[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/184127-the-shadowed-throne/ooc]OOC[/url]

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Welcome to the Kingdom of [b]Pharazon[/b]: ancient, powerful, and prosperous. Greatest of all the [b]Five Kingdoms[/b] of [b]Geryon[/b]. 

It has been over 300 years since the defeat of [b]Daigon[/b], the Dark Lord, a sorcerer of unprecedented power who, from the cursed lands of [b]Nagath[/b], launched an invasion of the human world of unprecedented scale and fury. Orcs, undead, beastmen, trolls; human soldier-fanatics, infernal war machines, and blackest sorcery. Daigon was beaten back, barely, by the Five Kingdoms, under the leadership of King Odrossyan II of Pharazon and the [b]Synod[/b], a  group of powerful wizards, who aided in combatting Daigon and his many fell lieutenants. 

In the intervening centuries, the Five Kingdoms have squabbled for dominance and have seen off invasions and raids from the desert peoples to the south and the ferocious ashlanders to the north. Only once, however, have they faced a threat akin to Daigon, more than a century after his defeat a rebellion broke in the heartland of Pharazon out led by the [b]Wretched Prince[/b], a disinherited heir to the throne, who nearly toppled the kingdom by rallying a coalition of the dispossessed (as well as beastkin tribes and orcish clans from the mountains and wilds) in the name of the Dark Lord.

The revolt was broken, along with Pharazon's preeminence among the Five Kingdoms. In the wake of the Wretched Prince's revolt, the [b]Darkwatch[/b], an inquisitorial order of battlemages was founded to root out followers of Daigon from the Five Kingdoms under the direction of the the Synod. The fourteen members of the Synod, some old enough to have participated in the fight against Daigon, have retained a place of respect and influence in the five royal courts, almost always urging peace and cooperation between the Kingdoms and often mediating disputes. 

In recent years, however, something has gone wrong. 

Odrossyan VI reigns in Pharazon, a pampered youth controlled by his advisors and courtiers. Disputes have arisen within the Synod, with several members-including the the influential wizard Athalus the Mediator-expelled from the Order for reasons that remain unclear. What is clear is that these dissident wizards are now hunted actively by the Darkwatch, which has become increasingly repressive. Several powerful nobles are beginning to disappear. The Royal Scholam has been closed and many of its famed scholars are nowhere to be found. Taxes and conscription have begun to weigh heavily on the peasantry, though no war seems immanent. There are reports of orc migrations in the mountains. 

The truth, known only to a fearful few, is more terrible than it seems. 

Daigon has returned. What he failed to take by force he has succeeded in taking by guile. The Synod is overthrown. Its presiding wizard, Salazar, venerated by many, is possessed completely by the dark lord, who has perverted many of the other mages to his cause. Daigon and his minions now rule Pharazon, and their influence extends to the other royal courts of Geryon. The King is a puppet, the Darkwatch perverted from its original purpose. 

***

So, the idea here would be to play characters and perhaps factions who come to realize that the dark lord now rules the kingdom and band together to resist him. Alternatively, characters can play allies of Daigon or antagonists with their own agenda. Fantasy level would be low-medium. World building and fleshing out the backstory of the world would be a major focus.

Any takers?

Discord: https://discord.gg/9k8VhpTC5N