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Author Topic: Dark Albion: the Origin Thread  (Read 99208 times)

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #30 on: July 04, 2011, 12:15:51 AM »
Quote from: baduin;466473
Scotland would be interesting as a barbarian kingdom. It could be a dangerous military adversary of England, when the King manages to unite all the clans, and at the same time a lawless adventuring ground. There is a long tradition of such descriptions - eg Walter Scott.

You have outright primitive Celtic barbarians - Highland Clans, half-civilized treacherous bandits - Border Clans, and in the middle most civilised Lowland Scots - the source of the power of the king - but the rural areas are still ruled by mostly lawless lords and knights. In cities there is a certain tendency to heresy, religious enthusiasm and witch-burning. Highland Clans are nearly Pagan.


Yes, that sounds quite good.  Of course, Scots Land wouldn't always have a "king", other than "the guy who would be king if any of the clans besides his own paid any fucking attention to him".  Its only every two or three generations that a guy comes along with sufficient personal charisma, power, or luck to be able to really gain some power over the imposing Clan chiefs.

Quote
Picts should be based on Machen and Robert Howard (Worms of the Earth). They used to be a barbarian tribe worshipping Chaos gods (as in Howard's Conan stories), but the sorcery and Chaos worship caused them to degenerate.


The Tcho-Tcho are my direct influence for the Picts, in fact.

Quote

Kings of Scotland have some kind of pact with them and occasionally use them in war, but try not to do this too often or to be too obvious about it - Chaos worship is not that popular amongst their (other) subject, esp. the witch-burners of cities.


I would not see that as appropriate; to me, the actual Scots are barbarians, and mostly pagans, tending toward a neutral alignment, but basically good.  The picts, on the other hand, are purely entropic; and the Scots fear and despise them.  One of the factors that has really prevented the Scots from being able to really put an effort into breaking Hadrian's Wall and doing much more serious warfare with Albion is their long-term conflict with the Picts.

This, I think, makes for an interesting plot device; the Scots Men can be a serious threat for a long period of time in a campaign, only to have a sudden Pict threat (possibly involving the summoning up of some horrific supernatural evil) giving cause for an alliance between Anglemen and Scots, however temporary.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #31 on: July 04, 2011, 12:22:57 AM »
Quote from: S'mon;466475
Is there a reason for having Ulster rather than Dublin region as the centre of Albion settlement in Ireland?  Historically Ulster was a centre of resistance to English expansion, which is why the English/British sent the lowland Scots and other planters in there in the 17th century, to replace a particularly bloody minded bunch of Irishmen with closely related but Protestant settlers.  If you look at a map of the British Isles, Ulster is not an obvious place for England to *start* colonisation of Ireland.


You'll note that the place where I try to be the most historical is England/Albion itself, and radiating away from that epicenter it all becomes vastly  more fantastical or ahistorical.
In the case of Eire, the thing that pushed me toward Ulster was simple: most people who aren't historians tend to think that north=english allies and south=fiercely independent.  But there's one other more important detail that absolutely sealed the deal in my mind when thinking up where in Eire should be the Anglish power-base:  Richard of  York's second title is Earl Of Ulster.  At what would be the starting point of this campaign, he would also be just returning from a very successful period of several years in Eire, governing the place in the name of the Mad King (though in fact, sent there as a political maneuver by Queen Margaret to try to keep him away from power and prevent him from being able to qualify for other far more profitable offices).

The Pale in the actual time in history this setting imitates was mostly a pretty pathetic place; the Earldom of Ulster a century and a half or so earlier was a far more interesting one; with English nobles trying to hold onto control there by the skin of their teeth in the face of seriously aggressive locals.  So for that part of the setting I dipped backwards into the past.  Just like I dipped forward into the future for the term "Star Chamber" (and misapplied it) because it just sounds much cooler for the name of the King's personal cabinet of advisors than the "Privy Council".

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #32 on: July 04, 2011, 11:58:52 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;466236
Not recognizable enough, except to historians or Pendragon players.

