• New $90k goal - I will create a supplement for holdings (villages, towns, castles, etc...) and mass combat.
• Removed the 3rd book goal, as we're not going to make that.
• PDFs of Stretch Goals will go to all pledges (including the Digital Only pledge).

I'm going to speak plainly. As with my Fragged Empire 2 campaign I do not wish to focus on stretch goals, as they can cause production bloat/delays, unreasonable expectations, low-quality add-on products and encourage artificial marketing (such as creators removing features so they can add them back in as Stretch Goals). We're just going to have three primary stretch goals: Holdings & Mass Combat Supplement at $90k, a 2nd adventure at $120k, and an additional STL/Miniatures Package per 200 people who purchase the physical miniatures - PDFs of these books will be free for all and physical books are addons.

Now, lets jump into some lore!!
 

Giants

“We knew not what was coming. We had heard whispers of their conquests, but those had been far-off tales. Meer rumours. We would soon come to know them with terrifying clarity as the giants gleefully devoured livestock and soldiers. They ripped up trees and our houses to use as projectiles.”
- Commander Elias Bard.

• Perk: You’re Big!
• Gain 7 Endurance per point of Strength (normally 5).
• All damaged characters (or a section of nearby terrain) may be moved back 1 (2 if Tiny, 0 if Big) space (does not change facing).

The Giants are a collection of supersized, bipedal monstrosities. They tower above the other species and their footsteps shake the earth with every step. To feed their mammoth bulk, they must consume vast quantities of food. While they prefer meat, they are not picky and have been known to eat bones and entire trees if nothing else is available. The Giants inherit their voracious appetite from Ugra’thok, their creator and god of consumption. The very physical and present Ugra’thok lies at the centre of a giant city far to the west across the Gale Sea, a huge, four-armed monster as large as a mountain. He is so humungous and distended that he cannot move, his legs atrophied after being wounded by the ancient Twi-Far hero Faren Drasong. His nation of slaves sustains him, pouring wagons of food and captives into his immense mouth.

Though crude, Giants are not neither unintelligent or devoid of culture, though they have no moral sense of good or evil. Beyond worship of Ugra’thok and a tenuous loyalty to their kin, Giants live only for themselves. They raid for food, enjoyment and trophies. They take a dark delight in the terror of smaller creatures, often capturing prisoners to offer as sacrifices to their insatiable god, or for their own entertainment - keeping them as pets or playthings.

Giants have established a great nation on the continent of Mammon around the torpid body of Ugra’thok. Their cities are chaotic and vast, with colossal buildings rising haphazardly across the landscape. Crude roads cross their territories but always lead to great plazas that are used for gathering food and victims to be sacrificed to their god. In recent years, the coastal territories of the giants have been devastated by the dragon Nelthrezad. Her aquatic minions - including many Dracim, drakes and wyverns - have overrun much of the giants’ traditional hunting grounds, leaving them starved and vulnerable. Unable to drive Nelthrezad off, the giants turned their gaze eastward, seeking fertile lands and unspoiled waters.

Secret truth: Giants are Nephilim, and their god Ugra'thok is mountain-sized Oni with atrophied legs.

Chompers

“Vile little monsters that are a scourage upon Akharon. May Neph be twice cursed in her grave for creating such a plague!”
- Adam Forester, Kaltoran peasant who lost his farm to a Chomper raid.

• Perk: You’re Tiny!
• Focus and Intelligence Attributes gain +2 Armour.

• Assassin (Established+): Skilled at stealth, poisons, tracking and assassinations. Their scouts are more dangerous.
• Beastmaster: Skilled at managing resources. Trains up animals and monsters to be mounts and combatants. 
• Brood Queen (access to wylding): Very rare. Has a large body that can produce larvae of any caste (including aspirants).
• Possessed: Enslaved to a dark (ethereal or wraith) spirit or able to use enchantment magic. Has exotic powers and is often insane.
• Putrid (Basic+): Skilled with potions, poisons and tactics. Uses pheromones to convey complex ideas to other Chompers.
• Ogre (access to wylding): Very large and strong. Must be directed by other Chompers (often through chains and spear pokes) due to their stupidity.
• Knight (Advanced): Skilled at combat and crafting armour. Trains up animals and monsters to be mounts. Their warriors are more dangerous. Their scouts are less dangerous.
• Rager: Strong, aggressive and uses dual or large weapons. Their warriors are more dangerous.
• Sourcerer (Advanced): Skilled at techno-magic. Their scouts and warriors may use techno-magic weapons.
• Sporemancer (access to wylding): Skilled at wylding magic and able to create fungizombies.

