INTRODUCTIONTONEOPOLIS
Welcome to the world of the Neopolis campaign. This campaign is intended to encourage role-playing and provide a pleasant gaming experience. The following information will provide you with the basic knowledge of the world of the campaign, Arth, which a young adventurer would have at the beginning of his career.
The World of Arth
Long ago, and far away, there was a world. Most of this world was mundane, and much like our world was many years ago. However, on this world there was a place where magic was more than a word in children's storybooks. This place was to the west of the known world, a largely unexplored continent, isolated by a wide and stormy sea from the rest of the known lands.
This Western continent is the scene of our campaign. The world is called Arth by some its inhabitants, Newohn by a few others. The continent is usually known simply as "the West" or the "WesternLands."
The people of the world of Arth live in a stratified and primitive society based on family, tribe, and clan. The technology of Arth during the times of our adventures is much like that of our own earth of the time called the Dark Ages. To place it in a more familiar reference, it is roughly like our world was from about 500 to 800 AD.
Technology and skills of earlier and better days have been lost, or have degraded to a lower level. Armor and weapons making are among those crafts that are not at all what they used to be.
Magic is feared and shunned. Those who are believed to be practitioners of magic are stoned or burned alive.
Education, intellect, and literature are stifled.
Scholarship and inquiry are suspect. Social orders are rigid in the extreme.
Politically, most of Arth's society is bound to some form of tribalism or early Feudalism. Noble lords or clan chieftains rule all the lands, and rigid strictures of obligation hold all people in place.
Religion is dictated by the most powerful lord of a particular area, and is often more responsive to the political and economic demands of the powerful than the personal needs of their followers.
It is impossible for common people to move from their class, educate themselves, better their lives, worship as they please, or achieve true justice. Rule is by power, with the most powerful making the rules.
It is a dismal world, set in its way, unbending, unyielding, and inflexible in the extreme.
Neopolis
There is one place on Arth where the rules can be bent, the great trading city of Neopolis. Neopolis lies across the Sea of Storms at the very edge of the world, the distant Western Continent. Very few of Arth's inhabitants have been there, but most have heard of the city. Neopolis is an almost legendary place among the people of the MiddleSea.
Neopolis is the only place where men can rise above their appointed station in life. It is the frontier. There is opportunity there, where the streets are said to be "paved with gold." The ambitious and the true adventurers of Arth have only one place to go, Neopolis.
Your Character
Your first character will be human and a fighter. Your second character can be whatever you want, but we are limited to fighter, cleric, thief, and magic user classes.
Let’s say your first character is from Argos, though there are other choices available!
Argos is an island kingdom located in the center of the busy MiddleSea. Argos has the most powerful Lord of all those in the MiddleSea, the King of Argos. At one time, Argos ruled a great empire, but those times are long past.
Any Argosean knows that any land not located in nor on the MiddleSea is a barbaric and uncivilized place populated by ignorant, backward, unwashed, and loutish people. Your character considers Argos the most civilized and sophisticated of all the lands of the MiddleSea. He considers the lands of the MiddleSea to be the only truly civilized part of Arth.
Your character speaks Argosean, better known as the "Trade Tongue", the "Common Language", or simply "Common" around the MiddleSea. This is an advantage, for all merchants and traders of the MiddleSea and inhabitants of Neopolis speak Argosean as the language of commerce.
Your character has left his society to seek opportunity and adventure in Neopolis. He is venturing far from hearth and home. He may never see his home, or his family (if he has one) again. He has left the security of his birthplace for the uncertainty of Neopolis. He is leaving a place where his life is set out for him for a place where he will have to carve his own place in the social order.
The World of the MiddleSea
Your character's knowledge of geography is limited. All he knows is what he has heard or been told. Unlike most of the people of Arth, he might be able to read. But, books are scarce and expensive. Printing is unknown, and all books are hand written. He has seen very few books indeed. Those few he has seen were part of his temple instruction in reading and the property of his village's temples, and were primarily religious texts. As a reward for good work for the temples, he might have been allowed to study a few of the precious books, and to read from them at services.
He knows the land of Argos is an island, and the location of the great capitol and port city of Argos. He will hold the strong opinion that Argos is the center of the world.
He knows that Nemedia lies to the south of Argos, and that it is the source of great grain ships, olive oil, and wines almost as fine as those of Argos. Nemedian nobility and most of the peasants are descended from Argosean ancestors. The nobility rules the Argosean peasants and native Nemedians, who plow the land, hew the wood, and carry the water for their betters.
