The story of SCSMUSH is a non-canonical continuation of Star Chaser Story: First Flight, an action-RPG currently in development by Sacred Star Team. The events of SCSMUSH are open-ended, serving an as opportunity to explore and develop the setting of Rithera and enjoy roleplaying within it. This help file offers an overview of the most plot-relevant elements of the story thus far to help players of SCSMUSH quickly get up to speed. For a more comprehensive history of the world of Star Chaser Story, see "help timeline."
BACKSTORY
Reize Seatlan, in search of adventure, encounters the homunculus Lily. A mysterious resonance between Reize's pendant, which allows him to hear the wishes of others, and the crystal embedded in Lily's forehead causes them to spontaneously teleport across the world from the forests of Verdios to the dense jungles beyond Cosmopolis, near the Gate of Creation. For over a century, the Gate has overflowed with a magical power that causes "Proliferation," excessive and uncontrollable growth in flora and monstrous fauna. Its threat and promise led Cosmopolis to cut itself off from the outside world.
There they encounter Ivo Galvan, a minor noble and scholar sent by Vivian Solms, a general vying to be prime minister of Cosmopolis, to investigate a new form of magical corruption that has been worsening Proliferation. During their adventures, they befriend others who have ventured to this remote land: Priel Aylin, a dragonkin Vanguard seeking lost treasures; Faruja Senra, a paladin of Revonus exploring the abandoned temple left by pilgrims to the Gate from the era before Proliferation, who is dedicated to purging the eerie and dangerous eidola in its vicinity; and a swordsmith and mercenary who calls herself "Raiya," secretly once one of Castia's elite Four Deva Generals.
Our heroes eventually discover that the corruption was a plot by Vivian, deliberately induced to rally political support for her militaristic policies, and she had sent Ivo into the jungles to make a martyr of him, being the son of a hated rival. But other forces are at work as well. A masked sorcerer who seems to know Lily seeks the power of a terrible weapon created by Cosmopolis to fend off Proliferation, the Magitech Cannon, which is revealed to be fueled by the eidola once worshipped at the abandoned temple, Panacea. Seemingly there to oppose this sorcerer's agenda are a contingent of Castian warriors led by Thael, Raiya's replacement Deva General and a young man who is, strangely, the spitting image of Reize.
As these rival factions conflict, the party, assisted by indigenous beastkin called the Cremisi, reaches the Gate of Creation, at the heart of the corrupted world tree Elysia. There, Reize and Lily do battle with the first eidola, Adrastus, who seeks to break free of his imprisonment beyond the Gate of Creation. In defeating him, the Gate is sealed, ending Proliferation at the cost of cutting off the flow of magical energy that had enriched Cosmopolis before it went out of control. All this piques the interest of a mysterious and powerful spellgunner connected to a cult of eidola-worshippers, who encourages Reize to continue his adventures and bestows upon the boy the emblem of the first Grandmaster of the Vanguards, who disappeared after Proliferation began, over a century ago.
Many mysteries remain. Who is the masked sorcerer, what is their relationship with Lily, and what have they done with Panacea, the Magitech Cannon's core? What is the cause of the mysterious connection between Reize's pendant and Lily that brought them to Cosmopolis and enabled them to overcome Adrastus? What is the connection between Reize and Thael? Who is the mysterious spellgunner, what is his connection to the Vanguard Association, and what is his agenda?
SCSMUSH, PART ONE: THE LEGACY OF VAELTRANDIA
As the Star Chasers celebrate their victory and ponder these questions, a new crisis ensues. Lily abruptly falls into a slumber from which she cannot be awoken. Though Cosmopolis is the most advanced magitechnical society in the world, its ruler, the Sorceress Potentate, prohibited research into homunculi (already highly restricted) after one murdered its creator some years back. Ivo, searching for some clue, learns of a legendary kingdom supposedly ruled by homunculi known as the Star-Crowned, which once existed in Granse, on the other side of the world. Determined to save Lily, the party ventures to the Western Continent on a magitech ship, the Romancing SaGa, to unearth the truth behind the legend.
