The Gangs of New Larn

This blog is a work in progress as I try to develop a homebrew 3.5 setting for the Dungeons and Dragons game. What follows is the introduction to the campaign.

The Gangs of New Larn is a grim and gritty setting using D&D rules but bringing some new aspects into the mix. The world is low magic, except when it comes to technology. This world uses sorcerous steam-powered devices, though not all people have access to it. New Larn was built centuries ago to be the administrative centre of the Empire of Arinia, a fine capital city to replace the old capital, Larn. The Empire was a shining beacon of goodness, bringing light to the dark, retribution upon the wicked and soon all peoples were subject to its will. Without an enemy to fight the Empire turned in on itself and the Emperor’s surrounded themselves with courtiers to act on their behalf. Soon the bureaucracy surrounding the Emperor took over the running of the Empire so that the increasingly decadent rulers of Arinia could spend more time playing the role of mighty Emperor, indulging their pastimes, foibles, and interests without regard to the running of the Empire. The Emperor became less of a ruler and more of a figurehead as the centuries marched on, the once glorious empire became a stultifying edifice that oppressed its peoples, controlled their lives (and deaths) and allowed the artificers' free reign to indulge in their sorcerous technology. The thought of magic that anyone could use without much training appealed to the faceless bureaucrats of the Empire, and slowly funding was withdrawn from the academies of magic, a tax was placed on those who used their own skill to cast magic, and the talent of wizardry withered and died, at the end more due to a lack of interest than a great pogrom. Similarly, the users of divine magic were taxed and regulated almost out of existence, the final straw being the declaration of Emperor Derin XII as god-emperor, just before he retreated into the Summer Palace of Larn, where the Emperors remain to this day. In New Larn the administrators of a world-spanning empire line their pockets, getting rich off the backs of the common people, whilst various ‘special interests’ jostle for influence on the dirty fog-bound streets of New Larn. And into this dark place come the rebels, the dealers, the criminals, the vigilantes, the seekers of magic and of the divine – all looking to survive on the streets of New Larn.