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What Your Character Knows Before Session One

Your character begins aboard the Azure Aviary, a Maritheli vessel traveling through Windrider Gulf waters.

Before Session One begins, your character does not know the whole campaign. They do not know every faction, every secret, every danger, every passenger’s motive, or every truth hidden beneath the ship’s route.

They know enough to act.

They know they are aboard a ship in Marithel. They know why they boarded. They know what name they are using. They know what they are carrying. They know what they hope to reach. They know what they fear might follow them. They know the world is living through the Crownless Age, that sea roads matter, that Windrider Freeport is important, and that ships can carry trouble as easily as cargo.

This page separates player-safe starting knowledge from things characters should discover through play.

The purpose is not to limit curiosity. The purpose is to keep the opening strong.

A character who knows nothing cannot act.
A character who knows everything cannot discover.
A good starting character knows enough to care and little enough to be surprised.


The Basic Starting Facts

Every player character should know these facts before Session One.

FactWhat It Means
You are aboard the Azure Aviary.The campaign begins on a ship already underway.
The ship is in Windrider Gulf waters.You are in Marithel, in an active maritime region.
Windrider Freeport matters.It is likely the first major hub or immediate destination.
You have a reason to be aboard.You are not randomly present.
The Crownless Age shapes the world.Refugees, failed authority, war memory, and distrust matter.
Marithel is a sea-road civilization.Ships, harbors, law, routes, and cargo are socially important.
Shipboard life has rules.A vessel at sea requires discipline, cooperation, and caution.
Names and papers matter.Identity can protect, expose, save, or endanger a person.
Outsiders are common in Marithel.Characters from any continent can plausibly begin here.
Rumors travel with ships.Information moves through sailors, passengers, cargo, clerks, and ports.

These facts are common starting context. Your character may understand them differently depending on background, but they are not secret.


What You Know About the Azure Aviary

Your character knows they are aboard the Azure Aviary. How much more they know depends on their role.

A crew member knows more about daily work.
A passenger knows more about their own fare and nearby travelers.
A guard knows more about their assignment.
A healer knows more about illness and injury.
A clerk knows more about papers and manifests.
A refugee knows more about who seems safe and who asks too many questions.
An investigator knows the clue that brought them aboard.

Most characters should not know everything about the ship.

Common Knowledge About the Ship

KnowledgePlayer-Safe Meaning
The Azure Aviary is a Maritheli vessel.It operates in a maritime culture where ship law matters.
It is a working vessel.It carries people, cargo, documents, and ordinary obligations.
It is not a famous warship.It is not widely known as a legendary or royal vessel.
It has crew and passengers.The player characters are not alone aboard.
It has routines.Watches, meals, cargo checks, and deck work shape daily life.
It has limited space.Privacy is possible but fragile.
It is moving through active waters.Other ships, weather, patrols, and route traffic may matter.
The captain has authority aboard.Ship command is real, but not beyond later consequence.
Cargo matters.What a ship carries can affect route, risk, and law.
Bells, signals, and warnings matter.Shipboard alerts are not ignored casually.

What Crew Might Know

Crew KnowledgeExample
Work routineWho is on watch, who is tired, what needs repair.
Ship habitsWhat sounds normal, what smells wrong, what movement feels unusual.
Crew tensionsWho dislikes whom, who is reliable, who cuts corners.
Recent repairsWhat has been patched, checked, or complained about.
Cargo handlingWhich crates are heavy, sealed, fragile, guarded, or awkward.
Passenger behaviorWho gets in the way, who watches too much, who is seasick.

Crew knowledge is practical. It does not automatically include secret cargo, hidden passengers, or the captain’s private business.

What Passengers Might Know

Passenger KnowledgeExample
Fare termsWhat you paid, who arranged passage, where you expect to disembark.
Nearby passengersWho sleeps near you, who boarded with you, who keeps distance.
Public routeWhat destination you were told and how long the trip should take.
Comfort levelWhether the ship feels crowded, tense, ordinary, or rushed.
Visible cargoWhat was loaded openly or discussed publicly.
Social moodWho seems frightened, wealthy, sick, secretive, angry, or bored.

