The Mendercap Missives

A hobby blog by Mendercap and friends

Filling out the world workbook

This post will document Ironsworn’s worldbuilding exercise and my choices for this campaign.

I’m going to play in Ironsworn’s default setting. I’ve gone through the world workbook and chose the following truths:

• The Old World. The sickness moved like a horrible wave across the Old World, killing all in its path. Thousands fled aboard ships. However, the plague could not be outrun. On many ships, the disease was contained through ruthless measures—tossing overboard any who exhibited the slightest symptom. Other ships were forever lost. In the end, those who survived found the Ironlands and made it their new home. Some say we will forever be cursed by those we left behind.
• Iron. The imposing hills and mountains of the Ironlands are rich in iron ore. Most prized of all is the star-forged black iron.
• Legacies. Other humans sailed here from the Old World untold years ago, but all that is left of them is a savage, feral people we call the broken. Is their fate to become our own?
• Communities. We are few in number in this accursed land. Most rarely have contact with anyone outside our own small steading or village, and strangers are viewed with deep suspicion.
• Leaders. Leadership is as varied as the people. Some communities are governed by the head of a powerful family. Or, they have a council of elders who make decisions and settle disputes. In others, the priests hold sway. For some, it is duels in the circle that decide.
• Defense. Here in the Ironlands, supplies are too precious, and the lands are too sparsely populated, to support organized fighting forces. When a community is threatened, the people stand together to protect their own.
• Mysticism. Magic is rare and dangerous, but those few who wield the power are truly gifted.
• Religion. A few Ironlanders still make signs or mumble prayers out of habit or tradition, but most believe the gods long ago abandoned us.
• Firstborn. The firstborn hold sway in the Ironlands. The elves of the deep forests and the giants of the hills tolerate us and even trade with us—for now. Ironlanders fear the day they decide we are no longer welcome here.
• Beasts. Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands.
• Horrors. The dead do not rest in the Ironlands. At night we light torches, scatter salt, and post sentries at the gate. It is not enough. They are coming.

Next post will have character creation.