My D&D Campaign Prologue: The Darkness of the Necromagus

[fringey]

As every good tale must, this tale has a beginning. But, it begins in terror, blood, and darkness. The land of Panzara fell in a week. The forces of the Thanatos and the Necromagus came without warning in the darkness of the shortest night of the year and were unstoppable. Armies of fighting men and the most powerful of wizards, clerics, sorcerors, witches, and magi fell to the reaper's blade of the Necromagus's death magicks as quickly as ice melts in high summer. Panzara became a land of terror within days of their arrival and a year has passed since.

The Necromagus, a cult dedicated to the glory of death and undeath, followed their liege lord, the great lich Thanatos, without fear. Some said Thanatos has assumed the name of the god of death to strike fear in the hearts of those who stood against him. Other said Thanatos truly was the death god himself. This belief is difficult to shrug off as superstition, as the power of Thanatos seems complete. The forces of light and life seem to have no power against him and his armies of fiends.

Panzara is now a land of darkness and death, seemingly just one step removed from Hades itself. Even the sun cannot penetrate the murky twilight that covers everything during the day, and the nights are moonless and starless wells of blackness. Those who fear the light have no need to hide in Panzara and the profane and foul walk at noon or midnight in perfect freedom. Those who revel in evil in all it's myriad forms have found their way to Panazara from the world over. Vampires, zombies, werelings, orcs, and any named or unnamed creature of foulness spread across Panzara with no obstacle to their passage, and they commit heinous deeds with impunity. Their horrible acts cry out for justice, but Thanatos's law is the law of death, which has no sway in any mortal court. Indeed, the crimes of these creatures are rewarded, not punished.

The hope of the Panzaran people has fallen to lows that seem unsurvivable, but hope still thrives in some hearts. There are those who fight against Thanatos in any way they can. The Necromagus cannot wipe courage out of all hearts with their terrible magicks and a small web of resistance has spread across Panzara. They have sworn oaths to take Thanatos from his Carrion Throne and return the light to Panzara, even at the forfeit of their own lives.

This small group commits whatever acts they can to defeat even the smallest of Thanatos's fiends. While their deeds are hardly legendary, they do have an effect. For every act of the brave fighters witnessed by another, the word is spread of their courage and their deeds. Of the few who hear these stories, there is always at least one who finds their own courage through those stories. A new fighter is born. As a small spark can create a holocaust, those who strive to return the light know they are but the beginning that could, possibly, someday mean the end for Thanatos.

Can these who fight for light, life, and freedom defeat Thanatos or will he utterly crush them eventually? We can not know yet. This tale has a beginning, but the end is not yet written.

Patrick
a.k.a. Fringey, The Fringe Element
"A life lived without passion is a life not lived.