Campaign Docket - The Gaiaverse
Version A: The Kromian Empire
Josh Keller

I. Overview
	The Gaiaverse is a world of my own design, based around the conflict between two empires: the Kromians and the Vanguard. Our campaign will be set in this world, with the party as citizens (or, at least, members) of the Kromian Empire.

II. Expectations
	While running this game, I will try to strike a balance between non-stop hack-and-slash combat and in-depth, character based role-playing. I realize that most of you have never played a pen-and-paper RPG, and that most of your experience comes from computer and video games. Those games resemble D&D to the same extent that riding a city bus driven by a drunken lunatic in the blazing heat of Buenos Aires with no air conditioning, shock absorbers, or muffler, its diesel stink permeating the seat cushions, resembles driving a Maserati at 300 kph north along California One at sunset with Journey blasting on the stereo and all your friends in the backseat singing along. Even if you don't like Journey.
	Given that, games will be held weekly, and I will give as much advance notice as possible if one must be postponed for whatever reason. I would appreciate it if each of you would do the same. Running an ongoing game becomes difficult if players keep dropping in and out, so for the sake of the group, try to keep Thursday night free. If regular attendance becomes a problem, we'll talk.
	Other than that, keep an open mind, bring your own dice, and remember that we're all here to have a good time, even me.

