Introduction to the World of the Drowned Isles

Long ago, a great Stellar Imperium ruled all of known space in a ten-thousand-year golden age. The Imperium has since collapsed, or decayed, or withdrawn from its Earthly cradle. We live with what our ancestors left behind: towering ruins, poisoned earth, and mysterious relics. The most vexing inheritance is Aether, arcane power woven into the oceans to keep them in check. It has instead warped our world: land by the sea teems with strange life, storms threaten to uproot cities, and those who spend too long on the waves grow strange and powerful.

Off the coast of the great continent Meridia lies a dense archipelago, called the Drowned Isles. These islands are touched by Aether more than any other land. Monstrous creatures rise from the sea to stalk the Isles, and it is said ancient treasure is hidden deep within. It is common wisdom that the Isles resist kings, defy maps, and break heroes. Heedless of these warnings, pirates and adventurers throw themselves against its shores in search of glory and riches. Few survive, and those who do are changed considerably.

Yet this frothing chaos brought a paradoxical peace, as Meridia descended into vicious war between two great powers. The iron-fisted Atlantean Empire sought to teach a lesson to the young United Lake Federation. The Federation’s river merchants did not beg for mercy as expected, but responded in kind. A dozen fronts bloomed, of pikeman infantry and armored divisions and flying machines and things more terrible besides. Neither the great ocean-going warships of Atlantis or the nimble river flotillas of the Federation were able to claim the Isles; its inhabitants found themselves sheltered from the worst of what became known as the Three Year’s War.

The Queen of Death, ruling from her underworld seat below Meridia’s coast, brokered a truce between the Empire and Federation. A negotiated peace is the order of the day, but war has stirred up many things better left buried. Monsters prowl the forests, ancient machines stir, and mercenaries ply their trade. From island to island across the Drowned Isles, the Atlantean flag may fly over a garrison, or settlers may arrive by the shipload from crowded Lakes, or independents may brave the harsh world themselves.

Play begins in Twill, a medium-sized industrial city on the very edge of the Drowned Isles. Players take on the role of Wardens, truth-seekers and adventurers. They’ll investigate mysteries, master their powers, and confront mortal peril.