New Edom Revisited

[Tybalt]

Hm...can the Celts trust the giants? Can the giants trust the Celts? Probably yes...to some extent. It might be exploitable. I had stated in the game btw that a more powerful adventuring group, actually containing the players' npc mentors, had set out to investigate what was motivating the giants. This is partly to get them out of the way but also for future plot devices and introductions.

The Pseudo Dragon is an NPC, a companion of the Ranger. Basically she saved the creature's life and they became friends during a previous adventure.

[Tybalt]

Further Note on Goblins

Goblins are creatures of darkness, literally. Sometime, long ago, they began to live almost entirely underground. It is believed that they began to adapt specially to live in dark places with almost no light. Their hunched gait comes from being used to at a moment's notice ready to drop to all fours and crawl or shimmy through little tunnels. While Dwarves and Gnomes mine their way through the dark places of the world goblins prefer to adapt to the cave systems.

Their pale eyes therefore are unused to harsh sunlight, as are their pallid greenish skins. It may be a kind of madness that affects them in their cruelty, but almost certainly there is a vulnerability to those who constantly live in darkness. Evil seeks shadowy places, uncertainty, fear and desperation to dwell in.

Because of this goblins wear little or no clothing in their caverns--they wear decorations and ritual scars to indicate their position but have no need of it. Rumors exist of goblin tribes gone entirely savage in strange deep caverns, eating the raw flesh of victims and having only the memory of some form of civilization.

Elves

The world was once alive. Humans think of it as alive now, that the grass grows, trees sway in the wind, water yields fish and crustaceans, rain falls, the cycle of life and death continues. But it was once so alive that it throbbed with power, which could not but be responded to. Healing, warmth, food, shelter could be had by lore that involved singing and encouragement.

Then something happened. No one is quite sure what but it seems to be that a great war took place between demons from another world, to whom this life filled one was anathema, and the elvish people. The elves had to transform their ways to obtain victory, and in so doing they found another side altogether to their magic. It could be used to command the blood and flesh of victims. It could be used to shatter bodies and make the very air and water deadly poison. It was, worst of all, easy to do. After their victory the elves vowed to put aside their lore, to encourage other races to learn as they had to bring forth life in the world. Powerful spells to forget the lore of war power were cast upon all who could remember how to invoke it.

And then the humans came. Largely deaf to the singing in the world, they sought to tame it. They for the most part were unaware of or hostile to other people. One thing the elves did know: for the life power to be invoked, the world had to be loved, had to be praised and desired. It could not be merely a collection of objects to be used. Some few humans were brought to greater understanding, but the human civiliations grew appallingly quickly in single elvish lifetimes. For most of these, the elves were a bygone people, demanding archaic values in language that was frustratingly vague and complicated.

There were some among the elves who called for self exile. The sadness that had begun to affect them as a people made this the most popular option. Let them fade quietly and gracefully into legend. Others existed to sought a less suicidal form of retreat, advocating becoming one with the few wild places remaining. There were a some of course who began to live near and among humans, trying to understand them. For these, it seemed clear that humans could save or damn the world.

A last group came to hate humanity bitterly. They could understand the goblins and orcs and giants, who were malicious and hated life deliberately, who had been so twisted by their own evil that they delighted in torture and death. But humans had such potential and yet seemed to prefer to wallow in filth and blindness. This group of elves began to plot a way to remove humanity as the dominant race in the world. They would try to find ways to make use of the ancient lore to finalize this. In the meantime, their efforts would go towards stirring up as much trouble as possible, pitting human against human. After all, they had this in common with the evil races: they eagerly fought and killed one another.

Human lore began to speak of them, but confusedly and not understanding the how and why of it. Among the New Edomite loremasters, they were called by the Celtic word for the dark elves: the Drow. They were said to be ugly beyond belief, that they could not stand the touch of sunlight, that their very weapons and clothing would burn and melt in the sun. The truth was far simpler and more disturbing: they had no difference in appearance whatsoever from other elves.

At this time there is only one real clue about the truth of the elves: a captured agent of the Drow found among a group of slavers in the borderlands of Belerion that a Psion touched and gained some knowledge of. This young Council Police officer, who was working with a group of scouts at the start of the War, sent her under guard to be interrogated by the Council Police in Stonehaven.

