Eldspire
The year is 1894 After Blight. The world of Eldspire is a place where magic has been harnessed as a tool, infusing Steamcrafted industrial and technological advancements with magical energy using the material known as Glimmerstone — used to build cities, sail skyships, and create fantastical Glimmertech wonders.
Everyday life is suffused with this new technology, enabling those without magical powers to do magical things. The majority of citizens and nations in Eldspire, and the continent of Gadrona, have access to these magically infused gadgets, providing them with a quality of life not experienced in Eldspire for thousands of years.
A corporate salesman may take a Glimmertrain to work — harried by advertisements, neon signs, and hawkers the entire ride — put their lunch in a refrigerator, and turn on electrical Everlamps to light their office before lifting a Sternophone to their ear to start their day. Meanwhile an employee at the Glimmertech giant Sterns & Bailey starts their day on the assembly line, plugging Glimmerstone batteries into various devices before they’re shipped off to local stores.
It’s a magical world, but the magic is wide, not deep. Powerful practitioners of the Arcane are rare – often met with awe when encountered.
This is a time of excess following the Last Great War. This is a time of progress and optimism where technological, industrial, commercial and cultural pursuits are rewarded. Corporations compete for resources and revenue as they consolidate power with little regulation. Citizens flock to cities to escape the harsh, supernatural realities of nighttime in the Outlands, while seeking better employment than the exploitative Glimmer mines or the myriad of other resource extraction pursuits occurring in the wilderness. People are drawn to cities for the exaggereated jubilance of the Relic Races, the Kalantha Grand Prix, the partying, and the endless musical escapades, all driven by the robust enthusiam to let off steam.
Not all is happy in the realms of Gadrona. The civilizations and cities of the continent are built upon the ruins of an ancient civilization. Creatures and monsters, both supernatural and all-too-real emerge at night, attacking and savaging those unable to protect themselves.
Cities aren’t safe either. Large city wards known as Manifestation Zones are cordoned as the guards do their best to protect the city from the creatures that surface there. Citizens aren’t allowed, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there, as the poorest of the poor need somewhere to lay their heads. Manifestion Zones aren’t the only places creatures can emerge, either, and the city isn’t always as safe as it seems. Powerful syndicates of mercenaries and warriors seek to hunt these monsters, some to protect, some for fame, and others for the thrill of battle.
With any ancient civilization there are artifacts and treasures to be found. Enterprising adventurers often go on expeditions, some returning to fame, fortune and glory. Some of these enterprising adventurers don’t come back.
The Campaign
Our adventure starts in the city of Kalantha, The Jewel of Gadrona, The City of Sounds, a melting pot of over 1 million people. It sits upon the Shuraan Ocean to the west, and nestled below the Aragath Peaks to the north. Kalantha is a fast-paced conflux of creative, economic, and technologically advanced excess. The city is a complex maze – a by-product of the layered wards and newly built skyscrapers. It’s a city of progress, built upon layers and layers of previous construction as the city attempts to keep up with corporate expansion, the economic and cultural boom resulting from being the largest exporter of Glimmertech in Eldspire, as well as the rapid influx of Outland citizens and incoming immigrants seeking a better life.
Skyships dot the skyscape, carrying exotic goods from across Gadrona and the nearby desert continent of Shuraa into the city’s massive Skyport. Glimmertrains move goods and people from all corners of the Outlands. A series of Lirryman Lifts connect the upper and lower wards. Parks break up the monotony of concrete and decadent architecture, and steamships chug in and out of Port Dorian, carrying volumes of cargo far too large for skyships alone. The Kalanthan Manifestation Zone resides in the Torius Lower Ward, haunting and harrying the lowest income citizens of the city. At night, flickering neon signs beckon the curious and rewards those who wander from the well-worn trails of the city.
Kalanthans balance fierce professional ambition with an ethusiasm for excess and frivolity. Locals fuel themselves on exotic feasts of fish from the shores of the Shuraan, both in the tight alleys of vendors in Suvius Square and the decadent, art deco climes of Paik Street. A short carriage ride – or a jaunt on a Skimmerscoot – from the Castar Trolley Station will take you to the neon lights of Lassius Avenue where you can gorge yourself on plays and musicals, hear local talent in indulgent bars such as Club Grammarcy, or perform yourself in one of the myriad of popular karaoke bars, bolstering your courage with healthy sips of Tilli.
The rise of capitalism at scale is resulting in an exploited “unskilled” workforce and a new order of Haves and Have-nots. Traditional industries are being disrupted as family owned businesses are overwhelmed by the resources and wealth of corporations and franchises. The Seven Council struggles to keep up with the advances in technology and industry as innovation outpaces the ability to regulate it. An underworld of organized criminal activity and government corruption infects the city. Cultural and social clashes occur as Kalantha evolves and prospers in the new world enabled by Glimmertech.