Passenger knowledge is partial. Passengers often know less than they think.

What Guards Might Know

Guard KnowledgeExample
AssignmentWho or what you are protecting.
EmployerWho hired you and what they claimed to fear.
RestrictionsWhat you were told not to inspect, discuss, or allow.
Expected threatTheft, pursuit, inspection, violence, kidnapping, sabotage, or legal claim.
Payment termsWhat you are owed and what failure costs.
Other protectionWhether another guard, clerk, or passenger seems tied to the same matter.

A guard may know more about one thing than anyone else aboard and less about everything around it.

What Healers Might Know

Healer KnowledgeExample
Common injuriesRope burns, cuts, sickness, bruises, dehydration, infection.
Passenger healthWho looks unwell, anxious, feverish, injured, or hiding symptoms.
Medical suppliesWhat the ship carries and what is missing.
Dangerous symptomsSigns of contagious illness, poison, panic, bad water, or exhaustion.
Social pressureWho refuses treatment and who watches patients too closely.
Ethical conflictWhether someone needs help but fears being identified.

A healer may know a body is in danger before knowing why.

What Clerks or Couriers Might Know

Paper KnowledgeExample
NamesPassenger names, working names, inconsistent names, missing names.
Cargo linesWhat is listed, sealed, omitted, corrected, or strangely described.
PaymentsWho paid, who was sponsored, who owes, who paid too much.
Delivery chainWho should receive a letter, packet, seal, or item.
Registry detailsShip identity, route notices, harbor paperwork, or legal destination.
IrregularitiesCrossed-out entries, late additions, odd signatures, broken seals.

Paper knowledge can be more dangerous than weapon skill in Marithel.


What You Know About Marithel

Every character aboard the Azure Aviary knows at least a little about Marithel because they are traveling through its waters.

Marithel is a maritime continent of islands, gulfs, reefs, freeports, harbors, pilots, lighthouse orders, privateers, salvage courts, sea temples, shipyards, refugee moorings, and legal ambiguity.

People often describe Marithel by its ships, but Marithel is not only sailors. It includes clerks, cooks, pilots, refugees, market workers, rope makers, shipwrights, shrine keepers, harbor judges, dock children, smugglers, healers, weather readers, divers, scribes, merchants, and people who have never crossed a sea but still live by its schedules.

Common Knowledge About Marithel

KnowledgeWhat It Means
Ships are central.Movement, trade, safety, law, and identity often depend on vessels.
Harbors have power.A harbor can shelter, inspect, tax, delay, repair, or expose someone.
Freeports matter.They create legal space for strangers, trade, disputes, and sanctuary claims.
Privateering and piracy can blur.Legal paperwork may separate a privateer from a criminal, at least in theory.
Salvage is serious.A wreck can be property, evidence, grave, inheritance, or sacred site.
Guest law matters.Travelers under protection may have rights, duties, and vulnerabilities.
False names may be legal.Some jurisdictions protect hidden identities under procedure.
Cargo is political.What a ship carries can matter as much as who owns it.
Lighthouses and signals are trusted.False lights or broken signals are grave dangers.
Refugees are common.The Crownless Age has filled many harbors with displaced people.

A foreign character may know these only in broad outline. A Maritheli character may know them as everyday reality.


What You Know About Windrider Freeport

Windrider Freeport is expected to be the first major hub.

Your character may be heading there for work, shelter, passage, legal hearing, registry, repair, cargo, medicine, temple service, debt settlement, family, false-name protection, or a new start.

Windrider Freeport is associated with Blue Lantern law, neutral repair, refugee moorings, dock markets, ship registries, legal advocates, guest-law hearings, and crowded maritime politics.

