Prologue
A thousand years after Vecna was defeated. A thousand years after Bells Hells and the Mighty Nein and Vox Machina. A thousand years after the heroes of the ages and even more since the battles that created a thing that was once known as the Divine Gate.
A thousand years since the gods left the world once known as Exandria. A thousand years since The Exodus.
The world the gods left behind was lost. It happened slowly at first. Like grief, Exandria was in denial. But, eventually, anger prevailed. Resources dried up or were lost, as divine touches no longer maintained once-verdant lands. Power dynamics shifted and empires fell. The Dwendallian Empire became more and more isolationist. The Krynn Dynasty seized power. The Clovis Concord dissolved.
The age began anew. No longer were years counted Post-Divergence. Now they were tracked After Exodus. And what was once called Exandria became known as Nuxan, what many called “The Forsaken Land.” Nuxans were forsaken by the gods. The gods abandoned them. And together, they grieved.
What you should know is this: magic is strictly regulated. Schools of magic are closed except to select few. A new religion has swept across the lands, that of the Luxon – the Lord of Light – once an obscure sect only relevant to the dark elves of Xhorhas and the Krynn Dynasty, it is now the dominant religion. Missionaries were sent first, but the Bright Queen’s holy wars quickly followed. Her fervent demand that all the people of Nuxan must follow the Lord of Light in order to unite and call back the Progenitors, the creators of Nuxan and the beacons that the Krynn Dynasty have hoarded through the centuries as sacred relics.
The land is not what you would remember if you had traveled from a time before The Exodus. With the gods gone, the red moon hollowed and altering tidal influence, a magical fallout began as ley lines weakened. This led to a period where arcane solutions to solve ecological problems thrived, and led to unexpected consequences as magic sapped the natural weave of energies.
Industrial solutions led to a drastic increase in pollution and widespread unemployment as automatons – reverse engineered from the Aeormatons discovered in Eiselcross – began taking sapient jobs, which led to widespread bans on all industry, automation and manufacturing.
Plot outline
Exposition
Exposition allows the writer to introduce us to the story. We get the characters, setting, and some backstory. This is where the basics of the information lie and the inciting incident, or the main thing that captures the readers’ interest and makes them want to follow you on this journey.
The gods have left the world once known as Exandria, now Nuxan. The dominant religious order in their absence is the Luxon, which began in the Krynn Dynasty of Xhorhas. When the gods left in the event now known as The Exodus, Luxon Missionaries spread the religion far and wide and gained traction amongst the people grieving over the loss of their gods. Today, 1000 years after The Exodus, 70% of the population follows the Lord of Light, but few know of its deeper practices.
During this time, the Krynn Dynasty has expanded. The Bright Queen and her partner, Quana Kryn have passed – the consecution of their souls unable to bear the numerous lifetimes over the course of 1000 years – and the mantle has been passed onto their daughter, Caelestis Kryn. Under Bright Queen Caelestis’ rule, the Krynn Dynasty has united the territories of Eastern Wynandir and expanded across the Ashkeeper Peaks into Western Wynandir as the strength of the Dwendalian Empire fell to corruption and infighting. Today, the once great Dwendalian Empire has shrunk to only cover the lands west of the Eisfus River. The current ruler of the Dwendalian Empire is Queen Suria Dwendal II, an elderly woman whose title is mostly honorific. The true power of the empire comes through the Cerberus Assembly led by Yussa Errenis.
It is the Bright Queen’s goal to get all of Nuxan united in its belief of the Luxon. She believes that if the world of Nuxan is united in faith, it can finally draw the attention of the Progenitors, the original Luxons, to take notice and protect Nuxan. The years since The Exodus have been frightening and apocalyptic. Without gods, many of the people of Nuxan have devolved into despair and tyranny and once fertile lands have become wastelands.
Magic has been strictly regulated and only those of select noble houses or Luxon churches are allowed to practice it. It is looked upon with suspicion as the tales of the old gods were that they bestowed magic on their people – with those old gods gone, it is believed that it was that very gift that sent them away.
Worship of the old gods still exists in secret pockets, even though possession of relics, symbols or holy writings of the old gods is largely forbidden. Under this religious tyranny, small pockets of rebellion have sprung up, like the Cobalt Veil, the Children of the Hollow Moon, the Echoes of the Raven, the Empty Archive, the Court of Dust, the Verdant Covenant and the Whispered Rebellion.
Rising Action
Rising Action is where the stakes happen! This is meant to have readers say, “What the hell will happen now?!” This gets people invested in your story with tension, interest, and excitement!
