I'd like to start off by saying hello and very nice to meet all you NAGA people out there, I very happy to be here and I hope we can all have a lot of fun! - Frank
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Note and History of Game: "Ardna: Flesh and Blood" is set in an evolving campaign world that makes use of player-contributions to keep the setting growing and changing. Characters can have an effect upon the world they move in, and can be plucked out of any given game and placed in any compatible game going on anywhere in the world, specifically in events run with the North American Gaming Alliance (NAGA). Players are invited to try to submit material to add to the published setting. "Flesh and Blood" is a unique storyline designed specifically for NAGA, but is also compatible with any other game set in the world of Ardna. The world of Ardna was first used extensively in a organized and cooperative gaming movement known as "Living Earth" which shares the same setting and creative staff, but is not associated with NAGA. "Fire and Blood" makes use of the d20 system.
“Land is one’s flesh and blood.” -- Wang Lung The Good Earth
Once there was a world called Ardna, which was filled with wondrous creatures both great and small. It was a magical world, where Dwarves, Elves, Men, Orcs and many other races all struggled to survive against the wyrd and wyld. In this world there was a Great Wall that divided the south end of the continent where all the free peoples lived, from the North, a wasteland teeming with the Undead. This Great Wall sat in the Titan Mountains, and was many miles across and wide, standing as the supreme work of the Dwarves whose entire civilization could be found within. For millennia the Dwarves sat in their fortress and by their efforts secured the rest of the world from the horrors of the Undead of the Dark North.
The Elves, for their part, upheld the virtues and rituals of the ancient world, held civilization high, and lived in their Ivory Tower located in the center of the continent. The Ivory Tower reached far into the heavens, nearly touching the Moon itself, and was as an empire standing end over end. There, all that was magical and wondrous was kept alive, evergreen, and has so since the dawn of history.
The Halflings roamed wide and far, free people on their own lands, keeping to the old ways and traditions and keeping their heads well below cover. Whether tending to their fields or taming the wild lands of the Twilight Wastes, Halflings kept the traditions of the hearth and home, while always keeping adventure and joy in their hearts.
Gnomes escaped turmoil and bondage in the Southern Continent across the Great Sea, some say, from across the stars themselves, to find their own niche in and amongst the free people of the world. Working and striving and struggling to survive.
And the races of Men blended in everywhere, building their cities, waging their wars, as they tend to do.
But these proud people were not the sole inhabitants of the world – not by far.
The Savage Ones, Green Men, or goblinoids as some call them, had minds and wills of their own. The Green Men, who long ago have had any elements of their great civilizations shattered as they fell to barbarism and savagery, still lived under foot throughout the world, sometimes even under an uneasy peace. The Kobolds toiled away in their hives in the mountains. The Goblins kept their tribes secure in their swamps and the jungles. Bugbear families were still known to rove the land and keep to the wild spaces in the north. Gnoll packs and bands and even Gnoll Nations have been found in the great wastelands of the deserts. The Orcs have been closest to building a true civilization, creating their cities of war, amassing generals to lead, keeping a socialist empire wherever their enemies dare not resist them, or in places too ruined for any Man or Elf to desire. In this way, there was a measure of peace between the Savage Ones and the other races. For the most part, this is how the world had been for many centuries.
But then one day, a group of fell Orc warlocks and their Green Brethren decided to level the playing field.
They had believed that their gods and their ways were cast aside by the betraying Freemen; those Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and all others that dare think of themselves better then the Green Men. They blamed the Elves for toppling their once great civilizations, and considered them betrayers. So one day, in a great and powerful spell, many Elf lives were sacrificed to perform a ritual to summon back one of their “Lost Gods.” The Savage Ones would finally get the respect and honor that they deserved.
But things went terribly awry.
When the Orcs sacrificed those Elves, instead of resurrecting a god, they manifested some foul and atrocious spirit – not immortal and wise and meant to lead them – but a venomous Thing that radiated hatred and lasting only a few precious moments. Unfortunately, a few moments were all that was needed for it to work its evil. Rising up from the Titan Mountains in the North, house of the Dwarven Wall, it lashed out against the barricade with all its might, forcing a breach in that endless line of stone and mortar, catching the Dwarves off guard, allowing a flood of death and evil to come pouring out of the wall in a giant wave that threatened to overtake all the world. Worse still, the Undead seemed to move with a singular will, and their main target in all of this was to destroy the Elven sanctuary of the Ivory Tower. Wave after wave came, and the Tower came tumbling down. All of Elven society was torn asunder, Men and all those living for millennia in safety behind the Great Wall were ill prepared to fend off the Undead that came pouring out, but they valiantly tried their best. There was not but shadow in the world for the next few years.
