Campaign:Starstruck In Astra City

Starstruck in Astra City is a campaign run in Rui’s homebrew world for Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition. The campaign takes place in the country of Astraria, the largest country in Proque, the Celestial Continent. The other two countries in Proque are Oudreu, a middle country barren of most resources after a huge war; and Crala, a magically sealed-off country dubbed the Realm of the Undead. No one dares travel to Crala, and anyone who has is never heard from ever again.

Pre-Campaign
Over a thousand years ago, a dragon named Xaevnairroath, Xae for short, made a deal with a demon for power. He became the strongest mortal being in the world, and began to destroy the land as a display of power. He summoned forth an army of demons from the Abyss, freeing them from an eternal banishment, to begin his world conquest. The Celestial Continent is razed to the ground, and Xae becomes known as the Crimson-Eyed Prince of Death.

A famous dragon blacksmith named Stylianos Kyprianou, who was a legendary dragon in his prime, forges several weapons imbued with his magic. These weapons were given to seven of Proque’s strongest warriors to fight off the demon army. The warriors fought valiantly, and with their combined strength and the powerful weapons, they captured Xae and his demon army. Three goddesses appeared to put a final stop to Xae’s reign of terror. First, descending from the heavens: Xunlan, the Goddess of Stars. Then, rising from the depths of Hell: Azatias, the Goddess of Death. Finally, from the sands of time: Amalthea, the Goddess of Time.

A grand battle was fought, and only then did Xae’s demon appear, a creature with no recorded name. Just as the Gods thought they’d won the encounter, Xae broke free and managed to wound Amalthea. It was all part of the demon’s plan to outsmart the Gods. The demon offered to strike a deal with the Goddesses, and they had no choice but to agree.

From this day, a story is passed down onto the people of Proque: Astraria, one of the most beautiful places in the world, will be the first to fall when the end of the world draws near -- when the Fallen Gods find a way to escape the eternal imprisonment of Abyss.

Ten years before the start of the story, a great war breaks out between Astraria and Crala, when an undead army marches from Crala led by a demon. Though Crala’s undead army greatly outnumbered Astraria’s forces, the undead army, along with its leader, was pushed back into Crala and sealed there by Astraria’s King Rodion Saturneia.

Campaign Begin
Present-day Astraria is ruled by the long-standing Saturneia royal family, who live in Astra City, the capital of Astraria. King Rodion rules solo after his wife, Queen Kjelle, and his step-son Prince Lavrentis, vanished during the war against Crala ten years ago. He has two children: Prince Varro, who despite his notorious flirtatious playboy personality and constant irresponsible partying, does fantastic progressive work in politics; and Princess Nari, kind, gentle, and adventurous who was born with an incredible unprecedented magic power. King Rodion is currently extremely sick with a mysterious illness, and the people believe he will not recover. Prince Varro is presumably next in line, though few Astrarians have any faith in his ability to rule.

Astraria’s nature is seemingly cursed, and periodically dies all at once like its life energy is drained. The origin of this phenomenon, called The Wilt, has still not been discovered, but according to the people of Astraria it’s been happening for hundreds of years. Ever since the disappearance of Queen Kjelle ten years ago, it’s become Princess Nari’s job to use her magic to “pray” life back into nature at four shrines in the corners of Astraria. Unfortunately, the past year has seen strange chimera-like beasts appear across the continent of mysterious origin. They have made traveling in Proque very dangerous for the average traveler.

Augustine Brody, Credoris Savalt, Nikon Nimbus, Ralith, and Tiran Zedralle had previously come together as a seemingly ragtag team of adventurers to assist in helping re-establish a major trade route in Astra City after supply lines had been attacked and disrupted by chimeras. King Rodion had disappeared from the public eye for almost ten years as he battled his mystery sickness, and had recently reappeared to personally request the party assist Nari and her retainer, Sanshi’urou Valralei, on the journey.

Along the way, the party discovers that strange things have been happening to the Saturneia family over the years. Prince Varro fell into a three year coma around eighteen years ago and was expected to never recover before being miraculously cured like nothing had happened. Queen Kjelle and Prince Lavrentis disappeared around ten years ago after a mysterious event that left Princess Nari dead and later revived with no memories of what happened. The party learns that Astraria’s historical records have been steadily revised and edited to remove their connections with illegal, demonic-sourced dark magic that sparked a huge war 300 years ago.

The party additionally learns about several different organizations and individuals. First, The Children of Time: a cult dedicated to supposedly reviving the Goddess of Time, Amalthea, who according to Credoris is lost in time. Then, Disparu, a mysterious assassin organization that operates all over the world and has recently begun targeting major Astrarian government officials who work alongside Varro. Next, an unknown group of masked individuals who the party discovers is a band of sentient chimeras who seem to be using dark magic to increase their intelligence and growth, and are trying to kill Nari.

Just when things couldn’t get any stranger, the party finds the journals of Levniphir, the sister of Xae, the Crimson-Eyed Prince of Death. She chronicled her adventures around the world alongside her companions: Kuan, a dragon, Yiran, an elf, and Zozca, a mysterious individual who practiced dark magic. The journals described their carefree travels over the course of hundreds of years, until Yiran reached the end of his life. Not wanting to lose their friend, Kuan and Levniphir made a deal with Zozca to extend his life for a cost that was not described. Yiran was brought back, but the subsequent events that followed tore the group apart. Levniphir concluded the journal seeking out another deal with Zozca, one with unknown consequences. Despite these events occurring over a timeline of over a thousand years, the party learns that Yiran and Zozca are presumably still alive well beyond a normal lifespan, as evident by Xuan, Yiran’s 25-year old son who is looking for him after he was abandoned when he was young.

Upon returning from their long and arduous journey, the party returns life back to Astraria, only for it to die once again not even a week later. After investigating the source and infiltrating the hideout of The Children of Time, they find the source of The Wilt: the cult had been using dark magic to drain the life of nature into a coffin, supposedly into Amalthea’s body. Upon her resurrection, the party finds that this isn’t the goddess, but rather her daughter, a vampire named Lumiana, who was sealed away during the war 300 years ago.

From her, the party learns that they are possibly the reincarnations of five of the seven warriors who fought Xae a millenia ago. In the center of the mystery is Zozca, who seems to be somehow connected to everything. With the looming threat of Astraria’s apocalyptic prophecy beginning, the party realizes they might be Astraria’s only hope.

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