Qandela Obscura is an online Illuminated Worlds community campaign that began in December of 2023.
About
The campaign involves investigators of Candela Obscura seeks to procure phenomena of the Flare to research and protect the world from its dangers and magick, based on the TTRPG of the same name.
The World of Qandela Obscura
In the heart of Hillia, on the continent of Osugbo, the city of Vostroya stands as the flourishing capital of one of Quelmar’s youngest and most optimistic nations. Once the seat of the authoritarian Regime that ruled East Hills through fear, isolation, and repression, the city has been transformed by the Hillian Revolution into a center of democratic government, scientific achievement, public investment, and international cooperation. Former symbols of state power now belong to the people, while universities, museums, parks, theaters, and public squares bustle with citizens who believe the future is something they can build together.
It is now 40 CR, and the Hillian People’s Republic stands as one of Quelmar’s great success stories. Railways have been restored, hospitals and schools expanded, neglected communities reconnected, and the nation’s borders reopened to scholars, artists, engineers, diplomats, and travelers from across the world.
Yet progress has not erased everything the Regime left behind. As Hillia restores its cities, railways, and forgotten places, it continues to uncover the remnants of buried laboratories, sealed archives, and ancient Vaelonic ruins. There, where the barrier between worlds grows thin and the and strange worlds press ever closer to ours, phenomena once imprisoned, studied, or weaponized have begun to emerge from The Flare once more, bringing with them mysteries that defy reason and dangers long thought forgotten.
For centuries, circles of extraordinary individuals have stood between the people of Quelmar and the impossible. Professors, physicians, explorers, criminals, journalists, soldiers, and scholars, united not by power but by conviction, investigate the inexplicable, protect the innocent, and preserve truths others would rather bury.
They are the investigators of Candela Obscura.
Player Characters
Find the Roster of Player Characters Here —> ROSTER
Lightkeepers
Prof. Mila Korovin
Mila Korovin is an archaeologist, professor of ancient history at the University of Vostroya, and accomplished occultist who served as Candela Obscura’s sole investigator in all of East Hills during the final years of the regime. While publicly teaching and participating in government-sponsored archaeological expeditions, she secretly monitored phenomena across the country, investigated and contained sources of Bleed, destroyed dangerous artifacts when necessary, and ensured Candela remained informed of every significant supernatural event beyond the Iron Curtain. A veteran of the People’s Revolution, Mila’s work extended far beyond scholarship, as she fought alongside the resistance against the regime while risking execution to preserve knowledge it sought to erase. Following the revolution and the founding of the Hillian People’s Republic, Candela established its first permanent chapter house in the country and appointed Mila as Hillia’s first Lightkeeper. She now leads the nation’s growing circles of investigators, guiding a new generation as they confront the remnants of the Regime’s occult experiments, uncover secrets hidden within ancient ruins and face the increasingly dangerous phenomena emerging where the boundary between Quelmar and the Flare has begun to wear thin.
Looking for information on other important NPCs? Try Other Qandela NPCs
The Story So Far
The Illusionist and the Alchemist
In the shadowy depths of the Eaves, a grim and perplexing pattern began to emerge. Bodies were discovered bearing savage and unusual injuries—lacerations, missing gold fillings, and punctured cheeks. A deadly hunt for gold had taken a twisted turn, revealing a sinister figure, or perhaps something more unnatural, scouring the city for treasure in the most gruesome manner. Amidst this chaos, an alchemist sought the help of Candela Obscura, believing that a hidden trove of ancient artifacts in Oldfaire held the potential to advance their mission in ways yet to be understood.
Meanwhile, the Red Hand had stolen priceless treasures from a prince, including rare items from a famed collection. An expert from Candela Obscura, deeply familiar with the city's dark underbelly, led the investigators through an underground market, where they hoped to reclaim the stolen goods. Their objective: infiltrate the market, locate the treasures, and discover who had purchased them. But as the investigation unfolded, they unearthed an artifact of immense importance—only to discover that the Red Hand had no intention of surrendering it before an official auction. Forced into action, the team seized the artifact by any means necessary.
