Another version of same

Further Arkon Notes
--These are presented out of any given order as they have been gleaned from several books where notes were recorded as remembered.--

###Green Portable Notebook###
-War in which Verial and Derus take part
-Derus 'final' confrontation with Verial at Manor (former goes away for a while)
-Side switching of Verial, assasination of Vellman and the loss of the Central Kingdom
-Verial later changes his loyalties again and gets put on trial
-Later mission in Eastern Lands (this was an odd mission, perhaps only a treasure-hunt during the Exile portion of the campaign)

###Red Notebook###
-Arkon is RPG world created in 1996.  It came from an adaptation of the telnet based game REALMSMUD.  By the time of the Spring '97 campaign it was much evolved from that.  I have said elsewhere that it also has inputs from Palladium, Square and D and D, while not being wholly of any of those.  The time has now come to update it.  Considerable thought has now been put into this.

There follows a to-do list:
-World Map
-Major character list
-Local area of Verial Campaign and others
-Timelines
-Factions and Antagonists
-Define Political entities
-Work out religious structure
-Human and demihuman and humanoid homelands

[These have been approached by now to some extent -- ed.]

General notes:
-Magic can be legally practiced in JAdus and Saen both, however, it is regulated by guilds.  Mages Guild is most common but there are others.  These rules tend to be strictly enforced.
-Guild membership is required for freelance adventurers in most lawful lands.  In Jadus, it is absolutely necessary.  Because of the legalistic system that has developed there, it has flowed outwards and is compelled, but there are some hinterlands where it is hard to enforce, for example, the taiga.  In more feudal and decentralized Saen, it is less enforced.  In Jadus, it is possible to join more than one guild, but not more than 3.  However, some guilds will not allowed concurrent memberships - Monks and Changelings.
-Jadus:  There was once a state here known as the Great Northern Empire.  It was ruled by a strange and secretive group of families with a secretive religious order underpinning the whole thing.  However, the various heirs eventually came to feuding and the Empire collapsed.  In its wake lawlessness and chaos ensued.  This gave rise to the Heroic and Romantic Age of Aceries and other wandering heroes who tried their hands at building states in the wake.  This was also a period of increased resurgence in nonhuman populations and intrusion of other forces on the lands of men and their close allies.  But by the days of the Saen campaigns, Jadus has come under the rule of several absolute monarchies with strong legalistic structures.
-Saen:  Always a more barbaric land than either the Empires of the South or the Northern Realms, this land has been feudal since the long-ago collapse of the Empire of Tescelin.  There are Three Realms here, and various major families rule the politics of the days with the help of many smaller noble and gentry families.  The Kriegsburg setting is a good case - it is a city formerly of lesser importance, but which was made into a major city by the decline of Koralden to the southwest.  The Barony that rules it is nominally a vassal to the Anteras Cult lands and the Mayron family that claims descent from the Immortal Lord Anteras.  But they are weakening and the Barony's star is rising - at the beginning of VC.  In the Northern Realm, the House of Drakensburg under the influence of the Reformist Cults has claimed royalty and their kingdom is on the march.  By the beginning of the VC there is a war brewing over the House of Vaison's Central Realm, while the House of Leneir hopes to expand the reach of the Southern Realm there for the Universal Cult.  In the Southern Realm, the old faith and the monarchy are still strongly believed in, while in the Central Realm it is more of a toss-up, and in the Northern Realm it is largely under the sway of newer breakaways.  These last are accused of being under the influence of dark powers by the UC.
-Religions of Jadus:  There are six major gods that are most popular, War, Healing, Justice, Fire, Disease and Vengeance, but there are others who are venerated.  The GNE still confers some interesting monotheistic esoteric cults.
-Timeline:  The Age of Aceries precedes the Verial Campaign by a bit of time.  On the other hand, the campaigns after Verial don't take place as long after.  Vampyro campaign is in immediate aftermath of the wars, while the Jedon Campaign is not long after that.
-The Wizard Question:  The wizards in this sense are Immortals who are not Deified and live closer to the world's spheres and directly intervene more often than the Gods, who live farther away and are less directly involved.  This is sort of a hierarchy of spirits and realms approach.  This is inspired, perhaps, by the ancient cultures who would venerate heroes as intermediate between gods and men.  There are instances, too, of this in Arkon, viz. the Cult of Anteras.
-Heym:  The town where the Kyningas of GNE were buried, it became during the Aceries Campaign a town where heroes would meet and live and conspire.  Today it is a local center of administration.
-Climate notes:  Jadus varies from continental and oceanic to hemiboreal and taiga.  Saen is farther south and its climate is mostly temperate , with some continental in upland regions and an area of subtropical forest at the southern end, where the Greywood is.
-There are homelands for the major racial groups, by which I mean macroraces (human, demihuman, humanoid) - this question hasn't really been approached yet.  Though Oram is the land where the Elves originated and remain strong.