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I guess "Chavistan" or "Rosbifia" would be out of the question.
Jesus Fucking Christ, is this guy honestly that goddamned stupid? He can't understand the plot of a Star Wars film? We're not talking about "Rashomon" here, for fuck's sake. The plot is as linear as they come. If anything, the film tries too hard to fill in all the gaps. This guy must be a flaming retard.  --Mike Wong on Red Letter Moron's review of The Phantom Menace

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #33 on: July 05, 2011, 03:34:38 AM »
Quote from: Elfdart;466664
I guess "Chavistan" or "Rosbifia" would be out of the question.


Quite.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #34 on: July 05, 2011, 04:14:13 PM »
Dark Fantasy England Campaign Pt.2

So, some very nice responses to my earlier post.  So much so, that the players of my Starblazer campaign have decided they want to give it a try; so we're going, for the next while at least, to be splitting that campaign between Starblazer and this "Albion" campaign.

Time to add some material, then:

Additional Background: In the year before the campaign begins, the world finds itself full of dark omens.  At the battle of Castillon, the last Anglemen holdings in The Continent aside from Calais were lost to the Frogmen.
For reasons no one knows, the skies were full of dark clouds for much of the year, and this winter has been the coldest in known memory.
The realm of Burgundia is caught up in a rebellion in the Ghent region, crushed by the end of the year by Duke Philip the Vile.
In Scots Land, the tribes are (as usual) at war; the two chief clans, the Bruces and the Douglases, meet for peace talks, and at the meeting High Chief James Bruce brutally murders chief William "Black" Douglas, eliminating the leader of the chief opposition to his rule of the Scots hordes.
And finally, and most shockingly, at the end of the year the news reaches Anglia that Old Byzantium is fallen, devastated by the Turk. At this point only the small mountain kingdom of Wallachia stands between the Turk armies and the Commonwealth.

Meanwhile, in Anglia, the claims of Richard of York become harder and harder to ignore.  The Star Chamber has empowered the Duke of  Buckingham to act as a negotiator, and he is trying to arrange a compromise to prevent the whole nation from slipping into war.  There are already serious conflicts in the Northern Marches between the powerful and feuding Percy and Neville families, who despise each other.  The Percys support the Mad King, while the Nevilles are supporters of York.  Up till now, the conflicts between these families have been skirmishes reporting many injuries, but only deaths of a chicken here or a dog there.  However, the conflict threatens to escalate as Thomas Percy Lord Egremont (age 32), the younger son of the 52-year old Earl Henry "Hotspurs" Percy, and sharing in his quick temper, has taken to raiding villages belonging to the Nevilles and destroying peasant property.  He has gathered a gang of young knights, thugs, and malcontents, dressing them up in the red and black colours of his house; and they run havoc in the northern marches, challenging all who are on the roads, and picking fights with known sympathizers, retainers or even peasants pertaining to the Nevilles, as well as any who dares to wear the white rose of York.

Recently, he has met with a response from 23-year old Sir John Neville, third son of the powerful Earl of Salisbury (and younger brother of the Earl of Warwick), who has raised up his own band and is similarly raiding Percy holdings.  Lord Egremont responded by menacingly surrounding the keep where John's older brother Thomas was having his wedding party, Egremont's 700-or-so men menacing violence for several hours, before finally killing two hens and a dog and leaving for the safety of a Neville castle.  When he heard of this affront, Sir John responded by raiding the ancestral manor of the Percys (unoccupied for the season, as Earl Hotspurs was in the south) and setting fire to it.  Lord Egremont and his cousin Richard Percy retaliated the next day attacking an unoccupied Neville manor.

Now, both families are calling together their retainers and bannermen, and all sides truly worry at the possibility of tens of thousands of soldiers murdering each other in the North.  Both Queen Margaret and Richard of York are trying to calm their respective allies, to prevent things from spiraling out of control, but everywhere in the North there is anarchy and what amounts to medieval gang warfare.

