Yon Crusade
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.
Background
Riryka, the greatest continent of the known world. For thousands of years, mortals have warred, traded, and co-existed upon it. It boasted great cities like Aster, seat of the Celestial Faith, the religion which commands half of all mortal souls; Allhime, the venal city-state of continental commerce; Spirea, the mecca of the arcane arts; Belgrnheim, the deepest of the dwarven mountainholds; and 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, 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 the 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 stars that guarded the gates to Riryka dimmed in ill omen, the fae began flooding into the mortal realm. First came unusually frequent sightings and raids, then 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 monstrously powerful true dragons 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, the last 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 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. Bound by the primordial gods, the fae cannot cross the sea at all, though for thousands of mortal sailors, the loopholes of the geas are obvious only in hindsight. The demons, native to stinking caverns and tunnels, started off distinctly unskilled at naval warfare, while the Dragon Empire was on the wrong side of the continent. 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.
The Pact of Night's corsairs also rove the seas in strength, yet the mortals are hardly their only, or even preferred targets, for the Anathema are hardly united either. 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.
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 the 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.