Fall of Absalom (Pathfinder RPG, Up to NC:E)

[Myrleena]

Absalom, The City at the Center of the World.  Built on the Isle of Kortos, for over 4000 years has it been the center of civilization, and the city has never fallen to invasion in all that time.  Founded by the Last Azlanti, the god Aroden, the city has also been the site of ascension of four deities that attempted the legendary Test of the Starstone.  But a century ago, on the year that it was prophesied that Aroden would come down from the heavens and take the throne of the Empire of Cheliax, Aroden died without apparent cause or explanation, and the power of prophecy seemed to have been rent asunder.

The wars that followed in the aftermath of Aroden's death were brutal, as Cheliax became dominated by House Thrune, who made pacts with the dark god Asmodeus himself.  This tradition continues to this day, and has been renewed in recent years.  But Cheliax was weakened by several provinces breaking off in order to avoid their dark rule.  To the east, the ancient realm of Taldor eyes Absalom hungrily, wishing to reclaim its glory with the power that Absalom could give them, for their empire once encompassed the entire periphery of the Inner Sea, including Old Cheliax before they were attacked on two fronts.  The decadent and declining empire is still powerful, with legions and ships enough to defend themselves, but it is rotting from within.  The only daughter of the Grand Prince of Taldor has plans to return them to glory, however.

South of Taldor, and the cause of Taldor's fall from glory, is the Satrapy of Qadira, a sub-state of the far off Padishah Empire of Kelesh.  Chafing for war with Taldor, the Satrap Xerbystes II wishes for the glory and wealth that it will bring him, and he waits only for the permission of the Emperor himself to do so.  Osirion to the south of the Isle of Kortos was once the leader of the lands south of the Inner Sea, but the Empire of Kelesh ended the rule of the Pharaohs of Old Osirion over 800 years past.  The Satrapy of Osirion did not stay loyal, however, and the Empire ended up sowing the seeds of its own destruction, when they introduced the faith of Sarenrae to Osirion.  The Cult of the Dawnflower bore fruit when it ended the rule of Kelesh over them just over 100 years past.  A supposed descendant of the Pharaohs ruled, and his grandson, the Ruby Prince Khemet III has been building up his armies, though the purpose for this is unknown.

Two months ago, things went from unstable to disastrous in Absalom, when an infiltrator assassinated ten of the twelve members of the Grand Council, including Lord Gyr, the Primarch of the council, and stole eleven of the twelve cornucopias that give the members their positions, and are capable of pouring out nearly endless amounts of supplies during any siege on Absalom.  This disaster merely preceded the worst of what was to occur.  Next Princess Eutropia assassinated her father, the Grand Prince of Taldor, and took control, promptly sending her fleet toward Absalom with three full legions of soldiers.  The Grand Prince had the title of Primarch in Waiting, and she hoped to take advantage of this to take Absalom for her own.  In response Qadira sent a fleet of its own, but it was slightly behind the forces of Taldor.  Both forces landed about the time that Osirion sent their own forces, backed up by elementals to aid them.  And that was when the impossible happened.

Clerics of Aroden had been hoping that he would return for ages, but hope had been dying over the past century.  And then, on the day that Absalom fell by districts to Taldor, Qadira, and Osirion, the roses of the gardens of Egorian, the capital of Cheliax, turned from black to white.  The roses had turned black with his death, as one of the miracles he had performed was to turn them white to begin with, but this was an omen that Cheliax could not afford to ignore, particularly House Thrune and Asmodeus himself, as the ancient clerics of Aroden began to regain spells once more.  Within days their own expedition was at sea, heading for Absalom to conquer it for Asmodeus and House Thrune, for if they could prevent the return of Aroden, it could only be done in Absalom.

Now Absalom is embattled, with at least five factions battling over the ancient city, and none know whom will win.  But the Starstone shines brightly from the temple where it rests, and the people of Absalom know that no matter what occurs, Absalom will never be the same.



No, this is not in any fashion an official adventure, or events that I think will happen in the game world of Pathfinder.  Basic information on Absalom and the others can be found here.

The game will not be based around a core party.  The game can have a party, but it is up to the players to get together and stay together.  I am setting up the city and all it's myriad problems, and am more than willing to run with individuals on their own or groups trying to eke out their own niche.  The events in the city can be influenced by the PCs, but it will be difficult in most cases.  And even if the characters don't influence them, the situation will change over time.  Also, while sex can be part of the game, it will not be the focus.

I will be running the game using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules, and one can find the reference document here.  I will not create characters for people, and no feats will be allowed out of other D&D rulebooks.  However, there will be a number of house rules.  Other rules may be added later.

A) Items outside of the Core Rules will be approved on a case by case basis.
B) Clerics, Fighters, Paladins, Sorcerers, and Wizards receive 4+Int modifier skill points per level.
C) Without a basic background, I will not approve a character.  Just stats are not enough.  I may give bonuses based off of the character history.
D) Each character receives two Traits out of the free Character Trait document from Paizo.com

Character Creation: Characters must be approved before being played.
Point Buy with 40 points
Character Level 4 or lower
4th Level characters start play with 6000gp worth of equipment, and no item may be worth more than half of this total. 3rd starts with 3000gp, and 2nd with 1000gp
The game will use the Fast experience chart.
HP is maximum for first level, and increased at each level at a rate of 3/4ths of the Hit dice, see below:

d6 = 4.5 (alternating between 4 and 5)
d8 = 6
d10 = 7.5 (alternating between 7 and 8)
d12 = 8

A word of warning, I am hard on characters, and perfectly willing to kill them if they get into the wrong situation.  I run not with rules-as-written, though I run with them for the majority of situations.  I do, however, run with the rules as I perceive them.  I highly dislike metagaming, and am willing to do things differently than the rules say they should work, especially when it makes things make sense to me.  But my one creed is that both player and GM should have fun, and if you have ideas as to how to make things better in game, tell me and I'll see what I can do.  But I make no promises, though I will try.