Area Detail: The Eastern Coast
The eastern coast is a region consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent; the southern half of Albion's eastern coastline.  It was where the Anglemen first arrived on the island over a thousand years ago, and is full of places of historical and religious significance, as well as modern economic and strategic import.
The limits of the eastern coast region are at its northernmost point the bay known as "The Wash", an estuary region with tricky tides and bordered by swampland known as "The Fens" (a wild area, commonly inhabited by bandits and more than a few swamp creatures), and at its southernmost point the White Cliffs, huge natural cliffs of chalk that provide an excellent natural defensive position against invasion from The Continent.

Norfolk: The northernmost county of the eastern coast, historically known as Angleland, it was one of the first regions occupied by the Anglemen when they arrived in Albion. Today it is the most populous county in the east coast, and holds the populous and important city of Norwich, as well as the important port of Yarmouth.  Caister Castle overlooks Yarmouth, and is the manor of the legendary knight Sir John Falstaff, hero of Agincourt.  This portly knight fought alongside the great Henry V (father of the Mad King), and later used his plunder from Frogland to build this mighty keep.  He is now 76 years old, though still an imposing figure, and he favors the claim of Richard of York.  The Duke of Norfolk, John Mowbray, likewise supports York.

Suffolk: South of Norfolk, this smaller county features the port town of Ipswich and a few historical sites of note.  It was ruled by the Duke of Suffolk (William De La Pole, also  known as "Jackanape" for his foolishness and incompetence), who was largely blamed for the recent disastrous losses of most of Albion's holdings in Frogland, was imprisoned and later murdered by Yorkists en route to exile on The Continent. His son John De La Pole is only 12 years old, and has been disinherited.
Aside from Ipswich, Suffolk also features the pilgrimage site of Bury St.Edmund, where the Angleman king Edmund was buried alive by Cymri barbarians after being defeated in battle; Edmund is considered a martyr of the church of the Unconquered Sun.   Not far from Ipswich there is also the site known as Sutton Howe, the burial mound of Raedwald, first king of the Anglemen to invade Albion, and founder of Ipswich, his ancient capital. The area has of late become a haunted place, through dark sorceries or as an omen of the current troubles of the kingdom.  It is said that ghosts or ghouls of ancient anglish raiders with axes and horned helms can be seen at night, stalking the area.

Essex: the third county in the eastern coast, Essex contains the peaceful quinqueroi forest, and the town of Chelmsford.  It is ruled by the 50 year old Earl of Essex, Henry Bourchier, a Yorkist married to Isabella, one of Richard of York's daughters. His brother, Thomas Bourchier, is the Bishop of Ely and Henry is campaigning strongly on his brother's behalf to have him succeed the "Cursed Cardinal" Kemp as Archbishop of Canterbury on the latter's seemingly inevitable demise from the magical wasting disease he has long suffered.  Further inland, the regions of Huntingdon and Hertford are governed by the knightly Devereux family, also Yorkists.  Huntington is the site of Cambridge Collegium, the second and lesser of the universities of Albion, which has nevertheless produced many a noble Magister, using magecraft for the service of law (and of course, a few chaos-worshipping heretics and evil sorcerers).  Hertford has the town of St.Albans, an important pilgrimage site featuring the tomb of Albinus, the first great saint of the Unconquered Sun in Albion.

Kent: The southernmost county of the eastern coast, this is the site of the White Cliffs, and the important "Cinque Ports", five port cities which receive the largest amount of trade from the Continent, as well as one of the most important bases of the Anglish fleet.    The title of Warden of the Cinque Ports is a very important office in the land, currently held by the Duke of Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford, a strong supporter of the Mad King. The two most important ports in Kent are Dover (right on the White Cliffs) and Sandwich.  These form the supply lifeline to the fortified city of Calais, the last of Anglia's holdings on The Continent.   Kent is also where the town of Canterbury can be found; this is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest ranking priest of the Unconquered Sun in all of Albion, in direct line of episcopal descent from Augustine of Canterbury, the first Bishop of the Unconquered Sun in Albion.  This town of about 3000 inhabitants features the incredible Canterbury Cathedral, which has been engaged in a constant process of construction for the last 400 years.  It is a sprawling massive temple to the glory of the Unconquered Sun, and it is finally nearing completion (it is thought that the Great Bell Tower will finally be complete in another 50 years or so).  It also features an abbey, a nunnery, and a Clerical Temple and priory. The current Archbishop of Canteruby is the ailing 74 year old John Kemp,  known as the Cursed Cardinal.  A lancastrian, he was a deeply political and corrupt clergyman who profited greatly in the past 16 years of his holding the see; in the last two years he has been suffering from a horrific wasting disease that most agree is of a supernatural nature.  His allies claim it is a sorcerous curse brought about by Yorkists, his enemies claim that it is the Unconquered Sun punishing him for his wickedness.  The "Cursed Cardinal" has sought desperately for some cure, but to no avail, and is has been the last several months lingering in his deathbed, his body already looking like a rotting corpse.


