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.

Kords and Slavery in the Northern Province

Kords and Slavery in the Northern Province

The War has not yet reached the Northern Province.  In the South, where the armies of Mok Turosh control all movement over the Vasting and besiege all the Cities there, there are no clanned Kords; all have been assimilated into the armies of the GodKing or killed.  In the North, the Kords are still clanned.  There are many Clans of Kords and they are given popular names by the people who encounter them, names like The Red Devils, the Bird Men, the Blue River Kords, the Kords of the Yellow Wood, the Big Tooth Papa Clan, but, at the end of the day, a Kord is just a kord. 

Kords do not possess weapon craft.  They steal and trade for weapons, or take them from the dead. They do possess a natural ability at fighting and so they are martial opponents worthy of hatred and caution.  Give some thought here.  The armies of the GodKing have had the City of Kias under siege for 4 years.  Our King and his armies and all of his allies have not been able to lift the siege in all of that time even though the fighting at the City walls has not ceased for one day in those four years.

Though some have peaceful relations with the Kords in the Northern Province, these are exceptions to the rule.  As slaves, they are good porters provided there is a person of the right character to keep the Kords compliant.  Many are brought north to be sold as slave and so those Kords, the soldiers of the God King are the only vestiges of his army that have made it to the Northern Province, and it’s a buyers’ market.

You can find some people who have teams of slaves and do construction and excavation work.  There are three such men in Brighton; Longjack, Black Fred who is incidentally a retired Danikan Pirate, and Bluffing & Company.  The dock is full of entrepreneurs who ply their slaves to unload your boats for a good price.  You can also buy them openly from almost anyone even just your average slave owner, but, without the knowhow and the resolve to run them, you will likely be killed when you close your eyes.

Slave Handling is a Non Weapon Proficiency and Slave Mastery is the dedication of an additional slot to the Slave Handling skill. This skill has nothing to do with the learning of the Kordic Tongue which is also a Non-Weapon proficiency. 

Female Kords are virtually indistinguishable from male Kords through means other than genital inspection.  Think of how cows must be separated by the sexes.  The same is true for Kords.  It is always good to have female stock to help control the Males but never have them together. 

Kords will eat human flesh.  They do not eat elvin flesh and will actually flee elves if given the chance.  The exception to this is the Armies of the GodKing.  There is some concern that bringing highly trained Kords who have been introduced to advanced societal structures up to the Northern Province, will have an adverse effect on the populations and the stasis of the races in the North.  It is a good argument.  Its hypothetical is that a group of elite former warriors might escape and organize in his name or their own, in the wilds and hence chance the Dynamic that has persisted for centuries in the Province.  It is a hard argument to wave away while drinking pints.

This brings up the rights of slave owners and slaves.  What are rights you might ask?  Don’t worry about rights, there are none for anyone unless you are a Warden, a Guard or if you serve the King with your name.  If you have something, like a slave for instance, and it runs away, well, you should find it and kill it.  If your slave is stolen, and this does happen, then you just weren’t strong enough to possess it.  Now, having a prize fighter stolen will not stop you from stealing it back or from burning your competitors house down or killing his entire family with wild dogs.  The only thing that will stop you from doing that is fear of reprisals from his friends.  It is this fear that keeps most people in line and keeps them from stirring the pot. 

If you think you can run and tell a local guard that your slave escaped and please go find her and bring her back, they will first laugh, and then they will sell you their services.  If you are drinking and you are headed home for the night and you exit the Tavern to find that a group of fighters has killed to two slaves you have pulling your Drosky, well, you’re just shit out of luck and if you are alone and they look tougher than you, you should thank them for getting rid of those two pieces of shit for you and buy them drinks before they kill you too.

Now, lets say you are leaving a market and when you whip our slave to get him up and headed back to your home, and he lashes out and kills you, crazed from starvation and infection, it is highly likely someone will step in and cut that slave down, but that is not really because the person wants to save your life or avenge you, it is because slaves must always be kept down and resistance cannot be tolerated.  The person who steps in and bleeds out the slave that will not rise with your packs is doing it for themselves as much as out of the hatred of seeing a slave resist, and you might be given a dressing down for not handling it yourself.  Before becoming a slave owner, be sure you are willing and able to handle them.

