What Thunder Brings

• IC Thread
• OOC Thread
• Dice Rolls
• Recruitment Thread

Characters

• Krystal of Ason
• Cindy Hardcider
• Holg Lauriks
• Elene the Huntress
• Kresh the Kind
• Rurik Hylar
• 5E Blank Character Sheet

WTB_Party Equipment and Resources

NPCs

Commander Rael- Commander of the guard in High Home. Authorized the first mission and currently has requested the group go forth and investigate the goblin prophecy of a revealed dwarven cave.

Captain Hano- Head of the military forces and barracks in Errat.

Character Creation

• Characters must have a name, description and personality sketch when they are submitted.
• Use the standard attribute array.
• PHB races.
• PHB classes, plus the Artificer UA, the Death Domain in the DMG, and Xanathar's Guide.
• Use backgrounds, feel free to make up your own ideals/flaws/bonds, etc. Custom backgrounds need approval.
• Use the class equipment packages or roll for starting gold at the player's discretion.

PbP Notes

• The DM does the rolling. I use rolz.org, and I label rolls for transparency. I will provide a link to the campaign room once the game is off the ground.
• Keep your character updated. Not just mechanically, but major events, personality changes, etc.
• This wiki is a resource for everybody. If you like an NPC, put them on the wiki. If something is relevant to your character, put it on the wiki. If you want to remember it, put it on the wiki. I would prefer the wiki getting cluttered to it staying bare bones.
• Lay out a basic strategy for your reactions on your character sheet. If you want to do something novel with your reaction, say so in the OOC thread.
• During combat, social scenes, etc, declare your intent and action, referencing mechanics as needed, in the OOC thread; this is an adjunct post to the IC posts.

EXP Achievements

Achievements

Posting Guide

• Tell me your intention (what you want to accomplish), your action (what you attempt to do) and your method (how you attempt to do something).
• Post with purpose. Posts should push the action forward, uncover information or reveal something about the character. Preferably two or more of those at once!
• Banter is fine as long as things are moving.
• Avoid getting caught in the politeness spiral. Pick a direction, post it, and if other characters want to do something else, then that's rp fodder!
• I am aiming for four to five purposeful posts from each player every week. More is fine, but 4-5 is a good ballpark.
• If you are planning on an absence, please let me know.
• If for some reason you fall behind on posting, don't fret, just jump back in. Everyone goes through lulls occasionally.
• If you are no longer interested or no longer have the time to play, please let me know you are withdrawing. There will be no hard feelings, and not only is it polite, it keeps The Wyzard from blacklisting you.

Setting

Bright Council

The Bright Council is an assembly of communities and powers formed of the various cooperating peoples. The Council is several centuries old and is extremely proud of the fact that it has never waged a war of conquest, instead expanding by reasoned diplomacy (and perhaps also by econonic pressure and the occasional 'defensive war until the enemy is willing to talk'). It is one of three major nations on the continent, and the only one that allows people of any race to join.

Bright Council lands are divided into provinces, representing at first historic powers that made up the council, and later planned colonial zones on the frontier. Each province elects a Councillor to the Bright Council, who serves a five year term. The Council appoints an Administrator to each province. In the older provinces, the Administrator serves as an overlay to the local government, but in the frontier provinces they act as the head of the local government. Cities within a province elect their own Mayors, who may have a council of elected Aldermen serving under them. Rural areas within a province are divided into Districts, who elect Ministers to serve under the Administrator.

There are a number of standing bureaus serving the Council, headed up by Committees of Councillors.

Military

The Bright Council maintains an army, navy and cloud navy. Cities have independent militias, which have their arms distributed to them as needed and cannot be called as auxiliaries to the army; they serve as peace keepers and fire fighters during peace time. Districts have levies, which keep their arms individually, but may be called up by the army during local campaigns. The Bright Council focuses on magical and technological superiority, and have a fair number of mages in the military. They also have a substantial weight of cannons and muskets, provided by the dwarven members of the Council.

