Warlords of the Accordlands Resources - Warlord World Overview

Humans, elves, dwarves, monsters, the epic battle of good versus evil.

Hmph. Sounds like just another fantasy universe. Wrong. The world of Warlord turns fantasy gaming on its ear with one of the most original and ambitious projects ever. These are not Tolkien’s elves and dwarves and monsters. They are as fresh and raw and as dangerous as the world they populate.

It began with a D&D campaign originally created by the president of AEG, John Zinser, for his roleplaying group. His players wanted to play an evil campaign, so they set out to conquer the world, and that they did. They became the mightiest evil overlords. Then at the height of the player characters’ power, the Dungeon Master took away their characters and made them create new ones. These new characters would have to fight against the very evil empires that they had created. These evil overlords were the genesis of the Medusan Lords who play a prominent role in the world of Warlord.

Zinser took these elements from his old campaign and used them as the seeds for the creation of a new fantasy universe. This universe became the Warlord: Saga of the Storm Collectible Card Game. The Warlord CCG first appeared in 2000 with the introduction of hundreds of thousands of demo decks included with game industry magazines.

With game mechanics based loosely on Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons, the card game was easy to learn but had a depth of strategy and tactics that intrigued even older players. This marketing blitz was a success, launching Warlord in the volatile CCG scene. Nowadays, after eight expansion sets, the Warlord CCG is still going strong, with its unique mix of exciting gameplay, beautiful cards, and detailed world background.

This world background was too rich and intriguing for a single medium, and AEG wanted to bring the Warlord Universe back to its roots, the roleplaying game. Development of the Warlord RPG began in 2002. It was a huge project that aimed to leap full-blown into the world of RPGs, with four massive hardcover books and over a million words of rules, monsters, background material, and even a huge, epic adventure campaign. The Warlord RPG took the d20 System mechanics and made them its own, creating new races and character classes unlike any other d20 System product. Also unlike other d20 System products, the Warlord RPG stands on its own. It does not require any other d20 System book, although its rules are compatible with other d20 products.

So what is it that makes the Warlord fantasy universe different from other fantasy offerings in the gaming industry? Why would a player shopping for a new roleplaying game want to give Warlord a try? For one, his eye might be drawn to the striking covers and interior artwork of these full-color books, or maybe to the large poster maps in each book. But these will serve to draw the prospective player into the real substance of the Warlord universe, the story, the characters, and the action. The action comes from perhaps the most exciting, challenging aspect of the Warlord universe: the Bad Guys have already won. All the heroes and leaders of the world are dead, murdered, assassinated in a massive, painstakingly orchestrated campaign that became known as the Assassins Strike.

The story of the Warlord universe begins with a dragon, but not just any dragon. The Eternal Dragon, a creature the size of mountain, with power so terrible that entire kingdoms were laid to waste. This beast terrorized and ravaged the lands of men, elves, and dwarves for centuries, until all the races and nations of the world banded together to defeat it. The Eternal Dragon was slain and cast down into the depths of the earth. The spirit of cooperation and camaraderie born of the titanic struggle among all the races created the Accords. The Accords brought peace and prosperity to all, so that all the lands of the world became known as the Accordlands.

But a creature of such cosmic dimension as the Eternal Dragon might not stay dead, and its corpse still contained untold power. Someone had to guard it. The Dwarves volunteered for this task, and so burrowed deep into the earth and passed out of all memory. Forgotten by the surface races for a thousand years, the Dwarves burrowed under the surface, building vast cities and untold leagues of tunnels and passages, all the while guarding the deepest, darkest places of the world. But the Dwarves did not forget. The surface world lived on in their legends and stories. They keep their sacred duty unto death.

The Dwarves were right to fear the power of the Dragon’s corpse.

Before long, foul, hideous, bloodthirsty things began to crawl out of the deepest abysses. At first they were nothing more than a few mindless, ravening fiends intent only on destruction and chaos, but over time their actions have grown more cohesive and organized, and their numbers have drastically increased. The untold, teeming masses of Abyssals are the stuff of nightmares, but the Dwarves hold firm, sacrificing themselves to prevent the Abyssals’ eruption into the surface world.

The surface world is covered by many lands and kingdoms and races, dominated by the crumbling Deverenian Empire. For hundreds of years the Deverenians controlled most of the known world. The Deverenians are a strictly hierarchical human society based on ancient notions of honor and fealty, paying tribute to their Emperor on one hand, and the politically powerful Church of the Storm on the other. A land of knights and dukes, princesses and paupers, Deverenia has long since begun to fall into ruin. Their iron-fisted rule created one rebellion after another over recent decades, and many human lands successfully broke away from the Deverenian Empire, calling themselves the Free Kingdoms.