[Tybalt]

New Edomite Anthem(sung to a tune approximately like that of the S. African anthem)

Hand in hand we stand in harmony
A people united, fearless and free
Proud to share a noble history
Unchained, New Edomites we.

Over the mountains,
Wandering, homeless
Fleeing the tyrants
Wandering, homeless
To a good green
Land we have come
To build a home.

Though King Obed sought to
Reaffix our chains
We threw them off
Liberty won't be restrained

Though the goblin hordes
Brought fire death and pain
We sent them retreating and rebuilt again

And though our foes be numerous as the sea
Yet we will hold fast until victory
New Edom withstands hatred's tides
New Edom lives where one heart yet abides

Hand in hand we stand in harmony
A people united fearless and free
Proud to share a noble history
Unchained New Edomites we.

[Tybalt]

(moved)

[Tybalt]

The Wild Country

Bordering the isthmus on which Fineberg sits and the coastal settlements along the Silver River is an area of hills and forests known simply as the Wild Country. Because of the river and the raised banked coastal road leading up to the northernmost eastern towns of Verity and Corvalis which in turn lead to inland Ironbeck it was not thought necessary to build a main road through the wild lands in between. The lowlands to the west of the Wild Country are low rolling hills and very fruitful, and there is a road swinging northwest that leads to a fork that extends towards both Ironbeck and Glasstower. However the Wild Country has been left to those who have laid claim to it. Most of these are crofter families who seek mostly to be left alone to live in their own ways away from the strict laws of the Republic.

The People

The crofters are the main population, such as they are, collecting in some cases in small villages but often in multiple family steadings that are sturdily built of stones and wood. They tend to be decently armed, with at least a few melee weapons and likely slings or hunting bows. While they are certainly proud to call themselves citizens of the Republic they are inclined to feel that lowlander folk are free to live as they wantâ,¬'rules or noâ,¬'and they ought to be free to do as they ought. They faithfully send volunteers to military service but are almost never regulars. Most are used as scouts because growing up in the Wild Country breeds good hunters and trackers. They have small gardens but rarely raise more food than they can store for the winter and for seed. Their main source of food is raising goats and pigs. The crofters have in the last two generations bred a hill pony breed descended of the original stock that crossed the mountains which is hardy and surefooted and well suited to more forested terrain. While most are decent people (if occasionally suspicious and wary of strangers) there are a few up to strange practices in the Wild Country.

The Free Rangers are another group known in the area. These are nominally led by a ranger named Griffith who leads a rather solitary life with a dire wolf that is his animal companion but now and then is the rallying point for the others. These rangers are mostly those who are genuinely inclined to being as far from civilization as possible and dislike what they perceive to be arbitrary rules. Rather than alienate a useful group of people Lord Aholibamah agreed that they should serve as guardians of the Wild Country and alert the garrison at Fineberg of any unusual events on a regular basis. They bear no uniforms other than a badge that is particular to themselves and which they will question and possibly slay anyone for faking.

Orcs and goblins sometimes raid into the Wild Country, mostly groups avoiding more successful tribes in Goblinland seeking a place for themselves but willing to be brutal to get it. Stranger creatures are occasionally seen as wellâ,¬Â¦now and then the Great Swamp is the source of some strange monster wandering south in search ofâ,¬Â¦whatever their bizarre appetites lead to.

The clergy in the Wild Country are predominantly druids, though there are few of these. Some who are inclined to be druids seek out a particular small village which is devoted to such training and is the regional meeting place of the druids and their followers. This is one of the rare places where the old enchantment of the woods remains. The trees are more alive than in other places, and fae folk are sometimes seen there. Where they pass and where signs of their dwelling are the druids have placed warning markers to prevent them being bothered. In turn they have maintained a friendship with the dryads, griggs and other creatures that dwell in the forested hills. Occasionally elves visit the area for mysterious reasons of their own.

The Land

The Wild Countryâ,¬,,¢s greatest danger is not the occasional monster or humanoid raiding party but the land itself. It can be treacherous and deceptive for those unskilled in woodcraft. The deep ravines that are found there can be tombs for those unwary of flash floods and snowstorms. With no roads more formal than a hunterâ,¬,,¢s track or the occasional wagon rutted path it is easy to get lost. In lean times wolves, bears, wolverines and eagles have been known to attack stock and even people.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

I had not noticed you had written a song for your world until today.  That is freaking awesome!