Now let’s talk about human and elvin slaves.  Farmers will sell their children, they have done it forever and there is no difference in the Northern Province.  It is more profitable than killing them and there is always someone looking for a house servant or a field hand that is not a Kord.  The Guards will offer most perpetrators up as slaves before starting a blood sport.  Let’s entertain some more hypotheticals.  You have a good idea that the neighbors kid has been stealing silver off the floor of your bar and after you cought him last time you whipped him un conscious and tossed him in the street.  Well, it’s been two weeks and last night you caught him again.  You call the Coldwater Guard and explain the situation and they tell you that for 3 silver they will take him and execute him, and that’s a good price considering it will happen in front of thousands of people and will be good advertising and send the right message to urchins.  You agree and the execution is cried and will take place the coming Sunday.  Jorl, the child’s father pleas with you to spare his son and when things get emotional in you bar, you end up having to kill him.  Sunday comes.  The child is offered for sale for 10 silver and there are no takers until right before the end when an old lady offers ten, they verify she has it and the boy is about to be sold when you offer 11 to see him torn apart by dogs (8 in actuality as you already paid your 3).  The crowd roars as no one likes to see someone escape “justice” in this way and the child actually entertains the shit out of the crowd with his death, a real fighting spirit you think on the way back home.  That is when you meet Hadar and his three friends, fresh off the boat from Kias.  With them is Adlia, the kids mother and widow.  She works the docks as a fishwife and has somehow convinced these adventurers that you have killed her husband and had her child executed out of jealousy and they mean to kill you.  Well, fuck.  The person you pay for protection really does do that kind of protection, they just hang out at the bar and stop fights.  Your kord slave you have a special bond with is chained up in the cellar sleeping awaiting the next days work.  You have all your nice clothes on and your sword from back in the day but these assholes are all half your age and looking for a fight.  You are able to apologize to the woman, pay a Blood debt of 10 gold and a human slave to replace the work value of her two men and put the adventurers up for a week in your home and give them free food and drink.  All to keep yourself from dying in the road because you chose to regulate an urchin lifting dropped coins in your bar. The Human slave was purchased the next day in the markets for 3 silver; another young boy that looked a bit like the woman’s son only older.  He was clearly sic but the woman did not notice or care as she would probably just sell the slave the next day for money.  While there, you bought a large Kord slave that looked to have a broken arm, for 5 silver.  You gave him to the adventurers and told them it was an offering for their anger and you would be grateful for them to take their anger at you out on the Kord which they did and had a great time doing.  Gambling over the death blow between themselves.  All in all you probably came up even though that little shit of a thief cost you money, you exposed an enemy and gained three allies and a good reputation as a man of responsibility and a man not to be stolen from, and as an added plus, on your way back from escorting you brute with the body of the Kord the Adventurers killed you caught a father on the way to town with his oldest daughter to sell because of starvation.  The girl was 14 and beautiful.  The family needed money for a debt and to buy seed.  The girl was scared but grateful you were a man of means and when you doubled what the father asked the two of them just cried and thanked the Light.  Yes, it was a good turn of events after all.

Elves are a rarer slave.  They are mostly bought by the wealthy, including mages.  It is not uncommon to enter a tower for potion craft and be helped by an Elvin slave in chains.  They are great transcribers of books.  They are docile.  They are all skilled at numerous trades.  Elvin warriors are not usually found as slaves as they are not capturable or they fight to the death.  Here moons forge has an elvin slave as assistant smith.  The Barn has slaves some of them elvin, that will carry your armor purchases home for you, they are all branded on their backs and foreheads so that if they escape, they can be returned for a reward of 1 silver piece.  They are hard workers and one of them has been sold his freedom and now runs the slaves that work the barn better than the owner Ilcord.   

Slaves can also be integrated into adventuring in the right company.  A reasonable sized adventuring party is a thing to behold.  Let me describe one.  It is led by Held Sunfarther a Ptolegian Knight Captain and his love Wiliawil (lia) Laywender, a High Elf princess of House Laywender.  Their ship Prudence is docked in Brighton and they have just unloaded trade goods from Kias and sold them for great profit and have their Commander procuring new goods for resale in the south and guarding the boat with 6 of their men.  Held’s party has three wagons a spare horse for each rider, provisions for 3 months and a slave train of 20 foot bearers including three slave masters.  His personal retinue of twenty men, all veterans of wars in the south and some of his companions from his travels including his lovers brother the swordsman Iril who is quite famous in the south, Ur, a dwarf and the reason they are here in the northern province.  Ur knows of an unspoiled tomb of a Western King in the break and they have come to loot it and finish the dead there.  There is also Halior, a warden of the King who has partnered with Held and has brought two companions himself.  The Tomb contains a relic that the Sages Guild wants to aid the war in the south and so have lent their aid to the Wrdens and Held’s campaign as well in the form of the scribe Ilielwinis.  There are two house servants of the Laywenders, two guards the Sages Guild sent with Ilielwinis and the Knight Captains two Half-Elvin sons Boro and Hale.  They have picked up a guide from the Freeblades guild and will meet up with two Noodlebakers in Bricking.  They have also acquired a train of whores and a tinker as well as a group of young boys who will follow the campaign and offer their services.  They will be met by farmers who will offer fodder and fresh food to them as well as timber and local knowledge.  They have paid the Long riders for an escort to the Yellow wood through their guardianship, an unnecessary act but a wise one considering local politics and reputation.  They will take on new slaves in the camp at Yellow wood and sell some.  They will spend three days there as some of their campaign scout and investigate local resources.  The campaign of Held Sunfarther is not a glorious sole example of the climate and economy in the Northlands but a somewhat average to below average example of one of the many groups and daily occurrences in the city of Brighton.  When they return successfully from the tomb, they will have a slave train of over 80 kords, as they were able to route one clan but had to fight the other and enslaved all they could did not kill.  They will sell all of them including the foot bearers they procured in Brighton the day before they departed.  They will keep 8 of the strongest for work aboard the ship on the next leg of their voyage.  On the Journey, Iril took one of the young boys who followed the camp as a squire.  Three of the Captains men married and are bringing their wives with them as they leave.  One of the scribes Guards was killed by a wight and so were four horses.  One of the Noddlebakers disappeared and is thought dead.  And all but a few of the guards received serious wounds in fighting at the Tomb and inside it, including the Knight Captains lover. 

Salves can be hired out from their owners as well but if you kill the slave or it dies or is wounded you may have to pay extra.  A good example of this is the slave harem of Akatosh Goldheart.  He has the finest men and women concubines in the north and has even sold men their wives and women their man servants who have later became their lovers and freemen. 

There is a bowyer that will give you the life of a slave when you buy one of his bows.  He lets you shoot him right at the shop.  It si a bit of a spectacle but an effective sales tactic as he always has more work than he can fill.

There are the Beer Children of Bricking.  Slave children used in the breweries and wineries of that awesome town.  In fact, children catch such a good price in bricking many people will take the trip if they have four or five kids, the payoff is so good. 

