The White Sword of Izar

Many years into his studies of the arcane arts, King Izar of Everfall found his borders being threatened by hostile forces.  He had sent expeditions into the wilds to retrieve artifacts for study, and learn the ways of other cultures, but during this, he had stumbled upon things forbidden to human eyes.  The wars with the Storm King had begun.

At first, Izar's forces fared poorly against the titans of the mountains, who seemed to use the lightning of their war gods as his used arrows.  Izar's focus upon the mystical arts left his kingdom in a precarious position.  They had knowledge and wealth, but the people were more scholars than warriors, and when the Storm King arrived, things went badly.  Thousands had died, and many towns were laid to ruin before Izar could rally his forces around the city to hold the Storm King at bay.

For one thousand nights, they defended against the siege, Izar frantically seeking a remedy to the certain doom of his kingdom.  His people turned to cannibalism, and Izar to necromancy.  He discovered the secrets of trapping souls during that siege.  Many of his subjects fell victim to his experiments as Izar's focus became more and more narrow.  His generals pleaded with him to divert his attentions to the war, but Izar's strategy was beyond them, they just couldn't understand what his end goal was, he had locked himself away in his castle with orders to defend the city until the last.

As day turned to an eternal night under thick clouds summoned by the Storm King, Izar finally sent word down to his blacksmiths.  To forge a sword under his supervision, using a unique metal he'd found during one of his adventures.  When it was finally complete, he had commanded his generals to bring the enemy host to the city.  The Storm King arrived, and saw King Izar.  Seeking to end the wars for ever, the Storm King summoned the strength of his war god to smite the arrogant king.

There, upon the highest tower of  Mount Everfall, King Izar held the sword above his head and recited the words.  As the bolt from the heavens came down upon him, he was protected.  The heat from the lighting welded arcane shapes into the blade and infused it with the power of the Storm King's mightiest god, trapping the deity within the now living weapon, and taking the powers from the Storm King's host.

With a fury none had seen before, King Izar descended from his tower, and tore through the Storm King's host.  His own army watched in horror as the fields churned with the blood of giants, the scholar king seemed possessed by the weapon, and raged until dawn, striking down all of his enemies, pulled from one to the next by the will of the sword.

When he was found, he was exhausted.  Naked in a field, surrounded by the ruins of giant warriors.  He was taken back to his keep and spent the next ten years recovering from the experience before he would emerge again to be seen, an old man, aged beyond his years, unable to relate how he had done what he had done on the field of battle that day.

I've been cheating

The group made a wiki, which is where I've been mostly posting this sort of stuff for the last couple of years.  Now that the third age campaign is over, I'll see if I can move some of it to here.

Currently, I'm running a black ops GURPs campaign, trying out some of the cinematic rules in that system.  The characters are 600pts and amazingly, they still seem to be threatened by mooks.

While starting as a one off while our other GM is away for a month, it's likely going to be my next longer term going campaign.

The basic premise is very Xcom influence, as is the Black Ops source book.  I also recently picked up the GURPS Illuminati book, which I think is great fun, and has me going with certain factions for this campaign.  One twist that I'm putting on this campaign is that the earth is actually flat, and there's a great conspiracy to keep people thinking it's round.  This is mostly done via Grey Psychic Beacons.  It turns out mathmaticians and physicists are all Ghouls who are in on the conspiracy.  It makes so much sense now!!


They're not set in stone, but here are the factions I have so far:

The GREYS!!!!

Home Planet Zeta Reticuli.

What they do: Abductions for genetic experiments.   

They have slave Hybrid Ghouls are disguised by psychic beacons, they try to infiltrate other groups.  They tend to be republicans.

Obviously, these are based on They Live, mixed with the generic Grey Alien/sectoids from Xcom UFO defense.

Reptilians

Baylonian Brotherhood.

Tall, blood drinking, shape shifting lizards from Alpha Draconis.  Hide in underground cavernous bases, impersonating world leaders.  David Icke eat your heart out.

Enemies to the Greys.  They run the democrat party.

Vampires

Vampires working ancient evil.  The Greys claim they are failed experiments from long ago. They have no overarching agenda, each seems to want to run their own petty kingdom.  Pineal glands are gone, which makes them soulless.  They also wish to spread floridation to protect their teeth, as well as calcify the pineal glands of humans, making them easier to manipulate.

The Cabal

The Cabal are magicians from another dimension(see Infinite Worlds).  They seek to enslave Earth for their nefarious purposes.  They like to do magical experiments on Earth because of the low magic, which makes  things safer if things go wrong.

Illuminati

A human group of shifting alliances looking to control the world.  They are paranoid and hate the Reptilians above all else.  They run through several different organizations, from Masons and Shriners, to Newspaper moguls and movie stars.

Flat Earthers

An anti-psychic group who has discovered that the Earth Is Really Flat.  THey have a genetic variation which protects them from the psychic rays of the Greys.  They are enemies to the Greys, who control the psychic beacons.

CHUDS

Creatures from the Underside of the earth.  Demonic in appearance, they wish to sew discord amongst the ‘heavens’.

The Church

The pope’s enemy is the CHUDS.  Some speculate that many of the cardinals are actually a mixture of  Reptilians and Ghouls using the church as a puppet organization.  They have a militant faction that is comprised of deadly CHUD hunters.