III. History of the Kromian Empire
	The game will take place in the year 162 NKC (New Kromian Calendar). 162 years ago, the three city-states of Kroma, Thrace, and Braxis were united under the banner of the Kromian Empire.
	According to legend, Kroma was founded by a poor farmer named Karl. He was a member of a tribe of hunter-gatherers who carried on a nomadic lifestyle on the slopes of the Kromian foothills near the River Widely. In his dreams, he had visions of a great city on the banks of the river. His visions drove him near madness, so much so that he was exiled by his family and sent out to fend for himself in the wilderness. He wandered aimlessly for many days until one day, he came across a centaur from the forests to the north. The centaur saw him and ran, but Karl pursued him, spurred on by madness and the power of his visions. According to legend, Karl chased the centaur to the banks of the River Widely, at which point the centaur leapt across the river in a single bound. Karl decided that the spot from which the centaur leapt was the same place he had been seeing in his visions, and so declared that spot to be Kroma, after his tribe, the Kromians.
	He toiled in solitude for years, teaching himself how to reap the fruits of the soil, until he was found by an emissary from his old tribe, whose people were starving due to over-hunting in the hills. Karl agreed to expand the borders of Kroma to include his former tribe, and the great city of Kroma began its thousand-year ascent.
	Scholarly accounts differ as to the veracity of this legend, with many historians holding that the Kromian tribe merely captured the existing city from its original inhabitants, but most agree that Kroma's significant growth began around 800 BE (Before the Empire). Before long, it was a thriving city-state, based primarily on its strong agricultural foundation, the natural resources available in the Kromian Foothills and the forest of Shady Grove, the travel and trade afforded by the River Widely, and its radical system of government (more on which later), its success skyrocketed meteorically until it was a thriving city-state with strong economic control of the region by the year 100 BE. Having strong natural defenses (hills, river) along with a defensible position, the city-state of Kroma never had a strong military presence until it began its campaign of northern expansion circa 75 BE. By 60 BE, it had subsumed the major cities of Ayer's Rock and Pergammon peacefully; the armed might of the Kromian empire combined with its economic prominence left them with little choice.
	After an initial period of instability, Pergammon and Ayer's Rock established a presence in the government of what was quickly becoming the Kromian Empire. With the Northwest firmly under its control, Kroma turned its eye to the south and east, with plans to stretch as far as the River Quickly.
	In this region, it faced two obstacles. First, the small city of Bowman's Ferry held a vital strategic and economic role, but had made its intentions clear to resist any attempts at Kromian rule, maintaining its loyalty to the northeastern city-state of Thrace.  The Empire was prepared to take the city by force, but was wary of sparking all-out war with Thrace. Second, the halfling tribes around Crater Lake obstinately refused to be bought out of their ancestral homelands. These tribes had long been a thorn in the Kromians' expansionist plans, and plans were made to deal with them.
	Beginning in 36 BE, the Kromian Empire embarked on a campaign of systematic genocide against the halflings of the Kromain foothills. The Kromians expected little resistance, and so were taken by surprise when over two dozen halfling tribes formed a united front of opposition against them. Casualties were high on both sides, with the halflings using their knowledge of local terrain to mount devastating guerilla warfare and the humans using brute numerical force to exterminate halfling villages down to the last man, woman, and child.
	By 31 BE, the last of the tribes had been forced to retreat up to the banks of Crater Lake. Complete extermination seemed inevitable when, for reasons unbeknownst to the Kromians, the elves joined in the battle on the side of the halflings. The presence of elves in the forests of Shady Grove was not unknown, but the Kromians could not anticipate their military prowess, tactical brilliance, or political unity. Though it was later found that the elves had been holding military meetings and building up their forces in secret since the genocide of the halflings began, they of course had no way of knowing this at the time. The Kromians were not the only ones attacked; many of the elves of Kraeger's Forest took up arms against Braxis to the south, while the wild elves of the Forest of Otherworldly Light crossed the steep banks of the Spout of the Infundibulum to march north on Thrace.
	The Kromians, the Braxians, and the Thracians found themselves thrown into an uneasy alliance against what seemed to be a dedicated campaign to wipe humans off the continent entirely. Abandoning their genocidal plans for the halflings (most of whom fled either to the forests of the southeast or across the ocean to the island of the Vanguard to the west) they consolidated their forces and began to mount their defense, as villiages, hamlets, and towns fell to the ruthless elven onslaught.
	(Notable of these wars was the involvement of dwarves on the side of the Kromians; they held [and still hold] a deep racial distrust of elves, and feared that they would be the next race attacked.)
	However, the elves did not press the attack. Instead, they opened up multilateral negotiations with Kroma, Braxis, and Thrace, agreed to some boundaries, and took the remaining halflings under their protection before vanishing back into their forests, leaving behind nothing but destruction and resentment.
	A brief period of chaos across the continent followed. Bands of humans, driven by rage against the elves and frustration at the helplessness of their own governments to protect them, counterattacked blindly into the woods, sowing random ruination throughout the forests via fire and axe. These mobs were inevitably cut down to a man, but some managed to take substantial amounts of elves down with them. The cities of Kroma, Braxis, and Thrace focused inwards on rebuilding their own infrastructure and defenses, leaving their rural populations to fend for themselves; banditry and crime were rampant. The so-called "Time of Troubles" lasted from the end of the human-elven war (30 BE) for almost 10 years.
	Finally, the main cities had regained enough stability to once again focus their resources outwards. The unlikely alliance had proven to be a valuable resource, and the kingdoms each recognized the need for mutual protection, the triviality of turning their sizable armies against one another, and the potential economic and cultural boons that awaited them. Thus, the groundwork was laid for the Kromian League, so named because Kroma had emerged from the human-elven war the undisputed military and economic leader, due to the relatively small amount of combat fought on Kromian territory.
	The Kromian League was a loose association of the existing "federal" governments of each region; it was little more than a non-aggression pact with a certain recognition of legal status among the kingdoms. As such, it was doomed to failure almost from the start. The weaknesses of the system were epitomized in the infamous "Dundraville Incident".
	In 4 BE, a Kromian criminal known as El Gallo was captured and sentenced to be hanged, but escaped as he was brought to the gallows. He managed to flee to the Kromian/Braxian border before being apprehended. While Kromian guards secured him, a Braxian platoon approached and demanded his release. The complication was that El Gallo had committed crimes in both Kroma and Braxis, and he was wanted in both kindgoms. The Braxian guards sought to claim the reward for his capture from their own government. The Kromians refused, and had it not been for the timely intervention of a conveniently located bard, the groups may have come to blows, possibly inciting already inflamed tensions (due to a tariff dispute) between the two kingdoms into an all-out conflict.
	The incident forced each kingdom to realize the danger of a loose association without a codified set of laws among them. Many key statesmen, from all three kingdoms, began to advocate for a single, unified empire, under shared rule of all three regions. Foremost among these advocates was the Kromian gnome Marcus Aurelius. Those holding out for individual sovereignty  were eventually overruled, and the Kromian Empire was born.
	Since then, the empire has continued to flourish and prosper, expanding to take up most of the land mass of the continent. With a few exceptions, new cities have been built, science and culture have flourished, and Kroma has become the gem of the civilized world.
	Other than the war, other notable recent developments have been the acceptance of elven emissaries to the Kromian empire, with the borders of the Elven nations opening up to commerce and trade, and the initial colonization of the island of New Kroma to the north in 136 NKC.

