Yon Crusade

Cloth map of Riryka.

Yon Crusade is an RPG about crusading in a fantasy world. And by fantasy, I do not mean flying ships. Players take the role of crusading orders which provisionally contain one hero and some troops.

Yon Crusade: Players
Yon Crusade: Races

Background

Riryka is the greatest continent of the known world. For thousands of years, mortals have warred, traded, and co-existed upon it. It boasts great cities like Aster, seat of the Celestial Faith; Allhime, the venal city-state of continental commerce; Spirea, the mecca of the arcane arts; Belgrnheim, the deepest of the dwarven mountainholds; and many more. The lands of the largest of the realms, the multi-national Aislenbyrg empire also lay on that continent. For thousands of years, things settled into a sort of longterm monotony. Outside the known world however, other things looked hungrily in.

It had been known for ages that in the 23,880th year of the Sidereas Deis calendar, that the stars would be in an unprecedentedly inauspicious alignment for 120 years. Yet, no one knew what exactly would happen. For the mayfly lives of mortals, the date always seemed so far away. By the time the fateful year approached, reputable scholars considered the prophesies of the Dark Time a mere legend. Even the clergy of the Celestial Faith remained unconcerned, convinced that added vigilance and renewed proselytism would suffice.

It began on an autumn night, when hapless adventurers happened upon an ancient crypt and carelessly opened it. The sky for miles around turned pitch black. Vermin, tiny and enormous, gathered in unthinkable numbers. And all across the land, people turned up to see a crimson moon as an ancient being awakened after millennia of torpor. Although vampires and other "people of the night" had coexisted with mortals since the beginning of death itself, the Midnight Queen was far more ancient than any then active. With her vast power, countless lineages and factions unified under her banner, the Pact of Night.

At the same time, with the northern stars of Riryka vanished in ill omen, the fae began flooding into the mortal realm. First came unusually frequent sightings and raids, then major attacks and cults of dreams and insanity. Within a few years, entire hosts of the otherworldly beings were rampaging throughout the north.

Just as the Celestial Temple realized they had two severe problems on their hands the Dragon empire and their hordes of reptilian men roared across the great deserts and impassable mountains from the Deep East, burning and enslaving all in their path.

Seeing a golden opportunity, the demons too, weighed in from the stinking, slimy depths of the Underdark, chiefly via the exceptionally deep mines of Belgrnheim. With their deadly engines of war and malformed yet powerful bodies, they made ruin of the mortal armies of the surface. Cities vanished, kingdoms toppled and entire races went extinct. Within a decade, most of Riryka was conquered.

The survivors, mostly those native to the second continent of Chora, but also millions of refugees, reacted with confusion. Many launched small, disastrous campaigns back at the invaders, which the Celestial Faith termed simply 'Anathema'. Eventually however, all were forced to accept the reality of their control of the mainland; the resources to dislodge them simply did not exist, and the Chorans struggled to feed and settle refugees for the time being.

For a generation, fears abounded that Chora would be next. Yet the expected conquest did not come. Aside from very rare major battles, mortal navies have been sufficient to limit the enemy to piracy and occasional shore raids. In fact, their forces operating from Chora have launched far more raids on the mainland in return. Nort were the Anathema so united in their purpose as previously thought. Their initial invasions were timed by coincidence rather than coordination. Any cooperation they might have had collapse to bare toleration after their first victories and unity within each of the four has deteriorated as well. By the time each had recovered from the not inconsiderable casualties of their invasions on paper, it was clear no quick finish of world conquest was forthcoming. Moreover, the rebellions suffered by the Anathema rulers remain fierce even after a century. Indeed, the crusade would not be possible if it weren't for the fact that the majority of the people would gladly see them as liberators.

Crusade

In Sidereas Deis 23995, an enormous demon armada and huge quantities of their best troops was annihilated at sea by an allied fleet. The victory, the first of such scale in the history of the war, was met with delirium in the capitals of Chora. The Temple quickly took advantage of the high spirits. Within five years, they reminded everyone, the stars would renew their natural order and the war should once again swing in favor of the faithful. The reaction was enthusiastic and instant. Many emboldened kingdoms of Chora began to prepare for the final conflict. Joining them, or funded by them in lieu of their own troops, are you – the hundreds of crusading orders sprung from survivors, descendents of survivors, or plain old zeal with an independent streak. At the end of SD 24000, the Celestial Crusade was called against the Anathema, to drive them off the continent and banish them from the mortal realm.