He knows that Kemet lies to the Southeast of Argos. The people of this ancient land are good farmers, worship many weird gods, and are sharp traders. The men of Kemet are not to be trusted, especially with money.
The Kemetish people were once under the thrall of the vile Stygians, but over threw those cruel masters. Their own nobles now rule Kemet, though many of the Kemetish nobles have Argosean blood.
He knows that the Franks dwell in the lands to the North of the MiddleSea. They are mighty warriors, proud, pugnacious, quarrelsome, boastful, temperamental, and given to excesses, especially in their cups. Many of the local baron's fighting men are Franks, arrogant, aggressive, hairy, and contemptuous of all Argoseans. Legend says that it was their ancestors who brought down the Empire of Ancient Argos.
Farther to the North and East are the even more fierce and hairy Tuetons. Mighty warriors, they are well known to be formidable opponents, but are considered dull witted and very bad smelling. They rarely leave their native forests.
Even farther to the east are the lands of the wild Mingol tribesmen. One of the Baron's oldest men at arms is a Mingol. He is short, bowlegged, and sings sad, mournful songs when he drinks. He is a terrible liar. He tells many wild tales even sober. He insists that in his homeland, everyone owns a horse!
The Saracens from East of Argos are mostly merchants and sailors. They are greedy, cowardly, treacherous, and many are reputed to be witches and wizards. Your character is not sure what a wizard looks like, but he knows they are to be feared.
A Saracen peddler was burned alive in a neighboring village recently. The Saracen witched a local farmer’s flock, and one of the sheep gave birth to a two-headed lamb.
The swarthy Saracen sailors of the East are familiar to your character. They are noted for their temper, and skill with ships. Saracens are also noted for their skill with blades, and skill in seducing women.
The most fearsome warriors of all Arth are the terrible Scandians of the far North. They are large, strong, and do not fear death. They rape, burn and steal. All lands fear their raids.
The Scandians are also noted as sailors, craftsmen, and traders. They are the far travelers of Arth, sailing their ships to every corner of the world, for plunder or trade.
Everyone in Argos wants a Scandian "bargain," for all know such goods are plunder, and as such have to be sold cheaply.
The most mysterious people of all are the Vendhyans. Their lands are rumored to lie far to the East and South of the Island of Argos. They worship strange gods, and hold a very high opinion of themselves and their culture. They are noted for their skill in diplomacy and rule. Many Middle Sea Lords have Vendhyan advisors.
Your character has met a Vendhyan merchant. He was a strange man with an unpronounceable name who sold the wife of the baron fine cloth that shimmered like quicksilver. The baron almost set the dogs on the Vendhyan when he found out the price of the cloth. The Vendhyan demanded, and received, gold coin as payment for his wondrous merchandise.
Opportunity
Your character will know that trade is one way to wealth, fame, and power. But, in Argos, and the rest of the Middle Sea Kingdoms, the vocation of trade is only open to the sons of merchants, and desperate younger sons of impoverished nobility. Participation in trade, or any similar endeavor for profit, will brand one as ignoble, or not noble, and is not considered an honorable profession by the upper classes of Arth.
Prowess in arms is another avocation, but the vocation of arms too is tightly restricted. Only the sons of warriors, a few clerics of militant orders, or the sons of the Nobility can take up and bear arms. Only the sons of Nobility can command other men in battle in any circumstance.
The nobility of all MiddleSea lands will hire foreign mercenaries before they would train a peasant or merchant to bear arms.
Religion is yet another career path, but only younger, landless sons of the nobility or the sons of Priests can enter the priesthoods of Argos.
But, Neopolis offers the chance to succeed at any of the above. The guild of mercenaries offers training in arms to any who have the gold to pay. Any religion is permitted there, as long as it does not break the laws of the city or frighten the populace. Best of all, a career in the dishonorable profession of trade awaits anyone with the desire and will to achieve it.
Legends of Neopolis
In his native village, on the road to the great port city of Argos, and in the city of Argos itself, your character will learn much of Neopolis. Few have been there, but most are curious about the greatest city of their world. The few that have been to Neopolis can drink free at most taverns. All they are required to do is tell tales of that far, wonderful, and mysterious city.
Your character will encounter sailors who have journeyed to Neopolis on trading ships. They will tell tales of the fortified wharf district of the city. They will inform your character that anything goes in the wharf district, as long as you have enough money to interest the rapacious locals.
The sailors will tell of the guilds in the great city. Just to mention a few, the mercenary’s guild, the seamen's guild, the porter's guild, the smith's guild, the trader's guild, and the marines' guild. All could be of interest to a young man seeking his fortune.