The Free Kingdoms are lands replete with refugees and vagabonds, and they form a loose confederation of allied kingdoms, drawn together by their distaste for Deverenian rule. They have much to fear from Deverenia, who still considers these lands part of their domain, but there are other threats to peaceful existence, the Nothrog Legions, and the ravaging Elves.

The Nothrog race was created by the interbreeding of orcs, goblins, ogres, trolls, and other monster species. They now consider themselves a separate race, even though the original races still exist in small, scattered tribes. And the conglomeration of those races created something greater than the sum of its parts. The Nothrogs are a major force for war and conquest, and they represent the largest military force in all the Accordlands. They have developed war into an art form. Their massive, clan-based legions make war on themselves and on their neighbors in an endless struggle for power and territory. They have conquered and subjugated huge swaths of what was once the Deverenian Empire. They are the most well-trained, well-equipped, and organized military force in all of the Accordlands.

The Elves are the most surprising race of the Warlord universe. These are not Tolkien’s elves; they take nearly all the long-held traits of fantasy elves and turn them on their pointed ears. An elven lifespan is only about thirty years, making them a wild, greedy people. The dream of all elves is to transcend their few paltry decades of existence, to achieve immortality, so they turn their formidable magical talents to necromancy.

For centuries, elven wizards have sought the secrets of immortality, at the expense of performing experiments on thousands of human captives, taken in raids against the human kingdoms. In their hidden forest strongholds, the elves committed atrocities beyond description, and made ceaseless war against their human neighbors. Just over a hundred years ago, the humans managed to band together and defeat the elves. As part of the terms of surrender, the elves agreed to be put under an enchantment that prevented them from using necromancy for one hundred years. That enchantment recently expired, and the elves launched themselves into a war of vengeance against the human kingdoms that had bound them. The elves have ravaged great portions of the Free Kingdoms, and their lust for vengeance is not yet sated. Aside from these major factions all vying for power, other forces are at work in the Accordlands. Not long after the Eternal Dragon was cast into the Abyss, the Storm appeared. It can best be described as a huge, sentient hurricane that moves with power and purpose throughout the Accordlands. The Deverenians worship the Storm as the supreme god of all things. The tentacles of the Church of the Storm extend throughout the Accordlands, exerting the Church’s will in every corner of the civilized world. The Storm is more than just a mindless force of nature; it is intelligent, and purposeful, and only the Hierophant of the Storm can claim to know its will.

Another force of nature that shapes events throughout the world is a renegade moon that threw itself into orbit around the world of the Accordlands a few centuries ago. This moon has many names, with Bascaron chief among them. Also known as the Banshee Moon, Bascaron caused catastrophic destruction when it was snared into orbit. The forces of its arrival created earthquakes and upheavals that wiped out half a continent. Cities and kingdoms, ancient civilizations, were demolished in the blink of an eye. This vast wasteland is now known as the Shattered Lands. Stranger still, the Banshee Moon is infused with otherworldly energies that corrupt and distort the creatures exposed to it. Untold numbers of hideous, twisted creatures slither and wander out of the Shattered Lands, causing terror and destruction wherever they go. Today, Bascaron’s orbit is erratic and unpredictable, moving swiftly across the sky like a blood red, ruptured eyeball. Cults draw upon its powers for their own dark rituals, astrologers attempt to chart its movements, twisted abominations bow to it like servants, and its coming is never a good omen.

The most powerful beings in the Accordlands, however, are a super-secret cabal of evil masterminds known only as the Medusan Lords. Through their hidden power and influence, they shape and guide events throughout the Accordlands to their own nefarious ends. Their very name strikes terror into the heart of the most jaded adventurer, and only they can claim to know their ultimate purpose. Many believe the Assassins Strike was the work of the Medusan Lords. In a single blood-drenched night, assassins swept through every city and town in the Accordlands and murdered prominent leaders, heroes, clergy, anyone who might be a force for peace and justice. The Accordlands have never been a peaceful realm, but since that night, the lands have erupted into war, ancient vendettas have been executed. Lawlessness, chaos, and death are the rule, and peace, compassion, and justice are all but forgotten. From their shadowy, strongholds, the Medusan Lords enact their will. No one knows who they are or where they came from, but one thing is certain; they are feared. They mean to rule the world one day, but the time is not yet right. They will let the wars rage and Warlords come and go, and when the time is right, they will seize power. All these forces and factions are created in painstaking detail, with richly drawn characters, engaging subplots, and interwoven storylines, perfect for anyone who wants a story they can sink their teeth into.