On the Problem of the Dragon by Ruádha, Sorceress Queen of the High Kingdom (NK Year: 182)

You darkness that I come from
I love you more than the flame that confines our world,
for flame only shines a circle so those
inside are blind beyond the light.

But the darkness welcomes… everything.
Shapes and flames,
animals and me,
how it swallows them:
People and Powers.

And I have the feeling some vast presence is stirring all around us.

I have faith in nights.

The Background

In the last decade, the Five Forests have grown closer together in spite of logging – which has risen to an all-new high with the import of blackglass axe-heads from across the Tower Sea.

The Godwoods have become liminal places of terror such as they have not been since the arrival of the Five Kings; many have reported the Gods walking the world in mortal guise, interfering in ways they have not since the rise of the High Kingdom and the Síocháin Rí, the High Peace….

The Dragon (coiled asleep in sacred burning under the Island of Mawr) and the Serpent (wrapped around Mawr under the sea in all directions) and their erstwhile cousin, The Mist, have emerged from a generation of slumber to battle in a way to fill the bard’s tales for generations. Their most recent destructive meeting culminating in the apocalyptic sinking of the island capitol of the Kingdom of Ternyn.

Someone has to stop the gods in their wild ecstasy of abandon.

Someone has to save the peoples of the Five Kingdoms from the divine… and from themselves.

You are one such arwr, such hero. You have been selected by two unlikely heroes to lead a crusade to stop the willful dark interference of the gods and set the people of Mawr on a righteous path.

One of these beings is an ancient Vulfen hero, former companion to a Magehunter who allegedly saved the Northern Kingdoms from their fall. He is called Bayeo, and he is connected to the past of his people in a way no Vulfen has been in generations.

The other is Meraig. He is a fey creature of magic, so steeped in it, he seems like he belongs to an older world where the High Sorcery was free. Or perhaps he is one of the Bright Ones playing a game of humanity. Nonetheless, he understands the hearts of the peoples of Mawr, and he has joined you to his quest with his hope for the end of Divine Tyranny as he now calls it.

With Meraig walking the Mists to find something of need, it is Bayeo who will guide you north through the Kingdom of Tuhal, on some route that bears import to him.

Things are beginning to unravel in the kingdoms.

Which thread will you pull?

On the Old Kingdoms, by the Siar Ciannan:

In the end, in the Mist, everything dies.

The Story

You are a unique and excellent person of the Kingdoms (in that the sense of person refers to any self-aware creature). Some worldly or otherworldly Power has engendered you to band with other heroes of Mawr.

Arwr ( Heroes )

Background Reading

• The World (Arcodd)
• The Island (Mawr)
• The Paths of Magic
• The Gods
• The Nightwings (Moons)

Systemics

We are going to be using one of the Cypher systems. If you have access to any of those books, they can be a source of inspiration. If not, don’t worry about it!