The seamen will also tell of the harsh law of Neopolis. The law of Neopolis favors the citizen over the stranger. Some sailor men will show the scars and tell fearsome tales of justice, Neopolis style.
The Citadel Guardsmen of the Warlord are the police of the city. They are ever alert for trouble, especially trouble caused by outsiders. They are not very good at solving crimes. They try hard to prevent crimes from happening.
There are a few free farmers and merchants in your character's home district who talk of Neopolis from another point of view. These men went to Neopolis in their youth to find their fortune, and successfully returned. They talk of working as a porter or a stevedore, and earning the fabulous sum of one gold piece a day. They boast that, on some glorious occasions, they earned even more! They lived frugally, saved their gold, and returned to Argos with their savings. They then married, and earn their livings from the assets acquired by those fortunes earned in Neopolis.
These same men also tell of their friends, who went to Neopolis, and will never return to Argos. Instead of fortune, they found a lonely grave in a distant land.
Some of the local lord’s household people have been to Neopolis for religious pilgrimage. Neopolis is a place where all cults are honored. Those who honor an obscure cult, or one forbidden in Argos, or want a rite not often done, or are just curious about something religious, travel to Neopolis to satisfy those needs.
Everyone in Argos has eaten dried or salted fish from Neopolis. Preserved fish are one of the city's principal exports. The salt used to preserve the fish is also a product of Neopolis.
Fine wool cloth in bright hues is also a famed and valued Neopolis product. The lord's wife has a fine winter gown of Neopolis wool. It brightly colored and well made. The best of woolens from Neopolis are said to have been woven by the agile fingers of beautiful Stygian maidens.
The best and brightest dyes are made in Neopolis. The royal color of purple is said to come from snails found only in the Far Western seas.
The luxurious fur robe the baron wears in the winter is said to be from animals killed in the vast wilderness to the west of Neopolis. It is made of a fur unlike any your character has ever seen on any animal. A serving wench once let your character touch that robe. The fur was indeed soft and thick. It even smelled wild.
The mother of one of your friends cooks for the baron. On rare occasions she seasons her family's food with exotic spices from the Baron's kitchen. The spices are very pungent and valuable. They, too, came from Neopolis.
The temple in town burns fragrant incense in ceremonies to honor gods and the King. This incense is brought from Neopolis in chests of dark wood. The incense is said to be gathered by savages feared even by Scandians.
The raw iron for tools is called "Neopolis Iron," some times just "Neopolis." Some the best-worked iron in Argos was forged in Neopolis. The baron himself bears a fine and razor sharp broadsword of Neopolis steel that he inherited from his Grandsire. He cut a surly peasant in half with a single blow of that sword just last week.
The Innkeeper
The innkeeper in your character's village is a respected old man. He bears many scars and has only one good eye. He speaks Argosean with such a barbarous accent that it is hard to understand what he says at times, especially when he is excited or drunk. He eventually makes himself clear, as he rarely stops talking.
He is a bold liar, but he keeps the patrons of his tap entertained and their elbows bent. Once, when drunk, he claimed that he was born in Nemedia, and fought with rebel barons against the King of Nemedia long years ago in the great rebellion there. Everyone in your village knows all those old rebels were killed by the army the King of Nemedia, the infamous, and long dead, Castomedes the Cruel. Castomedes was the cousin of the King of Argos in his time.
The old innkeeper tells many other fantastic tales about Neopolis, where he lived after the rebellion. He often refers to Neopolis as the city of "many." He invariably goes on to say, many rewards, many merchants, many laws, many priests, many mysteries, many pleasures, many stinks, many thieves, many taxes, many gods, many sins, many heroes, many swords, many whores, many taverns, many guards, and many dangers.
The Innkeeper does have money, and lots of it. He supports a young wife who wants for nothing. The Innkeeper says he found his fortune in, of all things, a swamp! The innkeeper guards his money well, for even the taxmen from both the baron and the king find little to take from him.
Some of the coins the innkeeper spends are very unusual. At first, they elicited much comment. Now, the people of the village hardly notice. Those coins do not bear a portrait of an Argosean King or deity, like most of the coins spent or hoarded in your village. They bear foreign images, like weird runes, funny women, bizarre creatures, unrecognizable letters forming unreadable inscriptions, the images of strange men, alien symbols, and the forms of fantastic beasts. One thing is for sure, those coins look funny, but they all are of good metal, and spend well.