Another face of slavery is the power of the Covens.  Witches prey upon civilization in the northern province and though all know that Witcholby is a hamlet of some 200 witches, none go there to kill them and the few who dare it never have returned.  Witches are responsible for more abductions of men in the Northern Province than combat has killed.  Now that might be a boast but it is not off by much.  They crave the brave and pure hearted, the strong the capable, and witches are beautiful.  A story is known of Grim Hellbender and his sisters Mercy and Patience.  They tracked the witch that stole Mercies son and killed some 30 of them in a clutch of forest homes in the deepwood.  In the main yard that the homes surrounded were hundreds of human skulls.  They found 50 men in the basements of the 6 houses and were able to bring 40 of them back to Needles Bunk and the Gray Mare Inn there.  Mercy’s son was nowhere to be found though the men say he was eaten only the night before they arrived. Once you have been taken by a witch, you will always be susceptible to their magic, even if you are able to break their enchantments.  Months later, following another lead on her son, unwilling to give him up for dead, Mercy tried tracking down the men they had saved.  Every one of them had been re-abducted or had killed themselves.

Though much less common or observable, the “Charmed” can also be considered slaves.  Now, we all know someone who has accepted a gease for a high value loan or unguaranteed purchase, and while that is technically enslaving a will, it is a voluntary enslavement to ensure the right frame of mind for repayment.  What I speak of here is the Hedge mage or the alchemist who enchants the will of others against their will for personal gain.  Watch your friends for erratic behavior or new unjustifiable friendships. There are many in the north capable and willing to ensnare a mind for gold or magic.

Gypsies of the Northern Province

 

Gypsie filth can be found almost anywhere these days, even in the Northern Province.  The Guard of the larger hamlets do a good job of running them out of town or rounding them up and burning their women alive when they won’t leave.

A Gypsie is a sister to a witch and witches are probably the greatest threat to civilization in the Northern Province.  Their camps are full of thieves and herbalists and enchanters looking to steal, kidnap and curse.

Tenwillows offers 1 silver piece for a Gypsie finger and just about any Mine will buy Gypsie men as they are not recognized as having the rights humans.  They rank a little below Kords because they have human shape and can speak our tongue. 

There are no good stories that come from dealing with Gypsies.  From withering curses to spells that steal hearts and souls.  They will cast dark nets on the foolish and will draw evil to an area.  They steal children and poison animals, they wake the dead and curse the living.

It is best to steer clear of a Gypsie camp or caravan when you see one, unless you have time to kill.

Wild Nature versus Great Nature Dragons

To be plain, there are two kinds of dragons, Great Nature and Wild. The relationship between the two is somewhat unclear and like a great many realms as yet unvetted by sage or scholar, myth inhabits much. What is known is they are so similar in appearance only observation and means will present the Great Nature from the Wild, not that they have ever been known to be encountered together.

Where Wild dragons live and hunt and breed in great packs, Great Nature Dragons are solitary. While Wild dragons fight with fang and claw, Great Nature dragons are seemingly unlimited in skill, ability and means.

Wild dragons, for better or for worse are limited to the carnate forms, some swimming some flying, some burrowing, albeit shallow but burrowing none the less. They are cunning as most predatory beings. In groups they are conceivably invincible. Grapplers one and all, Wild dragons have no match when it comes to that type of combat. Many a warrior has made the mistake of attempting to trade blows with a creature who latches on and writhes and rends and flips around like a viper on a hare. Still some make their living hunting the creatures, and they are aptly named Dragon Hunters. Much of what is known about Wild dragons comes from their source.

According to Dragon Hunters, there are roughly a dozen kinds of Wild dragons. They are somewhat simply referred to by color as many creatures lacking Sage classifications. Red, brown and blue etc.

Yes, armor can be made from their scales but even more valuable are the teeth, the skin and the claws. Where swift arrows can pierce plate, even the sharpest heaviest arrow falling like a curse out of heaven will struggle and break to penetrate treated and hardened dragon hide. Their teeth are prized as magic daggers and often become them, for they take dweomer like silver. And their claws can crack diamonds. Still getting these things from them is the more difficult task.

Like many packs of meat eaters, there is one leader of the greatest strength and cunning. The pack is polygamouse. None raise the young specifically rather they imitate their elders and seek protection in the pack. The young hatch from eggs. Once a year the pack will settle into a nest for the purpose of laying and hatching young. When the young are hatched the pack moves on. Some of the young stay with the pack and learn, others are not so clever or quick.

Wild dragons cannot speak or communicate with humanoids or any other creature for that matter beyond the language of aggression all living things share knowledge of. Some can fly, mainly blue and green ones. Black dragons swim and rarely break the surface of the water leaving many to suppose that they cannot breath air. Red and yellow dragons can fly or glide for short distances. To a degree, all dragons have a subtle form of camoflage. As told, it is not so much the color of the scales that tells them apart but the color of their skin.

Wild dragons cannot breath flame or acid or any other such oral fume or venom. They sleep and hunt together and fell game, mainly deer and elk and the like. They are only as intelligent as wolves and tend to be more flighty. They hunt only when hungry or threatened and their numbers are kept in check by three factors. The first would be the availability of food. The second would be Dragon Hunters. And the Third would be Great Nature dragons. You see, Great Nature dragons eat Wild dragons.

Contrary to their lesser cousins, Great Nature dragons vary so greatly in form and power and ability so as to be unique creatures. So much so that they have names and dealings in the world at large on often intimidating levels.

