Publisher's Synopsis
In the year 1348, infernal plots of the Lich Queen Vanthiara, hatched against the decadent and heretical Tyrrhenian Prince Pietro Ushir, resulted in the summoning of a terrible entity - the King in Yellow - at a glorious masquerade.
The Yellow King's arisal and merciless slaughter of the Prince's celebrants turned an ongoing mundane plague into a horrific apocalypse of otherworldly undeath, contagion, and madness. In the following Danse Macabre and with the rise of the Corpse Titans, the Principality of Tyrrhenia fell to the Lich Queen's Undead Legions of arisen plague victims, and in the ensuring wars over a million people lost their lives. And so, to the plague doctors and the survivors of the wars, this catastrophic event became known as the Masque of the Golden Death. Few yet know the Prince was betrayed by shape-shifting devils who marked, assassinated, and impersonated several of his closest advisors. For the Prince had sent away his own most trusted bodyguards and royal agents, the Skull Jesters, a rash act of paranoia which directly led to the downfall of his realm and a terrible demise. Yet despite these devastating struggles and the incessant rise of deviltry, the defiant Order of the Masquers lives on. The Order of the Scarlet Tabard, the Free City State of Grimrook, and the Overlord Imperious, Khom Orthruul, embraced the surviving Skull Jesters and their prentices as valuable spies, agents, and infiltrators against the devils, demons, monsters, and scattered yet enduring Undead Legions of Vanthiara. Over the recent years, the few surviving Skull Jesters have mentored new agents of the Order, and so the Balatrones, Masquers, and Pyre Walkers now arise as agents and death dealers in order to defy the enemies of Tyrrhenia that rise on every side. Yet as Lawful Masquers swear oaths of blood to aid in valiant efforts to retake the lost Ushirian Manor of Prince Pietro (Castle Oldskull), other tricksters and death dealers dare to embrace the easier path to power that is forever offered by the eternal Lords of Entropy. The Wars Throughout the Netherworld, pitting the Masquers and their allies against the forces of evil who thrive in the Dungeons Deep beneath the Ushirian Manor, have just begun. The Skull Jesters have sworn themselves to the Overlord, but considerable numbers of their prentices - swayed by shape-shifters and the vile devils' silvery tongues - have betrayed them in this time of need. Who will live to determine the future of Tyrrhenia? That is a matter for the Fates - and their mortal tricksters and champions, the many Masquers of all destinies - to decide. Oldskull Masquerade presents the Masquer archetype, a richly themed and designed deluxe new character class for Grimrook, Tyrrhenia, Castle Oldskull, and any Basic/Expert fantasy role-playing game world of your own choosing.So comes forth another rather unorthodox and Chaos-taunting gaming supplement and art gallery from Kent David Kelly and Wonderland Imprints, Only the Finest Works of Fantasy.
