Wizard's Wrath Introduction

Wizard's Wrath is tabletop game set in a growing fantasy world. This world has been in development for nearly twenty years, undergoing various stages and rule sets. The 4^th edition D&D rules are easy for beginners, so we're sticking with it, with a few minor house-rules to make things interesting.

So here is an introduction to Archanon, the world of Wizard's Wrath. It's a big world, I'll try to make this succinct. Okay, you know what? Screw that! It's just a long-ass back-story.

Twin Worlds

Archanon is a parallel world to Earth, where magick is much more potent. (wizards write magic with a “k” at the end to distinguish The Art from parlor tricks). It is said that long ago, just before the rise of Egypt as a civilization, powerful magi erected portals between Earth and Archanon. Mystics traveled back and fourth, establishing a secret network of hidden knowledge, science and religion. Tales of a hidden world of orcs, elves, fairies, dragons and gryphons spread throughout the Earth world in the form of myths. Yet, no one had ever witnessed these fantastic creatures on Earth. The sages of Archanon theorized that the heavy un-magickal nature of Earth was toxic to all but humans, who could come and go as they pleased.

Folklore was not the only way Archanon influenced our world. All of Earth's most ancient pantheons shared gods of different names, but similar attributes. The god Thoth in Egypt was Hermes in Greece. In the North, the vikings crowned this deity as king and named him Odin the All-Father. Similarly, the gods of Archanon are essentially the same as the ones of Earth, sometimes even sharing the same names. Of these gods and goddesses, two ruled supreme during Archanon's Age of Myth – Johvan the Father and Gaia the Mother. Together they maintained peace, justice and prosperity in the growing Archani kingdoms.

The Fall of Johvan

At some point during the Age of Myth, Johvan fell ill and his temperament changed for the worst. He became a tyrant, toying with the fates of mortals and demanding exclusive worship. He became mad with power, and waged war on the lesser gods and their mortal worshipers for control of the people of Archanon. Gaia, could stand his madness no longer. She birthed a human son named Aleph Wraith and taught him the ways of High Magick - a method of spiritual ascension allowing mortals to enter the God Realm. Only by this magick, could mortals challenge the gods in their own turf. Wraith would later teach and lead mortals to battle against Johvan and his allies. Johvan knew of Gaia's betrayal. After all, It was him, in human guise who impregnated her human form and conceived Wraith. He watched her patiently over the years as the boy grew, believing her efforts to be futile. However, when he found a powerful relic missing from their bedchamber, he confronted her in a fit of rage. This relic was none other than the Holy Grail. They had inherited the golden chalice from the Supernal Realm – a place beyond the gods, where Johvan and his siblings were born before the creation of Time and Space. Any mortal who drank from this cup would be as one of them. She intended to deliver it to “the little savior” as he mockingly called the young mage. In a murderous rampage, he hurled Gaia, his once beloved Queen, down to the mortal realm with a lightning strike. The Grail slipped from their struggle and fell against the Archanon's tallest peak, breaking the relic into six fragments scattered throughout the world. To this day, Gaia's spirit is said to dwell in the very planet of Archanon.

Wraith's Pact

When Aleph Wraith learned of his mother's demise, he knew his studies were over. It was time to practice what he'd learned. He set out with a group of brave heroes and retrieved all six fragments of the Holy Grail. In the end, he solved the mystery of the Grail and challenged Johvan to a duel. Johvan revealed himself as Wraith's true father, but the wizard was unmoved. They made a wager. If Wraith could best Johvan in a magick battle, all gods were to cease their meddling in mortal affairs. If Johvan won, Wraith's life would be forfeit, never to reincarnate in the world of Archanon. A cosmic battle ensued. The wizard and the patriarch god destroyed one another. All gods, friend and foe, were bound by this pact. With Johvan gone, they never again interfered with mortals. The denizens of Archanon have celebrated Wraith as their savior ever since. This brought about a new era, the Age of Reason. Man was no longer bound to honor the Old Gods. There rose a new form of spirituality independent of gods, where men and women of all races sought their own Inner Light. These events took place just over two thousand years. Today, some scholars doubt that the gods ever existed in the first place. In contrast, there are small fringe groups of cultists who actively trying to summon The Old Gods back into the world.

