Maelstrom Rules - Campaign Overview

Key Concepts
There is a short overview of the campaign below. There is additional campaign material supplied with the rule book to support the campaign. You may assume that your character knows as much or as little of this information as you wish.

History
The campaign is set in the world of the Maelstrom, a strange swirling cloud of magical energies which splits the world in two. For millennia, the Maelstrom has been impassable, those who have attempted to cross it have never returned and many myths have grown up to explain it. Some even believed that the Maelstrom is the entrance to hell itself.

The Known World represents all the lands that lie north of the Maelstrom, lands that are well known and well mapped and are occupied by powerful nations. These nations have a long history of warfare and there is little love lost between any of them.

Such little trust now remains between the nations of the Known World that direct trade between them is almost impossible. As a result, trading houses have emerged to fill the gap. These mercantile houses observe the appearance of neutrality, allowing them to conduct trade with all nations.

The one thing that unites the nations of the Known World is belief in the deities. There are five deities that are worshipped in the Known World, although their names differ in some lands. The priests of a deity can wield tremendous power and influence, especially if their faith is popular amongst the inhabitants of their land.

Not all five deities are universally accepted in every land and it is not unknown for the priests of a given faith to be persecuted in some places. Such instances are rare though, as those who show the most devotion and piety may receive blessings and miracles from the deity that they serve.

For many years, little has changed significantly in the Known World. Wars have come and gone and the borders have moved but no new nations have arisen and none have been lost to war and famine.

A decade ago, the eidolons appeared in great numbers in the Known World. They warned of demons, fallen eidolons, that had escaped from the Maelstrom and were seeking to claim mortal souls. At the same time, new discoveries, most notably darkpowder, were made. And there were rumours everywhere that something had happened to the Maelstrom.

Slowly, tales emerged of a passage in the Maelstrom, of a navigable path that led to another world beyond the ancient barrier. Ships filled with brave and ambitious men set sail to search for this New World. There were many detractors who scorned the sailors’ quest, claiming that they were doomed to a terrible death on a fool's errand. Some priests decried the sailor's ambition as heresy, claiming that the deities would destroy anyone foolish enough to seek a way into hell.

Searching for a route through the Maelstrom proved as deadly as their detractors had claimed and many ships never returned. Finally, a narrow defile, a passage barely a mile across was found. On the other side lay the New World.

The sailors discovered a land which surpassed all expectations. A great continent stretched out before them filled with tribes of strange beings that worshiped new deities. They spoke the tongue of mortal beings but they had the faces of snakes and insects.

The land that they found was rich with great wealth in gold and strange crops grew on open ground. It was clear that this land was abundant and fertile and offered countless opportunities to those with the power to claim them.

But the most extraordinary discovery of all was magic. They found that the land was filled with a strange power, a power that could be wielded to heal the wounded but also to poison the healthy. The natives claimed that this magic had arrived with the sailors and that they had no knowledge of it.

People began to study this new power and they discovered the different types of magic that existed. Alchemy, necromancy, sorcery, talismancy and theurgy were all identified. People begun to wonder what limits this new power might have. Magical crystals, powders and talismans were shipped back to the Known World for study and use but the most curious set sail to the New World to examine magic at its source.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.