Setting Seeds: The Culling
There was a time when the world of Rith teetered on the verge of annihilation. The mortal races had grown powerful and foolhardy, the humans in particular, and threatened to destroy creation itself with their powerful magics.
The dragons of Rith set aside their territorial disputes to save the world. Dragons have three qualities in abundance; patience, intelligence, and wrath. Their plan was made in secret and one day every major mortal city found the skies darkened by the beat of wings.
No one was spared. Not the dwarves in their mountains, nor the eladrin in the Feywild, nor the Shadar-kai in the Shadowfell. Most of the cities fell within three days. Only Amanellis, crown jewel of the human empire, withstood the siege much longer, but within a month its walls too crumbled. The death toll was catastrophic among all sides.
Afterwards, the few remaining dragons retreated and banded together, forming the Rithian Stewards. They would monitor the mortal races carefully, preventing any civilizations larger than a small town from flourishing.
The culling was a success. Rith was saved, and over time the world healed. All the ancient magics were lost to time. It was not without a price, however. Without their large cities, the mortals have become acutely vulnerable to the predations of the wild and of other mortals as well.
It seems there’s always a pack of wolves or tribe of orcs making life difficult for the poor people just trying to eke out an existence. As a result, mortal towns have become insular and xenophobic. Strangers are mistrusted and hurried out of town; there is little hospitality to be found anywhere.
Some have tried to recapture the glory of old, but there is little they can do. Though the dragons no longer make their presence known, the Rithian Stewards are ever vigilant. Whenever any mortal city begins to reach the point of old excesses, it is quickly razed.
I like this idea! It’s simple, easily conveyed, yet providing a few explanations into where we are and how we got here. Thanks!
Glad to be of service. Specifically came up with this idea to service 4e’s “Points of Light” paradigm.
There are 2 things that I think could also be interesting with such a setup.
1 – the PCs play the role of dragons (or their spies) moving from town to town collecting info on growth, and determining whether some of the old magic has started to be recovered. This could include hunting te occasional artifact that is otherwise too close to discovery by the onworthy races.
2 – place it during the Razing, but change the chronology a little. Instead of being a coordinated large scale worldwide attack, pick off one villiage, city and country at a time. Let the PCs hear rumors about this, and then experience an attack themselves. They can wonder why good and evil dragons are working together to attack cities. They try to learn why, and when they do they can either join the dragons, try to end the war diplomatically, or fight against the dragons, either themselves or by banding the mortal races together in a common defense.
Both good ideas. The first also has some potential for intra-party conflict if there are some ’sympathizers’ in the party.
I love this one, Asmor. Perhaps, my favorite setting seed so far. I may even steal it for the backdrop of my future homebrew game.
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