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Dreams of Hope

A living campaign setting designed for the Fifth Edition of the world's most popular role-playing game, Dreams of Hope extends and continues the story of Quartus after the Cataclysm.

The Cataclysm and its Aftermath

250 years ago, a terrible magical cataclysm shattered the continent of Noefra (and most of the world of Quartus). Magic, both arcane and divine, stopped working and the Old Gods sacrificed themselves in an attempt to keep the world from disintegrating. Even with this sacrifice, storms, earthquakes, and other calamities swept the land. Almost 80% of the population of the continent died either immediately or over the next few years. When the magic returned 50 years later, it was different. New gods had arisen and spell-casters of all types had to re-learn their art. The survivors had retreated to isolated areas, convinced that they alone survived the Cataclysm.

Adventuring Groups/Harbingers of the Cataclysm

• The Divine Three
• The Refuge Seekers

A Spark of Hope

A little more than 45 years ago, a group of heroes known as the Catalysts convinced the five major countries of the western half of Noefra to coordinate their efforts—and so the Federated Nations council was born. With it came the founding of the Adventurer’s Guild, an international problem-solving organization that handles requests from citizens and governments alike.

For many years, all was well. The fall of the Hungering Frost in 211 AC gave Wyrmhold a breath of hope. The Devil's Rebellion in the southern part of the Stone Throne was suppressed after adventurers gave advance warning. New cities were founded, including Shinevog and Zhapai Karmap. Godsfall was liberated, letting the Archon of Time and The Redeeming Blades ascend. Adventurers made friendly contact through the Portal Network to Ithemba on the Soefran continent.

Adventuring Groups

• Catalysts
• Fire, Stone, and Cold
• Godsfall Champions
• Heroes of Pactum
• Shame Menders
• Dimwit Syndicate
• Airship Pioneers
• Wild Cards / Southern Heroes

Maturation

By 230 AC, however, the internal stresses on several of the Federated Nations member states had grown beyond repair. The Council Lands was especially troubled, but the Stone Throne suffered discontent as well. In 227 AC, a coup attempt by the deposed Guildmasters of the former Council Lands led to civil war. That war ended in 230 AC with the Treaty of Rauviz and the dissolution of the Council Lands into five nations: the Holy Kaelthian Republic, the Crisial Kingdom, the Uulan Confederacy, the Free State of Rauviz, and the Duarchy of Kotimaa. A few years later, the Stone Throne disassociated more peacefully into three nations: the Sha'slar Autonomous Zone in the north, Asai'ka in the central Jungle of Fangs, and the Serpent Dominion in the south by Lake Thom. While Byssia and Wyrmhold did not break up, they have internal tensions of their own and especially tensions between themselves and between themselves and the other nations.

In this unsettled time were born the Registered Companies--mercenary adventuring organizations chartered by each nation. Ranging from the large, corporate Golden Banner company to the strange and obsessive Selan's Seekers to the quasi-spy organization known as the Holy Hands, these companies employ adventurers of all ranks and attitudes. Those adventurers who belong to a company--a requirement of the Crystal Spire Protocols (CSP)--are titled Registered Adventurers. As a result of all of this, the Adventurer’s Guild reconfigured itself to provide mainly policing support. They and their Sanctioned Adventurers keep the Registered Companies in line with the CSP and keep the Portal Network open and functioning.

Adventuring Groups:

Note: There was a timeskip for PC adventurers lasting from ~212 AC to 250 AC.

• Vault Seekers
• Heroes Foretold
• Enigma/Tempus Machina/Ad Elementis
• Zephyrite
• Half Measures

Darkening Clouds

Between 250 and the end of 252 AC, the tensions within the FNC came to a head, in part pushed by certain external parties (chief among them Loran Hae, at the time serving as God of Harvest and Autumn). Crisis after crisis was narrowly averted or at least the damage was mitigated by concerted effort. Relations between former enemies such as Byssia and Wyrmhold have improved, and the situation on the Lupaus Plains has been resolved with only minimal damage. Elsewhere, however, things are more dire. The Holy Kaelthian Republic has turned insular and hostile, while still meddling in others' business. They abandoned most of their territory, but have seized control of all the trade routes between the western nations and the dwarven and jazuu homelands to the east.

In this unstable atmosphere, other groups such as the Circle of Purging Flame have began acting more openly to wreak havoc on the Federated Nations, and the Adventurer’s Guild and Federated Nations council have proven unable to meaningfully oppose them or prevent the crises from multiplying. The Crystal Spire Protocols are honored more in the breach. Banditry, demon worship, necromancy, and hostility from tribal elements is on the rise.

Adventuring Groups

• Ruin Raiders
• Repotaters
• Unnamed "Pirate" group

Time of Troubles

The last half of 253 AC signaled the end of the prior order, and the start of the next one. The Red Plague wreaked havoc on the wealthy nations of Rauviz and Asai'ka; the Circle of Purging Flame (aided by the Holy Hands) attacked Fort Hope and, although repulsed, did enough damage to force the city to be abandoned to the renewed hostility of the surrounding tribes. With the Federated Nations Council and the Adventurer’s Guild destroyed as organizations, the Portal Network reverted to local control and became much harder to access. Nations began actively recruiting meaningfully standing armies, dusting off military "traditions" last honored before the Cataclysm. The Crystal Spire Protocols were entirely abandoned, with the Registered Companies becoming private military corporations or (more commonly) arms of the sponsoring nation.

