Background: Tor Silverwood

Tor is a child of infamy and has an infernal influence. Tor was orphaned at a young age and has only recently been piecing together his history.

Tor's father was a minor noble and his mother a performer of some repute due to her great beauty and ethereal voice (no doubt due to h...e infernal influence). A high ranking noble took a liking to Tor's mother and dad, due to his lower status, was unable to dissuade the noble from pestering his wife. Knowing that he risked jail or execution if he continued voicing his complaints about the noble, Tor's father killed his wife and then committed suicide.

Tor has not been able to find out who the noble was who caused his father to take such a drastic step but he spends his time searching for clues and expects to extract vengeance when he can.

DM COMMENTARY:
Clues have led to House Redstone, although you don't know the perpetrator yet. From what you've gathered, there may have been a deeper connection between your mother and this unknown House Redstone suspect, a connection based on your dark background.

You know Baltezar from the Cloud Theater, where you have worked on various productions together.

When your parents died, a family friend named Hadrien Runehan looked in on you from time to time. He was in his mid 20's at the time, and he appears not to have aged. You're pretty sure he got you an introduction at the Cloud Theater through Dulllin Balthazar, although he never speaks of it and you have no relationship with Dullin.

Recently Hadrien visited you with a gift. It's a copper rapier, stained almost entirely green with oxidation. Although it looks fragile, Hadrien tells you it should serve you well if you give it extra care and attention. It has ancient runes carved down its thin blade. Hadrien explained that it was your grandfathers and that he would tell you more later. The weapon appears to be both masterwork and very sharp (+1 to hit for Masterwork and +1 to damage because of its sharpness). 

Background: Variel Senate

Variel has found some friendship and solace at Iridithil's Home, an elven sanctuary in Iron Crown. The place is an elf-only compound, complete with tavern, temples, and a place for traditional pursuits, like archery.

The leader of this place is an ancient elf named Doraedian Mythlord, the most respected elf in Iron Crown. He's been a father figure to you lately and very supportive. After the incident with Calathes, you were down and Doraedian gave you a Cooshee puppy to cheer you up, a very rare elven breed of dog.

The dog is still just a puppy, but Doraedian has been training it and believes you should one day take it out in the city with you for added protection ... and some added elven pride and companionship [when you're 4th level or higher]. As a bonus Handle Animal is a class skill for you.

Urban Tracking (Bonus Feat)

Anyone can track using the Survival skill in Pathfinder. Therefore, it follows that anyone can Urban Track (like the 3.5 variant feat) using Knowledge: Local. This is pretty important in an urban campaign. You can assume you can do this, or you can add this to your character sheet as a bonus feat. Here's my re-jiggering of the feat:

Urban Tracking [General] [Bonus]

You can track down the location of missing persons or wanted individuals within communities.

Benefit

To find the trail of an individual or to follow it for 1 hour requires a Knowledge: Local check. You must make another Knowledge: Local check every hour of the search, as well as each time the trail becomes difficult to follow, such as when it moves to a different area of town.

The DC of the check, and the number of checks required to track down your quarry, depends on the community size and the conditions:

If you fail a Knowledge: Local check, you can retry after 1 hour of questioning. The game master should roll the number of checks required secretly, so that the player doesn't know exactly how long the task will require.

Special

A ranger with Favored Terrain: Urban gains a bonus equal to half his level on the Knowledge: Local check to use this feat.

You can cut the time between Knowledge: Local checks in half (to 30 minutes per check rather than 1 hour), but you take a -5 penalty on the check.

DM's Note: In Iron Crown, if you can narrow down the ward they're located in, you change the Community Size DC to small or large city.

Community Size	DC	Checks Required
Thorp, hamlet, or village	5	1d3
Small or large town	10	1d4+1
Small or large city	15	2d4
Metropolis	20	2d4+2

Conditions	DC Modifier
Every three creatures in the group being sought	-1
Every 24 hours party has been missing/sought	+1
Tracked party "lies low"	+5
Tracked party matches community's primary racial demographic	+2
Tracked party does not match community's primary, or secondary racial demographic	-2

Litorians

Litorians for Pathfinder

Medium Humanoid 

+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Int 

Base Speed: 30 feet 

Low light vision 

Wild: +2 to Intimidate,and Survival checks 

Keen Senses: Litorians enjoy a +2 bonus to all Perception checks. 

Weapon Familiarity: Litorians treat all weapons with the word "litorian" in the name as martial weapons (see me).

Racial Levels: Unlike some races, Litorians may take racial levels to improve their physical prowess and instincts for the hunt. 

Languages: Common, Litorian Bonus Languages: Sylvan, Gnoll

Litorian Racial Class
Hit Dice d8
Class Skills Balance, Climb, Craft, Jump, Search, Sneak, Survival
Skill Points: 2 + int mod
Weapons:
All simple and light armors and shields
Level attack fort reflex will special
1 +1 +2 +2 +0 +1 Strength +1 Dexterity
2 +2 +3 +3 +0 Scent, +10 feet ground speed
3 +3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, Bite Feat

The Death of The Boy

High Priest Gortog sat cross legged in his nightly meditation to the boy god, Erias, lord of dreams and magic. As his mind settled, Gortog recalled with satisfaction how earlier in the evening his ghustil priests blocked the ruling council from making an unthinkable alliance. The Old Ones may kill or enslave the entire city, but the fate of their souls were at stake with the unholy alliance proposed by the trade lords.

