Isle of the Necromancer Kings
Every campaign or adventure begins with an epic story such as the tale of the
Necromancer Kings. Legends and lore form the backdrop of any campaign, creating
a mood and background that will inspire your players and get them interested
in your world and all of the things that occupy it.
A good campaign is created like an onion, with various layers of perception
and reality overlaying one another. At each layer, a party of adventurers starts
with a common perception, myth, legend, or rumor and uncovers the reality or
truth behind that perception. This revelation leads to a new, deeper awareness of
the world, which can be again challenged in another adventure. This cycle
progresses until the entire onion had been peeled away, revealing a single,
terrifying truth or reality at the core that irrevocably changes the PCs’ perception
of the entire campaign.
A detailed setting is extremely important to creating a vivid and memorable
campaign. Sahu, the Isle of the Necromancer Kings, can easily be transplanted
into the ocean of any world. Its official location is in the southern hemisphere
of Toril, in a region of the Land of Fate setting known as the Ruined Kingdoms
of Nog and Kadar. (Incidentally, the Old Dynasty, alluded to in Kazerabet’s tale
of Sahu, is fully detailed in the Ruined Kingdoms boxed set). But Sahu could just as easily be located off the coast of Amn or
the Shining South in the Forgotten Realms, another region with a legacy of
powerful ancient empires.
Sahu is an ancient place, the home of two destroyed civilizations: the New
Dynasty of the Necromancer Kings and the Old Empire of Thasmudyan that preceded
them. It is an island of ruined cities, magical pools, and cursed lakes. Its
forgotten palaces are littered with the treasures of bygone epochs and scattered
with the bones of foolhardy explorers.
Sahu itself is the outermost layer of the “campaign onion” mentioned earlier.
It is important that, in the beginning of the campaign, Sahu appears like “just
another interesting place to adventure.” Indeed, Sahu is dubbed the “Isle of
Serenity,” though the actual meaning of the word is rooted in deep antiquity.
Actually, in the ancient language of Kadari, spoken by the Necromancer Kings,
Sahu means something like “Serene Eternity,” an old euphemism for Death. The
island’s name is another example of the contrast between conventional popular belief
and a deeper, more sinister reality.
Sahu is a perfect setting for adventure, and in this section, we present a
brief guide. Note that you, as the DM, can “deconstruct” Sahu, scattering its
individual elements anywhere in your campaign, especially if it is primarily land
based with little or no access to the sea. Finally, these place descriptions
also illustrate the varied settings and contexts in which a necromancer or death
priest will feel most at home.
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