G'day everyone.
Recently I had the pleasure of being on the ARC podcast where I got to talk all things Fragged, dice, crowdfunding and why dogs are the best!

>> PODCAST LINK <<

(Listening to myself I'm getting so embarrassed by my verbal ticks that I was unaware of. Such as saying "ok" way too much! ha ha! I blame exhaustion!)

The Timeline Between FK1 & FK2!

One of my core objectives with the creation of FK2 was the expansion and fleshing out of the setting. I'm really proud of 1st edition and it's 'fighting back the wilds to bring back civilisation' tone, but I thought the world needed a lot more components to flesh out its ideas and facilitate more campaign styles. I wanted more gods, species and places to explore. I'm not a fan of retcons and I avoid them as much as possible, but it was clear that the FK1 lore was not going to give me what I wanted.

So I expanded the timeline, both forward by almost 200 years, but also back into the Age of Creation and wider to include new lands.

I wont go into all of the new gods and nations here, but in short: there are now Twi-Far far off to the east on the islands of Fari and Eyna, the demigod Languorem has taken over Stronghold to created his Warped Kingdom, there are Creet nations to the far north and south, giants have moved onto the island of Tilward, pirates have re-taken the island of Kraken, kingless merchants and religious fanatics to the east.

But most importantly of all, the reformed King's Alliance that came out of the people of Stronghold (from FK1) split into two nations: the authoritarian Kingdom of Catla and the fragmented Kindom of Ire. Ire is where most games of FK2 will start, and new nation that is surrounded by enemies and full of potential.

But what of Neph?

“Here lies the head of Neph, hated goddess of nature. Her rage against civilisation was finally silenced by the fell blade of the meek Fik. From her green wylding blood arose her daughters Nijin and Jinin to take her place as wardens of life and death. Let us love these new gods as we did not love their mother, lest we bring about their rage and a repeat of history.”
- Tlaloc Catla, expedition commander to Neph’s head.

 In an uncharacteristic display of determination, the goddess Fik took up her scissors and confronted the mighty Neph with shakey rage. With a stern face, she uttered the words that would come to be displayed in all future temples to the goddess of silence and the cosmos:

“Be silent wretched fiend, for anguish comes to those who can not hear beyond their own voice.”

Without hesitation, Neph roared as she lunged at Fik. With a single snip the head of the indomitable goddess of nature was separated from her neck. In a moment of impulsive revoltion, Dray kicked his sister’s head out of his workshop where it plummeted to Akharon in a ball of fire that was seen by all mortals who watched the skies.

To the envy of Nix, a kindly love was kindled between the handsome Dray and the unassuming Fik. The two were soon married and forever only had eyes for each other.

This set of a chain reaction of events that remade both the divine and mortal realms. Most importantly; Neph's fabled spear "Ire" was to be later found and sparked a civil war that created the Kingdom of Ire, and from Neph's blood two new goddess of nature were born - Nijin (life and death) and Jinin (death and life) - who have remained on Akharon and are watching over the tension between nature and civilisation.

In ages past, the now-dead goddess Neph occupied a strange place in the minds of the people. She was an eternal thorn in the sides of the other gods and all civilised rulers; she was the killer of the god Pol and the destroyer of the Empire of Catla, but also the god of life, death and nature. Her druidic servants were pushed out of society, but many prayed to her in secret for their crops to flourish and their children to be healthy. With the arrival of Neph’s daughters - Nijin and Jinin - the civilised nations are determined to learn from their past mistakes and foster a positive relationship with these new gods of the wild.

When Neph was slain by the goddess Fik and her severed head cast down to Akharon, there was a great effusion of wylding blood that pooled into a great lake. From this arcane fluid arose Nijin and Jinin, daughters born to carry Neph’s legacy. The explorers that journeyed to Neph’s final resting place were shocked to see the young person-sized goddess frolicking in the green blood of their mother. They were quick to scamper away from the imposing knights, but they would be seen many times over the years as they refuse to live in the heavens alongside the other gods. 

Worship of the Wild Twins is widespread, especially in rural regions where lives are closer to nature. Worship of Neph was characterized by fear, while the Twins are worshipped with respect and gratitude for the cycles of life. The greatest ceremony for the twins is the two-part Feast of the Turns, held once upon the first falls of autumn, and finished later in the year at the blooming of spring. The earlier feast honours Jinin - goddess of death and life - with a time of reflection on the impermanence of existence, and the new beginnings brought on by death. The second is continued months later as if the feast had never ended in honour of Nijin - goddess of life and death - with lively celebration and a chance to ponder the gift of life in all of its forms.