I want to thank my faithful reader "Walldock" for the tip on Sutton Hoo, and I would encourage others to share any ideas they may have as to developing this setting further; with the idea generally being to take elements from local lore, historical sites, or the history of this time, and twist them into concepts with adventuring potential.

Look for more updates in the future.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #35 on: July 07, 2011, 03:19:28 AM »
Regarding the power level overall. In the Albion setting, I envision the vast majority of people to be 0 or 1st level characters. If it wasn't clear enough in the description, most Priests of the Unconquered Sun are 0-level priests with no spells. In fact, the only priests with spells are Clerics, who are a special order within the church.
Fighters will likely be the most probable characters to have a level or three, then specialists. Magic-users are pretty rare, though there have been a few at times that have risen up to immense power.

As a whole, if you're about 9th level in the setting, you're a real top-class badass in Albion. The most powerful characters in the world would be somewhere around 15th-17th level.

Who are the most powerful of each of the four core classes in Albion itself?

Well, the most powerful fighter is a tough call. Certainly the most powerful in living memory was probably King Henry the Great (Henry V), who was a brutal and spectacular killing machine. Sir John Falstaff, one of the last of his generation, is probably the highest level fighter in the land; but at 76 years of age is definitely well past his prime. Richard of York is definitely a high-level fighter, which is one of the things that has strengthened his cause.

The highest level Cleric in the land is the High Commander Thomas Beckynton, head of the Cleric order in Albion. At 64 years of age he is far from his prime, but his miraculous powers make up for that to some extent, and he still splits his time between Albion and Calais, where he is always looking for some way to hamper the growing power of the chaos-worshiping Frogmen. He's high level, but not the most powerful Cleric Albion has known (in recent history, that was probably High Commander Roger Bacon, a couple of centuries earlier). Beckynton interprets the Mad King's madness as a kind of holy state, and has acted as his personal priest in the times the king has been lucid (the king, when sane, is an extremely devout man dedicated to the study of religion). He is thus a strong opponent of the Yorkist cause. Even so, the clerical order is threatening to be split along Yorkist and Lancastrian lines, as many influential commanders in the order support the Yorkist cause, including the young and promising Cleric Captain Robert Stillington.

The highest level magic-user in the land is sometimes difficult to judge; as many of these keep their power level or even their identities secret. Certainly, Albion is currently going through a period of relative darkness in this area, with few truly great or powerful magicians. Its a noteworthy example that the current Chancellor Magister of Oxford, usually one of the highest-powered magic users in the land, is Ralph Neville (son of the Earl of Salisbury and younger brother to the Earl of Warwick), who ascended to that post in part because of political connections but also because he is a 22-year old wunderkind in the magical arts. Despite his immense talent, he is unlikely to be more than mid-level magic user.

Obviously, its basically impossible to say who the highest level Specialist would be, they don't tend to advertise or compare notes. But its pretty clear that Albion does not have a vast number of truly learned men (if you're talking about academic Specialists); on the other hand, the major cities have some excellent thieves and assassins, so its quite possible that the highest level character in all of Albion right now might just be a Specialist, though he certainly wouldn't want that to be common knowledge.

