The Empire of the Painted Dawn Overview
For a thousand years, the Empire of the Painted Dawn has combined the old kingdoms of the North, South, and West Dawn Islands with a portion of the old Kingdom of Dusk on the mainland to the west. But the young Empress, descended from the Sun itself, has withdrawn from society, and is sequestered in the Sanctuary Palace on the island of Eastermost.
The Empire has fallen into chaos and struggle, with the Warlords and their clans struggling to become Regent. and govern the realm in the name of the Empress and the gods. Every Warlord seems to feel they have a chance, and shifting alliances, assassination, and out right warfare are common. With the Warlords and their knights focused on the struggles, the needs of the commoner are often ignored. Bandits and thieves abound, and the so-called ‘noble’ knights often prey on the small folk as well. Many of the bandits used to be knights, but fled the wars, or lost their lord, or were cast out for wrongdoing, making these outlaws very dangerous indeed.
The imbalance of the world, and the retreat of the Empress, has left the Empire vulnerable to supernatural threats as well, and monsters sometimes prey on neglected villages, while evil sorcerers extort them or menace them directly. Magic is not common, and is used primarily by the forces of evil, as it is dangerous and inherently corrupting.
The islands, and the nearby mainland, are very short of metals, especially copper and iron. None save the richest knights can afford metal armor, and swords are prized and treated with reverence for generations. The most common armors are quilted, padded armors constructed of linen, cotton, or for the well to do, silk. The quilted sections are usually triangular, and often of several different colors, arranged in a pattern that is unique to a specific clan and Warlord. Usually a knight also wears a badge denoting the Warlord they serve, often on a short vest or jacket worn over their quilted armor. In the Northern Islands, and in the winter, the jacket bearing the badge (on the left breast and the back) is instead often a thick great coat.
Three kinds of swords predominate in the Empire of the Dawn. The most popular are sabres, which originated, it seems, in the Southern Dawn Islands, are usually finely decorated curved slashing blades with chisel tips. They may be sized for one or two handed use, and from shortsword to greatsword size. More rarely, they are straight, but always single edged. Very often, knights carry two of different lengths, whether to use in different situations or to wield together. Nearly as prominent is the gentleman’s sword. Usually slim and double edged, it is quick and nimble in the hand. These too come in a variety of sizes, and are favored by courtiers to the Warlords for their elegance. These are much less often carried in pairs. Finally, broadswords, sometimes called cleavers. Designed to kill horses and large animals with more ease than the slimmer sabres or gentleman’s swords, they are battlefield weapons, originating from the Northern Islands. They have broad, heavy blades, sometimes curved, sometimes not, ranging, again, in lengths from shortsword to greatsword. The shortsword versions are often carried in pairs. Many other weapons of course are in use, from hammers and mauls to axes, to daggers, with the spear often ruling the battlefield as is always has, but a knight *always* carries a sword as a mark of station, even if disgraced.. Archery is also a critical skill, with both enormous longbows and smaller recurve hornbows in use. A relative scarcity of horses has made cavalry and thus cavalry weapons, more uncommon.
Tattooing is a common practice in the Empire, especially for warriors. Some will get tattoos of their lord’s badge, and many will have traditional tattoos of what we would call Celtic knotwork merged with patron animals and creatures such as the wolf and the dragon. The colors, primarily, are a black ink made from soot, and a dark blue ink made from indigo. Reserved for the truly wealthy or important are red inks made from cinnabar. Facial tattoos are uncommon except in some small groups in the Northern Isles.
For the last several hundred years, increasingly paranoid Warlords have forbidden their common folk to have weapons of war, especially restricting swords and bows. Combined with the high cost and rarity of metals, this made it hard for the common folk to defend themselves. As a result, many methods of unarmed combat developed, combined with the techniques of war used by the knights, and flourished. Many methods of armed self defense arose as well, focusing on farming implements like pitchforks, hoes, grain flails, and the like, but overall teaching that anything can be used as an improvised weapon at need.
The people of the Empire believe strongly that all things have spirits, whether natural or man made, and that all those spirits and mystical creatures owe fealty to the great noble spirits, or gods, much like the feudal nature of their own society. But, in times like these, as above so below, so that many of these spirits have gone rogue, and turned against the natural order.
The three greatest of the gods were originally the patron deities of the three large island groups: The Southern Islands worshipped lady Sun above all, the Northern Islands worshipped Lord Storm, and Western Islands worshipped the cool and genderless Moon. Called the Great Triumvirate, these three are seen as siblings. Serving them are many, including but limited to, Lord Sword, the one handed god of war and justice, revered by many knights; Lady Fire, Goddess of Forge and Hearth and all the good that fire does; Master Fox, the trickster god; and Mistress Mercy, goddess of Healing and Childbirth.
Opposing them, and more often propitiated than worshipped. Is the Formless One, god of the stars and the unknown, long with his attendants, the Thousand Gods of Disaster. Moonless nights are greatly feared, and it is thought that during those times, whether it is the new moon or a lunar eclipse, that the Formless One has swallowed the Moon.
Against this backdrop, individuals and small bands of heroic warriors, called Errants rise. They are made up of knights who have lost their lord or been dismissed, but still have honor, and commoners fed up with the injustice of their lot. Rebels, malcontents, mercenaries, and vigilante heroes, they use their martial prowess to defend the weak, whether that be against bandits, monsters, rogue knights, or their own warlords.
Setting inspirations:
The Warring States period of Feudal Japan
The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom period of Britain
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms period of Britain
Cultural elements from all the Islands of Britain merged with Japanese elements, transfigured by resource scarcity.
A low magic, low fantasy, dark setting, primarily for GURPS.
