A city for my campaign

[loogie]

ok ok... so its not exactly in progress at all more like i wanted to run things by you fine people before i find the time to make this map, since i really don't know what i want, or what should be included.

The Story So Far

My one and only player (at the moment) has it in his mind that he wants to be a prim and proper paladin, who knows only good, and lives in a world where good and bad are finely defined...

I couldn't let him think that now could I?

What the player thinks
what I've got so far is this boy was taken from his family when he was really young, to live with his uncle. His uncle was at that time an average middle-classed merchant, but still had a much better life then his parents, so he was sent so that he could end up with a better life.

His father was a great storyteller, spinning tales of great warriors, loyal and true, always doing whats right for his master... the player has grown up wanting to be like the knights he heard so much about when he was younger... The land in which they live in is quite newly discovered, and in many ways a frontier, and frontiers need supplies... While the mountain routes of supply became thick with bandits, his uncles business grew, offering an alternate (while expensive) form of moving goods, using sea travel, which is safe from highwaymen and bandits

With growing power came growing opportunity, and his uncle made all of his dreams come true... at 18, he was enlisted to become a knight of a local lord. After leaving for his training.. he was visited by someone from his original small town, stating his parents were in trouble. Rushing to their aid (despite being told otherwise by his superiors) he arrived at their farm (the farmhouse map i posted earlier)... he arrived to late, to find bandits looting his parents farm... while he tried to negotiate, he ended up killing a few of them, but became poisoned and incapacitated... before he was killed however, his friends, fellow knights who had followed him that night, chased off the remaining bandits and carried him back to the fort.

What is really going on
The boys parents were hard up for money, and sold their son to a merchant who promised them he'd have a better life (something about not being able to have his own son, etc etc)... His uncle brought him up well, and took good care of him... While he was quite a story teller... who often talked about knights and loyalty... he rarely talked about valor or good or evil... it actually irk's the man that the player has come up with the notion that knights are good and true... it interferes with his plans... See... he is part of a group who worship a dark god, and are working to release this gods demon minions on the world. The player is a pawn, chosen as a boy to become the vessel for one such demon, and like all the other nights of this lord, is coming to the age where his soul will be harvested and replaced...
His parents had heard that he had become a knight, and were trying to get in contact with him... to suckle at the teat of his success... their inquiries about their son had created a problem, perhaps they saw to much, or learned something they shouldn't have... regardless.. they were marked for death...

the players uncle is actually controlling many of the bandits blocking alternate trade routes to the more populated south so that his trade routes become the only viable way to move goods to and from the south. He dispatched some of his bandits to take care of the players family... He wasn't supposed to interfere, and will be punished quite a bit... absolute loyalty to his lord is required without question...

What i need

In future sessions, my player become thoroughly introduced to the world, and fort which will be his home for some time... I'm making a map of all the cities mentioned so far... tho starting with the lords castle/fort and the city it guards... it will need to be at least a nights hard ride to the village the players parents are from, which will be pretty much a few farms... but can be a fair distance from the port city his uncle calls home... The area is a northern frontier, think of Canada... hot summers, harsh winters, but great natural resources such as lumber and mining...

The city itself should be normal in most ways, but afford me opportunities to plant the seeds showing the lords true intent... simple occurrences, buildings, or organizations that seem normal may have a shady underside when looked at more closely... while it should take awhile, such taint should eventually be traced back to the fort itself...

I have a general idea of what I want to happen with the campaign, but lost all my details as i got swamped with work... I want the player to live at the fort for a time, making friends, learning tactics, etc... odd things will happen, make him think about whats happening around him... He will also physically change... as he is being poisoned, and prepared for possession certain things will happen... eventually, (either in a really big event, or more subtle) he will in fact be possessed, but will be able to force the demon out, or at least regain control of his body and mind... (it'd be a nice effect to have an evil conscience constantly screaming at him to murder people, cut out their throats... just slay them all!... kinda like an evil intelligent weapon.. cept its you)... after such an event... he will have some special powers... not sure what yet, but something supernatural... he will be approached by people he had thought were his enemies, which end up being the good side... while they disapprove of letting a chosen demon-spawn such as himself live, he is taken in by his next mentor... a man who delves into the evil arts to help the good, while no one trusts or likes him... he gets more results then the rest of the organization combined... he will teach the player to become their most promising tool to fight the demon hordes... with his demonic powers, he's the only one that stands any sort of match against the fully possessed demon-spawn.

ideas on anything from campaign plots and ideas, to map layout, even building placement would be great... while i'll be starting at a smaller city or region scale, much of the fort and certain parts of the city will become large VTT maps, so i'm thinking maybe some sort of vector program... but i'm still not decided...

in any case it should be fun, i look forward to hearing ideas!

looking forward to some fantasy mapping once all this school crap dies down...

Loogie