A talented illusionist, renowned for his mesmerizing performances, had long been the subject of rumors—whispers of a dark past, a past entwined with a powerful faction and a mysterious artifact procured from an auction. As the investigators followed the tangled trail, they discovered deeper connections to his dangerous mission. Their search led them to a perilous location, where the mystery of the alchemist, the artifacts, and the illusionist’s true intentions took on an even darker hue.
The investigation took a chilling turn when three thieves, each with a purple crystal embedded in their temples, were apprehended after attempting a series of high-profile robberies. Candela Obscura was tasked with uncovering the force behind these criminals and their nefarious purpose. As the arc reached its climax, the illusionist announced his final performance—one that promised a deadly spectacle. The investigators had to act swiftly, intervening before he could carry out his fatal plan, saving the innocent theatergoers caught in the deadly web. In the final confrontation, the illusionist performed a dangerous ritual—one aimed at merging two individuals into a single, nightmarish entity. Racing against time, the investigators halted the ceremony, saving the alchemist, but not before tragic lives were lost to the ritual’s dark magic.
The Herald and the Fang
Six months after the cataclysmic events at the theater, the investigators were called to the icy isolation of Shrivelineline, tasked with investigating the mysterious deaths of Cardinal Reynolds and Cardinal Zeroth—both of whom had been in contact with the recently deceased Divine Herald. Upon examination of the Herald’s body, the investigators found disturbing signs of tampering: a mask affixed to prevent the soul's departure and an incision suggesting that poisoned blood had been deliberately extracted. Their investigation soon led them to a list of potential Divine Herald candidates, one of whom, a shadowy figure named Fournier, caught their attention. As they dug deeper, they discovered the enigmatic Melody Wildes, a newcomer from Lacroix, who, along with others, seemed to fall under the sway of a mysterious figure known only as Mr. Woods. Gin, ever watchful, spotted the elusive figure observing them from afar.
The investigators’ pursuit of the truth soon entangled them in a sprawling conspiracy, one with roots stretching deep into the world of vampyres. The case began with a worker from the Ruby Rapture, who exhibited strange symptoms after an unusual bloodletting by a local doctor. This unsettling discovery was followed by a violent encounter with a woman baring fangs. The connection between the sick worker and a series of supernatural events began to crystallize. As suspicions mounted, the team discovered the creeping presence of vampyric infection, now taking hold across the city. In a parallel investigation, they sought to protect a Deaconess who had gained terrifying telekinetic powers after touching an ancient artifact. The artifact’s dark nature drew the deadly interest of the Pyre, and despite their best efforts, the Deaconess met a tragic end, further entwining the team in the perilous web spun by dark forces and vampyric influence.
The Red Rash epidemic, now spreading with alarming speed, became the next focus of their investigation. Tracing the outbreak to the newly appointed Divine Herald, the investigators discovered a chilling truth: Countess Fournier of Lacroix had been deliberately spreading the Red Rash to identify potential victims for conversion into vampyres. Fournier’s sinister plot involved an army of newborn vampyres, and the creation of a twisted "Vampyre Nursery" to shape and control them. As the investigators delved further, they uncovered a labyrinthine network of vampyric activity, one that reached into the highest circles of power. Along the way, they ventured into the Scarlet Woods, where they encountered the vengeful spirit of the Owl Wain, whose tragic past held the key to a deeper understanding of the forces at play. As the stakes escalated, Jamie’s tragic death marked a turning point, pushing the team to confront the ever-encroaching vampyric control that threatened to overtake Newfaire.
