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Aldenwych

DM’s Lore #

  • Formal Name: Aldenwych

  • Type & Rank: Technocratic Oligarchy, Major Regional Power

  • Population: 394,477

  • Language/Name influences: Old English, Germanic, Latin

  • Synopsis: A seemingly stable, meritocratic state secretly ruled by a committee that maintains control through a mandatory, rigged career placement system.

  • True History & Key Dates:

    • 9,678 BR: Gronndal Stonebeard leads the first settlers from Drakenden.

    • 7,370 BR: Hereward Ironhand establishes the monarchy, founding the “Valley Kingdom,” Dalsgaard.

    • 2,168 BR: The Silvering of the Crown: Noble families overthrow the monarchy, establishing the oligarchy of Adelwick, ruled by The Council of Nine Spires.

    • 574 AR: Economic collapse and famine destroys Adelwick’s social order.

    • 575 AR: Founding of Aldaric; The Auria is established as a temporary emergency unit.

    • 3,211 AR: The Auria completes its silent coup, officially changing the nation’s name to Aldenwych. The Decree of Designation, a mandatory career assessment, is now fully cemented.

  • Internal Conflicts & Secrets:

    • The Astramentis Secret: The Auria maintains its hidden intellectual edge by consuming Astramentis tea, a powerful mind-sharpening herb grown in the secret Noesis Grove. They use this advantage to subtly manipulate the Decree of Designation results and keep their favored families/agents in power.

    • The Rigged Meritocracy: The entire system of “objective” career placement is secretly corrupted and used as a tool of social engineering to lock out dissenters and elevate The Auria’s associates.

    • The Council is a Farce: The monarch and the elected council are mere figureheads; all real power rests with The Auria.

  • Key NPCs & Power Structure:

    • Coming soon

  • Economy & Military Might:

    • Economy: A highly efficient, state-controlled, planned economy driven by the rigorous allocation of labor through The Decree of Designation. Wealth is generated through specialized, high-quality manufacturing and intellectual property. The true source of power is the total control over the human capital of the nation.

    • Military: Moderate professional standing army, highly disciplined, but not focused on large-scale conquest. Their strength is in internal security; the military and the civil guard are completely infiltrated and managed by Auria-placed personnel.

  • Adventure Hooks:

    1. A desperate young inventor has been designated as a Waste Management Technician despite scoring top marks in mechanical theory. He claims his assessment was tampered with because his father was a known critic of The Auria’s efficiency protocols. He hires the party to break into the Ministry of Designation to swap his digital record with the son of a high-ranking official. During the heist, the party discovers that the testing machines are manually overridden by agents of The Auria.

    2. Exploration: An eccentric historian believes that the ruins of the old monarchy’s palace, buried beneath the modern capital’s foundations, contains a primal seed from before the Silvering of the Crown. The party is commissioned to delve into the dangerous, steam-pipe-filled undercity to find the Vault of Hereward Ironhand. However, they aren’t just fighting monsters; they are being hunted by a specialized Recalibration Squad of The Auria, who fear the vault contains detailed information about the Noesis Grove.

    3. Intrigue: The secret Noesis Grove has been struck by a mysterious fungal blight, and the supply of Astramentis tea is dwindling. Without their mind-sharpening brew, members of The Auria are beginning to lose their intellectual edge, leading to erratic government decrees and visible cracks in the  perfect social order. A rogue member of the ruling committee, fearing the people learning the truth, secretly hires the party to smuggle a legendary mycologist into the country to heal the grove while trying to downplay its importance.

Player’s Knowledge #

  • Description & Ambiance: Cities are masterpieces of uniform architecture and perfectly maintained infrastructure, where every road is clear and every service efficient. Travelers experience a sense of quiet, stifling orderliness where everyone remains busy and focused. While there is a distinct lack of petty crime or street chaos, there is also a lack of spontaneous joy; the vibe is one of efficient, cold competence.

  • Government & Public Law: Formally a constitutional monarchy, the nation is ruled by a benevolent Monarch alongside an elected council representing the people’s will. However, life is dictated by the Decree of Designation: at age 13, every citizen is assigned a lifelong career path based on a state-run assessment. Refusal to follow this Decree results in social exclusion and severe criminal penalties.

  • Exports & Reputation: Famous globally for precision-crafted goods, highly refined alloys, and revolutionary academic theories. They are widely respected, if a little feared, for their hyper-organized, almost clinical society and their unwavering belief in a rigid, state-defined meritocracy.

  • Rumors & Folklore (Unverified): Specific, repeatable rumors heard in taverns.

    • “They say you can tell what a person’s job is just by the way they dress, down to the color of their laces. It’s all part of the big plan.”

    • “Old Man Elam’s son, the one who was supposed to be a stonemason, went completely mad trying to be a poet. The Decree always knows best, or so they say.”

    • “I heard The Auria are not men at all, but highly advanced automatons built by the first Dalsrik king to run the world perfectly. That’s why they never make a mistake.”

Nation