A Sovereign’s Centennial
Ash, 122 Steel
After years of planning and preparation, the Centennial Jubilee of Her Divine Radiance Thalya IV Imperatrix is finally at hand. Her reign, though baptised in the blood of her cousin and royal rival Alcineus the Platinum, has since endured through a hundred years of tenuous peace. The major families of the Solunarian Capital and the City of Tertium are obliged to reassert their oaths of fealty to their hundred year queen, and even those smaller villages and caravanserais of Vastian nomads are expected to send emissaries with gifts and promises of allegiance.
In a surprising shift from prior policy, The Crown has been inspired by the recent diplomatic overtures made in the North to extend invitations to realms beyond their allies in Auris. Representatives from distant, unaligned realms will be welcomed to bear witness to Solunarian splendour and bask in the radiance of the Solar Sovereign’s largesse.
As Solunarium gears up for the most lavish festival to occur in living memory, forces far abroad are conspiring to influence the destiny of the desert theocracy. Unbeknownst to the Crown, the distant Gelerian Emperor has seen fit to send his thrall to embark on a clandestine enterprise in the Atraxian Expanse. The bold move will place Talon, the reborn avatar of the detested Arcas, into the midst of a realm that considers him to be the agent of chaos who felled their Founding Deities and hurdled a sprawling, prosperous empire into near ruination. Will Talon’s presence be revealed and taken for a fell omen to sully the queens’ revels? What work has brought him to Atraxia’s dunes, and why is the distant Imperium concerned with an isolated desert kingdom? What sort of welcome will the influx of foreigners receive when they set foot in Solunarium? All these questions and more will be explored this Ash, in Solunarium: The Kingdom of Light and Shadow.
Frost, 122 Steel
As Ash concludes with the revelation that the Draconic Zalkyrian Dynasty is pressing its claim to rule half of the kingdom, Solunarium must transition into a new era. The Dual Kingdom of Light & Shadow shall be bisected according to that divide. But that is only one of the shifting paradigms in the region, for unwitting to most of its inhabitants, the Founding Deities of Solunarium, Aværys and Varvara, have been freed from their ancient incarceration to tread the mortal realms once more. When, how and even if they will assert their presence is anybody's guess, though most are wholly unaware that this event has even transpired.
As the Senatus Solunarius prepares to be sundered into two separate bodies to represent each ream, and several quests are underway for Solunarian inhabitants, Frost promises to be a season of planning and preparation. As such, there will be no Frost calendar per se, but modded threads may be requested at the leisure of the players by contacting Pharaoh directly.
The big question I would encourage you to explore during the Frost season is to whom your characters will pledge their fealty: House Sol'Aværys, House Sol'Zalkyrion or neither? At the outset of Glade, all PCs will be asked to declare their fealty in the Glade 123 Character Registry. There will be consequences, no matter what you choose.
Solunarium Seasonal Event Calendar
[Quest] A fully moderated thread that will be directed and overseen by Pharaoh. A starter will be provided. Once the allotted amount of players have posted to the thread, it will be closed. If players would like to make their interest known, please send a PM to Pharaoh or Rune here on the forums (not Discord)
[Prompt]A written prompt will be provided for interested participants. Any and all who desire to participate in this event, please get with Pharaoh. A starter for the thread will be provided. A prompt is different from a moderated thread in that the premise of the scenario is provided, players are left to determine the outcome of their own volition. However, a moderator can step in to offer a creative nudge where appropriate.
[Open Prompt]Players are welcome to begin the event themselves.
