7202 Post Sundering
Sea, Sky, Faith, Empire
“Walk quietly. Listen well. The signal is older than you and deeper than you.”“The horizon is only the beginning.”“Every horizon belongs to someone. For now.”“Some things begin when the light starts to fail.”“Daylight shows the world. Night reveals what lies beneath it.”
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Learn how tabletop roleplaying works through an illustrated example set in Mar de Oro.
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Start as a GMChapter I: Welcome to Aeon
Imagine a world roughly the size of our own. In its warm middle waters lies the Mar de Oro, the Golden Sea: a long island chain of colonies, forts, pirate harbors, trade routes, and old secrets. A warm sea between greater continents, close enough to tempt every power, far enough to let secrets fester, and placed so well that the next war of the world may begin there. That is the stage.
The people of Aeon pray to the All-Father, fear the curse of the moons, bury their dead with candles and song, and ride airships lifted by a substance they call Éterlumin. They believe their miracles are divine, their rites are sacred, and their engines are clever pieces of craft.
Every wonder in Aeon, chapel, laboratory, battlefield, or the lift chamber of an airship, belongs to one underlying order. Fortera and Éterlumin are not separate mysteries. They are two faces of the same deep reality, half-grasped by priests, engineers, scholars, and prodigies who have not yet realized they are standing around the same fire.
The Setting's Promise
Priests call the forces reshaping their world divine. Engineers call them useful. Scholars believe they are beginning to understand their laws.
Choose what your character believes, what they are willing to risk for it, and what happens when the world refuses to fit their explanation.
Éterlumin degrades. Calibration buys time, never permanence. Ships need crews, supplies and difficult decisions. Factions remember debts, betrayals and public humiliations.
Nothing here is merely set dressing. What the characters disturb will respond.
What appears miraculous still obeys rules. The people of Aeon have discovered fragments of those rules, but no one has yet assembled the whole pattern.
Your campaign may never reach the bottom of the mystery, but what your characters uncover will have been there from the beginning.
“They are not fools for believing so. They are simply early.”
Community Review
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Four Winds
The Mar de Oro is a Golden Sea of broad horizons, stormy waters, and archipelagos that now matter far more than their size should permit. Harbor fees still matter. Sailors still lie about how bad the storm was. And three nations may suddenly be willing to kill for a chart mark in the margin.
Airships rise on Éterlumin, their lift chambers glowing with a light that engineers measure and priests argue about. The early age of flight has begun, and with it a new kind of power, one that crowns, companies, and renegades all mean to claim.
The Faith of the Codex holds the old continent together and tears it apart. Synods accuse, inquisitors ask questions in tones that mean the answer is already trouble, and reformers whisper that the All-Father's wonder may have a physics after all.
Valdegracia, Albion, Stroomdijk, Luminore, Eisenmark, Volkharov, and the Republic of Éirighdún: old crowns, chartered companies, and colonial ventures pressing their weight into the present. In 7202, the world is moving faster.
Chapter IV
"Every flag is a promise and a threat simultaneously."
The world your character inhabits did not begin with Mar de Oro. The harbors, the colonial outposts, the counting houses and missions and naval yards scattered across the Golden Sea, these are extensions of something older, vaster, and in many ways more consequential than any treasure fleet or treaty port. They are extensions of the continental powers: the crowns, republics, churchly bodies, and national formations that gave your character their first language, their deepest loyalties, and the unexamined assumptions that govern how they move through the world even when they are ten thousand miles from home.
The Mother-Crown. The Eldest Authority. The House That Held the Center.
Valdegracia is the oldest continental power, where crown, church, and noble houses have grown so thoroughly entangled that legitimacy itself has become a family argument carried on in cathedral corridors and cedar-scented archives.
Explore Valdegracia
The Old Kingdom. The Naval Crown. The Power That Built an Empire Before Anyone Agreed to Let It.
Albion is a maritime kingdom of ancient habit and naval genius, built on commercial calculation, quiet intelligence, and the settled confidence of a crown that believes civilization has a shape and Albion lies near its center.
Explore AlbionChapter V: Archipelagos of the Mar de Oro
"The sea does not care who claims it."
Every major continental power has a presence in Mar de Oro. This section is a plain orientation: who is here, what they hold, and what kind of presence they maintain. The full section covers each power in full.
