This is part of my ongoing series on the Shattered World setting, which contains pieces you can drop into your own game.

This post introduces the Confederacy Corps, which is the military arm of the independent coalition of nations that calls itself the Charter Confederacy. I’ve also got an NPC for you.

The Confederacy Corps

When the Confederacy formed about a decade ago to ally its many smaller nations against their larger enemies, its charter laid out plans for the Confederacy Corps, an official, trained military of the Confederacy. The Corps is supposed to serve the Confederacy’s Cabinet and carry out their mandates both with a well-trained (though currently tiny) military, and with teams of hired adventurers assembled to handle missions as needed.

In reality, the Corps is a rag-tag band of playboys, ex-bounty hunters, and former Silver Shields, loosely divided into half a dozen Companies named by color. Fortunately, its captains do not yet seek power, and instead let their soldiers patrol the lands for monsters or incursions from the Silver Shields. They spend most of their time in taverns.

Neither the Cabinet nor the Corps have much practical power. However, members of both groups can travel through every member nation with impunity and demand impromptu audiences with local leaders. Both groups were born recently, and their members continue to explore the boundaries of their responsibilities and powers. While Cabinet members jockey for political position and favor, one should be more worried about the large recruiting drive that the Corps launched several years ago.

Lucas, Captain of the Red Company of the Confederacy Corps

Lucas, drawn by Theo Evans

Archetype: Patient planner

Behaviors: Move minimally, stare, use code names and oblique references

Need for Adventurers: Investigate military-grade threats to the Charter Confederacy, especially the Silver Shields

Agenda: Strengthen the Confederacy Corps into a world-class military

Relationships: Lucas was once an adventurer, and spent a few months adventuring with Macario, one of the Wolves of Shadow. Lucas once saved Macario’s life, and Macario still owes him the favor.

History: Lucas is an ex-adventurer who’s seen the world’s dangers—monstrous and humanoid. He knows the importance of military defense.

Secrets: Lucas wants to make the Corps the strongest defensive force the world has ever known, with the Confederacy able to repulse any threat. He even plans to wipe out the major monstrous races. To do this, he’ll need a navy, and he’s negotiating with the Trefada (the largest sea-trading organization; think the East India Company) to buy some of their older ships, which he’ll retrofit into destroyers.

This is part of my ongoing series on the Shattered World setting, which contains pieces you can drop into your own game. In this post, I’ll introduce another of the three major factions of the Shattered World, and several NPCs.

The Silver Shield League

Several dwarf tribes organized the Silver Shield League about fifty years ago, supposedly to defend humanoids from the many monsters that seemed to be breeding like spiders. However, I have collected a number of manuscripts from that time, and a strong strain of fear against dragons runs through their notes and manuscripts. They appeared to fear a return of the dragons.

They organized hunting raids against various monsters, which were effective enough to attract other races to join the League, expanding it into a full-fledged empire representing the three major humanoid races. The League (technically, the Silver Shield League is the empire’s name and the Silver Shields are the legions within it) prizes resilience and strength of arms. The Shields maintain the authority to organize into warbands as needed to combat foes of its empire, without authorization from the Platinum Emperor.

The League controls several dozen islands southwest of Iziz and the Great Caldera. The Emperor lives in Tel Estaria, the City of Bridges, but a new capital is currently under construction at Vigil.

The Legions of the Shield

Organized as a full-fledged army, the Shields are divided into three legions.

Tharvur is the general of the Amber Legion. Famous for his anger, he seems most happy when killing monsters, which is appropriate given that the Amber Legion is sent out to fight monsters more than the other Legions. A dark-complexioned dwarf, he is power-hungry and violent.

Worse, he is a schemer, guilty of black deeds. I have recovered scrolls that indicate [here the text has been rubbed out–Ed]

Farrel leads the Blood Legion. Unusually for any of the Silver Shields, Farrel was born a noble. When he was still a young child, a rival family orchestrated an attack that killed all his blood relatives. A few retainers managed to spirit him away and raised him in isolation on a remote island. He was eventually discovered, and returned to civilization to avenge his family’s death. He then joined the Silver Shields and rose quickly through ranks.

Despite his dark past, Farrel is a remarkably simple man, wanting no more than friends around a fire and a job to do. He is a well-loved and effective leader, noted for friendliness and determination. This will all change once he learns that his father is still alive.

Maechenebon leads the Metal Legion. A mysterious elf always half-hidden in a large hooded cloak, his past is the stuff of legend: raised in slavery as the tortured lab rat of the notorious sorcerer Zakhar, he tricked his tormentor, killed him, and escaped…minus his left arm. He then mastered a sword style that uses his unique body to keep his foes off-balance. He rarely speaks and rarely fights, but when he does so, he is nearly unstoppable.

For all his aloofness, Maechenebon must be worried about something. He has been visiting soothsayers recently, and inquiring into predictions of the future.