But basically, the point is that the setting is one where high level characters tend to be rare, and there is something of a gap in their prevalence at this point in the setting timeline, this being a dark age when the greatest and noblest warriors are dead, scholarship in both mystical and academic arts has yet to truly experience a "renaissance", and the church is in a somewhat corrupt and dubious state of decline (last year, even the Unconquered Sun itself seemed to wane in power, with the overly-long winter, the too-short summer, and the excess of dark clouds throughout much of the  year).  All of this basically adds up to giving the player characters an opportunity to end up becoming both powerful and renowned, if they're lucky enough to live that long...
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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #36 on: July 07, 2011, 05:11:55 AM »
How about Picts being similar to the cave dwelling raiders in "The Thirteenth Warrior"?
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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #37 on: July 07, 2011, 04:51:19 PM »
Quote from: danbuter;467049
How about Picts being similar to the cave dwelling raiders in "The Thirteenth Warrior"?


Its been so long since I saw that film that its hard for me to recall; how would those differ from the descriptions I've given for the picts in this thread so far?

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #38 on: July 07, 2011, 05:20:37 PM »
quick note on weapons and armor: as in the LotFP system, any class can theoretically use any weapon or armor.  However, there are certain social conventions that limit this.  The only people allowed to visibly carry weapons in the cities are the city guard, billeted soldiers stationed in the city, and the nobility (men of knightly rank and up), who have as one of their privileges the right to carry swords openly.

In the countryside, which is often a violent place, those who have armor and weapons may often choose to travel with them.  However, those of a lower social background who go around heavily armed or armored may be suspected of planning to engage in banditry or rebellion, or other illicit activity, unless they have a good way to justify their actions.

The city guard and soldiers on active duty would wear armour in urban areas, but if anyone else does (even a noble) it would be seen as highly suspicious and would likely lead to that person being at the very least questioned.  If you're wearing armor, its a sign that you're likely to be planning to do violence.
Plate Mail is the exclusive privilege of the knightly nobility (and up, earls, dukes, princes and kings can obviously wear plate mail as well). A commoner or villain (city-dweller) who is not of noble blood does not have the right to wear plate mail.

The sole exception is Clerics, who are a special social class unto themselves regardless of birth (though within the clerical order some distinctions may still be made for social background, obviously), and Clerics are theoretically allowed to use any armor or weapon they wish to in the service of the Unconquered Sun.  Note that this doesn't mean that all clerics go around doing so; there are many clerics who are not "crusading" clerics at all, and who use their power to heal the sick or perform other works of wonder without dedicating themselves to violence.

There is theoretically nothing stopping magic-users or specialists from wearing armor or using whatever weapon they wish to; except the aforementioned social class limitations, and of course, encumbrance rules affecting their special abilities.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2011, 02:11:31 AM »
What's the PCs' role?

That depends on what they want it to be.  I'm guessing that my PCs, who play this setting in my game, will likely end up being a group of slightly dubious adventurers who will split their time between going on traditional-D&D-esque excursions to dark places for the loot, and fighting for one (or both) of the two warring houses.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #40 on: July 11, 2011, 01:15:05 AM »
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for the other regions to be developed for the setting, please present them.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #41 on: July 12, 2011, 03:19:28 AM »
3. The Southports

The region of the Southports includes the counties of Sussex, Hampshire, and Dorset, as well as the Isle of Wights.  This is an important and wealthy region of Albion with a long history; it was a powerful center of the Cymri tribes that once ruled the island, then a major center for the Arcadians when the island was one of their farthest-flung provinces, and eventually a center of power for the Anglemen once they had conquered it in turn.   It features two important forests: the tame Forest of Windsor (which is in this territory as well as Berkshire county), which is a property of the King and used as his hunting grounds as well as to provide timber for the Fortress of Windsor in Berkshire; and the wild "New Forest" in Hampshire.  The latter was in fact an old forest (the Arcadians considered it a cursed place, and named it the "Forest of Spinoii"); later, during the reign of the legendary king Arctur, it was known as the Forest Camelot, as it was near his capital city of Winchester, then named Camelot.  It was during this period that much of the forest was cut down by druids and warriors, who cleared it of much of its monsters.  However, some four centuries ago William the Bastard wished to restore that area as a hunting ground, and evicted no less than 36 villages from that land to reforest it (hence "New Forest").  Peasant magic-users among the villagers took their revenge by awakening ancient evils within the forest, and today it is considered a cursed place again.  No less than three of William's royal descendants died in the forest: his son and then heir Richard died killed by a monstrous creature of mist within the forest;  20 years later Richard's younger brother King William II "Redface" died in the forest while on an adventure there, shot through the lung by an arrow from his close friend Lord Tyrell when the latter was deceived by an illusion, and William's grandson Richard Henry "Shortstockings" was likewise killed there, said to have been strangled by a living tree.  There are no less than 250 different barrows there, burial grounds of ancient Cymric chiefs; dangerous places of the dead, but said to still be filled with treasure.

