RR C1: Generating the local campaign area and fleshing out the merchant house Goldenford

It's time to take a closer look at our local campaign area and the faction our PCs are going to belong to.

Worldbuilding Recap

Here is a short summary of the world we have generated so far. (see this post for more details)

• Low/Gritty Fantasy Campaign using Worlds Without Number (Free Edition)
• 'Low' as in relatively low intrusion of magical events in an otherwise 'normal' world
• 'Normal' doesn't mean Earth-like. It means within the context of this world. See Verisimilitude
  
• 'Gritty' as in the opposite of Heroic Fantasy where heroes are basically demigods
• Taking place on one side of an artificial cube world named Ro-Tenn
  
• Very artificial terrain layout and roughly the size of France
• The spirit/god responsible for this artificial cube world was corrupted and now plots inscrutable and sinister experiments
• The entire cube world is filled with (now abandoned) underground networks, tunnels, and complexes originally designed to maintain the artificial world
  
• A crumbling Empire (Grithian Empire) and a rising Kingdom (Edrolum Kingdom) are vying for control
• Their recent war dramatically shifted the power balance
  
• Smaller factions like the aristocratic merchant house Goldenford, the oppressive Chosen Hunters, or the enlightened philosophers of the Betrayed Embers, are trying to expand their influence without drawing too much attention from their stronger neighbors
• A variety of religions based around the Spirit/God controlling the cube world

Rough Terrain Sketch

Rough Political Sketch

Campaign Structure Recap

The campaign was generated with the GEMulator.

• A long (10 adventures) and high stakes campaign focusing on military rescue operations involving several factions.
• 1 Blog post per adventure
  
• PCs are members of the aristocratic Merchant House Goldenford
• Each adventure is a rescue mission that aims to recover previous expeditions from a newly discovered underground complex
• Megadungeon exploration-crawl that gets procedurally generated during play

The 'Kingdom' Level

Following the procedure in the World Without Numbers book (p.117+), we now flesh out the zoomed-in 'kingdom' level. In our case, that means the Merchant House Goldenford and the area around the megadungeon entrance.

A) Pick a linguistic touchstone and give your kingdom or area a name.
We already know the name of our faction but we might as well name the location around the entrance to the underground complex. Additionally, we need to generate a linguistic touchstone for the naming convention of the people within Goldenford. In hindsight, we probably should have done that before naming the faction to give it a more coherent naming scheme.

Linguistic Touchstone: Haitan Names
Using the list randomizer from random.org to pick a generator from the 'Real Names' of fantasynamegenerators.com

Location Name (around the entrance): Grey Domain of the Cloud-Warlord
Using the fantastic Tome of Adventure Design, Table 1-1A
What a fantastic name that instantly sparks the imagination.

Where is the Grey Domain of the Cloud-Warlord?
Is it within the controlled areas of Goldenford? (Main Oracle) Likely: (29) No,but..
Ok, so somewhere near the borders. Looking at the sketch above, Goldenford (Group 3) controls two areas with different neighbors. Let's assign each neighbor a number and roll a d4.

1. Edrolum Kingdom
2. Grithian Empire
3. Betrayed Embers
4. Chosen Hunters

1d4: (1) Edrolum Kingdom

B) Flesh out its history
We already know a few things about Goldenford but more background context is always useful.
WWN p.139 Historical Event Table

1. (81) Religious Rise: This was probably the original religion designed by the cube spirit/god to control the population (Religion 3 from the last post)
2. (84) Resource Collapse: I like the idea that Goldenford was originally located in the top right corner (where the Chosen Hunters now are) and that the land got corrupted by the deteriorating megaplex, forcing them to abandon the land.
3. (80) Religious Fall: Their loss of land and the failing megaplex led to a quick loss of faith, as the aristocracy suddenly had to do everything themselves (manual labor etc.).
4. (36) Good Wizard: A powerful wizard taught them the ways of the money=power religion (Religion 1) and they found a new purpose in amassing wealth through trade.

 Just with these few events, we suddenly have a good idea how the faction came to be. I really like where this is going and I'm excited to see what else the dice come up with.

C) Decide how its ruled and identify the ruler
Goldenford is a noble Merchant House so we already have a starting point. Within this 'house' are a lot of factions and aristocratic families that live in a very strict hierarchy full of backstabbing and scheming.

Everyone wants to amass as much wealth as possible in order to please their God. Conflicts rarely escalate into full battles. Small skirmishes between hired mercenaries are much more common. Most conflicts get solved before they ever have the chance to escalate. Assassins are always in high demand here.

