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Step 4. Starter Settlement and Connections

Choose a settlement from your region that you will either be headed to or currently resting up in for the beginning of your campaign. If you have a settlement that is defined in the land of Cicadas book, it’s recommended to choose that one. Otherwise, choose whichever one interests you the most and roll on the following oracle tables:

Flesh out the settlement in your mind some based on those details, then we will create a connection for you there.

Create a Local Connection

A connection represents a significant relationship you have with a character in the world. Over the course of the campaign you will make connections with various NPCs, build up your relationships with them, and eventually develop those connections into bonds to represent a deeper kinship with them. Creating connections and nurturing them into bonds will let you mark progress on your bonds legacy track and gain experience. They also can offer both narrative and mechanical benefits depending on the role of the character you have a connection with.

You will only have a single connection for now. You likely know other people, both in this region and elsewhere in the Lowlands, but you aren’t connected to those people in the same way. You can always make new connections with other people during play.

If you are playing with others, you will both have a connection to the same character from this step, though you should consider your individualized attitudes towards them and what each of your relationships with them looks like.

Make the Move

Look at the Make a Connection move below. You would normally roll, but for now you can instead take an automatic strong hit because this relationship was already built before the campaign started. Follow the procedure described in the rest of this step for guidelines on how to resolve this move.

Make a Connection

When you search out a new relationship or give focus to an existing relationship (not an ally or companion), roll +heart.
On a strong hit, you create a connection. Give them a role and rank. Whenever your connection aids you on a move closely associated with their role, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit.

On a weak hit, as above, but this connection comes with a complication or cost. Envision what they reveal or demand.

On a miss, you don’t make a connection and the situation worsens. Pay the Price.

Give the Connection a Role

Your connection’s role is a succinct way of  describing their background, profession, or allegiances. For example, they could be a mystic, a guard, or even a criminal. You shouldn’t make your connection be one of the named NPCs from Land of Cicadas.

The connection’s role could be related to your character’s recent history that you’ve established so far. They could be a healer that helped get you stabilized after a fight or a herder transporting sheepdogs that you met along the road.

You will likely want to make the role somewhat specific - choose something that tells a bit of information about the character. A chalk harvester is more clearly defined than a scavenger, and a sporekeeper is more exact than a herbalist. This specificity may not be as mechanically helpful initially, but it will help you figure out a launching off point for your adventure.

If you’re having difficulty or would prefer to leave it to fate, roll on the Character Role oracle table and give details to the result as needed.

Mark your connection’s role on the connections sheet.

Give the Connection a Rank

Your connection’s rank represents how difficult it is to further your relationship with them. The higher the rank, the harder a bond is to achieve, and the more narrative focus and game time that will be spent developing it.

Choose a rank that is appropriate for their role and how much involvement you want them to have in your adventure. A good recommendation for a starting connection is to make the rank troublesome or dangerous. The exact language of the rank doesn’t define them as a person - A dangerous rank doesn’t necessarily mean a dangerous individual - rather it represents any potential risks involved with developing a relationship with this person.

Mark their rank on your connections sheet.

Define Their Characteristics

Give the connection some distinctive features. Write down what you know about the person, or roll on the following oracle tables:

Make note of anything interesting on your connections sheet.

Give Them a Name

Finally, give them a name and write down whatever pronouns they use. If you need help with a name, consult the table found in the Cloud Empress Rulebook on pages 59 and 60.

Introduce a Problem

Something is going on in the region you are in. There is a disaster, conflict, mystery, or some sort of threat that could affect the entirety of the region. You may use one of the many ongoing problems described in Land of Cicadas, come up with something yourself, or roll on the Action and Theme oracles tables for guidance. Make note of it somewhere on your region sheet.