Welcome to our Campaign Coffee. This series of posts, which will be interspersed with regular Monday Coffee posts, aims to look back at roleplaying game campaigns that have shaped the Cosmoneiron into its current state. We will discuss the plots and characters, but also how they influenced the development of the Twin Worlds. I hope you enjoy these. Happy Monday!
While the campaign continued after the War of Saints, true to its original Planescape setting, the characters left the Cosmoneiron shortly afterwards. In preparation for their leavetaking, Mephiston resurrected Eriman, his disciple, who swore to carry forward Mephiston's standard and found an Order of knights in his honor.
The future god of the sun also granted Jiaham, the leader of the largest village in the lands Hethner had granted Mephiston, the crown of the newborn realm of Brightland. Jiaham accepted, on condition that he be a Regent, not a King, for the crown would belong to Mephiston if he ever returned. Faelar offered to ascend Mephiston, Gabrief, Val'Sham and Anthony, for the Ilelorn would need their help, but the four demurred, believing they had more things to do before taking such a step.
Meanwhile, Val'Sham and Anthony decided to accompany the others out of the Cosmoneiron, leaving the only world they had ever known behind themselves in an effort to become more than they were. And Gabrief sealed up the fortress he had had built on his own lands, estimating it would be unlikely he would ever return.
By the time the wyldervay left the Twin Worlds, they had toppled two pantheons, helped the rise of the Ilelorn, revealed swaths of ancient history which had previously been buried by the Ledhrorn, and upended the political landscape of northern Teidar, the continent in which most of this story took place. They had established the foundations for the Gates of Dawn, the city that would become dedicated to Mephiston and the capital fo Brightland, and had watched the very beginning of the Order of the Rising Sun, leaving both in the capable hands of Eriman Calandor and Jiaham, known thereafter as the Righteous, First Regent of Brightland.
The reverberations of their actions would echo through the centuries, in ways both known and unknown. For instance, at the moment of Lilaire's sacrifice, the released divine energies that suddenly flowed through the cosmos washed over the material world, and many whose lives had been a series of mistakes or bad choices, many who harbored regret, were tamporarily cast into a mindscape where they could come to terms with their choices and losses. Most couldn't take this opportunity, but some could, redeeming themselves in the process. The event became known as the Redemption, appropriately enough, though it is ever shadowed by the shattering of the Reflection.
The rising of Brightland threatened the existence of the older kingdom of Erkanth, which would seek to invate the newborn kingdom within two centuries of its founding. The event would conclude with Erkanth's loss, but it would also lead to the loss of innocence of the Order of the Rising Sun, who for the first time was called to fight against people who did not seek to commit evil, but were simply drafted into service by unscrupolous rulers.
And one hundred years later, the wyldervay returned upon Faelar's summons, to witness the passing of Eriman in his old age, since the old knight had wished more than anything to see his mentor one more time, and learn whether what he had done had made him proud. Mephiston agreed that Eriman's actions had indeed made him proud as a father would be, and was with him as the old knight died. Then, Faelar collected Eriman's soul and made him the first Saint of the Twin Worlds, a minor deity who could watch over the Order of the Rising Sun in death as he had done in life.
The wyldervay eventually chose to remain in the Twin Worlds, and Mephiston accepted the ascension offered by Faelar, becoming Elindur, god of the sun of the Ilelorn. Gabrief, for his part, chose instead to settle down anonymously, alongside his partner, and lived a long life in obscurity. Val'Sham claimed Khreth-Alakh, an ancient fortress, as his home and established a magical college there. There he resided, too, with his wife and growing number of children. Anthony, in the meantime, founded the Corporation of Shadows, an assassins' guild, and found a way into a secret place which became his home and headquarters, unknown to all others.
Val'Sham and Anthony would live long lives, courtesy of the diluted effects of the few drops of Waters of Immortality they had drunk in Nithisis, and would die over one millennium after the War of Saints, having seen the world change and awaken from its slumber of ages as a direct consequence of their deeds. Deeds which would continue to shape the world for generations, whether they would be aware of it or not.
We have therefore come to a close regarding the Crown of Fates campaign, but fear not: next Monday, we will restart with our traditional Monday Coffees, and soon we will tackle another campaign, but from a different angle...
As always, I hope you enjoyed this tale, and thank you for reading!
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