There is Suel, the Green Dragon of the Northern Province. An ancient foe of the Druids of Westfolden of long ago. Stories of his acts during the Incursion War have become song, though he is not confused as a friend of the Eastern Kingdoms. He is said to have despised the Gray elves from the beginning. And when the Druids were exiled and came to the Northern Province he strove against them and their influnce, which is an easier thing to say than do. When they left, or were driven out, he had loose agreements with men but ended up killing more of them than he did of the Gray elves.

King John is said to have met Suel. What came of the meeting is the kings secret alone, but not long after, the ambition of the king in the Northern Province subsided and he turned his attention south until many years later and the comming of the Great Uprising. Now who knows what will happen but the kings interest is keen in the north and further, even unto Tarus and those lands over the Break. In those 600 years since his meeting with Suel and his recent returned interest, not one word or sighting of Suel has been circulated until now. The Green Man he is called and he is even called a dragon by some. From Many Rivers came a story of a Green man keenly interested in horses. Every horse brought to him fell dead of apparant fright. when the man who sought to sell him a mount confronted him and demanded recompense for his sorcery, the Green Man just disappeared.

Needles Bunk even had him visit an Inn. He asked about the king and when none answered he asked if there be anythere who could speak for the king. Now the Northern Province has long been shunned from the protection and the ingenuity of the kingdom. the king has no great love up here as many still remember keenly his failures durring the Incursion War and few who live here do not have kin in the Stitchel Hills. He drew scoffs from the people and turned shoulders. The barkeep was said to have asked him what business he had with the king could be taken south to Kias as the Northern Province held none of his business if the barkeep had anything to say about it. the Patrons cheered and raised glassess and the Green man is said to have remarked that that was good should it remain so. then he left without paying and was pursued out the door by the barkeep and his man and nothing was out the door of the in but 5 tethered and dead horses of some of the patrons.

But it is Tenwillows that he is said to frequent. Green robes, green hair, green eyes, yes, a Green Man. None there take him for anything less than what he is. The most powerful living thing known in the Northern Province.

Then there is Myskateel, the orchestrator of the Smiluvenni, a guild of Assassins who’s motives are as secret as there order. Said to be a student of man he is ever in the guise of a human, learning and meddling in our world to a purpose as dark as his heart. A red robe he wears yet so do many. Myskateel is said to be ubiquitouse and insinuative. He loves the city of Kias and every month a new story circulates of his commings and doings. The King has promised Knighthood for any who take the head of one of his Assassins as he himself has survuved four of their attempts. One would wonder why, if the Dragon wanted him dead, why he would not just kill him. But I must ask you if you wonder this. Have you ever met King John?

There is Akua, a terrorizor of the Vasting, capable of laying waste to entire armies. Durring the uprising he swooped out of the sky and crushed an army of 3000 Kords, the least of which stood two hands above the tallest bravest knight that met them in the field that day. After he had killed them to a fang, the Knights of the Vistilry of Ingveroon some 300 men out of Tullnimoon, that city of their god Varmeylius, brought the dragon gifts and blessed him in their name, and he turned to them and said "Who are you to give what you cannot keep?" And he attacked them and killed many as there was still alarm as his manner was peacable and he had presented himself in an appropriate form after he had wasted the Kords and they were stunned by his likeness to them and though they were not foolhardy they were enamored by the beast and he came on them suddenly and all would have been lost had their God not intervened directly and taken them and all their dead in an instant to that place that is the city, Tullnimoon, where their god resides.

There are rumored to by 11 or so of these Great Nature dragons but many stories overlap and many tales are not told by the principle interest of the deeds they relate. To pursue the truth in the stories of drunkards and barbarians is a learned mans art, For instance the story some of you may have heard of Akua, or a great Blue dragon on the Stitchel Road has many versions and it has only appeared since summer. The most cohesive assimilation or separately layed events can be summarized as follows into a single story incorporating the many twists, flourishes and uniqnesses the yarn has separately accquired, but here it goes. A group of bandits rode through the Stitchel Hills in a day. South they were headed and in haste to meet baots moored off the coast there. After having accomplished the unachievable they exited in what haste they could muster considering the 10 hour ride at the greatest of speed they had just occured. Not three hundred paces from the Weel stone that marks the hills southern border they were met by a great blue dragon, or Akua to be precise. His body stretching from the craggy peaks of the break to the west and the cliffs to the east. He did not commend them but rather admonished their tresspassing into his lands. For fine he gave them ultimatum. Either return the way you came or one of you must feed my with his life, but you must decide who.

Now the Stitchel Hills are vast and the are home to the Whights that are the dead from that great battle between King Johns army and the Emmisaries out of Westfolden. Many are the stories that could be told here and some will be told elsewhere but for this tale it must be understood that the Stitchel hills are teaming with Wights. Foul malevolent innate undead. Like most the bear moonlight better than sunlight and so eek from their byres in the night and do what ever it is they do. and when living things are near they track and kill and eat them. and so it was close to that time already that the bandits had made it through they sought to put much distance now on open easy ground between them and the hunting dead of those hills and here lay Akua.

The captain of that gang was said to have entreated the Dragon with a tale of their darring and pleaded for the sake of their deed that they be granted pardon for their error in light of the renoun they would gain for the accomplishment. The dragon is said to have considered this for a moment then rejoined a new condition. He said either they decide amongst them who should offer themselves up or he would devour them all. Now he said he would suffer no coerced sacrifice. the one to be eaten must do so willinly and must strip down and lay in the dragons mouth. if this would be done, he would allow the others to leave. He told them also that they should decide quickly as soon they would all die anyway as the dead were already stirring beneaththe earth and they scratched at their doors and felt for the cooling of the sun warmed stones that kept them in their tombs. soon they would be out and Akua assured them he would see them all under the Veil from which no return even with the will and the word of god.