But miraculously the Undead were turned back, and the Wall was sealed once again.
This is the story of what came after.
Elves.
Now that the Elves have lost all they once had, a great turmoil has swept over what remains of their people. The Elven Homeland is now waste, nothing will grow there. The Tower has crumbled. Rumors have spread of Savage Elves who had their minds ripped from their bodies when the Undead assaulted and took the Tower. It is whispered that there are slavers and demon worshippers among their numbers now, although this is a blasphemy intolerable to Elven ears. While many Elves lost their faith in their god, who did nothing to prevent this from happening, many others have perversely redoubled their faith, believing that the Elven god, the Father of Elves, had allowed this tragedy as punishment for a people that had lost their way and loosened their faith. Now, the Church of Freedom is a looming shadow over everything, as iron-handed clerics defend freedom by preparing for war. All the lands around the Elven Homeland have been forced to deal with refugees at an astounding and threatening number, and some are worried the Elves are there to stay. Lastly there are a few druids and rangers who persist on trying to save the forests of the Elven Homeland, even though it has been cursed. The Elves feel betrayed by all the people of the world who have long benefited from their wisdom and guidance, and now abandon them in their time of need. They feel betrayed by the Dwarves, whom they feel should have done a better job securing their Wall, as was the ancient covenant that the world has held with them since before time. They feel betrayed by Orcs, naturally, and even the most tolerant of the Fair Folk will think twice before allowing the Savage Ones solace again.
Orcs.
The Green Men have never had it well in the world of the Freemen, but now things have gotten far worse. For the actions of a handful of Cultists, all Orcs, goblinoids, and their kin are blamed. Racial tensions are at an all time high, and any organization or banding together of green folk results in open warfare. Urukai, the first and largest Orcish civilization to form since memory began, is a special danger because it is so unhappily near the Elven Homeland. None know if this grand experiment will survive. With every passing day, the Savage Ones feel the noose around their throats tightening and tightening, and now they all fear retaliation from the other races of the world.
Dwarves.
Dwarves feel betrayed by the Elves, who did nothing to stop the ritual that caused the breach of their Great Wall. Long have Dwarven lives been put on the line, raised as a barrier against the Undead, and as the entire Dwarven Nation was threatened to be cut in half with the breach, no one did anything to help them. So they are angry at all. But the Dwarves did manage to hold back the Undead and rebuild the Wall… with some fortuitous assistance. Gnomes, whom the Dwarves allowed to live throughout their great nation for centuries for the meager payment of tribute in exchange for room and board, have helped them rebuild. But now, the Gnomes are overpopulating this central area of the Wall, right in the middle of the Dwarven Nation, and have formed a living breach almost as problematic as the actual one they helped repair.
Now the Gnomes are too numerous and too troublesome for Dwarf tastes. Dwarves are afraid that the Gnomes may be good for repairing stone, but would fail in all other aspects of defending the Great Wall from the Enemy, and the Dwarves don’t want their nation cut in half.
Gnomes.
Gnomes put a lot of effort into fixing that hole, and they feel that they finally have a safe respite, a place they can call their own, even if it ironically lies right along side the great ocean of Undead. The Gnomes helped save the world when they broke themselves busying to repair the breach, and many died alongside Dwarf and Man as they fought off the Undead. Now the Gnomes have convinced themselves that this spot, where they felt their greatest value and most miraculous strength, is the Promised Land they have searched for through all the many planes of the heavens and miles of the earth. They are safe here, they earned it, they deserve it, and they won’t ever leave.
Put all this together and you have the makings of a bad situation.
Now word has spread of an Elven leader that is calling for an assembly of nobles, royalty and wise men to meet at the Dwarven Wall, at the area of the breach, to discuss the world as it is now. This is where the game begins….