Religion

Many gods are worshipped in Council lands. The gods have their own churches and philosophies, and their worship is only very tenously unified, with the Convocation agreeing to share common areas for temples and not to fight each other too openly. Not all gods have access to all types of divine clerics and paladins, and gods are often associated with various professions and magical schools. These gods are active, if distant, participants in the grand experiment of the Bright Council, and have been known to visit their faithful.

The Divine Convocation

• Ishanna, the Thunderbolt Goddess. She embodies inspiration, surprise, justice, war, storms, lightning and fast travel. Her clerics are Knowledge, War and Tempest, her paladins are Vengeance and Devotion. Many evokers and transmuters revere her.
• Efuna, the Green Lord. He embodies agriculture, herding, fertility, healing, both parents and students, the harvest. His clerics are Nature and Life, his paladins Devotion.
• Shaliitu, the Demon Huntress. She embodies the wilderness, self-sufficiency, the frontier and boundaries. She hates the infernal and associates with the fey. Her paladins are Ancients, and many rangers and druids follow her, as do some conjurers and abjurers.
• Milvanu, the Goddess of War and Money. She embodies war and money, but also trade, deception, politics and ambition. Her clerics are War and Trickery, and many evokers and illusionists venerate her.
• Ilatu, the Upraised Fist. He embodies theft, rebellion, freedom and community. His clerics are Trickery, his paladins Vengeance. Many rogues worship him, as do some illusionists.
• Belshah, the Singing Lady. She embodies song, dance, poetry, theater, stories and etiquette. Her clerics are Knowledge, and she is the first bard. Some enchanters worship her.
• Nindavu, the Doom God. He rules the fire at the end of the world, and embodies destruction and fate. His clerics are Light, his warlocks follow him as the Great Old One. Diviners and some necromancers revere him.
• Endafu, the Raven Queen. Child of Efuna and Nindavu, she guards the sanctity of death and the dead. Her clerics are Death and the Grave, her scions shadow sorcerers. A few necromancers worship her as well.

Alpine Province

This province is a frontier settlement, meant to provide a buffer between the Council and the mountain monsters, as well as to serve as a trade post with the traders that come through the pass. It encompasses the near slopes of the mountain range, the lowland valley below and the river that cuts through the valley.

High Home

This large town has a population of roughly 5,000, mostly of dwarves and humans, though there are a variety of small families and new settlers. It is located below the treeline of the largest local mountain, placed on a defensible outcropping of rock. It is ringed by low walls and maintains an active levy to defend against goblins and the monsters of the mountains. It serves as the center of the High Home District, and is supported by the farming and herding of the rural communities around it. The district, including the town, has a population of roughly 20,000.

High Home is roughly divided between the dwarven half and the human and others one. The dwarves moved there several centuries ago when their mountaintop city-fort was crushed by goblins. The streets are cobbled where they aren't bare stone, and the town has a small market, a dairy, a village blacksmith, and a redsmith in the walls, with a smelter and a tanner outside the city. High Home operates a substantial quarry that supplies most of the province with stone, a small tin mine that supplies all the tin goods to the province with a small surplus of tin ingots besides, and several small iron mines that supply the district with a small surplus. The dwarves handle most of the mining. The other half of town does most of the farming, with some growing orchards of alpine apples and gardens of alpine strawberries, and the rest herding their distinctive brown cattle for milk and meat, or their large mountain sheep for mutton and wool. Hunting is common pastime.

The town has grown quite a bit and space on the rock is getting a little cramped; the dwarves have started adding second stories to their buildings, while the humans are digging cellars in the stone below their homes.

Errat

Errat is the provincial capitol, and has nearly 20,000 citizens. It contains the Administrative palace, a temple plaza, a small cannonworks and an Academy extension, as well as a riverside dock and a cloudship landing field. The city is a center of trade and learning, has a diverse population, and has walls and guards. They tend to regard the citizens of High Home as somewhat backwards and superstitious, even while they recognize their bravery. Errat has a mayor and council of aldermen.