Early 254 AC made things much, much worse. The Grand Temple in the heart of Kaelthia erupted on the 5th of Spring Dawning, disappearing into a pillar of white, withering luminous aether. The veil between the Mortal and Astral planes was near torn asunder, eradicating all but the thinnest layer of the Border Shadow for miles around; the entire collapse was only averted when two of the remaining Catalysts, Vassarian Kabir and Safrir Tree-friend, gave their own lives to prevent Shadow from unravelling entirely. When the energy subsided, all that remained of Academy Isle was a pit, now filled with boiling, spitting lava from the dormant (but not dead) volcano known as Mt Refuge. Thousands died, whether as residents of the now-vanished island or from exposure to the toxic light or from fragments of rock raining down and starting fires in the surrounding streets. And the damage was not localized. A fog of aether, invisible to the eye, spread out across Noefra...and the Great Mechanism did not act to redirect it. Was it damaged in the blast? Had it decided that Noefra needed to feel the consequences of its actions? Scholars still debate that.

Regardless, the fog of aether affected magic throughout the continent. Long-range spells of all kinds, but especially communications, scrying, and teleportation became unreliable at best. The Portal Network was most affected--while portals can still be opened, safe passage is no longer guaranteed. In fact, the portals are only fit for use with careful preparation, calm aetheric weather, and for emergencies. Beyond that, it seems that demon and monster activity has increased significantly, signaling that the veil is still quite weak. Some areas have seen spontaneous undead outbreaks; others have seen fey gone rampant and actively malicious.

//placeholder for any effects of the climax of the Ruin Raiders campaign.

Over the next several years, the western nations tried to find their balance. Most realized that they were too big and too disparate in culture to survive, and quietly fell apart. Others expanded--Rauviz became a proper kingdom by absorbing some of the outlying areas of Crisial Kingdom and the lake-side areas of the Duarchy. The Duarchy, in turn, disintegrated. With Godsfall and Kotimaa in general turning their backs on the world, Dreamshore tried to make a go of it as a kingdom (the short-lived Kingdom of Dreamshore). That, in turn, broke up when Queen Coldwind died (of natural causes) without an heir in 257 AC. Crisial Kingdom didn't formally break up, but splintered informally, devolving most of the responsibility onto the regional nobles. The inland hill areas (such as Honel) are restive, barely considering themselves part of the kingdom any more. Asai'ka tried to reform under priestly rule...that collapsed under its own weight in 259 AC and newly-crowned Phraya Ahzekiel Cai'Valur (who took power peacefully in 258 AC when the former Phraya of the Serpent Dominion abdicated and retired) conquered the chaos-torn lands with only minimal loss of life. The Jungle of Fangs is still mostly cut off from the rest of the world, although a trade route now exists by sea to Byssia and there are at least occasionally bits of trade with the human kingdom of Ikela in Soefra (via the Ship Folk).

The western nations of Byssia, Wyrmhold, and Auringon were least affected by the chaos, but they too are experiencing changes. King Aurel of Auringon is on his deathbed as of the dawn of 260 AC, with his official heir a young hothead, while the mind-controlling legions of Tlalocana loom to the south. Byssia is expanding as a maritime power, busily absorbing the cultures of the islands of Gap-tooth Bay; they've centralized heavily and now have a significant military under Protector Yonas Akrotiz. Wyrmhold has held its shape, although the loss of much of Byarsha to mudslides has hampered things a bit. Culturally, they're undergoing significant changes as the clan-and-tribe structure loses steam and new questions of hierarchy raise their heads.

Most of the old heroes are dead or vanished--Zhapai Karmap's Thon Mountain-break is desperately looking for a worthy successor, with all of his friends now dead (Oopsie and Uririel Sunia, both of whom died in accidents) or otherwise occupied (Helwyr has left the banking life for a life as the 2nd in command of the largest criminal syndicate to Paresten of the Catalysts). And the times are troubled...

(This represents a time skip from 254 AC to 260 AC).

Registered Adventurers

What are Registered Adventurers? In Earth terms, they're something like a cross between a Special Forces team and a private security contractor or mercenary. Their chains of command are loose and once unleashed on an objective they are free to pick their own methods of resolution. Most of their pay comes from what they acquire in the field--they keep what they loot. Their potential for growth can quickly leave them among the most personally powerful individuals as well as quite wealthy and they tend to retire after a few campaigns. Or die. For the risks they face are great. Abandoned temples to unknown gods, dragons' lairs, demon-summoning cults, hideous monsters, deadly traps. These are the everyday challenges facing a Registered Adventurer. Are you up for the challenge?

Resources for Players

Player's Guide--Character Creation

Player's Guide--Nations and Cultures

Player's Guide--Backgrounds by Starting Culture

Quick Planar Cosmology Guide

Player's Guide--Gods and Worship

Open Quest Seeds (these are campaign starters. Mainly an invitation to adventure in a particular location and a "main quest" to follow if you're looking for something.