IV. The Kromian-Vanguard War
	By the late 130's, the expansion of the Kromian empire has slowed. With the exception of the lands to the southeast, which will be explored in further detail later, the Kromian Empire had expanded to take up most of the land mass of the continent. Many in the Kromian government were not satisfied; natural resources were disappearing at an astonishing rate. There was only one direction left to go: out.
	In 141 NKC, a band of emissaries were sent to the island of the Vanguard to establish diplomatic contact. It was known that the island was inhabited, but no official contact had been made, and no merchant would admit to trading their goods to the west.
	The emissaries were well received by the loose congregation of tribes that called themselves the Vanguard. Initial responses were peaceful, though trade was still difficult due to the lack of a strong Kromian naval presence of any sort. The emissaries were followed by a group of surveyors who were to ascertain what resources the Vanguard possessed that would be worth trading for or buying. At the same time, dozens of spies were sent to infiltrate the Vanguard and gain an intelligence advantage over a people who were generally regarded as primitive.
	The surveyors hit gold, metaphorically. In the center of the island was an immense forest of darkwood trees, whose timber is immensely valuable due to its use in ship-building (a rapidly burgeoning industry) and construction. When the emissaries offered to fund a logging endeavor, however, the Vanguard were furious. The tribes who lived in the forest considered the trees to be sacred, and allowing them to come to harm would be a terrible blasphemy, not only for religious purposes, but for the ecological impact it would have on the region. 
	The Kromian Empire may have dropped the issue were it not for two pressing issues on the home front. First of all, the mainland was becoming rapidly deforested. Colonization efforts to the north were frustratingly slow, and the natural resource yield had yet to show substantial promise. Kromian loggers were already in danger of violating the boundaries set by the elven treaties after the war, and inciting another conflict was not an option.
	The decision was made to invade, and an expeditionary force of 10,000 soldiers was assembled in the spring of 143 NKC. Things began to go wrong almost from the start. Due to the lack of a good port in the northwest, the decision was made to ship out from the city of Saltwater in the Canton Braxis. The journey was long and slow, and due to scheduling constraints, the initial expeditionary force numbered less than 3,000 men.
	Still, when they made landfall on the beachheads of the Vanguard city of Balder, they wrought havoc. The Kromians were vastly technologically superior, and even with their fractured expeditionary force, still had a numerical advantage. The Vanguard lacked much in the way of a standing army, and the tribes were only a loose association. The army pushed all the way to the edge of the Darkwood Forest before an effective resistance could be mounted.
	Once the Vanguard had assembled their resistance, however, the tables began to turn. Once again, the opponents of the Kromian Empire had the advantage of terrain, in addition to control of the natural magic of the forest itself. Hit-and-run attacks whittled down the numbers of the expeditionary force, and as the army tried to force its way through Wulfrum's Pass in the hills to the west, they often found themselves cut off and lacking supplies.
	The army began a long, slow retreat, fighting each step of the way. They adopted a "scorched earth" policy, destroying farmland and villages as they fell back to the east. Reinforcements came from the mainland, but as the costs of the war began to mount and public support of the invasion fell, they became fewer and far between. Still, it took the Vanguard 7 years before they finally pushed the Kromian army off of their island, and not before they had burned the city of Balder to the ground and slaughtered its surviving inhabitants.
	The sack of Balder was twelve years ago, and both sides are still recovering from the costs of the war. The Kromian Empire is focusing its energies on its northern colonies, while the Vanguard attempts to rebuild its shattered landscape.
	Conditions outside the major cities are the worst they've been since the Time of Troubles. Banditry and crime, once almost eradicated from rural areas, have returned in full force. As the cities fill with disgruntled soldiers and war-weary citizens, guard units are forced to focus their attentions internally, and the roads are no longer safe. The burden of trade has shifted onto the rivers, which are often choked with traffic. Braxis and Thrace, which rely more heavily on their roads, have put more resources into their defense, at the risk of growing civil unrest in urban areas.

V. Physical Geography of the Mainland

A. Forests
There are three main forests on the mainland, though all have shrunk to varying degrees from their historical sizes.
Shady Grove is northwest of Kroma, along the banks of the River Widely. A shadow of its former grandeur, this forest has undergone the debilitating effects of heavy logging. Most of the elves here have moved on.
Kraeger's Wood is north of Braxis. Mostly deciduous, this temperate forest contains some of the oldest trees on the continent, and forms a natural barrier along with the Mangroves and the Braxian Foothills.
The Forest of Otherworldly Light is more accurately a tropical rainforest. Little is known about its interior; few Kromians have ever set foot in it and returned to tell the tale. Still less is known about the mountainous peninsula that extends from its southeastern corner into the ocean.

B. Mountains/Hills
The Kromian Foothills are gentle, rolling grasslands, with excellent fertile soil for farming. They form the natural border between Canton Kroma and Canton Braxis.
The Braxian Foothills are to the northeast of Braxis and form the eastern extent of Canton Braxis. Many hills to the south are rich in mineral deposits.
The Thracian Foothills are to the northeast of Thrace, and are heavily mined by both humans and dwarves.
The Dwarven Lands are relatively unknown to humans; dwarves feel free to traverse human lands, but the reverse is not true. Presumedly rich in natural resources.
The Lightfoot Hills form half of the southern border of Canton Thrace. They are elven territory, and are rarely traveled.

