Dauntina

 

Other Appellations:

 

The Shadow in Amada’s Grace (Croatoan), Universe 82418 (Universe 161)

 

Fox Harmonic:

 

Gama-Upsilon-Sigma

 

Astral Connection:

 

L5 D5

 

This world’s connection to the Astral light, the unconscious Astral, manifests through what their scholars and sages call thaumaturgy–congrats guys, we found a universe that calls magic what we call magic! Their definition of thaumaturgy does diverge from our own in a few respects. We use thaumaturgy to mean when one reverses the usual sequence in which hyperstasis occurs to get themselves superpowers. In natural hyperstasis, the hyperkeimenon leaks down through reality and randomly empowers a person in the midst of an ecstatic or traumatic experience.

 

Thaumaturgy is when you don’t wait for the superpowers to find you, you go to the superpowers through a mental connection with the Astral. That’s how the thaumics (we would say thaumaturges) of Dauntina do it, but they also use thaumaturgy to refer to what we would call hyperstasis–people who through random chance and circumstance are empowered by the Astral.

 

This world’s connection to the Astral dark, the conscious Astral, manifests through its creator and his daughter Amada, whose suffering inspires and uplifts the world, and other beings dimly glimpsed at through human intuition and divine revelation like Al Halzoun, the Helix.

 

Dauntina’s relatively robust connection to the Astral has made them very advanced in thaumaturgy for a world whose calendar is a hair’s breadth away from the 18th century. Do not let the fact that they carry around flintlocks fool you. They’re so advanced that they’ve even discovered how to refine a mysterious organic compound in the caverns of their planet into cyanite, a material which binds and neutralizes Astral phenomena. Cyanite is very similar to our own gaeitie, save that it is blue instead of gold, and ARGO researchers are dying to find someway to safely travel to Dauntina to see if the gaeitie they carry changes colors.

 

The fact that cyanite is organic speaks of possibilities, some more horrible than others. Good thing we never had to worry about gaeitie coming from something.

 

Caution Rating:

 

2

 

Dauntina has a 2 because of Jovan Astreides, a brilliant thaumic who tore a hole in reality–a worldtunnel, to be specific. His worldtunnel decimated the city of Ventogelo and left the survivors twisted in mind and body. Jovan barely understood what he had done on the local level let alone the multiversal level, but he had briefly opened up a worldtunnel which connected to Croatoan and spewed out a twisted chunk of Ventogelo the locals now call the Curved City. That is how Dauntina came to the notice of ARGO, and the fear that thauics in the future could cause similar events–if not worse–is why Dauntina has a 2.

 

Multiverse Activity:

 

Seldom

 

Keywords:

 

Sleeping, Created, Observe Only, Sealed

 

Knowledge of the fact that their universe was created by a higher power is widespread. Knowledge that there are things beyond this creation is not.

As Jovan Astreides demonstrated, the macrospace around Dauntina is not stable. It’s all worldtunnels and Archon walls without an aeternum in sight. Maybe their gods caused the macrospace to be so unstable? Maybe this is their way of saying to the outside multiverse to stay out?

 

Regardless, ARGO wants to do more than just probe from a nearby universe. I’m sure the Warp Authority will get right on building a worldsplinter to Dauntina right after they get done with, you know, everything else.

 

Description:

 

The year is 1699 by a calendar unknown to our world. The Empire of Dauntina is the principle hedgemon of the world, and yet it is faltering. In size, the human dominated Empire is rivaled only by the Shanyi Empire in the far East. In colonial holdings, it is unmatched, having taken territory from the elven Ostrovok Empire, the orc Gazurkhad Khanate, and even the distant Shanyi. The myriad races of the planet are pressed into service of the empire. The knowledge and skills of elves, orcs, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, goliaths, daedalites, and cuernobites are combined and perfected by the Empire. Their religion is a mighty institution. The name Amada inspires awe, devotion, and fear. Their economy is an manufacturing powerhouse. They take in raw material from their colonial holdings and export textiles, books, and glass–the elements of civilization, and the tools to spread their culture around the world.

 

And yet, the Empire of Dauntina falters.

 

The Apostles of elven Bashnigrad rally behind the memory of the witch Klarika to wage the longest and bloodiest rebellion the Empire has ever seen. The treasury is running dry. One rebellion is crushed only for two to rise up to take its place. The Empire’s size and scope, once its greatest advantage, turns against it, and Emperor Edgardo is an ineffectual ruler. He is open to all ideas but has none of his own. And he has nightmares–horrible nightmares he doesn’t dare let his people know about.

 

To Edgardo’s rescue came his old friend and trusted courtier Rork Hiemont, a slick dandy who had grand, operatic ideas for revamping an old project called the Concord Initiative.