Common Knowledge About Windrider Freeport

KnowledgePlayer-Safe Meaning
It is a freeport.It handles outsiders, ships, cargo, hearings, and unusual legal cases.
Blue Lantern law matters there.People may be heard before being handed over or condemned.
It is not lawless.Procedure matters, even if the law differs from other places.
Refugees gather there.Safety, work, food, family lists, and hearings draw displaced people.
Ship repair is available.Damaged vessels and desperate crews seek service there.
Names can be complicated.False-name procedures, protected identities, and registry disputes occur.
Cargo disputes are common.Goods, salvage, contraband, medicine, and sealed crates create cases.
It has markets and rumors.Information moves quickly through docks and kitchens.
Protection is not free.Hearings take time, advocates cost favors, and safety creates enemies.
Arrival can change everything.Some people need the freeport badly enough to risk the voyage.

What Characters Should Not Assume About Windrider Freeport

Do not assume a freeport is safe in every way.

Do not assume legal protection is instant.

Do not assume a Blue Lantern hearing means everyone tells the truth.

Do not assume false-name procedure protects villains only.

Do not assume harbor clerks are minor people.

Do not assume refugee moorings are temporary.

Do not assume a powerful person cannot reach into a freeport.

Do not assume arriving solves the problem that made you board the ship.

Windrider Freeport offers possibility. Possibility is not the same thing as peace.


What You Know About the Crownless Age

The campaign takes place in the Crownless Age.

This does not mean every character is a historian. It means every character lives in the aftermath of a world where old authority has become less trusted.

The Vorrak invasion of Caerlon is one of the defining public events of the age. Caerlon survived, but the damage shook confidence in crowns, armies, roads, archives, borders, and inherited legitimacy. Refugees moved. Trade shifted. Temples argued over aid. Freeports filled. Privateers found opportunity. Soldiers looked for work. Documents became precious. Old promises were tested.

Different characters understand the Crownless Age differently.

BackgroundLikely View
CaerlonianA wound, survival story, betrayal, reconstruction, or unfinished war.
VorrakianA dangerous legacy of invasion, court ambition, defection, or fear.
SuthraniA test of mercy, law, healing, and sacred responsibility.
VeyrskoldicA warning about forgotten oaths, ignored dangers, and desperate southern urgency.
MaritheliA surge in refugees, salvage, convoy work, route disputes, and legal pressure.
IlyrianA sign that societies built on extraction and broken relationship eventually collapse.
ShipbornA change in routes, wages, cargo, danger, and passengers.
RefugeeA personal condition, not an abstract era.

Common Crownless Age Knowledge

KnowledgeMeaning
Caerlon was invaded by Vorrak.War memory shapes politics across Thesalon.
Refugees are widespread.Many people are displaced or living under temporary status.
Old crowns are questioned.Survival damaged trust in inherited authority.
Records matter more than ever.Identity, inheritance, death, refugee status, and claims depend on proof.
Freeports are under pressure.People seek sanctuary, hearings, work, and false-name protection.
Mercenary work has increased.Veterans and armed labor move across routes.
Trade has shifted.Food, medicine, timber, ships, and repair are politically important.
Fear of Vorrak remains strong.Defectors, marks, monster-born people, and eastern goods may draw suspicion.
Temples are strained.Healing, burial, resurrection, mercy, and aid all create hard choices.
People argue over what comes next.Restoration, reform, revenge, and survival all compete.

The Crownless Age is the air your character breathes. They do not need to know all its causes to feel its effects.


What You Know About Other Continents

Characters may know more or less depending on origin, education, travel, and work.

A sailor knows ports.
A trader knows goods.
A refugee knows routes.
A scholar knows names and may misunderstand people.
A cleric knows religious ties.
A guard knows dangers.
A smuggler knows what officials pretend not to know.

The following is broad public knowledge.

Caerlon

Caerlon is the central-western survivor continent wounded by Vorrak’s invasion. It is associated with reconstruction, refugees, burned records, veterans, damaged trust in crowns, and the Scoured Marches.

A character might know that Caerlonians abroad may carry proof papers, war memories, missing-person lists, inheritance claims, or practical rebuilding skills.