Verial:
-War in which Verial and Derus fight, this is the war for the Central Realm.
-Verial at refuge base, escapes from Derus and co, who burns it.  There was valuable info he was gathering, but was forced to leave.
-Verial turns coat and assassinates Vellman at a decisive battle.
-Later mission from airship in eastern lands.
-Derus and alliance with dark elves - this is Verial's first sign that Derus is planning something different than he had thought ( i.e. not as tied to Arxam's agenda as thought)
-At the Manor Hall, Derus is 'defeated' and disappears for some time.
-Derus returns from his absence as the masked 'Clan Leader'
-Count Sevyle meets Verial in Kriesburg and they instantly come to hostility.  This continues to build as it is discovered that there is old enmity there.
-There is a minor kingdom called Danyria which Sevyle ascends to power in, and he at this point makes clear his allegiance to the Darklords - which Derus did not do, despite his alliance with the Syndicate, and then later his connection with Sevyle and the dark elves.
-Dark Elves of House Kaeerus are the third party in this triple alliance.  They want to regain some of their lands and begin an empire of their own once more.
-Arkadi and Sevyle also have alliance.  Arkadi is strange Zheridian nobleman who has ties to the dark powers in Saen.  It seems that the Zheridians may actually, secretly, have compromised some of the BS type crew.  Sevyle is DarkLords allied, Derus seems to, in the future vision, become a living Triadic ideal despite his repudiation of them ...
-Verial and co at one point get dropped in the middle of tribal lands by one of Sevyle's spells (a modified whirlwind without the sapping power, just transporting).

Characters: 
-Derus:  The enigmatic, and likely, half-mad world wanderer and prince of duelists.  He is presumably immortal due to the GodsBlood experiments.  He was originally from an ancient and fallen civilization, and is likely between 5-10ky old if not older.  He seems to be the only survivor of a group of Runic Knights, also, although this order was formed later when he was already an ancient.  Since he knows now that he cannot die, he has a long term plan to transcend the world, believing that the ancient civilization he now knows he was born into did the very same thing.  His doings form a major part of the Arkonian Mythos, and it seems to be his destiny to be a bloody future tyrant, though it is not known if that vision seen by Verial actually would come to pass or was merely a possibility.  But there is a chance that, if it is true, it would only be so that he would be able to transcend - pursuing the farthest strands as a means to go into the farther realms.

After Verial:
-The DarkLords are located off world.  These are Kieron, Vylus, and Exeten.  In the Jedon Campaign, it is my intention that he will discover their plot and try to confront them.  This will require him to find out about the Spelljammers, which were hinted at in the Verial and Vampyro campaigns.
-There grows to be unreconcilable tensions between the Dark Triad, and Derus and co - this will impact the Quadrarchy.
-Jedon wants to play major factions off one another once he gains some power.
-Jedon finds some immunities to dark powers that make it possible for him to confront some of the darklords.
-Arxam and Jedon have a showdown and the former is finally killed, but he returns later as a very powerful planar being bent on revenge.
-The question of the ApocLords v DarkLords I have just begun to answer.