C. Lakes
Crater Lake is in the southeast corner of Canton Kroma. Nestled among the Kromian Foothills, the "banks" of Crater Lake are in fact steep, rocky slopes, unusual in an otherwise grassy, loamy region. Because of this, its waters are difficult to access directly, but drinking directly from the lake is said to bring good fortune and health. It feeds both the River Widely and the River Quickly. Legends speak of the lake being formed when a star fell to the Gaiaverse.

Lake Malda, on the eastern ridge of the Braxian Foothills, is shallow, and its size varies dramatically depending on the season. It is the home of the infamous Braxian Razorfish, which are a delicacy across the Empire but are not so much fished for as they are hunted, as a dangerous beast is hunted. The western shores are marshy and hazardous; the eastern shores are a barren wasteland.

The Infundibulum is lodged in the Lightfoot Hills, to the south of Canton Thrace. As the wild elves of the Forest of Otherworldly Light consider it to be their territory, little is known about this area, other than its brief term as the "high-water mark" of Canton Thrace to the south.

D. Rivers
The River Widely is an artery for trade and agriculture in Canton Kroma. It is the source of extensive irrigation systems that criss-cross the eastern flood plains, and vehicles from rafts to clipper ships sail up and down its languorous current. Its name stems from its breadth; despite the technological prowess of the Kromian empire, it has only been bridged in a single location southeast of Kroma.

The River Quickly is narrower and faster-flowing than the River Widely. Long stretches run across the bottom of steep, rocky gorges. Trade is possible, and carried out on a daily basis, but it is substantially more dangerous for larger vessels. It remains a vital source of sustenance for the cities of Praetoria and Bowman's Ferry; gnomes residing in the latter have profited from the ferry trade for centuries.

The Rio Malda is shallow and frequently stagnant during the summer months. Little more is known; it forms the western boundary of the hostile Badlands.

The Rio Infundibula runs along the northern border of the Forest of Otherworldly Light. Sometimes shallow and rapid, often deep and wide, it is fiercely defended by the elves. Few have crossed it and lived to tell the tale.

E. Deserts

The Badlands is an infamous region east of Canton Braxis and south of Canton Thrace. Its dangers are far beyond the obvious ones posed by the environment; the entire area is infested with all manner of vicious, wild, savage beasts, ranging from bulettes to blue dragons. Rumors of an underground kingdom of Formians were partially substantiated by the famed adventuring party, Krogoth's Crusaders, whose explorations and maps of the region made in 43 NKC remain the most thorough and complete in existence, despite their self-professed flaws.
	Krogoth's Crusaders originally ventured into the Badlands to explore what divinations had revealed to be emanations of negative energy coming from some sort of physical object located deep within the desert. Corroborating this intelligence with ancient Elven legends concerning an oasis in the Badlands called the Well of All Souls, they set out in search of this well. Their first three expeditions were unsuccessful in finding the Well, though they did yield colossal amounts of data concerning the Badlands itself. From their fourth and final expedition, none ever returned. None have followed up on their disappearance since.

F. Swamps

The Mangroves are a collection of marshlands to the north of Saltwater in Canton Braxis. Formerly a lawless, dangerous land that served as the home to all manner of pirates, thieves, and whores, a dedicated campaign that began around the turn of the century has all but done away with the seedier elements of the Southern Mangroves, to make the region safe for fishing and peat harvesting, two of Saltwater's major industries.
	The Northern Mangroves are still inhabited primarily by lizardfolk, who are mostly peaceful and keep to themselves, but are viewed with suspicion by most of the Kromian empire. With the lumber in the Mangroves becoming more valuable by the day, it is possible that they will soon be the subjects of a major relocation effort.

G. Coasts
	Not all coastal lands are created equal. As far south as the Mangroves, the western coast of the Kromian Empire is rocky and steep, the continental shelf unsuitable to shipping. There is not a single inhabitable natural harbor from Pergammon to Saltwater. The northern coast has many sandy beaches and fishing villages, as does much of the land along the coast east of Braxis. The city of Braxis itself has a phenomenal natural saltwater harbor, invaluable for mercantile and naval purposes.

H. The Ocean
	The existence of other landmasses, other than those already known, beyond the ocean has not been substantiated.

