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BGM ~ Overture

Dragon Quest Valor

Ten years ago, the world of Valonius was thrown into chaos with the advent of Dark Lord Velga. Under the power of a dark curse, monsters everywhere were bound to her power, acting as an army led by her four dark generals. None could stand up to her wrath... until the rise of the Hero.

Elika was a humble farm girl, but when the monsters came, she took up a sword and fought to protect the weak. Swiftly, her power grew, and four mighty warriors became her stalwart companions. Elika became the symbol of hope itself as she crossed the world, facing Velga's dark generals in life or death battles. With the Shield of Light she protected her friends from danger, and with the Sword of Light she cut down the forces of evil. One by one, the dark generals were slain, but one by one, her allies fell as well, until Elika and Velga had their final duel atop Death Isle for the fate of the world.

Nobody knows exactly what happened in that fateful battle, but the aftermath is known. Velga's dark castle now lays in ruins, but she and Elika were never seen again, with the only memento remaining from the battle being Elika's sword and shield. With the defeat of the Dark Lord, peace returned to Valonius, monsters once again free to mostly leave humans alone, the occasional skirmish or random encounter aside.

Ten years have passed since the fall of Dark Lord Velga. While no new evil master has announced their presence, the curse of darkness has returned to Valonius. Monsters are losing their minds, turning to brutally attack humanity at every turn. Who is behind this new invasion? Will a new hero rise to stand against them?

So Yeah
It's a Valor campaign. Standard rules, 1-20, five PCs. I'm not ready to pick a party yet, but I will at some point.

More Details

• The full world map isn't ready to be revealed, but the majority of Valonius is dominated by two large continents - Helenia in the west, and Yamatonia in the east. Death Isle is in the sea between the two, surrounded by ship-crushing reefs. The campaign will probably start in Helenia.
• Monsters are everywhere in Valonius, but they aren't usually as hostile as they are now. Monsters don't get along with humans well, so they mostly keep away from human settlements, only occasionally attacking towns or isolated travelers. Monsters also differ from humans in that they lack our aversion to death - for most monsters, being defeated and spared is considered a greater insult than being killed.
• The Curse of Darkness is an innate power of the Dark Lord, which covered the world when she arose. The curse covered the entire world, and turned nearly all monsters into her unwavering servants. However, some random monsters were spared by chance, and areas of powerful magical significance shielded any monsters there from her control. The new curse seems to operate on the same rules.
• Dragons, the strongest race of monsters, are immune to the Curse of Darkness, but many of them served Velga willingly, because one of her generals was a powerful Elder Dragon.
• Velga was not the first Dark Lord to attack Valonius. It seems that something like this happens every century or two. They have varying degrees of success, some even establishing dominion over the world briefly, but all of them have met their demise at the hands of human heroes.
• Elika's coming was not prophesized, nor was she of any great lineage. What made her the Hero, the source of her incredible power, is a mystery. Perhaps it was a natural consequence of her powerful, pure heart. The world is looking for a new Hero, but the truth is that nobody knows exactly what that means.
• The majority of Valonius adheres to the same religion, a Christianity-like order following an unnamed Goddess. Odds of it being a secret evil doom religion are surprisingly low.
• Elika had four party members, Velga had four dark generals. All eight of them are probably dead, and I'm declining to describe them, because those are some rich plot hooks.

Interested?
Yeah you are. Hit me with this in a comment:
1. Name or handle
2. One or more character ideas
3. Tell me about one of Elika's party members or one of Velga's dark generals

Comments

[chaosgreed]

1. Name or handle
Emily lesyay deerleisure

2. One or more character ideas
I've waved poetic about her before, but Princess Astrid (name subject to change.) But see, there's a twist:

Princess Astrid was actually Prince Alexander, the only prince of the Ilion Kingdom. Although more scholarly than his older sister, Princess Elana, he was well-loved for his good temperament, his refined elegance, and his habit of getting to know everybody he met.

But one day he came across a monster and was cursed - to take the form of a princess, robbing the kingdom of their crown prince. And worse, it even robbed him - her - of her memories, making her believe she'd always been Princess Astrid.

Her kingdom wept, but the King asked the people to play along with these false memories, afraid that challenging them might break his child. The people agreed, and so the entire kingdom helped keep up the lie, so that Astrid could remain ignorant whilst her sister, the much more combat-oriented Elana, went to defeat the monster that placed this curse and thus reverse it.

Except there was one issue: Astrid's memories were fine. Although there was some confusion over what had happened at first, she'd never had fake memories or lost her old ones. Instead, she found that she enjoyed being a girl, and didn't want that to end. And more to the point, by the time she realized this, it felt way way too late for her to come clean about things.

So now she has an issue. If her sister succeeds on her quest, Astrid will go back to being Alexander. So what's a princess to do?

Relating to her role in the party, she can fill a lot of roles so long as it's not a big beefy attacker - something traditionally princess, such as a magic fencer, a Sage, a bard, a buff/debuffer, or some sort of archer are all possible. (Basically, she can work in any combination of Dex/Int/Aur, with a bunch of possibilities under that umbrella.)

Backstory is able to be adjusted as needed for the game, of course. (I envision the monster that cursed her to be one of the new Four Dark Generals or whatnot, but also possible it's an apprentice of a former one, a witch, or something else, etc.)

3. Tell me about one of Elika's party members or one of Velga's dark generals
The Cleric of Elika's was actually Astrid's uncle, a prince who gave up his line for the throne in order to go into the church. He bravely took the call to join Elika and stand up to the Dark Lord, and paid the ultimate price. Astrid's father talks about him fondly, so she grew up hearing stories about him and his youth.
(He used to be a heartbreaker, according to her father - but inadvertently, because he wasn't interested at all in romance despite being incredibly attractive. That may have influenced him to join the Church, funny story.)