The setting
The setting is kept intentionally generic outside of the provided material from Slumbering Tsar, with little information given about the areas outside of the Desolation. Players are free to fill in the blanks as they see fit for their background within the very open parameters given below as the established "canon." The city of Parsantium is also mentioned as being the prize on the other side of the Desolation; characters may visit the area in a side quest fashion at some point in the game.
Player Materials
The following was given to players prior to begin of play; it's a bit rough by gave some perspective.
Background
Past the northern foothills beyond the city of Bard’s Gate lie the ruins of the ancient temple city of Orcus, Tsar, and the surrounding area, known as the Desolation. The area is a cruel and inhospitable place with both constant sand storms and wild creatures roaming the wastes, but still hidden treasures and magical artifacts are found by those brave enough to risk it.
Needless to say, the northern trade road has long been disused due to its danger, and for all intents and purposes its fate seemed to be sealed with the discovery of direct water routes to the exotic markets of the North.
But now such routes are disrupted by a bitter naval war over who will control it. Demand is up and supply is nearly non-existent. As such there has been a renewed interest in re-establishing the land route that runs through the Desolation and the dreaded Tsar.
Seeing this as an opportunity to battle the evil in the area, or more cynically to distract from other problems and gain wealth, several churches have declared it a crusade to cleanse the region: “-insert god- wills it.” Including in the movement is Muir, goddess of Virtue, and Thyr, god of Justice, both prominent in Bard’s Gate even as their influence wanes elsewhere. The organization of such an undertaking on a large scale is not yet complete and may prove ultimately to be impossible, but many small groups will undoubtedly and have already answered the call and set forth for the Desolation.
Now you are traveling several weeks through the northern foothills. Your destination is simply called The Camp, and sits on the edge of the Desolation. It is a wretched hive in every sense of the phrase, inhabited by the desperate, the mad, or the hunted. It was stagnant for many years, barely surviving off the few caravans that still dared risk the northern road or those brave or stupid enough to scavenge the wastes. Now business is booming, but the character of the settlement has not changed. Many have died in it without even reaching the Desolation and likely many more will share that fate.
History
Long ago the churches of the “good” natured gods, with the support of all-encompassing empire of the south, led an assault against Tsar. The resulting conflict was of an unheard of scale and fundamentally changed and scarred the lands around Tsar, creating the Desolation. The war was fought for several years before over night the city was magically emptied by a spell that cost the high priest of Orcus his life. The army fled, causing chaos in its wake, and the forces of good followed. Eventually the armies met in a forest along the coast deep in the south; thinking that victory was at hand, the forces of good pre-maturely named the place the Forest of Hope… all who entered the forest, both good and evil, vanished without a trace.
The effect of losing so many heroes and leaders was devastating. The empire’s territories collapsed back into the kingdoms they had been, and many of those kingdoms fell apart into loosely bound collections of city states. Trade and travel both became more dangerous and scarce; think the collapse of Rome. Only within the past 200 or so years has intense trade been reestablished completely within the boundaries of the old empire. Only within the past 50 has the water route become prominent, a welcome replacement for the dangerous, desperate, and little traveled land route through the Desolation.
Desolation Map