WWN p.132+ tables
High-density governnment
Every faction member is an aristocrat of a noble house and fulfills a specific function in the government. There is a strict hierarchy with ranks, privileges, duties, and expected behavior. Every problem is solved by throwing money at it.

Number of rulers: (4) There are a large number of small rulers
A sprawling net of aristocrats representing every single noble house within the faction.

The Ruling Class: (9) Outsiders or nonhumans of a certain type
Representatives in the ruling council get transformed through a ritual to their God, where they sacrifice/offer a tremendous amount of wealth.

Source of Legitimacy: (7) They utterly crushed the last batch of rebels
A small group of noble houses tried to usurp the council and keep all the wealth for themselves instead of offering in to their God. The ruling council hired a large mercenary army that ruthlessly crushed the rebel houses.

Current Struggle Within the Government: (8) The existing ruling class wants more power
Greed begets greed. The noble houses are never satisfied and always desire more.

How Established is the Current Ruler?: (5) They have an extensive support network
Money buys a lot of influence and friends in high places. Members of the ruling council are the wealthiest withing the faction so they have more than enough money to throw around. Goldenford trades with most factions and have contacts everywhere.

What Problems do their Ministers Have?: (1) Their chief schemes too much against rivals
Constant scheming and intrigue hinders the work of the council.

A Strength of the Government: (3) It has great legitimacy with the populace
Everyone accepts the way of things and sees them as perfectly normal. That includes the scheming and backstabbing.

How Stable is the Government?: (3) Relatively stable, with strong legitimacy

Officials Recently Causing Problems: (5) Tithe-hungry collectors from the state faith
The God demands more and more wealth, exacerbating all the other issues related to wealth generation.

Recent Governmental Event: (17) A terrorist attack by rebels or external foes
Rebels were previously crushed so it was an attack from an external threat. Light of the Extinct (Group 1), the former ruling class of the Grithian Empire (Nation 2), attacked the south-west bridge in order to disrupt trade with the Edrolum Kingdom (Nation 1).

D) Identify the enemies of the rulers
Anyone who stands in the way of profit. Currently, that means the Grithia Empire (Nation 2) and the Light of the Extinct (Group 1). They started the recent war against the Edrolum Kingdom (Nation 1), which disrupted trade and destabilized the region.

E) Choose one or more problems or goals it's facing
WWN Recent Governmental Event table

• (19) A large bureaucracy was dissolved: One of the noble houses disgraced themselves by losing a lot of wealth and their entire branch of government/bureaucracy was dissolved.
• (5) A major faith was offended by the rulers: The religion that deifies the cube spirit (Religion 2) took offense to the reckless exploration of the recently discovered underground complex. They believe that anything within the cube is the domain of their God and shouldn't be exploited for profit.

F) Make a rough map of the area
Skip - Doesn't make sense for a newly discovered underground complex. Will be discovered through play.

G) Place ethnic groups and demihumans
No demihumans because its Low Fantasy.
Goldenford is an aristocratic society so it's likely that they are all from the same ethnic group.
Main Oracle (likely): (12) No
How many ethnic groups within Goldenford? 1d4+1: (3)
Are they evenly distributed? (unlikely): (53) No
How many minorities?: 1d2 (1)
Are these ethnic groups present in the other factions? (Almost Certain): (11) Yes, but..
Main Oracle Reputation Table: (3) indifferent
More context needed: (Approach/Intent/Theme) (56,16,66) Tactfully Help Insecurity

Ok, so they are actively indifferent towards them, in order to tactfully help them with their insecurities. Almost sounds wholesome but I'm sure that it will take a dark turn somewhere down the line. Let's keep that in the back of our minds and continue for now. It's always perfectly valid to leave some worlbuilding threads in the background until you get enough context for them to make sense in the grander tapestry.

