You are in the continent of Faerûn on the region typically known as The Sword Coast and the North, which encompasses the coast and some of the Heartlands around it. This setting is the traditional D&D world most people play and is most commonly called the "Forgotten Realms" out of game. Overall, the whole setting is not entirely important, its the D&D setting bro you know how it is, I'll probably change lore/worldbuilding that's boring. This is what’s important for you to know depending on the session:
CRUCIAL Information for Every Story
- You will be developing your character through story-building sessions, homebrew one-shots/short stories taking place at levels 2, 5, and 8, respectively, concluding with your character's tragic death at level 11. This is where we will start CoA, beginning your journey to reclaim your soul. The journey in the module CoA will take you all the way to level 19 at least, most likely level 20, so basically this is an excuse for us to finally get to fuck around with high-level D&D.
- In the time before your death (anytime after level 2 but before we start CoA, unless you ask me to do it earlier), you either make an infernal pact with Asmodeus, or fall too deeply into some kind of sin that ultimately damns you. If it was a pact, It would essentially be a bargain you made with the assumption that you would have enough time to fulfill your end of the bargain and keep your soul. Either way, your soul has been damned to the hells. (See Souls of the Damned if you have been damned or if you want to plan out which one you want) The fact that you made an infernal pact or fell too deep into immorality does not mean you're a bad person (unless you wanna be), you could have been forced into it in some way, manipulated, fallen from grace, or maybe you just thought it was your best possible option.
- At the levels that the one-shots/short stories are not covering, your character is doing their own potentially heroic, chaotic, or dastardly exploits separate from the group unless you make an arrangement with another player and inform me. This is just for flavor and to show character development between stories since we won't be covering those levels and I think it's interesting to think about potentially cool shit you did in that time.
2nd Level Story
- You start in the town of Berdusk, the Jewel of the Vale. It is a medium-sized town that's both on the Chionthar River and the Uldoon Trail, making it a hub for merchants stopping through in order to pass onto a bigger city like Baldurs Gate or Waterdeep, but the town has a particular relationship with the town adjacent to it, Elturel.
- You have very little coin, and have made mistakes in your life (I encourage you to have a specific detrimental flaw/vice/sin that most likely caused your problems) that potentially led to being destitute/generally in need of coin. This caused you to accept a shady, lucrative job posting that all other sensible adventurers, bounty hunters, and do-gooders seem to have avoided.