DoN

Defense of Nations is a fantasy-themed Strands of Fate game where players come up with a race or culture, and the PCs act as representatives of their culture in mounting a defense against an encroaching evil that threatens the land. Started by Twobirds, currently Valhawk, Mors Ratta, Mile'ohana, DiscipleoftheClaw, Melted Canary, and aldantefax have expressed interest.

Introduction

Keilan

The mages tell us that the world was only water and sky, and the lands rose from the waters to dry themselves in the sunlight, and brought with them the plants and animals, which learned to live outside the water.

The mages are good at telling us things that are of no use.

Men used to run on all fours, naked and helpless, but the spirits came down from the clouds and taught them to walk upright, how to make clothes, how to hunt and how to farm. But the spirits had their own agenda, and demanded obedience and worship. We of Keilan refused, masters of own destiny. Our city grew walls, and the spirit-worshippers in the wilds grew jealous. Still we grew, while they wallowed in anger and barbarism. When they attacked, many battles were fought, and our young nation was tested. But we struck out at them, at the Stag-King, the Bear-king, and the Hawk-king. As they fell, the tribes cracked, their shards flying all over the land. It was then that the people of Keilan knew their destiny...

"Hard to believe I wrote that nigh on eight years ago. Should have known the Judges wouldn't like it, particularly that bit about the mages. They've got their propaganda machine, and an old soldier like me isn't going to offer anything to the faded remains of that empire. It's been centuries since Keilan was at its peak, and it's only recently that I've come to realize it's nothing but a shell. The world is changing, and somehow, Keilan doesn't realize that..."

The tribes

"I saw war on the northern tundra, and in the southern jungles. The tribal hordes are mad no matter what land you're in, full of anger and magic. This isn't the cultured rituals of the towers in Baihon, this is raw and ancient. I have seen them whip a campfire into an inferno, and overturn our boats like leaves. Their shamans work with their warriors, bringing the spirits of the animals into them like wine into a glass.

For all their rage, they are disjointed and lost. The ones willing to speak to me mourn for their world today, talking about the history that has been lost, the hundreds (and I did listen to them all, for fear I would anger them) of nearly forgotten tribes. They live in rude huts and know little craft. Many have left to join Keilan or one of the other growing cultures. I think it will be a sad day when they pass from the world, but I don't have any doubt they would prefer to return from the grave to murder any outsiders who came to the funeral."

The Wolf-bloods

"The proximity of the Wolf-Bloods made my next visit an easy selection. We had known of them for some time, though much of it is heresy and rumor. Skirmishes had been fought, particularly during the great war, with the Wolfmen of the Heartwood, as some of us called them. For a long time they were legends, slaughtering squads before we could even mount a defense.

As I found myself among them, I felt suspicion as thick as soup, though I was tolerated once I made my intentions clear. They let me keep my weapons, but I doubt I could even draw my sword before I would be struck down. It took time, but they spoke to me of their history. They were part of the tribes at one time, perhaps thousands of years ago. The Five Wolves came among their ancestors, and... changed them, somehow. To my mind, they were powerful spirits, but they are clearly very particular spirits, and there have long been rumors that they involved themselves in battles alongside their children, and distant Keilan cities often report ridiculous things like the presence of one of the Five, racing through farmfields or disrupting soldier's training operations.

Years ago I would have dismissed these comments as rumor, but here among the wolf-bloods, understanding their respect and not worship for these ideals, I almost hope myself that such sightings are real and hope that I may see them myself someday.

I was tempted to see their way of life as similar to the tribes, but the similarities are almost superficial. They may live meagerly, with little technology or even written language, but what has impressed me most is their capability of treating their spoken words as sacred. Every word is carefully selected when spoken, and treated with respect by others, even in simple matters. Imagine if every man treated his word as bond! Many call the wolf-bloods savage and mere beasts, but they have a grace my own culture lacks.

My time here has been short, but worthwhile. I must move on. And not simply because I have been requested, thanks to my particular human stink."

The Lords

“My next stop too me to Calm Dominion, a Lord city on the shores of the great Monut Bay. I knew everything I had been taught as a child, that the Lords were magicians or vampires or both. It had become clear to most that none of this made sense, that the Lords had their own particular magic that was unique in all the world. The various cities and realms I knew of were many and varied, and not the nests of evils they were made out to be. Some I was not welcome in, others seemed too odd to accept and spend much time in. Calm Dominion is at least similar to others I have visited - the people are happy, there is order perhaps to an extreme, and there is one person who leads.

It did not take long to learn the simple truth, and most of my fellow Keilan citizens have guessed - the Lords have been a rising star for many hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, their uncommon births considered curses by some, then later recognized for what they were. They have power over the minds of men, opening another man’s life as if opening a book and rewriting what he found there. I find the prospect frightening, and perhaps some of their cities deserve my suspicion, but here in Calm Dominion there is little crime, and no waste. And can I blame this city’s lord for desiring his citizens to believe in his rule, when my own country expends so much effort in propaganda and carefully constructed lies to its people?

I hear some of the citizens speak of Basajuan, he who has somehow come to rule many of the Lords, not something easily understood. The Lords fought bitterly amongst themselves for a long time, until a Council tempered their ambition and organized the cities that were growing. It ruled for many centuries, but this was still an agreement between equals. Basajuan’s control over Lords - his Yeomen - is unique in their history, and he has clearly disrupted the order of things.

I have received an invitation to visit the Lord of Calm Dominion. I think I will slip out the window of the inn tonight, the forest is calling to me again."

The Songweavers

“My great-great-grandfather also came to these river deltas, and the plateaus above them - he was here as a soldier, attacking rebels and ‘dissidents.’ I’ve heard many stories, all of them a lie stretched so tightly over the truth that you could see right through them.

The revolution that likely dealt the death blow to Keilan was started here, by Seikan and his allies. He was the first leader to see through the lies of my Empire, having ventured into the arms of barbarians and found truth instead of death. He spread this to the people, and the ideas quickly spread. Cities began to fall to their philosophy, many simply overturned by the rebels inside the city itself. By the time the other cities realized what was going on, half the Kingdom had already fallen. Trying to fight such an uprising was impossible, the allies Seikan had found made for a deadly and passionate opposition, made all the worse by the poor peasants all to happy to join a society where they were treated fairly instead of as slaves.

Today, the Songweavers live in the remains of the old cities, overgrown with weeds, crops growing in parks, communal stores filling vacated palace chambers. They do not shun technology as the rest of the tribes do, but to me, they do not grasp at it without understanding it first. They may take advantage of it, but carefully, and with an understanding of what it means. They treat people similarly, and one’s nature is described during their growth with stories and poems, mirrored with the wild world and its elements.

I had the pleasure of attending one of their story-telling rituals, which was far more complicated than I had anticipated. In the light and smoke of the bonfire, dancing clouds and flames told the story of the city they had taken residence in, when it had been founded, the people who lived there, and the people who had died in the battle. All this for the refugees of a neighboring tribe that might join them.