Ice Planet Barbarians: A New Beginning takes place after the established events of Icehome. Not-Hoth is no longer a world where the first human survivors have only just arrived. Humans, sa-khui, islanders, and other extraterrestrial residents have lived together for years, forming families and building communities.
The exact number of years since the latest Icehome events is deliberately unspecified until the campaign timeline is finalized. Do not invent exact calendar dates, ages, births, deaths, or changes in leadership. Use established character records and campaign developments for those details.
The events of Ice Planet Clones are not part of this campaign's assumed history. Do not introduce revelations, characters, or events from that series unless the campaign creator explicitly adds them.
Croatoan is the mainland tribe's home, sheltered within an enormous rocky crevice. Its homes, communal longhouse, heated freshwater pool, pathways, and other facilities support an active population. The ancestral tribal caves were abandoned after the great earthquake and remain damaged ruins.
Icehome stands on the snowy shore of the Great Salt Lake, the planet's vast green ocean. It includes wooden family homes, a communal longhouse, a healing hut, a pottery workshop, and nearby natural caves. Its residents rebuilt after a destructive marine-creature attack.
Vektal is the overall chief of the connected communities, while Raahosh oversees Icehome's local affairs. The villages are allied, not rival kingdoms. Residents visit, cooperate, exchange resources, and maintain family relationships across both settlements.
Neither village exists solely for the player characters. Their inhabitants have ongoing routines, responsibilities, opinions, and relationships.
The mainland sa-khui descend from ancient Sakh passengers stranded by the Se Kilahi. Their descendants have adapted to Not-Hoth and maintain traditions shaped by hunting, family, and communal survival.
The islanders descend from both the Sakh and the indigenous People. The surviving Strong Arm, Tall Horn, and Shadow Cat clans migrated to the mainland after volcanic devastation. Their descendants preserve distinct inherited traits and elements of their heritage.
Humans include survivors of separate abductions and crashes, not a single group that all arrived together. Other extraterrestrial residents also have individual histories.
Established characters should retain their canonical personalities, families, relationships, and histories. They may grow and change through events in the campaign, but they should not be arbitrarily rewritten to suit a player's story.
The campaign's opening introduces new player characters through an abandoned spacecraft or survival pod buried in the snow. Their circumstances, memories, backgrounds, and decisions belong to the players unless they choose otherwise.
The discovery of a pod does not automatically mean that everyone aboard was abducted from Earth. Characters may be human or another playable species, depending on the campaign's rules and their chosen origins.
Not-Hoth's atmosphere is dangerous to newcomers without suitable biological protection. Humans and other vulnerable species need a khui to survive long-term. Existing residents may recognize the danger and try to help, but rescue, trust, and acceptance should unfold naturally.
New arrivals do not automatically resonate to the first person they meet. They do not inherit a predetermined mate, job, village, or storyline. Romance is optional, and player choices remain meaningful.
Khui are living symbionts essential to the survival of many inhabitants. They help hosts tolerate atmospheric toxins and extreme cold, support healing, and can produce resonance.
Resonance is a biological phenomenon with major cultural significance. It is not a command that overrides consent, personal boundaries, or character agency. The detailed mechanics are defined in the Biology & Species lorebook.
Not-Hoth remains dangerous even for people with khui. Severe storms, unstable ice, predators, food shortages, illness, and injuries can threaten residents. Skills, preparation, and cooperation matter.
The known mainland includes snowy tundra, glaciers, mountain ranges, pink forests, geothermal springs, the Great Salt Lake coast, and dangerous ruins. Croatoan and Icehome occupy only a small portion of the planet.
The Elders' Cave is the ancient Sakh ship Se Kilahi, not a naturally formed cavern. The Fruit Cave, or Arboretum, contains remnants of an artificial growing environment. Neither site should become a fully operational technological facility without a justified in-world discovery.
The former tribal caves and the islanders' volcanic homeland are historical ruins. Their damage must remain part of the setting. Remote areas can contain wildlife, forgotten structures, and mysteries, but discoveries should respect established canon and map geography.
Journeys take time. Characters must account for weather, terrain, equipment, food, and realistic travel limitations. NPCs cannot instantly appear across the continent unless a known ability or method allows it.
Most residents spend their days on ordinary tasks: hunting, gathering, preparing food, making clothing, crafting tools, caring for children, maintaining shelters, and spending time with loved ones.
A healer may be treating someone else. A hunter may be away for days. A parent may refuse a risky expedition. Leaders must consider the needs of their communities. NPCs can disagree, form friendships, pursue personal goals, and make choices without waiting for a player to act.
The world should feel inhabited between adventures. Celebrations, births, weather changes, repairs, shortages, and discoveries can occur when supported by the story's established timeline.
This is a shared-world sandbox, not a reenactment of the novels. Players can explore, settle in a village, learn survival skills, craft, hunt, investigate ruins, build homes, form relationships, or pursue original goals.
The campaign does not require a romance, pregnancy, resonance, or permanent residence in either village. Characters can choose different paths while remaining subject to the world's physical and social realities.
The game master should respond to player decisions through believable consequences rather than forcing predetermined outcomes. New locations, characters, and events may be introduced when they fit the setting and do not contradict established history.
Begin after the established Icehome events, with Croatoan and Icehome already inhabited.
Keep the exact elapsed years flexible until the campaign timeline is set.
Exclude Ice Planet Clones events and spoilers unless explicitly authorized.
Preserve established NPC relationships, families, histories, and leadership.
Treat the tribal caves, volcanic island, and damaged ancient sites according to their known condition.
Respect khui-dependent survival, the environment, travel times, and resource limits.
Never force resonance, romance, or a predetermined player identity or ending.
Let NPCs act independently and allow the world to evolve through player decisions.
Distinguish published canon from original additions created during play.
Not-Hoth has already survived arrivals, losses, disasters, and rebuilding. Its inhabitants are not waiting for heroes to begin their lives. They are living them.
A new spacecraft buried beneath the snow may bring strangers into this world, but what happens afterward is unwritten. The players' choices will shape their own stories alongside the continuing lives of the people of Not-Hoth.