The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic=setting stat-block]
Title: Dark Silver
System: Originally Iron Heroes d20, now relatively system-neutral.
Theme: Order vs. chaos, human vs. alien.
Tone: Brutal yet grimly heroic. Metal as fuck.
Description: Barbaric adventurers fight otherworldly demons and undead snake men from the dawn of time.
Inspirations: Conan, Elric, the Cthulhu Mythos, the Sláine comics, Warhammer Fantasy, ancient northwest-European history/legends.
Technology: Iron age to early medieval.
Magic: For the common folk the supernatural is mostly a myth. For adventuring heroes the supernatural is weird, terrifying, and usually the enemy.
Religion: Dualistic with regional variations.
Races: Humans. Demons. The last remnants of the pre-human serpent volk.
Ecology: Roughly equivalent to a fantasy version of ancient Britain.
Geography: The Heartlands, in the centre. The South, across the sea. The Grimdowns to the north, across the mountains. Frozen Larr Nesh beyond that.
Cosmology: There is the elemental world, home to humans. There is the Beyond, home to demons.
Soundtrack: http://listenonrepeat.com/?v=VDRV5FiW-Pc#Teitanblood_-_Death_(2014_FULL_ALBUM) [/ic]


DEMONS

There is a Warped space outside our elemental world, a Beyond. There are Things that dwell there, that we call Demon. They are alien. They are cruel. They are unnatural.

They call themselves the Galchutt.
They are the Deep Chaos.
They are evil.


The Tath-Kra

In a time before history, when humankind was young and the world was a place of blood and storm, there came the Tath-Kra. They tore into the world from the Beyond, an infernal brood bent on dominion.
The Tath-Kra were five;

the prince of fear - Ektherion Tath-Kra
the lord of pain - Cairkos Tath-Kra
the thundering one - Ghoribuld Tath-Kra
the lady of silence - Kereshoi Tath-Kra
the mistress of war - Akraska Tath-Kra

Though they came as conquerors to the young world, they came too in flight. In the Beyond there was another demon who was greater than all the Tath-Kra combined, and his name was Skith-Rhu Volos. He was stronger than Ghoribuld, more vicious than Cairkos, more terrible than Ektherion and more bloodthirsty than Akraska - and above all, he knew only undying hatred for the Tath-Kra.

So the Tath-Kra fled to the elemental world, where they became powerful and feared. They were monsters that bestrode the land and lashed at humankind, delighting in their devil-play.
But in those days of the race's youth, humans were a raw and hardship-forged breed, and they were millions to the five of the Tath-Kra. Against the demon's devastating power, the humans ranged their mighty warriors and hunters, and arcane folk such as the Copper Witches and Fire-Crowns.
Seeing the strength of humankind, Akraska laughed. Battle was her joy, and here were adversaries aplenty. She stretched out her knife-talons and tore into the beyond, and dragged through an army of lesser demons - the Shebbeth Tekk - and the bloodletting began.

War consumed the world, savaged it like a slavering beast. But amidst the chaos and slaughter and Akraska's hideous laughter, there came love.
Ektherion spied upon the gore-sodden field a queen of humankind, with black hair and eyes, and a beauty that rivalled the depths of the Beyond. His demoniac heart wrenched in his chest and he went to her.
The Black-Haired Queen and Ektherion bound themselves together, his power becoming hers, and the Prince of Fear betrayed his siblings. Together they drove back the Shebbeth Tekk, until they were bound into the cold bones of the land in the far northeast by the selfless sacrifice of the Copper Witches.

Meanwhile the Black-Haired Queen used Ektherion's gift of power to battle the other Tath-Kra. One by one she hunted them down. Akraska she chained beneath a mountain on a wind-ripped isle in the far west of the world, and Ghoribuld she sent crashing into the earth with such force that a sea opened up where he landed. Cairkos locked himself away in a huge barrow at the centre of the world to escape her wrath.
The Black-Haired Queen could not, however, find Kereshoi, the eldest of the Tath-Kra. It seemed that the Lady of Silence had stepped back from the world, and indeed she has not been seen again, save in nightmares and febrile fear-visions.

With the demons gone, Ektherion Tath-Kra and the Black-Haired Queen built the First Empire across the world, binding the tribes of humankind under their shuddersome power.


The Ruinous Powers

Maddening terror-dreams and sick inhuman verses tell of five demons of such excessive power as to be like Dark Gods of the Beyond. Grand and repugnant hosts of greater and lesser demons serve them and are shaped in their images.
There is the bloodstained Slayer, he with the head of a Dog whose number is Eight.
There is the mutated Sorcerer, he with the feathers of a Bird whose number is Nine.
There is the bloated Sickener, he with the body of a Corpse whose number is Seven.
There is the proud Seducer, he with the limbs of a Woman whose number is Six.
There is the Doomed One, he who seeks to destroy his brothers and has no number.


The Shebbeth Tekk

In the monstrous, ruin-spattered tundra to the north of the Grimdowns and east of Larr Nesh there are nine thousand obsidian menhirs - the prisons of the Shebbeth Tekk.
The Zorr dwell here; red-haired giants who walk naked through blizzards. Their savage druids press their ears to the menhirs and listen to the mad howling of the demons within, divining the future from their screams.
The Shebbeth Tekk are a dark brood, a legion of murderous devils, once bound to the will of Akraska Tath-Kra by her unspeakable demoniac power. Their defeat broke any link between them though, and should the nine thousand fiends ever break free of their stone gaols they would inflict their crimson work upon any in their way, human or demon.


The Sceadugengan

The Sceadugengan are a caste of demons that bring fragments of the Beyond with them into the world, wrapping them about themselves like a cloak and moving through the night like animated shadows.
A Sceadugenga might appear as a moving, flitting pit of deeper darkness in the night or a roiling mass of living fog. It might possess a human or animal corpse and make it walk once more to hunt the nights, or it might enter a living animal and sully it, make it into a most dire and frightful image of itself, a monster-beast that is a puppet to the Sceadugenga's terrible will.
Sceadugengan are hunters of children, women and men, who come unseen in the night to savage and devour their prey. They are driven only by their hunger for human-flesh and human-fear, and so are single-minded and ecstatic in pursuit of their quarry.


