The Pitch
The world is on the brink of disaster - food shortages, wars, environmental disaster - and you’re just trying to get by.
Tone and Feel
Adventurous, dramatic, epic, thrilling
Themes
Human ego, ends justify means, societal trauma
Touchstones
Avatar The Last Airbender. A Song of Ice and Fire, The Fifth Season, The Dragon Prince
Overview
Give your players the following information before character creation.
On the war-torn continent of The Meld, the time for solving problems has passed. Once in the not so distant past, people had hope. The engineers of Ravaldia discovered the steam engine, the druids of the North Marshes experimented with innovative ways of growing crops, and the Pact of Martoghast defied death with their healing magic. The old fears of war and scarcity faded.
But the leaders of Ravaldia yearned not for peace, but for power. A decade ago, a violent coup saw the city’s council dispatched and a powerful mage, Yarticus Triconocule, crowned in their place. Soon after, the invasions began. “They hoard the food our citizens need,” Triconocule said of the Marshes. “They withhold aid as political leverage,” he said of the Pact.” And so the banners were called, and the Mage Emperor of Ravaldia began his conquest.
Bloody years of fighting followed that left the land scarred with the calamitous effects of magical warfare. The Marshes burned, the Pact was infiltrated by Ravaldian loyalists and turned into a secret police force. The resistance coalesced around the city of Dark Gulch, where surviving druids of the North Marshes joined forces with exiled nobles and the city’s Thieves’ Guild to make a stand.
With their skills in sabotage, the Gulchers were able to destroy many of the factories of Ravaldia, halting their march across the continent and leaving the opposing forces in a bloody stalemate that lingers to this day. With technology shattered, the environment scorched, and healing magic turned towards destruction, people have lost hope. Food shortages and famine abound, and most people care not who wins the war - they wish only to survive.
Communities
All communities are available, but some have unique aspects within a Witherwild campaign. As needed, provide the following information to your players and choose one or more of the questions to ask them during your session zero.
Highborne
In The Meld, those in power are there for a reason. While the nobility have less power than they once did, thanks to the opportunities some have made from the dire situation the world finds itself in, the consolidated power and wealth of generations is nothing to scoff at.
- How did your family make their wealth? Have you rejected or embraced their core set of ethics?
- You grew up in a world of abundance but were kept from learning something about the world. What was this knowledge and when did you discover it?
- How has your upbringing and resources given you a distinct, material advantage over other people in the world?
Loreborne
Knowledge is the last bastion of hope in The Meld. Researches furiously search for answers to the most pressing questions, field experts comb the land for any way to turn back the tides of despair. And yet resources for Loreborne are running out - increasingly, funds and materials are being diverted to more base forms of problem solving: big sticks and bigger explosions.
- What knowledge did your community teach you that you must now protect or share?
- What ideals have you been forced to give up to access the resources you need to do your work?
- What problems do you feel you have the knowledge to solve, and how do you struggle to put it into practice?
Orderborne
The Orderborne are often the ones marshalling the masses to follow the directives of their leaders. In The Meld, they often take the form of soldiers, priests, and local leaders. Perhaps you were a captain in the Ravaldian military who swiftly rose through the ranks, or the assistant of a Dark Gulch aristocrat who helped oversee some aspect of the resistance.
- What regrets do you carry with you from your conquest of foreign soil?
- What lines are you willing to cross to protect the people you love?
- How do you see the tenets you grew up with being changed or broken as tensions rise?
Slyborne
Slyborne communities are prominent across The Meld, but especially in cities that have been decimated by the Ravaldian invasion. Some, like Tetherford and Cradle Yield, were left in a total power vacuum by the invasion, and especially powerful Slybornes have risen to fill the gap.
- Why is it easier for you go get away with illegal activities now than it was before the invasion?
- Who’s desperation have you taken advantage of to turn a profit?
- How do your activities harm your community, and how do they help it? Do you turn a blind eye to the consequences of your actions, or embrace them whole-heartedly?
Ridgeborne, Seaborne, Underborne, Wildborne
While war has affected nearly everyone on the continent, those who live on the fringes of society have been least impacted. Whether it be a mountain, ocean, or forest, physical barriers have isolated these communities more so than others.
- Life outside your community is not what you expected - how has it surprised you, and how has your upbringing uniquely prepared you to handle its challenges?
- You recently discovered a harrowing truth about the Rivaldians. What threats is your community ignoring that you know spells trouble for you and your loved ones?
- You fled the place of your birth. What circumstances drove you to leave?
Wanderborne
The Wanderborne in The Meld are perhaps the community most aware of how the land has changed in the past decade. Their nomadic lifestyle means they’ve seen many cultures throughout the continent both before and after war ravaged them - and they know how much more dangerous travel has become.
- You used to travel with a companion. Who were they, and how do you remain connected?
- Because of your community’s transience, you have loved ones in both Ravaldia and Dark Gulch. How has this affected your relationship with the invasion?
- How has the growing conflict altered your community’s travels?