The Great Sorcery

Remember the gates between Earth and Archanon I mentioned earlier? It is no more. How so? Shortly after Wraith's sacrificial victory, there were still many servants loyal to Johvan. A small elite group of zealot magi evoked their patron god. A wounded Johvan could only be heard as feint whispers in their minds. Under his direction, they infiltrated The Great White Brotherhood – a secret order of mystics devoted to the enlightenment of all races in many worlds. An order of White Brothers known as Nexus Guardians served as inter-dimensional gate keepers, veiling their location from the masses. They governed the flow of people and information across the worlds. Only a select few could pass. Having attained the needed clearance, the Dark Brothers (as the loyalists would late be called) escaped their native world and regrouped on Earth. This time period coincided with Earth's first century, during the height of the Roman Empire.

They saw a world of devout pagans, with initiatory rites similar to those of Archanon before Johvan's Fall. Somehow Earth had remained untouched by the ravages of Archanon's holy wars. That wouldn’t do at all! So they watched and waited for an opportunity to revive their creed in this new world. They became fond of Paul of Tarsus, and his brand of what he called “Christianity.” The Dark Brothers deemed it close enough to the worship of Johvan, and secretly helped him rise to prominence. Still the time wasn't right. Pagans rejected the notion of salvation through Christ and his clergy. They waited. After all, wizards could live for centuries. Time was on their side. With the rise of Constantine the Great in 306 CE, when the empire became officially Christian, they knew the time was right. They launched a magick attack against the White Brotherhood from within their own ranks. Even the Church Fathers were mere pawns in this Great Sorcery. The Dark Brothers weaved a curse so powerful, the people of Earth bowed without needing evidence that their god actually existed. They destroyed pagan temples, the art and sculptures therein, and persecuted all heathens. They enslaved Earth's Western hemisphere under a faith almost identical to that of Johvan, whom they now called Jehovah.

Earth's Great White Order was nearly decimated. Brothers scattered throughout the world, living in secrecy as hermits in forests, deserts and mountains. Superstitions and dead rituals ruled the land. With the power they now amassed, the Dark Brothers planned to march back into Archanon with an army of Christian warriors. Only one man was powerful enough to foil their march. Merlin, one of Earth's greatest wizards, managed to escape persecution and flee to the Great Pyramids in Cairo, where the gate still stood, hidden from the world. He battled and killed the Dark Brothers posing as Nexus Guardians and severed the link between worlds, crossing to Archanon before closing the gate permanently. Now the Dark Brothers wanted holy war, they would have to settle for the Crusades in the eleventh century.

The Arcanum Arcanorum

The nations of Archanon prospered without gods. That didn't mean they automatically became peace-loving. Nations such as the Kingdom of Lothaire expanded their borders and conflict was inevitable. The wizard became an elite force in any military conflict, disproportionately more powerful than troops of armored soldiers. However, not everyone had the gift for The Art. Magick training was a rigorous process, with few graduates from a sea of neophytes. Nevertheless, many common folk began to distrust magick users. The Great White Brotherhood had to intervene. They instituted The Conclave as a ruling body in order to prevent magick users from abusing their powers. The holy order became publicly known as The Arcanum Arcanorum (Mystery of Mysteries), or The Great Order. Initiation into their ranks was open to men and women of every race through a series of ten degrees. These were designed to invoke progressively higher levels consciousness in the initiate. The Order gave it's members a moral compass by which to exercise their wills in harmony with the will of The Universe. They called this discipline True Will.