VI. New Kroma

A. History
	New Kroma is a Kromian colony founded on the large, mountainous island to the north of the Kromian Empire. Although it is no more than 60 miles as the crow flies, inconsistent winds and turbulent currents can make the trip take up to a week under the wrong conditions.
	New Kroma was determined to be suitable for colonization based on its physical proximity and its strong potential for both mineral wealth and an agricultural base in the southern hills. The town of New Kroma was founded in 136 NKC, though explorers and adventurers had mapped large swaths of territory already.
	Many sentient races inhabit the island, most notably goblins, orcs, and savage humans, though bands of centaurs have been indirectly observed. No diplomatic contact with any of these groups has been made in any official capacity.
	A scant five years after the founding of New Kroma, the fortified village of Wildsgate was founded by Baron Wulfrum in the base of the mountains, colloquially known as the Spires. Initial expansion and construction in both towns was rapid, but all progress was damped substantially by the outbreak of war in 146 NKC. Supply shipments and new colonists from the mainland all but ceased. By this point, the colonies were largely self-sufficient, and may have very well survived the record-breaking cold of the subsequent winters without incident had it not been for the temporary unification of the savage human tribes in a dedicated effort to wipe out Wildsgate, with New Kroma itself clearly being the next item on the agenda.
	In a daring series of reconnaissance and sabotage missions, Wulfrum himself led a platoon of his mounted Outriders out from Wildsgate, crippling the command structure of the human tribes and ultimately confronting and defeating the human chieftain in the Battle of Three Rivers, 145 NKC. Wulfrum gave his own life in this battle, but his military prowess and valor saved the town of Wildsgate from a certain doom.
	Still, times were difficult in New Kroma until the end of the war, and between the raids and the winters, the colony teetered on the brink of starvation until regular mainland shipments could resume. Rumors of starvation leading to cannibalism in the winter of 146 NKC have yet to be substantiated.
	Since the resumption of regular naval-supported supply runs, New Kroma has been mostly restored to its former state. However, the savage human tribes still persist, albeit in a shattered state, and gnolls, goblins, and bugbears pose threats of their own. Further dangers lurk in the northern mountains and valleys, though they are poorly documented at best.

B. Political
	Wildsgate is ruled by a baron, a title inherited from father to son and approved by Kroma. The current baron is Kaldal, son of Wulfrum, a just and fair leader who is frequently racked by bouts of serious illness that leave him bed-ridden for months at a time. Additionally, there is a governor who serves as an emissary and communicant to Kroma. The role is currently held by the Lady Aborn, known to the people as the White Lady, commonly held to be kind and generous to the common man.
	The city of New Kroma lacks an independent baron; communication with the mainland is frequent and consistent enough that they are directly ruled only by a governor. The high economic viability of the region has led to quite a bit of corruption in the position; as such, turnover is high. The current governor, Jonathan Pembroke, has held office for over a year.

VII. Cities

A. Kromian

Kroma is a jewel of civilization for all of the western world. Renowned as a center of culture, art, science, magic, and trade, it is the capitol of the entire Kromian Empire.
	Kroma's central location makes it an essential trading hub for the entire continent. At the base of the Kromian Foothills and astride the River Widely, it is often said that "All roads lead to Kroma", and as far as major highways are concerned, this is literally true. With the combination of its trading prowess and access to natural resources (ores from the hills, fertile farmland in every direction), Kroma is fabulously wealthy, and it shows. Minarets soar hundreds of feet into the sky, the roads are clean and well-kept, and private citizens occupy opulent homes.
	Kroma is also home to the finest arcane academies and casters on the continent. Drawn by wealth, many served originally as patrons to wealthy families and statesmen, then went into private practice. The use of arcane magic in general is commonplace.
	Kroma's ports along the River Widely are always heavily trafficked, and the dockside area is one of the most heavily policed, since it houses much of the city's resident lowlife population. Visitors are advised not to wander into it alone and unarmed, since the primary purpose of the police presence is to make sure none of the violence and squalor spill out into the wealthier parts of town.
	Kroma's other major function is as the main seat of government for the Empire; the nature of this government will be explored thoroughly later on in this docket.

Ayer's Rock is a small town near the rocky western coast of Canton Kroma, named after the steep, jagged cliffs of basalt that separate the city from the ocean. While the town was once sustained primarily by mining operations, the nearby veins have long since run dry. Far removed from the normal trading routes and lacking a good harbor, or for that matter, any access to the sea whatsoever, it was in danger of becoming a ghost town, until wealthy Kromians began to recognize its natural beauty. It now serves as a popular residence for both retired Kromians and the second homes of the wealthy. Additionally, a substantial industry based around arcane magic, both the training of young wizards and the creation of items for sale, has sprung up due to the high concentration of wealthy, retired wizards bored and looking for work; in this respect, Ayer's Rock is second only to Kroma itself.

