Shokonee Flats Character Hooks

The Village Shokonee Flats

A group of children are playing on the edge of town taking scorpions and dropping them onto a swarm of red ants and laughing as the ants tear apart the scorpions.

1. Mayor: Tom Trimble, has contacts with the Fey Queen in western Ameron.
2. Bank: Don Wall is the banker who has been embezzling.  The Banker suspects his dishonesty and has dispatched a group of Auditors to deal with him.
3. Lord Kallin: an aristocrat scientist inventor from Kenston, originally from the east, has taken over the town of Shokonee Flats, bribing the Mayor and fabricating a scandal to get the old sheriff fired.  His goons regularly bully the towns people.
4. Lady Scarlet Johnson: Consort of Lord Kallin an orphan who moved to Shokonee.  Her father was killed by a Tiefling, her mother died in child birth.  Her Aunt raised her and blamed her for her mother’s death.  She fled as soon as she was able and ended up in Shokonee Flats.  She tries to hide her Tiefling ancestry.
5. Sir Lawrence: An actor from Kenston vacationing in the desert for his health is actually a spy of the Queen investigating the activities of Lord Kallin.
6. Barber: Victor Oswald is working on a flesh golem in the cellar
7. Blacksmith: Edvard Cree, Golemoid/Steamwright, learned his skills in the city and fled to the wilderness after doing illegal implants on city gang members.
8. Assayer
9. Undertaker: Morty Addams has been suppling part to the barber for his flesh golem.  Morty is a spy of the ghouls.
10. Saloon/Inn/Brothel
11. Church: Father Olson has been preaching about “True Time”
12. Carpenter/Builder
13. Jail & Sheriff: Sheriff Bob Plank is a stooge of Lord Kallin.  There is a bhuka, Utaku, being held in the jail.  Lyle Little is the town drunk being held in the jail.  He is the tailor’s father.  He is the subject of ridicule for Lord Kallin’s men.
14. Hat Shop/Tailor: Tim Little, is the taylor and hat-maker for the town.  He has devised a plan to poison Lord Kallin whom he makes fine clothes for.  He is waiting for the poison from a renegade alchemist named Lavoisier.  His plan is to apply the poison to a pin and “accidentally” stick Lord Kallin.
15. Printers: Reporter Luis Long is investigating crimes committed by Lord Kallin and is preparing an expose article.
16. Lawyer: Marc Mason, This is actually the Tiefling that killed Scarlett Johnson’s mother disguised as a human.
17. Grolox Lomoloch is a Goreaux Mechamage that has been missing for several weeks last seen traveling out to explore some rumors at the Sun Dial
18. Zirish is a hobgoblin local gambler and gunslinger.  He was formerly an employee of the Banker but has now become a bank robber. Zirish Storm Cloud 4th level hobgoblin gunslinger.  Zirish was working for the Bank until he decided to become a bank robber.  He is in town plotting his next hold up.
19. Luke Pike is the former sheriff who has become something of a robin hood outlaw bent on destroying Lord Kallin.  His gang includes his brother Benny who is  a ghoul, Lavosier a mad alchemist, and Gorroo a renegade gnoll.  His girl friend is Annette Feuberg a fire kineticist.
20. Carpenter/Builder
21. Apothecary
22. Granary
23. General store
24. Clock square: There is a daily open air market here.  Larger on the weekends.
25. Smokehouse
26. Windmill
27. Tannery
28. Warehouse

NPCs

1. Lord Kallin: A reclusive aristocrat from Kenston who has a ranch out of town, Lord Kallin is actually a Rakshasa.  Lord Kallin and his goons are bullies who extort money from the townsfolk. His goons consist of a variety of lowlife villainy including humans, gnolls, and goreaux (constructs).
2. Lady Scarlett Johnson: 6th Level Psychic Tiefling

Rumors:

DC 5: Scarlett is living with Lord Kallin

DC 10: Scarlett has comes from east of the Sierscar Mountains

DC 13: Scarlett has a group of women warriors that protect her

DC 17: Scarlett has psychic powers

DC 20: Scarlett murdered her parents

Scarlett Johnson’s father was a wandering tiefling.  He came across the cabin of a young settler couple.  He killed the husband and raped the mother then fled. Her mother died during childbirth leaving Scarlett to be raised by her Aunt Rose.  The aunt hated Scarlett, blaming her for her parent’s death.  When Scarlett became old enough she fled the tiny village and wandered until she ended up in Shokonee Flats where she reinvented herself as a Aristocrat.  She has recruited a group of ninja to help her. She found a natural companion in Lord Kallin.

Kenston

This island nation has become the dominant power in the world.  The capital is Kenston a sprawling coastal city at the mouth of a great river.

Raja District: This district consist mostly of people from an eastern culture (India) and seems a bit out of place in this land.

