The Chosen
You were condemned to being their sacrifice. Will you surrender to your fate, or will you forge your own destiny?
The Pitch
Thirteen souls, one from each settlement, are Chosen to be sacrificed to an otherworldly entity each year. The people believe this ritual keeps them safe, but you refuse to surrender your destiny. Together with the other Chosen, you’ll step beyond the barrier into The Verge, a realm of breathtaking beauty and deadly wonder, to defy fate itself.
Tone & Feel
Dark yet hopeful, Serious but not overly serious, Exploratory, Camaraderie, Self Empowering
Themes
Nature’s Duality, Beautiful yet Deadly, Change, Nature vs Unnatural, Exploring the Unknown
Touchstones
Annihilation / Southern Reach, Expedition 33, Shannara Series, The Witherwilds Campaign Frame
The Chosen
Overview
The people of this land live within a vast magical barrier, built long ago to protect them from the wilderness outside. Beyond the barrier lies The Verge, a region of magical, untamed nature that quickly reclaims any settlement or structure. Stone walls are split by roots overnight, entire villages drown in vines, and rivers change course as if guided by will. While breathtaking in its beauty, The Verge is deeply hostile to long-term habitation.
Each year, thirteen people, one from each settlement, are Chosen. At the appointed time, they are brought to the barrier’s edge, where an incorporeal entity arrives to claim them. When sacrificed, their bodies dissolve into brilliant blooming flowers that scatter along the barrier before fading. Once the ritual is complete, glowing script appears, revealing the names of the next year’s Chosen.
The people believe this ritual is what keeps them safe from The Verge, as times when the sacrifice was interrupted or delayed coincided with disaster. In truth, few understand the deeper purpose of the offering, and fewer still question it.
The Verge is not only dangerous to settlements, it is dangerous to mortals themselves. Spending too long within it leads to the Verge sickness: fevers, hallucinations, and eventual mutations that twist a person into hybrid forms or drive them to madness. Many of the strange creatures that wander The Verge are said to be the remnants of those who succumbed. There are remedies and countermeasures whispered of across the settlements, but no single cure is known.
This year, you and twelve others have been marked as Chosen.
The CHosen
Communities
- Orderborne & Loreborne
Orderborne and Loreborne hold and control the information, history and lore of the lands. They have maps of the the world before the Verge took over. The information is not freely shared with everyone, but only with people in certain circles. They are firm believers of the one god. They believe in structure and order.
- Ridgeborne
Ridgeborn tend to live on the border between the mountain ridge and the Barrier. The largest inhabitants of the area tend to be Giants.
- Seaborne
The settlement is landlocked and does not have access to the sea or ocean, But there is a lake where people live in house boats and have markets on the lake where small boats float between each other to barter. There are no large ships in the lake.
- Underborne
Some communities within the barrier have sought safety from the Verge by creating homes underground. Naturally Dwarves with their mining are the largest communities of Underborne but you can also find other ancestries who found a home underground. They tend to live closers to the mountain ridge where the barrier meets the wilderness.
There are rumors of others who lived in the wilderness who have found haven from the Verge by living underground.
- Wanderborne
Communities of the Wanderborne are extremely rare and seen to barely exist. As the wilds are too dangerous for a living creature to live in, a community that stays too long there ends up being engulfed by the Verge either by overgrowth or mutation that drives them mad or to death.
- Wildborne
The wildborne community is usually made up Rangers and Druids. They are also made up of the ancestories derived from Drakona, Faeries, Faun, Firbolgs, Fungril, Galapa, Katari, Orc, Ribbet, Simiah. They live on the borders of the barrier and the wilds. The mentioned ancestries above are resistant to the effects of the Verge and are the few who can explore the outskirts. But they are not immune and can not live within it. The Wildborne also tend to worship the old gods, mostly the ones that pertain to nature.
The CHosen
Ancestries
- Clanks
Clanks exist in the settlements but do not ever go into the wilderness. Clanks existed before the Verge ever occurred. Because they are deemed unnatural by they Verge clanks are instantly attacked by the wilds.
- Fungril
Fungrils communications are hampered by the barrier and can only communicate with other fungrils within the barrier. When outside the barrier they can communicate only with other fungrils outside of the barrier. Fungrils have a high resistance to the effects of the Verge sickness.
