Cosmology and Belief

The truth is, there is no truth.  Liches, with their understanding of the relationship between all things and no things, are able to live forever, as it were, while deity continually and willfully pervert natural and magical law, why Magic itself is a kind of eraser of reality and agreement. 

There are many players in the game of truth, perception, reality, control, and belief.  There is the God King Mok Turosh; the living Kordic God who stands at the gates of Kias and knocks with his hammer.  There is King John, the lord of all men, who has been King since his ships landed almost two thousand years ago, on the shores called Kias.  There is Malfator, the Gray Veil, lord of undead and keeper of the way between worlds, devourer of Leah’Dah, brother of Varmelius and wielder of doom.  There is Varmelius, the last of the Great Gods before the coming of John and the Light, who lives in his Holy city of Tulnimoon, served by his deathless knights and manifested through his priesthood, everywhere, at once, all the time.  There are the Simulacra who are all Ovardiis and none a slave to the will of the watcher between worlds.  There are the faces of the Dark, the beings and the powers of the entire Wold from before and without the Light; these are Great dragons, air spirits, things that protect and live in the woods, the Elves themselves are born of the Dark; they are the forces of the natural world, the planes of energies and powers and elements, the creatures of Fey and Faerie, of fen and cloud, of wood and water.  Then there is the Light as Pholtus foresaw, and Leah’Dah birthed and mankind, both men and women carry; a power to end darkness and the dominion of all wild and evil things.  Then there are the Godlings, the beings who have escaped the poles of creation to become birthless and deathless;  Igyaya, Yihoon, Lumn, the Shiboan Matriarch Thrala, Inis the deceiver and Riit, the cloud goddess and hater of all man’s kind. There are also the Druids of Westfolden, the ancient and abandoned race of men, the westerners.

Mok Turosh was Born, or as some say re-born out of the height of the arrogance of Man.  He united all the horned people of the southlands.  He walks among his people, shares his food with them, holds up his great shield for them and breaks down the walls of the cities that would keep his people out, their hearts in their chests, their life their own.  The God King will suffer no man to keep his manhood and many who fall on the field will be corrected before a death blow might be made or before even they are taken as slaves or for living fodder.  The women are keep like animals and taken far to the south of their land and used to breed a slave class in those lands.  A powerful Kordic cheiftan may have ten such human and elvin women for this purpose.  The tongues of all of the pale races are removed and eaten.  None that have been a slave and escape, leave with their tongues or their manhood.  All worship and obey the Godking in his lands, even the slaves must.  Those who are not sincere in their worship are eaten , and the armies always need food, and so waste no time with indoctrination or coercion, in fact, killing and eating those captured is preferred and easier.  Those who have fought against the Godkings armies speak of mortally wounding great beasts of their kind only to have them whole again before the sword can be raised for another strike.  They have seen clouds of arrows flee their targets.  They have seen the souls of warriors ripped from their fighting bodies by witches and stuffed into gourds or devoured on the spot.  They have seen blades break on the skin of their enemies, poison evaporate and lances warp.  They have watched helplessly as armies have taken entire battlegroups captive and stripped them, raped them, emasculated and removed the tongues and branded and gambled for the right to own or eat them all just 15 feet from the front lines and all of their friends and captains while they are unable to push even a dagger blade past the impenetrable ranks of the Kord Shield lords.  Men have seen witches call for lightening and obscuring clouds and summoned beings from the very nature of the Wold to thwart or uproot walls and barricades.  Hey have seen invoker knights unleash hell only to watch these chalk-witches turn the brimstone to a light rain or a smoke.  The only thing that has saved the rest of Mankind is that Mok Turosh has no use for subterfuge or assassination or infiltration.  He would rather destroy Kias then move on the Vicars burg then Hardwall then bypass the city or raid the lands by simply attacking more than one place at a time.  Only King John has been able to push the Godking back from his walls, and that with great effort.  There are many in the north who are terrified by these stories and many lords who can remember them like they only happened just before breakfast.  You can imagine the threat of the rule of the God King could make any sane person act a fool.  There are Cults in the north let by wild men who seek to bring this apocalypse to full height.  This is made worse by the fact that, while the elves hate men, they do not completely hate Kords, which they view less as adversaries and more as animals, which can be dangerous but can also be controlled or avoided.  And since the Armies of the Godking are intent to destroy all of Human kind, the heat is not felt so strongly by others, or as urgently.  The symbol for Mok Turosh is a red face on a white flag.  His armies are painted in white chalk with only the chieftains and the witches adding red imagery or symbols.  Kords can be so strong and huge as to be literally un-killable.  They can also be so numerous and small as to be indefensible against.  Many of the Kords of the North are Clanned and while they have the same temperament, they are not guided and protected by divinity.  Superstitious farmers in the outlands will leave totems and sacrifice to the local Kords, believing they will be spared or that it will incur goodwill.  Hunters and rangers almost all speak some kordic, and the act of emasculating game after a kill or removing and eating the tongue is a Kordic ritual adopted by humans.  The call “Hok” is a Kordic word meaning The End, or Finish.  It is also a challenge and is shouted to declare your intent to fight to the death to a stranger.  If you hear the call, you should leave the path you are on and turn back, or you can submit, or rush forward and join the enemy.  While there is no mingling with the culture of the Deity, his will is still projected in these northern lands.

King John is the Great king of Men.  Though there are other kings, none are as old or as powerful.  John forbids the worship of Deity in his lands and it can be said he is the God of an atheist state, but that would be intellectually dishonest.  John is no God but his is powerful and seemingly immortal.  It is the power of nationalism, race, heredity and pact that rules the hearts and the wills of the people of Kias.  It is speculated by free thinkers that he draws on the love and support of his people and it makes him powerful, nay, it makes him god-like.  Only the Leahdist were ever allowed to be a part of his kingdom and that is because Leah’Dah saw the Light come in john and helped him build a kingdom and inherit the vision of Pholtus and felt herself as much his subject as his protector.  John’s symbol and the symbol of the lands of the king is a Gold crown above a black tower on a blue field. There are variations of this of course and the kings own seal is just his crown.  Loyalty to the King is paramount though in the North it is waned to a lip service.  In the south, such derision is treasonous and will win you a trip to the front lines to reinvigorate your faith in country and king.  “One Land, One King” is common parting and greeting amongst warriors on the road.  (more to follow...)

Malfator - The God of Suffering, Deceipt and Slavery.  He killed Leah'dah, and ushered in a new age of death, and waning of the Light.  the world goes to sleep.  He is the God of the undead, they carry his voice, he sees from their eyes, hears what they hear.  He bears three aspects who walk the world, bring up evil, and with the will of others, turns out the light wherever it tries to keep shining.  They say you see his face when you die.  they say Leah'dah is not there to catch us anymore and hold us in her hands safe from he that is the Great Heaven, and place us with love back into the Gift.  They say he gives himself to the dead.  They say all things that once were, are now again through his power.

