Friday, December 27, 2013

Alternate Icon - The Puritan

The blood I spill consecrates the ground for a new age.

The Puritan protects the common people of the world from the devils, demons and monsters that roam the Empire. Unless you're an elf. Or a dwarf. Or a wingling. Then, he'll tell you that the Gods help those who help themselves as you get eaten.

Usual Location

The Puritan built up a fortress now known as First Triumph, where the majority of his army is amassing. Or out crusading.

Common Knowledge

Luxor Urelius was a commander in the Dragon Empire's guard that was also a rising star. His bracing honesty and immunity to the politics and intrigue of Axis garnered him the attention of the puppetmasters. They did what they usually do - send the solider on a fool's crusade like purifying a hellhole and use him as a martyr and symbol as needed.

And then he won.

He believed that his human heritage was what kept him from succumbing to the temptations and terrors he found in the hellhole. The men who survived were all also human. These men formed the first companies of the Puritan and they believe that humanity will save the Dragon Empire. Humans will be the kings and queens of a brand new age, bringing all the races of the Empire to heel, not just the dragons.

Adventurers & the Icon

Adventurers looking for experience in slaying monsters without the vagary of mysterious tavern-based quest dispensers might sign on to one of the Puritan's companies.  If you're willing to fight, if you're willing to die, the Puritan will have you slaying monsters in no time. Despite his rhetoric about the purity of human, other races are accepted into his companies. Of course, those units are often the most poorly equipped and the first in to a hellhole, but that's mere coincidence.

Allies

So long as The Puritan bends his knee to the Emperor, the Emperor turns a blind eye to the Puritan's discrimination. The Lich King views him as a potential tool to cast down the Dragon Empire, and often sends anonymous tips on demon whereabouts. The Great Gold Wyrm wishes he would shut up and fight, but notes that more and more of his paladins fight alongside the white tunics of the Puritan.

Enemies

The Diabolist can't stand the Puritan, especially since the stories she's told about the nights they've spent together don't seem to stick. Both the Elf Queen and Dwarf King dislike him, but have written him off as the Dragon Emperor's problem for now. The Priestess thinks his means do not justify his means, since whereveer his companies go they rattle the harmony of peaceful communities.

History

Throughout the ages, there have been racist enclaves of mercenaries that have siexes an enclave or terrorized a fiefdom. The Puritan is the first to do it on a global scale. His mix of populism and human supremacy

The True Danger

Cleaning up all the monsters in the world will take time. Maybe even an age or two. But what happens once the Puritan turns his troops on those blood he views as unclean.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Agents of An Icon - Abbadon Company


For the next level of our campaign, the heroes face a piece of the Crusader's army. The army protects the area from the gnoll raiders that moved in to terrorize the locals, but the price for that protection is quickly becoming apparent. After they defeat Abbadon Company, the heroes will discover why the Crusader in this Age is known as The Puritan.

After the victory of First Triumph, the Puritan set about organizing the massive army he raised as a more permanent concern. Each company he organized was named about one of the portals he passed through to secure his new base. The companies are rotated throughout the lands of the Dragon Empire. In most cases, the companies away from the hellhole are tasked with securing resources to send back home. The commanders are given leeway in how they provide their resources. Funding the War of White is more important than the details of how it gets done.

Abbadon was the first of these rings, so the troops are new to the cause. The line between "believer in the destiny of human ascension" and "hiding behind a uniform to beat people up" is very thing. Most of these virtues, as the Crusader's soldiers are called, have seen no action against demons. Their cruelty to the non-human subjects of the barony is on display, though truth be told, their treatment of the humans outside the Puritan's company is not much better,

Industus Nazim Rojaspina leads Abbadon Company. The company arrived at the behest of Baron Jonn Harker. When Harker went missing, the troops moved into the keep to maintain order while they searched for the missing lord. Nazim vows that once Harker is found and the gnolls are finally defeated, the company will leave. He appreciates the sacrifices the barony makes in the meantime to keep the company fighting fit.

The Dragon Emperor is unhappy with large, organized military companies roaming the countryside, but the Puritan's actions at First Triumph kept his armies from being overrun by demons. Supplicants to the Throne were sent months ago and have yet to return. Anything that makes the Dragon Emperor uncomfortable, of course, makes the Three hiss with delight. Rumors of a Blue Dragon Sorceress have been enough to keep any organized resistance against Abbadon Company to a minimum.