Pergammon has Canton Kroma's only harbor, and is thus an essential hub of commerce and trade for the empire. Situated on the delta of the River Widely, traffic both along the river and the highway is heavy year-round, especially during the summer and fall. Income correlates directly to elevation; the seediest residential areas are close to the docks, which have quite a reputation. For the most part, only those with a direct business connection to the docks actually live here, as there are extensive facilities (taverns, inns, brothels) for visiting sailors. Despite the shadiness, Pergammon is a relatively safe place to live; gambling and prostitution are regulated by the Canton, and a complex "honor code" method of resolving violent conflicts has evolved out of necessity.

Bowman's Ferry is a large town that nearly crosses the border into Thrace. Situated on an important crossroads between the northern shores, Canton Thrace to the east, and Kroma to the west, the eponymous ferry made a local gnomish clan fabulously wealthy. Gnomes are still a substantial portion of the population here, in addition to the westernmost official enclave of dwarves anywhere in the Kromian empire. The same gnomish clan has made enormous strides in harvesting the hydrodynamic power of the River Quickly in order to grind grains into flour, and Bowman's Ferry remains an agricultural hub in the region. However, this gnomish clan was run out of town in disgrace when a bridge of their design spanning the River Quickly failed spectacularly, leading to hundreds of deaths and losses equivalent to tens of thousands of gold.

B. Braxian

Saltwater is a port of vital strategic importance to the Empire, housing much of the naval might left over from the War. Downtown is primarily industrial, serving both the shipping and logging businesses. However, a great many citizens, known affectionately to the rest of Saltwater as the "mudders", have constructed elaborate stilted homes in the Mangroves to the north. Unsurprisingly, many of the mudders are gnomish; more surprisingly, most of them are willing to live side-by-side with the lizardfolk of the Northern Mangroves. Few others live in Saltwater by choice; the low elevation and proximity to marshland make the climate hot and muggy, even for the South. One notable exception is the sizable military garrison, consisting of a mixture of naval support personnel and troops who never made it to Vanguard.

Grovers Corners is a small town on the southern outskirts of Kraeger's Wood. While the town is sustained economically by both the logging industry and its favorable trading position, it is also a nexus of arcane magic in Canton Braxis and the entire empire, as wizards from as far as Thrace come to practice their wizardry with their elven counterparts. Grovers Corners is also notable in that it is one of the few places in the Kromian empire where humans are only a plurality, rather than a majority; in addition to a large gnomish and small (but growing) elven population, half-elves make up a full quarter of the population.

Braxis is another important port city, in addition to being the capitol of Canton Braxis. The city was founded on the strength of the fishing industry, since the warm weather and shallow waters to the southeast and southwest create very favorable conditions, though the industry has foundered in the postwar years due to overfishing. Braxis is a city with a proud military tradition, and many recruits for the Kromian army train here. It is the main port for the Kromian navy, as well. However, due to these factors, along with its large size, Braxis has attracted many disgruntled former soldiers, who contribute to the city's unemployment and unrest. For many of these people, the war never ended; either they never saw Vanguard shores, or were shipped back before the retreat.

C. Thracian

Praetoria grew from a small fishing village into a major port city, and shares with Pergammon the burden of supplying the New Kroma colony. Much of the agricultural surplus of the high-yield fields to the south is shipped north through here. The milling technology harvested so effectively in Bowman's Ferry is slowly gaining a foothold here, thanks mostly to industrial espionage on behalf of rival gnome clans and corporations. Praetoria is in the midst of a minor economic depression in light of the lack of timber to support its shipbuilding industry in the postwar years. This is compounded by the fact that a significant portion of its labor pool has emigrated either west to Canton Kroma or north to New Kroma.

Thrace, the Gem of the East, is coincidentally the major supplier of gems in the east, and indeed throughout the entire Kromian Empire. The seat of Canton Thrace was founded on the mining industry, and much of the Thracian Foothills to the northeast have been stripped bare in the pursuit of iron, coal, silver, gold, and gems. Many sections of Thrace are entirely underground, and it is rumored that the entire city was built on Dwarven ruins, though both Thracian humans and dwarves deny this. Next to Grovers Corners in Canton Braxis, Thrace has one of the highest concentrations of demihumans anywhere in the Kromian Empire. There are large communities of gnomes, as well as many elves who have been exiled from the Forest of Otherworldly Light to the south. Few dwarves actually live among the humans, but commerce and other forms of interaction are commonplace.

