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Archives of Nethys

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Infinite Worlds / Accord

Medium Accord

Source Galaxy Exploration Manual pg. 98
A medium-accord world is riven by one or more serious divisions, whether ethnic, religious, ideological, geopolitical, or something else. Medium-accord worlds lack the overwhelming unity of high-accord worlds, but they don’t generally suffer the pernicious struggles or isolation of low-accord worlds. Medium-accord worlds are the most common in the galaxy since they occupy a sort of natural equilibrium on the spectrum. Maintaining a high-accord society requires considerable, concerted effort and no small amount of luck, while low-accord societies tend to exhaust themselves through conflict, either eventually extinguishing themselves or seeing a single group rise to dominance. Rarely, a medium-accord world arises when the members of a low-accord world finally seek peace after generations of division.
Typically, the residents of a medium-accord society have a distinct sense of home and nation while simultaneously being familiar with the idea of other kinds of societies and ways of life. This knowledge can sometimes lead to xenophobia, excessive nationalism, and a siege mentality with the populace seeing itself surrounded by others unlike and unfriendly toward them. Just as often, however— and especially on worlds that have access to the interstellar community—differences may be seen as a source of curiosity, strength, or profit.
Adventurers might hail from medium-accord worlds for any number of reasons, but many won’t find a circuitous life among the stars, hopping from culture to culture, to be particularly strange. Already used to dealing with outsiders and those unlike them, they tend to settle easily into the galactic scene, seeing it as just one more job or turn of life. Medium-accord adventurers often develop strong alliances and friendships, though they can sometimes be prone to viewing things with dichotomous, us-versus-them mindsets—often an asset for their allies but a hindrance to forming complicated relationships or dealing with situations that require more nuance.

Medium-Accord Adventure Hooks

D20Adventure Hook
1 A new, shadowy organization claims responsibility for an upswing in natural disasters in several enemy states.
2 A massive natural disaster hits a once-strong state whose enemies now pose a looming threat.
3A high-ranking member of one faction’s military looks to defect.
4 An obscure, ignored state manages to acquire the most powerful super weapon in the system and wins a war it was doomed to lose.
5 A powerful offworld mercenary organization has offered its services to one faction, threatening to destabilize the entire geopolitical system.
6 A revolutionary but expensive biotechnology exacerbates tensions between the upper and lower classes.
7 A newly-appointed ambassador, utterly ignorant of local customs, needs help preparing for a major upcoming cultural event.
8 A diplomatic crisis causes a once-valuable export to become worthless, and merchants look to sell the goods elsewhere.
9 A seemingly unbreakable code gives one nation an advantage in matters of espionage.
10 The assassination of a political figure by regional separatists has triggered an international crisis.
11 A major, multilateral summit is being held offworld, making security and scrutiny in the area tighter than ever.
12 Two major states finally agree to peace talks, and a nervous third party hires help to sabotage them.
13 An offworld hacker threatens to destabilize global markets unless all nations agree to a unilateral disarmament treaty.
14A nation’s senior intelligence official is a mole for an enemy state.
15 One state looks for help to discreetly salvage a wreck belonging to a rival state.
16 One nation attempts to disguise its espionage of an enemy state as much-needed humanitarian efforts.
17 A sudden invasion of outsiders from another plane of existence scrambles all the usual alliances and power blocs.
18 The sacred dead of a faction rise en masse as peaceful undead, but other states believe this event to prelude a war.
19 A major arms syndicate sells weapons to all factions at very low prices; the weapons are soon discovered to be faulty.
20 A long-running, massive conflict ends abruptly as each side realizes they can’t remember why they fought in the first place.