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Amherth Diaries, Introduction: "Guild Wars"

This is not a videogame spin off, fellow delvers.
The "Amherth" diaries series will be centered on... guess? My "Chronicles of Amherth" campaign!
For those who don't know and will be soon devoured by an hungry undead monkey, Amherth is a dark fantasy setting written with core Labyrinth Lord in mind.



Imagine a post-apocalyptic feel (an apocalypse is what everybody needs to chill out a bit), very grim present with open ended tales. We'll focus on Amalor, which is just a portion of the immersive world. You can find lots of analogies with the real world: the cruel and powerful Xannen Empire which resembles an ancient-roman / mongolian mixed feel with gladiators over three headed dogs lashing slaves... the almighty Kingdom of Tyr, whith castles and knights... the Corrland with a scottish/irish oppression twist. You have everything you need around the vast regions of Amalor...

That's why I've chosen to start somewhere else.

We are in Tradeport, what we may consider the capital city of Guildeland, a huge island filled with city-states which remind the center-european post medieval society assets. We start small, so that the chronicles may expand, even with a multi-POV format, who knows...


What you need to know TODAY is that all of our heroes are locked into this little not-so-calm haven, where guilds silently struggle for power and honorable families take part to horrific plots to grab a bit of extra gold and success.

Most of the things you'll read about are homebrewed stuff, but I try to keep the setting's feel as intact as I can.

The Mood: Guild War!
Imagine families and guilds in constant motion. Tradeport is a busy city and port, where sailors, pirates, politicians and men at arms share bits of this huge and relevant city. Most of the Tradeportians worship the Xannen gods (main pantheon), but the Church of Law and Order (cult of a bizzarre God named Rangeth) gets stronger and stronger, with its dangerous anti-magic ideals (even non magical oriented guilds and groups tend to fear this church, since it seems a bit restrictive for a "happy-hippie-citystate" format).

I created a bunch of guilds to feed my players backgrounds and build up my story (which I won't unveil just because you're my hosts... You'll have to gain the truth!).
I will introduce the characters and their guilds.

- Entertainers Guild (Blueberry/Garrett families): known to be funny and creative, the Entertainers are both directors and artists of huge street shows and theater operas. They host the "Summer's End" festival, which is the "call on adventure" of our story and the recurring event in which all the families and travelers meet in the giant Blueberry estate, ready to drink, vomit, dance and handle some gossip.

Liam Blueberry is a funny Bard. He's the only son of Philip "Woman Legs" Blueberry, one of the most famous dancers in Tradeport's history. He knows that his family tends to hide some illicit activities below their smiles and masks and take advantage of it, preserving its own moral integrity, which is obviously all about being honest and full of women. 



- Informers and Protectors Guild (Greystone sisters): this elven family has lost some "clarity" during the years, as well as most of their men. Lanathiel Greyston is the matron and leads the family along her two sisters: Celemor (red-haired and chubby arcanist) and Garlene (Sword master, unfriendly-sexy elf). The guild lean towards good and bad, trying to fulfil their deeds with quickness and wisdom. They bring important informations from one point to another in between Tradeport and nearby villages. In the meanwhile, the more military focused guildies trained under the iron hand of Garlene work to protect travelers from harm and escort important cargos.

Elowen is an attractive elf, twin of Alowar, a lot more rude and sexy (wtf?). They are continuosly acting one as another, changing their identities at taste... and are involved in a complicated "three-ways love story" where the mysterious boy (that we'll name... uhm... Darrell) seems to have more than one name himself and strikes back against the not-so smarty sisters. Elowen is patient and agile. Too bad she's a bit incapable of handling relationships. 




- Alchemists Guild (Harrow family): Morgan Harrow is a nice man, married with a woman of unknown origins which is ironically called Morgana. They lead the Alchemist Guild with passion and huuuuuge wallets. Alchemy is all about consuming lots of stuff to get back... uhm... smelly stuff, most of the time. But obviously this is not all about material wasting.
The Guild offers lots of services in terms of poultices and brews, trying to serve as an important "info point" about weird matters concerning arcanism and science as well.
Once every 50 years, a girl born into the family shows incredible powers and grows up as a Shaman (in Amherth, all spellcasters are "latents", born with the magic in their veins in other words... Shamans are a weird version of a latent, since is able to channel elemental powers in a different manner).
This weirdness brings up lots of questions about the families experiments, but their smiles and perfect behaviour tend to... dispel any investigation.

Cirice Harrow is the Shaman. Lucky or unlucky, she weilds her unique powers with ease, showing a bit of elitarism in her everyday mannerisms. Her only, bigger brother is called Arthur and serves in the grim Witch Hunters Guild, even if, similarly to her sister, he tends to be a smiley guy in love with parties and cocktails. Weirdness by family default.



- Witch Hunters Guild (no family, lots of Van Helsings): this guild is one of the most weird happenings in Tradeport. On one hand, people likes to have this "special police" on the streets, leading difficult investigations about the "not-so-usual" supernatural events... on the other hands, no one wants their active and smart attention. Trained by elves and mundane masters of the Adventurer's Guild, Witch Hunters defend the unawary from vampires, demons and devils. Too bad none of 'em has been seen around for years. So, most of the time, they follow the call of an old man seeing specters in his garden or the lament of a family which insists about their young girl speaking ancient languages while sleeping.

Gillian The Grim is the unfunniest and... grim Witch Hunter you can imagine. The guild respects him and everybody wants him to be their friend, since his eyes never hide a deep anger that never goes out. No one knows about his past and no one dares to ask.




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These are our main guilds and characters! But other groups lies ahead, like the huge Adventurer's Guild, the Weavers' Guild lead by the ambiguous Torlane Family and more.

As I said above, the "call on adventure" is the Summer's End party at the Blueberry estate (Entertainers Guild). Paul Garret, co-founder of the group and cousin to the house lord, invites almost every soul in Tradeport to this year happening!!!

Usual rules: masks, dancing, best masks and dancers will win the contest! Lots of small games and cruel intrigue in background, as usual.

In this appearently quiet (ahahahahah) event, something lurks in shadows and the chaotic happy hour and the following dinner will soon turn into something unexpected.

This will be told in the Session One recap, pretty soon.


The adventure begins.


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