They eventually discover a hidden shrine dedicated to a benevolent eidola, Kernunnos, who was worshipped by the druids who created the Star-Crowned. Our heroes learn that these druids dreamed of traveling to the sun, where the god Faleh is said to reside, and Kernunnos sought to help realize their dream by leading them to a fallen star, from which they fashioned homunculi with extraordinary magical aptitude. But, in need of resources, the druids unified with a warrior kingdom of Granse, Vaeltrandia, and deployed the Star-Crowned as terrible soldiers, sacrificing the souls of subjugated enemies to feed the homunculi's hunger for aether and in turn sacrificing their own Star-Crowned soldiers to produce yet more powerful iterations.
Eventually, the Star-Crowned rebelled, and their leader, Arcas, declared himself the Star-Crowned Emperor, ruling tyrannically and slaughtering others to feed his people. In desperation, the last of the decimated druids managed to imprison him and his armies on the floating city Arcadios, once intended to be a launching platform for the Vaeltrandians' fateful celestial journey. Vaeltrandia collapsed from this internal strife, the few druids remaining going into quiet exile in Zerhem, a small kingdom that comes to loosely unify the territory. The story of Vaeltrandia's downfall remains a mystery and its reign is soon remembered only as a brief, terrible, and bloody period for Granse.
The party concludes that whatever secrets might aid in reviving Lily likely lie on Arcadios, but it still floats above the clouds, far out of reach. In search of a druidic relic that could grant them passage, the Crux of Creation, our heroes travel the length and breadth of Granse, collecting its four separated fragments. During their many adventures, they visit the ruined beastkin city of Aurita Meloda, one of the capitols from the beastkin's ancient golden age, and there contend with the Covenant to Control Chaos, an organization of shady characters led by the capybara mob boss known as The Capo. These villains desire the power of Chaos within "Meloda's Blessing," a heretofore inaccessible source of seemingly unlimited energy deep within the city that led to its downfall long ago.
Along with the final arm of the Crux, the Star Chasers discover the last secret of the druids: Sol Ascent, the magical tree-rocket that was intended to fly from Arcadios to the sun. The party, with the completed Crux of Creation as fuel, uses it to ascend to Arcadios. After an epic battle, they defeat Arcas and acquire the Crown Jewel, an artifact he created from the forehead-crystals of his many fallen comrades, able to revive dormant homunculi. The triumphant party returns to Aurita Meloda to build a new shrine for Kernunnos where he may live among the beastkin, and sacrifice the Crux of Creation to quell Meloda's Blessing once and for all, heralding a new beginning for the fallen city.
SCSMUSH, PART TWO: CHAOS IN COSMOPOLIS
In the interim, great change is coming to the long-sealed Cosmopolis. With the end of Proliferation's threat and, simultaneously, the loss of the prospect of using the Gate of Creation as a source of magical energy, the Spiring City reopens to the world, trading its hoarded magitech in exchange for now needed resources. The members of the nobility enthused about these changes, collectively known as the Reformers, invite the Vanguard Association to return to Cosmopolis and host a fighting tournament to attract talent from around the world: the Cosmos Cup.
But new threats loom. An isolationist faction learns of the power of Chaos, which had been at the core of Meloda's Blessing, and allies with the Covenant in order to acquire it and drive out the influx of foreigners. Meanwhile, those discontent with the iron-fisted reign of the Sorceress Potentate -- who has ruled continuously since Proliferation, her longevity a mystery -- plot rebellion and seek self-rule for those who, like the Cremisi, have been historically consigned to the margins of their hierarchical society. The cult of eidola-worshippers who had lurked in the vicinity of the Gate of Creation now dwell in the city outskirts and seem to have designs on the research hidden within restricted archives. And as Lily continues to slumber, the Sorceress Potentate remains watchful for those seeking forbidden knowledge...
One can only hope the tournament goes as planned.