[Tybalt]

I was startled in the midst of my work by seeing a little man in squirrel skins sitting on my window sill, a man no bigger than my forearm but with presence in his yellowish eyes and toothy grin. "Lordship wants yer, at th' foundry." he said before leaping off the sill. I went to the window but of course he was entirely gone. Cursed brownie. I replaced my ink in the well, rose, got into my cloak and went out into the street. A boat trip across the canal later I was inhaling the fumes of the foundry and half deafened by the noise of it. Inside Lord Aholibamah leaned on his twisted staff, talking with the Masterforger himself, Giami the Dwarf. Arms and legs thick as hams, scorched and worn leather apron, short beard like iron shavings, he seemed to be in his true element. I was weary with making my field report but my Master bade me come and see what work was being done.

The sight that greeted my eyes was what seemed to be a growing armory for giants. Spearheads long as my upper body, great mauls and axeheads and even what seemed to be a sword, big enough that an ogre would wield it two handed with difficulty.

"I thought we were going to fight the giants, not arm them." I said, wondering.

The two exchanged smiles, Aholibamah as ever more at home with working folk and artisans than in the halls of power he had risen to. "We may arm some giants, my boy. When the giants come, we will make use of enlargement spells and arm those who volunteer to face them with these! And should Ravel's mission succeed, we may have our own giantish allies."

Giami nodded and growled agreement. "When the giants come, we will be ready."
- from the journal of Nestor Khalkimedes, during the Siege of Fineberg.

Adventure: The Ending of the Siege

The giants are coming. A set of linked clouds bearing an entire castle of cloud giants, with land borne allies marching beneath, head into New Edom out of shattered Nibelheim, the gnomes scattered and their towns and villages overwhelmed, many having gone to hide in the forests of the wood elvish kingdom of Carnmag. They are sworn to have a hefty share of the conquest given by their allies. Duke Anderman is none too happy but prefers if need be to sacrifice a chunk of the gains of Fineberg in order to be rid of the problem and freed to move elsewhere.

While plans and preparations are made to face this threat (learned of by scrying and use of spies) the aquatic alliance presents a possibility. There exists beneath the sea to the south of New Edom a great hero of days past, an ancient huge bronze dragon who lies with his kin in deep sleep. It is said that he will honor a worthy cause. However report exists that the area is held by the Sahuagin, who have no interest in seeing the old warrior awakened! Certainly the elvish windriders might valiantly attempt the cloud islands but would surely take heavy casualties alone...

At the Temple of Osprem there is lore of undersea travel. Along with the aquatic allies heroes must be willing to descend into the sea itself by means of magic and somehow get past the sahuagin and other dangers to reach the undersea dwelling of the great bronze. By this means the city will have allies able to take the war to the air itself.

Should the island be destroyed at the optimum moment it may even so badly damage the enemy forces that they will have to retreat...

[Matt Larkin (author)]

None of your players read this, I hope ;) (at least not until after the campaign)

So does this mean your campaign is nearing the end already?  Or are you just planning ahead?

Did you decide on the means of undersea travel?

[Tybalt]

I'm just planning ahead. Players are always the X factor of course but nevertheless I find it good to have a plan. I haven't decided on the means yet, no.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Oh I completely agree on planning ahead.  I generally have things painted in broad strokes, with an idea of where to go if players make any on the most likely decisions.  If it's completely out of left field, then knowing what motivates various NPCs/events helps me wing it.

[Tybalt]

The Enemy Part One

Duke Anderman

Of all King Cleothas' greater vassals, Duke Anderman is among the most ambitious. He is in a curious position. As ruler of the great city of Deva and its surrounding lands he is one of the richest and most powerful men in the Kingdom of the Northern Celts. He is also in a precarious position...where he could fall fast or rise high.

Anderman's grandfather was essentially a pirate, albeit one with a title. The small chain of islands (called the Falcon Islands) that he ruled were essentially rocks, with little more than kelp and seabirds and a few shaggy goats to make a living from. It is possible that initially his people became pirates by plundering wrecks, since the area is notorious for them...though it is also possible that they caused the wrecks, since the area is also notorious for a dark druidic cult that worships the more violent forms of the elements.

