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Dathon Story; enjoy:


You grew up on the streets of Dathon as a child in poverty, living amongst the "sprawl" of the city.  Fed up with what you saw, you left Dathon to make a new life for yourself elsewhere.  However, things have come full circle, and your new life did not turn out as expected.  You now carry crippling debts which must be paid off promptly.  In your desperation, you have returned to Dathon - a city awash with coin - in search of the fortune you need.

Upon returning, you quickly discover that one of your childhood friends, Berrard, is now a successful owner of the "Grey Cross" inn.  Berrard is always one willing to help, but the kind of money you need is beyond his ability to procure.  However, he can help you find contacts with people who can get you the funds necessary in such a short amount of time.  It turns out that two other of your childhood friends are still in Dathon, and both are definitely able to help you.  Berrard can also point you in the direction of other high paying work, and offer you shelter until you can get back on your feet.

The Grey Cross, for whatever reason, is regarded as a sanctuary within the city.  There is no violence in its halls, and the town guard have never made an arrest in the building, preferring to camp outside and wait for their men to come out.  No one knows why, but it's believed the tavern was marked by the enigmatic "Cloak and Dagger", and anyone who breaches its sanctuary is marked for death.  Whether this is true cannot be verified, for no one has had the guts to test it for themselves.

One of your old childhood friends, Misrey, is a frequent visitor to the Grey Cross.  Berrard will tell you that she doubtlessly has the kind of work you need, but working for her is dangerous and will likely get over your head very quickly.  Misrey was once a petty thief, but debts not unlike what you have to pay right now have turned her into an assassin, killing for blood money.  She has numerous jobs for you.  Each successive task will get increasingly illegal and dangerous, but also increasingly lucrative.

Another childhood friend has taken a very different path.  Your friend Fendon always had a sense of opportunity.  Shortly after you left Dathon he began a fraud scam that earned him vast quantities of money.  After a few encounters with jail, Fendon decided to rewrite his past and became the foreign merchant Fenado Viccichi.  He is a powerful member of the Altonaic Guild now, and operates out of his estate which is just beyond the walls of the acropolis ascent.

Recently, King Percus has ordered all mercenaries to leave the city or disband.  This has left Fenado with a difficult time finding employees for certain jobs.  He is willing to pay good money, especially if you have no problems with activities that are "technically" legal.  He has erased his past, and as such he will pretend not to know who you are, but offer you job opportunities since Berrard has vouched for you.  In private, he may allude to the fact that he cares more for his childhood companions than he lets on, but despite this a rift has grown between him and Misrey to the point at which she will deride you for involving yourself with Fenado.

Other sources of work are abound.  Toth Laspon is the Captain of the Guards for the majority of Dathon.  While his jurisdiction is cut short of the poor district (commonly called the "sprawl") and the acropolis and its ascent, the rest of the city is under his supervision.  He has lost many good guardsmen recently thanks to the disbanding of many mercenary groups.  While many groups left the city, most disbanded and sold their weapons to the black markets, so now every criminal in the city has steel to match his own men.  As a result, he's relying on bounties to hopefully turn these newly armed criminals against each other.  If you can return several bounties to him, he will take a liking to you and provide you with private, sensative information to help you collect more bounties.  He is also a very powerful friend in future chapters if you take this path, but may otherwise end up as a difficult antagonist determined to hunt you down.

The poor distrct, or "sprawl" makes up about fourty percent of Dathon's land mass and even more of its population.  Two decades ago, Prince Percus (the current king) had the brilliant idea that crime and poverty could be sealed into the district by building a wall around it.  Entering and leaving the sprawl is difficult at times, as a result.  As well, the militia in the sprawl is highly corrupt and largely underfunded.  However, there are many smuggling rings that go on in that district, and there is still high paying work available there.  As well, many of Captain Laspon's bounties can be found hiding out in that district, even though it is officially out of his jurisdiction.

In the poor district, there is an ongoing drama with what is called the "Cult of Raphime".  The prophets of this new religion largely walk freely throughout that part of the city, making new converts daily.  The militia largely ignores them, not only out of apathy but fear; these men do indeed have some supernatural forces behind them.  There isn't much you can do with the cult at this point in the game, as the cultists have little use for gold and have nothing to pay you with even if you do want to work for them. 

Dathon is divided into four districts; there is the aforementioned poor district which is the largest and most populated district, but largely kept contained by walls.  There is an active iron mine in the poor district which employs many of its people and keeps its economy somewhat alive.  Then there is "great plaza" where Berrard's inn is located.  It is a wide open area often called the foreigner's district as most merchants and travellers will keep their business to the plaza.  There is also the "shield", named so because when viewed from the acropolis this district looks like a shield.  The shield is the home of much of the middle class of Dathon, and on the opposite side of the city from the sprawl.  There have been many excavations here to build the aquaduct and sewer system for the city which have impacted the underground tunnel system which is largely unmapped.  Finally, there is the acropolis.  This is the rich part of town, and is closed off to most individuals.  There is a steep ascent filled with many estates, and at its peak is the palace which serves almost like a fortress for the king, overlooking the lands beyond.