In all other matters, the Wild Twins are venerated together, acting as dual patrons of temples, thanked for bountiful harvests and successful hunts, and enshrined in prominent places wherever physicians ply their trade. Midwives in particular are especially favoured by Nijin, and Jinin holds hunters in high esteem.

Victory!!! We are now funded and these awesome books will be printed! Yay!!
Thanks so much everyone, now lets see how high we can go so we can make these books the best they can be!

For this update I wanted to take a short look at dragons, a stapple of the fantasy genre and a little different in Fragged Kingdom as they're Nephilim!

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
- GK Chesterton.

"Why is the dragon so integral to the fantasy genre?"
"I'm pretty sure it's because dragons are cool."
- random discussion on Reddit.

Dragons

“Dragons are creatures born of a primal age, with hearts devoid of all virtue. Prideful and cruel, they seek only destruction, their greed insatiable. With every roar, they defy the heavens, for they bow to no god. Their wings blot out the suns, their breath melts all before them and they have no word for mercy.”
- Cratinus Lowhill, Introduction to Codex Dracanus.

The great dragons of Akharon are fearsome, serpentine monstrosities, creatures of primaeval dread, muscle and elemental power. Their scaly hides glisten like darkened jewels, mirroring the shadows of the abyss and their eyes burn with an evil malevolence that harks back to the dawn of time. These ancient wyrms are wreathed in the enigmatic shroud of myth as they slumbered for a thousand years before they were awoken by the scent of wylding magic during the Druidic War.

Kings

Queens

Drakes & Wyverns

Two curious draconic topics that are commonly discussed by scholars are their sexual tetramorphism and the social structures of their nests. Roosted males and females are known as kings and queens, while their younger counterparts are referred to as princes and princesses.

Dragons are treated horribly by their parents, as they are entombed alive at a young age until they succumb to Neph’s Decline and devolve into animal stupidity and their bodies mutate into a lesser form; that of a male drake or female wyvern. They are then enslaved and used as disposable fodder to defend the nest or act as beasts of burden. On rare occasions, a young dragon breaks free to lose their mind in the wild, partners up to create a small nest of their own, or a princess joins a rival roost to become a queen.

Most nests consist of a dragon pair, while the great kings have dozens of queens and thousands of slaves. Queens produce very few royal eggs but will gestate and lay hundreds of smaller Dracim eggs within a single month after being infused with wylding magic.

Dragon nests vary greatly based on the culture of its royals and their environment. Most are a network of caves with chambers set aside for eggs, food, waste, rest and servants. With the rise of the Dracim they are becoming increasingly complex and include more buildings, traps, animal pens, homes and other markings of civilisation. The cultural centre of all dragon nests is the hoard; a mound of coins and arcane artefacts for the king to rest upon.

Dracim

• +1 Leadership and Monsters.
• +1 to all Acquisition Rolls.
• +2 End Dmg, all Weapons.
• -2 max Reflexes.
• Complication: Neph’s Decline and prejudice from many people.

Secret Truth:
The Nephilim deployed an army to Akharon to uncover a number of secret Archon weapon laboratories (that were creating super soldiers code-named ‘Angel’), these were in turn counter assaulted by Mechonid robots. Dragons are a form of Nephilim Genocrat that outlived almost all other Genocrats due to their impressive genetic engineering.

Despite killing the last Archon on the planet, the Nephilim were losing their war with the Mechonids. Dragons are exceptionally selfish creatures and they sacrificed much of their remaining forces to allow themselves time to burrow into the planet’s many caves to hibernate. They did not arise until the Archdruid made use of large amounts of biotechnology (known as wylding) that triggered sensors that were designed to detect Nephilim reinforcements.

When the dragons arose they learned that the Mechonids were also slumbering and that all non-dragon Nephilim on the planet had mentally degraded into a feral bestial state (known as Neph’s Decline). They themselves were starting to suffer the effects of mental degradation despite their dormancy.

All of the great dragon kings fought in the X’ion war against the Archons, but most have foggy memories or minds that have been reworked by psionic nanites that infest the planet. They dragons moved to gather organic technology (which they were also calling wylding at the time) to heal their minds and strengthen their atrophied bodies. Languorem secured a large amount of wylding that was deployed to the planet by a feral Nephilim warship that orbited the planet (known as the goddess Neph). This deployment included mobile laboratories, weapons and mutagenic fluid. The warship had detected the Genocrat dragons and was sending aid.