Oldest colonial presence
Valdegracia is the oldest and largest colonial presence in the archipelago. Its viceroys, missions, and garrison commanders have been here since the first decade after the New World's discovery. Its establishments are the most architecturally permanent and the most thoroughly administered. Valdegracia considers Mar de Oro, in some fundamental sense, its rightful inheritance.
Albion, Crown colony
New Avalon is Albion's colonial establishment, tightly administered under a crown-appointed governor and backed by a Royal Navy presence in adjacent waters. The Bureau of Correspondent Affairs maintains an unofficial presence that is widely understood.
Luminore, Republican colony
Nouvelle Lumière is Luminore's colonial establishment, closely tied to the metropolitan republic by cultural and commercial bonds. Formal, rationalist, and attentive to record.
Stroomdijk, Company holding
Nieuw Waterland is Stroomdijk's colonial holding, operated by the great trading companies under company charter. It exists to generate returns and is governed accordingly.
Autonomous Valdegracian territory
The Newest Thing. The Three Founders. The Colony That Decided What It Was Before Anyone Told It.
The Duchy of Heller is the autonomous Valdegracian colonial territory, governed by Dux Hernanus Costesius de Heller and Dux Franciscus Perezzi. Its flag carries two gold dragons and the silver dragon of the presumed-dead Generalis Costilas. The Duchy owes Valdegracia military allegiance in time of war. In all other matters, it governs itself.
Free port under Valdegracian dominion
Canula Prime is a free port under Valdegracian dominion, its governor directly answerable to the crown. Ships of every flag dock there, goods of every provenance pass through it, and the customs officers have learned to ask fewer questions than the regulations technically require.
Factor houses, no colonial territory
Éirighdún holds no colonial territory. Its factor houses are present in almost every harbor of consequence. The Éirighdúnari factor house in Boca Serena is the closest thing the archipelago has to neutral ground.
No colonial establishment
Volkharov has no colonial establishment. When it appears in Mar de Oro, it does so purposefully: survey vessels, religious missions, diplomats whose mandates are not fully explained. It is watching.
No colonial establishment
Eisenmark has no colonial establishment. Its people appear as individuals, engineers, scholars, mercenary officers, ships' physicians, sought after for their competence and uninvested in the political dynamics that exhaust the colonial powers.
Chapter XVI: Ships of Sea and Sky
Wood, canvas, and Éterlumin. What began as a sailor's dream and an engineer's argument now flies under someone's flag, and casts a shadow across whole harbors when she passes overhead.
Grand Justicar-class ship of the line
Deck above deck, her broadside opens like a fortress wall coming alive. A ship of the line is a battle made airborne, wood and canvas raised by Éterlumin, heavy enough to cast a harbor into silence and terrible enough to make whole squadrons turn aside.
Albion Ghost Squadron
The Banshee-class battlecruiser commands the high wind and darkens the cloud. Built for command, control, and heavy strike, she turns reports from other Albion ships into swift and lethal action. Fast, coordinated, and deadly, she is not the scout before the storm. She is the first thunder of it.
Chapter XV
Flintlock, Sail, and the Early Age of Flight
Combat in 7202 is not clean. It is smoke, shouting, damp powder, bad footing, ringing ears, splintered wood, frightened horses, burned hands, officers trying to be heard, and men discovering that courage feels different when the first volley has already passed them.
A flintlock can kill at a distance, but it does not make violence safe. It fires once, then demands time, hands, powder, space, and nerve. Steel remains close because battles still become close. Ships remain terrifying because wood does not merely break under cannon fire; it bursts into knives. Airships add another danger: height, pressure, lift, and Éterlumin systems that can turn a wound into a falling catastrophe.
Equipment matters because it is how people prepare for this reality. A uniform tells others who owns your violence. A boarding harness tells them where you expect to fight. A cuirass says you expect impact. A pressure key says someone trusted you near the part of the ship that keeps the sky beneath your feet.
Forces, Services & Equipment
The units, services, and equipment of the great powers, described by role, training, and deployment rather than by appearance.
Empire of Valdegracia
Sun of Valdegracia, blade of the Empire
Valdegracian line infantry are trained to fight as part of a larger formation rather than as isolated battalions. Their doctrine relies on disciplined volleys, coordinated artillery support, and reserves held until the decisive moment.
Battalions approach in column behind a screen of light infantry, then deploy into line before entering effective musket range. The first line fixes the enemy while supporting battalions reinforce weakened positions or replace formations that have become disordered.
Artillery lanes are kept open, and the reserve remains behind the centre until the enemy's main effort is clear. It may then restore the line, threaten an exposed flank, or carry the decisive position.
