Forums: Forums -> Step 2: The Overarching Theme

Zind. It is the name of place where dreams swiftly become nightmares. It is the name of a land where the good suffer by their own hands as often as those of evil. It is the name of a world under the threat from a terror rarely heard of in the halls of men. Zind is a world of turmoil, where things are not quite as they should be, without leaving you the ability to determine precisely what it is before it is too late. This is Zind.

Imagine a world, where goblins and kobolds are among the civilized races. Imagine elves and halflings as feral creatures viciously haunting woods and hillsides, foaming for the taste of your flesh. Imagine a world that has suffered great wars between psions and wizards, tearing great holes in the fabric of reality and inflicting the curse of sorcery upon unsuspecting mortals. Imagine a world plagued by creatures seeping through portals in the darkest caverns and deepest chasms, determined to free their overlord, who has been chained to the mast of the world since before the birth of the current mortal races, back when dragons ruled the seas and the skies that they have now deserted. Imagine a world, where the protectors of those chains will stop at nothing to prevent the release of the deity locked below. A world filled with sacrifice and needless bloodletting. A world ruled by the darkest of passions. This world, is Zind.

Across this vast world, two mighty organizations pursue an endless war from the shadows, striking at their foes, destroying whole villages if they deem it necessary, all in the pursuit of their eternal goal: superiority.

One the one side are the chain-breakers, determined to release Kaltesh from the divine chains that keep him from bursting through the world and laying waste to his siblings. They are the Right Hand, determined to right what they believe the other gods have wronged. But their god must feed, and he has a voracious appetite for souls. By consuming these souls, Kaltesh is able to grant some of his followers a piece of his magic: the divine gift.

The other faction, the imprisoners, fight tooth and claw to keep Kaltesh weak, to keep him chained. They are the Glengoth Council, a union of leaders from the three most ancient races on Zind: the Nox, great black-winged creatures with razor-sharp claws for hands; the Dwarves, stout creatures brandishing weapons in hands as often covered in dried blood as dirt; and the mighty Kobold, the last remnants of the ancient dragons gifted with a vicious flair for traps and torture. As hungry for blood as their counterparts, the Council has no qualms with sacrificing souls to obtain the power of their gods, creatures nearly as soul-hungry as Kaltesh himself.

Between these two factions are the children. The young races. Split between the ‘civilized and intelligent’ humans and goblins, and the feral and ‘savage’ elves and halflings. The humans and goblins are used as pawns and fodder for both of these secretive organizations, while the elves and halflings inflict their own devastating blows to all the races of the world. Whether they know it or, more likely, not, all are playing out the plot of either the Hand or the Council, at the cost of their own kind.

The trick, is that on the surface, everything appears as it should, mostly. There is an appearance of relative peace. There is an appearance of relative harmony. There is an appearance of freedom. There is an appearance of development and growth. But for all of this, there is the real situation, small parts of which are known by many, but the grand picture is captured by none. That is the trick. Zind, for all its apparent peace and prosperity, is a cesspool of filth, sinking deeper and deeper towards its cruel destiny.