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Campaign Frame

"Stone does not race."

— Ancient Elven Proverb; Doctrine of Slow Roots.

"Neither does a corpse."

— Imperial Officer Beccin.

Welcome to Eschatia: The Paper Cage

The war did not end with a final stand. There was no glorious charge, no dark lord exploding into light. It ended thirty years ago in a quiet room, with the scratch of a pen on parchment.

You are a citizen of the Elven Republic of Eschatia, a nation that prides itself on patience, magic, and wisdom. But patience has become your prison. The Beccin Empire has arrived, bringing with them steam, iron, and a terrifying urgency. They are choking your culture not with violence, but with permits, schedules, and "modernization."

Look up. The black shapes of Imperial airships blot out the sun.

Listen. The grinding of the train tracks drowns out the birdsong.

Focus. The "Static" in your head screams whenever you try to touch the web.

You are tired. You are watched. You are losing. But today, you received a letter from a dead man. And, maybe, for the first time in thirty years, you are going to do something about it.

How to Use This Guide

This document serves as both the Campaign Frame and the Player’s Guide for our upcoming game. It is the blueprint for the story we are going to tell together.

While the "Handbook" tells you how to play the game mechanically, this document tells you how to play this specific campaign. It bridges the gap between the lore of the world and the stats on your character sheet.

What This Document Provides:

  • The Tone: We are aiming for a specific feel—gritty, grounded resistance. This section aligns our expectations so we are all playing the same genre.
  • The Reality: Context on the political deadlock, the occupation, and the "Static" that changes how magic works mechanically in this setting.
  • Character Roots: Restrictions and prompts to help you build a character who is already embedded in the world, rather than a generic adventurer wandering into town.
  • Session Zero Prep: At the end, you will find safety tools and collaborative questions. These must be reviewed before we meet for our first session.

Read this fully before generating your character. In Eschatia, knowing the rules is the only way to break them properly.

I - Core Concepts

The history books call it the Great Armistice. We call it the slow suffocation. Before you build your character, understand the world they are trying to survive in.

The Elevator Pitch: We are playing a campaign about resistance under bureaucracy and occupation. Think Star War's Star War: Andor meets high fantasy.

The Great War ended thirty years ago. The Elven Republic of Eschatia (The Last Elven State) won the peace but lost the country. We were not conquered by fire or swords, but by papers, treaties, "foreign aid," and bureaucracy.

The Beccin Empire now controls our trade routes, our laws, and our sky. They are building a railroad and telegraph lines through the Sacred Forests to "modernize" us. Meanwhile, a maddening psychic noise known as "The Static" is isolating our people, making magic dangerous and communication impossible. The Elven government is paralyzed by tradition, and the Empire is weaponizing that paralysis.

The Vibe:Atmosphere & Touchstones

  • Cynical & Grounded: You are not legendary heroes destined to save the world. You are smugglers, angry farmers, disgraced knights, and tired veterans.
  • Paranoia: The Pale Watch (Secret Police) and the Spies of Verdenheim are everywhere. Trust is the most expensive currency.
  • Tech vs. Tradition: The Empire brings steam engines, telegraph lines, and rigid schedules. The Elves hold to ancient magic, bloodlines, and the belief that haste is a form of madness.
Atmosphere & Touchstones

This is not a story of high adventure; it is a story of high tension.

  • Cynical & Grounded: You are not legendary heroes destined to save the world. You are smugglers, angry farmers, disgraced knights, and tired veterans.
  • Paranoia: The Pale Watch (Secret Police) and the Spies of Verdenheim are everywhere. Trust is the most expensive currency.
  • Tech vs. Tradition: The Empire brings steam engines, telegraph lines, and rigid schedules. The Elves hold to ancient magic, bloodlines, and the belief that haste is a form of madness.
Media Inspirations

If you want to understand the feeling of this campaign, look to these sources:

  • The Politics: Andor (TV). Specifically the visuals of Imperial bureaucracy crushing local culture, and the grittiness of the rebellion.
  • The World: Arcane (TV) or Dishonored (Game). The clash of beautiful magic against ugly, jagged industrial pipes and smoke.
  • The Despair: Children of Men (Movie). The feeling of a world that is slowly dying while a government pretends everything is fine.
  • The Bureaucracy: Brazil (Movie). The horror of paperwork and a state that is maddeningly inefficient.