High King Zog of Sanc was elected to lead the first wave of crusaders – a hundred thousand soldiers, hundreds of ships, and numerous camp followers – over the Parma Sea in the new sidereal year. Starting his crossing early in spring to lengthen the campaign season as much as possible proved ill advised. The same storms that had savaged the demon ships five years earlier now savaged the crusader allies. Nearly a third perished without ever setting foot on Riryka. Then, massed demonic armies almost drove the army right back into the sea from the start. Yet, the mortals rallied at the last moment, and the beach was held. The ensuing campaign was sharp, violent, and merciless. Almost half those that remained were slain fighting the demonic armies to a stalemate. Yet, in the end, the forces of the mortals held the port of Sharom and the surrounding countryside. Thousands more froze or starved over an unexpectedly harsh winter, but the demons too had their rotting corpses revealed by the spring thaw. Suffering along with his men, the aging King Zog perished, leaving the crusade without a clear leader. As the future of the campaign fell into uncertainty, the newly crowned Zog II made a perilous winter crossing back to Chora with a single ship. He presented to a gathered council, soil from Riryka and the skull of a demon general he had slain in battle, working tirelessly to garner support for the next year.

You are among those who have answered this call. The date is now April 20, SD 24001. The last snows melted over a month ago and the early spring rains of northwestern Riryka have begun to recede; the campaign season is starting. You have either just survived a tough winter and spent the last few weeks receiving reinforcements and supplies, or more likely, are only just arriving with your soldiers. Even as you get your units into fighting order however, fell evil musters on the horizon.

Places

Cities

Nafréce

For the past several years, zealots such as yourselves have been mustering in and around the city-state of Nafréce, a fortified port located on the easternmost Choran island of Norida. Now, it is known as the City of Crusaders, with an entire district is dedicated to the chapter houses of the crusading orders, from impromptu gatherings of thugs to some of the best and genuinely good mortal warriors. Heroes, mages, royalty and even kings from all parts of the free world gather together with their arms and soldiers. There alone, all races and banners observe a permanent truce overseen by the Celestial Faith, whose High Temple has also moved there. The prince of Nafréce died under mysterious circumstances just after the declaration of the crusade, casting a shadow beneath the city's veneer of righteousness and forcing even the pious to engage in fierce political intrigue to ensure their necessary interests.

Sharom

Sharom is a city on the west coast of Riryka and for strategic reasons was the Celestial Crusade's first target. The allies now control the devastated remains of the city as well as some of the countryside around it. About half the population has died in the past year but refugees, camp followers, adventurous merchants, and tagalongs have filled its numbers into six figures, including over thirty thousand soldiers at any given time. Life is rough as military priorities must precede all other concerns, but morale isn't bad, all considering. The climate is usually pleasant, though rainy, and last winter was a case of misfortune rather than the norm.

Once a part of a kingdom whose royal line is long extinct, it is currently administered by Zog II as Sovereign of the Royal Crusading Order of Sanc and the tenuous Paramount Leader of the crusade but it is not part of the kingdom of Sanc itself and he sits at the head of a council of important crusade leaders and Choran emissaries as a first among equals. After being stormed last year, its defenses have undergone nonstop repair and improvement and there is a shallow feeling of security even if the border forts that the crusaders hold onto the hinterland were to fall this season.

Aster

Aster is a holy city of the Celestial Faith and the site of the High Temple prior to the Dark Times. It is a place of massive, gleaming stone buildings, opulence, and not too little secular intrigue. Assembling great walls out of the very buildings of the city and pushing themselves beyond physical and creative expectations, the clerics of the faith set aside their differences and led a zealous and spirited defense, resulting in a seven year siege, after which the place was looted, desecrated, burned out and massacred. An enormous pyramid was then constructed out of the stones of the city.

Understandably, the clergy of the Celestial Faith consider Aster the target of the crusade and consider everything else the subject of a longer term reconquista-style war.

