Bits and pieces of this campaign came to me from:
- "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" from Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Star Trek: Discovery
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The Family Trade series by Charles Stross
- "Far from Any Road" by Handsome Family
- "Krigsgldr" by Heilung
- Norse mythology
- The Quantum Thief trilogy by Hannu Rajaniemi
- Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin
- DARPA bots + "Fix You" by Puddles Pity Party
I ran a previous 4th Edition D&D version of this campaign for the Community Public Charter School's D&D club in 2013. It focused on the PCs' relationship with the dwarven ruler of Portia who was betrayed by his lieutenants and court, including the Red and Silver Masks, who were all secret Aarok worshippers. That quest line essentially ran due west from Portia to the Ash River mine to the border to the human capital to its underground to the campaign's resolution, so parts of this version will, of course, seem familiar to players in that campaign.
Here are some of the notes from that earlier campaign:
The original map of Cineris
The original world map
Temeroth, the Antediluvian, the original Gotnafiskr
New content for the 2018 campaign includes everything Cryptomancer brings to the table as a game, along with Gotnafiskr, Root and Magmatic, the 5 artificers, and Dril.