THE CHARACTERS
This will be a Pathfinder 2e game
You will be playing a group of citizens sent to Hope Rock to help make it into a welcoming place for the thousands of colonists who will follow you. Game start will be when you step onto the ship taking you to the island city of Hope Rock (you will be able to purchase whatever supplies you want for your trip and you will each have specialized knowledge based on your class/ancestry/guild/purpose of trip)
We will start at level 1 and use milestone leveling. Expect your path to level 3 to be fairly fast before things even out
Start with 15gp. Any common non-magical item of 5gp or below is fine to gift to your character. Anything more expensive needs to be paid for
All Ancestries are acceptable, though Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, and Elves, are quite rare and sometimes blamed for the arrival of the Endlings
ORGANIZATIONS
Royal Guard (obey/protect queen)
City Guard (guards, jailors, bailiffs)
Dark Guard (queen’s quiet problem solvers problems quietly)
Scribes (spies/assassins)
Seeders (extend/grow civilization)
Student (learn/teach new things)
Wraith (study immaterial, summon to help civilization)
Hunters (hunters/trackers/trappers)
Royal Merchants (buys, sellers, traders)
Order of Royal Faiths (priests, traveling priests, holy warriors)
Entertainers (parties, town criers, messengers)
Technists (study ancient magitech to relearn powers of the ancients)
COMMON KNOWLEDGE
The Obsidian Kingdom is the last bastion of civilization in the world. Nearly 200 years ago there were other scattered kingdoms that escaped the Ravaging, but one by one the lights of their civilizations were snuffed out as the Endlings discovered their places of refuge.
Today, only scattered groups of untrustworthy barbarians and savages are rumored to survive outside the Kingdom and all such suspicious individuals are to be arrested on sight and taken to the Queen’s Guard for questioning. Even speaking to them is considered dangerous as they might attempt to spread magical madness or curses that could destroy the Obsidian Kingdom like so many other civilizations were destroyed.
The Obsidian Kingdom is ruled by its eternal queen, Meilin Zhao, may she live forever, and her consort Zhi Quan. The cities of the kingdom are Enduria (the capital), Steel Helm (the 2nd city), and Hope Rock (newly founded inside a mountain).
The Queen has ruled for over 200 years and there is no public opposition to her rule, though troublemakers are sometimes taken in for questioning and released after their concerns are addressed. She’s been generous and orderly, saving the founding families (now nobles) and keeping all those in the kingdom safe from the kaiju. No one knows the source of her seemingly eternal youth and her consort also seems to be forever young.
The kingdom is expanding due to overcrowding, which has caused great fear of a too-larger city catching the attention of the Endlings. Everyone fears the kaiju’s attention as it is known they specifically destroy cities and kill, crush, or devour, anyone they find there. Magitech is outlawed inside the kingdom as it is believed to attract the Endlings. Every so often there is a panic as some wandering merchant stumbles upon the Empire and tries to sell Magitech trinkets, thus the policy of arresting any non-citizen who visit until the local magistrate is able to interview them and determine whether they are a threat or not.
Automatons of various configurations exist within the empire and are fully accepted. They are not considered to be Magitech, though scholars sometimes argue they meet the definition. The one odd quirk is that some automatons are mindless, only able to follow simple instructions and otherwise non-sapient. Occasionally these Automatons will later develop sentience. By law and tradition, such sapient Automatons are interviewed by the Queen’s guards and immediately granted full citizenship and freedom. Not granting them freedom is considered a deeply terrible act and punished swiftly.
Some sapient Automatons have made it their life’s work to trigger intelligence and free will in their fellows, while others believe it will happen with time on its own and as long as the non-thinking Automatons are kept repaired and treated well then everything is fine.
TRADE
The currency is inherited from before the Ravaging
10 copper penny = 1 silver washers
10 silver washers = 1 gold caps
10 gold caps = 1 platinum chips
Most trade exists inside the city and is unfortunately not very diverse because of this. There are a few adventurous traders who have the proper licensing to travel between the 3 cities of the Kingdom to bring goods to new markets.
Alchemical Crafting and regular Crafting are considered perfectly fine, but Magical Crafting leads to Magitch and is highly suspicious. Any creation above 6th level is heavily policed to ensure it doesn’t reach the level of Magitch (level 8 runes or level 8 magical items). Some of that is a judgement call and Magical Crafters are often harassed by the Queen’s Guard to remind them that Magitech is absolutely forbidden.