 

The Concord Initiative, which traces its origins back to the Knights of the Holy Prism in 1206, was originally meant to be a team of elite agents assembled from throughout the Empire, but courtier Rork Hiemont transformed the Initiative into what he believed would capture the hearts and imaginations of the Empire’s subjects, and more importantly distract them from the empire’s draining coffers–3 of the Empire’s worst villains brought into productive service under the watchful eye of Grand Monitor Gasparro, the very man who captured them. If they survived their assignments, they would be proof that the Empire was strong enough and wise enough to  convert evil and suffering into advantages. If they didn’t, then it was no loss, as evil men got their just desserts.

 

The Concord Initiative included Jovan Astreides, whose thaumic experiments twisted the land and people of Ventogelo, Dazirak Marazi, who led the ten tribes against Dauntina, and Sormon Vestra’Vich, who opened the gates to Point Prominence.

 

Gasparro was not pleased to see such craven individuals escape justice, but though he raged at the decision, it was not his to make. It was Emperor Edgardo’s, and the weak king was persuaded by Rork’s silver tongue over Gasparro’s anger.

 

Cowing the Concord Initiative recruits by threats, intimidation, and beatings, Gasparro added one more element of insurance–a thaumic ritual that bound their hearts to his. If he ever wavers in his duty, his heart will stop, and if it stops–by any means–their hearts will stop to.

 

With this safeguard in place, Gasparro heads with his Concord Initiative to the city of Ashwald. Their mission is to quell public dissent, but what they find bears little resemblance to their ideas of public dissent…

 

Individuals of Note

 

Grand Monitor Gasparro Cavallo

 

 

A man of honor, tasked by his honor to do dishonorable things. Gasparro finds himself caught in a trap which has claimed many soldiers and warriors throughout the multiverse–he is torn between what he knows is right–obedience to his emperor–and what he feels is right–the summary execution of the three men he is forced to work with, three men who he personally tracked down and captured with the understanding that they would be publicly executed for their crimes.

 

Gasparro is a dour man, a scarred man, whose impeccable speech obscures an animalistic, desperate drive for simplicity–that good prospers, that evil is punished, that every action is reciprocated according to its kind and extreme.

 

Very religious, he clings to his faith in Amada and he promise that the world, not matter how corrupt, is loved, that he, no matter how corrupt, is loved. His faith gives him a near superhuman drive. Pain is as nothing to him. His flesh can be torn, his bones may be broken, but pain is surmounted by his greater will.

 

He is to be pitied, but also feared.

 

Raw Power 9

Durability 10

Speed 7

Sanity 3/10 (varies by conviction)

Intelligence 6

Skill 10

 

 

Jovan Astreides

 

 

Would the great thaumic genius be pleased or horrified to know that news of his infamous experiment reached far beyond the confines of his world?

 

By his art did he twist space and time. By his art did he twist Ventogelo. By his art did he elude capture–until cornered by Gasparro Cavallo. Now he serves as a member of the Concord Initiative by the simple logic of the situation–alive, there is a chance of repairing his reputation, and at any rate there is more that he can learn. Dead, there is nothing for him besides an epitaph and a legacy of scholastic footnotes.

 

…And there is the matter of his foster mother, his long suffering Aspasia…

 

Raw Power 20 (Potentially)

Durability 3

Speed 5

Sanity 2

Intelligence 20

Skill 20

 

Dazirak Marazi

 

 

The son of the Shahensha Roshan Marazi and an unknown woman of his hare, Dazirak is a brutal being, Gasparro without introspection, Gasparro without awareness, Gasparro without the grounding and humility provided by religion. By his might he deposed and exiled his father, the Shahensha of Ardu Al-Halzuna. By his might he united the ten tribes and led them in violent, bloody, ultimately pointless war against Dauntina. By his might he escapes just execution, for Dauntina wishes to make use of him as a living weapon. Thaumic energy courses through his body and when ignited can transform him into an engine of destruction best neutralized from a distance by a cyanite bullet.

 

He serves the Concord Initiative because it gives him a chance for payback. One day, he is sure that Gasparro will drop his guard. His chains will loosen for a moment. His back will be turned. The others will be too far away to help. And then, in that moment, the indignity of his servitude will be redeemed.

 

Raw Power 12

Durability 9

Speed 6

Sanity 0

Intelligence 2

Skill 4

 

Sormon Vestra’Vich

 

 

An example of what happens when you try to go against both sides of a conflict, Sormon is a thief, burglar, cutpurse, and general rouge who plied his trade against not only the occupying Dauntina forces in Bashnigrad but the Apostles of Klarika. Though he fancies himself a romantic figure, the one true hero to the common people of Bashnigrad, in his heart he knows he is an impulsive opportunist. It was instinct that led him to betray his Apostle comrades. It was instinct that led him to open the gates to Point Prominence. And it is instinct that now binds him to the Concord Initiative, the simple, primal instict that tells him that anything is better than being dead.

 

Raw Power 5

Durability 4

Speed 9

Sanity 4

Intelligence 3

Skill 13