A lot of Ironsworn campaigns I see revolve around finding the true king of the Ironlands. It makes sense—it's one of the more evocative quest starters, promising a lot of heroic action. The dramatic potential of such a campaign is high and full of questions just begging for an answer. How to find a leader worthy enough to rule the entire continent of scattered settlements? How to convince their population that being ruled by one king is beneficial for them? And what to do with those who, no matter how good points you make, won't agree to the beneficial unification?
This time someone else will have to answer these questions, because this Ironsworn campaign is not about finding the true king. Instead, we’ll be opposing him. We’ll be the villain that prevents the Ironlands from uniting, or the rebel trying to stop a tyrant from achieving absolute power. Without further ado, let’s create the world for our hero.
Our world
- The Old World was run into the ground. We were pawns in the hands of our kings, princes and petty nobles, who never had enough. They squeezed us for every scrap of food, drafted us into their petty wars. When the land itself started to get barren because of their greed, they hid in their luxurious palaces while we died of hunger and thirst. We cast our fate to the sea and sailed to the cursed continent where no one wanted to settle, because that was preferable to staying.
- Iron is the favored metal of Gamanna, the goddess who created the Ironlands. The jealous gods shackled her in the center of the world, forging the chains of her greatest creation. When we swear on iron, she hears and remembers our vows.
- Other humans sailed here from the Old World untold years ago, but all that is left of them is a savage, feral people we call the broken. Is their fate to become our own?
- We live in communities called circles. These are settlements ranging in size from a steading with a few families to a village of several hundred. Some circles belong to nomadic folk. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of settlements. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles.
- Each of our communities has its own leader, called an overseer. Every seventh spring, the people affirm their current overseer or choose a new one. Some overseers wear the iron circlet reluctantly, while others thirst for power and gain it through schemes or threats.
- Here in the Ironlands, supplies are too precious, and the lands are too sparsely populated, to support organized fighting forces. When a community is threatened, the people stand together to protect their own. Only the Tyrant's kingdom uses wardens instead.
- Some still find comfort in the old ways. They call on mystics to divine the fortune of their newborn, or ask them to perform rituals to invoke a bountiful harvest. Others act out of fear against those who they suspect of having power. However, most folk believe true magic—if it ever existed—is lost to us now.
- Our gods from the Old World didn't help us, so we strike out their names of our stories and vowed to never worship them again. Some try to pray Gamanna, but most find it pointless—as she is imprisoned and wouldn't have been concerned with us anyway. She is hard and cold like the iron she loves; vows and obligations are the only thing that concerns her.
- The firstborn have passed into legend. Some say the remnants of the old tribes still dwell in deep forests or high mountains. Most believe they were never anything more than myth.
- Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands.
- We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long-night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture beyond their homes
Our Character
Once, we lived in Havens. Thornhall, a large village on a fertile hill, used to be our home. We almost always had enough barley and pork to last through the winter and we traded the surplus for iron from the Veils. Our stockade was large enough to deter weaker raiders and our community was large enough to give the stronger ones a pause. It was a paradise.
Five years ago, the Tyrant came, along with his warband. He showed us a trinket he claimed to be a half of the True Crown, the proof of his descent from the royal family. Had he tried to conquer us, we would have defeated him. Instead, he spoke with honeyed words, promising riches, power and safety to those who would swear fealty to him.
No doubt he used some vile magic to make himself more convincing. Despite our traditions and history, most of the village—including the overseer—was swayed, joining his nascent kingdom. He turned his biggest supporters into nobility, giving them privileges and power over the others. His "wardens" guarded the land from dangers, but also enforced his will.
Those who opposed his rule were cast out from his demesne. We were banished into the Flooded Lands and told never to return under the threat of death. Some of us died. Around fifty people persisted in these swamps, founding a new village: Stilthouse.
We have survived five years here hunting, foraging and digging for bog iron. Each year there's less of us. Some perish from hunger and sickness, some drown, some get eaten by beasts or worse. Everyone knows most of us won't survive five years more. The only thing that keeps our society together is a shared vow: that one day we will return to Thornhall and see it free from the Tyrant's yoke.
My name is Qamar. I was only thirteen when we had been forced out of Thornhall. I spent a lot of time in the bogs and swamps around Stilthouse with Glain, our best hunter. He taught me how to craft arrows and shoot them for the best result. We both did our part to provide our village with food.
But that was in the past. Glain can no longer hunt. His right arm is gone, taken by an infected wound. He can't draw a bow or hold a spear. His days as a hunter are over.
As I learned, he left the village yesterday—to fight a basilisk.
- When you Secure an Advantage by taking a moment to aim, choose your approach and add +1.
• Trust your instincts: Roll +wits, and take +2 momentum on a strong hit.
• Line up your shot: Roll +edge, and take +1 momentum on a hit.
- When you Secure an Advantage by crafting arrows of fine quality, add +1. Then, take +1 supply or +1 momentum on a hit.
- When your supply is reduced to 0, suffer any remaining -supply as -momentum. Then, roll +wits. On a strong hit, you manage to scrape by and take +1 supply. On a weak hit, you may suffer -2 momentum in exchange for +1 supply. On a miss, you are Out of Supply.
- Glain, vilage hunter, Escape from something, Timid, Cautious, Wary
- Stilthouse, settlement in the Flooded Lands
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