At the same time the Yasg city of Deva was increasingly under attack by humanoids and barbarian tribes--perhaps not directly but its trade routes were increasingly becoming risky. Yasg was in the stage of a dynastic war and Deva and other outlying areas were essentially cut off from Imperial support. The only possible protectors were the house of Nuath--a celtic tribe to the north along the Sinan river, and the MacLannad family whose pirates had hit upon the shrewd idea of charging protection of Devan trade ships. Soon the plaids and seal furs of highlander and pirate were swaggering openly in the streets of Deva. A marriage between the two families produced Anderman's father, Conderan.

Conderan's first great act was to prepare regular escorts for trade, and to enact harsh penalties for those who attacked caravan or flotilla. He gathered together warriors, the dark druids of the Falcon Islands and other advisors to enable him to rule the area. Deva was officially independant of this, but in fact was totally dependant upon Conderan (whose style was "the Warlord") with one exception: the Arcanum.

The Arcanum was an organization of Psionicists of various types who were the official protectors and advisors of the city, but whose ranks had grown thin and whose ways were isolationist by tradition. They often acted as healers, truthtellers, and warriors but had grown involved with internal politics.

The city of Deva itself had long been internally ruled by princely merchant families whose great wealth and ties to old aristocratic families in Yasg was their chief concern. The Yasgs regard themselves at any rate as a wholly superior people in culture to nearly everyone except possibly ancient races such as elves and their Yuan-ti forbears.

The Arcanum saw their danger too late--they attempted to play the intimidation and political game with Conderan and in fact had largely succeeded when he unexpectedly was drowned when visiting the Falcon Islands. Ironically, the rocks he came from claimed him. Anderman rose to power and for a time simply ruled as his father did. He managed to tame a number of humanoid tribes and gave them resources (carefully controlled) in exchange for their services. In addition he made an alliance with the King of the Northern Celts, Cleothas, and in fact was his strongest ally on the borderlands. However he was coming under threat from the Yasgs who by now had ended their war, with a princely Yuan-Ti descended clan claiming protection over a new puppet monarch, a child of three. To prevent war he agreed to become the vassal of the land greedy King Cleothas, and in exchange was able to marry one of his daughters to the recently bereaved king and became Admiral of the Royal Fleet to boot. Some longer standing vassals grumbled at this, a man little more than a warlord and pirate becoming part of the king's council and of such high rank as well...

Two events marked his life following this. The first was his purge of the Arcanum. Haunted by dreams and fearful of mental powers being used to influence him, he was persuaded by his dark druids to order a fearful sending to the Arcanum, whose might they could not withstand. It is certain that some fled but others were captured while still unconscious following the attack by dark elementals upon their estate in the city. These were placed in captivity using carefully magicked collars that inhibited their abilities. In addition Anderman demanded that the city leaders acknowledge him as the ruler of Deva as a demonstration of loyalty. This they did with alacrity, with only a few made brutal examples of. With their heads decorating pikes outside the commons Anderman received their fealty. In congratulations of this King Cleothas ackowledged him as Duke of Deva.

The other significant event was the war. Anderman was pressured into leading the main coastal attacks himself by rivals at court, and could hardly refuse. His only favour was that any lands he captured he would be able to hold in fief of the king. Anderman is thus in a position while besieging Fineberg of trying to be patient while he constantly worries about what is happening on his borders, whether the Yasgs will try to pay off barbarian tribes to attack him whether his rivals are stabbing him in the back and so on. His main hope is his daughter's influence with the king. He knows the king is using him, playing his more traditional courtiers off against him and keeping them all from genuinely having power and influence. He also knows that if he controls the New Edomite coast he will truly be the most powerful noble in the kingdom. He fears that the king invited the giantish help precisely to curb this...

Anderman the person is now middle aged, with a somewhat thickened but still powerful body. His father bade him never to forget the ways of his two peoples and so he has remained a good rider and a good sailor, known among his followers for being willing to stand at a tiller or lead an attack if need be. He has dark hair salted with grey and a face somewhat dark for a celt's, due to his father's marriage to a merchant prince's daughter of Deva. Anderman is wary and sometimes savage towards magic using folk he does not trust. He is always accompanied by at least one magical advisor, and every one of them is in debt to him in some way. He can be good humored and magnanimous, as befits a ring giver and prince, but also brutally ruthless towards his enemies as demonstrated earlier. He has a magical bag that is sealed by a spell known only to a wizard who is now dead, which contains the various amulets and other devices that control his personal advisors, druid or wizard. He also posesses a rare horse that is of Sidhe descent and can ride over water or even climb the air, though it can only do this as fast as a normal horse can move. However it is very tough and can run twice as long as a normal horse can.