Elves

Also known as halflings or nihtgengan, elves are demons who take possession of children who wander alone into the deep woods. Their bodies warped into ashen, monstrous mockeries of human infants, elves then skulk back to try and lure more children away into the forest to become like them, increasing their numbers until there are enough to ambush and overwhelm adults.
Elves move with uncommon grace and inhuman, staccato speed. They are great climbers and can run and leap as silently as cats. They feel no pain but can become upset by more grievous wounds, crying as if a favourite toy has been broken.
Where possible, they like to kill their victims slowly, their cruel glee at the torture a demoniac imitation of their hosts' childish playfulness. They know, too, what their hosts knew when human, and use the knowledge to lure, confuse and terrify their prey. They sing songs in strangled child-voices or call out as if lost and frightened.


Goblins

The verminous, sniggering footsoldiers of the Beyond, variously dubbed goblin, orc, imp, gnome, kobold. Most are green, but some are midnight blue, vivid purple, vomit yellow, arterial red, mud brown. Most are child-sized and scrawny, but some burst with muscle or corpulence. Most are stupid, but some have a wicked, sadistic cunning. Most are human-shaped, like mockeries of humans, but some have too many eyes, too many arms, too many heads, spiders' thoraxes, lizards' tails, rams' horns, owls' talons, rats' snouts.
Their whistling, chattering, screeching shamans paint unpredictable hex-runes on the skins of goblin warriors so that the spells trigger should the goblin fall. To them, killing is a hilarious game, and although they would love to keep playing as long as possible, it really is no less great a joke should it be they who dies rather than their foe.
They are great handlers of beasts and in their rickety monster-pens can be found all kinds of demoniac creatures of the Beyond, being whipped and starved and teased until they can be unleashed on the goblins' enemies to gore and stomp and slaughter.


Other Things

The Beyond is awful and colossal, and in the expanses of its Warp there are a great many puissant and unspeakable demon entities.
Some are whole races of devil-things, coming in many breeds, waxing weak or strong, and wearing many faces or none at all. They are called Aboleth, Baatezu, B'yakhee, Carach, Cyth, Dhar Rhyth, Grell, Ilithid, Inchoroi, Kuo-Toa, Mi-Go, Neogi, Sahuagin, Shaadom, Shoggoth, Sranc, Sscree, Tanar'ri, Tsochar, Vreeth, Wracu, Xill, Zaug and still more shuddersome, inhuman names.
Others are beings of titanic and terrifying individual might – rivalling or perhaps even surpassing the Ruinous Powers themselves. There is the mad faceless god, the five-headed dragon, the bat-winged squid, the serpent-armed deceiver, the black goat of the woods with a thousand young. There is Bhor Kei, Crom-Cruach, Ghoset, the Guledig, Mog-Pharau, Nyarlathotep and Shallamoth Kindred. There is the horrific, nauseating knowledge that there may be more...



THE PRE-HUMAN SERPENT VOLK

In a yet more distant time before the coming of the Tath-Kra the elemental world was ruled by a race of white-eyed snake men. They were mystics, builders, warlocks; as heartless and piratical as vultures.
Long, thin and hollow-boned, covered in dust-coloured scales, with venomous razor fangs. Some mutants had the heads or hindquarters of goats, or a single eye, or a single arm, or a coiling wyrm's tail and these aberrants were the most gifted in the sorcerous mysteries.
They called themselves the fomoire and they called themselves the ones below, children of the abyss. Their kingpriests knew a thousand thousand gods, both elemental and demoniac, and ruled from their murky ziggurats with rods of iron and many-tiered bronze crowns. Gag-inducing incense boiled down the narrow streets of their black-brick precincts in every corner of the earth.


Of Beasts and the Beyond

The fomoire styled themselves scholars as well as dark clerics and their greatest study was of the animals. Of these there were two kinds that fascinated them the most.
Firstly the primitive ape-things that would one day call themselves humans. The serpent volk called them the bog men and brought them into their cities, teaching them language and craft that they might serve as slaves.
Secondly the creatures of the otherworld, the Beyond. The snake men conjured, invoked, imprisoned, tormented and bound demons. They cross-bred them with other entities of the Warp, and with elemental animals, and with the bog men. They interrogated them, sang to them, forced them into servitude, even butchered and ate them.
Their methods were imperfect, and many times demoniac monsters broke free. But such was the chilling art of the fomoire exorcists that in most cases they could swiftly destroy the horrors that had been let free in their censer-stinking halls before they could spread their carnage beyond the walls of the shrine-complexes.


The Spawning Pits

The serpent volk had no women, and would naturally reproduce by masturbating into sacred pools where their seed would bubble and swirl and grow in the brackish waters for years until finally a clutch of new snake men would drag themselves out fully grown.
But when they dominated the bog men they mated with their women, and discovered that the offspring were true fomoire with no human features. More than that, they were more likely to be born mutants, with greater psychic and sorcerous ability.
They took the most pliant and comely of the bog women to live and rut with them in their dank compounds, calling them Breeders, and sharpened their teeth and caked their faces with yellow-green makeup to imitate serpentine features. Those who belonged to the highest mystics were crowned with goat-horn headdresses or had one eye cut out.


Cold Blooded Citadels

With the coming of the Tath-Kra a quickening fear ran through the inky veins of the serpent volk's civilisation. They realised that every demon they had bested until now had been a lesser thing, puny by the overarching measure of the restless Beyond, and that here in the Tath-Kra were beings of such power that they might otherwise have given them worship. Their most skilled exorcists despaired of resisting the red thirst of these five monstrous siblings.
So they withdrew to their most solitary fastnesses in the distant north, leaving behind their bog man slaves to stand alongside the wild humans, braving the demoniac onslaught.
Locked away behind dark walls and warding circles, or in deep and chittering caverns, they dwindled and diminished and were eventually hunted in revenge by the nameless, brutish tribes they were once the masters of until they were forgotten.


The Last Remnants

The fomoire were ever hateful of death and endings though. At the height of their dominions they embalmed their dead, not just with oils and spices but with hexes and curses, so that even now they might be stirring in the impenetrable pitch-gloom of their eldritch catacombs, the spells that pickled them now shivering into terrible unlife.
And though they withdrew and withdrew upon themselves, and suffered casualties at the hands of the nameless tribes, it may be that the last of the living serpent volk has yet to meet his end, and somewhere in the most utter distance of the whitest north there yet stands a cyclopean ziggurat with snake men chanting devil-rites at its top.