[indarkestknight]

Will core classes, races, or eventually prestige classes from outside of Core be allowed?

[Myrleena]

Nothing from 3.x for classes, races, or (gods forbid) prestige classes.  Upcoming official Pathfinder books, however will most likely be allowed, but I unfortunately won't have the majority of them.  Races from the Bestiary Preview would be allowed, in most cases.  But you'd better have a really good reason to play a goblin or tengu, though tiefling would be easy enough.

[RubySlippers]

I wouldn't mind playing are there any neutral factions like clerical orders not commited to the fighting doing good works and showing mercy to the commoners. It might be fun being a cleric of Shelyn maybe taking the situation to promote her faith kind of a socially gifted street preacher and trying to get the sides at least to wage the war with some respect. I was thinking a 4th level multiclass might work.

Before I do all the work I just want to see if this is even possible.

[Jeramiahh]

I think you know I'm interested... I'll start mulling character ideas soon.

[Myrleena]

It is possible, though it will be dangerous.  The city is divided between 5 major groups at the moment, and there are other factions as well.  There's Cheliax, Osirion, Qadira, Taldor, and the loyalists, and that's not even taking into account other groups that want to take over.  Demons from the Worldwound, clerics of Aroden, and such are all in on it as well.  And I won't say that the Whispering Tyrant won't show up either.

[Umbral Sanguinus]

Fascinating, I do enjoy the world of Golarion... I may toss my hat into the ring, as well.

So, should we specify one of the major players to be connected to?

[Myrleena]

Any or none.  It's up to you.

[Callie Del Noire]

I wouldn't mind trying out a teifling. :D

[ShamshielDF]

*glances about*  *ponders a bit*  Well...I do have this paladin of Calistria, begging to be played...

[Myrleena]

You know it's approved. *rolls eyes*

And yes, she's doing it inside the rules.

[Transgirlenstein]

GM's girlfriend! GM's girlfriend!!!! *points finger at*


Also, I have a concept for a character..a blacksmith/engineer style character.  Would that be cool?  (fighter with master craftsman)

[Myrleena]

*laughs* Perfectly fine.

Just so everyone knows, our "Paladin of Calistria" will have to post her character sheet just like everyone else, so you'll know how she did it.

[Phaia]

staring my character by postinga  temple description....::

House of the Wasp:

Along a side street in the Ascendant Court district stood the small temple. Rich stone work and soft hued paint marked the tall walls. Inside was a court yard with all manner of statues in various forms of sexual activity for this was the Temple of Calistria. Goddess of lust and revenge, many faces and guises reigned here, her clerics and followers welcomed.
The Order of the Savored Sting was the best courtesan order in the entire city. The ‘ladies’ were smart, sensual and normally very beautiful. They were in demand among those needing a pretty woman on their arm for some function or party… yet all knew not to cross them for their sting was dangerous. What fate the temple will have from the invasion not even Calistria knows.

[Myrleena]

Map of Absalom:


The following is a listing of which districts are controlled by each major faction.  This may change in game.

Cheliax:
Ivy District
Shoreline - City
Westgate
Westerhold - City

Osirion:
Docks
Foreign Quarter
Fort Tempest
Puddles

Qadira:
Dawnfoot - Town
Eastgate
Merchants' Quarter
Precipice Quarter
Starwatch Keep

Taldor:
Ascendant Court
Copperwood - Town
Petal District

Loyalists:
Azlanti Keep
The Coins
Wise Quarter

[Callie Del Noire]

All I got is my core book..the rest of the stuff is in my packout. :(

[Myrleena]

That's why I linked the Wiki.  Besides, what would you need from outside the core book?

[Callie Del Noire]

Not sure what to paly. :D

[Myrleena]

*laughs and shakes her head*  That is entirely up to you.  I just want to point at the first line of the last paragraph of my initial post.  It is true, just ask Shammie.

[ShamshielDF]

*glances at Myr*  She's...sadistic.  Anyone that would have a dozen joyous goblins push a monk into a hole, or start singing as they drag someone off to throw into the glass furnace...

She's evil.  And you'll enjoy it.

[Myrleena]

Umm...those were part of the module...I thought of other incidents, though.

[ShamshielDF]

Yes, but its about how you present it, hun.  And honestly, even long after we finished with the gobbos, you keep singing that bit about "we be goblins, you be FOOD!"

I believe I've lost track of how many horrifying deaths there have been.  Many of them deserved, but...

Okay, most of them.

Okay, so I think maybe Vicky's double death's in one fight may have been a touch overkill.  At least she didn't die a third time.  In spite of trying.

[RubySlippers]

I'm dong an Andoran cleric of Shelyn sent by her government to open a mission to help the people as a neutral faction, while spreading the word of Common Rule among the poor and commoners. Basically if left long enough there could be a new faction a commoner uprising backed by Andoran and which could lead to a legitimate invasion morally called to help oppressed people wanting Common Rule. Freedom can be a powerful idea and you can't easily kill an idea, and you kill my character a LG pacifist cleric of Shelyn you could be facing a martyred figure to add to the fire. And its far better than just invading and puts the Republic at far less risk while likely sticking it to their rivals in one place. And give Andora a powerful holding or ally if successful. But if they are a Republic like the Romans they would need a reason to call for war the popular people would accept.

;D

[Umbral Sanguinus]

I will be making a Chelaxian Sorcerer(ess? Haven't decided), likely Infernal or Arcane bloodline.

[Callie Del Noire]

Since Kyrie the Cleric got the boot, I think I'll make her up as a bard this time.