Welcome to Rift City, our little party’s second home-brewed Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign! This will now be the home of our game recaps. You can follow along as our adventure continues and hopefully find inspiration for your own games/stories, or just enjoy a nice break in the day for some nerd fun!
Since we started this campaign some time ago, here are some things to know:
General History
The world shattered well over a century ago as the Titans of Old determined that mortal races were a failed experiment and decided to wipe the world clean and begin again. Only one Titan stood against them, The Good Lady, or, as she is now known, The Goddess, who led the mortals of the world in a resistance against the Titans. The war dragged on for decades, with the races split, some people believing that they would be saved by the Titans and given their own domains to rule, and others who followed the Goddess in an attempt to save all life, not just those who believed the lies of the Titan overlords. A stalemate was reached across the world and into space as the Titans established bases on both of the world’s moons.
Eventually the Titans grew tired of the conflict. They decided rather than start anew with just the races of the world they would start with an entirely new world and sent their champions to key points of magic within the planet in an effort to destroy it entirely. The Good Lady caught wind of this plan just before the Final Devastation and sacrificed her own life to protect what she could of the planet and its people. Her Sacrifice created the Barrier and held together a large chunk of the world within the Barrier itself, though massive hunks of planet that weren’t able to be saved now float in the night sky. Now, over a century later, the Barrier remains, and those who survived the Shattering live within it on a shard of what was once a vast planet, shielded by the Sacrifice from the enemies without, who still attempt to complete the work of the Titans and launch relentless assaults against the barrier.
The World Now
Rift City is a massive urban sprawl, spanning hundreds of miles north to south and nearly a hundred miles west to east. The city itself soars into the sky with some towers reaching into the clouds; it also extends deep into the earth, having been built upon ruins over ruins, partially to make room for a constantly booming population...and partially to uncover artifacts from the past. Within the world are an array of guilds and churches, all with their own agendas. An interesting note is that, because of the Barrier, souls cannot fully depart. When someone dies, their ghost remains—without exception. In the sky above, bombardment from the ships of the Titans cause what are known as Blooms, beautiful light displays that take the shape of different flora. For now, the Barrier holds. Or does it?
Beyond the city itself is an area known as the Rift. Stretching as far as can be seen to the east, the Rift is what remains of the rest of the city, before the Shattering utterly destroyed 80% of it. Now home to chaos, the Rift contains ruins of what once was, and exploring it is heavily regulated. It is said that while there might be items of power from before the Shattering, the chances of returning are almost nil. The Dwarven miners succeed in their search for Residuum only because the Kirispin Legion make sure to keep very narrow swaths of the Rift clear of aberrations, though elements such as the Deadwind make even those safe locations deadly at times.
This is obviously a lot to take in, and context will be added as we go. In particular, more will be posted about the various organizations within the world at a later time. Enjoy!