Varmelius - the God of Truth, Change and Journeys.  he is a sitting God.  He is the Light on the Hill.  He is the City and his people, the Vistilry of Ingveroon, he is the heart of his Priests.  His powers surround, keep men safe, call them forth again from the hands of the Great Heaven.  Many serve him, and through their worship, drive the dead from the gift, and destroy the hands of Darkness where they are found.  

Peytah - The God of Fire, Pain and Endings.  His priests are servant of Fire.  They are mad, they have little love of this life, are seen always staring into flames.


Ovardiis and the Simulacra - Elven lich king of old, and his seven Simulacra.  Only in the North do we fear these.  The old one himself ha been awaken, and stirs.  His Simulacra, built before Men knew this place, wake again also, his tolls for walking through time this far, rise and horrify the lands.

The Dark - all natural magical things in the world; dragons, beasts, undead, fairies, wood and water spirits and spirits of the sky.  If it is not man, or a beast that has been found in the light as cattle, sheep, some birds and fish are, then it is a thing of darkness, and an enemy of man.

The Light - the humans, and the birth of the Gods, belief and the dawn of the soul.  The Light shines in the Gift, which is what the Light makes of the world that once was nothing but darkness.  The light is man and his things, it is godliness, the gods, and the control of evil and the use of magic to defy darkness.

Igyaya - The Goddess of Venom, Serpents and Insanity.  She loved Pholtus.  She fell from all things when he left us.  she is mad and lives will her people in the south, in the sea amongst the Shiboans who love her still.  She is poison and insanity and takes her toll where it is levied by the errors of Men.

Yihoon - The God of Wind, the Seas and Longing.  She rides the sky, she hates Men.  She blames us for Pholtus leaving us.  We are too weak for her.  She will not help us.  She loves Aday.  He still sleeps or is imprisoned.  Yihoon has come though to some.  her reasons are not known.  She rides the skies.  She is here, now, up there, despising our weakness, and our fear.  Be strong brothers and sisters.  the dark loves our cowardice, she hates it.  

Lumn - The last of the western Kings cursed never to die, wanders the lands.  He is the last, the only man of the west, some say he was the brother of Aand, but who can know this.  He wanders wastelands.  He is quite mad.  Some are said to have spoken with him.  You heard about Itroll the wanderer and his Dagger of Whispers.  He said that it is Lumn who told him the Daggers name, it is how he can fly and be vapor.  Lumn solved the riddle of the dagger.  Lumn knew the Dagger.  Lost to time and all but Iroll's hand and Lumn's memories.  

Thrala - The Goddess of Destiny, Entropy and the Stars.  They say she fights the Great Heaven, even now, and has since Pholtus left us.  She will help you fight too.  she will fight the coming of the end forever.  Fight with us, fight.

Innis - The Vampire God - rules the plane of nightmares and dreams.  He does not serve Malfator though he is cheifest of the undead, a foul and ancient vampire.  

Riit  - 

The Druids of Westfolden.  they are the voice and the will of the Gray Elves now that the families have fallen and the doors of the great house have closed and the houses have been returned to the earth.  They send the Emissaries, the great  and powerful elven spies.  They send the Leafwinders, the powerful assassins, intot he world of men to watch and to weaken us and to lay the way to take back all of these lands.  They are not the children or Ooya.  The Gray Elves hate men.  The northern Province was once their Eastern Kingdom or Sarand, and Ovardiis their last dynastic King.  They keep peace with John for the time being.  Up here, we fend for ourselves.  

The Westerners - the long Vanished race of men who came first to the world by way of the Great Light.  All are gone, their language known only by few sages.  Their artifacts remain, they brought with them the Light, and had the first souls.  Through them all gods were born.  Most of their ruins lie to the west of the known lands.

Learning and Teaching in the Northern Province

Where to begin, but isn’t that that point.  The best instructors in the world can do only so much to make a 60 year old woman a Swordswoman.  And, the right kid, a natural if you will, can teach herself anything by watching, hanging out in the smithy, sitting on the wall of the arena, fighting boys, fighting Men.  This is not to say she will not benefit from the hard instruction of a southern Warmaster, but, she may not be the type to be taught, as well. Perhaps it is her defeat that instructs her in killing, perhaps it is her victories that embolden her and terrify others, or her rage from wrongs unrelated to steel.  Perhaps it is the spirit of an ancestor or an elemental that has decided to grow something of the Dark in her, or perhaps it is the time she spends sweeping the Practice room and feeding the men of the Guild that teaches her most, about weakness, assumption, close mindedness, lack of creativity or even doubt.  Whatever it is, it can be safely said that there is learning going on inside the pupil, and teaching, well, teaching is going on but the question is who is doing it.

What can an alchemist discover in her lifetime?  What can she learn from a witch in 8 months of slavery tutelage?  The benefits of structured focused and effective training help prevent the remaking of mistakes, the standing on the shoulders of the witch who came before.

Observation may teach a guide all they need to know about a route but leave some blanks as to why they stopped where they did, and why certain routes were taken at certain times.  To exceed mimicry, which is only the window of learning, one must understand many things in some cases.  How long does it take her to learn 50 knots?  How many escaped slaves or fallen loads will it take her to learn why there is more than one knot to use.  It is assumed that anyone can leap onto a horse with enough courage but a woman who fights from horseback, firing arrows from her thieves bow while hanging from the side of her horse while still guiding it, well, that is a tough skill to teach, even to the gifted pupil.

Some will not teach for any amount of money, the daughter of their enemy.  Others will take your coin and time and leave with little more than you had before you met them.  For others, there simply is not the time to learn.  How much can you learn about birdcalls from a guide on a three day trip through the greenwood?  How much attention can be given over to it, how quickly do you pick something up? Are you the girl that needs to be told twice?  Three times?  Again and again?  Perhaps an injury you received as a child when Kords raided your farm and almost escaped with you, has left your tongue cleft, or your lip scarred, what whistling and clicking then?

To think that a skill can be bought the sword the skill will wield is foolishness, and yet, there are many rich and powerful fools.  Some teach for free, some teach out f love, or even fear, others seek only coin or life debt or revenge.  The best advice, which coincidentally is the single most wasted effort in the history of learning, is to understand what you want and what you are willing to do to get what you want.  Few women wake up wanting to be a swordmaster, what they want is revenge for a rape, the death of their sister/father, the need not to be afraid, powerless, and weak.  Swordmastery may even be a side effect of a well oriented woman who started on a path of revenge and ended in a fief built over the ruins of the camp of them men she destroyed.

So she wants to learn potion making, or does she.  Perhaps what she wants is to be a healer, or to have a man fall in love with her or to hurt the enemy of her lover or to be able to protect those she loves.  What does she really want to learn?  Who best to teach her these things, where to go for instruction what to provide to the instructor, how will she know when she has what she wants?