THE FIRST EMPIRE

With her demon lover, Ektherion Tath-Kra, at her side, the Black-Haired Queen became the greatest ruler on earth, and sought to dominate all of humankind from her bleak castle at Momokk, in the vertiginous southeastern reaches of the world.
Not every tribe would come to bend the knee to her Beyond-touched majesty, for the wintry North that is now called Larr Nesh was always too far and too fierce, but nonetheless she was to become head of the First Empire, an empire that has yet to see a rival and likely never will.


Enriched With Deeds of Violence

The Black-Haired Queen and the Prince of Fear dreamed conquests. After the long fight against the demons there were many warriors left who had known nothing but cruel battle their entire lives, and a great number of them went to the service of she who had defeated the Tath-Kra.
Chief among them was the swordsman Gerd, who the Black-Haired Queen appointed warmaster of her host. He and Ektherion left Momokk and led the horde in victory after slaughtering victory, until dark banners flew over every hold in the South. Then they set sail to fatten the ravens across the sea.
Dried-out and ashen from bearing the brunt of the war against the demons, the tribes here were nonetheless too proud to submit, and so Gerd went about the land – his homeland – doing butchers' work, with Ektherion and the great war-host at his back. He made the sacred stones run red with blood, stained the hills with gore, and the First Empire was born and grew and grew, fuelled by suffering and death.


The Devil-Goddess and the Betrayal of Fear

The Prince of Fear had linked his magic to the Black-Haired Queen when they first coupled, and this taste of the Beyond's essence had made her both more and less than a mortal woman. She was a hollow vessel, yet overflowed with ghosts of the Warp. Her eyes saw that which was not there, or that which existed outside the elemental world.
While her otherworldly lover was away buying her realm for her with corpses, she sat in the tower of Momokk and became a dark oracle. The cowering people of her household, overawed by her weird fey sorcery, saw in her a goddess and in some vile way they may have been right.
Soon the Black-Haired Queen's days were filled with rituals of obeisance and worship as she became a savage idol to her people. The cult of her as demon-touched goddess-woman, unseelie prophetess of the Beyond, spread throughout the First Empire and cavelike elderwood temples to her, staffed by swart-veiled druids and adorned with her face in wrought iron, appeared outside every walled settlement.
The Black-Haired Queen's demoniac apotheosis had woken a cold hunger in her. She left high Momokk and went to meet Ektherion and Gerd. It was to be a pompous royal tour of her new domains, a congratulation to the conquerors. But her true purpose was to betray her demon consort, that she would no longer have to share his eldritch might but instead bind it all into herself.
She went to embrace the Prince of Fear with a thin-lipped smile, but beneath her sleeves she had sliced runes, chaining-words and hexed formulae into the flesh of her arms with a flint knife and rubbed gulls' blood into the cuts. Ektherion Tath-Kra was frozen by her touch, bound and imprisoned. She ordered a barrow raised over him where he stood, and he was buried and defeated just as his siblings had been.


The Second Empire

With the terrible Ektherion Tath-Kra gone, the First Empire had lost a large part of its potency. Severis had become the greatest city in the South by this time, and its highborn were ambitious. The chieftains of the City of Bronze resented the Black-Haired Queen's rule and cultic status. Not long after the fall of the Prince of Fear, they rose up in rebellion, convincing the Balos to aid them, and the lands of the South knew field-choking, corpse-littering war once again.
So absorbed in her own pleasures, magics and vanities was the Black-Haired Queen that she left the conduct of the war to Gerd, who was forced to withdraw his fighting-men from the North to use against the Severim. In this manner he allowed tribe after tribe to slip out from under the First Empire's long, but now fast diminishing, shadow.
Eventually Gerd, ever rash, decided to lead a wild assault on the walls of Severis itself. He was struck down, impaled on half a dozen barbed rending-spears, and with his death the First Empire collapsed. The Severim replaced it in the South with a lesser Second Empire, and although that too eventually disintegrated Severis has always remained a city of vast pride and wealth.
In this chaotic squall of changing rule, the fate of the Black-Haired Queen herself was ultimately mysterious, for although the rest of her holdings fell, no warband ever marched on Momokk to tear down her blasphemous tower and she simply slipped away from history's gaze.



WITCHES

Folk often use the word witchcraft to mean sorcery or any strange goings-on. Wise women and wanton girls are called witches by some. Those who study esoteric lore know of the Copper Witches who battled demons in the wild, primal youth of the world.
Such is always the way with those who speak of things they do not understand. They will call anything monstrous a demon whether it comes from the Beyond or not, and they will call anything secret and alien to them witchcraft, and any woman they fear or distrust will be branded a witch.
Whether true witches first called themselves Witch and then humans learned the word, or whether humans first called them Witch and they learned to bear the title with pride is unknown. The truth - held by few other than the witches themselves - is that they are ageless and inhuman, born in a time before history when the pre-human serpent volk created them as hybrids of demon women and mortal animals.
The Copper Witches sang howling metal songs that beat and pierced their foes, and they were great lovers and friends of humankind. At one time they were the most numerous of witches, but they all died or vanished long ago, during the time of the First Empire.
Now there remain three rare breeds of witch in the world, and they are isolated and hermit-like, bitter, lonely and silent. All stand tall and painfully thin, with faces at once girlish and ancient; long thin faces with odd, jutting cheekbones and over-large yellow eyes. Their bodies are like those of human women, but as if beneath the skin the form was made up of bones and muscles stolen from animals so that they fit together clumsily, bestially. They are at once graceful and awkward in their movements. They love to dance, especially alone and especially without music.

Pale Witches, the Maidens of Frost, have alabaster skin with a fine tracery of thin blue veins clearly visible and hair of silver or pure white. Their totem is the snowy owl and they have power over wind and cold, ice and winter.

Dark Witches, the Mothers of Dread, have skin the colour of dry, blackened scabs and hair like ink. Their totem is the raven and they have power over shadows and visions, lies and truths.

Grey Witches, the Thorns of Crone, have hair and skin of matte grey that never match, so that they always have dark skin and pale hair or pale skin and dark hair. Their totem is the wolf and they have power over wild things and predators.



