Player’s Knowledge #
Description & Ambiance: The capital city of Pewenford, with its symmetrical architectural style, rises up from the surrounding hills and rolling fields. Roads have an almost unnatural quiet sense of order, where everyone appears busy and focused. You won’t find much crime or mess here, but you also won’t hear any laughter, which makes the whole place feel like a machine that forgot how to be a home.
Government & Public Law: The nation is officially run by a king and a council but the real power comes from the Decree of Designation which maps out everyone’s future. Every child is forced into a permanent job path on their thirteenth birthday based on a state test that doesn’t care about what they actually want for themselves. If someone tries to fight the assignment they are treated like a criminal and kicked out of normal society until they have nothing left.
Exports & Reputation: The kingdom is famous around the world for its golden crops and heavy ores that come from a land managed with strict and almost scary precision. Every person is assigned a specific job based on a rigid system where the state decides who works the fields and who hits the hammer in the forge. This unwavering belief in order makes them widely respected by their neighbors though most people are a little afraid of how clinical and organized they have become.
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.”
DM’s Lore #
Formal Name: Aldenwych
Type & Rank: Technocratic Oligarchy, Major Regional Power
Population: 394,477
Language/Name influences: Old English, Germanic, Latin
Synopsis: This primarily human nation outwardly projects an ordered and controlled demeanor by maintaining a strictly enforced career placement system. However in the shadows, the entire system is rigged to benefit the wealthy and well connected.
True History & Key Dates:
9,678 BR: Gronndal Stonebeard led the earliest settlers to this idyllic river valley after growing disagreements in the direction of their previous homeland, Drakenden.
7,370 BR: With a growing population came the need for more structure to settle disputes, manage land and control the trade of resources. The scattered tribes united under a single banner of Hereward Ironhand who was crowned the first Dalsrik of the fledgling nation of Dalsgaard, a name that meant Valley Kingdom.
2,168 BR: Over time the descendants of the Ironhand bloodline became lazy and incompetent resulting in constant internal power struggles, often as a result of the changing moods of the Dalsrik. Tired of poor leadership, a group of noble families overthrew the last Dalsrik in a silent takeover known today as The Silvering of the Crown. They would establish The Council of Nine Spires and form a new nation called Adelwick, meaning Noble Village.
574 AR: The grass was no greener under nobility control however, as the constant political maneuvering continued. The wealthy grew more powerful and the common folk were at their mercy. The house of cards collapsed under the weight of widespread famine after several years of bad harvests. The Council of Nine Spires was too busy trying to protect their own interests as those who could, fled to neighboring nations and those who couldn’t, died in large numbers.
575 AR: It wasn’t long before the leadership was ousted and the new government of Aldaric was born under the rule of a single monarch, overseen by an elected council. They would go on to create a specialized emergency unit called The Auria, with far-reaching control to bring order to the chaos. One of their most successful orders was the Decree of Designation, where they would fill critical positions using a mandatory career assessment.
3,211 AR: As is so often the case, power corrupts, and The Auria was no exception. They would begin to slowly and methodically usurp governmental authority until they were the real power hidden behind the mask of the monarch and his council. The Auria completed its long and silent coup, officially changing the nation’s name to Aldenwych. The Decree of Designation was expanded to all and is now fully cemented as part of everyday life.
Internal Conflicts & Secrets:
The Astramentis Secret: The Auria discovered a rare plant that when properly brewed will sharpen the mind to almost inhuman levels. They’ve taken to cultivating this herb at a highly secret facility called the Noesis Grove and have been using it to influence the outcomes of the career placement assessments for their friends, families and allies.
Population Control: After the famine and the resulting establishment of the career placement assessments, The Auria learned the value of controlling the populace through this social engineering tool. They have exploited every lever available to them to make sure dissent is crushed and their favored are elevated to desirable positions.
Shadow Cabinet: While the nation presents themselves as a monarchy with all the pomp and circumstance surrounding that, the real power lies with The Auria. They carved away any power the king had long ago and he functions more as a puppet on a string than an actual leader.
Key NPCs & Power Structure:
Coming soon
Economy & Military Might:
Economy: As a regional agrarian power situated in a particularly fertile river valley, they export many crops and food products. Their largest advantage is through the forced manipulation of the nations workforce using the Decree of Designation assessments.
Military: They maintain a moderately sized standing army whose focus is in internal security. The military and the civil guard are tightly controlled and managed by Auria-placed personnel to continue their grip on power and to quell any resistance.
Adventure Hooks:
After receiving his Decree of Designation as a Waste Management Technician, a student with a keen mind for invention and engineering claims his assessment was tampered with as a result of his father being a known critic of The Auria’s efficiency protocols. He hires the party to break into the Ministry of Designation to investigate his records. During the heist, the party discovers that the original testing document showed he received high marks but the test results he received were dramatically different.
Exploration: An eccentric historian tells the party he’s recently seen strange activity around the entrance of an ancient vault. He believes someone from the government may be up to something nefarious since this vault dates back to before The Silvering of the Crown and was understood to be empty. As the party descends into the depths of the vault they realize a team of agents of The Auria are hunting them.
Intrigue: A rogue member of The Auria has approached the party with a request for assistance but he’s being very evasive regarding any details when questioned. He only explains that there is a large government secured greenhouse to the north of Pewenford called the Noesis Grove, near Mirror of the Sky lake, and the crops have been overrun by a mysterious blight. He asks the party to help by meeting a world renowned mycologist and then smuggle him into the facility to try to learn how to heal the damage or there could be a real risk of civil war.