A foolish girl with no patience or will to learn is as hard to teach as a young girl so full of anger and disappointment that she cannot convince anyone to help her.  Perhaps she just is not strong enough the make a dagger stick but can juggle them all day.  Perhaps she can fight and parry all day but can be pushed over by a large dog.  Maybe she is the best shot with a crossbow but it takes her three times as long to crank it back for a shot, or maybe she is beautiful but unlettered and cannot learn the spells for the languages she cannot grasp.  Or maybe she has the strength and the respect of men but is foolish with her trust or too slow to anger.

She may spend all her childbearing years learning the sword and indeed teaching and yet, the first person she kills is her sister and swears away steel from that day, taking up robes and the path.  Perhaps she learns potions and sells them to the wrong people.  Life cannot be avoided and to think of learning as something different from surviving three harrowing days trapped in a burning fort, or fleeing Kords is a mistake.  Learning starts when the eyes open but it does not stop when they close.  Strength, a cold heart, knowledge of the enemy, pain tolerance, endurance, quickness, elvin steel, sorcery, custom armor, a good mount, adequate rest, fresh food and water, even ground, a cloudless day, a surprised opponent, a terrified opponent, a distracted opponent…  what makes a better warrior, two weeks at the guildhall learning a disarming move?

And yet, who will teach letters.  They may not be observed and mimicked.  Who will show you how to make sword ore?  Who will show her how to turn cattle into armor, teach the times and the treatments. 

How many Kords must she fight with a dagger before she learns that they prefer to grapple and buys herself a spear she does not know how to use but puts red feathers at the base of the point and avoids wilderness contests that way.

Many fools have learned the sword, the bow, the shield.  There are a few powerful women who have learned to hunt, defeat enemies and protect the ones they love without weapons or armor.  And yet, what a sight, Riel Silversleet, in white, her thin blades drawn, her veil on, the blood of many at her feet, her thin calm lips below freckles of blood.  

The adventurer will find many opportunities to learn.  they meat strangers almost constantly, and if swards are sheathed, what is it if not friendship that exists now between them?

Many skills have tiers of knowledge.  Language for instance.  there is a difference between someone struggling in their learning of vocabulary, a person who is well spoken and competent, and a sage or a poet and their ability to use language to its fullest effect.  It is best to describe this as three proficiency slots.  

The same goes for any skill, for instance Mining.  A one proficiency clot miner can work in the mines and not kill himself or others.  It is the equivalent of a years experience.  When he is able to add another proficiency slop, he is then able to train others to mine, can follow ore veins, and build some or the tools and devices or at least inform their manufacture.  When the miner spends a point on the last slot of Mining, her can prospect, develop mines, extract wealth efficiently with few errors.  

Travel in the Northern Province

It’s easy to buy horses, two weeks rations and 50’ of rope, hell, you can even splurge for some crazy chain barding, however, there is a gulf of knowledge and experience between that and travelling safely and swiftly through wilderness for three days, because it’s all wilderness, no matter what curvy ink lines show as a road on your map. Try binding 4 warrior Kords for travel to the slave markets of Brighton. Do you think Rope Use will teach you that?

There are many people who depend on the ignorance of young princes and adventurers. Some horses are sold twice a week. Great money for the stable and the bandits by the yellow road who happen to be run by the stable owner’s brother in law. To survive you must be prepared to accept that there is a line of people whose bread and butter depend upon you making the mistake you are going to make, because you are brash, inexperienced, cocky, willful and wrongly confident of untested abilities.

There are many “locals” willing to Guide newcomers for the right price. There are also many “locals” who are willing to walk a group of newcomers into a trap for everything they own, including their lives. Reputation is everything in the Northern Province; protect yours.

The Guard are probably the first place you should look for local guides and litter Guards while you are in town. You can also try the Freeblades guild but know that the only loyalty a Freebladesmen has is to another Freebladesman. You can hire a hunter from a farm, a Broken One from the yellow wood, a theif, a servant of a local lord, you can hook up with a caravan, fall in with adventurers, or strike out on your own.

Guards may or may not be available for the work or may not have the knowledge of the area. They will often direct you to the people best suited to guide you. It is always a good idea to meet with the different gourd houses when you arrive in town and pay respects as well as check in and see who is available to be a city guide. You should know that there is no Law to speak of in the Northern Province as there are no Kings men here in that capacity and no Sage Guild to direct enforcement. If approached through the Guards, you will likely get a man in livery, which is more valuable, as many won’t cross the Guard. It is not unlikely for you to be charged a kings piece a day. Hiring a guard without going through the Guard will result in a lower price but many Guards can only wear their livery while they are on watch. The Guard will supply his reputation only and if he has little or none, you might have just employed a thug to greater effect.

Guards may guide you to places outside town and sometimes to neighboring hamlets, but not often. The Bar and Cross are an example of a Guard that has a large territory to the north of Brighton, even unto the Yidari Duor. Many of the Guard make the ride to Bricking and know all of the farms and settlements in the north and north west of Brighton, as well as the towers and keeps of the local lords.

There are those of the warrior caste amongst the Freeblades that will sell their services as guide to adventurers and the like for good money and will be worth that money but few fledgling heroes can drop 500 Kingspiece for a three day ride to the Sunken Temple, or the Blue Shrine. However, if you want to get there and back with no problem, that is probably the best way.

The problem with hiring a farmer or Hunter is that while they may know trails and paths and shortcuts, and can read animal signs and avoid some danger, they are farmers and hunters, not guides per say and there is more to leading ten people and gear with no wilderness experience than just playing follow the leader and camping. The upside is that a farmer can be convinced to do almost anything for a hand full of Steel Pieces, or a Lords Piece, as long as it is not planting time or harvesting time, or calving time, or market time, or hunting time, or harrowing time, or any of the Old Sun days, or if Kords have been seen in the area, or if his son is sick, or wife is pregnant, or if he has a dispute with a neighbor; I think you get the idea.

The Broken ones are great trackers but will be killed like elves in the street or on the road if seen. They can and will eat people. They are as much animal as they are human. They will find trails and cut scent but take pay in medicine, game or trophy. They do not speak as humans do and so you will need someone who can communicate with them, typically, Kords. They can be rounded up, captured and forced to track then killed when you reach your destination, a fairly common practice. They can also be cultivated. It is rumored the Bar and Cross has some Dogmen trackers. Oh yeah, and horses would rather throw you then get near them, kind of like wolves.

Thieves are great guides and scouts, if you can find a way to negotiate from a position of strength. Leverage replaces trust when dealing with underworld types. Find some, keep it, use it only when you have to, don’t use it if it can be turned. Not all leverage is a threat, and thieves don’t buy blue sky. The problem with thieves is you are always paying at least ten times what something is worth. This is not because they are adroit at delivering results, it’s just that coin is so easy for them to get, anything less than a lot of easy money is just not worth it to most thieves.

Lords will not hire out their men. You must serve a Lord or be affiliated with one through marriage or through pact. Even then you cannot just show up in force of arms at a Lords door and ask to hire a guide; that’s another way people disappear in the Northern Province. The truth is, you will probably be challenged before you are able to enter a Lords lands and if you don’t meet well, you might not get the opportunity to even turn back. Know your Lords and Landholders. You should never respond to a challenge with “Who’s lands are these?”