It is said the captain of the group looked at his men, at the hills behind them and then at the dragon and began to strip down to his birthright and then saying nothing walked to where the dragon lay. the dragon opened its huge maw and the captain stepped in and lay upon the dragons mouth. Akua threw his head up with a jerk and swallowed the captain whole. Then he spoke to the bandits and while he did they could hear their captains screams from inside the dragons stomach.

Akua looked pleased and said very well, you have done what i have asked now you are free to leave but you must go back through those hill because i have already destroyed those boats you had waiting and i will suffer no living thing to cross these lands that are mine now. The bandidts cried and begged and pleaded but the dragon said they should consider that any fool could ride throught he stitchel hills in a day, the fact that none do means they are smart. A truely harrowing tale of bravery would be to ride through the hills at night and with that he drove them back into the hills with great terror wich was in his ability to cause.

Now you may ask why i have subjected this story to almost disbelieving scrutiny and i shal show you why it cannot be true in all and not even a small part half true.

Akua lands are far to the south in the Vasting. Great Nature dragons are more than territorial. they consider lands to belong to them. It is known that Suel is the dragon of the northern Province and what are the Stitchel hills and the the Benches but the Northern Province. If Suel did know he would challenge Akua or vice versa. A battlel between to such forces would be waged across the sky of the northern world and would rage for weeks and spell the ruin of many peoples and places here.

Akua would never make himself so vulnerable as to lay about on the ground, prone and offering an open mouth to adventurers. It is the very image of stupidity. Why would not the Bandits have the ships meet them above the Stitchel road and avoid it all together? Even if they had made the run for bragging rights, why not just say it and not do it, none would believe it anyway and how could one prove it besides.

Who lived to tell the tale? They could not have leaped off the cliffs there. they would have a better chance of surviving the Wights. Who survived is not part of the tale and a survivor would likely tell that part first considering how small a chance he would have had at all. They could not have made it back through the stitchel hills as the horses would not ride through there at night. they would through their riders and leap from the cliffs themselves. The exhausted bandits would have then had to run back through on foot a feat that may take two full days travel if they were well provisioned and rested. But who creates such a fantasy? Who tells such a tale and why does it begin? And this is the question that must be answered first because if you cannot answer this question you suspend your disbelief and then you might as well become a bard and put away the work of the Sages. I have a fantasy that it was the Captain who survived. That akua let him live because he truly saw the best choice and took it without hesitation. But who would fear a dragon that let its naked helpless prey escape from his own mouth? no this is a total farce i think, none of it can be true yet it is precisely from tales and yarns such as this that true knowledge must be made, unwoven then restitched, died and bleached and trimmed until after many years, and often long after it can make any difference it is known, understandable and simple like a shirt to be worn with no great effect.

It is harder to say how many Great Nature dragons do not have stories circulated about them or if there are still more kinds of dragons. What is closest to knowledge is written here.

They are shape changers. They can see and hear to the limits of their imagination. They fly they swim they reflect magic and use their own. They are impervious to all but fantastical weapons. They are devious and intelligent beyond measurement or recconing. They have breath weapons as diverse as their own natures. They not only speak the languages of men and elves but are repositories of such modes of communication. Siin was a Great Nature dragon that was also a Primerium for a time at the Hidden Tower and much of what is known of their kind comes from him. Though no friend of ours, he was no enemy either and informed our sciences and our schools to degrees unachievable by us through our own means in several lifetimes. Though ultimately the City of Freewinds fell during the uprising the Hidden Tower still stands and some wonder what part Siin had or has to play with that.

They are not immortal nor are they eternal but they are virtually unkillable. Only Mirad has been slain in our time and the stories of Bell and Akua and the birth of man on this continant is the only other fable that even holds the deafeat of a great Nature dragon, yet not even its death. And from that encounter over 1700 years ago comes the fang of Akua, the lance built from one of the longteeth of Akua that was plunged into the heart of Mirad by Precarius the Bard 1500 years later. But that lance is disappeared now and what then can kill a Great Nature dragon, considering you could find a soul like Bell to wield a weapon so unique and so powerfull against one?

On the Dwarves

On The Dwarves

            Since the dwarves declined almost overnight, some great span of time ago, most surface structures of their race, and era are long gone, buried under ice or forest or simply torn down, scavenged & unmade.  Imlin Road being an almost solitary example of Dwarven surface work besides the Shining City.  Technically speaking, there are volumes written about the dwarves, all of it conjecture and storytelling as not even the Gray Heart can see that far back in time.  Practically speaking, what remains is a scattered few surface cities locked high in the mountains and a few sea forts.

            Though dwarves are still seen, some even in Human lands, they are no longer a gathered people and the vast majority live secret lives apart from the other races.

            Some say the Dwarves birthed Majic into this world, finding it trapped deep inside the earth and freeing it, others that it was brought forth as a result of a war between the Dwarves and the Gnomes, and others still that it came from a machine the dwarves built and then broke.

            Some Dwarven locations are known and spoken about.  What comes next is common knowledge.

           

            Imlin Road is a paved road from ancient times known to connect the three passes that lead through the great Brake of the Northern Province, Eyeguard Pass, Headless Pass and Yulibren Pass.  It begins at the old sea fort Tole Acoro and moves west through the lost fortress of King John, then through Witcholby and on up into the Green valley and the Passes.

