werewolves. The cultists see the loss of “higher faculties” during lycanthropy as a result of a deep spiritual imbalance shared in the collective unconcious. If follows that correcting this imbalance will improve werewolves’ social standing and autonomy.
Advantages: Magic
-
The cult is well versed in ritual and ceremony, and know the supernatural secrets of Kest better than any other group, which they have plumbed in order to achieve ascension and freedom from the curse.
Agenda: Spread a Belief
-
The cult believes a werewolf can tame their “lower impulses” and retain lucidity in their transformed state. They are slowly amassing sympathetic voices from among the clergy and military, but it is slow going without hard evidence, and the politically subversive nature of the task means secrecy is paramount.
Obstacle: A well-known prophecy predicts imminent failure
-
The Almanac, a religious text of near-ubiquitous readership, predicts a Blood Moon . This event is associated with a particularly dangerous and unpredictable manifestation of lycanthropy. The cult is rushing to prove their theories before this event.