Hardly Heroes and the greater picture (Patreon)

Taking place in 1518, Hardly Heroes is a campaign about the small people of the world. Our campaign doesn't touch on the bigger picture of Arcadia or the growing empire of Drekis. Today's post will talk about the zoomed out view of Stromheim and its place in the new empire. 

Eridon before the war
Stromheim was the capital of the largest kingdom of Arcadia, encompassing the eastern third of the continent. It had the largest metropolitan area, the most concentrated sources of information, the greatest spell casters of the region, the greatest wealth, and the highest concentration of magical items / objects.  Things were looking pretty good. There was a young queen sitting on the throne, Queen Kira Sanguine, with many years of rule ahead of hear. A great golden dragon lived in a nearby Stromscale Lake and served as advisor to generations of rulers, helping to create a long and lasting peace in the area.

The start of the war (1510)
Long story short, some interdimensional travelers left a portal open and demons invaded Arcadia, laying waste to huge swaths of Eridon. They quickly destroyed the southern half, but ran into the walls, warriors, and wizards of Stromheim where the most horrible parts of the conflict raged. Luckily the portal was closed by the same interdimensionals, and eventually the demons were defeated. The cost of this victory came in lives (martial, magical, and civil), consumable magical items (potions, scrolls, rods, staffs, wands, etc.), loss of huge tracts of farmland, and continental stability. Refugees, food shortages, and the loss of so many people in important positions lead to internal friction and fighting up and down the social hierarchy.

The undead siege (1512)
While still reeling from the shock and aftershocks of the demon invasion, an army of skeletons, zombies, and spirits led by a formal vassal (Count Vicious) in the north laid waste to town after town and eventually sieged the great capital itself. Cutting off the city from all land routes and using the deep reserves of freshly dead, the besieging city turned into a churning cauldron of chaos. When the siege ended, abruptly one morning with no apparent reason, and the city had room to breath, they looked around and found they were without queen, without ruler, without leaders. So many deaths, so quickly, with so many potential sources of destruction left the survivors without a clear understanding of what had happened. Did the queen die? Did she flee? Was she getting help, or saving her own skin? Who had killed her, and were they in charge? What happened to the great clerics and wizards? Where was the gold from the treasuries? 

The short peace (1513)
With no clear social order, but finally no outside threats, the city was primed for a new leader to emerge from the inevitable civil war... but the war never came. In the death throes of Stromheim and Eridon, the institutions and structure that made the kingdom so resilient cumbled gracefully along respective lines. So many lay dead that the great grain stores under the city provided enough food for everyone. Housing was freely available in the homes of the dead. Treasures could be dug out from the city ruins by those with nothing of their own. Farms sat ready to be occupied with no surviving owners. The city watch, still running on fumes of honor and duty, kept enough of the peace. 

New leaders (1514)
Eventually word reached Stromheim that Eridon's new seat of power was situated in Highcastle, and their new lord was the King who lived there. Soon after, word reached Stromheim that the king and his whole family were poisoned, and there was fighting in the streets for who would rule next. Kings, Queens, Clerics, Wizards, and generals all variously claimed the reigns of power in a multi-year struggle. They fought among themselves between rumors of foreign interference, and the city of Stromheim couldn't care less.

Developing within the city were new power structures. The Inner City coalesced into a republic, with the outer city being their provincial domain. The outer city fell into disarray as what remained of the city watch, ostracized from the inner city, first claimed dominion over everything before losing their grip as various factions emerged. Cults rose and fell, gangs flashed in the pan, and the forsaken and fallow, but still quite fertile, lands of the south took in all those who wanted to leave. Anyone vying for power during this time knew that the survival of the city, and their path to power, lay in the repairs of the walls. Stromheim had survived two cataclysmic sieges by the skin of its teeth and a miracle of the undead army leaving the field while victory was in hand. It would not survive another. 

Stability of the nobility (1515)
As the war in Arcadia drew to a close, the situation in Highcastle stabilized. The Kingdom of Drekis lent money, men, and materiel to the matriarch of the north, first as a client state, then as a tributary state, and finally as a fully subordinate province within the Empire of Drekis. Eridon had been a prosperous and peaceful place, and the northern territories were all too eager to return to such a state. The location of the throne, in Stromheim, Highcastle, or Wikkthronrarenta, didn't matter.

During this time, in Stromheim, the repairs of the outer wall were completed. 

Eridon returns to Stromheim (1517)
Waving royal banners and marching in formation, and small army arrived at the newly repaired northern gates, announcing their right of entry and the return of rulership. The gates, controlled by The Demon Slayers, formerly the city watch and now little more than an urban warlord's army, turned back the new arrivals, claiming the city for their own. The newly formed republic within the inner city, through unknown mundane or magical means, brought the small army to the heart of Stromheim and agreed to terms of rule. Refusing to permit the small army entry or egress via the main gates brought The Demon Slayers into conflict with the lords of the inner city, finally breaking their grip on the walls and relegating The Slayers to a regional gang with control over only the southern gate.

This next section is going to give a few different perspectives on what the big picture looks like.

POV: Outer City Citizen
The gangs run the streets and I still have to pay rent to the lords of the inner city, but I don't owe loyalty or duties to anyone. I am a free citizen of a free Stromheim.

POV: Inner City Lord
We are the rulers of a free city within the domain of the Kingdom of Eridon, a part of the new Empire of Arcadia. We maintain the health and wellbeing of our people on their behalf, while having friendly relations with the surrounding Kingdom. Our laws and customs are our own, and no queen or empress can overrule our independent governing body.

POV: People of Highcastle
Stromheim is a ruined city of little value. We will rebuild it in due time, but for now there's little of value to be found there. Their illusions of self governance are convenient for now, as they ask for nothing. Of far greater importance and value are the wide swaths of lands south of the city, as well as the unruly dwarven rebels. We will get to the city eventually.

POV: People of Drekis
Drekis rules Arcadia, and Eridon is one of our subjects. Stromheim is no different than Highcastle or Bluecliff. Many of their ruined territories have fallen into disarray, but Eridon must be reunited if Arcadia is to reach its full destiny. If the locals give any resistance to imperial rule, it will be handled by our armies that defeated the great red dragon Scoria.

That's it for today's post, but coming up soon we'll have a year-end wrap up, and some projections about what is to come in the new year. 

gl hf
Neal