fellsing

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

@Randomguy Looks good to me! Pop it in the character tab!

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

GM's Fear Tracker:
☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎

Current Party:
@rush99999 as Dimple Brightmite, Wanderborne Faeborg Synicate Rogue (he/him)
@Guardian Angel Haruki as Pepper Celestina Brevil, Loreborne Human School of Knowledge Wizard (she/her)
@Randomguy as Arnannel, Wildborne Elf Wayfinder Ranger (he/him)
@Vertigo as Cappriccio, Slyborne Infernis Wordsmith Bard (he/they)
@ctrlsaltdel as Hasdrubal Hjort, Orderborne Stouttusk Vengeance Guardian (he/him)

Waiting list:
@Digmata

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

OOC is up a day earlier than expected because it turns out I'll be busy tomorrow and probably lacking in energy. Plus, with how laggy the site is right now, I just wanted to get it out before I lost the will. Sorry if it's a little messy.

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

Setting Information

(under construction, to be updated and added to as time goes on, while the basic setting details can be found in the SRD listed in the first post, I plan to expand on it with the help of players, and even disregard or change certain things if we feel they don't fit with the story we are telling)

Map & Important Locations

Alula (not yet on map)

Cloister of the Faithful (not yet on map)

The Crystal Bridge

Erewel

The Fields of Unceasing Song

God's Nest (not yet on map)

Silversage

Faint Divinities of Fanewick

Shun'Aush, the Stone Ophid (he/him):
One of the mightiest deities to roam Fanewick, likely only second to Nikta herself. By the time of the Witherwild, Shun'Aush has been long dead, slain by Haven during their first excursions into the region. His body was used to construct the walls of their capital city. While he no longer alive, his influence still remains to this day, for centuries after his death, the dust produced by his remains began to cause an illness known as the Serpent's Sickness, which causes those who suffer to have their bodies slowly turn to stone until they are nothing but immobile statues. These petrified corpses can be found all throughout the city and even in Fanewick as proof his wrath, and even with the spreading of the Witherwild, it shows no signs of slowing down soon.

Nikta, the Shepherd of Seasons (she/her):
The most powerful deity in region, and likely the one who had brought life to Fanewick's wilderness in the first place (though considering how long ago that was, no one can be entirely sure). She has become much more elusive since the loss of her Reaping Eye, and none are sure if her old self is still present or if she too has become possessed by the instincts of the Witherwild. Still, though she may have lost her power over decay and ruination, she is still a force not to be trifled with.

Eyrwy, the Great River Mouth (she/her):
Mother of most other water deities in Fanewick, Eyrwy is responsible for creating and maintaining the River Fane which runs through the middle of the land and which most other bodies of water in the region are connected to. Since all living things require water, her power has been stretched thin by the unending growth of the Witherwild, and she fears that it will not be long before her and her kin have their power completely depleted, likely leading to a drought that might further trouble the land.

Fulg, Stacker of Stones (he/him):
Originally quite an obscure god, Fulg gained a little more prominence after the death of Shun'Aush, as along with several others he took on some of the dead god's domain as a god of stone. However, this increase in power has done little to make him more active in the affairs of Fanewick as a whole, as he prefers to remain as ignorant as possible of the goings-on beyond his sacred pond. Still, he can be bribed through offerings of smooth river stones, which are added to his collection that he displays on the edges of his waters.

Hyacynis, They Who Spread Small Blossoms (they/them):
A deity of pollinators and tiny flowers, Hyacynis' power and domain has grown immensely since the spread of the Witherwild, and they are one of the few Faint Divinities who see no downsides in its continuation.

Ikla, the Sky Painter (they/them):
During the beginning and end of the week, Iklas paints the sky in the beautiful colours of dawn and dusk, before settling down to rest of the remainder of the week. As a sky deity, Ikla's domain extends far beyond the reaches of just Fanewick and Haven, and they are said to look down on both the mortals and deities of land below, particularly on those who would dare to disturb them for such trivial matters during their time off.

Oove, the Watcher of the Night Bloom (he/him):
A deity of Fanewick's nocturnal residents. During the Daylight Week, Oove is said to slumber within his home on the moon, while during the Nighttime Week, he roams the grounds of Fanewick, often heard but never seen. His voice guides lost travelers towards the Night Bloom, small bioluminescent flowers that blossom only as evening falls and provide a light source throughout the Nighttime Week. That being said, he is also willing to trick and lead travellers to their doom if they earn his ire.

Qui'Gar, Whispered Sweetness for a Thorny End (she/her):
A quiet deity who presides over and grants solace to those who perish in the grasp of thorny vines and bushes. As one can imagine, the Witherwild's effect on such plants has made her job much harder and she finds her power spread quite thin at the moment.

Rohkin, the Wandering Horn (he/him):
A god who watches over the many herds of horned beasts in the Fanewick, and even said to extend his blessing to the horned sapient races of the land, such as drakona, fauns, firbolg and infernis. Before the Witherwild, he was more one of the personable deities, as he kept balance between nature and civilisation, preventing the overhunting of his herds while understanding that all creatures needed to eat. However, the corruption of Fanewick has lead to the animals under his charge develop beyond what he thought possible, further confusing the line between predator and prey, and he is deeply troubled about the implications of this.

