Medaevum

The Northern Kingdoms, as this land was once known, are no more. The first thing that returning Alterans discovered is that the land has sunken in places, the sea risen in others, and the landscape has been torn apart by unfathomably powerful forces.

They could have reasonably expected to be challenged upon their arrival. They left with the understanding that Shoreless Gulf and the Sea of Storms were on the precipice of being embroiled in a fight that would take decades or centuries to resolve.

Only, upon their arrival, there were no titanic elementals. No vast storms. No roiling seas. What's more, there were the ruins of a civilization that must have persisted through the desolation of the landscape.

With all this talk of phenomenal cosmic power, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page with the intended power level of mages and blessed relative to everything else.

An apprentice mage or T1 blessed is able to do the occasional impossible thing - lighting a candle with their mind, for example - but they are not sufficiently strong enough to leverage that power into anything not utterly trivial. Lighting a candle, for example.

A journeyman mage or T2 blessed could reasonably leverage their magical ability into overcoming someone of equal skill to them. If they are in a swordfight with an equally skilled swordsman on even footing, and if the mage/blessed is using their magic to their full potential, the mage...

There's an elephant in the room...

Divine magic, the divine themselves, the pantheon, and characters' relationship with it is getting reworked. How? I don't know yet. When I have a more concrete idea, it will become possible to explore the implications of the ongoing divine absentia and be really cool I promise.

In the meanwhile, this is how things work for now.

How does divine magic work?

The gods are unfathomably deep wellsprings of power with a mind, agenda, and personality. Each member of the Pantheon is an island unto themselves, with mysterie...

The world ended.

The world has ended before.

Everything fell to ruin.

This isn't the first time.

If we are to live, we must rebuild.

So we shall.

The descent of the Daughter of Grief upon Altera prompted a great exodus. Those who could fled by magic or artifice, even as far as fleeing to other worlds. Those of lesser means than that fled by ship. Some north, into forbidding cold; some east, into uncharted lands; some south, into terrible heat; and some west, back to lands forgotten. Those who could not flee at all died.

The story of Altera is going to follow those who fled west. The tales of those who went to other places is as of yet unknown.

The old North...

Where your character, and presumably other people also, live.

How big can my settlement be?

It has to start small. You can put up a campfire and a few tents anywhere without spending Goodwill, that's fine, so it has to be a bit larger than that. A longhouse. 2-3 small cottages. Something for them to do, like a small mine.

What happens when I spend Goodwill on my settlement to expand it?

You make it bigger. A few more cottages here, a tower there, and so on. Every time you expand your settlement with Goodwill, you can add onto it a little more.