Lords are also not keen on adventurers getting drunk and killing farmers in their Taverns, or waking unspeakable evil on their lands or shifting power among the Tribal Kords on their lands by wiping a hunting party or routing a clan. They don’t want adventurers looting their ancestral crypts or driving away their game, or mistaking their henchmen for “bandits”.

Serving a Lord can be easy and difficult. It does not benefit a Lord to sanction a cadre of mercenaries so that they can loot some tombs and leave. It does suit a Lord’s interests to sanction a Cadre and then have them move on an adversary or bolster a military action against a regional threat, or even stay on as Man at Arms. Trust is built slowly with a Lord as most of a Lords men are come with him to these lands after years of war in the south, or they are his son’s nephews, nieces, or the children of his servants or Loyalists.

Expect to be taxed if you deploy an expedition on a Lords lands without permission, although it is more likely you will just be killed. When you begin to think about taking on a Lord, remember that a Lord of the South is probably 15^th level, as well as all of his or her companions. Every warrior or henchmen that serves a Lord with their name is at least 9^th level. All 9^th level followers of a lord have their own retinue. That is not counting the Men at arms, mercenaries, standard henchmen and landed militia and all of their blood and affiliations. The chance of you sitting at a table with a Lord and being able to actually enter initiative with a lord is so remote as to be irrelevant in terms of being a factor in your reasoning.

Caravans are an effective way to move around and while some groups follow caravans, they are not allowed to follow closely. Some caravans will not let people who are not Company , accompany them. Others will take all the swords that want to ride along, however, keep in mind, Adventurers are known for buying passage with a caravan and then robbing it themselves after killing everyone on the caravan, if the goods were worth the effort, like food stuffs for their camp and the animals and wagons. Most caravans are full of vegetables, wheat, and other foodstuffs, some caravans haul lumber or run livestock. With the exception of the wheat and lunber, it makes them attractive targets. This is why most caravans have guards from the Freeblades guild as most caravan owners or trade captains are Freebladesmen, will keep a sell sword in food drink and sex for their company. Its hard to beat the price and its impossible to outdo the talent.

Adventurers will not escort anyone. They will however “party up” and if the people you are partying up with are capable, well, you just have to hope they are willing to give you some of what you all find and it should be successful. Not all adventurers are Freebladesmen. Many will lose the membership because they kill other members outside the area. Some are honest but hard luck has forced them to give up dues which are expensive for Any adventurer at 500 kings piece per moon. It is almost impossible for an untalented warrior to even find the funds to join for anymore time than 1 month. There are instances where delivering a legendary Magic Item has given a Freebladesmen lifetime membership, but it doesn’t happen often. While the guild speaks to the best in men, the houseless and the guiltless warrior is a dangerous being, in fact, anyone who claims a Great Nature dragon is the toughest foe you can face, has never found themselves at odds with a group of adventurers. This is where reputation and friendship come in, and though there are friends among adventurers, they will still kill each other. This brings up the idea of the unsuccessful adventurer, meaning, all adventurers, as successful adventurers are never met, as they have moved on to the great cities of the North, Tarsus, Petra or Hardwall. All the adventurers that are met in the NP are hungry, need money and are waiting for the next sucker with a good map or a new route to an old tomb, or larger numbers or better gear, or simply more coin to provision. Adventurers are drawn to the NP from across the continent to plunder tombs or bring down Akua or Ride the Stichel road or find the barrows of the Simulacra, or break the Lock, or open a new room in the Quarry, or pierce a vault of the Ascendants or even of the lost Leahdic temples. There is success too, and some find it.

Striking out on your own is probably the least advisable way, though after reading this it may sound like the best idea. Before you do, keep in mind, there is only one road in the Northern Province, and it is the old dwarven road and it runs from the old sea fort, straight inland and into the brake towards Elvin lands. In King Johns time in the NP, some 200 years ago, the road was only visible ever visible three times, and the king had Fouge to guide him on it. Most roads are just passable areas. You may encounter wagon and cart tracks but many live in these lands and there is no guarantee a road will lead to a home or a hamlet. Imagine these directions; “Follow the arable lands north till the woods thicken then cut east towards the sea. Climb the ridges of the break until you see the White Spire of Olinus the Old. Keep this tower no on your right as you make your way north to the peaks. There you will find an old road, little more than a path that will take you to a plateau half way up the mountain. From there look west and take the way between the Dragons Teeth. A cave will open in a damp ravine, this is the first door of the Underoad and will lead to the high roads and then to the passes.” Now imagine this is spoken over dinner, not written down, who knows how to read and wright? Now keep in mind that these directions were given carefully, thoughtfully and willingly by someone with something to lose if you do not find your way. Ok then, off you go. Now imagine getting your directions using subterfuge or torture, or buying them from an avaricious youth, or overhearing a conversation or interpreting them from the written elvish.

Travel on foot is perilous, takes almost ten times as long as travel by horse though it is quicker then travel by wagon or cart if those traveling are unencumbered. The more people, the slower the going. One man could probably take more risks, cross obstacles swiftly and travel light. Make that two and the party is only as fast as the slowest person.

All that aside, travel by foot is how almost everyone travels in the Northern Province. Only the wealthy and powerful travel by horse. If you are carrying a sword and food for a week, you will NOT be running or covering good distance, now, your wounded, or evading Kords.. You can see how the most dangerous part of an adventure tends to be the getting there and back again.

Adventurers tend to travel the best, as do couriers or scouts. The latter are light, quick and stop for nothing. The former travel in large capable groups, take their time and are provisioned well and are well informed.

The robbing and murdering of travelers is a thriving business, and we are only talking about people and the occasional Kord, which is to say nothing about dark forces, dragons, the undead, the servants of the Veil, and the agents of ancient powers. It may be said that the Northern province devours more souls than does the war in the south, which would be a lie, but not by that much.

Humans and the coming of the Light.

 

Of all of the Great kings to cross the world ocean, King John was by far the strongest and the most capable.  From the burning of his ships to the last kings landing was no more than 12 years.  In that time, 11 Kings came out of the Seas and 11 Cities were built.  Today, the empires of Ptolemy, John and Tancred are all that remain.  Some of the peoples of all of the kings remain though the people of Vidugavia are all gone, having landed and fought for a place on the ashen White Planes among the horned peoples of that land, the Kords. 

There are still smaller cities, fortresses and Lords throughout the lands that do not serve one of the three Kings.  You could try to draw physical distinctions to identify the kindred’s but Men are proud and will shout the names of their fathers and the fealties they owe albeit even to dead kings.  Mostly though the Dialects and the rituals will tell before the warrior can. 

The Ptolegian Princes have so mingled their blood with the elves that all of their kinds are Half-Elvin.  The Men of John tend to be dark haired and tall.  The men of Tancred tend to be light-haired but are also tall.