Errat is barely visible from High Home at night, and is about two days travel away following the road.

North District

The Northern district lies in the valley north of the river and into the hills opposite the mountains. It has a population of 40,000 and is heavily focused on agriculture, harvesting rich crops of wheat and barley.

South District

The Southern district lies between the river and the mountains. They have about 40,000 citizens and are also farmers. Being closer to the mountains and the dangers therein, they take the people of High Home a little more seriously.

The Ura'Gar Tribe

A Brief History

Many centuries ago, the orcish people were divided into many nomadic tribes. One such tribe would come to be known as the Ura’Gar, roughly translating to “Ancestor’s Chosen” in Common, though it was originally nameless as all orcish clans were. Though there are no written records of this time, Ura’Gar tales claim that the clan was founded by a wise shaman that had been instructed by spirits to gather the five most honourable warriors in the land and bring them together under one banner, and to then go out into the world and show their might so that all may see the benefits of honour. The shaman and the five warriors did just that, and soon the number’s of their clan began to rapidly swell as more and more orcs joined them after witnessing their many legendary feats of strength and cunning. Eventually, however, the founders of the clan died, leaving the clan without their original inspirations. Most of the clan fell deeper and deeper into despair as each of the founders passed away, but five clansmen held out hope that their efforts were not in vain and continued to apply the founder’s lessons of honour and strength to everything they did. In time, they soon found that they had gained the ability to call upon the spirits of their ancestors to aid them, as the founders once had, and these five were elected as the new leaders of the tribe. It was on that day that the clan took a name – the Ura’Gar.

Though the Ura’Gar has not maintained the massive numbers of clansmen it supposedly once had, as large chunks splintered off into their own clans over time due to various differences and disagreements, they have still maintained a sizable population, large enough to be one of the only orc tribes to maintain their independence in the wake of the formation of the Orcish Union (though not large enough to successfully resist the Union pushing them right to the border). The Ura’Gar proudly held onto their traditions as the rest of the Union began to modernise, as they believed that that was the path their ancestors set out for them. Just two decades ago, however, the ancestors fell silent and all attempts to contact them failed. The tribe fell into disarray, and many began to point fingers in a desperate attempt to find the cause of the issue – be it the Orcish Union, allowing non-orcs into the tribe, or the shamans themselves. One voice eventually managed to rise above the others and unify almost the entire clan against the supposedly true cause – Olok the One-Eyed, one of the Ura’Gar’s most revered warriors.

Olok accused the Marak’Torl – the Founder’s Five – of leading the clan astray by promoting cooperation with the other remaining clans and disallowing raids in all but the most dire of circumstances, claiming that the Ura’Gar thrived by taking what they wanted when they wanted it and that the ancestors had become disgusted by the weakness of the clan’s current leaders. He led a bloody coup against the Marak’Torl and took the position of leadership for himself (and only himself), proclaiming himself Rezkar – Saviour – of the Ura’Gar and stating that the only way they could speak to ancestors once again would be by spending the next few decades reasserting their dominance through any means necessary, just as it took many decades for the ancestors to fall silent. Only time will tell if Rezkar Olok’s decrees are true, or if they are simply the ravings of a cruel despot…

Politics

As the Ura’Gar was believed to be founded by five great warriors, they have retained that same number of leaders into the modern day. The Marak’Torl, or ‘Founder’s Five’, are a council of elected clansmen that come together on a regular basis to vote on a variety of topics and issues that affect the clan. There are very few requirements to qualify for a position in Marak’Torl, you simply have to have completed your three trials and have at least fifteen of your fellow clansmen that are willing to speak on your behalf. Even age and race aren’t a factor; there have been several non-orcish Marak’Torl (though all were even controversial) and there are even stories of a boy joining the Marak’Torl mere weeks after completing his trials.

After qualifying for the Marak’Torl, those seeking the position must complete several trials (the exact number often varies) that, while different in each case, are designed to test an individual’s strength, cunning, and wisdom. If an individual is attempting to fill an open spot, then they perform these trials alone, but if they are trying to take a still-living member’s position, or if more than one person wants the role, then they compete against each other in all of the trials, with the overall winner taking the role.