WWN p.129+ tables
Let's wait until we generate all three ethnicities before we try to interpret the results.
Ethnicity 1 (majority)
Typical Skin Colors in the Populace: (2) Dark browns and mocha shades
Hair Color: (5) Blonds
Hair Texture: (6) Thin and Fine
Eye Coloration: (1) Black or extremely dark brown
What's the Typical Build of the People?: (4) Much bigger and bulkier than neighbors
Optional Common Forms of Adornment: (4) Piercings, whether minor or elaborate
Optional Physical Quirks or Traits: (12) Additional or too few fingers or toes
    Additional or too few?: (2) too few
    Toes or fingers?: (1) Toes - how many are missing?: 1d5 (4)

Ethnicity 2 (majority)
Typical Skin Colors in the Populace: (3) Golden, sallow, or ivory
Hair Color: (8) They lack hair
Hair Texture: --
Eye Coloration: (1) Black or extremely dark brown
What's the Typical Build of the People?: (4) Much bigger and bulkier than neighbors
Optional Common Forms of Adornment: (4) Piercings, whether minor or elaborate
Optional Physical Quirks or Traits: (1) They possess an extra eye somewhere

Ethnicity 3 (minority)
Typical Skin Colors in the Populace: (7) An unusual color or pattern of colors
Hair Color: (2) Dark browns
Hair Texture: (1) Very tightly-curled
Eye Coloration: (2) Hazel or olive
What's the Typical Build of the People?: (1) Smaller and slighter than their neighbors
Optional Common Forms of Adornment: (2) Painted skin markings that sometimes change
Optional Physical Quirks or Traits: (17) They have alien Outsider features somehow

Some very characterful results we got here. We already know that members of the ruling council get transformed when they ascend to their position. Maybe they become the colorful and alien looking people (Ethnicity 3) and they make up the entire ruling council.

We are starting to skirt the line towards High Fantasy here but remember that this is all very top-down worldbuilding that isn't representative of the average day in the life of an inhabitant of Ro-Tenn. Most people will never interact with the ruling council in any way shape or form. This is just a small group within a small faction of the world.

H) Flesh out the society and style of the kingdom and its occupants
WWN p.130
Values They Esteem: (43) Submission to lawful authority
Major Unit of Social Identity: No rolling because we already know that they are an aristocratic merchant faction that highly values their nobility and status.

I) Assign local gods and religious traditions
We already know the major religions of the area (see last post) and now it's time to finally name them. I'm using the 'Generating Minor Gods' table from the Tome of Adventure Design for the deity name and this generator for the name of the religion itself.

Religion 1 (local): Chosen Ones of Tolesh (changed to the generated deity name)
Deity: Tolesh, The Summoner who is Hooded

• The main religion of the merchant faction Goldenford
• Pay-for-position clergy
  
• Faith is based around the God Tolesh, who lives at the center of the cube and controls the world
• They are trying to expand and are currently working on a tremendously expensive rite
  

Religion 2 (global): Vrutithos
Deity: Hepheshtua, The Fire of Thieves

• The main religion of the Edrolum Kingdom 
• The corrupted version of the original faith based around the God who controls the cube world
• Clergy are people who can interact with the ancient technology built into the cube
• By using a specific substance found within the underground tunnels and complexes of the cube
  
• Long-term goal is the construction of a giant temple for their god
• In the center of the cube, which they are still trying to reach
• They control an illegal but inevitable trade around the substance that allows people to survive within the deepest parts of the cube

Religion 3 (dead/forgotten): Gathering of Vrivung
Deity: Ankhak, The Dragon of Bitterness

• The original religion designed by the God within the cube
• Intended to control and guide the population
• Only fragments and ancient ruins remain
• Most inhabitants don't know about this religion
• Tried to stop Vrutithos (Religion 2) from corrupting the cube
• Lost the following war and was utterly destroyed

Religion 4 (global): Creed of Tholztoa (changed to the generated deity name)
Deity: Tholztoa, The Singer of Summer

• The main religion of the Grithian Empire
• The deity Tholztoa was a saint of Vrutithos (Religion 2)
  
• Independent congregations with no official clergy
• Sorcerers who serve the god as part of their magical studies or efforts have the most influence
  
• It plots secret sinister evils against the land and tries to crush its religious rivals (Vrutithos)
• In return for loyal service and faith, they bestow material wealth upon their believers

The Next Step

Two long posts filled with nothing but worldbuilding. Definitely not the way I thought this campaign would start but that's the beauty of Randomized Roleplay, you never know what to expect.

You may think that we haven't even started 'playing' yet but Solo RPGs are way more than just creating characters and interacting with the game rules. Everything from reading the rulebook to worldbuilding and daydreaming about the campaign is all part of 'playing' Solo RPGs. You decide how you interact with the hobby and for me, worldbuilding is a major part of my enjoyment. I hope you enjoy reading about my approach and will continue to follow the series.

Next up: Creating the player characters and generating their background stories. 

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