Premise & Expectations

You are condemned prisoners in the most secure prison on the continent, which isn’t necessarily saying much as generally justice has grown lax in Talingarde during its golden age, and the Axiomatic Church puts a lot of focus on redemption and rehabilitation. Still, no one has ever escaped Branderscar in its history. The crime you were convicted of must have been severe enough that the Talirean authorities do not think your redemption likely or worthwhile.

You will be recruited into a cult of the archdevil Asmodeus. You need not be a devout follower of the Overfiend, but you will be expected to keep up appearances and if you do devote yourself to him you will be rewarded for your fealty. You will be offered an infernal contract that will offer you boons but also bind you magically. You will have the opportunity to negotiate and rules lawyer these and other deals, but at the end of the day, this story relies on this central conceit.

Your objective will be destroying the Holy Lawful Empire and in the ashes building a new Dominion. Destruction and vengeance will have their due, and perhaps you want to go further than your paymasters, but the cult’s motivations are not to destroy the island entirely, but to rule it. Thus while you wish to evoke terror, even hatred, there’s also motivation to not go too far.
Your characters should be ambitious, vengeful, and driven. You are talented (though inexperienced) individuals who have been denied what you think is your due, and (in your eyes) unfairly punished. You are nascent dark lords in your own right, and you should have your own motivations in addition to that of the cult.

You will start as trusted agents of the cult, but not its leaders. Given time, however, opportunities for advancement will present themselves, and it is eventually assumed that as a collective clique you will take over the entire organization for yourselves, or spin off with your own, betraying your mortal masters (betraying Asmodeus, while not impossible, is a much riskier venture). Even if none of you are devout clerics of the Overfiend, one of you, or a puppet of your choosing, will likely become the hierophant of this cult.

Even before you assume control over the organization as a whole, the management of minions and plots across the continent while you are adventuring will be a crucial part of the campaign. This will be represented with events during downtime and a “war table” like presentation, and will reward you seeking our opportunities and accumulating power outside of the strict confines of your objectives.

If your diabolical plots should succeed, you shall rule Talingarde together, at least for a time, and the campaign does not end upon that initial success. You will be expected to rule as well as conquer, so you should think about what your characters would do with that power.

Your souls are aligned with Evil, though you may not personally see yourself that way. You are not antiheroes or misunderstood outcasts. You are cackling pulp villains who, whatever their justifications or backgrounds, cannot be mistaken for anything else. Evil in this universe is a cosmic force with its own agenda. Asmodeus is only one power that represents it, and represents very specifically the use of power to control others.

Other divine powers will play their role, and not only the gods of Good against you. The machinations of faerie potentates, elemental sultans, demon princes, and empyreal lords can all play their part. There are also more archdevils than Asmodeus. Though the others are subservient to him, one has betrayed him before (Levistus) and another literally embodies the concept of treason (Mephistopheles). Asmodeus is the most motivated to see Talingarde fall to the clutches of Hell, but others may have their own designs as well.

The campaign covers a lot of comprehensive territory and will take you to every corner of Talingarde. You will have dungeon crawls (and will on more than one occasion design dungeons of your own to defend against adventurers), wilderness treks, overland travel by land, sea and air, urban adventure, courtly intrigue, magical research, infiltration and sabotage, hostage taking and negotiation, military engagements and kingdom management. These will not happen all at once or in that order, but think about what role your character might play in all of those. You need not be in the spotlight for all if you don’t want to, but I try to make a space for every player character.