Campaign: River the Fugitive of Stormguard
Game: Fall of Magic
Episodes: 1
Theme Song: Eivør - Trøllabundin
Keywords: Cautious, fierce, cunning
Recently I started ANOTHER Fall of Magic game, and in this one, it's a one on one game. I've done this before, but this will be the first time I finish it. I love one on one games because you really get to explore each little area a lot more with your characters. I initially was going to make another Ellamura, but in the end, ended up with the name River once more. I don't know why. I like the name River because of the connotation to flowing and change and movement. When you have a Fall of Magic character, you have something in your hands that's about to dramatically change.
I wondered what a fugitive from Stormguard would be like. I knew Stormguard had a Stormqueen. And I will say, one of the neat things about playing the game over again is that you know there are certain prompts and that let's you have a character from a place with a little bit of an idea what that place is like without painting it in certain tones yourself. I had no idea why River was a fugitive. I knew she liked to drink and I started her by having her wake up from a night of drinking by the river in the mud.
From there, she was a woman who didn't belong as a fugitive but had been such for two or three years and had grown accustomed to being cautious and yet daring at the same time. She spoke little of her past, and spent most of her time doing survival things for the group. She made camp. She hunted. She sought shelter. There was a certain talent in her for finding aid when they needed it, and as we progressed closer to Stormguard, I ensured that she had people who had helped her during her first flight from Stormguard pop up.
It turned out that River had a twin, a younger sister, who was the Stormqueen now after River had slain their mother. Why? Because Stormguard women can call and control the storms. The price? Their sanity. It slowly deteriorated their minds until they became a danger. Some queens killed themselves. Some ran away and disappeared into the night. Some were hidden away to end their days. Some died of natural causes. When River's mother had begun to hurt the clans, River killed her. It brings her great sorrow to this day. Then she fled and let her sister become queen.
At the home of the Grey Rangers, one of the rangers taught River the secret to actually controlling the storm without going mad. It was to seduce it. Now. River was a forthright, sharp woman who had no interest in learning to speak sweetly or seduce another. Yet she knew the storm's price. She knew what the storm wanted from her in exchange for working with her instead of consuming her slowly over time. It wanted an heir. It wanted the next generation.
And so River sought out her traveling companion while he worshipped at an altar and seduced him. A child, probably a daughter, was gotten from the union and River has only begun to show. We haven't covered what this will mean in the story yet. Her travelling companion, Harp, is a fox of Mistwood. He's a minstrel and great traveller and, well, assassin. He's got stories and is legendary. Except now those stories belong to someone else and he's just another fox of Mistwood.
When I was making River, I wanted to make a harder, determined character who didn't care if they saved magic or if it just faded away. She had promised the Magus to come and so she would. But I find her questioning everything on every step of the journey. Every time they stop somewhere new, she discovers something about herself she didn't know. The call of the storm. The child growing inside of her. The power she has. The dangerous edge of her ability. River has become a complex, fascinating woman who probably should be queen of Stormguard.
But doesn't want to be. Not yet. She wants to see the journey through and do what she must to see it to completion. Her companion, Harp, is a force on to himself and she hasn't read into their encounter or sought out another. She's worried Harp will want more from her, but has pushed it aside until she figure out what the future truly holds.
You can't plan going forward with Fall of Magic characters. You can only know who they are currently, their fears and worries, and move forward at the next session. Any forward planning isn't worth it. It's gone. Just be in the moment. And I can't wait to be River again and see how she progresses forward.
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