GURPS Lorimyr Fantasy Campaign

Introduction

Lorimyr started as my Chivalry and Sorcery fantasy game. When I adopted GURPS as my game of choice, I translated most of Lorimyr to GURPS.

Lorimyr is a constructed planet. The god Belkar discovered how to create his own pocket dimension. He created the world from the chaos within that dimension. He built it as a large flat plane, roughly square. He populated it with life forms magically transported from other dimensions. Humans predominate.

My campaign focussed on an area of small continents and numerous islands and archipelagos. At least a dozen different cultures occupy the region with diverse government types. Lots of chances for intrigue and adventuring.

This world has Normal Mana, with scattered pockets of Very High to No Mana. Magic use is fairly common. Most small towns have a mage of some sort, and some hedge mages live in the countryside.

Most of the action occurred in Illyria and Hysander, a couple of feudal nations on different continents. Some also occurred in the College of Wizards at Braefire on a remote island in the north. Unwin the Warped, Dan Chalmers, Menelyr and Bothra are from this campaign. Actually, Unwin originally came from a friend's C&S campaign. Dan Chalmers started in Bill Seurer's TFT campaign. When those campaigns ended, I moved them into Lorimyr.

Origin of Lorimyr

The story begins on a world called Chryga. Molkar was a normal, though lethal, Dark Elf mage/assassin with a continent-wide Reputation. After 150 years of "wet work", he went into retirement to continue his magical studies and do some enchanting.

Thirty years later, an evil god, Ymir, Lord of Death, approached him to assassinate one of Ymir's particularly troublesome demon lords. Apparently, this demon had been secretly plotting rebellion, and Ymir found out and wanted to make an example of him. Ymir didn't want to do the job himself for political reasons. A deal was struck, and Molkar set out to scout the opposition. Two years later, he succeeded in the hit, using a particularly nasty form of Bloodslaker blade (it steals the soul of the victim it kills). Part of the deal with Ymir was that Molkar would be raised to demon status in place of the victim. Molkar also got to keep the victim's black mithril armor and Orc-bane flail. The elevation to demonhood greatly enhanced his physical prowess. Molkar changed his name to Belkar.

During his time as a demon, he killed Utgardloki, the King of the Fire Giants, who was opposing Ymir. Belkar made a warhelm from the Giant's skull. (This now has been mounted into Belkar's throne at his mansion.)

Belkar was also sent to an alternate plane on one mission to bring back a weapon of mass destruction (small antimatter bomb) for Ymir. He also brought back a laser carbine for himself.

Planar travel intrigued Belkar and he spent some time investigating on his own. He discovered in the course of his studies a plane filled with Chaos - the raw, unformed stuff of all things. He experimented and researched until he could form Chaos into shapes of matter that he desired. He first built a small area of land in the midst of Chaos. On this plot, he built a haven where he could study undisturbed. From this refuge, a huge fortified mansion, he continued his experiments with Chaos. Eventually, a large area stretched out from his mansion. He began creating flora and fauna, and also transplanting them from the other planes. He realized that he had created a world, which he called "Lorimyr". He always kept his mansion at the edge of Chaos, and new lands were formed from there.

He also created a ring, which he keeps in his pocket when he is outside of Lorimyr's plane. When he places it on his finger, he is instantly transported to The Bridge of Chaos, a platform suspended in Chaos and attached to the cliff-face near his mansion by a bridge. It also has a variant of the Loyal Sword spell cast on it: if he falls unconscious from injury, the ring jumps to his finger, thus removing him from the scene.

At this point, he realized his vulnerability: most of his power was dependent upon Ymir. If Ymir should be destroyed, no matter how unlikely that may be, what would happen to Belkar? He began his search for the means to duplicate the powers that Ymir had bestowed on him. After several centuries, using the stuff of Chaos and all of his arcane lore, plus the knowledge and arts from many planes of existence, Belkar was able to make his power completely independent of Ymir, who did not realize what had happened.

At this point, Belkar began to withdraw from Chyrga, and spend most of his time in Lorimyr. When Belkar did meet with Ymir, Ymir always had someone else that needed killing. But Belkar was much more interested in Lorimyr, and he began to resent Ymir's demands as an imposition.

One time, Ymir asked Belkar to come help him in a war he was fighting, but Belkar refused. Ymir looked long and hard for him, but didn't know about Lorimyr. This proved to be Ymir's downfall, for because of Belkar's absence, Ymir was destroyed by his divine counterpart, a deity of extreme purity - Karamia, Goddess of Light.

Belkar remained at Lorimyr for some time, but returned to Chyrga more often, now that he no longer faced Ymir's assignments. He became more involved there than he had for many centuries. He did not neglect Lorimyr, but began letting it run itself for stretches.

Belkar realized that his independent power and his new creation signified that he had achieved Apotheosis: Godhood. In Chyrga, he cultivated a religion through visitations of appropriate individuals and groups. After a hundred years, he was a permanent part of the local pantheon as Belkar, Lord of Night, Patron of Thieves and Assassins. On Lorimyr, he was also Lord of Night, but was also viewed as a dark creator god.

Whether or not he is truly a god is uncertain, but his powers and knowledge are Godlike, and he is worshipped on two worlds.