Valdegracian commanders value cohesion over speed. Units are expected to recover their alignment before advancing or pursuing, allowing infantry, guns, and reserves to apply pressure as a single force.
Albion
Hold fast. Fire by platoon. Advance on the drum.
Albion line infantry are trained to remain effective when plans break down and neighbouring formations disappear into smoke. Their battalions rely on disciplined fire, experienced junior officers, and rapid counterattacks delivered before an enemy can exploit a weakness.
Albion battalions deploy in line whenever the ground permits, but their companies are expected to manoeuvre and fight without waiting for every formation around them to align. Orders pass through drums, flags, and company officers, allowing damaged sections of the line to refuse a flank, close a gap, or change direction under pressure.
Their fire is delivered by platoon or company rather than as a single uncontrolled discharge. This keeps part of the battalion loaded while another fires, creating a steady sequence of volleys that is difficult to rush.
Albion commanders prefer to receive an attack from firm ground, break its momentum with musketry, and answer immediately with the bayonet. Reserves are often kept close behind the threatened wing rather than concentrated at the centre. Their purpose is not only to repair the line, but to turn defence into a sudden local advance.
This doctrine makes Albion infantry less imposing as a single grand formation than their Valdegracian counterparts, but more dependable when visibility is poor, communication fails, or the battle divides into several smaller fights.
Character Gear
These kits are examples rather than mandatory equipment packages. Choose the items that fit the character's service, rank, circumstances, and current assignment. Equipment should show what a character is prepared to do, not prescribe a fixed inventory.
Example equipment for a navigator or pilot
A navigator might carry working charts, a compass, sextant, spyglass, dividers, and a logbook. These tools allow the character to establish a position, plot a course, recognise hazards, and record information that later crews may depend upon.
The contents vary by environment. A harbour pilot may rely on detailed local soundings and tide notes, while an air navigator may carry altitude tables, weather observations, and charts of reliable landing grounds.
Example equipment for a technical character
An engineer might carry adjustable spanners, a pressure gauge, valve tools, protective gloves, a repair journal, and a calibrated reference instrument. These allow the character to inspect machinery, identify unstable pressure or alignment, and make temporary repairs away from a workshop.
No engineer carries an entire workshop into the field. The chosen tools should reflect the task: lift systems, artillery, fortifications, Dragon Line equipment, ship machinery, or general repair work.
More from the Handbook
Every chapter has its own page. Filter by theme, then open a chapter to read it in full.
A tabletop role-playing game is a shared story created through conversation.
Read chapterWalk quietly.
Read chapterIt is a tale of divine creativity, the struggle for understanding, and the eternal quest for harmony.
Read chapterBefore history there is scripture, and before scripture there is memory trying to survive its own inadequacy.
Read chapterEvery flag is a promise and a threat simultaneously.
Explore the Continental PowersThe sea does not care who claims it.
Read chapterFaith is not an optional backdrop in Aeon.
Read chapterIt is neither wind, nor flame, nor the pull of the earth, yet it may alter the motion, heat, or other properties of matter.
Read chapterThose who shape Fortera deliberately are called many things: priests, scholars, witches, singers, blessed, dangerous, touched, gifted, or cursed depending on who is watching.
Read chapterThe curse of the moons is among the most feared conditions in Aeon.
Read chapterBefore you play, you build a person.
Read chapterA homeland is not merely the place where you were born.
Read chapterSome people are formed less by a single continental homeland than by the crossings, ports, households, and crews of the Golden Sea itself.
Read chapterThere is a question that follows you through every port in Mar de Oro, asked in a dozen languages by customs officials, tavern keepers, ship captains, and suspicious strangers with their hands near th...
Read chapterA motivation is an idea.
Read chapterCombat in 7202 is not clean.
Read chapterA ship is never only transportation in this setting.
Read chapterEmpires move on paper as much as on powder.
Read chapterTravel in Aeon should feel like movement through reality, not a blank space between scenes.
Read chapterStrong Mar de Oro campaigns begin with a shared shape.
Read chapterFor a first session, begin with a concrete pressure.
Read chapterThe six-step adaptation ladder for translating Mar de Oro into D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, or the optional 2d6 Resolution Bridge. Also called system-neutral. Includes a printable Adaptation Worksheet.
Open the chapterEvery essential term of Aeon on one page, Fortera, Éterlumin, the Sundering, the Mar de Oro, and the powers that shape the world.
