Updated recap

I'm about to start up the campaign again, continuing 5E as the core rules.  This is a recap of some key information.

What you need to know about:

The campaign world: Your home world is a vast world, with many continents and civilizations.  But your characters are really aware of just two parts of the world.  “The Four Kingdoms” (think Western Europe) is a densely populated wealthy area.  It is relatively peaceful, but surrounded by threats from the east and south.  Across the ocean from the Four Kingdoms is an area known as “Terra Malatia”, or “The diseased lands”.  Geographically Terra Malatia looks a lot like North America.

In ancient times, a vast plague struck Terra Malatia, and nearly wiped out all civilization there.  Travel to Terra Malatia was banned for centuries.  Only 50 years ago did explorers from the Four Kingdoms begin to rediscover the lost Continent.  And only 20 years ago did they establish colonies.  5 groups were allowed to form charters to build colonies.   

One of these colonies is known as Fort Aralan.  Its location is similar to St. Augustine, Florida in the “real world”.  It is your base of operation. 

As the area under the control of Fort Aralan expanded, people began to discover some things about the past.  In ancient times, there were human, elf, and dwarf kingdoms, similar to those in the Four Kingdoms.  But there was another, larger power -- an empire of reptiloid creatures, such as kobolds, dragonborn, and lizard-folk.  This empire was known as the “Bahumati”, a name derived from the Platinum Dragon god Bahamut.  But at some point in its history, the empire fell under the control of a cult of Tiamat worshippers.  The Bahumati turned their energies towards conquering all lands for the reptiloid races, and driving out humans, elves, dwarves, and the like.   

When the plague began, the Bahumati turned to the practice of Necromancy.  They cursed their lands with undead, to keep them from falling into the hands of other races.  Some of their leaders sought immortality in undead form.

Important events that have occurred –
Your party is in possession of an artifact known as the Crown of Trakas.  It contains the undead spirit of Trakas Wingsong,  once a powerful warrior king for the Bahumati. 

-          The spirit of Trakas Wingsong attempted to possess the body of an adolescent dragonborn male named Merdosh.  Merdosh was born with a distinctive combination of red and black scales.  He is very similar in appearance to Trakas Wingsong as he appears in portraits from ancient times.

“           "The Ash Valley” 

·         -Your party discovered a growing Bahumati kingdom, rising in the lands once ruled by Trakas Wingsong.  They also discovered an ancient treaty, compelling Drow and Eladrin forces in that area to unite and drive out the Bahumati.

·         In order to trigger the actions of the treaty, the party intervened in a Drow civil war.  The helped a Drow princess named Belarcirce to assassinate her sister Nathnitra, and claim her mother’s place as rules of the house of Mezrylornyl.  Once this house was re-united, the terms of the treaty could be met. 

·         The party participated in a battle to drive the emerging Bahumati kingdom out of the lands once ruled by Trakas Wingsong.  (These lands are called “The Ash Valley”)

“The Green Mountain”
·         Relatively close to Fort Aralan, within several weeks march to the north, the Bahumati attempted to restore an ancient fortress within “The Green Mountain”
·         These Bahumati had come to the Green Mountain through the Underdark.  A vast sea lies beneath this area in the Underdark, known as the “Great Dark Sea”.  A group of Drow sailors, known as “The Black Fleet” also occupy this sea.
·         The Party discovered a vampire named Egilina.  In ancient times she had been queen over the area now occupied by Fort Aralan.  They formed a temporary alliance with her, long enough to thwart the Bahumati plans to restore their mountain fortress.  The party attempted to kill Egilina in the end, but she escaped.

 Cosmology –
“The Four Kingdoms”  and “Terra Malatia” are parts of a world in the plane of existence that could be described as “the Natural World”.   There are two other planes of existence that lay parallel to the Natural World. 

The Feywild,or “plane of faeries”, is a more extreme echo of the Natural World.  The trees are greener and taller, the rivers are wider and more powerful.  Magic is far more common.

 The “Underdark” is another parallel world, also with similar geography to the Natural World.  Surface areas in the Underdark are deserted and desolate.  But the underground realms are vast and teaming with dark magic. 

 There are places where the Feywild and Natural World blend together seamlessly, and people can cross over without even knowing it.  The Ash Valley area where the most recent adventures happened is such a place. 

Similarly, there are open seams between the Underdark and the Natural World.  The Drow fortress that the party visited in the last stage of the campaign was part of the Underdark.

Cast of characters

Junter - John's eladrin wizard
Adejo - Brian's gith monk (retired from the campaign)_
Winsor- Brian’s half-elf Bard
Yosh – Stan’s elf Seeker (retired from the campaign)
Samm - Stan's human fighter
Sharpear – Stan’s Shifter Warden, part of the Malathil in the Ash Valley.  (retired from the campaign)
Perra - Bill's dragonborn cleric
Gevin - Jim's elf ranger
Nadarr - an old blue dragonborn. Leader of the Bahamut temple in Fort Aralan
Sihirbaz - wizard who runs the magic shop in Fort Aralan where this all started
Darun - a member of an order of paladins. This order is part of the cult of Tiamat. These are the elite warriors of the Bahumati.
White Skull - organized crime group, apparently doing some work on behalf Bahumati in the area around Fort Aralan.
Gaius - former employee of Sirhirbaz. He learned much of the Bahumati on his journeys, and recorded it in a diary (Guy Royse's character.  Retired from the campaign)
The Capturing Orb - a magical device for collecting and storing images. Gaius used one of these to capture an extensive history of the Bahumati written on the walls of a pyramid in the south islands.
Merdosh - Dragonborn boy with black and red scales. Resembles an ancient bahumati warlord known a Trakas Wingsong.
Surina - green-scaled dragonborn from "where the winters are cold". Surina was brought to Fort Aralan by a Darun to help care for Merdosh after his capture.
The Jawbone - Small pirate vessel, operated by White Skull. The party has fought with the crew of this ship twice.
Egilina – Former queen of the area now occupied by Fort Aralan.  Survives today in the form of a vampire.

Belarcice - Ruler of the House of Mezrylornyl.  A Drow faction located in the Underdark, near the Ash Valley.  The party aided in the assassination of her sister, in order to help her rise to power.  This faction then aided the party, along with the Malathil and Eldardin to expel the Bahumati from the valley.

Charir - Draconic word for the color red, or for red-scaled dragonborn
Vutha - Draconic word for the color black, or for black-scaled dragonborn
Achuak - Draconic word for the color green, or for green-scaled dragonborn
Ulhar - Draconic word for the color blue, or for blue-scaled dragonborn
Aussir - Draconic word for the color white, or for white-scaled dragonborn