Ancestries
Clank
Most clanks in The Meld are the result of Ravaldian innovation and production capabilities, being made of iron and copper, and powered by small internal steam engines. Many of these are designed for warfare or dangerous factory jobs. However, the ability to produce clanks is not limited to just Ravaldia, and many alternate forms exist.
Drakona
A drakona’s breath means significantly lower startup costs for creating a laboratory, and many used to find themselves in research and manufacturing careers. This led to a tendency toward fire breath, though all elemental breaths are present in some capacity.
Elves and Infernis
Being among the elder ancestries, these communities tend to be more rooted, aristocratic, and conservative than others, though this is certainly not a rule. Thus, they are found more often in positions of power in old cities like Dark Gulch and Ravaldia.
Faerie
Due to their connection with nature, faeries have found themselves generally aligned against Ravaldia and its machines. Due to their small stature and ability to fly, however, plenty have taken up jobs as scouts or assassins for all sides of the war. They have communities scattered throughout The Meld, usually adjacent to major population centers but not directly within them.
Firbolg
Due to their muscular stature, firbolgs are often conscripted to fight in wars. Their communities are especially prevalent on the plains surrounding Ravaldia.
Fungril
Fungril make up the ultimate spy network, being able to communicate nearly instantly across any distance. As such, many special languages and codes have been created to aid in espionage.
Galapa
With their tough defensive abilities, galapas are often conscripted to fight in wars. Due to their relatively peaceful character and their connection with nature, they tend to spur the more industrial-focused Ravaldians. Galapas tend to congregate in wet, swampy areas such as the North Marshes.
Giant
Giants tend to be left out of consideration for architecture designed for more populous ancestries. Because of this, their largest communities have ended up being nomadic. They’ve managed to mostly avoid being conscripted into armies, but are still highly sought-after for their strength and prowess in battle.
Goblins and Humans
Goblins and humans are both highly versatile and adaptable ancestries that are found throughout The Meld in large numbers.
Halfling
Halflings tend to be nomadic due to their excellent navigational skills, and are employed as scouts and guides in war.
Ribbet
Because of their dependency on water for their lifecycle, large “nursery” communities of ribbets exist in the North Marshes and near large, still bodies of water. However, many ribbets tend to become solitary after reaching adulthood, and thus can be found throughout The Meld.
Simiah
While the forest is the natural habitat of a simiah, cities make an equally-ideal home for them. Due to their natural climbing abilities, they are often found in construction crews building at perilous heights.
Player Principles
- Make the war personal: Consider how Ravaldia’s invasions in The Meld deeply impact your character. Let these details inform what they want and what they’re willing to do to get it. Everyone has lost a loved one to war or famine, and more are dying by the day. Consider how the growing conflict caused your character to act in ways they aren’t proud of, or transformed personal truths they once believed were unshakable.
- Treat death with importance: Taking a life should not be done without consideration, desperation, and consequences. As your character journeys, they should remember those they’ve lost and those they’ve slain, allowing each death to affect their choices in the future.
- Embrace vulnerability: Find your character’s humanity and showcase it whenever you can. They should be as vulnerable during quiet moments as they are vicious during violent ones, opening up to their allies even if they close themself off to everyone else.
GM Principles
- Offer alternatives to violence: By illuminating nonviolent approaches to problem-solving, the PCs can help break the brutal cycle that binds this world. Give the PCs opportunities to mend old wounds and right past wrongs.
- Create multidimensional allies and adversaries: No adversary or ally is all good or all bad, and they each have multidimensional lives. Even the most congenial ally should be hiding darkness inside them, hoping their failings will go undiscovered. Those painted as evil should sometimes do the right thing, even if it’s for the wrong reason. Just because a PC or NPC is from Ravaldia doesn’t make them a villain, and, conversely, not all the inhabitants of Dark Gulch or the North Marshes are virtuous. Finding the nuance, complications, and deeper motivations of the people of The Meld will lead to richer interactions, more complex moral choices, and a deeper sense of attachment to the world for the players.
Distinctions
Gods and Religion
The line between the mundane and the divine is much more muddled in The Meld than it is in our world. Simply the occurrence of magic poses many difficult philosophical and theological questions. However, gods are not as tangible as they are in 5e - they do not speak directly to people (though some claim they do) and they do not walk among us. Whether they exist is a personal question each person must answer.
If you’d like to add some theology to your character or backstory, please be my guest! What religion or god do you worship and why? How has it affected your character’s view of the world?
Inciting Incident
Your characters will start in Kersh, where they are working for a prominent courier company, Bobart Goods Co. You’ve been working together for some time and know each other well. You’re well-regarded in the company and are among the highest performers - you’re good at what you do. Business has been good, especially because Bobart Co will take contracts from virtually anyone to deliver virtually anything - and the Dark Gulch military needs lots of things to be moved around during wartime.
Your latest contract is to deliver a highly secure cart of goods to a private individual who wishes to remain anonymous. The customer, an extremely wealthy individual, has paid for the highest security and utmost discretion - hence your party being picked for this job. You are to prep the goods for departure and be ready to leave at dawn the next day.