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Campaign
Description:
Le cirque de Faust is a
small low powered campaign with skilled investigators thrust into deadly
situations. Centered in London, the team will travel through out the UK,
possibly to other countries with a strong possibility of crossovers in
the future. The focus will be on character development, how the
characters cope with constant exposure to corrupting influences, and
character interaction, perhaps more so than other campaigns. Importance
of the Player Characters:
The characters will be central to the campaign, though not necessarily
known outside of their organization. While definitely heroic, these
characters will not be considered heroes. Simply because of the nature
of the threat, they will be tasked with keeping their activities out of
the public eye as much as possible and will rarely receive public
recognition for their efforts.
While saving the world from evil, they will be doing it one soul at a
time.
World
Description:
The Global Guardians Universe is a four-color comic book world
full of larger than life characters. Technology is more
advanced that the real world, and magic is real. Aliens
and creatures of legend roam the earth.
The Story So Far:
Throughout
humanity’s history, stories abound of wondrous objects of power
that bestow gifts of strength, speed, and grace on the bearers.
The fabled sword Excalibur, the Holy Grail, the Ark of the
Covenant, and Jason's Golden Fleece are but a few examples.
Heroes always wielded these objects, strong and just people who
use the powers and abilities gained for the good of humanity.
Once these wondrous artifacts have served their purpose, they
are usually set aside, hidden and protected, to prevent their
power from falling into the "wrong hands."
Few, if any, tales tell of the other side of the coin. As
sure as there is light, there is also darkness. Fell weapons;
rings; rods; objects that twisted, corrupted and damned their
bearers are not the stuff of legends; they are the stuff of
nightmares. Throughout time, these objects were coveted. Some
yearn for the power the objects provide, willing to brave the
corruption for they themselves are corrupt. Others search to
find these objects, destroying them if possible, to remove their
taint from the world.
Most of the items of legend and myth have faded from memory, their
power waning and finally disappearing as the level of magic and belief
in the world declined. During the early stages of the decline, several
societies both secular and non-secular in nature sprang into being, to
try to find and remove these darker objects from the grasp of the
general populous. Some attempted to destroy the objects; others just
stockpiled them, standing vigilance against any that might try to obtain
them. As magic declined, so did the vigilance and interest in many of
these orders until only one remained, the Order of the Phoenix.
The society’s members were from all lifestyles, peasant, noble,
clergy, and university. As belief waned and interest turned towards the
sciences, the Order moved quietly into the background of mainstream
society. The objects were secreted in hidden and protected vaults
throughout Europe, with the largest Cache being kept in a sealed and
guarded vault in London. The Order fell into near obscurity, its
membership cut to a handful of carefully selected and initiated members.
During the early 20th century, a sharp rise in the world's
cycle of magic began to concern the remaining members of the now renamed
Phoenix Foundation. The items they had been guarding for centuries began
to become dangerous again. Their greatest fear became reality almost
overnight. A new recruit from the emerging spiritualist movement
succumbed to the temptation and appropriated that which he had pledged
to guard.
Under the influence of one of the more powerful objects designed to
sow chaos and disorder, the recruit, an Edgar Faust, opened a curio shop
in Surrey. Using the objects he had taken as inventory, Faust sold and
distributed the cursed objects to unsuspecting residents and tourists.
The Phoenix foundation finally tracked Faust down, but his original
stock was gone, the only piece left was that which had him enthralled. A
struggle ensued for Faust's soul. Unfortunately the Foundation
representative failed and both lost their lives, though the object in
question was destroyed.
Nearly a century of search and research led the Foundation to only a
small percentage of the more than 200 objects stolen by Faust. With the
emergence of magic and metas as more prevalent, the potential for
disaster has increased exponentially. It was clear that the old methods
of investigation and recovery were not enough to prevent disaster. The
Phoenix Foundation began its search for the best and brightest the
mundane world has to offer. Unwilling to reveal itself and it's mission
publicly due to societies general disbelief in matters mystical, the
Foundation has decried the use or recruitment of the more powerful metas
due to the publicity surrounding them. Instead, they turned again to the
areas that best served them in the past, the Universities, the clergy,
the police and military.
Local Relations:
Police, fire departments and other governmental agencies are more than
willing to take the characters’ calls, but may not respond as expected.
The characters will be part of a private foundation with no police
powers and treated like any normal citizen. The Phoenix Foundation is
considered a well-respected non-profit organization, helping various
charities and public good works. Its members are respected, if
considered slightly eccentric.
Morality: While
the campaign premise is black and white, the characters will be tasked
with recovering cursed objects, many of which corrupt and slay, not only
the users, but innocents around them. The characters will have to make
hard choices and deal with the consequences of those decisions as they
affect their own lives and the lives around them.
Realism: Le cirque
de Faust while based on the supernatural, will be a fairly realistic
campaign but with some opportunity for cinematic efforts. Characters
will not die unless they prove themselves too stupid to live or are
going out in a blaze of glory. However, the going will not be easy.
Outlook: The
campaign will be dark in tone, as the characters will be battling
cursed objects and people who have succumbed to the evil influence of
these
objects.
Seriousness: The
campaign will be fairly serious, though a creative player will find
chances to inject some humor through character interactions.
Continuity: While
the character development will be serial, the campaign scenarios will be
episodic in nature with some serial portions. The character's actions,
successes and failures while not readily apparent, can and will have
impact on future episodes. |