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

"All of your sorrow, grief and pain,
Locked away in the forest of the night,
Your secret heart belongs to a world
Of the things that sigh in the dark,
Of the things that cry in the dark."
-- Princess Mononoke (Main Theme)

It has been five years since the nation of Haven invaded Fanewick with the intention of tracking down one of its many Faint Deities, Nikta. Known as the Shepherd of Seasons, Nikta's gaze was said to oversee and maintain balance of Fanewick, with her right eye, the Sowing Eye, allowing for growth and creation, and her left eye, the Reaping Eye, allowing for decay and ruination. Both were necessary for the cycle of death and rebirth, but when Haven plucked out the Reaping Eye, they brought forth an endless spring. For the first couple of years, this allowed the forest to become more bountiful than before, and Haven was able to prosper of its newly procured resources.

However, it wasn't long before this boon transformed into a horrifying curse - the Witherwild, a corruption that causes all flora and fauna to grow unchecked, to the point that it twists them into something far beyond what nature may have originally intended: beasts grow to massive sizes, plants engulf the forest floor and strangle or devour all that ends up in their path, and even sapient beings find themselves changed into monsters that are neither animal nor vegetation, their personhood slowly being whittled away and replaced with an overwhelming desire to continue spreading the corruption.

Despite the damage done by its theft, Haven has yet to show any desire to return the Reaping Eye to its owner, and have kept it stored deep within in the dungeons of its Wizarding School. Attempts have been made to recover it, but none had yet to succeed. Desiring to put an end to this corruption and running out of options, a group of rebels have formed in Fanewick, lead by a mysterious figure known only as the Fanewraith. Rumored to have based their operations in the small treetop village of Alula, they are preparing for their plan to finally put a stop to the Witherwild once and for all... by locating Nikta and plucking out her remaining eye, the Sowing Eye. While this might provide a short-term solution to the problem, there are those in the know, such as Haven's own spymaster, Kreil Dirn, who fear that this plan may only unleash more horrors upon the land.

For one reason or another, your characters have ended up in Alula. Maybe you are one of the rebels (or at least, wishing to join them), or maybe you were sent by Haven's Spymaster to stop the Fanewraith and bring her to justice. Or perhaps, you're there for other reasons, completely oblivious to chaos you have just walked into.

Regardless, you are about to be caught up in a series of events that may decided to fate of Fanewick, Haven and perhaps beyond.

---

Welcome, everybody, to The Witherwild, a Daggerheart campaign inspired by Ghibli movies (primarily Princess Mononoke) and Zelda games (primarily the Breath of the Wild duology and Twilight Princess) and using the campaign frame of the same name provided in the core book and SRD.

Things to note:
- Here is the SRD for those who don't own the rules, or just need a quick refresher. I have never played this game before, and given how new it is, a lot of people probably haven't either. Please be patient with one another as we learn this game together.
- At the end of the SRD, there is a description of the campaign frame we will be using. However, Daggerheart is very much a game where worldbuilding is a collaborative effort. I am open to suggestions to flesh out the setting, even stuff that might differ from the original campaign frame.
- This roleplay is PG13, and the following things are likely to come up given the subject matter: mild depictions of gore and horror imagery, discussions of mortality, grief, the cycle of violence, and colonialism. That being said, if at any point a player feels like it goes too far in a direction they are not comfortable with, either tell me in the OOC or PM me immediately so this can be addressed and rectified. I want to keep this a comfortable environment for everyone, myself included.

Character sheet:

CS

Blank PDF
Appearance: (welcome to either put a picture or just describe them)
Background Questions:
(can be found at the bottom of each class character sheet here, though if they don't quite fit your character, you're welcome to come up with your own)

Domains & Cards:
(List the Domains you have access to and what two cards you start with)

Hope tokens:
(everyone starts with two, representing by these little star ✧ icons)

Wither token:
(everyone starts with none, represented by skull ☠︎︎ icons)

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

Me: *preparing for a Princess Mononoke inspired ttrpg campaign about a magical corruption that is causing nature to grow at an uncontrolled rate*

Game Freak: So we have a new IP...

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

Planning to get the OOC up by Tuesday. Really enjoyed seeing you guys discuss characters and getting into the setting ^^

We'll be going through the connection questions, and also some world-building stuff, as Daggerheart encourages collaborative worldbuilding between GM and players.

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

@Randomguy Looks pretty good to me! And that backstory gives me a lot of extra stuff to work with, thank you.

I was going to link people to a fillable PDF for the character sheet when I dropped the OOC, but you beat me to it, so... here you go everyone, here's the PDF. Link me to or post a picture of it, then put the questions and your domain cards beneath, just as Randomguy did.

Only thing to edit is pretty small: Nikta has been described in the book with she/her pronouns, and I'm keeping it that way. Big scary one-eyed mother owl!

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

Nice! All right, I'll go with that then. Btw, Experiences are things created based on the backstory, right? Does that mean I should just propose them and then you can revise them as needed?

@Randomguy

Correct. They can be things from past occupations, skill sets, character traits they've picked up over their life, defining events etc. And yes, you may put them forward and I'll check over them.

Anyone interested in Daggerheart?

@XxFellsingxX I'm writing out the backstory right now, in the campaign frame, it's mentioned that the invasion of Fanewick was about two years ago? Is it okay if we change it to be longer? Like, 5 years ago or so? It's partly for my backstory, but also IMO 2 years is a bit too short when they said 'Haven conquered the bogs' when Fanewick is also stated to be wild untamed land

@Randomguy

Sure thing if everyone else is okay with it! I was actually going back and forth if I wanted to alter the timeframe myself because, like you, 2 years felt a little bit too short (though I didn't want to risk going too far the other way either). 5 years sounds reasonable though.