As his thoughts settled, Gortog focused on the lotus flower before him and slipped into meditation, his mind racing across the stars to the boy god of dreams. He communed with his god, the raw power of magic flowing over him, his dreams unraveling from the night before to show their true meanings. How anyone could turn their back on such liberation to embrace a diabolical witch goddess was beyond him.

Suddenly the connection snapped, Gortog's consciousness reeled back to his body with enough force to throw him backwards, his head cracking on the marble floor of the Grand Temple. He was unable to move, the last words of the boy god echoing through his head, a plea for help followed by screams of pain. How could one so grand, so powerful, call out to someone as lowly as him for help? Yet, it was the screams of a child that would stay with Gortog for the rest of his short life. The connection was lost, the dream was gone, the child was dead.

Gortog pushed himself up and began his meditation again, but there was no one out there. The communion with his deity he experienced just moments before was replaced with an all consuming numbness. Erias was dead, his faith betrayed. It would be nearly a week before the rest of the city puzzled out the death of their patron deity. It would take over a year before it was understood that Vlaakith herself slew the boy god. By then, Gortog had already thrown himself to his death off the roof of the Grand Temple, unable to go on with his life with such profound emptiness, but really it was that final child's scream that pushed him over the edge.

Some priests followed Gortog in his suicide, while others were more pragmatic. Perhaps they had always been pragmatic in their faith, but they found alternatives. None were to be so disloyal and vile as to worship Vlaaktih, a goddess of diametrically opposite beliefs from Erias, but they found other patrons. Those in the faith for the power used their knowledge of magic to find positions in arcane organizations. Those who needed to re-direct their faiths sometimes turned to Zheenkeef, worshiping his/her aspect of the mind, while most turned to Tinel and his domains of magic and knowledge. None of these priests ever achieved significant positions of power in their new organizations. There was always a stigma about them, an heir of opportunism and a belief that they were someone irresponsible or neglectful in their gods demise.

With the ghustils neutralized, the council made their pact with Vlaakith. The Ghustil ward was taken over by the priesthood of Vlaakith, the new patron of the city. They were quiet and respectful about it, not wanting to upset the populace. The people were slowly won over by a new focus on law and order and an influx of new spending by their diabolical masters. At first, there was a quiet, systematic purging of groups that were believed to be subversive. Those who behaved and assisted their new masters were rewarded well. For the most part, existing power structures were maintained, with just a slight twist to ensure their obedience. Religion, beyond worship of Vlaakith, was discouraged and many of the hundreds of gods of Iron Crown slipped into obscurity.

Over the next several decades, carrots were replaced almost entirely with sticks, once it was assumed that the population had been pacified. Under the iron fist of the diabolical powers, the streets became unsafe, trade was stifled by restrictions, and authority was abused. Iron Crown was used for its production of goods and only compensated enough to keep the factory town going. There were no more dreams with their patron god dead. Their spirits were broken. An entire generation lost all hope. Would their children be able to restore it?

Iron Crown Recent History

Iron Crown is in decline. Several decades ago, the Yan Ki nobles were beset by their ancient nemesis, The Old Ones. The Old Ones were ancient beings that not only threatened Iron Crown, but existence itself. The Yan Ki were already on a strange trajectory, having compromised their principles and their bodies while living eons on the Astral Plane. They developed psychic powers, their skin grew yellow and pale, and their bodies became gradually twisted. These were the positive changes. 

Their morality suffered as well, and rather than fight a glorious, but hopeless battle against The Old Ones, as their ancient Celtic culture would have demanded, they instead did the unthinkable. The Yan Ki allied with a powerful devil, an ally that could stop The Old Ones. The devil queen Vlaakith became the patron of the Yan Ki and they vowed to follow her, even as far as to refer to themselves as “one of kith,” or simply,  Kith-yan-ki (githyanki).

Vlaakith, of course, wanted something in return – access to the vaults. The ancient vaults of Iron Crown possess all the most wretched, evil and powerful artifacts in the multiverse. They’ve been exiled here for safe keeping and protection from the likes of Vlaakith and her armies of fiends. At first, Vlaakith demanded the liberation of many of the artifacts, but after a series of terrible calamities, she instead keeps it as her private treasure vault, occasionally even sending adventurers into the vault to retrieve an item on her behalf. It seems it is easy to intern an item into the vault, but getting it back out was never intended.

The nobility have found servitude not exactly to their liking. They have sulked away to their estates, like the rest of the subjugated city state under its new, diabolical rule. Iron Crown remains but a specter of its former glory, its ancient and eclectic architecture crumbling while unseen menaces haunt its shadows.

View from the Upper Craftsman's Ward

Overview

Founder's Square (statue of Lord Tehvin)

Investigating a suspicious fire.

Defender's Square. To the left, The Blueflame Inn.