            The Underoad is rumored to connect all subterranean caves and ancient mines of the Western Continent.  It is said one can walk anywhere underground and one can see the seven cities of the dwarves without ever having to look at the sun.  Since only one Dwarven DarkCity is known (Ghen Ghan), it is curious how anyone would know there are six more.  Many adventurers claim to have walked the Underoad and some even claim to have Broken the Lock.  Even if it were true, it is very hard to find any adventurer willing to be part of an expedition with the intention of doing so from the start.

            Graidles Lock is a series of passages connecting all ancient underground locations of the Northern Province.  It is a terrifying place overrun with wraiths.  To “Break the Lock” is a term used for accidentally breaching these passages, as few would ever do so intentionally.  Sketches of the lock have circulated for years in the Northern Province, take from the unnumbered rooms of the quarry by lucky adventurers. Copies are available for a few silver.

            Ghen Ghan is the name the Elves gave the Dwarven Undercity that is located deep beneath the brake somewhere in Graidles Lock.  The entrance is rumored to be the Keep at Headless pass but others have said they have entered the city from the swamps of Nehi.  There is a war-hammer and a goblet taken from the Ghen Ghan that sit above the great hearth of the Inn of the Dying Minotaur in Brighton.

            Yidari Duor (yellow door) is the Elvin name for the ancient ruins of a Dwarf Fort a week north of Bricking by the Yellow Wood near the sea.  Many young and inexperienced adventurers stop here first along their journey to fame and fortune.  It is mostly a camp that is heavily peopled by the deformed victims of Olinus whome the people of Brighton call the Beastmen.  There are also beggars, thieves, Gypsies, and the sort whose mettle is not meant for the deeper places of the north.  It is a great place to trade rare items and pawn reassure.  Many adventurers maintain rooms/buildings/camps here.  It is like a friendly Manyrivers.

            The Shining City can be seen from almost anywhere in the northern province that has an unobstructed view of the Brake directly west of the Nehi.  Though Imlin seemingly passes near it, none but braggards claim to have found the road to it.  Its many brass and silver towers catch the first light of the day and gleam bright before the stars are dowsed by the sun.

            Undu Delveng is a place known by many and delved by the hardiest of adventurers.  Of those that come back from its depths, none leave without either treasure or stories of terror that keep them from ever returning there again.  It is located northwest of tenwillows by two days on horse.

            Zurgurg is both an ancient Dwarven Mine and also a city of the Dead for LeahDah.  It is three days west of the Stitchel road between the Howling wood and the Blue Mountains of the South.  It is easy to find by the statue of Aday atop the Cliff above the gates to the mine.

            Tole Acoro is the first structure travelers used to see as the came up Chapmans Bench in the old days before the war and the waking of the army of the dead.  Now the road has been renamed the Stitchel Road and few visit the Old Sea Fort anymore.  Ships sometimes trade here but money is to be made in bricking and so many who used to live here have moved to Tenwillows or further north.  It is a great harbor and the easiest places besides Bricking where goods can be offloaded and taken onto the cliffs that rise above the sea all along the coast from The Mule Stone to Tarsus. 

            Torm Holn is the most notorious of the Dwarven Forts as it is wholly and completely overrun with undead and the Aspects of Malfator are seen there with regularity.  It is also home to Dawn, one of the Simulacra of Ovardiis. In appearance it rises some 3 thousand feet straight up from the earth and looks almost like a tower only a tower the size of a mountain.  It is 5 days south of the City of the King making it only two days from Witcholby. 

            Eyeguard fort was recently taken from the Dark by the Wardens but with the Arrival of Akua, the garrison was wiped out and now it is home to the wrath Mohoru, an ancient lieutenant of Ovardiis.  One must pass the eye of Akua unnoticed and survive the halls of Mohoru to make it out of the Northern Province by this road.  It may be easier to brave the Stitchel.

            Headless pass is a long road.  It is more a part of Graidles Lock than an road as it goes underground five times until it reaches the Sea beyond the Brake and the beautiful city of Tarsus in the cliffs.

            Yulibrien is an ancient Dwarf Fort acquired by the elves at the beginning of the time of Olinus.  It has not left their possession since then though many battles have been fought there including the Incursion War, The War of Exile, the Great War of the North and the coming of the Light.  The Gray Elves do not trade with men.  Hey ride Griffins and travelers will be stopped long before they get close to Yulibrien. The camp at White Creek is a crossroads on the Imlin where travelars can choose either the pass to Yulibrien or the Pass to Headless or Eyeguard  From the camp one takes the pass directly west to Yulibrien and the Kingdom of westfolden and the lands of the Druids and the Gray Elves, or will go North to Headless pass and the great city of Tarsus or south through Eyeguard and the Vasting and King John’s lands. 

Of the things said in good company about the Dwarves, many have heard that;

*the written runes of Majic; “Nulidian” are actually the Dwarven Alphabet.

*the Dwarves are impervious to some kinds of magic and that their touch can disenchant weak items like potions and curses.

*the Dwarves will eat human and Elvin flesh.

*there are no Dwarven Majic Items or Artifacts.

*a Dwarf cannot be trusted.

*that Dwarves cannot be killed with arrows.

*that Dwarves speak with dragons.

*that Dwarves can only spend so much time in the light and then must retreat below ground.

*that Dwarves can summon undead.

*that Dwarves can see things that are invisible to Elves and Men.

*that a Dwarf can pick ANY lock.

Of the uses for Dwarf, the following is common knowledge; 

*Dwarf Heart – can be purchased in bazars and some seedy markets and high-end apothecaries.  A Dwarf heart, if warn openly around the neck, will ward off unseen arrows.  They can be boiled and eaten before a trip underground.  Powdered, they are used as curatives and anti-venoms with other ingredients. 