THE KINDRED OF THE EARTH


The Five Tribes

The Fivesfolk of the Heartlands are tall and sinewy, fighters, hunters and makers, tough of limb and mind. Their music is wild and wrenching, with pounding drums, sawing fiddles and rough voices chanting and shrieking. Their smiths forge the finest swords in the world, with slender iron blades and bronze hilts worked into the shape of goddesses. Their ogham-reading druids shave their skulls to show their dedication to the mysteries, and particularly pious layfolk imitate them by taking the razor to one or both sides of their head. They hold great communal feasts on the solstices, and their weddings are conducted en masse on the equinoxes.
The central realm of the Coroni tribe is all wooded hills broken up by fern-choked gullies. The sigil of the Coroni is a solar disc.
The southern realm of the Gethori tribe is all dark forests, bogs and fens. The sigil of the Gethori is a wild boar.
The western realm of the Colgaedi tribe is all damp, stony coastland and gurgling streams. The sigil of the Colgaedi is a horned wolf.
The northern realm of the Dragori tribe is all stout and frost-coated mountains, bordering on the Grimdowns. The sigil of the Dragori is a double-headed axe.
The eastern realm of the Brethani tribe is all moorlands and howling, windswept valleys. The sigil of the Brethani is three eyes.
Every midsummer the kings of the Five Tribes meet in council with the wisest of their druids. Every seven years at midwinter one of the kings is voted High King of all the Heartlands and ritually beheads his predecessor. The skulls of previous High Kings are kept in the great royal hilltop-halls that are the seats of the Five Tribes' kings – Tor Coron, Tor Gethor, Tor Colgaed, Tor Dragor and Tor Brethan.
Druids and local chieftains can sentence criminals to pay compensation, or become slaves if they cannot afford it. Lords can sentence criminals to be outlawed or hanged. Kings can sentence criminals to be crucified. Trial by combat can be demanded, and is fought skyclad, either with bare fists or with a weapon and three shields each, in a space marked out by hazel branches.
Every chieftain, lord and king has a retinue of gallowglasses – professional warriors. Most are oathsworn, bound to their chief by vows. Some, the champions, are bloodsworn, and have become a part of their chief's family by binding their slit palm to his. The commonfolk of the Tribe can be called to stand their turn in the Gairlom, those-who-bear-spears, which is commanded by the king's appointed Gai Aurmahr or spear-masters.
Fivesfolk men are named Angon, Ardan, Artair, Baeddan, Barach, Bedwyr, Bhatair, Brega, Bres, Cadarn, Cador, Cael, Cairbre, Cei, Conn, Conyn, Cormag, Donat, Eri, Genann, Gwenneg, Kai, Keir, Kentigern, Mael, Madog, Mormaer, Roth, Sengan, Seoc or Taskill.
Fivesfolk women are named Aileas, Aluine, Anais, Annick, Beathag, Blathnaid, Catha, Crimora, Diasbad, Elowen, Eseld, Fionn, Goneril, Gormlaith, Lileas, Macha, Megrim, Midir, Morag, Meraud, Nemon, Nolwenn, Oithonna, Sabra, Senga or Seonag.


Grimdowners

The Grimdowns are a country of stark heaths and forest valleys, a great wide country, with shabby settlements separated by miles of haunting, mist-shrouded beast-places. It is struck by shattering cold in the winter and washed in warm rain and pale sunshine in the summer. Dire and frightful animals stalk the emptinesses beyond human sight.
The people that live there, the Grimdowners, are in many ways a rougher, darker reflection of the Five Tribes. Their torcs are duller, their clothes heavier, their songs slower and more mournful. Their men grow thick beards where the Fivesfolk shave. Their druids are wild men, more like seer-hermits than priests. They prefer axes over swords. They drink raw, throat-scraping mead and cider rather than fresh ale. They are slow to smile and slower still to forgive.
Their hamlets and farmsteads are further apart, lost in the grey-green expanses of the Grimdowns, and their chiefs call themselves thanes. A thane's household warriors are known as the gedriht or huscarls, and he can also call on the commonfolk to fight for him if needed – the duguth, who have marched before and seen battle, and the geoguth, the youths.
The lands of a thane are rarely extensive - perhaps a handful of villages and a hill-fort or two at the most. Occasionally, through bullying or promises and gifts, one thane will bind his neighbours to his service and name himself earl over them, but such realms rarely last more than a generation or two.
Their men are called Aelred, Aesc, Aedelstan, Alfarr, Asgeirr, Birgir, Cenhelm, Cyneric, Deorwine, Egill, Eirikr, Eoforgar, Folki, Hakon, Havardr, Hrodgeirr, Kori, Osgar, Paega, Ragnvaldr, Sindri, Tryggvi, Wilmaer, Wulfhere or Wulfric.
Their women are called Aelfgifu, Aedelflaed, Alfhildr, Audrhildr, Bothildr, Brinja, Cyneburga, Ealdgyth, Eoforhild, Friduswyth, Grimhildr, Gudridr, Haldryth, Hjordis, Ingvildr, Leofdaeg, Mildgyth, Ragna, Sigrun, Sunngifu, Svanhildr, Vigdis or Yngvildr.


The Bol-Kith

Once the lords of the great citadel of Bol-Dinas, the Bol-Kith are the heirs of the legendary Fire-Crowns, and for them god is the Sacred Everlasting Flame in the heart of the earth and the eye of the sun.
The memory of the great pyromancers who were their ancestors is dim nowadays with the Bol-Kith. To imitate the Fire-Crowns of old they ritually singe off all their hair and wear peculiar red vestments. There is no raging sorcery in them now, though. They cannot conjure fire, wield it sword-like as their forefathers once did.
There is another, subtler, kind of magic to them though; a magic of the mind that once made them the fearsome reavers of Bol-Dinas. Throughout their life, their every action, thought and trial, they seek to make their hearts and souls like unto the flames of god - bright, eternal, all-consuming and relentless.
This spirit of fire dwells within all Bol-Kith, even as they wander raggedly about the Grimdowns driving their flocks through the lands their ancestors once terrorised. Those they meet fear or distrust them for their burning gazes and holy madness.
They also admire them though, for they have an insane bravery and a capacity for incandescent cruelty. Many Grimdowner thanes hire youths of the Bol-Kith to serve amongst their gedriht as mercenaries, and though these warriors may distinguish themselves, winning renown and plunder, they always return to the wandering, sheep-watching, meditative ways of their people to finish preparing their smouldering souls before death takes them.
There are many shrines of the Bol-Kith in the quiet and lonely places of the Grimdowns, away from any settlements. Their fire-pits often lie cold and untended for months or years at a time, until a band of Bol-Kith passes to rekindle them and burn sacrifices and chant lullaby-prayers to the embers as they cool. Grimdowners avoid such places when they discover them, fearful of the sorcery of the Bol-Kith's mad faith.
They bear names such as Beautiful-One, Cat-Eye, Bright-Gaze, Grey-Fate, High-Head, Honour-Born, Night-Child, Oak-Built, Praise-Song, Sacred-Word, Shield-Heart, Silver-Spear, Slender-Neck, Strong-Hand, Sword-Gift, White-Shaft and Winter-Born.


