INTRO to THE SWORD MARCHES SETTING
Greetings Marchers! This is the first official TSM ICRPG article for players and Sword Masters who are interested in the development of this World Book which is fully compatible with Index Card RPG by Runehammer.
I am your guard and guide, Jagger Kilmane, Father of Sorrows. Fear not for your safety as you tour the Marches and space beyond, as my Fighting Company the Growling Griffons are close at hand to your defense!
Where should we begin? Perhaps a brief history of the dark times between the Fracture caused by the Grand Viziers, three alien wizards from the Desparan Realm, through the madness and chaos and up to present day? Good idea!
The impetus that moved the Grand Viziers to flee their home dimension is a lost Secret of the Ages. When they combined their magicks to open a small portal, they suffered from an overload of mystical energies which overwhelmed them and cracked open the Fracture which crashed into the Realms of Chimera and Arkantis, forming in the central vortex a pocket of space time known as The Sword Marches. Named from the necessity of each man, woman, and able child to wield a weapon in defense from the mutants and monsters that wander the lands as they venture forth from the great ovoid barrier known as the Madlands. In the first years after the Fracture, wars broke out from all over the land, hence providing another reason for the moniker.
After 123 years of conflict, the Realm has mostly stabilized from a social and historical level. However, weird fluctuations in Space and Time still exist, particularly were there is a lack of collective Will harnessing the forces of the Void to manifest Reality as the majority of sophonts see it. At least, that’s the mumbo jumbo my dear friend Gheddakuur Darklock spews forth when drinking…
Dominant Peoples of the Marches
You are, by now, wondering which intelligent people dominate the world as we know it. As you can see by merely looking around, Humans rule most of the Fortress-Towns and City-States as their home Realm of Arkantis had no other dominant contenders. Their Realm had no Magic or Psience to channel otherworldly forces, and instead they became most expert at the proliferation of Alchemy and other feats of engineering and budding science. As the three Realms intertwined during the Fracture, Humans were dispersed throughout the land to such a high degree that they usually out populate all other intelligent races in whichever region they live. And they also breed at a high rate, so much so that many other species fear that if they ever united, they could crush the life out of the Realm and make it over in their image. But most of us know that the odds of Humans agreeing upon anything for a length of time is nigh impossible…
The Realm of Chimera was one of primal magic and ancient majesty. Juxtaposed between the Fae Wold and the Grae Well, this land was one of harmony and enlightenment. Well, for the most part. The Fae’dred got their name from their fiercely capricious and violent temperament, as well as their fickle and fae impulsiveness. Physically manifesting in a variety of ways, these folk were in a spiritual war with The Hewn who came from the Grae Well that siphoned off the excess Fae energy bled into the cosmos, so the world would not become a swirling vortex of vibrant chaos and sylvan lust.
The Hewn were cut from the very Stones of Creation that form the Grae Well which acts as the magical energy sink described above. Thought to be taciturn and gruff by Fae’dred standards, the Hewn of old were masterful Elementalists, and many of the greatest edifices and Under Castles were shaped by these masters before those secrets were lost over time. Some modern Hewn are gifted with being Stoneborn, descendants of the Founders who were literally rock made flesh. The Hewn see themselves as protectors of the Great Elemental Temple which balances the forces of Nature and the Elements in the Cosmic Eye. Hence, mirth and humor are of little import in their grim and determined mindset to be the force of balance and measured response.
Misery and ruin are the hallmarks of the Realm of Despaira. The Cosmic Horrors and dread environment shape the inhabitants of this land into hardened survivors or tainted victims of madness and peril. Only two such peoples were able to carve out a semblance of stability, prosperity, and culture: the Hur’kaan and the Khuur’zai. Unlike the other inhabitants of the merged Realms, these two species became allies through their joint war for freedom from the Cephalon Overlords and K’thonean masters of the Abyss. Each had been enslaved by their respective foes, until one period of desperate cooperation led to their mutual freedom and proliferation as the dominant inhabitants of this dread Realm. The Hur’kaan hunt K’thonean monstrosities in the Marches wherever they find them, while the Khuur’zai pursue the vile insidiousness of the Cephalon menace which spreads its tendrils through the weak-minded herds of Mankind.
As your resident Hur’kaan, I can tell you that the old alliances forged in Despaira have little weight in this strange new world in which we live and die. But, to wit, remember what we say in the Griffons…the only Good Fish is a DEAD fish…
So, there you are, a brief albeit un-scholarly lesson in the major players of the Marches by way of species. When you’ve had time to digest that, we can ask Gheddakuur for a more illuminated story of the forces and factions that control the lands and peoples of the Marches. Now, I’m hungry for some fish…
