Bulwark

For nearly a thousand years, the Bulwark:Magocracy of Sarvinia was a land shrouded in mystery. Almost entirely closed to outsiders by powerful magic, any vessel that dared attempt to sail into the forbidden land would be destroyed by the powerful storms perpetually roiling for miles upon miles of unbroken sea off the shore. Beneath the waves, the magically enhanced aquatic life aggressively defended against outsides who would seek a path below the waves. For those with the power to soar above the clouds, the crown of the storm was defended by kingdoms of cloud giants, resolute in their treaty to defend Sarvinia from outside interference. Even those who would seek to use powerful magic to shift between dimensions or traverse between points by way of teleportation would find themselves diverted, waylaid or captured in the attempt to enter this forbidden land. Only a single port, Bulwark:Serenis, was open to the outside world, allowing merchants to witness a glimpse of the secret empire from the merchant district far below the cliffs of the city proper. From here, business could be conducted, bringing the raw materials, food and wealth the avaricious mages sought in return for the exotic goods produced by the workshops and laboratories of the city. From every corner of the world, nations would send their merchant fleets through the narrow pass in the storms in hopes of purchasing the power to sway the course of history.

After several hundred years, the Magocracy largely closed its ports, permitting merchants to approach the city only for a single week every decade. For that single week, the pass would open and permit passage. Then, exactly one week later, the merchants would be expelled and the pass would be closed. For the weeks prior to the opening of the passage, fleets of merchant ships would clash with each other - and with pirates and privateers - awaiting the opening of the channel so that they could be the first to conduct their business during this brief window, reaping the greatest of the rewards. This continued until the 80th year of this tradition whereupon, at the chosen time, the pass did not open, leaving the merchants to sail home in failure.

For another 20 years, the merchants waited, some sailing idly by every few weeks in hopes that Sarvinia would open their gates in secret. Most, however, awaited the next designated time, arriving hopefully at the appointed location, awaiting the opening that would never come, and sailing home in defeat. No contact with the kingdom was possible, although the Cloud Giants swore that Serenis had upheld the bargain that perpetuated their guardianship, making even this route of learning the truth impossible.

27 years after the gates had been closed, a lost pirate vessel, badly damaged from a recent skirmish, sailed to the edge of the Maelstrom, alarmed to see the passage open. Desperate for a port, the vessel sailed through the passage and arrived at the merchant district. Upon disembarking, however, they found the city now inhabited by hostile monsters, largely uninterested in negotiating. Although they suffered heavy casualties, the pirates were able to re-provision their ship and sail home, where they quietly sought adventurers willing to return to the apparently abandoned city with them to scour it for riches.

It is here, in the first Year of the Gate, that our story begins, with high hopes for an expedition planning to establish a base of operations within the lost kingdom, the better to plunder the forgotten wealth of this powerful and ancient empire.