Sussex: one of the old Anglemen kingdoms, and at one time the most powerful of these, the area of the town of Hastings in Sussex was the site where William the Bastard invaded from Normandie (today part of Frogland), and defeated Harald the Unready, uniting all of Albion under his rule and establishing the Plantagenet dynasty. Today the site is commemorated by the Battle Abbey.  This county is mostly a peaceful place these days, but it was recently the site where the rebellion of Jack Make-Amends began, and the local peasantry are still in a state of vicious unrest against what they see as corrupt and despotic noblemen.  They generally blame the nobility, and not the Mad King himself, for the poverty and ills of Albion.  Sussex is governed by the Earl of Arundel, William FitzAllan, who is married to one of the daughters of the Earl of Salisbury, and is a supporter of the Yorkist cause.

Hampshire: this region is part of the County of Sussex, and includes the port towns of Chichester and Portchester, as well as the major port town of Southampton. It is also the location of the town of Winchester, which was once known as Camelot and was the capital of the kingdom of Logrys during the reign of the legendary Cymri King Arctur, who of all the Cyrmi came closest to unifying the whole of Albion under his rule.  Today the town of Winchester is only a shadow of its former glory, and almost nothing remains of its legendary history; it is however the site of Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest and most impressive cathedrals to the Unconquered Sun.  The most important nobleman in this region is possibly Sir John Howard, a brother in law of the Duke of Norfolk and staunch supporter of the Yorkist cause.

Dorset: this county is the territory of Edmund Beaufort, the Duke of Sommerset, Constable of England, a descendant of John of Gaunt and thus cousin to the royal family, and the stalwart ally of Queen Margaret and the Lancastrian cause.  Somerset was deeply impoverished at the time of his ascension and has managed to work his way up to tremendous wealth, mostly through political maneuvering.  He is one of the chief causes of the complaints against the Mad King's counselors, accused of severe corruption.  He has a personal feud with the Neville family, and particularly the young but brilliant Earl of Warwick, with whom he has had multiple disputes at court.   It was Somerset who replaced Richard of York as commander of the forces in Normandie, and instead of capitalizing on Richard's successes there, he led a string of defeats that culminated in the loss of all of Albion's possessions on the Continent except for Calais, making him one of the most hated men in the land.  What's more, he enriched himself at this time to the gargantuan sum of over twenty thousand pounds.  When Parliament was convened and named York as Lord Protector, York managed to have Somerset imprisoned, but he was freed earlier this year when the King seemingly regained some lucidity and ordered York's protectorate overturned.  The Mad King and Queen Margaret's support of Somerset has been one of the chief causes leading to the increased hostilities and the likely outbreak of civil war.
The largest (and darkest) part of the New Forest is found in Dorset. Aside from that, its only significant town is the port of Weymouth.

