Kingdom Story Seed: The Two Flowers Coiled Nigh

Story Seed

This story seed is intended to be used with Kingdom as a means of quickly assembling a game session setup for 3 - 5 players.

The Two Flowers Coiled Nigh

For tens of thousands of years, the kingdom of úða berjum was ruled by a succession of bold leaders, some Kings, some Queens, some Princess and Princesses of the most noble, all worshiping the gods of order and light, the ákveðinn. Now, the end of the gods comes slowly, creeping in the night, and the source of that threat remains unrevealed. Uoa Berjum is assaulted within and without, and none in the halls of power know who can be trusted.

Now stands arrayed outwards to the weapons of the Enemy: the Knights, Paladin, and Staves, swordsmen, warriors, and soldiers roused only partially from their internecine struggles. And inward slither the restless, empty eyes of the foe which demands only pain, not form, or shape, nor even power, only that others serve and die so they may suffer ever longer this vale of tears.

Customize

• The Uoa family traditionally worships the akvedinn, {ancient gods that predate the forming of the world | those men and women who served the gods so righteously in life that they were raised to demigods | and are perpetuating an ancient fraud, the absence of the gods at all}.

• To the East lies the {desert | bog | sweet rolling plains} which are sometimes worked for food in good years but typically left bare, of both farms and food. The few paths through are {well maintained by the King’s bounty | beginning to fall into ruin as the Uoa draw inward | a wasteland of sand and stone and invisible death}.

• An æðri menntastofnun (or “mennta”) acts as the core for education, scattered across places wide and far, according to when they might be used. Farmers, soldiers, weather-witches, temple-keepers, all cluster mennta near Uoa holdings. Administrators, managers, rooks and bishops, all lie further out in {the Forest of Spiders’ Eyes | The Sea Colony Typhus | beneath the Mountain of the Dwarves}. Mennta of even more lost arts, hidden methods, or secret schools are further afield still, even so far as {Beyond the Silver Mountains of the Moon | the Wandering Fortress | The Second Star That Flies From Sea to Sea}.

• The ways of spirit are broken between {law and chaos | good and evil | daring and caution}. Those within such true architectures are {bound | not bound} to seek each other for mutual destruction in the search for righteousness.

• The kingdom of the Uoa has schismatics, though the worship of the akvedinn has always been their strongest faction. {Some over the years have turned to evil | Some over the years follow chaos in secret | Some have decided true apostasy is the only right and all goods must be fought and destroyed}.

Threats

• The Uoa are deeply divided socially, with factions vying for power, but always short of outright physical intervention.

• Other kingdoms, nations, and empires lie to the south, north, and west, a few of which are dire rivals in both power and glory.

• The hold of the gods’ power on the physical world appears to be waning, and none know if it is but a season or the death of their influence.

• Fear is spreading like a disease among the populace. Is it only the pressures of the world, or a true disease, or the result of malign intervention? The streets are becoming an ever more dangerous place.

Locations

• Atropa, the castle of the high seat of úða berjum, which looks like a wall of thorns
• Mennta Hermadur, the academy of soldiers and warriors, to the east of Atropa
• Mennta Svartur, a hidden school of dark wizards, necromancers, diabolists, and other outcast sorcery
• Harsteinnfjall, an inn at the top of a mountain where lovers in secret often meet; hard to reach and hard to leave
• Gullna Blom, the council floor of the Uoa, where some of the most bitter battles have been fought
• Vegum Hrafntinna the eastern gate of Atropa, where traders and threats from the emptiness beyond come and go
• The Grafir, last resting place of those of Uoa, full of both elaborate tomb-temples which celebrate the gods and near-forgotten niches of bones for less well-regarded but still noble members of the family
• Tomleika, a small village far from Atropa, where life is simple and precarious, perched upon the side of a chalky cliff

Character Concepts

• Revered brother, holy in his dealings, fair-minded and cheerful, but ultimately doomed
• Hero of the masses, who smiles over shark teeth and an empty heart, eaten by bitterness
• The strangler of babes, who hides in the dark places and does devil’s work, hiding a terrible secret
• Adviser of the throne, cautious and careful in all things, whose heart carries incalcuable sadness
• Imp of a boy, player of tricks, with free-run of wherever he may be, no matter the rules
• Swordswoman of the outer lands, haughty and tall, sharp as her blade, who cannot care
• Sister of chaos, sworn to the lords of mischief and deceit, who loves truly and simply
• Whisperer of shades, commander of the armies of the dead, who rides the wastes and seeks

Potential Crossroads

• Exile Calyx, a young firebrand preaching an exclusionary form of worship of the ákveðinn, to protect the peace? His followers seem to be tending toward violence – but have not yet acted.

• Send an army out into the eastern lands to protect Uoa Berjum? There have been rumours and reports of hostile forces beyond the walls.

• Grant Gynoecium, the mother of a minor clan who was absorbed/conquered by the Uoa decades ago, a parcel on which to rebuild their village as it was? Is it memorial, home, or a place to recruit rebels within the borders?

• Negotiate with one of the kingdoms of the south for trade priority? Their traditions of holding slaves are offensive, but they are known to be fair and consistent providers of goods.

• Stage a mock-war in the training fields around Atropa in order to rouse morale among the warrior-class? Such events are typically lavish and expensive.

• Publicly castigate Belle, a Paladin of the worship of chaos and a princess of the royal line, with a public whipping before the mennta Hermadur? She has been seen openly consorting with a necromancer from beyond the vegum Hrafntinna and is an apostate – but still a princess.

• Send a call for help to any who will aid Uoa Berjum in her hour of need, as multiple armies bear down from the cardinal directions and the soldiery is hard pressed to hold on? Who knows who might answer such a call, and both how should it be issued and whom should issue it?

Inspirations

• Polaris: A Game of the Uttermost North – Stories within a dying kingdom at the north pole, surrounded and filled with enemies, in the moments before dawn. One of the earliest Story Game designs and one which still captures a tonne of the underlying themes, built around ritual phrasings to guide the shared storytelling experience.

• Nobilis – One of the most compelling setting designs it’s ever been my pleasure to experience. Nobles represent fragmentary portions of the universe itself, incarnations of ideas, and flowers are the symbols which tie them together across the branches of Yggdrasil.

• Shelia Sprayberry, my inspiration, without whom none of this would exist even in the faintest shadow or light of day.