Scarlet Sunrise, Session -1: The Scarlet Reach

     Elizabeth of Patchwork Paladin ran a one-shot of Daggerheart for me and some other people, and I got Into It enough that I actually bought a copy from my local Books-a-Million. Following that up with an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game run by my friend Miranda (no relation), and I was like, "Wow, these gay people are fun to play DnD with. I bet they'd really like Daggerheart." If you read this blog, you already know what Daggerheart is, so I'm just gonna jump right into my campaign plan:

Scarlet Sunrise

from The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea (copyright Wizards of the Coast)

    Scarlet Sunrise is the title of the campaign, and its based on lots of cool sci-fantasy/fi stuff I like: Firefly, Star Wars, the Three Musketeers, and so on. The rpg-based pitch is Scum and Villainy meets 7th Sea (Second Edition fucking whips and I will die on this hill). The basic framework is also stolen from a campaign my ex-girlfriend ran called Scarlet Sunset, a Scum and Villainy number that was my first proper campaign. Buuuuuuut she sucks and I took the intellectual property in the divorce, so nyeh. Below are gonna be posted some bits from the Session Zero guide: everything should be intelligible, but if you want to read the rules as you follow along the Daggerheart SRD is free to peruse at your leisure. 

Overview

Scarlet Sunrise takes place in a fantasy world taken to the stars. Enchanted ships can sail on solar winds, and though it takes time (a minimum of a week), it is well understood. How far an individual voyage takes you depends on a combination of both the ship and the star, with the fastest ships able to accomplish multiple "jumps" worth of distance in a single week. 

The Sling is the impossibly massive red hypergiant that gives the Scarlet Reach its name. Orbited by several other stars and littered with ancient ruins and battlefields, the history of the system is shrouded in mystery: some claim the Sling was the home of the Elves, some worship it as an imprisoned god, some claim it as the center of the universe. What is known are two things:

• First, the Sling is powerful enough to send a ship hurtling to any star in the galaxy in a single voyage if they can survive getting into orbit. 
• Second, the Sling is unstable, prone to releasing storms that shut down any and all interstellar travel for up to a month at a time.

The Scarlet Reach is populated by a motley combination of petty kingdoms, confederations, and homesteaders, and sits square in the hungry gaze of two great empires: the Archduchy of Gehenna and the United Sidhe Kingdoms. The two clashed for a century over the Reach, each creating their own armies to feed into the meat grinder, with the conflict only ending a decade ago as both armies revolted. Now the Reach sits in an uneasy state of cold war, with local lords being drawn into the spheres of the great powers. The players enter this story as a crew of small-time scallywags (maybe starting with a prison break?) who will grow to deal with their personal bullshit and tip the scales of the conflict.

Ancestries

All Ancestries found in Daggerheart are present in the Reach, but a few have unique lore attached to them.

Infernis are the average denizens of the Archduchy, descended from the unions of mortals and devils. 

• Clanks were created seventy-five years ago as the soldiers of hell. Initially designed to be cold and unfeeling and with no sense of autonomy, units which stayed on campaign longer and longer began to grow into their own people. Around half the clanks in the Reach mutinied, while the other half stayed loyal to the Archduchy and accepted their memory wipe. Today, Clanks are often distrusted due to their status as an occupying force, but many rebel clanks have formed their own communities and work to liberate their kin.
• Drakona were grown by the USK’s finest sorcerers from stolen dragon eggs, and served as their frontline soldiers. Similar to their clank counterparts, those Drakona who went rogue are fiercely individualistic, taking pride in developing their own culture. Many have flocked to New Drakonys, hoping for a fresh start.
• Elves might have originated in the Reach, at least according to the Kingdom of Baithaf. Whether this is true or simply the propaganda of a lost colony is a mystery.
• Faeries, Fauns, and Firbolgs all originate from the USK, but many have left their homeland behind to seek a new fortune in the independent systems of the Reach. 
• Fungril are native to September (in their language, Sutubuh), and are subject to brutality and enslavement. Some have left their home planet (voluntarily or not), and they can now be found throughout the Reach.

Can you tell I like A More Civilized Age? I'm a sucker for a good Clone Trooper story, so I decided my setting's gonna have two of them! Also I feel like "Fey vs Hell" is a lot more interesting than "Heaven vs Hell" because...idk, it feels less done. Like Thief kind of did it a bit? Idk.

The Scarlet Reach

The Reach today is on the brink of returning to open war. The two great powers are feeling each other out, figuring out plans, and courting locals for their inevitable rematch.

The Archduchy of Gehenna marched out of Hell wrapped in metal and belching smoke, and subjugated hundreds of star systems underneath them. They are orderly above all else, attaining non-interference treaties from Heaven to assist in their domination of the multiverse in the service of Law. Archduke Mammon sees the Reach as an excellent return on investment, simply due to the security risk the Sling represents otherwise.

The United Sidhe Kingdoms, ruled by the Twice-Crowned Queen Titania XXXVII, was formed out of the union of the Summer and Winter Courts, and turns its attention from the First World to the Second. Their lands are still ruled under the old feudal aristocracies, with the exception of venture-capital backed corporations that purchase titles for themselves.