The Isle of Wights: this cursed and haunted isle was feared by the Cymri as a place where the veil between the worlds was particularly weak.  The Arcadian legions, unaware of this, established a fort there. They were eventually besieged and slaughtered by dark monstrosities, and the isle remained unpopulated by humans until the time of William the Bastard, when that king attempted to purge the island of its evil.  He established the Castle of Carisbrooke in the northern end of the Isle, in a relatively peaceful area known as the Fair Valley.  Though the castle and surrounding village have remained populated since then, it has passed from one noble family to another, all meeting grisly ends to their dynasties over the centuries.  Some 70 years ago it was invaded by Frogmen, but they were held off by the castle's inhabitants, and the monstrosities on the rest of the island eventually forced them off.  Some 40 years ago, in the time of King Henry the Great, the local Abbey was discovered to have been entirely subverted to the worship of Chaos; Henry's men purged the place and burned it to the ground. The Mad King gave the Isle to his childhood friend Henry Beauchamp, whom he personally crowned King of the Isle of Wight; but Henry died less than two years later.   Now a Crown Property of Albion again, and administered by a castellan, the village of Carisbrook has recently been disturbed by a spate of disappearances and very recently by the discovery of a series of tunnels underneath the village and castle, as well as signs that some of the local population have taken to dark witchcraft; this is all believed to be connected and that a cult of witches have been kidnapping men, women and children to torture or sacrifice for dark rituals.  The rest of the island aside from the castle and village is mostly wild, the inland parts of the isle being exceedingly dangerous.  Its name makes it clear that there are obviously undead on the isle, as well as creatures of chaos, and it is said that there may also be temporary or permanent gateways to other planes here.  There are also many rumours of great treasures and objects of power hidden away in the forests of the isle, tempting the incredibly brave or foolish.  

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finarvyn

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #42 on: July 12, 2011, 05:50:26 PM »
An interesting thread. I used to play the old board game Kingmaker (based on the Wars of the Roses) and often thought that the map would make a fun fantasy England campaign. Your Albion write-up sounds like if could fit this concept quite well!



The neat thing is that the board breaks England down into political regions, has spaces for movement, and the game already has dozens of noble houses with coats of arms and army strengths. That could be useful as well.
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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #43 on: July 12, 2011, 07:33:11 PM »
Sussex:

St. Leonards forest is an ancient and foreboding place with many ill-fated rumours surrounding it. About half-way between Horsham and Pease Pottage are the Lily Beds, an area of the forest carpeted in Lily-of-the-valley. The plants grow where St. Leonard's blood spilled during his battle with the Dragon of St. Leonards forest during the 6th century.

Reports of serpents persist to this day and they are curious in that their approach can often be predicted by an offensive smell.

Tales also tell of the ghost of Squire Paulus, whose headless ghost leaps up behind riders, gripping them fast around the waist until they leave the forest edge.

Deep within the forest is Mick Mill's run - a half-mile track on the forest floor where plants and trees alike will not grow. The legend states that a woodsman met the Devil in the forest and ran for his life, the fiend close on his heels. Where the Devil's feet touched the earth, plants refuse to grow.

A crumbled tower now overgrown was said to be the abode of the St. Leonard's vampire. A sad creature with a rotted nose and maudlin manner. Brave souls who venture into the heart of the forest report strange lights coming from the crumbling edifice but refuse to investigate. The previous Sherrif lost both his own life and those of his 2 mastiffs whilst near this place.

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Dark Albion: the Origin Thread
« Reply #44 on: July 13, 2011, 03:32:34 AM »
Quote from: One Horse Town;467917
Sussex:

St. Leonards forest is an ancient and foreboding place with many ill-fated rumours surrounding it. About half-way between Horsham and Pease Pottage are the Lily Beds, an area of the forest carpeted in Lily-of-the-valley. The plants grow where St. Leonard's blood spilled during his battle with the Dragon of St. Leonards forest during the 6th century.

Reports of serpents persist to this day and they are curious in that their approach can often be predicted by an offensive smell.

Tales also tell of the ghost of Squire Paulus, whose headless ghost leaps up behind riders, gripping them fast around the waist until they leave the forest edge.

Deep within the forest is Mick Mill's run - a half-mile track on the forest floor where plants and trees alike will not grow. The legend states that a woodsman met the Devil in the forest and ran for his life, the fiend close on his heels. Where the Devil's feet touched the earth, plants refuse to grow.

A crumbled tower now overgrown was said to be the abode of the St. Leonard's vampire. A sad creature with a rotted nose and maudlin manner. Brave souls who venture into the heart of the forest report strange lights coming from the crumbling edifice but refuse to investigate. The previous Sherrif lost both his own life and those of his 2 mastiffs whilst near this place.



That's quite good, and I may use it.  Is it actually based on local folklore in any way, or did you make that up?

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ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
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