Two decades ago, however, this system was completely upended by Olok the One-Eyed, who led a coup against the then current Marak’Torl and became the sole leader of the Ura’Gar, granting himself the title of Rezkar (Saviour in Common). Olok now holds absolute power over the Ura’Gar, and none may take his position until the ancestors speak to the clan once more or until he is dead.

Traditions

The Ura’Gar don’t formally worship any particular god (though many individual clansmen do), but instead, revere their ancestors. They try to honour their memory and earn their favour through many traditions, which include:

• The Mor tesh Lorn (Trials of Worth) – Soon after they turn 14, each clansman must undertake three trials in order to prove their worth to the clan and show that they deserve to be an Ura’Gar. The trials will vary depending on the seasons, state of the clan, and physical state of the individual but the most common are a feat of strength, surviving for several days in the wilderness by themselves (though with a supervisor to ensure that they don’t die), and hunting a dangerous creature alone (again, with a supervisor in case of near-death). If a child doesn’t pass all three of the trials, then they may try again next year, but if they still haven’t passed all three trials after their fourth attempt then they are exiled from the clan.

• The Lak tesh ir Marak (Day of the Founders) – The Ura’Gar’s tales claim that the shaman and four warriors founded their clan on the first day of winter, and so every year the clan holds a great celebration on that day to commemorate the founders and the many achievements of the Ura’Gar. It is a day of drinking and feasting, singing and dancing, waging mock battles, and telling stories of an ancestor’s exploits. At the end of the day, the entire clan gathers to watch a re-enactment of the founding of the Ura’Gar, at the end of which everyone prays to their ancestors for guidance and safety in the coming winter. In recent years, however, this particular element has become more sombre, as now most clansmen simply ask for the ancestors to speak to them again.

• Krazkars (Honour Marks) – After completing their three trials, clansmen are given their first krazkar and are then expected to gain many more throughout their life. The Krazkars are unique tattoos drawn onto an individual’s body by a shaman, each of which symbolises a great feat that the individual has performed; It can range from killing a fearsome foe or beast to saving the clan from a threat. Marak’Torl are given special krazkars when they are elected – a rendition of several huts, located on the inside of both palms, that serve as a constant reminder of the importance of their position. It is not uncommon to see older clansmen covered in krazkars from head to toe, especially if they were warriors.

• The Olenara (The Sending) – The funeral ritual for all clansmen. Their bodies are wrapped in a ceremonial blanket and placed onto a pyre, which is then set aflame. As the body burns, loved ones and comrades can step forth and retell stories of the clansmen’s life. When the body is disintegrated and the ashes are scattered, the deceased’s belongings are divided among their friends and family, and then a feast where more stories can be told is held in their honour. The Ura’Gar believe that burning a body prevents clansmen from being entrapped in the world of the living, and allows them to move freely between the afterlife and the mortal realm. As such, leaving an Ura’Gar’s body intact is considered one of the worst forms of punishment that can be inflicted on a member of the clan, and is typically only reserved for the clan’s worst criminals.

The Marak’Kari

Just as the founders were able to naturally communicate with spirits, so too are some members of the modern Ura’Gar. Though this trait is obviously not unique to the Ura’Gar, in the clan it is considered one of the greatest gifts that a person can receive, and those able to contact the spirits without the use of lengthy rituals are held in high regard by the clan. Depending on applications of their abilities, most become either shamans or warriors, but all are believed to be destined for great things. For this reason, they are called the Marak’Kari (The Founder’s Marked in Common).

Marak’Kari were always rare in the Ura’Gar, but nowadays they are completely non-existent with none being born in at least three decades; Even more shocking, the few Marak’Kai that did still live found their abilities swiftly fading, until eventually their powers were completely gone. To the Ura’Gar, this only further proves that the ancestors are ashamed of them, as none are worthy enough to receive their greatest gift.