- Drakona, Faerie, Faun, Firbolg, Galapa, Katari, Orc, Ribbet, Simiah
These ancestries have resistance to the effects of the Verge sickness. They are not immune though.
The CHosen
Player Principles
- Make the Sacrifice Personal
The sacrifice probably effects you or someone else close to you. Perhaps someone you knew already was a sacrifice and it effected the way you lived. Perhaps you are the only person who left to take care or a child or sick relative. With you gone forever, they will surely have a harder life. Make there be a reason that you HAVE to take your destiny into your own hands.
- Embrace Curiosity
Your characters will be entering an unexplored area for the average person. Embrace the curiosity of what will you will discover. Despite the wilderness being full of so much danger there are some hidden gems, ancient structures and undiscovered communities. All this on the way to your long journey to the mountain top of where the entity seems to sleep.
- A Fellowships Bond
Although all your characters come from different communities you all have one thing in common. Being a Chosen sacrifice has created this unspoken bond between each of you. Embrace this connection that you have with each other. Use this bond to encourage each other.
The CHosen
Destinctions
- Religion
The One True God
The Orderborne and Loreborne worship and uphold the One True God. Their tenants being structure and order. They believe that the Verge is a punishment from the old gods and that the New One True God is their true protector. And that the only way to survive is to build structure in one’s life.
This is the major religion of the settlement.
The Old Gods
The Wilderborne and some people worship the old gods. These are gods that used to be worshipped before the time of the Verge. There are many gods, but most of the wilderborne worship the god of the forest and nature.
The CHosen
Inciting Incident
One of you have found information about the outside world from a friend or yourself within the Orderborne or Loreborne community. They have been hiding information about a early expeditions the discover the origins of The Verge.
Not much was learned in these expeditions other than what is known today.
But there had been a group of rebels who tried to save their loved ones from the sacrifice. They adventured into the Verge to find this entity on an ancient mountain top called the Mountain of the Gods. Their goal was to kill the entity and the cycle of sacrifices.
This information was stored on a journal that took the form of a datapad. Ancient technology lost to time.
Inspired by the rebels you and a few of the Chosen have decided to go after the entity yourself.
The first goal is to gather supplies to survive the wilds. That is when one of your acquaintance from the Wildborne community came to ask your group for help. They asked you to help someone who is stuck in the wilds in exchange for herbs and minerals.
The CHosen
Campaign Mechanics
- Verge Sickness
Corruption from the Verge
Adversaries and environments in this campaign can gain an additional type called The Verged. When an adversary is Verged, describe how the Verge changed or impacted how they would normally appear or operate. You also need about 20 Verge Sickness tokens (these can be the same as the tokens you use for Fear).
Any time a PC takes Severe damage from a Verged adversary or environment, gain a Verge Sickness token and place it on that PC’s character sheet.
At the end of each long rest the GM can choose to gains fear equal to the amount of tokens + 1d4 in place of the usual long rest rule.
If a character ever dies with Verge tokens on their sheet, their body is permanently taken over by the Verge.
Having Verge Sickness
Your body becomes closer and closer to the wilderness of The Verge. The more Verge Sickness you gain, the less the Verge creatures and plants interferes with you, seeing you more of an ally.
Removing Sickness
Taking medication will remove Verge sickness any time you take a short or long rest. 1 on a short rest and 1d4-1 (minimum of 1) on long rest. The effects of the medicine lasts until the end of a long rest.
If a spell or ability can remove stress or heal HP it can alternatively remove Verge sickness tokens.
A PC can choose to scar themselves (gain 1 Scar) to purge all tokens, describing how they cut the sickness out, burn it away, or something else entirely.
Clanks & Sickness
The Verge sees Clanks as unnatural. When you take a sickness token roll the fear die. If the number is lower than the amount of sickness you currently have you gain an extra sickness token.
Drakona, Faerie, Faun, Firbolg, Fungril, Galapa, Katari, Orc, Ribbet, Simiah
You are resistant to Verge sickness. When you take a short or long rest you can remove 1 Verge Sickness whether you have taken medication or not.
Medication
Medications can be made by combining special plants and special minerals. Discuss what these plants and minerals are in your session 0