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Running Your Own. Rather than join an existing
force, you might choose to form your own mercenary
outfit. You can assemble a unit of 3d10 soldiers housed
in a headquarters with an armory, barracks, and pri
vate quarters for you and any other officers. Yo ur group
earns 3d20 gp per month, plus enough money to main
tain your headquarters. You might be able to acquire
weapons and armor through an arms dealer at a 20
percent discount, at the DM's discretion. You give the or
ders to those beneath you and take orders from no one,
but that means that you are ultimately responsible for
the activities of everyone in your outfit.
You can use the Running a Business downtime ac
tivity to direct the activities of your unit and potentially
increase your earnings, as described at the start of
this section.Newspaper
Yo ur group comprises a team of ace reporters working
for a chronicle-one of the many newspapers that pro
vide news and entertainment for readers across Khor
vaire. You might be under contract to provide the paper
with tales of your exploits as you search out adventure.
Or you might be investigative reporters dedicated to
shining the light of truth into the darkness of criminal,
political, and religious corruption. You might have an
unflinching commitment to the truth, or be more inter
ested in selling papers-or you might be in conflict with
the chronicle's management over priorities.
The simplest chronicles appear as scrolls nailed to
public message boards containing the pertinent news
of the week. More ambitious chronicles-including the
Aundairian Scroll, the Breland Ledger, and the Sham
Inquisitive-are presented as folded broadsheets nested
together to form simple books.KORRANBERG CHRONICLE
By far Khorvaire's best known and most widely read
newspaper is the Korranberg Chronicle. Thanks to its
unflinching and mostly unbiased coverage of the Last
War, combined with a distribution deal with House
Orien, the Korranberg Chronicle enjoys a loyal and avid
readership throughout central Khorvaire. The Chronicle
is released three times a week (on Mol, Wir, and Far),
and each edition features some mixture of news from
around Khorvaire, stories of adventurers and exciting
expeditions, business solicitations, royal proclamations,
and almanac information.
Offices. The Chronicle's main offices are located in
Korranberg. The paper also maintains field offices in the
Five Nations, the Mror Holds, and Zilargo. Each field
office shares space with a House Sivis message station,
giving reporters at the office the ready ability to commu
nicate with the home office (at discounted rates).
Employees. The Chronicle sends reporters across
Khorvaire. Most of them live in Korranberg or near
one of the field offices, but correspondents might be
stationed in more remote regions for long periods of
time, and the paper frequently publishes stories written
by freelancers from across the world. Your adventuring
party most likely falls into that last category, at least at
the start of your career.CHAPTER 1 I CHARACTER CREATIONA large staff of editors-mostly but not exclusively
comprised of Zil gnomes-works out of the newspaper's
various offices. They are organized into an extensive
hierarchy from senior to junior editors. The top tier of
senior editors is responsible for broad categories of sto
ries, such as crime or international affairs. Lower tiers
take on increasingly specific subsets of that category,
down to the junior editor responsible for the crime beat
in Sham's Lower Dura district.
Even the most senior editors, though, are responsible
to the top tier of the Chronicle's management, including
its publisher and its secretive board of owners.
Allies. The Korranberg Chronicle is widely known
and respected as a source of balanced news coverage.
As such, it has friends in many places, including some
in positions of power. Some of the Chronicle's closest
allies come from the following groups:
House Orien. House Orien distributes the Chronicle
along its mail and lightning rail runs across Khor
vaire, helping the newspaper reach a huge audience.
Employees of the Chronicle can travel on lightning rail
coaches at a discounted rate of 8 sp/day (instead of the
usual 1 gp/day).
House Sivis. The newspaper also cooperates closely
with House Sivis to facilitate communication between
the main office and the field offices, as well as be
tween reporters and their editors. The house bills the
Chronicle directly for communications using speaking
stones or sending spells directed to the newspaper's
main office.
Zilargo. The gnome nation of Zilargo is generally
friendly to the newspaper. The senior editors, pub
lisher, and owners of the Chronicle are influential peo
ple in the city of Korranberg and Zilargo as a whole.
In extreme circumstances Zilargo officials might be
persuaded to advocate for the newspaper's employees.
Enemies. The Korranberg Chronicle is dedicated to
learning and reporting the truth, and such an attitude
is always certain to arouse the ire of those who would
rather keep their secrets hidden. The fo llowing rep
resents just a fraction of the enemies the newspaper has
made over the years:
The Boromar Clan. The dominant crime syndicate
in Sham is still stinging from an expose published
ten years ago that resulted in the arrest of many of
the clan's leaders and gave other gangs a foothold in
the city. Members of the Boromar Clan go to great
lengths-even murder-to sabotage Chronicle report
ers who pry into their secrets.
Karrnath. King Kaius nurses a grudge against the
newspaper stemming from its coverage of the peace
process at the end of the war, blaming them for sev
eral setbacks along the way to the eventual signing
of the Treaty of Thronehold. Chronicle reporters op
erating in Karrnath often face harassment and find
bureaucracy impeding their every effort.
House Thuranni. The snoops and spies of the Chroni
cle have pried one time too many into House Thuran
ni's private affairs. No member or agent of the house
will cooperate with Chronicle reporters under any
circumstances.