The Cities that remain are Kias, Vicarsburg, Petra, Tarsus, Hardwall, Lydia, the City Isles, Tulnimoon and Galass.  Though Tulnimoon is now the City of the Last God, it was founded by Omrod Second King but eventually became a center of worship for Varmeylius and then his home in this sphere.  Petra and Tarsus were the Home of Duen the Old.  His King ship still runs at the bottom of the bay of Yifoon and can be seen on clam days.  Vicarsburg is ruled by the last of his house, and great great great great granddaughter Ilumrin, after the elves.  She is a Trader and a sorceress and is loved by her warrior caste.  Galas had three cities, Galas by the Sea, or Seaholm as the prices call it or the City of Glass as the men of John call it.  There was also Whitespire which lay between the Omrod’s City and the City Isles of the Ptolegies.  His third city was Rust and it was located south of the great red lake nearer to the Old Gates of Westfolden than Citycoast.  It thrived in its time but the dragons loved it more than men and still do to this day.  Bohemond’s Palewall and Hardwall stand to this day and are run by a warrior class, though his blood line remains.

With these great men came the Light that Pholtus began.  And ever will the light strive against darkness.  It is an arrogant human belief that that great god prepared a way for men, upturning and ruining the old dark places that began before the gods were lifted up.  Scholars believe than man occupied a niche left open at the passing of the light and though far inferior to the Ascendants, Men rushed into fill the void and expel darkness and continue the great work. 

It is said the Druids saw the coming of the end of their ways and thann Men would try to finish the work of old pholtus.  It is also said that their fears found traction in elves who saw the ways of men and turned back from their love of them.  It is said amongst the educated and elite that the Incursion War was the Elvin attempt at a first strike in a war that would come eventually.  Though no elf or man knows what agreements were made between John and the Druids that day 200 years ago, what is known is that man is still here and the Elves abandoned their siege of our kind.

It is men who brought ships and weapon-craft and steel to the lands (or so men think) they brought agriculture and masonry and medicine.  The elves lived on forest floors before men and ate food raw and their only weapons were bows and bone knives. 

King John had ruled his kingdom for 2000 years. 

The Servants of the Hidden Tower

Factia Powers are the composite elements of Magic. There are eight Alignments of Factia Power, and each are governed or controlled by a Facta or order who devotes itself to that Factia alone. The Factas are; Facta Necra (Necromancy). Facta Divia (Divination). Facta Cala (Conjuration). Facta Invocata (Invocation). Facta Pria (Abjuration). Facta Tria (Alteration). Facta Encantata (Enchantment). Facta Mettia (Illusion). Each Facta or School is comprised of the Facta Magic that is the Specialization of the School’s Disciples, the Disciples themselves to include the Schools master or as well as all the items of permanent or harnessed magic operating on or partly with the alignment of the Facta.

The only ‘specialists’ of Magic are Servants of the Hidden Tower, or more correctly, the Tower Magus. Surely there are those who use magic that to not serve the Tower Magus but they are not Specialists. They are Hedge Wizzards for whom the deepest truths of Magic have eluded them.

All those who learn the art of Factia Power are able to sense all things of their Factia. Other casters, potions, scrolls items etc. Their acuity at this is determined by their own primordial rank or ‘Closeness’ to the Factia. Of importance also is the fact that when casters of the same Factia sense each other, they can determine who is closer to the Factia and hence, more powerful. It goes without saying that a caster who is closer to the Factia or ‘Higher Level’ will sense the ‘lower level’ caster before the lower level caster senses him. While items of Factia Power can inflate the power of a caster and indeed make that Caster more powerful, High Level casters can discern between Level and Independant Power. Finally, the master of each Factia, as the most powerful of all the disciples of the Factia is connected to each and every caster below him in a way yet that grants the Master an elevated level of influence over the Casters though it is hard to put this in written terms.

If left to spell craft alone, a Caster of greater level will never lose to a caster of lower level. Because of this, low level casters have a predisposition of questionless loyalty to Casters who are greater then they are. This is so much so that it gives the impression that there is rank and advancement among those of the Tower and that the Low level Casters are students of the Higher level ones. While this is true in a way. There is no school as far as courses enrollment or duty is concerned. There is no loyalty to position, only to power. Low Level casters adhere to those who are greater so that they may learn from them and so become greater themselves. They ingratiate themselves with their superiors out of their respect and desire.

Though servants of the Tower are often abroad to procure items and entities for their betters, the Servants often have their own lives and goals and dominions apart from the Agency of the Tower. There is no better example of this then the Sages Guild. The Primerium of Facta Divia is none other that the Venerable Obend Fouge. Highest counsel to the King, Chief Administer of the Kingdom of King John and High Seer of the Sages Guild. Currently the most influential humanoid, non-Deity being known.

Servants of the Tower are ever seeking items of independent Power of their Factia. Either for themselves or as gifts to their betters, these agents are powers of there own.

Two more anomolouse relationships must also be discussed here. The first is the relationship between Facta Necromanta and Malfator. Malfator is the Archenemy of Facta Necromanta as the God wills to control all negative planar energy on the Prime. He is in direct competition with the Facta because of this. For this reason also, those Necromancers not of the Facta are accluded to Malfator and so are mortal enemies of the Facta. The Facta hunts them with a zeal because every Necromancer slain frees up Factia power, retrieves several factia items and weakens the enemy significantly. It also puts a stop to the Necromancers animations which can only be beneficial to Malfator. Necromancers of the Factia are not necessarily pro-undead, in fact many are undead hunters as each undead that is destroyed furthers the Goals of the Factia. To be accurate, little of Factia Necromanta has do with the generation or propagation of undead.

The Second anomaly is Facta Invocata and the rise of the Elementalist sect. The sect was born in Westfolden under Inmianan III. His death at the hands of the Finhorns did nothing to bring about the decline of the sect which up to that point had been an army of Invokers in the making and after his death, a cult manipulated into a powerful sect by the return of the Heroiphant from Iloudia or The Northern Province, where they had been in exile for nearly half of their 1900 years outside the Fold, thank Leahdah they took no followers while they were in exile there.

The Druids saw the Elementalist as vital in their plans for the elimination of the humans and the Final Conquering which is their term for the enslaving or killing of all the post Factioning Elves. Iloudia holds a special place in their hearts as it is one of three places where their origins are traced. The other is Westfolden and the Third is not known. It is said that before they left they took measures for the preparation of their eventual return to the northern province and laid growth in the wild places. What those preparations are is not known.

The Elementalist Movement received little attention from the Sages guild and still does not. It is only since the Work of Posmussen has been published that it has been given serious consideration by the Sages Guild. It is not likely that anything will come of his treatise however. The result is the legitimization of the Elementalist Culture in the Northern Province as Humans have natural aptitude for Invocation. That and it appeals to the raw, destructive power always sought after by the short lived races.

The Philosophy of Elementalism is revolutionary in that they preach and believe not in the balance of the Inner Planes but in the Dominance and the enveloping nature of the Plane of Fire. They hold that the three pillars of the elements stand in the all engulfing power of Fire and that Fire is not an element at all but the force that directs all the elements. They believe in the hierarchy of the Plane of Earth below the Plane of Water below the Plane of Air, not as corners of the prime as preached by all contemporary Planer Cosmologists.