Kronos Gulch

By day Kronos Creek appears to be a deserted ghost town in the midst of the Ameron Desert.  An eerie sign warns travelers to keep out of the town.  There is little of value, the main street has the remains of a saloon, jail/sheriff's office.  To the west is a church with an old graveyard.

At night it is quite a different place.  The town appears well kept with all of the buildings intact and occupied.  The saloon has a group of revelers who are eager to welcome strangers into their company.  The people refuse to go outside however and will not go outside under pain of death claiming there are monsters outside or that the darkness is haunted.  There are no rooms to rent the rooms are all occupied.

Someone with true seeing will see an overlapping of nearly identical images.

There is a group of ghouls living in the graveyard who are anxious to eat the flesh of any strangers visiting the place.

This town exists simultaneously in two timelines one of which is caught in a time loop.  During the day the deserted town continues to age and decay as a ghost town but during the nighttime, the former inhabitants continually repeat the same evening.

The Great Sand Dial

Amidst the drifting dunes of the Ameron Desert is a huge structure known as the great Sand Dial.  Huge slabs of rock are standing upright in a great circle.  There is a towering spire in the center of the circle.  At one time there were a total of twelve slabs.  Seen from a distance and above it is clear that these form a great sun dial.  It is not known whether some ancient race constructed this or if they were sent back from a distant future.  The slabs are polished stone and covered with complex runes that are etched into the surface with great detail.  Several of the slabs are now missing, some have been broken up and hauled away.  There are also newer scrawls on stone in some feral primitive language as well as reddish brown stains.  The slabs are refreshingly cool and seem not to absorb heat from the sun despite their dark gray color.  Spending much time around them gives one a sense of dread and seems to drain ones energy.

Desert Ruins

The young woman regains consciousness with the sun already climbing into the sky.  The desert sands are already soaking up the heat.  In the distance she notices an anomaly.  A great broad slab of stone pointing into the sky.  It casts a long shadow across the dunes.  The shade it provides could be a life saver in this vast desert.  She starts making her way towards the stone.  It does not seem to be a natural structure.  It is shaped by intelligence and placed with care.  As she approaches she notices a second slab in the distance, then another.  Some have  fallen down or are broken.  In some cases there is only a hole where a slab used to be.  They form a circle, twelve great slabs in a huge circle.  In the center is a huge spire.  She suddenly recognizes what this structure imagining looking at it from a great distance.  It is a sun dial.

Jewel's Punk Steam Punk RPG

This blog is set up to create a Steam Punk based RPG.

In the distant past, around 1000 years ago, an alien spaceship attempted to make a jump through hyperspace near an earth-like planet.  A catastrophic failure caused the ship's engine to explode.  This particular type of hyper-drive relied on altering space and time, so when the ship exploded it wreaked havoc on the nearby planet's timeline.

Robots and high technology can be found alongside elven wizards and hobgoblin barbarians.  Ever since the great Time Catastrophe the planet has attempted to rebuild.  Advanced computer and robotic technologies were not able to restore themselves after the catastrophe because too much technology was lost.  Instead technology based on magic infused steam has become dominant.

Robots and high technology can be found alongside elven wizards and goblin sorcerers.  Incongruous timelines occur on occasion.  Ever since the great Time Catastrophe the planet has attempted to rebuild.  The most dominant culture is similar to that of steam age Europe but other cultures have established foot -holds throughout the world.

1000 years ago an alien interstellar time ship was passing by the planet when it had a terrible accident causing the ship to be destroyed and opening time portals on the nearby planet. After the accident the planet's time stream became fixed again with cultures from different time eras merged into this new time stream. So elves, dwarves, goblins, and trolls found themselves interacting with scientists, technicians, robots, etc.

Over the centuries they became merged into a new more complex culture. Many of the more futuristic technologies devolved and some of the primitive races adopted more advanced technology.
Fragments of the time ship may still be found occasionally as artifacts.

The original time ship was of alien design that used time shifting to travel interstellar distances. The explosion resulted in the time catastrophe and the destruction of the alien vessel.

Of course after the time disaster many of the scientists and technologists from the more advanced regions tried to reactivate the portals to return to their own time stream but without success (or if they succeeded they did not return). Over the years those that remain have formed something of a cult that blindly follows the doctrine to undo the time disaster not really understanding what the consequences might be.

Other scientists and engineers accepted their fate in the new time stream and recognized magic as a potent energy source that had died out in their future time stream. They become interested in adopting the magic energy sources to their technology.
The elves mostly shunned the technology, isolating themselves in their sheltered realms. Most gnomes, with their fascination for complex apparatus, readily adopted the advanced technology.
The alien home world may have sent out scouts to find out what happened to the destroyed ship.