Correl CIII Burning City: Dead-Eye Warrens
As told by the celebrated warrior-poet Grimnyr –
‘At length the golden autumn wears away, and the cold old man named Winter comes stalking into the land from his frozen capital, where the sun rolls along the edge of the world like a gilded ball. As with every year, his touch turned the waves of Lake Bowden to steel, and he greeted the homes of Bowden by hanging banners of ice from the eaves of homes and heaping roofs with layers of snow. And so it was that we journey north, farther still into the old man’s year-round domain, to confront one of Winter’s erudite students, the dragon Eiskonig.
‘Lake Bowden freezes every winter and has ages before man, and may freeze evermore. But there is one place in our cold north that may never freeze – this legendary place is called The Burning City.’
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The Burning City is an introductory campaign using the D&D 4th Edition rules. It is set in the Correl campaign world, and comes at a time when the campaign world itself has changed. It follows after Session 73 of Campaign I in which the forces of that campaign ‘refashion’ the laws of the world, altering the world from D&D 3.5 Edition to 4th Edition.
The objectives of Campaign III are to test out the new 4th Edition rules, develop a different setting and flavor than previously explored, and have fun doing it. Once we are comfortable using it, we’ll discuss bringing over Campaign II to the 4th Edition format, continuing with Campaign III, or starting a whole new campaign.
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The Burning City: Setting & History
The setting for The Burning City is in the wintry north of Correl. Wintry winds lash across the glaciers and rolling steppes, and nomadic barbarian tribes cross the lands seeking resources for their continued survival. The long, harsh winter is offset by a few months of fertile summer.
The wintry town of Lorindal is the main backdrop with the surrounding region as part of the setting to be explored. Lorindal rests at the cliff-side edge of the Mora Ocean in the glacial north. Glacial passes are used as minor land highways during all seasons since the glaciers are never warm enough to melt. There are no ports or harbors and the stormy sea provides only rough anchorages for ships to trade goods, and it is not a reliable place to stay moored for long.
Many know Lorindal as The Burning City due to smoke that rises from points around the town, and the heat of the earth can be felt in places on the ground. Ages ago elven sages gave the explanation that there were natural lava flows that pooled below the town and heat from these pools provided hot springs and kept the glaciers from creeping too closely. Other fiction by the famous bard Crichton of Suln depicts the town as having a doorway below with demons attempting to break into the world, with the gods sealing off their entrance with an icy cap on the world to prevent their escape. According to his tale the terrible beast Parnamuul allegedly stalks betwixt the ice and the earth to slay any who trespass, whether from above or below.
Those who live in the town permanently make their way trading with the tribes and ships that visit sparsely through the year. The town has a loose form of government composed of working residents, and it rarely gets involved in people’s lives.
It is here in Lorindal that nomadic tribes meet to trade, share tales, and settle disputes. The barbarian tribes are mostly human, and most have grown rugged from rough living in the north. Each tribe carries colorful standards that it can bear to easily recognize one another from a distance on the open, icy glaciers and plains.
The town of Lorindal requires little in the way of protection as the frozen north and small rewards deter most leaders from attempting such folly. Honor is held as the law in the region with the Kingdom of Correl thought of as a far place with little dominion here. Deception and trickery are held in suspicion, and by extension magic. Those thought to bewitch another are sometimes slain immediately.
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