Instead of equality of power and attributive portion, Elementalist believe Heirarchy and so pursue and justify actions of evolution towards that end. Basically they believe they increase their power through destruction. Though some have butted heads with the Kingdom and the Sages guild, they have lost. They are not targeted as a group because their ideology does not threaten the kingdom as the sect is a manifestation of and from society, and hence they do not seek the destruction of society, just destruction of life. Though many elementalists argue against this interpretation of their intentions, it is the closest to the truth of any interpretation of their beliefs that exists in written form as of yet.

Elementalists tap into Factia Power and so technically are servants of the Tower were it not for this fact. Elementalist show allegiance to their own order and it is political and social and has no loyalty to raw power nor does it regard such power as right or governing. It is one of the best loved ironies of the World of Magic as the Invocata who are without arguement the most powerful of all the Factas of the Hidden Tower cannot compel the Elementalists. The fact that the Elementalist value gold, bought and voted rank and heraldry above the raw power they wield is source of much humor in the world of Magicians at the sport of the Hidden Tower.

This is plainly why Invocatas relish the destruction of Elementalist. To the untrained eye it is a revolution in the world of magic but to those in the know it is merely survival of the fittest. The elementalist care nothing for the servants of the Hidden tower and consider them nusances or trophys to be killed for sport while the Invocata despise the elementalist above all else for their refusal to acknowledge to inherent superiority of Factia Power and the power of the greatest of the Facta.

In final irony, the ability of an elementalist to throw a more powerful fireball ends up having nothing to do with how powerful they are in theri own society and it makes them more powerful then their greatest adversaries in that they do not care that they are. But this is covered better under the section on Peytah.

Each Master of the Facta has a term as the Primerium of the Tower. It is the Primerium of the Tower who is responsible for directing the general goals fo the Tower but more importantly is responsible for it’s protection and it’s future as well as the cooperation of the different Factias of the Tower. As the Allignments have oppositions they also have allies. Parallel schools are close and work together often to pursue mutual ends. Opposition schools must be kept from attacking each other though this is hardly possible. All out faction war is the responsibility of the Primerium to avoid and keep from occurring. The Primeriumship is decided by cosmological events and the length of each reign is determined the same way. Before Fouge, Facta Pria ruled and it is precisely that Primerium who is responsible for saving the Tower from Mok-Turosh. His protections keep it safe from all but the invited. His Rule was the most brief in the past 3000 years. Before it, Facta Necromanta ruled and it’s Rule was the Longest. It is thought Facta Necromanta ruled shortly after it’s discovery by the First King John, many centuries ago. Before Primerium Teltus the Necromancer, Facta Mettia ruled. The next Facta slated to rule is Facta Invocata but it is not yet clear when this will occur but it is likely to happen when the kingdom of King John falls to the Kords. Though many do not accept this as a possibility it has already been seen by the seers. They fight this fact because the fall of the Kingdom of King john is the end of their Reign. It is certain by no means as no events of the future are but it is fixed and little can weaken it as every day it’s certainty becomes a little more solid in the foggy sight of the Oracles of the Observatory of Gray Heart.

To Prepare for this, Factia Invocata is ever hunting for a series of artifacts it will need to successfully rule during it’s time. Most of these items rest in the coffers of the Liches in Shiboa and their Drow Allies. One is thought to lay in the Northern Province but Lakiwan, a servant of the Tower in the North has looked for it now for 6 years to no avail.

Agents of the Tower are not Citizens of any country and include all types able to ply the arts of Factia Power. Their races include all those living. Several of them are WC some Drow from Shiboa, others still Gold, High, Wild and Gray elves in origin but Casters all the same. All Human kinds are servants there but kords are not known among them, nor are the gnomes, dwarves or halflings.

Inheritance and Ascendancy; the story of the Leahdists.

There are many things true in the Kingdomed Lands of John the First that are not true or at least no longer, in the northern most province of his Kingdom.  For instance, King John has abolished the worship of Gods.  Emissaries of Deity are forbidden entrance into the lands of the King as are Acolytes and those who openly practition or openly profess adherency.  Johns people were invited to the north by the Leahdists, seeing strength and future in Men, as did Varmeylius.  The King has always seen those lands as a lease and not his Kingdom but years passed then centuries and soon the North was as much of the Kingdom as SeaCoast and the Vast Provinces.  Many Guards and lords loved the Light and served LeahDah and many priestesses helped Johns men abroad and in the south where his people were always at war with the White Plains and its horned people.  Though John never allowed temples to be built in his land, he did not prohibit her worship in private and the Priestesses supported the king and did not contradict his invention of LAW.

There was harmony in the north then between the Kings men and the Goddess and the wild peoples there.  As is said elsewhere, during the Incursion war, the Priestesses fought alongside the Humans against the Gray Elves.  Their Temples were besieged and some fell, their Guard were attacked and many died but the Priestesshood could not be up rooted nor their power greatly controverted.  They saved many lives in the few days of that terrible war, hiding people in vaults and secret places and drawing a great strength of peoples to them from the open lands and up into the Temples and the High places, but still too many died.  The war ended at the Old Gates with a pact between John and the Druids, only recently returned to power, having reclaimed authority from the Oligarchs and the Great Houses who ruled Westfolden for more than 6500 years through the New Power; the Invoker Armies.  Though the Leafwinders and their Emmisarries and the Invokers they commanded, all retreated back to the Passes, the devastation they left behind them never was reborn.  The River Fort and all the forts for that matter were razed and the men impaled alive or burned in pits with their families and animals and wealth.  What remained was a land that had its generational strength neutered.  A population hundreds of years in the growing of, wiped out in 5 days.  The Leahdists remained and those they had hid but never again did John invest in the region in more than the bare minimum of infrastructure or policy.  It is still considered a wild place by the people of the south.

But before LeahDah was Pholtus, the First Light.  First God and leader of all things against the Darkness.  He encouraged language in the Elves, he called the dwarves to the surface and he awoke goodness in some Dragons and beings who before were the essence and cradle of darkness itself.  His order of Ascendants the most powerful beings the world has known besides the Gods themselves that have risen.  Shrines and sanctuaries and fortresses from his time and the Order of Ascendants litter the Northern Province.  Many are still visited today.

There is Lostwind, a shrine high up in the passes of the Brake.  It was a Beacon in origin and later, in the Leahdic time it became the second level of Ascendancy, a necessary destination in the evolution of the soul of the Adherent and the Priestess.  Here Pholtus healed Minar.  Here Leahdah found Aday and Clothed him.  Here also Luminas lured Idigbrien the Leafwinder and delayed him with her life from the sacking of Gloria below.

There is the sanctuary of Halifia in the foot of the brake in the north where Pholtus made the Bow.  It is also where he gave Aday his armor.  Many years later LeahDah instructed the first Priestess here the first evening of the Passing of the Light.  She also Ascended her First High Priestess here and now even Aday can be seen here on dark nights in times of trouble.

