Editing User:Bill/Rocker Valley Saga (section)

==Background==
No one has exalted in the isolated Rocker Valley in centuries. Too small to attract the attention of the Realm and too poor to interest its neighbors in the North, the inhabitants of the Rocker Valley are subjects to their local gods and totem spirits. The local spirit courts are not rapacious though and the people, though poor, live in harmony. The pass that would lead out of the valley to the north has been closed off by a Wyld zone and for as long as anyone can remember the river to the south has flowed through a shadowland populated by the restless dead. Within the mountains stalk trolls and the forests are infested with wood spiders. Only the god-blooded stand in the way of these threats, but they may not be enough to whether the coming storm.

On the first day of Calibration an emissary garbed in glass armor rode down the northern pass on the back of a giant white bear into the northernmost settlement of the valley, Brenner. Introducing himself as the Resplendent Sipping Bird with Plumes of Golden Hue, he told the people to rejoice for their new mistress was a benevolent one. Sipping Bird demanded that they prepare a tribute to be delivered to Carabose, the Singing Lark Queen of the Lilting Voice, of no less than a hundred of their children. If they failed, he said, his mistresses legions would fall upon the valley and leave none behind. Saying that Carabose would expect their tribute to arrive in the pass by the first day of Resplendent Air the beautiful fiend wheeled his gigantic steed and left. The hauptmann of Brenner immediately called upon the priests of Eiba, patron goddess of Brenner. Answering their prayers and accepting their sacrifices Eiba manifested herself and upon hearing the news she wept. She told the hauptmann that she had witnessed the Sipping Bird's proclamation and that his threats were genuine. With great sorrow in her heart she told the hauptmann that neither she, nor any of the gods in the valley would be strong enough to defeat the horde that Carabose would send. Enraged the hauptmann cursed Eiba and called for the fastest riders in the village. Giving each a letter he sent them forth to every burg and hamlet in the valley, calling every leader, sage, and hero to a meeting in Ratschings, the largest town in the valley. He implored his brave riders to take to the roads immediately, even with the unexpected dangers that Calibration brings.

When the meeting came the assembled leaders of the seven major settlements and a number of representatives from smaller farming communities rapidly divided into two camps; those who would acquiesce to Carabose's demands and those who would fight. The monstrous nature of the demand made the former camp very small, but their voice was loud and insistent. If we fight, we will all perish they said. And though the number of men who sided against them was many their words rang true in the hearts of all assembled. After hours of arguing about how best to raise an army, request help from the Realm, or what else they could offer the fey monster the voice of Hollein the Master Weaver rang loud and clear through the hall. "We must open the Franzenfest," the god-blooded son of Fallaballah shouted over the crowd. Stunned, the crowd was silenced for a moment than surged back in objection. The ancient Franzenfest was a fortress of the dread Anathema sealed by the scions of the elemental dragons centuries ago. The assembled leaders cried blasphemy at the suggestion. Hollein remained calm and his ringing voice carried over the objections of the others. "Within the Franzenfest are the weapons of the ancient heroes," he said, "only they can save us." Armed with his mother's powers of persuasion Hollein battled against his critics and ultimately prevailed. A group of heroes would be assembled to travel through the shadowland and confront the dangers of the Franzenfest. Within its walls they would seek the knowledge and power necessary to defeat this new and deadly foe.

This game will focus on the adventures of the heroes selected to dare the dangers of the Franzenfest and will ultimately culminate in a battle against the hordes of the Raksha, Carabose the Singing Lark Queen of the Lilting Voice.