Under the Great Order the study of magick grew into various branches, informing the natural sciences. Alchemists learned to tap into the planet's natural mana springs and create mana crystals. These multicolored crystals stored elemental magick capable of powering many spells or even daily commodities such as light, heat, and refrigeration. This and other advances helped improve public relations and dissuade superstitions about the wizard community.

The Wizard Wars

In the years 1968 and 1975 Post Wraith (32 and 25 years before the current campaign), Archanon saw the eruption of two great wars. There were two factions fighting secret wars through the ages. They remain rivals to this day. Conservatives believe magick is a precious commodity that should be reserved to an elite few. Liberals believe magick is the birthright of every sentient being, and necessary for the evolution of the races. Zarghos was a charismatic leader of the conservative party. He became increasingly extremist until he went rogue. Under the spell of Zarghos' rhetoric, there was a new breed of Dark Brothers sowing strife within The Order. He ultimately died in the first war, but returned as a Lich in the Second Wizard's War. It took the combined might of The Great Alliance between humans, elves and dwarves of various nations to press the offensive against his fortified tower in the Frozen Spire.

Seven heroes were instrumental in bringing down Zarghos. This was the first complete tabletop campaign in Wizards Wrath. This was the group's make up:

Note: These are familiar names throughout the realm. If you're making a character to join the campaign, he or she may be familiar with them, depending on intelligence/history modifiers.

Human party leader, Controller/Range Striker: Lucius of Daleth, a cunning and arrogant Battlemage who was Merlin's brightest apprentice.

Human, Striker: Raidax of Blades, a daring wanderer who became a Blademaster.

Dwarf, Guardian: Knog Ragefist of the Ragefist Clan, a family bastard with something to prove who became a Mountain Guardian.

Human, Striker/Heavy: Turock The Great, a Barbarian Warrior who later became the Nomad King.

Human, Guardian: Sir Alterack van Orden of Lothaire, a Knight Champion who later became a defensive Blademaster.

Elf, Range Striker: Lord Leetheus Rivenmyst of Khandalore, an Elven Ranger who later became High Lord of the Elven Nation.

Troll, Striker/Heavy: Skullbasher, a sub-intelligent Troll Berserker who was capable of reason and moral values.

Lucius led his party on a hunt for the Grailstone fragments to reassemble the Holy Grail, which had been lost with Wraith's ascension nearly two millennia before. In the final battle, when all seemed lost, Lucius retrieved the last stolen fragment from Zarghos and used it to banish the Lich from the living world. The heroes returned to their homeland as champions and kings, each with a fragment of the Grail. All except Raidax, who was a perpetual adventurer. They settled as keepers of their respective Grailstone fragments. If any force threatened Archanon's future, they could reunite once more, reassemble the Holy Grail and kick ass.

The World Archanon Now

You stand at a crucial time in the history of Archanon. With the restoration of the United Kingdom of Daleth under the rule of King Lucius, the world is acquiring a taste for liberty. Medieval social taboos no longer sway the masses as they once did. Nobles and peasants enjoy equal rights. The commonwealth of Daleth and it's allies allow for free education to all. An industrial revolution is in full gear, generating new technology such as firearms and the steam engine. The mass production of mana crystals supply clean energy to whole cities.

Not everyone is eager to embrace change. Under the rule of King Alterack van Orden, the Kingdom of Lothaire proclaims itself an empire. Lucius and Alterack, once friends in the Second War, have grown apart with differing ideologies. Towns under the rule of Lothaire are rife with discrimination and racial tension between civilized orcs and their human “overlords.” By clinging to the status quo of old draconian values, Lothaire is on the bring of economic meltdown. Whole squads of loyal paladins have been laid off from public service, replaced by questionable mercenaries called the Black Guard. Organized crime and political corruption is rampant. As if that wasn't bad enough, you hear rumors of cultists coming ever closer to summoning the Old Gods.

With tensions growing between these two nations, and robed fanatics running around in old temples, you feel as though even you could play a part in tipping the scales and making a difference in the world.

Welcome to Wizard's Wrath: Ascension.