Beneath Dathon is a tunnel system.  No one knows who built it, and most believe that it predates the current settlement of Dathon.  Conquered a hundred and fifty years ago from a group of locals who had given up the nomadic ways of their countrymen to live on Dathon's acropolis, the city's vast tunnel network certainly was not built by these people.  No one knows exactly how deep the tunnels go, but they have never been explored thoroughly since their depths are said to be haunted.  Unfortunately, magical runoff from the local magician's academy has made them a truly dangerous place filled with all manner of strange and unnatural creatures.

Parts of the tunnel system are very intricately built, while others have collapsed numerous times and are now nothing more than cave networks.  Many are modern additions that are meant to be part of the Dathon sewer and aquaduct system, or crypts and graveyards.  The opportunistic use these routes to their benefit when smuggling or escaping pursuit.

Throughout the chapter, Berrard acts as a middleman between your creditors and yourself, passing on what you earn to them.  At the end of the chapter, he explains that they will no longer deal with him, and you must deliver the final payment personally.  He warns you to be on your guard, as he suspects foul play.  Upon arriving at the meeting spot, you will be confronted with a massacre of people you do not recognize.  You have no time to react to the situation, as you are quickly pincered by a group of guards. 

After escaping some distance, you will be given some assistance from one of the parties you helped out during Chapter I.  It will be revealed that you were set up, and the people killed were high ranking nobles with connections to the Altonaic Guild and the House Valarin.  The two most powerful factions in the city are now out for your blood.  After escaping pursuit, chapter II will begin and you must deal with the fact that you are now a wanted man.

After the events of chapter I, you will have made many friends and foes.  Who is ally and who is enemy will vary depending on your choices.  For instance, if you worked with Toth Laspon, he will uncover the plot to frame you, and will secretly work to hinder the local guard's search for you.  If he doesn't know who you are, then you're just another criminal as far as he's concerned and he will dedicate great resources to hunting you down.  However, Toth Laspon cannot clear your name, for there is a conspiracy at work that goes deep into the House Valarin, and he himself could be made into the next victim if he takes a stand against it.

The people murdered have set off a violent chain reaction.  The Altonaic Guild believes the House Valarin hired a Cloak and Dagger mercenary (you) to kill their agents, while the House Valarin believes that the Altonaic Guild purged two of its only high ranking members who were loyal to the House Valarin through that same mercenary.  Both groups are out to kill you, but this has not stopped hostilities between them from rising to a boiling point.

Although officially his faction is out to kill you, if you have made a strong bond with Fenado Viccichi he will work to protect you.  Misrey can also provide you the support network of her assassins and a new life amongst their number.  The Cult of Raphime may seem like a wonderful haven now, as it holds no loyalty to either the House Valarin or the Altonaic Guild.  Although he cannot help you right now, Toth Laspon can give you the connections you need to survive until after things have cooled down a bit.

For the early part of chapter II, your goal is to survive being caught.  However, your allies may also demand your aid, as the rising tensions between the House Valarin and the Altonaic Guild have stretched their resources thin and they need every hand they can get.  This chapter sees Dathon undergo a transformation from mostly stable to an untrusting police state, but fortunately the search for you in specific becomes less focussed as time goes on.

At the end of Chapter II, the unthinkable happens.  Shortly after Sarha Valarin, the eldest son of King Percus and heir to the throne, returns from a military campaign on the southern rim, his father is assassinated.  Outraged, he takes to the throne and immediately locks down the city and arrests several Altonaic Guild members and charges them with treason.  He discreetly arrests his younger brother, Ezar, and does the same to him.

Your actions by this point in the game have impacted the events that follow.  Everything in Dathon is ruled by cause and effect, and although it is nearly impossible to see the intricate web of plots within plots, you will have accidentally altered the outcome of events by this point in the game substantially through your actions, and made friends and enemies you do not even know about.

At this point in the story, Sarha Valarin begins a secret campaign to excavate much of the ruins beneath the city.  It turns out the Altonaic Guild and Cult of Raphime have secretly been doing the same for some time.  There is something that these people know that others do not.  The emergence of the Arcane Five into the scenario turns things to chaos.  They are a group of five of the most powerful wizards in the world, although they do not operate directly in the city.  They know full well what these people seek; beneath Dathon is a cache of magical artifacts sealed away.  While many, including Sarha Valarin, believe these artifacts will turn whoever holds them into a god, the wizards know that this is not the case, although they are more than enough to turn Dathon from a lucrative trading kingdom into the most powerful empire in the world.  The wizards are determined to ensure that these tools remain sealed away, for this was done originally for good reason.  They will not reveal the full extent of their knowledge, but working with them or performing a little espionage may reveal much.

The story will naturally begin to move towards closure as more characters die and the puppeteers draw closer to the fray seeking their "godhood" from beneath Dathon.  You have your choices; do you join a faction and aid it in it mad endeavor, do you try to stop them all lest disaster ensue, or do you attempt to claim these powers for yourself?  Your actions and the ending of the story will be open ended.  No two play-throughs will be identical, and your actions will lead to your own unique conclusion.