*Dwarf Teeth – Improve bargaining skills and insure you are not cheated when dealing with appraisals and mineral exchanges. 

*Dwarf Fat – is an aphrodisiac for Women. 

*Dwarfs Bone (powdered) – when used in leather preparation, helps ward armor made with that leather from spell-craft.

*Dwarf Eyes – (pickled) Help you find hidden treasure and secret doors.

*Dwarf Tears – Even just one, if administered to a man, will destroy his willpower.

*Dwarf Tongue – is used in silence spell crafting.  If taken, it will reduce the chance of someone lying or telling secrets.  It is carried by Knights of King John, who will eat it if they are captured.

Dwarves are a part of the world and like Elves, they are Innate Creatures, and from the Dark.  Dwarves have a bond with the world and the elements and have ancient dark rituals passed down since the beginning of time, before the light that lets them bond with elemental spirits.

There are rituals, one of the known ones is the Ritual of Fire.  the Ritual is complex and carried only by the remaining dwarven houses, and some creatures like Druids, or Dryads or the Great Nature Dragons.  It is said to help a dwarf utilize elemental power to light fires, warm the air around them, and fan or wane flames.  There are rituals for all the elements.  

There is also the story of Boltar Helcast, who tore open the sky and drowned the Elves of Uperwi in fire, then chased Igni the Wanderer through the air all the way to the ruined city of Skyfall, and bound him there in chains of stone he called forth from the ground, so he could not return to the Green lands of the west, and his people.

It is also said the doors of the dwarves open only with the elemental will of their masters.  It is why they have no real locks like the elves make, but their mechanism are interacted with by the control of elemental forces moving inside the stone itself, each locks complexity a description of the dwarfs power who built it.

More on the Elemental powers of the Dwarves

Each dwarf starts with the ability to interact with the elements.  These are best described as improvable abilities.  There are 5 "Gates" a Dwarves knowledge can "Pass Through" that develops it relationship with its elemental counterparts.  Each Element has one of these Gates.  They are called the gates of Fire, the gates of Air, etc.

A dwarf begins his PC career with 0/100 points in each elemental well.  Points are acquired and lost through actions and rituals the PC performs.  A Dwarf's Powers must first be awoken by another dwarf.  After that, a PC's points are added to its wells in-game.

For instance, a dwarf PC takes part in the Initiation of Fire, held for him by his uncle.  It lasts two days, and at the end of the ceremony, he gains a 1/100 in his Fire Well.  This 1 point can be spent to accomplish feats in the game world.  It may make it easier for him to light a fire, or may take away the chills.

Since the ritual is a representation of the bond between an elemental and the Dwarf, it is also the way in which the Elemental grows in strength, that and through the consumption of Incense through ritual, Gems, and Precious Metal.

When a well reaches 0, the dwarf suffers exhaustion, which requires a Con check to shrug off.  Failure means unconsciousness for 1-4 hours.

The Initiation of (Fire, Air, Earth & Water).  1/100 - 14/100.

This Initiation allows the Dwarf to interact with the Elements.

The ritual must be performed by an Dwarf with greater than 50 points in their well.  The cost of the ceremony is 100gp Incense, 100gp in Precious Metals, and 100gp in Gems/ Precious Minerals.  The ritual takes 24 hours, during which the dwarf must make constitution checks.  Each failure adds an hour to the ritual.  It is not uncommon for the ritual to last 3 days.  A roll of a 20 means the ritual has failed and the Dwarf was not able to secure the Elemental force.

Once completed the dwarf must sleep uninterrupted for one hour for each hour the ritual took to complete.  Some dwarves have died trying to recover from the ritual, it is custom to attend a dwarf and look after them during this phase.

When the Dwarf awakes they can mark a Pool for the elemental power the Initiation was for, as 1/100.  Think of this as a cross between hit points and spell points.

As points accrue, the PC can do things like, clear water, ignite fires, cool or warm the air around them, make digging easier, hold breath longer, etc.

The Trial of (Fire, Earth, Air & Water).  15/100 - 39/100.  

The Trial is where the elements coalesce into an elemental force for the Dwarf.  The Ritual costs $1,000pg worth of Incense, $1,000 worth of Gems / Minerals, and 1,000gp worth of Precious metals.

The ritual requires 3 full days to perform, or 72 hours.  During this time, the dwarf must stay vigilant or be consumed by the elemental forces coalescing into the actual elemental.  The Dwarf can stay conscious for 4 hours for every point of constitution they have.  For each hour a dwarf has to stay awake after their constitution wears off, they must make a save, with each failure temporarily reducing the constitution of the dwarf.  If the Con falls to 0 the dwarf dies.  Death can come for any dwarf that has a con lower than 15, if they fail all their checks.

At the End of the Ritual the Dwarf Falls unconscious for 72 hours and must be looked after by someone if the dwarf is to survive.  It is during this time that the elemental bonds with the dwarf.

When the Dwarf awakens, they gain their 15th point in the Elemental well the Ritual as performed for.

Those who have passed the Trial of Fire can do additional damage with elemental power, equivalent to 1pt of damage per Turn.  They can amplify their previous abilities, and manipulate the elements in this way, by causing a flame to leap from a fire and land on someone.  They can plash water in someone's face or on a torch, they can disrupt spell book pages with brief gusts, or dry mud, or locate rocks easily.

The Test of (Air, Earth, Fire & water).  40/100/ - 74/100.

This Ritual is where the Elemental forces become and actual Elemental for the Dwarf.