Vorrak

Vorrak is the eastern monster-ruled continent associated with the Dread Synod, Monster Courts, tribute, war-hosts, court-marks, fear, and the invasion of Caerlon.

A character might know that not every person from Vorrak is an enemy. Some are defectors, captives, subject-town survivors, exiles, or people fleeing monstrous law. That distinction does not make public fear disappear.

Suthrane

Suthrane is the southern sacred river and arid continent associated with the Anointed River, water law, temple authority, pilgrimage, healing, burial, mercy, and procedure.

A character might know that Suthrani healers and temple envoys are respected, but their procedures can be strict.

Veyrskold

Veyrskold is the northern cold continent associated with oaths, memory, winter survival, shipwrights, amber, iron, storms, giants, dragons, and sealed ruins.

A character might know that Veyrskoldic travelers often take promises, warnings, and hospitality seriously.

Marithel

Marithel is the western maritime continent where the campaign begins. It is associated with ships, harbors, reefs, freeports, sea roads, salvage, privateers, refugees, route law, and safe passage.

A character might know that Marithel is useful to everyone and trusted completely by almost no one.

Ilyr

Ilyr is the southeastern living green continent associated with the Living Canopy, Mists of the Unknown, Emerald Plateau, Endless Wetlands, medicine, hidden routes, living law, and harvest consent.

A character might know that Ilyrian medicines are valuable and that careless extraction can create legal, spiritual, or ecological consequences.


What You Know About Law at Sea

Your character does not need to be a lawyer to know that sea law is complicated.

A ship at sea is not the same as a road, tavern, farm, temple, castle, or city street. Authority shifts with vessel, route, registry, harbor, cargo, emergency, and jurisdiction.

Common Sea-Law Knowledge

IdeaMeaning
The captain has authority aboard.Someone must command during danger.
Authority can be reviewed later.A captain may still answer to harbor courts or contracts.
Cargo has legal status.Ownership, seals, manifests, and inspection rights matter.
Passengers have duties.Passage does not mean freedom to endanger the ship.
Passengers may have protections.Guest law, paid passage, sanctuary, and witness status can matter.
Boarding can be legal or illegal.A claim may be made through papers, force, faction, or deception.
Salvage is not simple theft.Wrecks, rescue, property, graves, and evidence may overlap.
False names may be protected.In some freeport systems, hidden identity can be legal.
Emergency actions are judged afterward.Survival decisions may still have consequences.
Bells and signals carry authority.False alarms, ignored warnings, or forged signals are serious.

In Marithel, a person with paperwork may be more dangerous than a person with a drawn blade.

Sometimes they have both.


What You Know About Names and Papers

Names and papers matter throughout Thesalon, but especially in Marithel.

A character may travel under several kinds of identity.

Identity TypeMeaning
Birth nameThe name tied to origin, family, or old records.
Public nameThe name used in normal conversation.
Ship nameA working name used by crew or route communities.
False nameA name used to hide, protect, deceive, or survive.
Protected nameA false or altered name recognized under freeport procedure.
Temple nameA name tied to vow, office, rite, or religious service.
Court nameA name recognized by legal record.
Debt nameA name used in contracts, bonds, or obligations.
Family nameA name that may carry inheritance, danger, or expectation.
Unrecorded nameA name known socially but not legally protected.

A false name is not automatically villainous. A true name is not automatically honest.

Characters may know that papers can save lives, but they can also trap people. Burned records, forged seals, refugee tags, ship registries, cargo manifests, court-marks, pilgrimage seals, oath tokens, and harvest permits can all decide what happens when someone is challenged.

Before Session One, decide what name your character is using aboard the Azure Aviary and whether their papers agree.


What You Know About Shipboard Danger

A character aboard the Azure Aviary knows that ships are dangerous because they are fragile systems.

A ship can be endangered by weather, fire, panic, cargo shift, hull damage, illness, reef, sabotage, legal confrontation, boarding, mutiny, false signal, or one careless person in the wrong place.