In the final stages of their pursuit, the investigators discovered that Fournier’s vampyric influence extended even further, reaching into the upper echelons of power—including the Periphery, who now hunted them. Forced to go underground, the team formed an unlikely alliance with the Gerwich Vampyre Hunters, and together, they devised a plan to distribute a true cure for the Red Rash and vampyric infection. Their journey took them to La Croix, where they confronted Fournier, determined to sever her hold over Newfaire. With clever strategy and unyielding determination, they managed to force her to return to La Croix, where she would face her aunt and the high priestess in a ritual sacrifice that had led her to flee her homeland and amass an army of vampyres in Newfaire. With vital information secured, the investigators braced for the next chapter in their battle against the dark forces lurking in the city.
The Shadow and the Dream
In December of 36 CR, Candela Obscura’s work within the world of the supernatural began as a series of seemingly unrelated supernatural investigations across Newfaire, but each assignment revealed another thread in a vast conspiracy orchestrated by the secretive Umbra Arcanum. The investigators uncovered assassinations disguised as accidents, creatures born from bleed contamination, occult compacts, political corruption, and phenomena manipulating memory, dreams, and identity itself. Central to these mysteries was the apparent death of author and former Candela investigator Lincoln Renfield-Murray, whose murder at Merrick’s Hearth Bakery proved to have been an elaborate deception. As they dismantled occult plots, exposed conspiracies within the courts and government, and crossed paths with rival organizations such as the Nightkeepers and the Red Hand, the Investigators slowly realized that every trail ultimately led back to Lincoln, the enigmatic Man with the Ember Eyes, and an ancient force known only as The Dreamer.
As the investigation deepened, the Circle ventured beyond Newfaire itself. On the legendary Isle of Forgetting they rescued Lightkeeper Piers Corden, uncovered laboratories experimenting on memory and consciousness, and suffered the devastating loss of Lightkeeper Harrison Park. Their pursuit led them into forgotten Vaelonic ruins, where they recovered the Liber Aeternum, captured both Heath Keers and Neriah Saelis, and learned fragments of the ancient history behind the Umbra Arcanum. Meanwhile, Newfaire itself came under assault through supernatural radio broadcasts, rewritten realities, and living stories that blurred fiction and truth. Throughout these investigations the investigators repeatedly encountered evidence that Lincoln had somehow survived his supposed death, eventually discovering him imprisoned beneath Fort Black as the unwilling centerpiece of a consciousness transfer experiment intended to awaken the Dreamer within a human host.
Although the investigators succeeded in extracting Lincoln from Fort Black, they arrived moments too late to prevent the ritual from beginning. A fragment of the Dreamer’s consciousness merged with Lincoln before the transfer could be interrupted, and the consequences rippled across Quelmar. Reality itself began to fracture as cities twisted into impossible architecture, nightmares bled into waking life, and ordinary people became enthralled beneath the Dreamer’s influence. Seeking answers, the investigators turned to the ancient Resonator, using its extraordinary capabilities to witness the final days of Vaelon and the aftermath of its collapse. Their journeys into the distant past revealed that the Resonator was Based on an ancient technology that was a vast Vaelonic network designed to transfer consciousness across great distances, preserve minds, and bridge worlds. More importantly, they discovered that another Resonator still lay hidden beneath Newfaire itself, buried within the ancient ruins beneath the modern city.
Descending into those forgotten depths, the investigators recovered the knowledge necessary to reactivate the ancient machine and devised one final plan. Rather than attempting to destroy the Dreamer outright, they would imprison him. During the climactic confrontation beneath Newfaire, they lured the Dreamer into the undercity and to the Resonator and used its ancient systems to sever his connection to Lincoln’s body. The machine transferred the Dreamer’s consciousness into an empty, comatose vessel housed within the Resonator itself, trapping the cosmic entity inside a body incapable of waking or exerting its unimaginable power. With the Dreamer imprisoned and Lincoln finally freed from his possession, the nightmare consuming Quelmar receded, reality returned to its prior state, and dawn broke over Newfaire once more. None but those who had taken refuge in the Pharos has any memory of the near apocalypse the Dream enacted upon the world.
Where Worlds Wear Thin
House Rules
Especially if you're running a Community Campaign, it's important to let your players know what special rules you have in play for them.