[Tybalt]

Some thoughts on the Boatmen's Guild:

1. I was thinking that there are three main groups: the original smuggling ring, a group called the marketers who are basically pickpockets and cutpurses and beggars, and the dodgers, who are forgers and fences.

2. The leader is called The Ferryman. He is a shadowy figure seldom really seen up close, who literally is a broad shouldered figure in a chair in shadows that is all that nearly everyone sees of him within the guild. How old he is no one knows, who he really is no one knows.

What no one really realizes is that this mystery figure is actually Enzo Drogo, who was once a 'wharf rat' and later apprentice to a cunning smuggler who taught him the tricks of the trade. Through a series of strange adventures he became very rich and bought himself legitimacy. Enzo Drogo is known to be a well to do merchant, but elocution and etiquette lessons have gone a long way towards disguising him. Town merchants after all have some connections to the underworld for self protection, and hardly anyone suspects him. To all appearances he is a stoutish, amiable but cunning man who enjoys collecting fine furniture and always has a pretty mistress.

As leader of the Boatmen he runs the operations cohesively. He avoids putting his fingers in every pie but rather makes it clear that all have to work together. The very mystery of his existence is used to make people worry about every crossing The Ferryman.

3. The guild tries to be very discreet. Punishments are either fines or else 'accidental' looking deaths.

4. Other leaders: the three most prominent are of each of the major groups.
   a. The Underwarden. He is the leader of the marketers, a thin older man who is a quiet figure known as Raspy to his intimates. The main thing he does is arbitration and assessment. Mostly he is encountered in a hidden room where the latest booty and information is brought. It is in an old disused sewage tunnel, now long cleaned and bone dry, between a warehouse and a brothel, both of which are run by members of the Marketers. He has no ambition to lead the Boatmen, just wants to make sure his 'family' are safe and prosperous.
   b. The Captain. This woman in her middle thirties is tough, certainly no beautiful heroine but with a charisma and certainty that has made her rise to the top of the smugglers who make up the riverine Boatmen. She commands a coastal craft, the Grey Ghost which she and her crew are adept at disguising. Some of the missions she has been sent on or duties she has been given involve prepping her for ultimate leadership, something The Ferryman at times despairs she will be ready for as she seems to prefer the roving and daring life. Her actual name is Clarissa but no one really calls her that to her face. Cap'n Gaspell is all her crew know her as anyway. They are generally loyal but as crews do change from time to time, so it is really only a nucleus of command and cadre that are actual Boatmen. Few among the hireling crew actually know that they are smuggling goods.
   c. Arvid Pell is the son of a powerful member of the Boatmen, in some ways more of a legitimate merchant than anything else, though certainly the stolen material could not be safely sold without his organization. It is possible that he is the most ruthless and able to take over the operation should the Ferryman ever vanish, but it is whispered that his addiction to strange Yasg drugs and bizarre sexual practices might be his undoing. Whispered only for he can be vindictive.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

I especially like your description of their leader.  "The Ferryman" is a great name for a gang leader!  Raspy is cool too.

It seems like you've got the guild well in hand, so I don't have an suggestions at this time.

Except, maybe they should have a secret high-level contact in government they call "The Admiral" or something.  Maybe Drogo pays him tribute to keep the watch out of their hair or something, and the Admiral (they don't know which official it really is 'cause he goes through channels), keeps things running smoothly.

[Tybalt]

I'd appreciate a peek at the Anderman entry above the thieves guild one, if anyone could.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Sure.

First thing I notice, is that Deva does not sound like a Celtic city.  The word appears in Hindi and Latin.  However, if you are aware of it in Celtic use, then never mind.

I like that you have a detailed background for how is family came to power.  No problems there.

I find it amusing that "The Arcanum" is an order of psioncists, given that many players mistakenly think "arcane" means "magic."

I have to admire the detail you put into this guy, especially if he's not the number one enemy of the campaign.  I especially like the complex background and the emphasis on his two cultures.  

I find the magic horse a little over the top (at least the flying part), but maybe it fits well in your campaign; the truth is that no matter how much of it I read, it is the not the same as playing in the game, of absorbing the atmosphere created by a game session.