The Black Season of Vorgath

by David · Post-Apoc · 5e-Compatible

A generation ago the sun died over the Kingdom of Vorgath, plunging the realm into an endless dark. Winter sustains the living but feeds the restless dead who stir in the shadow-haunted forests beyond the estates. Feudal lords hoard fire, food, and iron behind their walls, extorting brutal tithes from the freezing peasantry — while in the wilds, something vast and patient wakes beneath the ice.

Setting

Technologymedieval

Magicstandard

Seed3059199085

Themes

Eternal NightFeudal OppressionSurvivalThe Restless DeadBroken SeasonsAbsent Gods

Common races

humandwarfelfhalfling

Geography

Primary terrains

foresthillsplainsmountainsswamp

Climate

temperatearctic

Landmarks

The Grey Thaw Wallowslandmark

Factions

The Hearthward Compact

order · A brittle alliance of feudal lords who control the walled estates of the Ember Marches, hoarding fire, food, and iron behind their walls while extracting brutal tithes from the surrounding peasantry.

Hearth-Regent Othgar Kellverein

The Ashbound Covenant

cult · A forbidden cult of frost-witches and grave-speakers who believe the Long Dark is a divine testing fire — that the sun will return only to those who prove worthy through suffering and communion with the dead.

Mother Caelenn of the Grey Hand

The Long March Caravan

guild · A sprawling network of smugglers, traders, and migrant clans who move through the dark between estates and regions, trading fire-fuel, preserved food, iron, and forbidden relics at extortionate prices — the only lifeline for villages the Compact has abandoned.

Dorghan Three-Coin

The Gilded Slag Union

guild · A militant mining brotherhood that controls the volcanic deep-mines of the Grimverns, trading raw iron and forge-coal to the Compact in exchange for food and relative autonomy — though tensions simmer over the Compact's exploitative terms.

Forgewarden Brunda Ironheart

Threats

The Cold Belowexistential undead

The restless dead of Vorgath, animated by the unnatural cold itself — they rise from battlefield, barrow, and frozen lake alike, drawn to warmth and life. With each passing year they grow more numerous, more organized, and more bold.

The Hollow Crownexistential aberration

Something vast, ancient, and patient beneath the Frostreach Tundra's ice — not dead, not alive, but waiting. It has been stirring since the sun died, and those who walk too far onto the glare-ice hear whispers that are not the wind.

Lore web

Calendar · 1

The Broken Seasons of VorgathThe old solar calendar collapsed when the sun died. Four broken seasons now partition the year — each an epoch of suffering measured not in months but in how many of your kin are still breathing when it ends.

Currency · 1

Coinage of the Black SeasonGold Suns (pre-Dimming gold, increasingly rare), Silver Shards (the everyday trading coin), and Copper Slag (crude discs minted by the Union). The Compact backs its coinage with hearth-coal, making warmth itself the gold standard.

Custom · 1

The Whisper Beneath the IceA presence — not dead, not alive — embedded in the deep ice of the Frostreach Tundra. It predates the kingdom, and it has been stirring since the sun died. Those who hear it say it whispers in their own voice.

Deity · 1

The SuncrestsThe old gods of Vorgath — solar deities whose worship centered on light, warmth, and the turning of honest seasons. Their temples stand cold and empty; their names are spoken now only in curses and forgotten prayers.

Historical events · 3

The First Black DawnThe morning the sun died — remembered in song and scar across Vorgath. Those who witnessed it speak of a sound like the sky cracking, though no two witnesses agree on what it sounded like.The Great DimmingThirty-one years ago, the sun rose dim and orange, set, and never returned — plunging Vorgath into eternal night. No one knows why; the sky is now a lid of grey cloud through which no star or moon shows.The Sun-King's MarchThe last king of Vorgath marched a thousand soldiers into the Frostreach Tundra to find the cause of the Dimming. None returned. The lords who defied his final order formed the Hearthward Compact and seized the empty throne.

Legal system · 1

The Hearth TitheThe Compact's system of feudal extortion: every village pays quarterly tithes of food, labor, and material in exchange for hearth-fires that keep the dead away. Fall behind on payment, and the fires are allowed to dim.

Stories set in this world

Hunger in the Hollow IceCaught in a sudden, magical blizzard while tracking a wounded stag, you stumble into the dread Sunken Warrens—a frozen labyrinth where the restless dead do not stalk flesh, but guard a hoard of stolen solar flares. You must descend into these lightless ruins to destroy the hibernating Greatwyrm before it wakes and devours the last warmth of the frontier, though the only weapon capable of killing the beast demands a tithe of your own blood to ignite.