Dorrowsan

Dorrowsan

Dorrowsan is a city with about 30,000 people living it. The city is a single structure made entirely out of magical ice. The ice doesn’t melt despite high ambient temperatures and does not chip when attacked with a non-magical weapon. It does melt when an everlasting torch is put next to it, even though such a torch is just an illusory flame that produces no heat.

The fortress’s temperature is comfortable with a slight wind in larger rooms. Sunlight penetrates the walls illuminating every room, hall, and passageway, but one cannot see through the ice into other rooms. Food, furniture, and items can be produced at will if the person doing so is in a calm state of mind. The created things all have a look similar to the ice and will melt if taken from the fortress.

Obviously such a paradise would attract many people, but until recently the city was run like a mystical cult with many odd organizational principles and rituals. The societal classes were split into colors with White being on the bottom going through Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple to the highest Black. To get into the city you had to give up your possessions and wear a robe according to your color. If you wished to have your items returned you were given a tattoo that signifies that you were never to enter the city again. People upgraded from each color by doing something considered exceptional for their current ranking and downgraded for doing something dishonorable. The society’s rules are vaguely Japanese in structure.

The different ranks don’t have any significant responsibilities as the fortress provides enough that no real work is needed. Each rank simply has a level of control over lower ranks. Hence if a Yellow wanted a Red to help him make a table with their minds then the Red would have to help or risk demotion.

Dorrowsan exports a few magical items in exchange for commodities that can’t be produced by the fortress. The imports are mostly good food and other luxuries such as blankets that the fortress is incapable of making from ice.

An odd thing happens in Dorrowsan at sunrise that seriously disturbs foreigners. All of the people wake up, go outside of the fortress, and stand in what would look like a military parade. They then simultaneously empty their bowels and pee. The excrement is quickly burned by the people before they retreat to the fortress. This is done every day in silence and when mentioned to the residents of the city the event is always denied.

Prior to the events of the Second Xorian War the leader of the city was titled The Great Lump. The Great Lump was a fire giant priest named Chirrigar. The people of Dorrowsan, instead of being unnerved by the identity of their ruler were honored to have such a wise and strong protector. The ice in the Dorrowsan shrank and retreated to accommodate space for whatever he did. Chirrigar’s scepter gave him this power and allowed him to see through the walls. The scepter can also be used to control the people in the city who wear the robes or have the tattoos, but only when the sun shines its brightest, sunrise. He maintained the morning ritual as a cruel joke upon his subjects.

Chirrigar was walking through the desert after his tribe had been wiped out by a blue dragon when he found the scepter. He went to the dragon’s cave and slew it, taking its hoard he spread the word to humans of his new city he had seen in a divine vision. He went to the site of the city northwest of the desert and planted a large piece of quartz he had found in the dragon’s cave. It grew and grew and took on the shape that Dorrowsan has today.

Dorrowsan initially joined the Xorians in the Second Xorian War. Chirrigar used the scepter to physically move the icy city towards Dalleer. Upon reaching the city he challenged the Alliance to single combat. The Alliance would send forth a champion to fight the Great Lump. The winner would gain control of both Dalleer and Dorrowsan. Hektor of Lakatia represented the Alliance and defeated Chirrigar by beheading him.

The scepter that controlled the city was given to Kig Yupington. He moved the city east to Jipangu to train with other new recruits to the Alliance. After the Alliance won the war, Kig moved Dorrowsan next to Restnor’s Point. He began accepting refugees of all kinds into the combined city. He also began undoing the Great Lump’s harmful programming that had created a needlessly hierarchical society. Kig foresees a shining paradise in Dorrowsan and will work tirelessly to achieve it.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End.Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.The End is a Christian End Time series based loosely on the events described in Revelations. A man calling himself Nero has risen to rule over the world and he has outlawed Christianity. Robots called Guardians hunt Christians throughout the world, murdering them on the spot if they don't recant their faith. A resistance movement works in the shadows against Nero, but things aren't looking good for them.We talked about the basics of those settings along with how they could be adapted for RPG campaign settings. My main recommendations were Ashes Without Number, Spire, and Blades in the Dark.If you're interested in reading Aaron's books you can find them at most any bookstore or library. Both of the series are also being adapted into movies, but aren't publicly available yet. Aaron's website is https://authoraaronryan.com/ for the latest updates on his work. Next up for Aaron is the Talisman series that covers events within the "Aaronverse" in the decades between Dissonance and The End.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End
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