Chapter 0 - Session 1

Before the Adventure Begins

Events and Actions

This session was a character creation workshop, with the GM guiding three of the players through building their characters using the RoleMaster system.

Werner De Rendal, son of Kasimir De Rendal, established himself as a Common Human of the Mariner culture, taking the Labourer profession. The De Rendal family was once a prominent noble house of the North, its wealth built on whaling and later sailing, but their fortune collapsed when the currents changed and swallowed both trades. Werner arrived in the Capitol with little more than a fine suit of clothes, a single silver coin, and the weight of a storied family name — enough to buy himself a good meal and to know which cutlery to eat it with, but little more. He carries no blade, since the family cutlass remains in the North with his elder brother, to be sent south only once Werner actually secures his commission. His grandfather was commissioned as a skilled sailing expert on a royal expedition westward — before Werner was born — and never returned, while his father Kasimir kept to the family's failing whaling trade until debts overwhelmed the estate. With his elder brother holding what remains of the crumbling estate in the North, its debts mounting further with each passing year, Werner has come south to seek his fortune and send back whatever he can, even if he expects to see little of it for himself. He was raised with an education fitting his station: he reads and writes well, speaks and writes the common tongue fluently, and knows the standardised semaphore signals used between ships of a fleet, alongside whatever unofficial signals a given crew might keep to itself. His Boon is his aristocratic status: the De Rendal name still opens the right doors, however threadbare the support behind it, and the manners and bearing of nobility come to him without a thought — though everyone knows a man who falsely claims status and is caught at it pays dearly for the lie, so it is not a card Werner means to play lightly. His ambition aboard ship is practical rather than aristocratic: he pictures himself earning a place as master of sail or senior gunner, taking his share of any prize money, rather than leaning on his name for an authority he could not otherwise back up. He means to build his fighting skill in stages — the harpoon of his family's whaling trade first, the cutlass of a naval officer next, and in time the heavier guns of a warship.

Knick Nab is one-eighth Elf, taken from the Northern Highlands — a country of rough hills and mountain terrain, isolated by the land itself, where people live by herding and whatever farming the ground allows — at a young age and brought to the Capitol to serve as a pickpocket for an underworld contact who runs a group of young thieves. He remains slight and frail, a legacy of some injury or mistreatment he suffered before he ever reached the city; it was that same frailty, together with a recognised talent for thieving, that led his underworld contact to take him in, and he has never fully recovered his strength. He chose the Rogue profession. His partial elven heritage — though he barely understands it himself — shows in a single pointed ear, kept hidden beneath the bandanas and broad hats he always wears, and grants him night vision and a natural quickness of reflex. His Boon is a subtle ability to discern what people truly want at their core, a gift that may prove invaluable in negotiation, leadership, and knowing when to run — though it is no everyday trick, and turning it toward the wrong person could prove as dangerous as it is useful. He imagines working his way up through the crew to a position such as quartermaster or boatswain — respect earned from the men around him, rather than the kind of rank that only ever comes with a title.

Noddy is a Mixed Man of the Harsh culture — a survivor of the city's worst and most desperate corners. He aspires to the Mystic profession, drawn to the realms of Essence and Mentalism, forms of magic entirely unknown to the people of the North and potentially very dangerous to practise there. His abilities, at least in his own experience, have so far manifested as uncanny luck and fortune rather than anything that could be labelled as sorcery. He took the Breath Holding and Elemental Resistance (Cold) talents, practical skills for someone who once dove for pearls to survive. Aboard ship he expects to serve as a Marine, a soldier standing apart from the sailing crew's own chain of command — a role that counts for little at sea but rather more once the ship makes port.

The absent players' characters were also discussed briefly: Mani (Manuel de Barret), a fighter pursuing a Florentine style of swordsmanship with rapier and dagger; Cosimo (Cosimo Cellini Scivio), whose profession had not yet been settled, though the GM mused he might suit a bookish, non-combat role such as a surgeon, given an interest in alchemy and herbs; and Riu (Infurious Montesigna), leaning toward the Dabbler profession as a semi-spell user of Essence — the GM noted his aptitude for machinery might suit him to a role such as carpenter's mate, since a ship is as full of mechanisms, from pumps to block and tackle, as any workshop.