II - The Three Pillars of the World

Resistance in Eschatia isn't just about fighting soldiers; it's about fighting gravity. Three immense forces press down on the citizens of the Republic, shaping every aspect of daily life.

1.

Resistance Thein DoctrineEschatia isn't just about fighting soldiers; it's about fighting gravity. Three immense forces press down on the citizens of Slowthe Roots

Republic.

Pillar the First Weaponization of Time (The Doctrine)

The Elven government believesoperates on larger time scale believing that "the fruit must ripen." Their Constitution mandates thatConstitutionally, legislation proposed in the Spring cannot be voted on until the Autumn.

  • The Conflict: The Beccin Empire operates on "Industrial Time." While the Elven Senate spends six months debating the wording of a permit, the Empire builds a factory in a week.
  • For the Players: This is why the rebellion exists. You aren’t just fighting the Empire because they are evil; you are fighting because your own government is legally incapable of savingacting youfast inenough time.to save you.

2.

The Iron andScar the(The Black Wing
Occupation)

The physical presence of the occupation is unavoidable.an assault on the senses.

  • The Melanoptera (Black Wings): Massive, sleek, black Beccin airships that hang silently over the cities. AThey constant reminder that they ownblock the sky.sun and sit in the air the same way bricks don't.
  • The Railroad: A scarwound of iron cutting through ancient woods. It brings in cheap Imperial goods and extracts Elven resources.
  • The Telegraph: Running alongside the rails, these lines are the nerves of the Empire,Empire. replacingIf you cut the magiclines, theyyou haveblind disrupted.the beast.

3.

The DissonancePsychic Smog (The Static)

SixWhile Divination magic has been harder to cast for several years now, it got much worse 9 months ago,ago. aA psychic interference intensified across the region. ItThis punishesis thosenot whojust reachflavor outtext, tooit far.is a mechanic; it is a constant, headache-inducing background radiation.

  • The Isolation: Long-range magic (Sending, Telepathy) has been severed. We are alone in our own heads for the first time in history.
  • The Mechanic: AnyAttempting attempt to use magic for long-distancemagical communication (Sending, Telepathy, Animal Messenger) over distances greater than 1 mile carries terrible risk.
  • The Cost: The caster must makerequires a Saving Throw. OnFailure aresults failure, the spell fizzes out,in the message isdissolving lostinto in thescreaming noise, and the caster takestaking a level of Exhaustion, suffering(represented migrainesby nosebleeds and nosebleeds.migraines).
  • The Rumors:Theory: Some say it is somehow connected to the psychic screamsWizards of the deadAthenieam, from Delphi (attacked 7 years ago). Somesome say it is anartificial "Arcanejamming, Bleed"and (magicothers running out). Rebels believesay it is asomething jammer used by the Empirerelated to forcefactories. relianceWhatever it is, all sides have to work around it. It puts people on theiredge. telegraphs.It erodes trust.

III. History

To the Beccin, this is a story of modernization and benevolence. To us, it is the autopsy of a nation dying by inches. Here is how we got here.