1 through 6 Ash: ALIQVID IMPIVD ILLAM VIAM VENIT
In a fell omen for the start of the Sovereign’s centennial season, unusually abundant plumes of black smoke have begun to roil up from the maw of Mount Sorokyn. Meanwhile the ocean tides have grown dangerously erratic and fear of tidal waves sweeps the Port City of Tertium as concurrently vicious sandstorms assault the open desert. Diviners, seeking to make sense of the unusual weather activity, whisper that ‘something wicked this way comes’. [PROMPT]
7 Ash:LARGITIO SERPENTVM
The weather is, at last, becalmed and, though a sense of dread still looms for some, others take solace in a more positive portent that comes on the heels of the threatening weather. It is noted that, since the beginning of the month, the amount of healthy wyvernlings and basilisks to hatch was sixty-percent higher than usual. [OPEN PROMPT]
22 Ash: ÆQVINOCTIVM AVTVMNALE
The 22nd of Cinderfall marks the Autumnal Equinox as observed in Solunarium. Open festivals are held in the Capital and Tertium to honour the event. With the Centennial Jubilee just around the corner the Crown and the Senatus Major have yielded up their usual role as hosts of the event to the Senatus Minor. The human-led senate is funding the festival with money from their own coffers and with the aid of sponsors from the “Equestrian” merchant class, who are excited by the opportunity to promote their businesses on such a wide scale. Meanwhile the Vastian villages and caravanserais abroad of the cities observe the harvest festival in more intimate, independent festivities. [OPEN PROMPT]
34 Ash: ABSENS VILLATA
During the unusual Dread Mist activity of 34 Searing, an area roughly 65 miles Southwest of the Solunarian capital was particularly effected. Ever since that dread date, villages in the region have been reporting sightings of and encounters with mutated beasts, including a colossal cyclops and a three-headed wild wyvern. The locals have taken to calling this pocket of desert the Circulus Mali or "Circle of Evil". On this date, one season to the day after the Dread Mists descended over this area, all contact with the Vastian village of Vectria has abruptly ceased. A reward of 5,000 gold Avens is being offered to by a merchant's guild who trades with the Vectrians for verifiable information about what became of the village. The reward goes up to 10,000 gold Avens if survivors are located and rescued. [QUEST]
50 Ash: ALIENA INCVRSIO
A recent influx of foreign guests has garnered the interest of the Solunarian elite in both the Ex-Re’ha and Patrician castes. The hoi aristoi have grown fascinated with the culture of Karnor, which they find impossibly exotic. Intrigued by tales of chaos in Kalzasi and romanticising the recent, dramatic descent of the fallen State of Zaichaer, foreign influence is finding its way into the Solunarian mainstream in novel ways. Tailors have begun to be flooded with commissions for pieces styled after Northern fashions, and producers are scrambling to find plays and operas about foreign themes that can be censored into something palatable to Solunarian audiences.[OPEN PROMPT]
75 Ash: CAVE IDVS VITHERIAS
The Ides of Wither are upon us and at last the opening ceremony of the Solar Sovereign’s Centennial Jubilee begins with Her Divine Radiance’s favourite pastime: A military parade. A grand procession composed of all branches of the Solunarian military and constabulary will march from the Radiant Plaza through the streets of the capital under the blazing noonday sun as wyvern-riders soar above in choreographed formation. Thalya IV herself will end the procession flanked by her vaunted Aværyn Guard. That evening, an assertion of fealty will begin with the heads of the six royal branches of Gens Sol’Aværys confirming their undying loyalty to their queen, after which a citywide feast will be provided with entertainment provided by commissions from the 6 branches of the Royal House. On the pursuant days, fealty assertions will continue from the top castes down as leaders from all across the Atraxian Expanse descend upon the capital to pay their obeisances. But, with the tensions nearing a boiling point between Gens Phædryn and its rival branches of Gens Sol’Aværys, danger is afoot amidst the revelry. Who will thwart or contribute to chaos in this orderly realm? [QUEST]
Further city and kingdom-wide events may be requested by players interested in PC-driven plots. Please contact Pharaoh, if interested in pursuing such a plot!
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[b]Name:[/b] [url=Character Sheet Link]PC Name[/url]
[b]Race:[/b] Character's Race
[b]Likes and Dislikes:[/b] What do you like to write about? What do you not like?
[b]Reason for Visiting:[/b] What brought you to Solunarium?
[b]Goal for the Season:[/b] What are you hoping to achieve this season?
[b]Duration of Stay:[/b] How long will you be with us?
[b]Commentary Feedback:[/b] What would you like to see more of in Solunarium this season?