The group are all starting as fourteen-year-olds, not yet of adventuring experience — the GM noted that even a weasel might pose a meaningful challenge to them at this stage.

NPCs & Creatures

None encountered.

Locations

None visited.

Conflicts

None.

Learnings and Discussions

The GM shared substantial background on the world:

The Great Change: In the relatively recent past — within the characters' lifetimes — a major and unexplained change in the world's weather systems made ocean travel to the West possible for the first time. Before this, any ship that lost sight of land to the west never returned; the winds simply would not allow it. Now, both the North and South are sending expeditions across the sea. This change is the central premise of the Age of Sail.

The World at War: The North and the South are currently at war, and the characters' story begins against that backdrop.

The Capitol: The main city of the North, built against a great cliff. Power rests with two factions: "the Hill," representing the Divinity of Two and its Temple, and "the House," the seat of Royal authority. These two factions coexist in uneasy equilibrium, with influence shifting between them over time.

The Divinity of Two: The dominant — and effectively only — religion in the North, centred on two gods: the Father and the Mother. All publicly recognised magic in the North is attributed to this religion. Practising any other form of magic is heresy, and heretics disappear without explanation. Among the Divinity's ranks are the Censures, an inquisitor-type order (classed as Paladins in game terms) who enforce religious orthodoxy. The Divinity maintains that two clerics of the Faith must accompany any significant expedition.

Status and Society: The North is rigidly stratified by class and status. Nobles and aristocrats have privileges denied to commoners, including the right to ride horses. The South, by contrast, is far more egalitarian — one of the deep sources of tension between the two powers, and one reason some men choose a life outside both.

Werner's Family History: Werner's grandfather was commissioned as a skilled sailor and sailing expert to join a royal expedition westward at a time when the Great Change had not yet happened. He did not return. The mission was sponsored by the king and included two clerics of the Divinity of Two, one of whom was a Censure. There are rumours in the family that something came back from that voyage — but Werner has never seen his grandfather. His father Kasimir carried on the family's whaling trade until it could no longer support them, leaving the estate deep in debt.

Knick Nab's Background: Knick Nab was taken from the Highlands and brought to the Capitol to work as a pickpocket for an underworld contact who organises a gang of young thieves operating across Low Town and High Town. He is still learning the trade.

Noddy's Background: Noddy comes from the most desperate circumstances in the city — effectively the sewers and lower gutters. He has survived through wit and an uncanny run of luck he attributes, at least loosely, to the favour of the Mother.

Shipboard Roles: The GM outlined the ranks the group might rise to beneath a ship's commissioned officers. The master of sail runs the day-to-day work of sails and rigging; the quartermaster stands the other watch and answers for the ship's stores and material; the boatswain is the senior non-commissioned rank, directing gun crews and work parties. A ship's Marines answer to the captain directly, standing apart from the sailing crew's own chain of command — a position that counts for little at sea, but rather more once the ship makes port. One small compensation: Marines are said to eat rather better than the rest of the crew, even at sea.

Magic in the World: Magic is uncommon and poorly understood by most citizens. The only publicly recognised source of power is the Divinity of Two. Other forms — Essence and Mentalism — are unknown to ordinary people in the North, and practising them openly risks being labelled a heretic. The one other rumour that circulates is of a fire cult somewhere in the South, which the Divinity of Two dismisses as nothing more than flash powder, sleight of hand, and stage trickery — not real magic at all.

The Cost of Magic: The GM indicated that even a spell a character knows how to cast will not come free — many require reagents or components gathered in the world before they can be used. The trade-off cuts both ways: effort spent tracking down the right materials could let a character achieve something more spectacular than their skill would otherwise allow.

Items Gained

None.

Items Lost

None.