Kraegersport, in the popular conception of the people of the Kromian Empire, one of the most desolate places on the entire continent. Geographically isolated, physically austere, it's easy to see how one might come to this conclusion. However, Kraegersport is, in addition to being an essential eastern harbor, is a hub of technology in Canton Thrace. Besides the plethora of independent private inventors (many of them gnomish), the Kromian Empire finances many firms to carry out its military research and development. These factors have led to a high standard of living and an overall general wealth that manifests itself in luxurious lifestyles for the Kraegersportians.

The Ruins of Malda have a long, storied, and poorly understood history. The city was founded circa 11 NKC. Unlike most of the cities in the Kromian Empire, which grew organically from collations of villages in a given geographic area, Malda was a deliberate, pointed attempt to found a city from the ground up. Most important within the context of the time was that it was  a multilateral effort, the first of what would hopefully be many expansions by the newly formed Kromian Empire. Five thousand citizens from every part of the Empire settled on the shores of Lake Malda and began irrigating the arid soil to the east.
	What happened next remains a mystery. Communications with Malda from Bowmen's Ferry and Thrace had been regular, but around mid-May, 16 NKC, all connections with the outside world suddenly ceased. Malda was not very far from central regions in Cantons Thrace and Kroma, so an expeditionary party was quickly dispatched. Approaching the city, the party (known as the Five Swell Guys) were astonished at the sight that met their eyes. Malda was abandoned, completely and utterly. No traces of habitation remained; indeed, had the Five Swell Guys not known that caravans had been going to and from the city less than a month previous, it would have seemed as though it had been abandoned for centuries.
	The situation became dire when the Five Swell Guys decided to strike eastward, towards the Forest of Otherworldly Light, to obtain any evidence of what had happened to an entire city that vanished without a trace. That night, a band of wild elves confronted the Five Swell Guys and demanded that they return to the lands of the Kromian Empire immediately. The humans, outnumbered and outgunned, complied, reporting their findings to a stunned Kromian government.
	Immediately, blame was leveled at the elves, tempered somewhat through the established diplomatic channels, but fueled by the memories of the Time of Troubles fresh in the minds of many a Kromian. The finger-pointing proved fruitless; the elves denied any knowledge of what had occurred, and the Kromians couldn't risk another armed confrontation. Beleaguered, the government decided to let bygones be bygones, and wrote off the entire investment as a loss, to the fury of many vocal political opponents.
	Rumors of the Ruins of Malda providing a home for necromancy and the undead have done little to bolster the area's reputation. The Ruins themselves still stand, unchanged from the day in 16 NKC when they were discovered by the Five Swell Guys.