The current Bright Queen brings religious zealotry to the forefront. Think Crusaders going to Arabic countries to purge the nonbelievers, the Spanish Inquisition forcing confessions from perceived heretics, and the Salem witch trials persecuting those that are seen to be different. The major governments must nod to the Luxon religion even when the leaders don’t believe in the doctrine fully because it’s been established that many consecutions can lead to psychosis. Caelestis believes true immortality is possible only through purity, has kept herself celibate and believed that her parents were not able to survive the rites due to their impurity.
Bright Queen Caelestis seeks to purge the heretics from the lands of Tal’Dorei, Issylra and Marquet and begins The Consecution War. Under the Court of Dust, an anarchic army of revolutionaries band to fight back while the Tal’Dorei Council works to fortify their borders, gather their resources and rebuild the Emon Arcanum. In Issylra, followers of the old gods and clerical armies gather and resist the religious armies of the Followers of the Light.
The Cerberus Assembly works alongside the Krynn Dynasty, rebuilding the arcane spy network and storm trooper army that the Volstruker program once represented. Vasselheim becomes a target for the Bright Queen’s armies and the Pillage of Vasselheim becomes an objective for the mad queen to purge the land of “false sanctuaries”
The Menagerie Coast, once a bastion of free trade and exotic tourism is constantly under threat by the pirates of Darktow, under the leadership of The Plank King – a pirate lich who has been kept alive by the magical power of his cursed tricorn hat. The hat itself contains the personality of the last Plank King – whose name has been lost to history – and whoever kills the Plank King to assume the title themselves, becomes cursed to live eternally as a lich, their identity taken over by that of the true Plank King as soon as they don the hat. The Bright Queen has largely left these lands alone, granting them some amount of independence as she focuses her expansion efforts from Wynandir.
Climax
Climax is where everything reaches the highest level. The characters and plot are at the top of the roller coaster, and we don’t know when they will fall. In your climax, the dramatics happen so hard and fast – both externally and internally!
Amid the religious tyranny of the Bright Queen, prophets of the old gods begin to spring up across Tal’Dorei and Issylra, some believed to be reincarnations of the gods themselves. These prophets gain followers and rise to prominence to fight against the Bright Queen’s Holy War.
The Plank King, encouraged by many years of successful raids against largely unguarded cities across the Menagerie Coast raises an army of undead soldiers to annex the city-states of the former Clovis Concord under his rule.
Archeologists in Eiselcross uncover an army of Aeormatons, the Sentinels of Avalir, created to defend the lost city during the Divergence. When these Aeormatons are delivered to the Bright Queen, a rogue faction within the Cerberus Assembly (likely led by Yussa Errenis himself) seizes a platoon of them to fight against her instead. These Aeormatons don’t differentiate between divine and mortal and, confused by the current state of affairs, alternately fight against or fight alongside political or magical power, depending on who gave the order.
The Bright Queen focuses her energy on taking down Vasselheim, making her vulnerable on other fronts. Vasselheim, the former city of the gods, is to her the basis of all heresy, and her single minded focus on purifying the city would strike a deadly blow against the heretics of the old gods.
Falling Action
Falling Action is where the character (and story) can find their breath. Everything is relaxed within Falling Action, and you’re coming down from the climax of the story. The story still has conflicts, but those slowly start to wrap up.
Caelestis fatally wounded in a climactic battle. She immediately has her priests begin the rites of consecution. Whether the consecution succeeds or fails is unknown, but her absence creates a power vacuum in the Krynn Dynasty and Luxon order.
The effort to gain the attention of the Progenitors fails. Their silence is deafening. With the defeat of the Bright Queen and the emergence of new prophets, more and more people lose faith in the Luxon and turn instead to these new emerging religions.
The Plank King’s annexation of the Menagerie Coast succeeds, but at what cost? Platoons of undead soldiers and lawkeepers frighten the citizens of the cities away, creating graveyards of harbors and shipyards, any available wealth lost as the population flees.
The Aeormatons outlive the war and lose their purpose. Many join scholarly factions as retainers of knowledge while others become mercenaries for hire, understanding only how to make violence and war.
The Court of Dust emerges victorious against their Luxon assailants and return to their unchecked, chaotic status quo.
Resolution
The Resolution is the conclusion of your story! This is where everything is wrapped up, and no lingering bits of information or the story leave the readers wondering. If you aim to write a sequel, you still want to wrap up the main story and perhaps tease what’s coming next.