###Later Green Notebook###
-Early on:  Verial's rise in Kriegsburg due to resolution of the Port Varas situation
-First encounters with Arxam as 'power behind the seat' in Kriegsburg underworld
-Poisoning of the Count of Anteras.  And the loss of his son while hunting.  This spells the end of a lineage claiming descent from the Wizard of the same name.  The House of Krieg takes center stage in the region thanks to this happening. 
-Royals of the South have endless trouble with inter-familial feuds.  This becomes more pronounced later and for a time, the line seems to be thrown into disarray, with the rightful heir being abducted in the mountains following the loss of the CK thanks to Verial's betrayal.  As of the Vampyro campaign, the heir hasn't returned and to prevent any more royal strife, the powerful general Arthomer I has set himself up as Realms Guardian (cannot truly be King due to laws of lineage).
-The Black Dragons rise to be the Kings of the North involved the sidelining of the Sunburst line which was related to the Royals of the South more clearly than the former.
-The Dark Coalition early on was built from an alliance between the Triadic Cult and the Northern Kingdoms.  This proves to be something of a temporary allegiance, since the TC has different goals and they are the ones who end up taking over portions of the Central Kingdom with permanent occupation, though their schemes in the South fail.  The Quadrarchy, in the later Vampyro campaign, offers to help the Southern Kingdom liberate the Central Kingdom and put one of the White Lion heirs on the throne once more, but the plan falls thru as Arthomer will not recognize the legitimacy of the Quadrarchy unless they submit, which they won't do.
-Verial's first troubles with Baron Krieg happen after five years of service and many deeds.  But when he uncovers the unsavory deals they are doing and goes public with it via the underground press, this triggers a severe confrontation.  Verial personally battles Krieg and Arxam in a dramatic street standoff of factions, then is imprisoned.  But thanks to the efforts of the old white mage, and the inimitable Strohb, he escapes and goes into exile.
-Velleman comes into the picture as a vain, aristocratic, but ultimately effective general.  Verial doesn't care for him and sees him as a schemer, but also recognizes his abilities.
-This takes place around the time that Verial meets Derus and there are the first major battles between Northern and Central forces on the doorstep of the South, i.e. Kriegsburg.
-Verial during this time also finds information regarding the activities of Derus, the strange and mysterious fellow he first encountered on the battlefield in enmity.  Derus and his mercenaries appear to be allied with the TC.  Verial later investigates his doings, which seem to involve obsessive hunts for famed artifacts and documents, and this leads to his being tailed and nearly killed by Derus and his forces for a time.  The dramatic height of this period is when Verial meets with some leaders of the resistance and their safehouse is abruptly raided and destroyed by Derus and his mercenaries.
-A bit later on, there is a major confrontation at a great manor house between Derus and Verial, and thanks to some strange occurences it seems that Derus is killed, run thru with his own sword.
-The white mage Orrele plays a role in turning Verial back around later on in the campaign.
-Blackgate District remains a seedy part of town, but a kind of fun jumpoff to adventure also, due to its relationship with the underworld.
-Verial's alliances go awry after his betrayal and killing of Velleman, and he gets attacked by Sevyl and loses his eldest son.
-Dream Palace is a place of discovery and a major turning point in the Verial campaign.  This is where he finally starts to learn of his Kithamnos heritage and why he is hated by Sevyl, who belongs to the rival house.
-Violet Desert tower adventures and Airship fiasco make up another dramatic part of the campaign, since this happens during the height of his outlaw phase when he is taken to the faraway lands to see the Cultic sites of the ancient darkness.
-Verial makes alliances with Gnomes at one point after meeting them by chance.
-Jakrean serves as the base for the last part of the campaign when he is contemplating his moves into the Eastern areas.

-The situation in Arkon as of the later campaigns is a time of general strangeness.  Men are wrapped up in feudal wars and struggles for power between religious factions.  Elves have become more secretive and less influential, and those of them who lived in empires have seen a long decline into stasis of a kind.  No spectacular falls of kingdoms as in the old days, just winding down.  The Dwarves are behaving coldly and in an isolationist fashion, not happy when they do not have the upper hand (men have multiplied more than other groups).  Hin are, on the other hand, doing well, making alliances with the kingdoms of Men and doing well compared with the ancient days of unending tribal strife.  Humanoids are, as always, looking for opportunities since they remain despised and fallen creatures (it is also speculated that orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins, kobolds and so on, are twisted versions of humans and demihumans).  Gnomes remain the least common, but also have a good thing going with their technical and physical wizardry that none can match,

###Other###

-Zheridians and the Apocalypse Lords are closer to CE, Abyssal or PrimalChaos type powers, while the Northern Cults and the Darklords are more NE, GrayWaste or Malevolent type powers, and the Triadic Cult is closest to the LE, Nine Hells or Tyrant Kings type of rule.  This is just an idea for how they could relate.  Then the goals might be different, the first wanting a wholescale remaking of the world in the image of darkness and cruelty, sinking it into the pit, while the DarkLords have a more dully cruel and sinister vision of the enslavement of mankind and subject to torments while living as arbitrary rulers, and the Triadic types want to set up an absolute earthly tyranny owing allegiance to older and harsher gods.  But this is just a framework.
-Air travel is known.  Airships are around, but rare.  Space travel exists but is highly secret.  It was once researched in the vicinity of Kriegsburg, and that is in fact how the city first started to grow, but it was covered up.  The Underground Installation that Verial finds relatively early on is parrt of this.
-Verial also discovers but does not explore the cave where the darkness of the gap is coming from.  He goes far enough to switch off the artifact but there is much more of this land to explore.
-Verial spent around 5 years in Kriegsburg.  It was in this time he pacified the hills, resolved troubles in the vicinity, and became a lieutenant of the Baron.  But his investigations of the BS factions lead to troubles, and his corruption investigation that implicates the Baron leads to his imprisonment and leaving the city for a long while.
-Verial's last adventures are a question of interest.  He gets put on capital trial at one point, and seems to have been provisionally released afterwards to track down the major Triadic Temple in the Southern Realm.
-Disappearance of the Leneir heir in the mountains after the Vellman battle.