There is the Fortress Daud to the East of Bricking near where the kings fort Gesen by the sea was later built.  Daud was the third fortress built by the Ascendants in these lands and looks like it held 500 or so warriors and stables in its prime.  Here Pholtus broke the Ovardiis Simulacra Ticho and made a feast of his remains.  Here also the Demon Hellu was trapped and then returned to the outer planes.  In LeahDic times, this was a township and garrison for many riders of the North.  It is where Itian and Idris married.  It is also where John spoke with Leahdah and accepted her welcome to the lands.

There are 50 sanctuaries that are still known of, over two hundred shrines and 17 fortresses, all from the Pholtic Era.  Though the Leahdists were a continuation of the Pholtic time and continued to use the old places, she and her priestesses built Temples, as Pholtus never did.  Before the Ushering and the fall of LeahDah into Darkness, she had built 11 Temples.  Each of the Temples served as living centers for her peoples, having homes, places of worship, of trade and resources, as well as homes for the dead.  Some of her temples still have descendants of the old guards and some still take their dead to be buried in these places.  The Temple Goldtrees now called Whitearch by the locals is still inhabited by the descendants of the Guardians of the Temple.  The wealthy of the NP take their dead here to be buried and unspoiled.  It is a day south and west of Brighton and sees traffic and trade. 

Then there is Escantia in the hills north of the Nehi and near to the Quarry.  Here darkness fell with a vengeance.  Vampires live here now, in the ruined forms of the Priestesses.  The grounds have been polluted and perverted and now harbor fell creatures.  The tombs have been broken and the dead defiled and raised.  The towers and walls hold grim totems now where the blue and gold of LeahDah once flew.  Many adventurers perish here as it is just two days from Last Camp and stories of the riches and perils here pervade all the lands of the king enticing farm boys with their father’s sword as well as retired commanders and princes from afar.

There are many Pholtic and Leahdic relics sought by adventurers.  From Potions to weaponry to artifacts created by the Gods themselves.

Leahdic potions are the best healing potions in existence, each imbued by a fraction of the power of the Goddess and so survived her destruction.  The Shrine of Wellhollow near Bunking has a potion and it is guarded by Danewell and his sons who have taken up stewardship of the Shrine.  In it can still be seen, the vanished goodness of those times.

There are the weapons and armor of Aday, the sole avatar of Pholtus, still alive to this day though his Father and his mistress now are gone forever.  There is The Cannon of Grace.  A book of prayers that still holds powers not connected to divinity.  It is said that whoever possess the Cannon can control the spirits of the earth and can fly.

There is Forgeward, Healer, Fey, Thistle, Wyverian, Gast and Darkadie, all powerful weapons with bound sprits and powers.  There is Greenshield, Stonehamen, Hail’s Armor and Abrust Raiin all armors or shields with bound entities and powers like the blades only sentient and willful.

There is the Cloak of Tears, the Wind Raiment, Leafshadow and Harfear all phylactires or vestments and articles that mirror aspects of the Deity.

Though Leahdah made shrines out of Gold, Silver was the currency of the lands and so the old gold coins of Pholtus are very rare and sometimes worth more to sages and collectors than as spend.  It seems sometimes that one cannot put a foot down in the northern province without disturbing some ancient place, stash or crypt.  The longest ride in the Northern Province is from the mule stone to the Quarry by horse, it will take 120 days.  A trip from the Nehi on foot to the sea following the lost river will take 100 days. 

There are wild griffins left from the Days of LeahDah that her people used as transportation but few can control them now.  It is best to ride swift horses and run slaves and wagons to get around.

Most people still wait for the return of the Light and most people still perform meaningless rituals that hang on from the dead gods.  Most people of 50 years or more still remember the leadists.  All of the Exvocates now are in their early hundreds or older.

The Dirty Truth about Elves

 

“Never trust an Elf.”  And that should be the end of it, but humans are foolish and it is the doom of men that they forget.  Today in the Northern Province, it is wise to keep your Elvin slaves hidden or at the very least keep their faces and heads covered.  It is tradition to brand your elves with the symbol of the Bar & Cross for the memory of the men who stood and fought to buy their people time during the incursion war.  It is not uncommon to see a group of Elvin slaves chained to a wagon, naked and barefoot with black hoods on painted with the red of the Bar & Cross. 

Though few in the Northern Province have even heard of Shiboa it is also unlikely that dark elves have found their way up north as slaves or assassins.  There is a drink at the FreeWinds tavern in Brighton that was inspired by the Owners trip through Shiboa, and one of the Fletches of Woodwake makes a few tips in the Shiboan style for grappling and snaring.  The Lord Hale Darkhearth claims Shiboan Blood line (distant but it does not show in his face).   Some time ago, during the Winter months when the sea moves north, a Ptolegian ship put in and the way to Tarsus and tried to sell half a hold full of slaves from the Dark Islands but no one want’s more elves up here, not even for 1 Silver a piece.

There are two scholars that speak and write in the Dark Tongue and will teach it to any Elvish Speaker for one slot.  They will not teach the reading and the Writing of the Dark Elvin runes though.  Some of the more Veteran of the sailors have had run in with the Dark elves and some even have acquired some of their skills in subterfuge and sea combat as well as swimming and grappling feats.

While the occasional Elf may pass through populations in Strong Company, where there is a will there is a way, and many an adventuring Elf has been killed in his sleep or in a street or a pub or leaving town despite the company it keeps. 

It has been less than 200 years since the Incursion war.  A time when the Nation of Westfolden, or, the Gray Elves wiped out almost all human life in the Northern Province to a man.  The story of the Bench is still told and can silence a room.  When the killing started, the Priestesses of Leah Dah were the first to fight and the first to warn the King.  The passes and the forts fell next, SeaHolm, Tolla, Mount Ocean, Delian’s Key, Witchwake, Escantia, Coldwall, Highunder Towers, Hollowell, Geret by the Sea, High Geret and many others.  The City of the King in the North was next, then the Lords, the Hamlets, and the farms.  Longman knew what was coming and though he was wounded by his lieutenant thinking him a coward, he had all the lands within a day’s ride emptied and send south across the bench, and then he followed with what was left of man.  The Elves were fast.  Not a single person had made the three day walk by the time the First of the Leafwinders appeared and the fighting retreat began in earnest. After only half a day, he ordered all the remaining men to stand and fight and sell their lives hard and there he fell before sunset, and some say it was Tearbringer itself that slew him, and whether he was the last to die or the first it doesn’t matter, for the treachery of the Elves, the will of their god Malfator and the broken hearts of those brave men of the King at hearing that help would not come from the South, poisoned them against all life and now they wake and walk the bench and in fury and rage extinguish ALL life that dares walk where they could not.

Some lived, most of those families that were driven before Deal and the last of the Men of the North, but many of the rest died in valleys and hills and behind stones, in cellars and of those dead, most still lay buried only by leaves and time.