This Ritual Causes the Dwarf Significant Physical pain, Emotional Duress and Actual Damage.  the Ritual Requires $5,000gp in Incense, $5,000gp of Precious Metals, and $5,000gp of Gems and Minerals.  It takes 1-8 hours to perform, minus 1 hour for every point of Con above 14.

During the Ritual, The Element of the Test, will materialize and face the Dwarf, attacking or coalescing with it.  Again the Dwarf must make a constitution check.  If the Dwarf fails, the Elemental attacks that round doing 1-4 damage to the Dwarf, and giving the Dwarf a penalty of 1 on the next save.  This is done for every point of Con the Dwarf has, and is viewed as a permanent HP total for the Elemental eventually.  this continues until the Dwarf dies at the hands of the elemental, or it becomes an active independent agent of the Dwarf and a full fledged Elemental.  For this reason Dwarves rarely attempt this Ritual without being moderately high level.

If the Dwarf survives.  The Elemental now becomes an NPC that the DM Controls, until the PC reaches 50 points in the well, then the PC controls it themselves.

Lets say that during the ritual, the Dwarf PC with a 17 Con, rolled 17 times, and only failed two checks, but survived the ritual, this means that the Water Elemental is effectively a 1hd Creature with 15hp.  It exists on the Elemental Plane, but can break through when summoned by the Dwarf.  No artifice is required to do this, just the Dwarfs intentions.

The elemental can be commanded with the Dwarfs mind.  In the beginning it is just attack, over time and after multiple summoning's the Elemental will become more familiar with the Prime Material Plane, and the bond between it and the Dwarf will grow stronger.  Further, the protections offered by the relationship include things like the inability to drown, in protection from freezing to death and reduced damage from fire, or the ability to hurl large rocks.

It is at this level that Dwarven locks are able to be operated.

The Gate of (Water, Earth, Air & Fire).  75/100 - 99-100.

This Ritual requires a trip to the Elemental plane of the Elemental gate.  It is conducted entirely by the elemental and no two rituals are the same.   It occurs instantly when a well reaches 75 points.  A rift to the elemental plane opens and the elemental pulls the dwarf in.

Some Dwarfs never return from this.  Others return years later, and some, seem to be spit back almost instantly.

Once the Test has been passed, the Dwarf returns to the Prime Material Plane and bears a connection to the elemental of the Elementals devising.  The Elemental can open small portal's to their home plane.  It can handle more complex tasks.  its HP now Match the Dwarfs as they rise and fall, its HD become 1 per level of the Dwarf.  It's Thaco is per its HD and its damage is 1-8 per round.  It can be up to 100' distant from the Dwarf.  the dwarf has the ability to do things like Fly, shape stone, see and move underwater swiftly and indefinitely, throw fire, bury people, drown people, knock things from the air, etc.

It is at this level that Dwarven Locks are able to be Made.

"It happened quick.  The bolt landed where I aimed, and the rage fell from its eyes as I think it knew as we all must, that this was the end, that this is what had killed it.  And in that light I saw it, the blue light of that realm spill into ours, and like a bridge fallen beneath my feet, I dropped into it."

The dwarf fiddled with his pipe.  In time he started again.

"It was Nazua, my elemntal that was there, caught me in herself.  At first I thought I was drowned, there was no up, no air to swim to, no surface/  It was a while before I quit fighting for air.  Then we swam, or she swam me.  The strangest lights, the most beautiful and most terrifying things I have yet to see in my life were there, everywhere.  It seems I was there forever.  I saw a water nest of sorts, no way to really describe it, full of smoke and gems, and I recognized it.  some of the items in it, the Blue Pearl from the Ritual of the Test of Water, and one of the silver ingots from the Basilisk hoard that was a part of the Initiation.

"There were other things also, small forces in the deep, currents?  I think now they were a kind of child of Nazua.  They were fascinated by me.  And now, I have this."  The dwarf said pulling on a ring with his thumb, that at first looked like silver, then of smooth stone, but it was water, from that place that he went.  It danced around his hand.

"And you think you were gone a week?" I asked him.  He looked at me then looked away as though we talked about his childhood or a time long gone, where good alone dwelled, a county, a time, his youth.

"At least" he said, turning back to his pipe and the distraction that it lent.

"To us, you fell through the floor and then burst right back up through it and a splash of water.  The Kord had not even fallen to the ground when you cried out that you were home."


The Rite of (Fire, Water, Air & Earth).  100/100 - 200/100

The Rite of Fire is the last of the Gates.  From this moment forward the Elemental and the Dwarfs power just continue to grow until death.

The Rite involves a "Grand Sacrifice"  After which the Elemental will choose to stay bound to the Dwarf for all time, or to free itself of the bond.

If the Elemental stays, it becomes a semi permanent denizen of the Prime.  It does 2-16 pts damage per round in a single attack.  It can move independently in the world.  It can take the dwarf into the elemental plane at will.  It cannot be permanently killed. it regenerates either in the elemental plane over time or with sacrifices.  its HP become permanent and rolled per the HD that match the Dwarfs level.  Sacrifices can gain bonuses to the HP rolls.  This will be the Elementals permanent HP.

The dwarf will be able to swim through stone, cause material to burst into flames, shred the wings of flying things, sink boats, collapse stone towers, etc.  The Elemental will not dissipate into the elemental plane if the Dwarf goes unconscious or dies.  It will work for the benefit of the Dwarf independently.

Dwarven Patriarchs can have Elemental Well of F350/100 - W400/100 - E125/100 - A25/100  Or even; E0 - W0 - A0 - F500/100.