Centuries ago, something wiped the slate clean. No cataclysm. No prophecy. Just silence.
From that silence rose Masada: a fractured archipelago where memory failed, and nations clawed their way back without knowing what came before.

Two powers now divide the known world: the divine-forged Militocracy of New Antioch, and the oath-bound Elden Concordat. The former was built on scripture and steel; the latter, on memory and mutual defense. Their uneasy peace holds... barely.

But deeper still, in the forgotten veins of the wild, something stirs. The Vale long overlooked now festers with signs of unnatural decay. Creatures twist. Crops fail. Whispers of the old gods grow louder in the dark.
In the village of Wolf’s Chapel, a grieving woodsman makes a pact with a dying spirit.
And something ancient begins to move.

This is where your story begins.

What This Guide Is

This guide outlines the rules, tools, and setting context for creating characters and exploring the world of Masada. Inside, you’ll find lore entries, character creation rules, and the variant systems used in this campaign.

Campaign Snapshot

Tone: Grounded, mythic, spiritual decay (not full grimdark)
Magic: Rare in human lands, natural in the Vale
Starting Level: 1–3
Approved Homebrew: Grim Hollow, LaserLlama, Mage Hand Press (full list available in Discord)
Themes: Lost knowledge, fading divinity, moral ambiguity, cost of survival
Starting Location: Wolf’s Chapel  an isolated logging village bound to an ancient forest spirit

Wolf’s Chapel

Where the Forest Begins to Die

The campaign opens in Wolf’s Chapel, a remote logging village deep in the Vale. Isolated from major trade routes and shielded by ancient woods, its people survive through timber, faith, and old seasonal rites passed down without question. It is a place where nothing changes ...until now.

Something is breaking.

The forest, once vibrant and strange, grows silent. Crops yield bitter fruit. Tracks twist into themselves. Livestock are born malformed. The elders pray louder. The children don’t sleep. And the chapel's hearth, once a place of quiet blessings, burns low.

There is no cataclysm. No grand omen. But the villagers feel it in their marrow: something old is dying. Not just the forest, but something within it a power long bound to this land, older than saints or scripture. A god, maybe. Or the memory of one.

And so they look outward, to you.

You arrive in the village as the change begins to accelerate. Whether you are native to Wolf’s Chapel or an outsider drawn by rumor, need, or fate, the choices you make will shape what comes next. No one else is coming. No one else remembers what the forest once was.

You are not here to witness a story.
You are here to decide what becomes of it.

Starting Context

• You begin in or near Wolf’s Chapel, as unease spreads. Superstition runs high. Supplies run low. People whisper of signs, omens, and old sins returning.

• You may be from the village, tied by blood or ritual. Or an outsider, come for bounty, knowledge, or something unspoken.

• The campaign’s early arc centers on unraveling the source of the forest’s sickness, navigating village tensions, and making choices that will shift the balance between survival, sacrifice, and the unknown.

• There is no prophecy. No chosen one. Just a land unraveling and a handful of people who still have the will to act.

The forest darkens.
Something sacred is dying.
What will you become before it’s gone?

Character Hooks: Why Are You Here?

Consider these possible reasons your character is in or near Wolf’s Chapel:

• Born of the Vale — You grew up in or near the village. You know the people, the trails, the stories carved into bark. Something has changed and it terrifies you.

• Bound by Debt or Blood — Someone here owes you... or you owe them. A favor, a secret, a grave.

• Drawn by the Fading Wild — You’ve heard rumors of unnatural beasts, dying groves, or an old power flickering in the forest. You came seeking truth or profit.

• Displaced or Fleeing — War, exile, or consequence has left you with nowhere else to go. The village offered quiet work and no questions. Until now.

• A Watcher of Signs — Your faith, your order, or your dreams led you here. You didn’t know why. Now you do.

Tie your background to the Chapel. Even strangers are part of what comes next.

Faces of Wolf’s Chapel

Quiet authority. Withering faith. Old blood and older secrets.

Wilhelm Starkather
Village Steward, Head Administrator
Upright and dutiful, Wilhelm coordinates lumber quotas, manages relations with Antioch, and keeps village order intact. Respected, if increasingly strained.
→ Rumor: He secretly fears divine reprisal if the old rites are ignored.

Father Martin
Priest of the Flame
Soft-spoken and visibly weary, Martin balances piety with pragmatism. He knows the people need more than scripture, but he has few answers left to give.
→ Rumor: He’s seen something in the forest he won’t speak of.