VIII. Politics
	The political framework of the Kromian Empire is the bedrock upon which the entire nation stands. The Founding Fathers, namely the Kromian gnome Marcus Aurelius and the humans John Freeman of Thrace and Eliza of Thistledown, from Braxis, recognized that the government that they created needed to be strong enough to unite three different city-states under a single standard, yet flexible enough to allow each a degree of independence.
	They realized that both the greatest strength and the most dangerous weakness in the fledgling Kromian Empire was in the power of the existing governments. Circa 4 BE, Thrace was ruled by a monarchy, with individual towns retaining a modicum of local autonomy. Braxis was a republic, representing the urban aristocracy and the town governorships with equal measure. Mighty Kroma had a parliamentary monarchy, with the legislative body holding veto power over the executive and vice versa. Each of these governments ruled their respective nations, some more fairly effectively than others, but all managed to keep order. The Founding Fathers sought to co-opt the common elements of each into a unified government that would rule the Kromian Empire as effectively as each city-state ruled their region.
	The provisional government of the Kromian Empire had charged these three with drafting a proposal that the existing national governments would accept, and after years of deliberation and consultation, the three came up with a proposed system of government. Aurelius found it highly unlikely that the proposal would be accepted, and in a moment of gnomish whimsy deemed the document "Marcus' Folly". The name stuck.
	The plan of Marcus' Folly called for the creation of a bicameral legislature, the first house being the House of Insight and the second, the House of Wisdom. Membership in the House of Insight was to be proportionate based on population for regions on which the entire House must agree, but would generally fall along national lines. The membership of the House of Insight was fixed at 101, meaning that the Kromian Empire was to be divided into 102 regions. Each region was to determine its own method of choosing its member, called a Mook, for the House of Insight. The purpose of the House of Insight was to create laws, which could be passed with the consensus of two-thirds of the Mooks plus one, that is, 69 of them. The reasoning behind this was that with this system in place, no two Cantons (as they were to be called) could prey on the third, since each canton was to have 34 Mooks.
	The second house, the House of Wisdom, was to have 33 members, known as Spooks, whose purpose it was to review the laws passed by the House of Insight. The House of Wisdom was given the power to veto laws with a one-third majority. That is, if eleven Spooks decided that a law passed by the House of Insight was not good enough, they could reject it. Spooks were to be chosen individually by the governor of each Canton.
	Marcus' Folly also called for the creation of two other branches of government. The first, called the Consulate, consisted of the Consul, elected by a general assembly of both Houses. The Consulate carried out the laws passed by the Houses, and served as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Kromian Empire. The final branch proposed by Marcus' Folly was called the Arbiter, a singular title applied to a trio of elders. The Arbiter were to stay in permanent telepathic communion, their combined wisdom and intellect being the sum total of each individual. The Arbiter were to be chosen directly by St. Cuthbert, the God of Retribution, and their say in any conflict arising between Cantons would be absolute and final.
	Within these bounds, each Canton retained a large degree of political autonomy, being free to choose both its Governor (and therefore its Spooks for the House of Wisdom) and, on the local level, its Mooks. Yet, they were still all bound by the laws passed by the Houses, and held to them by the power of the Consulate and the Arbiter.
	Marcus' Folly was explicit in leaving the powers not expressly given to the Empire to the respective Cantons, and so there is a great deal of local variance in legal structures, while the "big stuff" is determined on the national level. For example, for many years Kroma had abolished capital punishment while in Thrace it was still legal. If one were to commit a capital crime in Thrace and flee to Kroma, one would probably still be tried under Thracian law, though final say would be left to the Arbiter.
	Marcus Aurelius and John Freeman both were urged to accept the position of Consul. The first general assembly went so far as to elect each of them in turn, but in turn both abdicated the position. Eliza had no such qualms, and when elected, she happily accepted, serving a twelve year reign that characterized her as an ambitious ruler who set the expansionist tone for the fledgling Kromian Empire.
	The government exists in this same essential form today. Granted immortality by the gods, the Arbiter continue to serve. The current Consul is the Kromian Karl Prosek, elected 160 NKC after serving in the Kromian-Vanguard War.

Appendix A: House Rules
These are not absolutes, but rather suggestions. Feel free to contest their fairness.

1. When wielding a weapon two-handed and Power Attack-ing, the damage dealt increases by 1 for every 1 decrease in the attack bonus.

2. Druids must use the Shapeshifting variant from the PHB II. Natural Spell is banned.

3. Monks have a BAB equal to their Monk levels.

4. Attempting to disbelieve an illusion is a full-round action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

5. Paladins cannot multiclass. They can still take prestige classes.

6. Experience for an encounter is received upon the first subsequent full night's rest.

7. The nature of magical items will be withheld (barring identification) until it becomes tedious for the DM to do so.

8. No evil characters.

9. All die rolls will be "called as they lie", regardless of where they end up, unless the DM determines the die to be "on edge" and allows a reroll.

10. All characters, in addition to the skill points gained from their class, receive an additional 4 skill points to be allocated at character generation. All skills are class skills for the purpose of these skill points, but no more than 2 ranks may be purchased in a single skill. The player must come up with a justification within the background of the character as to why he has these skills.

11. Attributes will be generated by rolling 4d6, dropping the lowest, and arranging as desired. Reroll is allowed at DM discretion, or if the total attribute modifier is less than +4.

12. Classes allowed:
All Core classes, Favored Soul, Hexblade, Ninja, Scout, Spellthief, Spirit Shaman, Swashbuckler, Warlock, Warmage, Factotum, Beguiler, Dragon Shaman, Duskblade, Knight, Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade
Races allowed: All Core races. 

13. Any other base classes are subject to DM approval, with the exception of psionic classes or any class that makes use of psionic abilities, which are not allowed.
Other races subject to DM approval, but if it has a LA >+2, you're probably wasting your time, since most of my campaigns start at Level 1-3.

14. Whoever provides snacks for the group gets a 10% XP bonus for the night.

15. If you touch somebody else's dice, the owner is not held responsible for whatever retributive actions he may take.

16. Bull Rushing somebody into a solid object that cannot be pushed back deals up to 1d4 damage per 5 feet of movement, plus your Strength modifier.

Appendix B: Character Suggestions

These are the recommended classes for the Kromian campaign. These classes are the ones one would expect to encounter in the Kromian Empire. This is not to say that they are the only ones that exist, but rather that classes other than these might require some sort of back-story justification.

Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Rogue, Wizard, Favored Soul, Hexblade, Ninja, Spellthief, Swashbuckler, Warmage, Beguiler, Duskblade, Knight, Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade