The Archdruid is dead! Now is the time to reclaim the world for civilisation.
“Some see only the darkness of the monster-infested wildlands that surround the Arcane Bay, but not I. Here, a man might be master. A woman might crown herself queen. There is a world for the taking, and brave souls like you and I, we might make it our own. There is no end to this dream of a new dawn, and the maps have no borders, but those we shall ink upon them. Come. Join me and together we shall build a brave new world.”
Wild winds and waves swirl and crash across Arcane Bay buffeting careening carracks which haul fresh souls daily from Stronghold and Pol’s Rest where the last bastion of civilization teeters on the edge. The salt and sun-kissed shores bid farewell to fresh Vanguard explorers, Kaltoran refugees, mercenaries, fugitives, opportunistic worshippers of Corp, monster hunters, traders, and homesteaders. All seeking to carve out a new home from reclaimed land.
These brave men and women chop and cleave at the ever-encroaching grasp of druid-enchanted woodlands. But this glimmer of new civilization must be reclaimed from a vast and yawning darkness. Beneath the canopy of the northern Archdruid Woods, hordes of monstrous Nephilim, roar, rove and hunt anyone foolhardy enough to venture into their domain, and though the Archdruid is slain, no one knows if a new leader rises to claim his mantle among the scattered remnants of his once sweeping army.
Newly arrived explorers seek the ruined ramparts of the great cities their grandmother told them tales of before the war. Treasure hunters lust for lost spoils or covet secrets buried beneath the war-torn wilds. Alchemists hunt for rare ingredients growing wild in the Archdruid Woods to unlock soaring new heights of arcane power.
Even as the old war ends, new blades and banners are raised on the horizon. The abatement of hostilities between the southern Legion barbarians and races of Stronghold and Pol’s Rest grows tenuous as the arctic hordes strike out east claiming vast swathes of territory, and the old grudges grate anew as rival towns are settled on their borders.
Meanwhile, the infighting lords of the Great Houses descend into fresh bloodshed and strangle the outpost settlement of Pol’s Rest with their unchecked ambitions. Adding their voices to this cacophonous squabbling, the Eternal Priesthood tears itself asunder as some seek to return Neph to their pantheon while others forbid her worship as heresy punishable by demise most dreadful. Amidst this rising strife, the discordant feuds of the past lurk like restless phantoms to haunt the new era of peace as all seek to lay their hand upon the helm of the coming age.
More than a few refugees hold a simpler wish in their hopeful hearts - to carve out a parcel of land to call home in the wake of the harrowing war. To the west of Arcane Bay lies the unspoiled region of Arcane Point, ravaged by barbarian longboats, but spared the Archdruid’s magic by his timely death, and as of yet unclaimed. This land may prove the perfect sanctuary for those fleeing Stronghold and Pol’s Rest in wish of a new life.
All the while, the great wrym Languorem, slowly unfurls his voluminous wings, and the shadow of his corruption spreads into Pol’s Rest with each passing day.
The dragon must die. The world must be reclaimed. New cities must rise from the crumbled vine-choked ruins the Archdruid left in his wake. Brave heroes are needed to forge the future, for the world shall be wrought in the image of those who reclaim it. Master or warlord, king or queen, hero or conquerors… to which title shall you stake your claim in Arcane Bay?
