New Jerusalem (Cadwallon City of Thieves)

[Old Dwarf]

New Jerusalem is my rethemed City of Thieves Game which I worked into my Gaming in Hell Series based
on the "Helldorado " Table top Game.The other Games include Claustrophobia ,The Guilds of New Jerusakem
(Aka Guilds of Cadwallon ),Acana Card Game & Unter dem Doppel Adler in Hölle my Battle Board Game).

I just revisited New Jerusalem which is a city/dungeon craw where Gangs in the Thieves Guild try to collect
loot & escape before the city militia catches them . Fantasy Flight did 5 print & play small Expansions &
1 big box expansion that introduced Catacombs. I reworked the Game as a 2 Gang solo which was fairly easy
as the Gang objectives are to collect loot & sic the Militia on eachother.

Here's the background:

The brutality of the 30 Years War reached new heights when
General Tilly's Imperial Forces sacked the city of
Magdeburg in 1631 & set off an orgy of rape,pillage & plunder.
So great was the blood shed that it steeped into the earth
in such vast quantities that it opened a portal to Hell.

The victorious Catholic forces lost no time in exploring
this gaping portal & discovered to their horror it
was a Hell Gate.Brief clashes with demonic forces
who resisted the humans exploration soon reached
the Imperial Court at Wen and the Pope in Rome.

Emperor Ferdinand II anxious not to be distracted
from his crusade to rid Protestantism from the Empire,
was disposed to order the sealing of the portal.
Pope Urban VIII was however appalled at the blasphemy
of the Hell Gate.He also was seeking ways to limit
the power of the Hapsburg's who although Catholic
presented too much concentration of power in their control
of both Spain & The Holy Roman Empire.This power
threated the Papal States in Italy which were sandwiched
between Spain & the Empire.

Pope Urban decided the Hell Gate was the perfect
distraction to keep the expansive Ferdinand occupied.
The Pope invoked a Crusade to cleanse Hell & requested
that Ferdinand provide the forces.

Ferdinand reluctant to put aside his campaigns in Germany,
nevertheless could not ignore the Papal obligation
placed on him.He therefore instructed General Tilly to
make some forces available for the conquest of Hell.

Thus the cleansing of Hell was begun as a poor stepchild
effort,the Emperor supporting it enough to show his
obedience to Papal wishes but not enough to interfere
with his war against the Protestants.

New Jerusalem was set up as a base /supply Depot
for the Holy Roman's Empire Invasion of Hell.

In spite of it's location in the antechamber of Hell
their was money to be made off soldiers with
idle time,money & not much to spend it on.

Soon a Civilian community began to spring up
around the base.Mercenaries looking to hire on,
Goldsmiths looking to make a profit from their
wares,Usurers to finance the soldiers pleasures
they could ill afford.

The seedier types came to,Fortune Tellers &
Necromancers eager to find a place to ply their
trades without the danger of the Inquisition.
Thieves to pray on everyone else.

Ordinary laborers,Ferrymen,Architects came
as well ironically to escape the Horrors of the
30 years war,found Hell to be the lesser evil.

New Jerusalem thus grew without order &
with law to bring some order the various
groups began to band together in Guilds
to protect their interest.

The result was more chaos as the Guilds
began to war against each other for
dominance in the city.

Finally the Army concerned for the security
of it's supply lines & the safety of it's soldiers
appealed to the Emperor to bring some
order to the lawless city.

The Emperor found a Duke whose appetites
had driven him into debt & had drawn the
attention of the Grand Inquisition. The Duke
found the choice of governing New Jerusalem
verses an interview by Inquisitions an easy
choice.

Surprisingly the Duke was fairly effective with
his Militia he put a stop to the open Guild
warfare & began an organized building
effort to employ the idle.

As the City prospered it began to attract the
the Squamata & Retiari residents of Hell who
were oppressed by their Daemon rulers
& sought refuge with the humans.The Guilds quest
for city dominance had not been stopped
by the Duke but merely been driven underground.

Rational- The city is located in Purgatories wet hells region a very dim gloomy
region often as not it's raining .Great Street Lanterns burn throughout.
The Duke to save on Lamp oil has the Lanterns extinguished after 7 Hours of
surface time leaving plenty of time for the Thieves to conduct their activities
under cover of darkness.

Note-The Dukes official currency is the Ducat but as Purgatory is a source of Gems
most residents keep their real holdings in Gems there easier to carry & hide from
the Duke's tax collectors.

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I'm setting up the board & will start a Session Report as I go. Oddly enough the
random Mission Generator kicked out a Mission with Zombies.

OD