Allhime

Allhime was and still is known as venal hive. The largest and most populous city in the world, Allhime existed and thrived upon trades of all kinds and was historically a city-state that submitted to and paid off more militant neighbours in order to retain autonomy. The city extends into the Underdark, which is exceptionally shallow there, and even has a merfolk quarter (whose inhabitants must aggressively and violently keep clean).

The Pact of Night overtook the city bloodlessly and it is now their seat of power.

Belgrnheim

The greatest and deepest of the dwarven mountainholds, Belgrnheim was the starting point and main thrust of the Demonic horde's invasion and is currently their 'surface' command center. The dwarves are thought to have been massacred, with the survivors either fighting a guerilla war in the endless tunnels and mines, or escaped as refugees.

Spirea

Spirea was known as the capital of magic. It was very pretty.

Realms

Underdark

The Underdark exists beneath yet not beneath the surface of Riryka. One cannot enter the Underdark simply by digging downwards wherever he pleases and relatively few entrance zones exist compared to the extent of dwarven and other races' excavations into the crust. If such an entrance exists on Chora, neither the demons nor the dwarves of the continent have yet found it - downward exploration in Chora tends instead to open occasional entrances to the Demersal. As separate planes, the location of these realms is not entirely tied to depth. Where the Demersal interchange is always at a constant depth, the border to the Underdark follows the shape of the crust and is thus shallower near mountains or geological features such as chasms, rifts, or even volcanoes.

The interchange between the two worlds is a gradient rather than a boundary, with increasing changes as one goes deeper. What most mortals know as the Underdark is actually just the shallowest layer, a place where things start getting slimy and moist, and a distinct sort of fauna starts appearing in the increasingly large and common caverns. Dwarves from major mountainholds who supply the mortal world's insatiable desire for mineral wealth visit this layer fairly frequently. It is reasonably safe, predictable, and demons, aside from the odd troll never ventured into it before the invasion. Dwarves view this zone as a valuable resource, the presence of which makes a profitable place to found a mountainhold in the first place. Deep variants of several races even dwell in it as their preferred habitat.

As one goes deeper, things start getting stranger. The stone itself gains a living quality and the caverns seem to have pulse and breath, twisting in confusing ways, making up and down confusing. Underdark fauna gets denser and more dangerous. Only the deep races venture here with any regularity and they must always be on the lookout for trogs and trolls, who are the demonic equivalent of deep races - 'shallow demons' that live exceptionally close to or in Riryka. To most mortals, this place is mere myth.

It is said in deepfolk lore that if one goes deeper yet, the stone begins to bleed burning ichor if struck. Underground rivers run with an frigid silver, flowers of crystal grow and bloom before the eyes, and it is from this pulsating rock-womb that trolls and troglodytes spring.

Most deep excavations or caverns do not lead into the Underdark. Nevertheless, the total number of interchanges into the Underdark is not known and probably fairly numerous and distributed across Riryka, and many are even natural. Thus, while the other Anathema hold onto certain areas or approach the continent from a cardinal direction, the Demon Horde is simultaneously under the whole of the known world, a strategic advantage of concern both the Crusade and rival Anathema. At the same time, these entrances are expected to form natural, sealable bottlenecks.

The two best known and probably largest interchanges are at Belgrnheim and Allhime. Belgrnheim is the largest and deepest of the mountainholds and even extended into the shallow Underdark. With numerous undocumented tunnels and excavations over the millenia, the tunnels there proved both hazardous and a military disaster waiting to happen. Allhime is a human city that also extends into the Underdark and its similarly labyrinthine proved equally attractive. However, the city is presently in the hands of the Pact of Night, who are not known to allow the demons to use the otherwise ideal exit.

Deep East

The route to the Deep East is blocked variously by mountain, desert, sheer distance, and incredibly hostile seas. Some travellers have gone and returned through the ages, telling inconsistent tales of pyramids, cities, and horrible barbarity and bloodshed. No trade or embassy had ever gone that way, so very little is known about them. It is known that humans, goblins, and possibly other races do dwell thataway, but the Deep East is dominated by reptilian races.