The Annual Assizes at Ankori\'is

Earth is Dying. The sun hangs low and red on the horizon, and who knows when it will go out forever? Her people live among, on top of, and in the shadow of rich cultures, buried countless millennia in the past. Everything that can ever be known has been discovered and forgotten a thousand times over. The fragments of lost magics, religions and technologies that remain, although poorly understood, give some lucky souls great powers! But what is given, or found, can as easily be lost.

Humanity's last civilisation has reverted to a quasi-feudal society with, for the most part, 18th Century levels of technology. Most citizens can do a little magic, but even the great magicians are limited by how many spells they can prepare at once.

All any citizen can do, is to try and persuade their fellows that their path is the advantageous one. To resist all temptations, except perhaps, their one besetting vice, and to try and meet the next day significantly advanced in circumstances, or at worst, with the price of a night's lodging and a hot meal to hand.

This is pretty much as much as you need to know about Dying Earth. Almost Everything else we have made up!

In Ankori'is, a small town persists in the dock area of a vast ancient ruin. The Annual Assizes boasts numerous attractions for both locals and visitors. The assizes themselves include the famed Mayoral Storytelling Contest – can anyone unseat the five-year champion, Mayor Silvertongue? There is also to be a criminal trial, a Deodand Hunt, and of course the renowned Festival of Foppery.

Some travellers, however, are drawn to the fabled ruins of old Ankori'is. Prospectors and wizards alike comb the ruins for ancient artifacts, lost technology, and powerful tomes of magic.

The visiting nobles of half-a-dozen neighbouring realms will use the Assizes to meet and conduct their business, and of course merchants will take the opportunity to sell them the very finest in foppish raiment as they do.

What could possibly go wrong?

This game is generally light-hearted and focussed on character interaction. The festivities are peaceful, although expeditions into the surrounding ruins can be highly dangerous. Combat is perilous for all concerned, so most citizens avoid it wherever possible.

Reversals of fortune - whether self-inflicted or as the result of betrayal - are common, and we encourage our players to enjoy them. Most characters have fatal personality flaws, and scenery-chewing is encouraged. If you are a player who must "win" to have fun, you might not enjoy this game.

Costume: We encourage our players to pillage every century, known and yet to come, without constraint or regard for subtlety, to assemble foppish raiment worthy of Earth's last days.

But if you can't we will at the very least equip you with a fabulous hat!

There is an average amount to read – character sheets are about four pages.

A few characters have back-story that some players might find dark. Not all characters are here under their own agency. We will do our best to cast sensitively.

Health warnings

One character starts the game enslaved, with a potentially triggering background containing nonconsensual sexual references. (There is no sexual activity during play.)

The casting form will provide the option not to be involved with this plotline.