Worldbuilding Prompts #236 - Historical Moments. The Great Fire of Jakta
This prompt is one of those "so many things to choose from !" topics.
With a homebrew world which has been kicking around for about 40 years of real-world time, a lot of memorable things have happened. In addition, an enormous body of lore has built up to provide adventure hooks, past events that explain NPC motivations as well as explaining some of why the world got to how it now is, and what I think of as "deep past" that explains mythology and the origins of some of the many ruins that players discover.
In this case, I'm picking something which was a pivotal moment in the world's story arc and has touched many characters in some way, but has always been a background event rather than described in detail.
It was the Ides of the Month of Fogs, Year 1021 AFJ by the Jaktan Calendar. Both Maja and Mina were in New Moon phase, showing bare slivers glimpsed through the clouds scudding across the night sky.
Through the freezing darkness, a figure moved. Keeping away from the lanterns scattered here and there in the streets, avoiding any lit windows, and most especially avoiding the lamps carried by occasional patrols of the Watch.
His name was Sir Reginald Du Cote D'Is, and he was a knight of the Royal Household. But tonight he was clad in the black of shadows, with a bundle of torches and flasks of magical fire hidden beneath his cape, not his customary armour or embroidered court wear. Tonight was the night he would betray his king.
On the other side of the city, Count Gortig von Telram paced back and forth in the small office in the Royal Military Roadgate Barracks.
He was the epitome of the noble warrior; built like an ox, with jet black hair showing silver-grey at the temples and in the centre of his neatly trimmed beard. He wore full plate, of the highest quality even if it was battered from extensive campaigning, with a red surcoat bearing a black bar as his personal insignia.
"So do you trust your man, Alberich ?" he asked the man sitting at the desk to one side of the room.
Sir Alberich von Mantred nodded and smiled. If a rat became a man, he would look like Sir Alberich, but the smile was more like that of a shark, and utterly devoid of humour.
"Yes, my Lord. He knows I have his wife and son safely tucked away. He will follow his instructions precisely if he hopes to see them again. But there is still time if you wish to change your mind. We don't have to go through with this."
Count Gortig sighed. "Yes. Yes, we do. Keshroy is my king and my oldest friend. But what he is about to do will destroy Jakta, and he will not be turned aside from it. His obsession with defeating the orcs has consumed him. But this promise of total victory if he just accepts a Viceroy from Lady Teren is wrong. I don't trust her, or her offer. Keshroy would just be a puppet under a Drow Viceroy, and I don't for a moment think the Dark Elves have our best interests at heart. My troops are in position and ready. We must carry this through."
Sabine von Ulthar stirred in her sleep, dreaming fitfully of her day working under Prince Orgrin, her mentor, son of King Keshroy and head of his Bureau of Information. She dreamed of the ways he'd taught her to question reluctant captives - it was vivid, so vivid she could almost smell the braziers and burning flesh.
Her eyes snapped open. That was no dream. She could hear screams in the distance, smoke was drifting under the door to her chamber, and she could hear faint crackling sounds.
Jumping from her bed, she threw a cape over her shoulders and flung the door open. Dense smoke obscured the corridor, she choked and started coughing as the stench of burning wood and flesh hit the back of her throat.
Sabine could hear movement, and was shoved abruptly to one side as a servant ran past, eyes wide with fear, heading in the direction of the nearest staircase. His fate was apparent a few seconds later; a crash and a sickening scream as she heard the wooden stairs give way.
She headed in the opposite direction, towards the nearby Royal Quarters. Two guards were battering at the sturdy, studded, and very closed door. "Wizard locked !" spluttered one of them. "We'll be through in a minute, though."
Sabine lent her shoulder to help them beat the door down. After a few more precious seconds of work, it gave way. Sabine and the guards screamed as a wall of fire burst into the corridor from the Royal Quarters. The heat was like a furnace, and Sabine briefly thought that there was no way this was an accidental fire. No-one was getting out of the inferno that had been the Royal Quarters.
Then she threw herself out of the nearest window, glad she made a habit of wearing her Ring of Featherfall even at night. As she drifted down through the cold night air, she could see gouts of flame roaring from every window of the burning citadel.
With a brief moment of utterly out-of-place black humour, she hoped no-one was looking up to see a skinny middle-aged woman drifting out of the night sky naked apart from a fluttering cape.
Heavily armoured troops in red and black livery stamped through the night-time streets of Jakta in patrols twenty strong. The city was dimly illuminated by the still-glowing carcass of the burnt out citadel. Each patrol had a Crier of the Watch with them, repeating over and over the same refrain.
"The King is dead ! All the Royal Family are dead, consumed by the tragic fire. Long Live the new King, Gortig the First !"
Sabine watched them from the shadows, thinking dark thoughts in her sorrow. She knew that all the Royal family had perished, and that her own parents had been guests in the citadel, lodged on the top floor. She had seen no-one else emerge, and had to assume she was the only survivor.
What kind of co-incidence was it that Gortig happened to have troops in the city this night ? What did it mean that the King and all three princes were likely reduced to ash beyond the help of any resurrection spell ? But most of all; how was she going to make Gortig pay for his usurpation ?
GM Notes
This little bit of regime change has been playing out across the game in all kinds of ways for the last couple of years.
It turned out there was a survivor from the Royal Family; Princess Shrekana, who was missing presumed dead but had actually been abducted and shape-changed into an ogress. She was rescued by one of the parties of adventurers running around in the world, and hooked up with Sabine to plot the return of the throne to what they saw as the rightful heir, aided by a several PC's and key NPC's.
Sabine is also the aunt of one of the PC's, who has worked up to fairly high level and is remarkably keen to have a crack at King Gortig.
On the other hand, for some players who are less closely connected to the whole "let's get some good old fashioned revenge" thing, King Gortig is the inspirational warrior leading the campaign to put the invading undead back in their boxes. It's a gritty, tough world, and they see it as Gortig having to do what he had to do, with ruthlessness but some regret.
Lady Teren has made repeat appearances as an arch-manipulator in the world, with a large and growing body of lore (yes, she has been known to turn up on her white dragon at times). She's not exactly a BBEG, but is probably the closest thing I have to one.
As for poor old Reginald Du Cote D'Is, his story doesn't have a happy ending. Sir Alberich (one of the truly nasty people in the world) suggested he go off and lie low in a friendly town. But the sealed letter of introduction was his way of tying off a loose end and contained instructions that Sir Reginald was to be put to death. Count Tarvise of An Eliaheer was too honourable to do that, so sent Reginald off to certain death fighting orcs. Where he was captured and later found by a party of players. Who promptly turned him over to Sabine. He was a broken man, tortured in body by the orcs, in mind by his betrayal, and having discovered that Sir Alberich's twisted idea of "safety" for his family was to lock them up in the citadel.
Because I love playing with words, Sir Reginald's name is a thoroughly convoluted pun, which the players never caught on to. Cote D'Is is vaguely French, suggesting a town beside the River Is. So his name is Reginald Is-Side. Reg Is-side... regicide. Sorry, I couldn't resist.......