The year is 107 P.A. and the world is ravaged by war. The Coalition has fallen back against Free Quebec's army, unable to defeat them after over a year of battle. They now concentrate on Tolkeen, hoping to defeat them quickly, stamping the citizens and inhuman creatures out of existence. The Federation of Magic lies in wait for the CS to become so weakened by the constant state of war that they may strike and take their revenge. In Europe, the New German Republic has been thrown into a bloody campaign of genocide against the gargoyles, the Brodkil remaining a constant thorn in their side as they become more dangerous due to their alliance with Mindwerks. The Warlords of Russia, all claiming the seat of Emperor of Russia, have stepped up their conflict against the demons that plague Mother Russia in hopes that they will be able to take the throne from their weakened adversaries. And in Japan, the Republic wars with the Oni, struggling to keep the inhuman invaders from taking their land.

In the midst of the chaotic world, Atlanteans rally to their home dimensions, preparing for a war of their own. Splynncryth has become enthralled with the massive conflicts and suspects nothing from those that he stole a nation from.

Atlanteans from every clan, having been shown the truth of Clan Aerihman, are gathering up every member of the renegade clan for a quick trial and execution. Once the traitors have been dealt with, the Clans plan to take back their homeland. Strategic plans are already being laid out and intelligence is being gathered. If all goes well, the invasion will be fully prepared in two years. But first, one small faction of Clan Aerihman remains free.

The Campaign
The players are all Atlanteans and have been brought together to bring in the elusive faction. The faction, led by Seth Aerihman, a powerful Atlantean mage (the exact OCC is up to the GM), was last rumored to be at Center on Phase World, but in truth, he could be anywhere. Other rumors have placed him in Russia, western North America, or the Magic Zone on Rifts Earth. Once Seth has been dealt with, the players will then be instrumental in helping with the invasion. They will be small squad of infiltrators that will move in three days ahead of an Atlantean army, destroying strategic defenses as they move toward Splynn.

The Atlantean clans are all working out of a pocket dimension that has it's only entrance in the jungles on the Ivory Coast of Africa. They have allied themselves with human heroes and the occasional d-bee, but prefer only to involve the Clans and reduce the sacrifice of innocent lives.

The Aerihman Faction
In addition to Seth, the faction consists of 3 low-level (1st to 4th) Atlantean Line Walkers, two mid-level (5th to 8th) Atlantean T-Men, and a mid-level (5th to 9th) Atlantean Mystic Knight, all members of Clan Aerihman.

Alliances
Many people criticized me about not mentioning that the Atlanteans would have alliances (even though I was leaving that open for the GM), so I'm discussing them here. As I said, above, the only alliances that will be made in this battle are those between the clans themselves. The reason being that the Atlanteans carry a guilt that has survived tens of thousands of years since they unleashed the horrors into the world. The Atlanteans simply will not include anyone but themselves in this titanic insurrection because of this guilt and the need to regain their homeland. This homeland is nobody's but their own, further adding to the need to keep it in between the clans.

They will, should anyone offer assistance, ally themselves with heroes and champions of good, such as cyber-knights, psi-warriors, etc. They will not, under any circumstances, ally themselves with any dark force, such as demons, sub-demons, alien intelligences, or other forces of evil.

Timeline
Another area of criticism I received was due to the amount of time and planning this campaign to take back their land from the Splugorth would involve. Again, I had left this up to the GM, however, many disagreed since I included a specific year in the introduction. Here is my reasoning:

The Aerihman's secret, genocidal war would have had to have been proven at the most recent clan gathering. Clan gatherings occur about every one hundred years, so it must have happened within the last 99 years. I am guessing that the exact time is closer to the last fifty years. That gives the clans fifty years to rebuke the claims, further prove the validity and begin the process of exterminating Clan Aerihman. This would be difficult, but not impossible. Any and all beings of a good, or even unprincipled alignment, would be glad to aid the Atlanteans. Clan Aerihman, after the fact of their war is proven, would be among the most despised beings in the megaverse, prompting nearly all beings of light to aid in the hunt, including Cosmo-Knights, Cyber-Knights, Psi-Warriors, Lyn-Srial Cloudweavers, etc., etc., etc. With this many beings hunting the Clan, even as spread out as they are, the extermination process would work fairly quickly.

In addition, one must assume that, during the extermination, the planning of the campaign to retake Atlantis would be taking place. Why? Because it was already stated that they planned to retake Atlantis once the Sunaj were dealt with. It would be best to annihilate the Sunaj, then be prepared to take on the Splugorth and retake Atlantis in one fell swoop. This will prevent regrouping and preparation on their enemies behalf.

As you can see, the complete timeline for this campaign would have started some 50 years ago (at least) and continued up until 107 P.A., when the players are charged with tracking down and dealing with this last faction of Aerihman assassins. I hope to discuss this in further detail in an article at a later time, but for now, this should do.

Written By:  Thoth
10 July 1999