Behold, my world map. Notice that some hyperlanes are one-way.

The actual stars are named after the Pathfinder cosmology's Four Horsemen, and then the planets themselves were generated using Stars Without Number's random system and tweaking/rerolling to avoid repeats. 

Szuriel:

Purity

• The Order of Perfection rules the world of Purity with an iron fist through their Exemplars, individuals bred through generations to become the finest warriors the Reach could offer. Purity stood on its own through most of the Great War, but with its Exemplars now depleted, it now seeks new stock from the rest of the Reach.
• Liz's Notes: We got Space Marines motherfuckersssss lfggggg! Breaking out the calipers tonight!

Bia

• Long ago, the nobles of Bia realized that their great wars would bring about their own destruction, so they instead channeled their energies into intellectual development. Now the elite of Bia are decided by meritocratic examination, and their soldiers’ services are sought after the galaxy over. 
• Liz's Notes: I feel like guys from Bia are gonna be a pretty standard Guard subtype for rich assholes. Maybe give them pikes?

Trelmarixian:

Straya

• The freezing landscape of Straya is used by the Archduchy as a penal colony, with dissidents and undesirables overseen by robotic and extraplanar guards. The only source of Abyssal Cobalt in the sector, the prisoners are worked to the bone to mine the substance. Those who don’t die of the cold or exhaustion are taken by one of the native megaspiders.
• Liz's Notes: Yeah yeah it's space Australia. What can I say I think its funny.

Tok

• The Tok shipyards are the finest in the Reach, and easily one of the finest in the galaxy. Capable of working with both Seidhe Sails and the Infernal Spike, they maintain a tradition of strict neutrality. Those who seek repairs at their docks find they have many other arcane and inscrutable traditions as well.
• Liz's Notes: I'm not super sure what to do with these guys yet. Maybe something like Orlais in Dragon Age, mixed with jokes about German engineering?

September (Sutubuh)

• The Northern September Corporation, a chartered company under the USK, has laid down roots here and set up headquarters to turn Trelmarixian into the trade hub of the sector. The native Fungril are subject to enslavement and displacement, and engaged in active resistance against the colonisers, (with the help of Archducal arms manufacturers, of course).
• Liz's Notes: Definitely wanna have a session or two where the PCs help the Fungril blow up some NSC shit.

Apollyon: 

Garm

• On Garm, the Great War never truly ended. Local commanders from both sides of the war broke loose, and continued the fighting in their own petty fiefdoms. While officially disavowing the violence, both the Archduchy and the USK funnel support to their own chosen candidates, regardless of the human cost.
• Liz's Notes: Not entirely sure what to do here either? Picking a horse seems the most obvious.

Ekyur

• Ekyur was once a relatively obscure backwater planet. However, following the invention and subsequent weaponization of Blight, during the war the rich veins in Ekyur attracted the attention of players across the galaxy. Now major corporations and private prospectors are gobbling the planet up, seeking to hit the next big vein of Blightstone. Rumors of nausea, hair loss, and infections among the miners is greatly exaggerated.
• Liz's Notes: If not friend, why friend shaped?

Charon:

Baithaf

• Purported to be the original home of the elves, the Kingdom of Baithaf entered a tailspin following the loss of their subject worlds: Dawcahhu to revolution and New Drakonys to draconic invasion. Now a new Queen sits on the throne, eager to regain her lost empire.
• Liz's Notes: I need to figure out how My Elves are different. I'm getting very Century of Humiliation vibes from them right now. 

Dawcahhu

• Following the conquest of New Drakonys, the underclasses of Dawcahhu launched a proletarian uprising and gained their independence five years ago. Now, after a series of bloody purges and civil wars, the two former wings of the revolutionary party are locked into their own existential conflict of daggers and shadows. 
• Liz's Notes: I hope they look into the camera and say they're the exact type of communist I am. 

New Draconis

• Formerly a vassal of the Kingdom of Baithaf, New Drakonys was conquered by a rogue admiral of the USK fleet, who declared himself the Marquis of the planet. With his passing, a new Marquessa rules, seeking to establish diplomatic channels with the rest of the reach. The Drakona cultural practice of eating sapient beings might make this a bit of a challenge. 
• Liz's Notes: I love the idea of "These people are victims and absolutely deserve self-determination, but also they need to stop eating people." Old habits die hard I guess. Or maybe I'm being too edgy centrist? We'll find out.

The Sling

Penitence

• The inhabitants of Penitence seem wholly unconcerned by the political situation surrounding them, instead keeping to their rituals. The locals come from all the ancestries of the Reach, but with…additions: extra limbs,  organs, metallic skin, and so forth. They claim to be waiting for something.
• Liz's Notes: Ooooh, spooky. I wonder what's going on here?

    There you have it folks, my hopes and dreams for my ongoing campaign? Will our heroes defeat the evils of imperialism through extreme personal valor and save the day? Will I ever read theory again and make it everyone else's problem? Could Marcia have done this better? Probably on that last one, but as for the rest, we'll find out, starting with Session Zero, Monday, August 18th!