Snaketalkers

They have no one name for themselves in their own tongue, but others call them Snaketalkers or Hissfiends after their sibilant, hissing language. They are the oldest and most primal people in the world, and the most fearsome. Their ways are little changed from their origin in the brutal red dawn of humanity; they are cannibals, scavengers and reavers clad in stinking, poorly-cured hides and armed with crude weapons of flint and bone. Even compared to other barbarians the Snaketalkers are savages, primitive and animalistic.
Their tribes are scattered throughout the wildernesses of the north and southeast of the world, staying nomadic and preying on any perceived weaknesses in their neighbours.
The Snaketalkers believe it is a sacred thing to eat the flesh of another human being, a belief fostered by the horrific half-remembered rites of the atavistic star-spirits they worship. Most Snaketalker raids are motivated by this fanatic cannibal urge rather than by plunder, as they seem to have little concept of material wealth.
Religious ceremonies among the Snaketalkers are bleak orgiastic rites of human and animal sacrifice, gladiatorial duels and ritual copulation held under the cold gaze of the stars to which they offer their twisted half-unknowning prayers. These rituals are usually held at the highest points of mountains or hills, being closer to the stars and thus more sacred. In the heartlands of the Five Tribes it is thought that the many mounds that dot the landscape were made for this purpose by the Snaketalkers before they were driven out by the Fivesfolk in ancient times.
Snaketalkers usually attack at night, although any tactical edge gained from this is coincidental as they do so simply to allow the stars a good view of the slaughter. They often pause mid-combat to devour parts of their victims and even sometimes fight one another for the privilege of feeding on certain prize corpses. Snaketalkers typically lack cunning and focus as warriors, and rely heavily on surprise and picking weak targets for their victories, as organised and determined defenders can usually drive them off unless they have a significant numerical advantage.


The Neshoi

Even the North has an end. Grim, breath-misting, frost-crowned, mountainous, river-cut, death-ruled. Larr Nesh is the land at the world's end, the furthest realm of humankind, where grey-bearded clansmen sit in high holds sharpening swords by firelight, where hunters run through snow-laden pines and where the ruins of the pre-human serpent volk lurk in wild, frozen isolation.
There are eight great clans of the Neshoi people. Allied to them are the twelve houses of the half-dead; the addled, undying, heart-eating chieftains of the extinct tribes that dwelt in the cold places before the coming of the Neshoi. The feuding and raiding between the clans is endemic and timeless, like some kind of hateful sport played out season after season.
Clan Dahel is allied to the House of the Mute Hero and the House of the Mask.
Clan Etheg Na is allied to the House of the Six of Gates and the House of the Woman.
Clan Han Andani is allied to the House of the Five of Cubes and the House of the Three of Chains.
Clan Crasa Nei is allied to the House of the Eight of Lanterns.
Clan Terec Ha is allied to the House of the Priestess of Bones.
Clan Thana Niesas is allied to the House of the Arrow.
Clan Uc Vath is allied to the House of the Ten of Clouds.
Clan Vonern is allied to the House of the Nine of Vaults and the House of the Seven of Skulls.
The Neshoi are grudge-bearers with long memories. The clans' vendettas and rivalries have their roots in their mythic history, an age they call the Time of Daggers. Every clanfolk youth learns the great deeds of their legendary ancestors, for when the Neshoi first came to the cold lands they found not only the nameless tribes that would become the half-dead but also the last remnants of the pre-human serpent volk. The victories and betrayals, heroes and monsters of the Time of Daggers are totemic for the clans, and have as much impact on their hatreds and alliances as the events of last season, or last year.
The patriarchs and warlords of the clans share their gloomy halls with the shaman-chieftains of the half-dead. In the Time of Daggers they were mortal women and men, but they ritually immersed themselves in sorcerous bogs and emerged changed, desiccated, unwholesome and somehow not fully alive. They eat the hearts of their enemies to gain their strength, prolonging their bitter unlives year on year. First they feasted on their own kin, hunting their fellow tribesfolk through rime-fringed forests. Now they ally themselves with the Neshoi highborn, using their knowledge of the Time of Daggers – the time when they were young – to fuel the endemic warfare and feed on the slain.
As long as they are well-gorged on the hearts of the young and hale, the half-dead are strong and quick, their brittle, corpse-like bodies belying their physical prowess. But should they start to hunger their might quickly leaves them, and they begin to hobble and shiver feverishly. They can see in the dark, they feel neither cold nor pain, and many remember some few hexes and wards gleaned from the snake-men that they fought or served in their youth. They have the power to reanimate the cadavers of those they have fed from to serve them in battle, but it takes such a great and sudden toll on their unliving energies that they do so only in the direst need. They often conserve their murder-borrowed power by entering a dormant, immobile trance state for months at a time.
Neshoi men are called Archmail, Bardus, Bletonas, Cador, Cadvan, Druyis, Dunval, Ebraucus, Elidur, Feritharis, Gorboduc, Guithelin, Harbon, Henwinus, Hudibras, Kimarcus, Lusonas, Morvidus, Redon, Saelin, Samon, Thanor, Urac, Urian or Vortimer.
Neshoi women are called Anani, Autin, Belga, Brannovi, Caeren, Cantiaci, Carnona, Carveti, Cornovi, Cassi, Darin, Dobunni, Epid, Erdin, Grudi, Levaci, Loegria, Medulli, Mori, Novanta, Selgova, Setanti, Silur, Velabri, Veroduni or Votadi.