Spoiler-rich material for the referee: faction secrets, Éterlumin truths, NPCs, campaign paths, and the full San Telmo set-piece. Players should stay out.
Deep cuts
Beyond the handbook chapters, these pages are updated most often and link the setting to the table.
A plain-language introduction to campaign settings, system-agnostic play, and how Mar de Oro fits your table.
Open pageStart HereDefine role, capability, scale, and pressure before translating Mar de Oro to any ruleset.
Open pagePlay at the TablePublished notes for D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Blades in the Dark.
Open pageGMClocks, faction moves, session objectives, clue webs, and consequence planning.
Open pageToolA printable, spoiler-aware worksheet for planning your next session.
Open pageAboutReport barriers, request formats, and read our accessibility statement.
Open pageGenreA genre primer on black powder, sail, early industry, magic, and how Mar de Oro fits the tradition.
Open pageCampaign frameWhy the Golden Sea is built for age-of-sail campaigns, privateers, blockades, and ship-as-character play.
Open pageCampaign frameÉterlumin lift, sky frigates, altitude hazards, and how to run an aerial campaign above the Golden Sea.
Open pageCampaign framePlay at the edge of empire: chartered companies, indigenous peoples, faith, and the cost of expansion.
Open pageAdventureA complete three-to-five-hour introductory adventure with pregens and handouts.
Open pageFrequently asked
Mar de Oro, formally Tales of Mar de Oro, is a free, system-agnostic TTRPG campaign setting in the Golden Age of Sail, where flintlock navies, airship fleets, and a luminous substance called Éterlumin collide across a colonial archipelago. It ships as a Player's Handbook, a GM Guide, a Quickstart, and a growing web codex.
A tabletop RPG setting is the fictional world where a campaign takes place: its places, factions, history, and conflicts. A setting is not the rules engine. Mar de Oro is a setting, so you bring whichever ruleset your group already knows.
Mar de Oro is system-agnostic, also called system-neutral. The System-Agnostic Adaptation chapter walks you through translating the setting into D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, or the optional 2d6 Resolution Bridge, so you can run it under whichever engine your table already knows.
Yes. Tales of Mar de Oro is free. The setting, the Player's Handbook, the One-Page Primer, the Character Creation Kit, the Quickstart, the GM Guide, the campaign, and every tool and download on the site are free, no paywall, no account required.
It is written for tables who want naval warfare, sky combat, colonial politics, and a distinctive metaphysics of light and moon-pressure. If you like historical age-of-sail texture with a strange, dangerous power source layered under it, this setting is for you.
Fortera is the underlying field of the setting: the single force that priests read as divine presence, engineers read as a workable medium, and scholars read as a phase of matter. Rites, airship lift, signal engines, prodigies, and moon-pressure are all local expressions of the same Fortera field. Éterlumin is Fortera made partly visible and material.
Éterlumin is the setting's Fortera-bound luminous medium. It lifts airships, powers signals, and blesses harbors, but it ruptures when mishandled and reacts violently to moon-nights. Its own dossier chapter covers hazard states, assay tables, and the political economy around it.
Yes. Mar de Oro is a fantasy world with a science-fiction spine. Fortera behaves as a consistent field with rules, thresholds, and conservation limits; Éterlumin has assay pressures, phase tolerances, and hazard states; moon-nights follow a tidal model that drives a full interactive almanac. Miracles, engines, and curses are different readings of the same underlying physics, and the codex publishes the numbers.
Yes. The System-Agnostic Adaptation chapter gives a framework for translating Mar de Oro into any ruleset, and the Optional System Conversions hub provides starting points for D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, and a lightweight 2d6 bridge.
Ships sail. Governors bargain. Synods accuse. Relay towers fail. Deposits are stripped. Smugglers profit. Missionaries preach. Engineers test what they do not understand. A letter carried across the wrong water may alter the fate of nations.
In that living world, your characters matter because they choose, risk, suffer, adapt, and earn the right to be taken seriously.
Community
Mar de Oro is free to read, play, explore and create with, and it always will be.
Create your own characters, adventures, locations and game material. Share them, change them and bring your own corner of the Golden Sea to life. Just give Mar de Oro a friendly credit and do not present your work as official or endorsed.
Have a question, want to show us something you created, propose a collaboration or discuss a commercial project? Contact us at talesofmardeoro@gmail.com. We would be happy to hear from you.
The regional map is adapted from an existing map and carries its own attribution, shown directly beside it. All other Mar de Oro setting material is original.