Bright Queen Caelestis becomes both martyr and monster. Her story is a cautionary tale about purity and righteousness. While some continue to follow the Church of the Luxon and canonize her as the Saint of the Last Light, others damn her as a false prophet. The Krynn Dynasty falters without leadership – the dynasty has never existed without a royal member of the Kryn family and Caelestis, being celibate, took no suitor. They are left attempting to fill the vacuum in power that her absence leaves and much of the religion of the Luxon is left to archivists, the rites of consecution largely lost in texts.
The new prophets form sanctuaries and share their teachings in isolated regions. Rather than garnering worship, they preach messages of self-reliance, community, balance and autonomy. Those prophets of betrayer gods or false prophets continue to gather power to themselves in growing cults.
The surviving Sentinels of Avalir construct the Compact of Brass, an accord to preserve history, technology, and truth in conjunction with the Cobalt Veil. Their libraries become the first neutral sanctuaries in centuries — machine-run cities where memory is sacred and war forbidden. These autonomous zones become the intellectual heart of the next age.
The Menagerie Coast becomes the seat of ongoing battles against undead armies and warlords. The Plank King largely retreats to Darktow to leave the abandoned cities to fend for themselves.
Yussa Errenis is unheard from after the Consecution War and, without leadership, the Cerberus Assembly eats itself with infighting and internal strife.
Factions
Cerberus Assembly
TBD
Cobalt Veil
Origin: Descendants of the original Cobalt Soul.
Belief: Truth must not be dictated by divine light or Luxon propaganda.
Tactics: Operate as information smugglers, hiding ancient texts in encoded dream journals and magical tattoos.
Current Goal: Reconstruct the Archive of the Knowing Mistress, buried beneath the ruins of Rexxentrum.
Children of the Hollow Moon
Origin: Miners who discovered remnants of Ruidium and Eldrazi ichor in the ruins of the red moon Ruidus.Belief: The Luxon’s “Light” is a parasitic force feeding on mortal worship, no different from the gods they replaced.Tactics: Guerrilla sabotage — disrupting Luxon light-beacons and “purification rites.”Base: The “Crimson Shadow,” a shattered lunar fragment orbiting Nuxan, reachable only via old dunamantic engines and hidden magical portals.
Echoes of the Raven
Origin: Worshippers of the Raven Queen who survived in secret.
Belief: Death must be natural, not controlled by consecution or Luxon reincarnation.
Tactics: Infiltration and subversion — many work inside Luxon cathedrals, subtly corrupting consecution rituals to allow true death or free souls.
Rumor: Their leader is said to bear one of the last divine relics — a feather that never decays.
The Empty Archive
Origin: A clandestine network of archivists descended from Exandrian scholars and planar refugees.
Belief: Knowledge is sacred and must survive divine cycles.
Tactics: Recover forbidden histories, translating pre-Exodus tomes to preserve lineage against Luxon rewriting.
Base: A sunken city beneath the Lucidian Ocean, once part of Nicodranas, accessible only during full Luxon eclipses.
The Court of Dust
Origin: Post-Luxon merchants and thieves’ syndicates in the ruins of Marquet that grew into semi-religious communes.Belief: Survival is worship — wealth and grit are blessings of the forgotten goddess Avandra.Methods: Trade protection networks, information brokering, smuggling divine relics disguised as mundane items.Symbol: A coin split in two — half buried, half visible.Flavor: Equal parts Mad Max and merchant-priest cult. Their caravans are lifelines between dead cities.
The Verdant Covenant
Origin: Druids and shamans following Melora’s last whisper before the Exodus.
Belief: Nature remembers what gods forget.
Methods: Cultivate green sanctuaries amid frost and ash. Use spores and vines to reclaim terrain.
Symbol: A twelve-sided object overgrown with roots.
Potential Arc: They’ve uncovered evidence that the Luxon “light” may actually be siphoning planar energy from the Feywild — creating future ecological catastrophe.
Whispered Rebellion
Origin: Scattered disciples of Vecna or other Betrayer gods who survived Vecna’s defeat, now reshaped as anarchist archivists.
Belief: Knowledge must be free, even if it damns you.
Methods: Spread forbidden texts and spells via underground ‘zines and churches to the Betrayer gods.
Symbol: A whisper sigil etched into bone.
Twist: Some genuinely oppose the Luxon; others aim to resurrect Vecna’s fragment sealed in the Astral scar left by the Eldrazi war.