If that had been the last of it, there may have been a kind of forgetting that occurs in the wound death makes in long memory, but it is yearly that the Emissaries come down from the peaks and kill, claiming heirlooms of their nation from when it peopled these lands in the ancient past.  Many tombs of their people lay in the Northern Province and not a few of their kings and great men lay buried here still.  The Tomb of Varith can be visited with just half a days ride west of the Kings City, and their great Monarch Oovardiis, now a demigod by definition of power alone, still haunts the lands, as the Nehi was once his Gardens, and the Quarry his old keep from the living days.  Ess is where the Elvin Hero Bell broke Akua’s Tooth almost 3 thousand years ago, it is always been the home of Suel or the Green Man, and three houses of elves still live in the province, the House of Walislitis, the House of Irion and the House of Highunder. 

Carmen Walisliti is a feared swordswoman and human retainer of the Family as well as wife of Rian Walisliti the third son of Rule.  She is feared more than hated and will kill anyone who profanes her family name. 

Mokk Irion is probably the Only elf that is tolerated if not seen as a Non-elf, by the people near Bricking.  His House is generous, strong and one of the three Lords or three Crowns of Bricking, in that his House, Lord Brahdies and the Gold Witch of Cryoon all live near to and protect the city like it was their own.

Baril Highunder House fought the Elves alongside the Leahdists.  His has given his ancestral home to the King and it alone is still staffed by the Guard and the Sages Guild and has a Cleave or Wardens who operate in the province from Highunder Towers. His Daughter Carr is half Elvin and married Turny Browns, a Man, and runs a Winery in Bricking with him and their children.  Their family are well loved.

So while there may be exceptions to the rule, the environment is not favorable to them and time usually discourages trust or proves it misplaced.

Elves will fetch a price one tenth that of a human and half that of a Kord.  Some will buy elves in the markets just to kill them on the spot so as not to have to look at them or have them breathing our air.  The Only true benefit of an Elvin slave is that they are Docile. 

There is no position in the Kingdom on slavery.  If you had the money or the reputation and we were not in the isolated Northern Province and there was not a War to decide the future of the existence of the Light in the World raging and devouring what was left of human kind, you could go the sages guild to have them judge a slave and they would see their past and how they became a slave and either approve the ownership or free the slave.  This has saved many brothers, sons, daughters, sisters from the yoke of slavery. 

The Leafwinders are Holy warriors from the Nation of Westfolden, like the Vistilry of Ingveroon only they are superior fighters and are unmatched in their application of stealth and subterfuge.  They are loners and with the exception of the Incursion war, or, the Great War as it is called in the North, they are always encountered alone.  They wear no armor and usually are painted black or dark green.  They wield the Holy weapons of the Lost age before the Light and they move so fast that some believe they can teleport.  They are unmatched in combat.  The Warden Yule told a story of being struck 7 times with a staff for each time he managed to land a blow with his sword.  He said when he missed his second strike he drove his sword into the earth and offered the Leafwinder his life as it was clear to him the Elf could have taken it whenever he wanted.  When he opened his eyes the elf was gone.  Do not be deceived. Yule was no slouch.  Before the King recruited him, he was one of the most successful dragon hunters in the Northern Province.  At the time he met the Leafwinder he was a Hart in a Cleave though travelling alone to get word to the snow fort Whitecrawl of the sighting of a Great Blue Dragon in the area.  It was Akua that Yule had seen, newly returned after 2000 years and the fight took place before Akua closed the bench and started sinking ships and burning nearby forts.  Yule later died fighting Akua on the road along with 20 other men, all of them Heros’

The Emissaries are elite fighters of the elves and could best be related to the Lords who serve the King with their Name.  They are political figures in their land as well and some have been known to command armies.  Most Emissaries are Invokers now as well as swordsman, though during the Great War before the rise of the Invoker Amy, they were merely Martial Masters.  The last sighting of an Emissary was in the winter last when Adventurers helped them breach a vault in the Quarry.  They were looking for a Phylactry and had reason to believe that a few of the Adventureres were close and wanted to press the discovery and aid them and of course, make it worth their while.  That was the fabled Blue Concubines Hoard and the silver from the vault is still makes its rounds in taverns.  A painting of her feet, taken from the Vault hangs at Witchminister.  The sorceress Ladry Arutra wears the Blue Concubines Dagger around her waist.  She was one of the adventurers to breach to room with the Emissaries.  She can be found at the fights with her men.  The most impressive take from the Vault besides the Phylactry was Agoro the White Bull; a minotaur, still alive, an albino, capable of spell craft and strong beyond reasonable comparison.  He was the Eunuch Oovardiis empowered to protect his concubine.  He now drinks at the Hayman’s Wake where he has fallen in love with a young cleaning girl.  He speaks several languages including an accented common.

High Elves are mostly from the White plains and have hated the Gray Elves for longer than the Humans have been here.  Called High Elves by the First men, they are the escaped slaves of the Gray Elves.  They are only slightly taller than men and most are Half Elvin.  The First Kings; Ptolemy, John, Vicar, Omrod, Galas, Vidu Gavia, Bohemond and Tancred, Only Ptolemy sailed beyond Shiboa and landed in the isles far west of the coast.  Of the thirteen city states that grew from his ships and his loins, four have survived the uprising.  When Ptolemy landed, he was met by the High Elves on the shore and in moments knew is flight from home in need had brought him to these people whom he loved and were themselves in need.  800 years later, the Houses of the Plaines or the Great Elvin Houses and the Ptolegian Princes mingled their blood and their culture and knowledge and now, The Ptolegian peoples are all human and Elvin though some pure blood remains.

When the current turns in the winter and the sea flows north, ships from the Ptolegies arrive with aid and trade.  Some make it as far north as the Northern Province but the numbers have dropped greatly since the war.  When the sun turns back in the spring and the world ocean falls back down the coast towards Kias, Danikans sail from Lydia, Price and Tarsus with aid and goods.  Though strictly sailors they will sometimes have Elf crews.  The captains know enough to keep them on board when they make landfall in the NP.

Elves are connected to the Fey.  For that reason Elves have a stat called Affinity.  It can go from 1-100 and generally starts at a 1.  This number is used for determining how and when an elf can interact with the Fey and what the outcome will be.

For instance, a 1 means that an elf has a better chance than a human at spotting faeries, of Fey creatures.  it does not give them a good chance at convincing them to help.  An elf with a 20 will be able to converse with the fey, and some Fey will actually seek out the elf.  At this point the Elf will probably have the chance of gaining a Fey Familiar.  At 50 points of Affinity, an Elf can summon Fey Creatures, impose on a Dryad, Curse someone, and lift a curse.  At 75 points of Fey, an Elf is considered to be a powerful Fey Creature themselves and their opinion matters, they command a score of Fey creatures and can easily be healed in unspoiled wilderness.  at 100 point in Affinity, an elf draws Fey Creatures to them wherever they are and become somewhat legendary in the world.

A character gains Affinity through role playing and acting in the best interest of the Fey.