  • The Ancient Trunk (Unknown Era): The land was known as Cormanthil. This is the era of high magic, the "Golden Age" stoneheads won't shut up about.
  • The Silver Throne (300 Years Ago): The nation was known as Eaernthil. A time of isolationism and purity.
  • 30 Years Ago: The Armistice: The Great War between the Gilded Nations (The Eastern Coalition) and the Beccin Empire ends in a stalemate of attrition. Eschatia, a buffer state, is abandoned by the Gilded Nations. The Elves feel betrayed.
  • 20 Years Ago: The Slow Coup: The Beccin Empire offers "reparations" and aid. They begin appointing Proxenos (Ambassadors) to "advise" the Elven reconstruction.
  • 10 Years Ago: The Schism: The Athenaeum (The Great Wizards) secede from Eschatia, taking their knowledge and magical defense towers with them. Eschatia is left defenseless.
  • 7 Years Ago: The Fall of Delphi: The city of Delphi is attacked by forces from the Shadowfell. The death toll is in the millions. The "Static" begins as a low hum.
  • 3 Years Ago: The Iron Act: Pressured by Imperial debt, the Elven Government grants the Right of Alacrity to the Empire. Construction of the Railroad begins, utilizing steam trains invented by an Elf traitor working for the Ossurian Forges (a Dwarven Ancestor-Slayer state).
  • 6 Months Ago: The Static intensifies. Long-range magic breaks.
  • Present Day: The Rails are running. The woods are bleeding. You are meeting a dead man.


IV. The State of the State

Eschatia is not a dictatorship; it is a paralyzeddemocracy democracy.that has been weaponized against itself. The machinery of state still turns, but the gears grindgrind.

on
To nothing.survive, Understandingyou whomust holdsunderstand that the stampsOccupation isdid oftennot morebreak importantour thanlaws—it understandingsimply who holdsfound the swords.loopholes.

Ancient Traditions: The ExecutiveDoctrine of Slow Roots

Every government has core philosophies and Eschetia is no exception. The Republic is built on the philosophy that "Stone Does Not Race." The Constitution (The Charter of Marble) was written by long elves who feared rash emotion taking hold, like how their empire fell to rash emotion.

  • The Seasonal Delay: Constitutionally, no law or major decree can be voted upon in the same season it is introduced. A bill proposed in Spring cannot be ratified until Summer.
  • The Intent: To ensure the "fruit ripens" and the populace has months to debate.
  • The Reality: In the face of an industrial Empire that builds a factory in a week, this rule is a death sentence. The Elven government is legally incapable of reacting fast enough to save its own citizens.

Branches of Federal Government

The government is a Tripartite Assembly designed to prevent any single faction from holding power. In practice, it ensures no one holds power at all.

The Executive: The Archon Basileus

The Head of State wearsserves a single 10-year term. They ceremonially wear the "Diadem of Burden.Burden," Legenda saysmagical itartifact getssaid to grow physically heavier the sadderwith the peoplepeople's are.sorrow. This is a leftover from when the Elven government was a empire.

  • The Truth:current HeArchon, hasn'tNAME TBD, has not been seen in publicpublicly in years.3 Heyears. knowsThey hehave ismade appearances in private events, enough to be reported on. Rumor has it they no longer wear the Diadem, as the weight would snap their neck. They are widely considered a figurehead.

The LegislativeLegislative: (ThreeThe Houses)Deadlock

    Legislation must survive two distinct houses, usually dying in committee before ever reaching a vote. The houses are often called the higher and lower houses, with the lower house holding two chambers. The upper house is often seen as ceremonially and a way of these old eleven bloodlines, from the time of Cormanthil, to maintain power and relevance.

    • The EcclesiaSynedrion (High House): Composed of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the 12 Great Sorcerer Houses. They hold "Divine Veto" power and sit in the Sky-Oculus. They are obsessed with bloodline purity and holding onto state secrets. They have become to paranoid they have not held a public form in nearly 10 years.
    • The Ekklesia (Chamber of Commons): 500112 representatives.representatives elected by geography. They shoutmanage acivil lot, pass bills to stop deportations,liberties and thensocial waitlaw. 6They monthspossess forthe "Veto of Conscience," which allows them to bepull votedon on.the Theyheartstrings of tradition and philosophy. Most of the laws of the land are powerless.generated in this chamber, few are ever vetoed. This chamber also has the right to veto the other lower chamber, it has tried to do so far more often.
    • The Boule (Chamber of Guilds): 200253 Guildmasters.Guildmasters appointed by profession. They control the moneytrade tariffs and regulation around banking, trades, and crafts. There is growing tention between them and the trade.Chamber Mostof haveCommons beenas boughtthey outsee that chamber difficult and impractical. While the Chamber of Commons mostly allows the Gamber of Guilds to regulate things regarding beef grading or metal purity they Chamber of Commons shoots down a lot of purposed funding for things like the railway.
    The Judiciary: The Broken Scales

