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Strange New Worlds [Free]
Strange New Worlds
"Behold, with the fall of the Wall of Night, there are new lands to discover and conquer- for great and exotic are the spoils in the Lands Beyond Night."
The eldritch Wall of Night has fallen without known cause or any fanfare. What was forbidden for centuries has opened up into either a new opportunity or threat. For now, incursions into the new lands are forestalled in fear the Wall of Night's possible return. For centuries the Three Kingdoms told themselves that all that lies beyond are wastelands filled with abominations and hungry ghosts. Caution seems to be the byword amongst the wealthy and powerful.
Opportunity or disaster looms on the horizon. From amongst those for whom life is cheap the risk may be worth the reward. Bold men and women are needed to explore and stake claims for gods, king or even themselves. The truth, whatever that may be, is for these ambitious folk to discover. Gird yourself, mount up and gather your team close for both untold riches and horrors surely await you.
Precis: Kingdoms sequestered away under a magical curse suddenly lifted like what would have happened at the end of Sleeping Beauty when a kingdom suddenly appears in a world that has been evolving without them.
Conspectus: Megafauna, Talislanta inspired, sword & sorcery, medieval knights against bronze-age warriors, European colonization from both sides of the equation, magic as technology, magical ecology, bronze-age cultures, inspiration from John Carters of Mars series, decadent cities, priests of chthonic gods, frank depictions of slavery and injustice, ziggurats, witch queens, isolation vs. multiculturalism, small and petty gods around every corner, what price ambition, goal-oriented, open sandbox, old-school play, cursed cities, ancient ruins aplenty, mythic underworld, alien-like species, place names like Qasr Balawat or Tel Ninqat, Scythians but riding axe beak mounts, Babylon and Mycenean giants, arcane polluted areas, loads of history without lore dumps, jingoism, manifest destiny, inequality, racism, religious persecution, fantasy areas just for the fun of it, cyclopean architecture built by actual cyclopes.