Common Shipboard Dangers

DangerWhy It Matters
FireOne of the most terrifying threats at sea.
Bad waterSickness, panic, and survival risk.
Loose cargoCan injure people or damage the hull.
Weather shiftChanges footing, sails, route, visibility, and morale.
IllnessClose quarters spread sickness quickly.
PanicA frightened crowd can endanger everyone.
Hull damageThe ship itself becomes the shared emergency.
BoardingLegal claim, piracy, privateering, rescue, or violence may blur.
False signalShips rely on lights, bells, flags, and warnings.
Command disputeDelayed orders can be deadly.
SabotageSmall damage can have large consequences.
Hidden cargoWhat is sealed can still affect everyone aboard.

A character does not need to be paranoid. They should understand that shipboard danger spreads quickly.


What You Know About Rumors

Rumors matter in this campaign.

Ports, ships, refugee kitchens, temples, markets, crew watches, repair yards, and freeport offices all move information. Rumors may be wrong, exaggerated, useful, planted, or misunderstood. They may also be the only warning anyone receives.

Before Session One, your character may have heard one rumor that matters to them.

Safe Starting Rumors

These are player-safe. They may be true, false, exaggerated, or misunderstood.

RumorWho Might Have Heard It
Windrider Freeport is crowded with refugees and legal claimants.Refugees, clerks, sailors, aid workers.
Blue Lantern hearings protect people, but not quickly enough for everyone.Legal advocates, exiles, sanctuary seekers.
Some privateers are stretching old letters of marque into new crimes.Sailors, merchants, guards.
Cargo records in Marithel are only as honest as the person who profits from them.Clerks, smugglers, dockworkers.
A ship bell in Windrider Gulf recently rang during calm weather with no hand near it.Sailors, shrine keepers, superstitious passengers.
An Ilyrian advocate is looking for stolen living cargo.Healers, market workers, cargo inspectors.
A Suthrani healer in Windrider Freeport treats people after official clinic hours.Refugees, patients, temple workers.
A Veyrskoldic shipwright refused to bless a repaired hull.Shipwrights, crew, dock gossip.
Caerlonian proof papers are being bought and sold by people who should know better.Refugees, clerks, criminals.
Someone from Vorrak is seeking Blue Lantern protection under a hidden name.Legal circles, rumor brokers, frightened travelers.
A lighthouse signal was answered from the wrong direction.Pilots, sailors, tower workers.
The Azure Aviary’s passenger list changed shortly before departure.Clerks, crew, observant passengers.

Choose one rumor only if it gives your character a reason to care. Too many rumors can blur the opening.


What Your Character Does Not Know

This section is important.

Your character should not begin with hidden campaign knowledge unless the DM specifically gives it to you.

Do Not Assume You Know

UnknownWhy It Should Stay Unknown
The full truth about the Azure Aviary’s routeDiscovery makes the opening matter.
Every item of cargo aboardCargo tension works best when incomplete.
Every passenger’s identityNames and secrets are part of play.
The full motives of the captain or crewTrust should develop through scenes.
The hidden agendas of Maritheli factionsFactions should be learned through action.
What Windrider Freeport will decideLegal uncertainty gives stakes.
Which rumors are trueRumors are invitations, not spoilers.
The deeper meaning of StormgateThat belongs to campaign discovery.
The full nature of any supernatural warningLet the table encounter it together.
The larger campaign plotCharacters should begin inside the world, not above it.

If your backstory requires special knowledge, clear it with the DM. Special knowledge should create responsibility, danger, or uncertainty rather than solving the campaign before it starts.


Knowledge by Character Background

Use this table to decide what your character might reasonably know.