Southrons

Across the sea dwell the Severim, the Balos and the Uthilim.

Severis, called the City of Bronze, is the greatest settlement on earth. The city swarms with prideful, destitute aristocrats and there are shrines and tabernacles on almost every street.
Their men are called Alin, Alvaro, Casimiro, Catalin, Cebrian, Fermin, Galo, Gavril, Lope, Marin, Natalio, Roldan, Sabas, Sorin, Toma, Tristan or Vidal.
Their women are called Aracelis, Belen, Calista, Charo, Edelmira, Elisabeta, Ileana, Leonor, Mireia, Nieves, Odalis, Rahela, Septima, Varinia or Ysabel.

The Balos are mercantile seafarers who set sail from their ancient port-towns of Klibanaphoros, Tzangra, Pronoia, Akritos and Tzikouria in the archipelagos and peninsulas of the southwest.
Their men are called Aljaz, Bozidar, Crtomir, Damir, Dragan, Dragutin, Erazem, Izidor, Mladen, Zan, Zdenko, Zdravko, Zlatan or Zoran.
Their women are called Adrijana, Alenka, Apolonija, Bozena, Cvetka, Darinka, Dragica, Hedvika, Klavdija, Ksenija, Radana, Slavka, Zala or Zvezdana.

The grey-black mountains of Uth, in the southeast, were long ago the seat of the First Empire, and between the long, wild stretches of barren slopes squat unwholesome ruins. The Uthilim, tight-lipped and hard-eyed, dwell in shanty towns in the shadow of the past's terrible glories.
Their men are called Adad, Ameqran, Ganzorig, Govad, Idir, Kaveh, Mot, Nurzhan, Sarosh, Serik, Siavash, Tarana, Temir, Tural or Vugar.
Their women are called Anahid, Anargul, Aruzhan, Aygun, Bolormaa, Diyar, Ereshkigal, Haurvatat, Hurik, Sarangerel, Siranush or Taguhi.



THE GODS OF THE EARTH


The Triple Goddess

The Maiden is the deep, cold water. She is beautiful, wintry and heart-stopping, the pale river's undertow, the glimmering light on high mountain pools. Her laughter and tears are in all music, her innocence is in all true love and she runs wild and girlish and primal, screeching with ur-joy.

The Mother is the cavernous earth. She is the hearth-fire and the belly round with child, the steaming cauldron of life and the fields' gold-ripe harvest. Vines curl up from between her toes to embrace her, her strong legs are set against hurtful chaos and her tanned arms shield her children from harm.

The Crone is the moon's fey light. She is the weird goddess of scrying and spite. She is the battle-lover, the walker amidst the corpses and the queen of the war-fields. She is the ruler of carrion, the crow-woman, the chooser of the slain. Her long fingers trace patterns in spilt entrails and her blind-white eyes see past, present and future as one.

The Vampire is the Crone through the eyes of Southrons who see the Triple Goddess as the adversary of the All-Father rather than his consort and equal. In their legends she dwells deep in the cold earth drinking blood from an iron chalice, with the Maiden and the Mother as little more than masks she wears when she wishes to appear less hideous.


The All-Father

The Skyhammer crafted all the Earth in his golden forge, the Sun. The strength of his sinews beat the world into shape, worked order out of chaos, and the strength of his spirit endures in every heart as honour and courage.

The Painted Consort is the All-Father as lover of the Triple Goddess, her champion-god, serving and fighting for her. He is a high lord in his youthful prime, all handsomeness and athleticism, charm and bravado, his hair richly spiked auburn and his skin stained blue. The young men of the Five Tribes see themselves as his mortal incarnation; lesser earthly consorts to the Maiden, Mother and Crone.

The Tired God watches over his people night and day, for his is the endless, unsleeping vigil of the protecting patriarch. Rain lashes him, winds buffet him, snows chill his bones but he sits eternally, strong on his mountain, and guards his daughters and sons. He is the patrician and ancient patron of Severis, the City of Bronze in the South.

The Dire Wolf is the All-Father as ravening entropy and purifying destruction, a great were-beast who will devour the sun at the end of all time. The druids of the Grimdowns are initiated into his brutal mysteries and serve him just as they do the Triple Goddess.

The Lord of the Storm is the squall-rider whose steed's celestial hoofbeats are thunder and whose bottomless wrath is the roaring wind and pummelling waves. He is revered among the Balos, and their trade-ships have carried his worship to every port in the South.

The Warhound embodies hunger. His will is the will to win, the will to take, and the will to glory. He is the dark spear of the greatest of the great battle-lords, the most terrible and unforgiving of hero-chieftains, and all mortal soldiers love him just as they fear him.

The One-Eyed Man is the oldest worker of spells and speaker of magics, a mad anchorite whose breath is enchantment and whose wisdom is dark as midnight. He is spoken of in whispers and only a crazed few give voice to his obscure prayers.

This is some good stuff! :yumm: The setting comes across as quite coherent now, with it's various bits and pieces falling in their places neatly. The summary of known history paints clear enough of a picture of the course of major events and avoids getting bogged down in minutiae. The various peoples are described in sufficient detail to give them each a certain character, with exception of the Neshoi and the Southrons, both of which seem somewhat neglected compared to the others.

First time reading Dark Silver, Kindling (big, big fan of Knife's Edge by the way).

I really like the area where the Shebbeth are imprisoned, both the numbered obsidian menhirs as well as the Zorr. I love the image of the naked, red-haired giants walking through blizzards and pressing their ears to the menhirs, listening to the howling demons and divining the future. Wickedly cool and evocative.

The Sceadugengan & Nihtgengan: Both very cool and dark. I do think calling the nihtgengan both halflings and elves is a bit odd though, as both are names of common D&D races. I'd still with elves. I especially like the staccato speed and inhuman, cat-like grace.

Are demons harmed by normal materials? Like does a sword cut a man's flesh as well as an elf's?

I like the grey-scaled nature of the serpent volk. The razor-fangs seemed a bit odd. As serpentine beings, wouldn't their fangs be used to puncture, rather than slice prey? The mutations were unexpected, especially the goat features. I do love the ziggurats' descriptions. Serpent volk reproduction was also sickly cool and unique; likewise with their relationship with the bog-men. Conan approves. I also like the mention of exorcists. That's a nice addition, something missed in most diabolist cultures. Also, love me some pickled serpent volk.

