The opening status quo: the war has ended, but the peace is rotten. The Band of the Hawk has vanished. Griffith is gone from public life. Guts and Casca are hidden in the aftermath. The Eclipse Site is a cursed mystery. Midland is politically unstable. The Holy See is beginning to notice signs it cannot properly interpret.
Local conditions should vary by region. In Midland, the disappearance of the Hawks creates anxiety and cover-ups. In Tudor, officials may suspect Midland weakness. In Holy See lands, priests interpret omens. In Paneria ports, sailors carry rumors. In the Kushan frontier, agents watch. In northern regions, old fears awaken.
The AI should begin with grounded problems: missing people, unpaid soldiers, haunted roads, refugees, ruined farms, nobles hiding evidence, and suspicious clergy. Supernatural truth should emerge through investigation, not immediate exposition.
A good first session does not need the God Hand. It might involve a village that hears marching at night, a Hawk insignia found in a field, a priest who will not let anyone near a red stream, or a beherit sold as a lucky charm.
The world should feel like it has not yet accepted what genre it is in. People still think politics can explain everything. The party learns that politics is only the surface.