Background TypeLikely Knowledge
Maritheli sailorShipboard customs, route talk, flags, bells, sea law basics, harbor rumor.
Caerlonian refugeeWar displacement, records, aid systems, missing-person lists, distrust of authority.
Vorrakian defectorCourt-marks, dangerous claims, fear of retrieval, how power names people.
Suthrani healerMercy procedure, water discipline, temple credentials, patient duty.
Veyrskoldic shipwrightHull sounds, oath tokens, weather caution, craft responsibility.
Ilyrian advocateLiving cargo, medicine restrictions, harvest consent, ecological danger signs.
Temple workerRites, burial, healing, confessions, shrine networks, moral obligations.
Harbor clerkNames, papers, manifests, seals, payment irregularities.
MercenaryThreat assessment, guard contracts, veteran networks, weapon discipline.
MerchantCargo value, trade routes, insurance, debt, warehouse politics.
SmugglerHidden compartments, false manifests, bribery risks, unofficial routes.
ScholarNames, histories, maps, theories, and possible overconfidence.
Shipborn travelerPractical sea life, crew families, route identity, harbor differences.
Low Lantern localRefugee networks, aid kitchens, false-name rumor, who is desperate.

Your character can know more than one category if their life supports it. Keep it grounded.


Starting Knowledge Checklist

Before Session One, answer these questions.

QuestionYour Answer
What name are you using aboard?
Do your papers match that name?
Why are you aboard the Azure Aviary?
What do you need from Windrider Freeport?
What is your role aboard?
What are you carrying that matters?
Who knows you are aboard?
Who should not know you are aboard?
What rumor did you hear before boarding?
What can you do if the ship is in trouble?
What law, debt, oath, fear, illness, or promise follows you?
What would make you trust another passenger?
What would make you distrust the captain or crew?

You do not need long answers. One sentence each is enough.


Examples of Good Starting Knowledge

Example One: Caerlonian Refugee

You know the Azure Aviary is carrying you toward Windrider Freeport, where a Blue Lantern advocate may help with burned family papers. You know the name you are using is incomplete. You know someone paid part of your fare anonymously. You know Caerlonian proof papers have become valuable in Marithel. You do not know who else aboard may know your old town.

Example Two: Suthrani Ship Healer

You know you were accepted aboard to help with ordinary shipboard care. You know one passenger seems dehydrated and frightened. You know Windrider Freeport has refugee clinics that may need help. You know your temple letter gives you some authority, but not enough to overrule the captain at sea. You do not know why the ship’s water discipline feels slightly tense.

Example Three: Maritheli Deckhand

You know the Azure Aviary’s routines, who complains, which ropes have been replaced, and which passengers are useless in a tight passage. You know the passenger list changed late. You know the cook is annoyed and the clerk is pretending not to be. You do not know what was added, only that the loading took longer than usual.

Example Four: Ilyrian Seed-Law Advocate

You know you boarded because a rumor suggested living cargo may be moving through Windrider Freeport illegally. You know how to identify several signs of improper harvest. You know Maritheli clerks often misunderstand seed cords. You do not know whether the Azure Aviary is carrying the item you seek or simply crossing the same route.

Example Five: Vorrakian Hidden-Name Traveler

You know you are aboard under a name that protects you for now. You know a Blue Lantern hearing may help if you reach Windrider Freeport. You know a court-mark in your possession could save or condemn you depending on who sees it. You know people from Caerlon may fear you before knowing your story. You do not know whether anyone aboard recognizes the mark.


Table Etiquette for Starting Knowledge

At the table, starting knowledge should help play move forward.

Use what your character knows to ask better questions, not to shut scenes down.

If you know sea law, explain what a claim might mean.
If you know medicine, point out symptoms.
If you know cargo, ask why a seal is wrong.
If you know refugee systems, notice who lacks protection.
If you know Vorrakian marks, warn the party carefully.
If you know Ilyrian harvest law, recognize living contraband.
If you know shipwork, act when the deck becomes dangerous.

Good knowledge creates action.

Bad knowledge becomes a reason to avoid the adventure, dominate every scene, or solve mysteries before they appear.


Final Starting Principle

Your character begins with personal truth, partial context, and immediate need.

You know why you boarded.

You know what you hope to reach.

You know what you are carrying.

You know what name you are using.

You know what worries you.

You do not know what the voyage will become.

That is the point.

The campaign begins when the ordinary facts aboard the Azure Aviary stop being enough.