Let’s introduce a little Chaos

Any good setting has some ongoing conflict that shape what is going on in the world and how people are responding to various situations and enncounters. More than anything else, this is what makes adventures feel different and not like they could be happening exactly the same way in any other generic setting as well. And in that case, what would be the point of making a new world?

I have come up with three sources of conflict that are currently putting pressure on the people and are causing disruptions of the expected status quo.

Deer People Migration

200 years ago one of the Wood People cities was abandoned and fell into ruin, the remaining people of the realm resettling in the lands of other wood people cities or continuing a meager life in poverty by joining the Deer People clans that have been roaming the eastern lands for many generations. But eventually the Eldritch Wilds that had crushed the city spread to the hunting grounds of the Deer People as well, leading to many of the clans to go searching for new lands to live on. One large group migrated south and crossed the mountains of the Stone People into the lands of the Ash People, where many of them swore allegiance to the great cities to serve them as mercenary cavalry. Other groups took their herds west into the lands of the Woood People and Snow People. This inevitably put them into conflict with the local farmers and the lords of the cities are not happpy about the presence of foreign armies near their lands either. The Stone People are also weary about the increased presence of foreigners grazing their herds on the lower slopes of their mountains.

Ash People Rivalry

50 years ago, the Fire Mystics of the City of the Sun had a fierce power strugle with the sorcerers of their city and eventually turned to the Sorcerer Lords from the City of Sorcerers to recruit them as allies to crush their common rivals. The Sorcerer Lords were looking forward to destroying their rivals, looting their libraries, and absorbing the survivors into their own ranks, but when the conflict broke out into open violence the Fire Mystics went way overboard, causing the Sorcerer Lords to abandon their entire support of the power struggle. By the end of the year the City of the Sun was only burned out ruins and the Sorcerer Lords did end up absorbing most of the surviving sorcerers who brought many of their arcane secrets with them. The suvivors of the Fire Mystics went to the City of Flames where they continued to gather support from the local fire temples against the treacherous sorcerers. While the Fire Mystics are not in charge of the City of Flames, its relationship with the City of Sorcerers has been worsening for decades and both are constantly looking for opportunities to harm each other’s trade and alliances.

Moon Knight Settlement

The arrivial of the Deer People in the north put some considerable pressure on many of the outlying towns and large numbers of the poor farmers have packed up their things to seek better lives to the west. The Moon Knights, seeing themselves as protectors of the weak and the poor, saw it both as their duty and as a great opportunity to take charge of an organized settlement of the Northern Penniinsula, which so far had been almost entirely uninhabited. Almost. The Snow People to the east and the Ash People fishing colony on the Northern Islands are not very pleased about a new rival appearing in the region who is making attempts to get into their very profitable business of trading pelts and cod. But much more worrisome to them is that the Moon Knights are making a concentrated effort to push the Fog People north and stirring up the clans that have never been good neighbours even at the best of times. The Ash People fear a disruption of trade along the western coast, while the Snow People are seriously worried about an increase in raids by Fog People into their lands. The Moon Knights know very well that they are not welcome and that most powers in the region greatly wish to see their attempts to establish a new realm fail. Because of this they are seeking trade agreements and alliances with the Wood People in the east and the Ash People of the south. To many of the Snow People they are still seen as heroes protecting them from monsters and witches, but the highborn families see them as a major threat and have the support of most of the Moon Mystics.

All the various mysic and occult orders are existing on top of this political environment. Many of them are deeply involved in the politics of the great cities, which adds a great degree of importance to their efforts to keep magical knowledge out of the hands of the other faction and claiming it for themselves.

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