Nalukkhar: A Pendulum-Generated Settlement

Nalukkhar: A Pendulum-Generated Settlement




(feel free to use this in whole or in part for your own game if you find it useful)




(Year 1) Hileon Ansic, the warlord (33 years old), discovers a cache of ancient knowledge in the ruins under a newly conquered territory. He decides to quit the life of a nomadic raider and settle here.




(Year 4) The little settlement, now called Nalukkhar, is a hamlet of about 50 people. Building has gone well, as many of the original structures remained intact after Hileon's invasion.




(Year 10) One such structure is a stone wall with a watch tower. After a few years, it is restored and improved upon under Hileon's supervision.




(Year 11) Hileon, now 44 years old, disappears into the ruins. The event is sudden and mysterious as the ruins were thought to have been fully explored. His wife becomes the new leader. Her name is D'nara (33 yrs old). They did not have a good relationship and she does not mourn his absence, nor does she make a large effort to find him. Some people suspect her of foul play.




(Year 21) Over the next ten years, the hamlet becomes village of 150 people. People living nearby in the region have come to the city for the protection of its walls as stories of marauding creatures become more and more common. When Queen D'nara is 43 years old, a kind of blueprint is found in the ruins. It allows the skilled artisans of Nalukkhar to repair a special item that had been badly damaged during Hileon's invasion: a special device made of pipes that catches the wind and creates a high-frequency pitch. This ever present tone somehow keeps the marauding beasts away.




(Year 41) Queen D'nara (now 63 years old) makes a trading partner out of a settlement on the far side of a nearby mountain range. It is another walled city, called Formarist. The people of Formarist want to build some 'Beast Pipes' of their own to ward off a different kind of monster threatening their home, but they lack the knowledge to do so.




(Year 41) By the time Queen D'nara is 66, sightings and run-ins with the monsters that prowl their borders are back. Have the creatures adapted to the pipes? Have the pipes' power waned? Eventually there is an attack on a merchant caravan and some citizens are killed. The people of Nalukkhar are growing scared once again.




(Year 70) Mysteriously, the sightings stop and there are no more attacks. One day the reason is discovered: some of the monsters are found slain... but what killed them? That remains a mystery, but years of prosperity follow and the town expands to 1000 people after many years of bountiful harvest, safety and skilled governance.




(Year 71) Queen D'nara did not have children; she never took another husband, as she was worried it might cast more suspicion on her concerning Hileon's disappearance. This is evidence of the queen's wisdom that provided so many years of growth and prosperity for her subjects. But nothing lasts forever. Queen D'nara passes away at the age of 92, from natural causes. Now the long worry about who will replace her suddenly becomes a pressing issue. Over this problem, Nalukkhar splits into factions, with powerful players lending their strength to various sides claiming their chosen man or woman should lead.




In that same year, not long after the queen's death, a foreigner comes to the city, claiming to be Hileon reborn. His outrageous story is believed by some; he knows things that should be impossible for an outsider to know. While some see him as a charlatan or a madman, others do not. A cult slowly begins to form around him. All the while, the power vacuum expands.




(Year 90) 19 years of strife and infighting pass as Nalukkhar teeters on the edge of civil war. The man claiming to be Hileon reborn advocate for the destruction of the 'Beast Pipes'. His cult has been growing steadily in numbers and influence over the years. During this time, the leadership passes from petty lord to petty lord, but civil unrest continues to smolder, and looks like it may ignite, until one day when...