Telepath Tactics Kickstarter Campaign Updates #1-5, $6,000 and Counting

Since the Telepath Tactics Kickstarter campaign has been launched, Craig Stern has been sending out updates regularly for it, and while the latest is backers-only, most of them are out there for everyone to read (1, 2, 3, 4).

Here’s a snip on the single-player campaign:

The World

South of mainland Cera Bella lies a giant string of islands known as the Dundar Archipelago. The Dundar isles number in the hundreds, and stretch across thousands of square miles of ocean. In the earliest times, each island was largely isolated, its inhabitants if there were any left to develop a unique culture untouched by its neighbors.

Eight hundred years ago, Ser Gilliam Dundar changed that. Making use of new sailing and navigation technologies, he led a massive army on a whirlwind conquest of the archipelago, absorbing island after island into a sprawling empire that would endure for centuries. With no unifying culture to bind them, Emperor Dundar and his successors have required a deft hand to keep tensions among the islands under control.

The Dundar Empire is ruled over by a popularly elected senate. After serving their terms, former senators are given the title magistrate and are appointed as provincial governors, typically with control over one or more isles. However, the Senate can–in exceptional circumstances–remove a magistrate from office and assign his land to someone else.

The rise of steam technology has caused problems for Dundar’s political system. Steam tech is powered by vibra, a volatile crystal that heats up dramatically when exposed to a spark. The geological strata beneath many of Dundar’s islands contain rich veins of vibra.

Shadowlings, disembodied creatures from the nether reaches of the earth, were the first to discover the secrets of vibra mining. They established sophisticated and powerful mining companies to extract vibra from the earth wherever it may be found. Though native to mainland Cera Bella, the shadowlings have increasingly found it profitable to meddle in the Dundar isles in order to gain access to their veins of vibra.

Specifically, the shadowlings have been known to interfere in Senate elections by funneling financial support to whichever candidate looks more likely to win, then returning when the senator becomes a magistrate and asking permission to mine on the magistrate’s islands. Not surprisingly, they usually get this permission.

The Story

Magistrate Schmendrick received a lot of money from The Vibra Mining Company back when he was running for Senate. He won, he served his term, and he was given the power to govern a group of three islands. Among these islands was Kovit, known for having a particularly rich supply of vibra.

Had Schmendrick kept up his end of the unspoken bargain between himself and the company, things would have been simple. The Vibra Mining Co. would have shown up with dozens of slaves, established mines, and begun quietly extracting vibra. Magistrate Schmendrick would have been allowed to live out the rest of his days in peace.

Schmendrick made a mistake, however. When the Vibra Mining Company came calling for its mining grant, he did not simply give it to them. He solicited bids and held public hearings, in accordance with the law. And now he is in a world of trouble…