The Rest Is Silence

O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.

Hamlet, Act V, Scene II

The Rest Is Silence is an Ars Magica Saga based on an original world, using concepts from the AD&D Birthright setting and from the Kult roleplaying game, and the world-building system from the Aria roleplaying game. It contains elements of traditional fantasy, steampunk, and futuristic dark horror.

The emphasis of the campaign will be discovery -- discovery of the world's history, discovery of what lurks in the darkness, discovery of the hidden recesses of one's own mind, discovery of ancient horrors, and the discovery of heroes.

Table of Contents

General Information
* The Citadels (07/07/97)
* Important Characters (07/28/97)

Rules Information
* Character Generation (07/08/97)
* Combat Modifications (07/31/97)

Narrative Environment Templates
* Vos (05/03/97)
* Carvalon
* Silek
* Cordosa
* Zakharim
* Freehold
* North Keep
* Miros

Citadel Details
* Vos (07/30/97)

Political Details
* Vos (07/30/97)

Session Notes
* Part I: A Little More Than Kin
* Part II: Be All My Sins Remembered

There was a world, once, when kings were majestic, princes were noble, knights were heroic, wicked sorceresses were scheming, and damsels in distress were held captive by evil dragons.

It was destroyed.

Scholars disagree on the means of destruction. The learned councillors of Vos believe that a war between the gods scorched and blackened the earth. The knights of Carvalon believe that the dragons were reborn in a great eruption of fire from the very bowels of the earth. The tree-people of Miros believe that the earth was swallowed by an evil demon. Other cultures and races have even stranger theories. The truth, it seems, has long been lost to the mists of history.

What is clear, though, is that a little over one thousand years ago, the land was subject to a cataclysmic upheaval that changed the very landscape of the earth. The seas boiled away in a rain of fire, and the continental rearrangement resulted in near-extermination of the populace. Eventually, natural processes healed the land, though there are still places of forbidden darkness, where death comes to those who linger overlong, and none wish to venture beyond the protected areas of the Citadels without plenty of protection.

The Citadels are humanity's refuge from the wastelands. Into them are clustered the teeming masses of man and monster. The Citadels are dark, brooding medieval-ish cities, full of wooden houses with overhanging stories shadowing the cobbled streets. Starvation is always just around the corner, for many, and raw materials in constant short supply.

Despite the challenges of daily existence, the Citadels are nearly always at war, either with some outside forces, or with each other. Internal political struggles within each Citadel are also common, and the constant feuding makes any position of power volatile indeed. It is known, though, that those who have worn the Circlets of Power of the Citadels are gifted with a mystic connection to their demesnes, granting them powers far beyond those of normal mortal men.

It is into this world that you have been born, into this world that you will venture. Born of the ruling dynasties of the Citadels, your recent coming-of-age has released you from the care of your tutors, and it is now your task to prove yourself worthy of your heritage.

Maintained by lwl@godlike.com / Created 04.10.97 / Revised 07.30.97