Rising of Chaos Game Overview

## Introduction

Rising of Chaos is a heroic game set in a world called Vaklam, where most of the stories are set across the continent of Daer Akmir in which a loose alliance of nations struggles to retain control of their reality and rebuild societies that have been crushed by years of aggressive conflict.

    The game has been running since 1997 and has experienced several Ages created and defined by the players that lived through them. It started at the turn of the great wars that created the magic of Focus from the strength of the Source and has followed a story developed by the players and the system ever since.

Daer-Akmir is dominated by six clearly defined nations, two of which are currently held by enemy forces. Each nation has its own level of development - exploration and advancement are two of the greatest elements of the Rising of Chaos. New lands across the great seas, new races and ancient civilisations are often discovered.

Each nation produces skilled folk, represented by the players, who come together from all walks of life to serve the nation that they represent as Soldiers, Diplomats, Users of Magic, Traders, Crafters, Entertainers, the list goes on. Some may rise to lead, others may retire wealthy but many die young for amidst the Rising of Chaos it is said:

> *There are old heroes and there are bold heroes but there are very few old, bold heroes*

The nations, whilst allied, share old and fresh rivalries that often clash with their common goals, forcing action at desperate times. Without the player involvement, the world might collapse in on itself as the wicked and the witless step in to take advantage of the fracticious nature of the alliance.

Events in RoC happen when the players come together to effect a change in the world in either a day event of directed plot; a four day event in a coming together of the great and the powerful as they truly shake the world; or a weekend audience event with food, the famous and a chance to unseat the worthy! Every style of event offers the chance to forward personal agenda and plot or that of a nation, seek personal wealth, battle ancient foes, or mark one's name in the history of the current age.

**Welcome to**

## Aesthetics and Inspirations

The game is eclectic in its look and feel; each nation has a very distinct look that is drawn from some historical, some fantasy literature, and some film and television inspirations. It is important to examine each of the sections of the Wikki for the currently playable nations before you settle on your kit.

Our inspirations follow unusual themes and range from old school Dungeons and Dragons level of fantasy, across the odd Napoleonic, Strange and Norell, and Sharpe, to Gaiman's Stardust and the realms of Arthurian Faery.

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## The Six Nations of Daer Akmir

The Nations of Daer Akmir are six distinctly different cultural areas with extensive cultural background that defines them. As a Player, you can currently choose to be from four of these nations and this provides you with the basis of your character's backstory and identity; Where you are from has no bearing on the development of your skills and abilities, this is purely flavour and aesthetic.
In the current Age, the Coalition rules the four nations which unite the politics of the totality of these lands together, however, each nation is deeply defined and often split into semi factions of their own. A challenge for many players in the game is to bring a final unification to these once split peoples and impose a permanent alliance so that it can embark on a period of stability and peace. That new age can only come about when the lost nations are recovered and a new government formed.

Each Nation has its own councils which players can join and be representative of for functions of Trade, Military Might, Politics, and Government, each Realm of Magic, and Civic Duties. There is also an overcouncil that attempts to control the Coalition.

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## Races

Before the Nexus, all were human but, it's coming altered the peoples of the planet and they became reflections of beings from long dead worlds. Humans were joined by Zumatakans, Lairdan Gan, Tzi Tzain, Yuirfarvallen, ,  Orcs and Kalishinka. They are all part of the great nations of Daer Akmir and do not carry their own cultural identity; All races are welcomed in each nation across Daer Akmir. It was not always like this in ages past but the players have worked hard to make all equal.

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## Remnants

Through the many ages of the world of Vaklam it has received visitors from other places and they have left their mark on the world. Their patterns and legacies have mingled with the blood and souls of the mortals of this world and the remnants of who they were are left behind, clearly visible, in a handful of those. The available Remnancies to players are: Lycan, Daemonic, Vorokian, Fae, Angelic and Varrow.

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## Magic

The world, it is known, was created long ago by creatures called the Gillieabad which were venerated in ancient rite and ritual. Their habitats in the world have been eroded and were further damaged in the Age of Chaos when the Nexus came to this world forming the Rising of Chaos, creating Ley Lines of Power and spreading new magics from old places into the world.

### Sourcerey

Was the first form of magic to come from the Nexus, it is directed at the purity of body and is intolerant ofcorruption, it is a Discipline of Magic that requires rigidity to resist the powers that speak from the void to the Sourcerer continuously tempting them to their side. Sourcery is synonymous with the idea of power and control with many pursuing it for personal gain.

### Divinity

Was the second form of magic to come from the Nexus and is reffered to as the Focus of the Source. When mortals learned to focus power into specific individuals this was called faith and is believed to have created the soul in many people. Those focussed people ascended to become Divinites and many are still worshipped in different places and in different ways whilst many mortals seek to become a Focus themselves. Heresy is rife!

### Psionics

There are legends amongst the enlightened that tell us that Psionic power manifested before the Nexus arrived. Psionics focusses the mind through meditation and the use of crystals. In many lands and nations Psionicists have been persecuted for perceived heresy. The truth of the hatred directed at them is still misconstrued but the answers lie in the deadly White of the Astral.

### The Weave

Either the Fae or the Gillieabad, depending on tale, introduced the Weave into the world; the power of story. If you do not have a tale you have no place on Vaklam. Weavers call upon the echoes of the Great Song that wove the world to alter a persons fate or bring inspiration to an army. Each time the Weave is summoned, so to may be the Strange which lives in the cracks between the worlds of now, then and never.

### The Wyld

Long ago the Gillieabad gave life to the world and were free spirits that gave power to the people they had made in return for gifts of song or story. They they were torn apart by the coming of the Nexus and shift in power of magic. Not long after mortal kind took away their creators freedom and fettered them to their will. Now they are given sacrifice in return from strength which risks the accidental creating of abomination.

### Abandonments

Using power risks the chance of being contacted by beings that dwell on the edge of the world or in the cracks bewtween them. Each realm of power runs the chance of gathering an abandonment whenever a realm is called upon, should this contact occur a User of power faces the chance of these beings taking possession of them. These abandonments are: Source - Corruption; Divine - Heresy; Psionic - The White; Weave - The Strange; Wyld - Abominations.

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## The Others

Over the years beings from beyond our world have appeared and been contacted by these beings knowledge and lore exists regarding them but a brief overview is as follows

### The Fae

Reflections of ourselves that dwell in the Glamour of Eidelos, they are made up of many types and many courts, they     are held in high regard and esteem by the Weavers of the world and hold close connections to Sourcery. In this age the gates to Eidelos are sealed.

### The Vorokians

When the Nexus travelled to this world it passed through the night sky of four other worlds seeding them with its magic. The races there became strong with versions of the Source and have since contacted the peoples of Daer Akmir. Each experience is different, some are venerated, others hated whilst others still are teachers.

### Daemons

Daemons are formed of the corruptive magic of Source magics and were most often created of imprisoned Fae. Their story is a long and arduous one that has spanned every age of this story. They have been fought again and again in long player led campaigns but still remain. In 2018 Archmage Spears of the Colleges of the Royal Basin drove them from their homelands but they continue to stain our world.

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