The story essentially focusses around five factions.  There is the House Valarin, the Altonaic Guild, the Cloak and Dagger, the Cult of Raphime, and the Arcane Five.  Each is unique in its structure and aims, but the full extent of the intrigue that goes on is difficult to see, even once you've played the game through.  There are people who manipulate multiple factions to their benefit, and understanding exactly what is going on is difficult.

The House Valarin is officially a feudal state with a rigid hierarchy.  However, Sarha Valarin has long been plotting against his father.  He conspires with several self-interested members of the Altonaic Guild to pitch the two factions against each other, and while they are distracted claim the magical artifacts beneath Dathon to become gods.  One of these madmen is a member of the "secret council" of the Cloak and Dagger.  A difficult organization to understand, the Cloak and Dagger works like a strange network of agents.  At its top is a group of secretive rulers who dispatch directives to all members in the city.  Their purposes and identities are a mystery, even to each other, and the Cloak and Dagger therefor has no true agenda of its own but is rather the puppet of other individuals on top.

Sarha and his associates have little use for either the House Valarin or the Altonaic Guild once their goals are attained, and both intend to have the power structures of both groups annihilated afterwards.  They fully intend to betray their most loyal agents.  These agents believe that Sarha is a new  and dynamic king determined to end all threats to his rule, while the high ranking members of the Altonaic Guild have something else in mind.

Although there is some disagreement, most of the high level Altonaic Guild members seek to create a new order, free of nobility and restrictions and to be ruled by free enterprise.  They believe that they could turn Dathon into a utopian city, and from there an entire empire of gold could be formed.  Those who disagree keep their mouths shut, because the ones pushing for this are people who are willing to take what they want by any means necessary.  Although aware of this plan, Fenado Viccichi plays himself as strictly neutral, believing that little will come of it one way or another.  Most of these people are aware to some extent of the magical artifacts beneath Dathon, but have no idea of their actual power.

The Cult of Raphime is a new entity in the city, and is one of the few to not have double agents at its top.  In fact, its leader, a man called Naerric, was once a wizard who lead an archeological expedition deep beneath Dathon.  No one knows what he uncovered, but what remained of his team returned to the surface as fanatics to Raphime's cause.  Those with some awareness of what is beneath Dathon believe they uncovered an artifact that turned them mad, but whatever the case they now further the "Cause of Raphime" to bring about his paradise.

The Arcane Five are unaware at first of what the Cult of Raphime represents, but later they become alarmed when their studies indicate that this "Cause of Raphime" is remarkably similar to the events that lead to the destruction of the city that predated Dathon.  Even once they realize that their actions shall lead to the annihilation of Dathon and all its people, Naerric and his faithful remain unphased.  They are so blind that they refuse to turn back even when faced with a terrifying truth.  The Cult of Raphime uses the artifacts it has uncovered to further its cause, and use magics long forbidden to the rest of the world which they will unleash when the time is right.

The Arcane Five is alarmed by the situation is Dathon.  They are well aware that there are groups who seek the teasures hidden beneath the city, although they are not sure of who is pulling the strings.  They intend to stop anyone who wishes to use these artifacts for their own gain, and destroy or seal away as many of them as possible.  However, their cause is not immune from internal turmoil.  One of their five is in fact quite senile and being manipulated by his prodigee student named Tatham Rhys.  Although quite young (only sixteen) Tatham is a powerful wizard and effectively has control of the swing vote in the Arcane Five through his master.  He does not believe these artifacts should be destroyed, and instead wishes to use them to further his own ambitions.  While he understands these are not the tools of godhood, he believes they are the next best thing.  If he identifies you as a worthy adversary, he may attempt to pit you against the Arcane Five in an attempt to kill some off some of his masters to make his job all the easier.

There are other factors in the Arcane Five that may hinder them, as two among their numbers are actually quite cowardly and unwilling to leave the safety of their hidden strongholds to act in Dathon.  Combined with the senile member under control of Tatham which is effectively working against his cohorts, this leaves only two wizards who are actually a threat.  Their agents, although powerful, are not archmagi who can alter reality itself to their whims and therefor quite easily defeated with the proper strategy.


I've been fiddling with the idea for this story campaign for some time now.  I've been bouncing between ideas that are either too epic or not epic enough.  I really want to focus on an intensely political story with underlying nuances which are difficult to read even in hindsight.  The idea is replayability; this is a story that can be played many times through and turn out entirely differently each time.   Non-linear progression after Chapter II will be hard to implement, and because we will allow the player to kill off any NPC's he wants (presuming he's able to...) at that point in the game its duration will unfortunately be limited.  The idea is that it's a game where it's utterly impossible to uncover every stone, but every time you play it through you trip over a new stone you weren't aware of.

As usual, comments and suggestions are welcome. 

Sounds to me like this game will be somewhat like a historical GTA in RPG mode
Good stuff anyway, couldn't have done it better.