    Seven Justiciars appointed for life. They preside over Elven civil law. A standard trial takes 1 to 10 years. While the Seven are appointed by the Ironlower Coffershouse (and approved by the upper house the lower courts are appointed by the seven and confirmed by the lower house. Along side the elven courts are the Imperial Bank).

  1. Circuit, which is almost to fast and for anything that "could be related to the empire." It was orginally impimented 15 years ago to help remove the burden of the empire on the courts for crimes commited against them.

    Regional Governance: The SynedrionEparchies

    (High

    The House):nation 12is Sorcererdivided Familiesinto sittingadministrative inregions acalled Sky Oculus. They hold Divine Veto power.Eparchies. They are obsessedruled withby bloodlineExarchs purity(Governors) andselected ignoringvia the poor.Dual Mandate System:

    1. The regional council selects 3 candidates.
    2. The people vote for 1.

    The JudiciaryBeccin Empire now pressures regional councils to nominate only three sympathetic collaborators. The voters are given a "choice" between three different flavors of Imperial puppet.

    How Bec Got In: The Proxenos & The Loophole

    • The HighBeccin Magistrate:Empire did not conquer the capital; they were invited in.

      The role of Proxenos Traditional(Ambassador) Elvenwas courts.created Minimumcenturies ageago, forin aCormanthil, judgeto is 100. Trials take weeks.

    • The Imperial Circuit: Therepresent "Shadowshort-lived Court."races" If(Humans/Dwarves) a crime involves "Imperial Security," it skipsin the Elven court. TheTo judgebridge isthe gap between Elven "Slow Roots" and Human mortality, the Proxenos was granted a Humanspecific Legate.emergency Trialspower: take ten minutes. Verdict is always guilty.

    The "Advisors"

     The Proxenos Imperial Ambassadors. By law, they are guests. In reality, they hold the Right of Alacrity,. aThis legal loophole thatRight allows themthe Proxenos to bypass the "SlowSeasonal Roots"Delay votingand processforce an immediate vote on matters of International Security, Trade, Policy, or Unrest. This right is never codified in ink anywhere and for years has rarely exploited to passthis degree. The current Proxenos is Imperial Legate Kaelus. He uses this right daily. While the Elven Senate waits six months to vote on a parkour permit, Kaelus forces through "Emergency ImperialRailroad Decrees"Acts" instantly.and "resource extraction permits" in a single afternoon.

    V. The Handler

    The Clerk

    VI. A Draft of the Indicting Incident

    Stuffs

    VII. Safty Lines and Veils

    Test

    VIII. PC Gen

    How to

    IX. Lingo of the Setting

    When the walls have ears and the air itself swallows magic, words become weapons. To sound like a local, you need to know how to speak in the shadows.

    X. Collabtion Questions of the Setting

    A party formed in a tavern is a cliché. A cell formed by necessity is a bond. Let’s establish the threads that tie you to the world, and to the dead man who brought you here.

    Please answer these for your character:

    1. The Debt: The Clerk saved your skin once. What did he do for you that made you answer his call today?
    2. The Contraband: You possess a piece of "Old Republic" (Eaernthil) contraband that would get you arrested immediately. Is it a book? A flag? A medal? A forbidden religious icon?
    3. The Adaptation: The Static affects everyone differently. How do you cope with the noise? Do you drink? Meditate? Or do you hear voices in it?
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