Really love the witches with their strange, beautiful, unnatural anatomy. Good names as well.

Is there any 'natural' source of magic, or does it all come from the Warp/Chaos?

Of all the humans, Snaketalkers are my favorite (Grimdowners second). However, I do think the name of the Snaketalkers is off-putting. Since the 'serpent men' are a big part of pre-history, one expects the Snaketalkers to be related, but instead they worship stars (in a really cool way). Maybe choose a different moniker or use a different animal that hisses?

Ritual beheading is very cool too.

I really like this setting.  Are you still running this IRL?  Any chance of an IRC one-shot some time?

I actually quite like Snaketalkers as a name.

To clarify, I like Snaketalkers as a name; I just find it 'confusing' since I was expecting some tie-in to the serpent volk.

Quote from: SteerpikeAny chance of an IRC one-shot some time?

I second this!

Can I third?

Quote from: Ghostman
This is some good stuff! :yumm: The setting comes across as quite coherent now, with it's various bits and pieces falling in their places neatly. The summary of known history paints clear enough of a picture of the course of major events and avoids getting bogged down in minutiae. The various peoples are described in sufficient detail to give them each a certain character, with exception of the Neshoi and the Southrons, both of which seem somewhat neglected compared to the others.

Thanks! I'm glad it does all seem like it fits together. What with different bits being written quite a long time apart I was a little worried it could just seem like a hodgepodge.
As for the Neshoi and the Southrons... yeah, I know. The Neshoi is something I would like to work on at some point, as I actually ended up merging most of the few ideas I did have for them into the Five Tribes. In my game we only ever encountered some dead Neshoi so beyond a "look" and some cool names I don't really have too much for them right now.
The Southrons were actually more of a conscious decision to not get too specific. The South is just not really the focus of the setting, it's mostly there to have somewhere for foreigners to come from and somewhere to locate things that are far away and exotic. I'd ended up putting too much emphasis on the cultures of the South in some previous Dark Silver stuff I'd written, and I wanted to avoid doing that again seeing as, for me at least, it's sort of peripheral to the real core of the setting.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
First time reading Dark Silver, Kindling (big, big fan of Knife's Edge by the way).

I really like the area where the Shebbeth are imprisoned, both the numbered obsidian menhirs as well as the Zorr. I love the image of the naked, red-haired giants walking through blizzards and pressing their ears to the menhirs, listening to the howling demons and divining the future. Wickedly cool and evocative.

Yeah the Zorr are fun. Huge crazy naked guys are usually fun, at least from a safe distance.
It's kind of funny you mention Knife's Edge because that's sort of the opposite of Dark Silver in way. Knife's Edge was almost more of a prose writing exercise, I don't think I ever seriously considered running a game with it. Dark Silver, on the other hand, was created for and through actual play, which is why it's a lot more traditionally sword and sorcery in style – I find it very helpful to have a certain base of tropes and clichés to hang things off, even if they are twisted round a bit to fit my own take on them.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
The Sceadugengan & Nihtgengan: Both very cool and dark. I do think calling the nihtgengan both halflings and elves is a bit odd though, as both are names of common D&D races. I'd still with elves. I especially like the staccato speed and inhuman, cat-like grace.

I dunno, as you can probably tell I'm a bit of a fan of having lots of different names for things so I like it. I also like the idea of the word halfling meaning not just something half the size of a human but rather something half-human and half..... something else!
Also I don't think it's a huge stretch to see elves and halflings as being part of the same rough mythological grouping – the fey folk, the little people, that kind of thing.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Are demons harmed by normal materials? Like does a sword cut a man's flesh as well as an elf's?

Good question! At the moment I guess I would have to say it varies, so a Sceadugenga in mist form wouldn't really be bothered by someone swinging sharp bits of metal at it. But most, though maybe not all, demons would get chopped up just like anyone else once they've actually manifested physically in the elemental world (except for probably being bigger and tougher and more chitinous than humans). If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
I like the grey-scaled nature of the serpent volk. The razor-fangs seemed a bit odd. As serpentine beings, wouldn't their fangs be used to puncture, rather than slice prey? The mutations were unexpected, especially the goat features. I do love the ziggurats' descriptions. Serpent volk reproduction was also sickly cool and unique; likewise with their relationship with the bog-men. Conan approves. I also like the mention of exorcists. That's a nice addition, something missed in most diabolist cultures. Also, love me some pickled serpent volk.

Thanks very much, I'm pretty pleased with them. Without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, I feel I've managed to give my own slight spin to a genre classic, haha.
As for the teeth I was really just using the word razor to imply extreme sharpness, but now that you mention it I actually rather like the idea of slicing rather than piercing teeth....

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Really love the witches with their strange, beautiful, unnatural anatomy. Good names as well.

Thanks. Like I said, I am leaning pretty heavily on someone else's ideas for the witches, but I'm glad you like my take on it at least.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Is there any 'natural' source of magic, or does it all come from the Warp/Chaos?

Natural? No, oh definitely no, it's all terribly unnatural don't you know. As for non-Beyond-fuelled magic... Well, the thing is that in the campaign that birthed this setting, no one played a spellcaster so I've never really had to pin down how magic works too much. The luxury of it just being something the bad guys use means it can stay mysterious and confusing.
I did write a thread a while back, I think called Devilry & Witchcraft, with an outline of a magic system for Dark Silver, and it did include an elemental source of power as well as a demoniac one... but I'm not sure whether I'll be sticking to what I wrote in that thread or not, hence why it hasn't been recycled into this one.
We know that in ancient times the Fire-Crowns, ancestors of the Bol-Kith, used magic and weren't demons so... I guess that sets a precedent. In the current era of the setting I imagine human magic users to be extremely few and far between, and fairly low-powered. For example I can imagine that while most druids are pretty much just priests with a knowledge of medicine, botany, anatomy, astronomy and so on that might seem magical to layfolk, a very few of the most learned/demented might know a few actual spells too. In D&D 3.x terms, most of their character levels would be in something like Expert, with them only dipping their toes into a spellcasting class.
I wouldn't want to stop people playing magic users in any future Dark Silver campaign, but I would definitely instigate reduced spell lists or something, as I only really see stuff like divination, curses, circles of protection and warding, enchantments, blessings and maybe minor healing magic fitting the setting. Demons might be able to throw around the fire and lightning, but human casters definitely have a lower special effects budget.

