Sankofa Accord

The Sankofa Accord was a legislative bill passed by the Alliance enforcing the mandatory disbandment of all adventuring parties and guilds, effectively bring an end to the Age of Heroes. Supporters and critics debated between the rights of the individual (to freedom to bare arms and deter domestic threats) on one side versus the rights and safety of society at large (to safety from danger or harm) on the other.

Early History

To understand how a nation could so easily vote to disband its heroes, one must step back and look at the events leading up to the Sankofa Accord, and look at the culture of adventuring.

According to scholars, there are four common core types of Adventurer:

The Hero, An Adventurer driven by a divine or self-driven sense of duty to protect the realm.
The Sellsword, An Adventurer driven by selling their abilities and talents for gold.
The Scholar, An Adventurer driven by a desire to teach and learn.
The Scoundrel, An Adventurer driven by a desire to trick, steal, or bring misfortune for pleasure.

Now, it may be clear as to which type of Adventurer probably led to the passing of the Sankofa Accord, correct? But what if it was all four?

The Hero's morale compass or divine duty might not share the same morale or spiritual beliefs as those they stumble upon. So they push their ideology, or remove a relic that offends their belied system, or refuses to save a community they believe is corrupt. Their ideology and beliefs shrinks the circle of their understanding.

The Sellsword is driven solely by gold. They may steal items out from under vendors or refuse a job because the payout isn't to their liking. Imagine the lengths someone must go to employ such an Adventurer.

The Scholar is curious, and curiosity in a world of raw, untapped magic is dangerous. One miswritten spell, one opened crypt of undead, one misplaced fireball, and a city is swallowed up. Curiosity kills much more than a cat.

The Scoundrel may be driven by any number of things. They are a chaotic force that enjoys dropping a wild animal into a crowded city and seeing what happens. Consequences be damned. They are unredictable just for the sake of being unpredictable.

Adventuring during the Age of Heroes was a societal culture driven by fame, gold, knowledge, and experiences. Bands of powerful, armed, often reckless adventurers running around to fulfil these needs, these quests for something more, sometimes put innocent lives in the crossfire. Families were separated, money was stolen, businesses were lost, untold numbers of creatures rampaged through cities during historic battles. People were tired of turning into nothing but stories for Adventurers. Passing thoughts and nameless faces that just happened to be caught in the crossfire. People were fed up.

The Sankofa Tragedy

Everything came to a head when the Sankofa Incident, renamed the Sankofa Tragedy, occurred. The city of Sankofa was a large island of roughly 12,000 people just to the west of Sheng-Lao. It was there that an adventuring party known as the Lamplighters chased Kalem Mazkar, a wanted rogue wizard, into the city’s catacombs. There they attempted to thwart the mad wizard’s attempt to steal the Talisman of the Sphere. ‘Attempted’ being the key word, since what happened next resulted in an explosion so great, that it had obliterated everything within a ten mile radius. A Sphere of Annihilation that swallowed up 7,400 lives in the blink of an eye.

The only survivor of the blast was the Lamplighter’s Warforged sorcerer, Tempest, who had teleported themselves across the planes at the last second. By Tempest’s accounts, Kalem had gone to cast Sphere of Annihilation with the Talisman when one of Tempest’s friends had recklessly struck the Talisman with a magic sword as the spell was cast. Scholars say that the sudden transfer, and displacement of that much magical energy resulted in the city-clearing explosion. It was the single highest death toll from a single spell in recorded Alliance history.

The Sankofa Trials

The realm was outraged. Thousands lost to the carelessness of heroes. The Alliance leaders had called forth adventuring parties from across the realm to the Citadel for the trial of the century. The People v. Adventurers. Tempest had already been sentenced to a lifetime at the Maw, but now the question came what to do with the hundreds of other adventurers. The people would not have them running around freely as they were. The people demanded change and their leaders gave it. Through the testimonies of everyday people like the vendors who had been accosted and run out of their businesses to the families caught in the crossfires of fights and looting. The people buried their once great saviors underneath a mountain of crimes and accusations. It was the testimony of renowned adventurer turned knight, Sir Edgar Castille that was the final nail in the coffin for adventuring parties. When asked whether he believed adventuring parties were a threat to the safety of the realm, Edgar answered “Yes,” and that was the end of it.

Terms of the Sankofa Accord

The Alliance had drafted, edited, and passed the Sankofa Accord which effectively banned all armed-work for hire outside of a registered military branch. There would be no celebrity posterizing, working in groups for gold, or any form of organized “adventuring” of any kind. No more heroes.

Aftermath

In the next few months after the Sankofa Accord was passed, there were pockets of armed resistance that were quickly put down with extreme prejudice. Many of these groups resisting arrest were disbanded, arrested, or even killed in some cases. The lack of formal adventuring work meant some joined the military which welcomed them with open arms. Some went underground and sold their skills to the highest bidder or crime syndicate. This meant that an influx of new threats arose throughout the realm, threats that the newly manned armies of the realm promised to deal with. Of course they can’t be everywhere at once, and go where they are ordered to. Debates continue to this day about effectiveness of the Sankofa Accord. In a time where Croak and Dagger dare to put adventuring parties back on the map.