Sybille Krüger
Matron of the Copper Flask Tavern
Fierce, unshakable, and commanding. She raised five children and still keeps order with a glance. Every rumor in town touches her ears eventually.
→ Rumor: She still believes in the old forest god, but never says it aloud.

Ayder & Javed
The Bound Scholars (Elf & Human)
Living at the village’s edge, they study the forest and the blight in quiet seclusion. No one knows how long they’ve been here or why they stay.
→ Rumor: They may know more about the sickness than they admit.

Evelyn Krüger
Priestess-in-Training
Miraculously healed as a child. Raised to follow in Martin’s footsteps. Quiet, devout, and seen by many as a spiritual bridge between the old and the new.
→ Rumor: She’s begun speaking strange words in her sleep.

The Lady of the Forest
Myth, Spirit, or Something Else
Said to guard the Vale, protect the trees, and answer desperate prayers. Some think she’s long dead. Others believe she’s waking up.
→ Rumor: Her signs have returned strange lights, dreams, voices in root and stone.

Locations of Note in and Around Wolf’s Chapel

The Chapel of the Flame

Faith persists, even when the forest forgets.
A modest stone-and-timber structure near the village center, the chapel serves both the spiritual and social needs of Wolf’s Chapel. While nominally devoted to the Church Militant, its rites quietly blend Antioch doctrine with local traditions light offerings, seasonal tokens, and moments of silence beneath the altar's roots.
Father Martin conducts sermons here, but they are more about community than doctrine. The flame rarely flares, and never dies. Locals say that if it ever did, they’d leave without question.

The Barrelhaven Tavern

No better warmth for five days' ride if you can earn it.
Renamed generations ago as a quiet joke at the expense of its old barrel-walled storage room, the Barrelhaven is the heart of village life. Owned and operated by Sybille Krüger, it serves as tavern, inn, gossip hub, informal court, and emotional anchor. The walls are thick, the hearth is deep, and the floorboards remember every dance and every fight.
The back room contains ledgers older than some family trees. Travelers learn quickly: if Sybille doesn’t like you, you’ll find the prices high and the beds all taken.

Militocracy Watchpost

Built for counting heads. Now it just watches.
A squat stone post an hour’s walk north of the village, originally built as a seasonal census and inspection site by the Church Militant. It’s rarely staffed outside harvest season and shows signs of quiet neglect cracked glass, sootless chimney, and a rusted lock that still somehow holds.
Some in the village suspect it’s still in use by “someone,” though no one sees riders come or go. Others think it’s left open on purpose as a test.

Ayder & Javed’s Homestead

Where old bonds keep older things at bay.
Set against the roots of a massive, long-dead oak, this reclusive home is more than it appears. Ayder (elven) and Javed (human) are former Concordat scholars who chose exile here long ago. Their home is subtly fortified, arcane etchings beneath the eaves, dried herbs braided into the window frames, and bookshelves positioned like warding lines.
They rarely venture into the village, but those who do seek their help often return with remedies or questions they weren’t ready to ask.

The Hollows (Quarry)

Carved too deep, left to fill itself.
Once used for stonework, the Hollows is an old quarry south of the village, long abandoned after a minor collapse left two dead and a third driven mad. It now collects rain, moss, and the occasional fox den. Children dare each other to find “the cave that moans,” while adults steer clear unless the year’s stone harvest is short.
It’s said the last man who tried to reopen it found something buried and then sealed it without a word.

The Blighted Grove

Still green from a distance. Wrong up close.
Formerly a fruitful stretch of woodland used for small game and medicinal herbs, the grove began to change in recent seasons. Bark grows spongy. Leaves hang limp in summer. Deer won’t graze there, and crows gather in unnatural numbers.
Some say the soil is poisoned. Others think the grove is punishing someone or something. The few who still enter do so in silence, as if not to wake it.

The Wolf’s Chapel (Sacred Grove)

The village’s namesake. Its wound and its anchor.
Hidden deep in the forest, the Wolf’s Chapel is not a building, but a grove, a naturally formed circle of ancient trees said to be the site of a covenant made long ago between mortals and something older. Moss grows thick. The air feels warmer. No birds sing.
Few have seen it in recent years. Those who do rarely speak of it plainly. The villagers no longer make pilgrimages, but they leave offerings near its edge: antlers, carved stones, small figures of twine and ash. No one claims credit. No one takes them down.