Tanien - Part 5

Campaign

Introduction

The northlands have become an increasingly dangerous place. As the ice has been receding and the flood season getting worse and worse strange things have been occurring in the lands of the Fairn. A bestial humanoid, either of ape descent or Sidhe devolution, has begun swarming in from the north. These "wirlicks" have little magic affinity for leylines and nodes but seem to possess god-granted power.

Representatives from Irian and the Fairn have requested aid with the wirlick problem. The Senate deliberates and decides to send an investigative team, even though the lands are outside the Republic. The Fairn don't like this - they were hoping for troops. Even worse, the Senate decrees to choose this group by lot using the same process Tanien uses to selecting its rotating police force. Obviously the PCs are selected, are brought before the Senate committee and given their orders. The northern representatives insists that they prove themselves in combat first.

Part 1 - The Wirlicks

A few "town under attack" adventures leads to the main wirlick cave system which was covered in ice as of ten years ago. Exploration hints they have an artificial creator (via their primitive religion) who might be Tyris. Their node, which is the only one they can communicate with, can be destroyed and the wirlicks will lose the ability to reproduce.

Aside from the "killing stuff" aspect is the political issues of dealing with the Fairn. They aren't happy at first, especially if any Koakin are present, but success can help bring them closer to the Republic.

Part 2 - Disease

The party is congratulated and offered more work if they'd like - this time investigating a magical disease in the west. The leylines are being corrupted so as to kill livestock. Initial evidence points towards a group of Arcanists who are seen as a corrupting influence from the Republic. However further investigation shows that the node keepers of the Bulu themselves have been infiltrated by followers of Tyris and Niron. Bringing them to justice is tricky as they PCs are seen as untrustworthy outsiders.

Part 3/ongoing - The Cult

The Tyris and Niron cultists in the Bulu lands indicated a larger presence in Arnit. The PCs can actively investigate this or run into problems with the cult as they return to issue their reports. A disturbing trend in the cultists is their belief that Tyris is going to return in physical form.

Part 4 - The Sky Node

A metallic object falls from the sky in the south and seems to act in the same manner as a regular node. It even has its own god. A cult forms around this sky node and is intent on integrating it into the Grid/leyline system at the new god's behest. None of the other gods want this and the PCs are sent to deal with the problem. Different factions will have different agendas, some which will have more effect depending on whom the PCs follow.

Whatever the powers that be want, the PCs will be faced with a seemingly benign and very odd entity. The Skynode is a communications device from one of the off-planet Sidhe or Koan colonies. When this planet suffered its apocalypses the colonies were cut off in both communication and transportation. The Skynode is their most successful attempt to send a probe after all these years to find out what happened back home.

Part 5 - The Sunken City

A fisherman found a sunken ruin and brought an artifact back to Siba where it was hooked up to a Node. All of the Keepers had visions of a dragon returning and now the entire city is gone mad in preparation for this new apocalypse. Siba is overtaken with fear, race-wars and fanaticism and the PCs are asked to look into the truth of it and investigate the sunken city.

It is a underwater Sidhe laboratory where a single frozen Sidhe researcher has awoken from her slumber. She is shocked at the state of things - people being ruled by gods again and what looks like the frozen dragons beginning to thaw. The device the fisherman found was her way of trying to establish communication and guidance.

Part 6 - A Dragon Rises
Tyris has thawed enough and is awakening. Depending on how the PCs have handled things this can be handled in many different ways. Each dragon sleeps by a node. First the node becomes awakened and the dragon enters the Grid (like Tyris) and gathers power as a god. Then the dragon awakens physically as its spirit returns to it, complete with the added power gained from its time in the Grid.

Straight up, Tyris can be fought but it will cost a lot. There are many more after him though, thousands. The only hope anyone has is to destroy their nodes before they enter the Grid and awaken physically. And they exist all over the world. A sliver of hope for the future, but a grim sliver.

If the gods of the Skynode are heeded, the Grid can be wiped again and the soul-absorbing function turned off. This will prevent the dragons from becoming gods and gaining extra power before returning to their physical bodies. It will also kill all the gods and the souls of those who still exist in the afterlife.

The last of the Sidhe has a last resort from long ago - a biological code that can be sent via the Grid to kill all the dragons. However she isn't sure if this will have an effect on the Koakin - it may kill them or at the least damage or alter them somehow.