The World of Starvania, Part One

Welcome to a new post series/project. How long it will be, or if it will ever be completed is anyone's guest. No one can be sure how often posts will show up, either. It's being started on the spur of the moment, and despite the fact that time could be spent on more serious projects.

This first post is just going to be a little background on the setting. The second post will be some player character generation rules with additional setting information. The third post will be more character generation rules, with more setting information. (If this gets that far...)

And now... we bring you The World of Starvania!

THE WORLD OF STARVANIA: A CAMPAIGN SETTING

Design and Editing: Steve Miller

Based on "Starvania" by Felix Adler & Clyde Bruckman

A BRIEF HISTORY OF STARVANIA
In the beginning, the land of Starvania was ruled by cruel, alien gods from the Stars, foremost among them being Yog-Sogoth. Then a band of heroes banished those dark entities and the Age of Man dawned.
   For countless millennia, the peoples of Starvania warred against each other, building up and tearing down civilizations and generally rampaging back and forth across the landscape to prove who was superior and who deserved to rule others. The wars were on racial, ethnic, or national lines--and often a mixture or all three at the same time. The biggest animosity existed between the Salvians and the Moronicans, the two most populous races in Starvania. The less numerous Woovians and Skets could try to keep their heads down, or join with one side or the other... whatever they needed to do to keep what little life and liberty they could hang onto.

   Then, 654 years ago, the mighty bard-king Froot deLoom of Moronica succeeded in his life-long quest to unite all the peoples of Starvania in a shared love of beer-battered fish-sticks and accordion music. By the time King Froot passed the reins of power onto his eldest daughter, Loup, these cultural touchstones had become the foundation of a golden age of peace and prosperity.  

   This union of once-warring nations eventually came to be loosely governed by an elected parliament led a mostly ceremonial prime minister who, by law and tradition, had to be the current reigning monarch of  Moronica. Under the banner of Starvania, the people lived and worshiped and worked and played, in peace and equality, side by side. Nonetheless, discontent bubbled below the surface in some parts of the union. 

   For centuries, the citizens of the Isle of Cork and Great Mittens had resented Moronicans in general, but specifically those from the states of Moronica and Cast Toria. The islands had been settled by Salvians fleeing Moronican oppression two thousand years ago, but the waters around them had always been controlled by the Moronicans; the islanders have, ironically, never been great ship-builders but they have always excelled at sinking them. 

   Mainland Salvians felt great solidarity with their island-dwelling cousins. They had long insisted that control of the Corkscrew Straights and the Hot Sea, as well as all ports and harbors on the coasts, be surrendered to their exclusive controls. With the exception of some merchants and industrialists, and a minority of islanders who felt Salvians were superior in all ways to other Starvanians, the islanders in general didn't care terribly that the ports were controlled by Moronicans. But, this majority usually just let the radicals rant and rave, because nothing would come of their antics because no sensible person would listen to them. 

But five years ago, the Salvian Unity Party weaponized the simmering resentment in the loud minority and their allies elsewhere in Starvania. Using the rationale that the Moronicans had for too long denied the Salvians their birthrights of controlling Starvanian seas and harbors, they orchestrated a coup and overthrew King Herman of Moronica. A charismatic, but dimwitted, army corporal-turned-interior decorator named Moe Heilstone was named Grand Leader of Starvania, and any members of parliament and local governments that didn't swear allegiance to him specifically were at best hounded from office but more often than not imprisoned.

   Unsurprisingly, the people of Starvania tried to fight back against the overthrow of their government and the 600-year peace came to an end; even the Salvian-majority state of Bulge-Area . Also unsurprisingly, since the Salvians, both islanders and mainlanders, have long made up the majority of Starvanian armed forces, the rebellious states were swiftly subdued (but often with a great cost of life and property). Surprisingly, especially to Heilstone and his loyal supporters, the citizens of Great Mittens and the Isle of Cork did not accept him as their Grand Leader, but instead sent a steady stream of insults his way, declared themselves the home of the true Starvania and set up a Parliament-in-Exile with King Herman's youngest daughter, Princess Maddie as its ceremonial prime minister. 

By Jamie Patterson

CURRENT DAY STARVANIA

Grand Leader Heilstone rules mainland Starvania with an iron fist, ensconced in his palace where the states of Moronica, Jug o' Salvia, and Staywayoff share borders. His troops and paramilitary forces are everywhere, and his secret police and informants lurk among the population, looking for anyone who might express even the slightest negative views of him and his government; when found, such people are swiftly arrested and anyone who failed to report their treasonous thoughts risks the same fate. King Herman and his family (aside from Princess Maddie) remain under house arrest in their ancenstral castle, high on the cliffs above the Lake of Loons in Moronica.

   All across Starvania, groups of rebels fight either against Heilstone's secret police, his army, or foreign troops who have been sent to the region from distant lands with whom the dictator has made alliances. Some even find themselves fighting threats from other worlds, because mystics and cultists on both sides of the the battle for Starvania's future have been setting about harnessing the power of the ancient gods that once held sway over the lands, hoping to use it to destroy their foes. So far, all anyone has managed to do is unleash demons upon the land, turn the population of villagers into zombies, and attract the attention of outside threats that hadn't been present in Starvania for 1,000 years. 

   Great Mittens and the Isle of Cork has so far been able to repel all attempts to force them to join Heilstone's Starvania. Although they have been joined in their by powerful allies--including a rumored ancient dragon--it is unclear how long they will be able to hold out. So far, they have resisted the temptation to seek power from the Elder Gods, but the calls to do so are getting louder...

   Things are growing evermore bleak in Starvania. The people's suffering grows greater with each passing day. Now is the time for heroes....

Next Up: Some Rules for Creating Starvanian Player Characters!

(Coming Soon)