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Of all the humans, Snaketalkers are my favorite (Grimdowners second). However, I do think the name of the Snaketalkers is off-putting. Since the 'serpent men' are a big part of pre-history, one expects the Snaketalkers to be related, but instead they worship stars (in a really cool way). Maybe choose a different moniker or use a different animal that hisses?

Ritual beheading is very cool too.

Yes... yes it does rather suggest a connection, doesn't it? Mwahahaha....
Honestly though, I kind of take your point but the Snaketalkers were one of the first things I came up with for the setting and we started the very first session – this must be four years ago now – with me telling the players that their tribe, the Coroni, were gathering for a feast to celebrate defeating a Snaketalker incursion so the name is pretty firmly in there by now and I really don't want to change it.

Quote from: Steerpike
I really like this setting.  Are you still running this IRL?

Thanks! My Dark Silver campaign has been on indefinite hiatus for a long time now, but we often talk about picking it back up where we left off. My plan after doing this overview-type-writeup was to start working on a big ol' dungeon that my players can jump straight into if and when we do start up again. I'm thinking an ancient serpent volk city, buried in the ice of a glacier near the border of Larr Nesh and the Grimdowns.

Quote from: sparkletwist

Quote from: SteerpikeAny chance of an IRC one-shot some time?

I second this!

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
Can I third?

Wow! I'm flattered, and I'd actually love to, especially now that I have some more free time for a few months. I've never run a game online before though so I'm a little unsure how I'd go about it, how different it is to face-to-face. I was always very impressed with the way you ran CE and Fimbulvinter on IRC Steerpike, so maybe if you gave me some tips I could think about it :)

What system would you use, if you were to GM an IRC session?

Depending on timing and my schedule, I'm in too!

Quote from: KindlingI've never run a game online before though so I'm a little unsure how I'd go about it, how different it is to face-to-face. I was always very impressed with the way you ran CE and Fimbulvinter on IRC Steerpike, so maybe if you gave me some tips I could think about it

Well, don't feel pressured!  But I'm flattered you enjoyed those games.

I'd be happy to chat about runnining IRC games.  I think I've run enough to recognize some of the pitfalls as well as some "best practices."

The biggest problem with IRC gaming is speed and keeping player attention.  At a gaming table, people can see each other and hear each other begin to speak; in IRC, this is not the case, so there can be a kind of paralaysis that grips players, especially polite ones, who're reluctant to type first.

If players are "waiting their turn" they may be surfing the web, not fully paying attention, etc, and so making the game even slower, which then in turn causes other players' attention to wander, and there's a bit of a vicious cycle at play.  Improvising through writing is more time-consuming than improvising through speech, so very fast typing skills and a lot of preparation are assets.  With a face-to-face game in a pinch I can show up with a map, an adventure skeleton, and a handful of notes, and then talk my way through whatever is happening.  Inelegance of description is more pardonable because speech is ephemeral, but an awkward sentence lingers accusingly on the screen, so words matter more.

For prepping an IRC game I try to pre-write every major description I'm going to include so that I can quickly copy/paste when we're actually playing.  This is actually a big advantage to text-based gaming, because people are actually pay attention to your writing, whereas in face-to-face they may not be fully listening at all times and may need a recap - usually a faster, less eloquent version of the description you took time to write out.  This kind of prep can be onerous so you may want to be economical in terms of what you'll prep i.e. prep only the stuff the players are actually going to interact with.

Fights are a blessing and a curse.  They're a blessing insofar as they take up chunks of time that you don't need to prep as extensively for.  They're a curse in that you need to really be on your game to keep things moving quickly, cycling between players, and rolling for monsters, all while keeping the combat interesting, without losing player attention.  I'm sure my WPM of actual typing is highest in combat.

This is more something I just do as a DM no matter the medium, but I always try to have 3-4 little encounters on hand that don't really pertain to the main plot but that players can interact with.  This tends to make the world seem more real but it can also be used to galvanize a group who are dragging their feet - essentially a version of Chandler's Law.  This kind of contradicts the "prep what you need," advice, but I'd argue that having these little encounters handy is worth the time it takes to think them up, especially since they can be very brief and don't need to tie into the overall plot.

I've now played with groups of multiple sizes and I can say with confidence that the fewer the better.  3 is ideal.  Even solo is fine, although a single player will mow through your notes at an alarming pace.  Anything higher than 4 or so exacerbates all the other problems and makes combat very slow.  This is true in face-to-face gaming as well but it's less of a problem for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, we can certainly talk more on IRC.  Vreeg, sparkletwist, Seraphine Harmonium, Hoers, and some others may have good thoughts as well.

Another option is always to do Google+ games or whatnot, which is much more like face to face gaming.

Wow, a setting stat block! I haven't seen one of those in forever - and I completely forgot how useful they are.

Overall I'm really digging Dark Silver now that it's all coherent and in one place. It's very gritty but in a way that, as you said, comes across pretty freakin' metal. I can picture like half the things in here in an 80's metal video - and that's meant to be a compliment, given your design goals.

I'm going to start breaking things down to review, but I wanted to ask before I pick something at random - anything in particular you want looked at?

Quote from: Rose-of-Vellum
What system would you use, if you were to GM an IRC session?

Hmm, I'm not sure. Probably something fairly simple to keep things running smoothly and easily. Maybe a d20/D&D based thing just for familiarity's sake, but I'd be open to suggestions. Obviously the original Dark Silver campaign was Iron Heroes, but I feel like there's maybe a little too much to keep track of with that for me to want to use it for my first online DMing attempt.

Quote from: Xathan
I'm going to start breaking things down to review, but I wanted to ask before I pick something at random - anything in particular you want looked at?

Not particularly. I think the bit I'm least happy with is the section on the First Empire, it seems a little dry just like "blah blah blah here's some history" but I don't really see another way of doing it.

Quote from: Steerpike
I think I've run enough to recognize some of the pitfalls as well as some "best practices."

I'll say. Thanks for all that, definite food for thought to mull over :)

Small update/expansion to the Neshoi.

So... what about that IRC one-shot? :yumm: