Lizard sometimes uses placeholders when he has an idea, and intends to look up the Right Stuff later. Lizard should not post until doing so. :)
I should have said "Lake Michigan", with the intent being that most of Northern Michigan is now a sunken mess of broken islands surrounded by unearthly spars of rock, with lakes Michigan and Huron merging to form one inland sea.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sparring
And now we get to random bits of geography. :) I often base my creation on whatever weird images crawl into my brain, and the image of a vast ocean filled with jutting obelisks of stone, battered by crashing waves, and home to countless monsters lurking in the violent froth, was too good to pass up. Sigmund Freud can have a field day; I don't care.
The Firefox spell checker doesn't recognize 'thaumaturgic'? What gives?
EDIT:Corrected a whole bunch of embarrassing geographical errors. I'm a writer, not a cartographer, damn it!
====================
Sparred Sea
Where two of the Great Lakes, Michigan and Huron, once stood, there now exists a vast and twisted inland sea, one which has swallowed most of northern Michigan and which is rendered almost impassable by great juts of land. This region, the creation of nuclear and thaumaturgic energies intermingling, is the Sparred Sea.
History
Shortly after the Crush, a sequence of events -- the details may never be fully known -- set off a nuclear exchange which destroyed many of the world's largest urban areas and unleashed the dreaded Worldholes. One powerful bomb was intended for Chicago, but narrowly missed, impacting a few miles offshore in Lake Michigan -- not, as erroneously reported by clearly drunk chroniclers, Superior. This area was already grossly unstable, and the bomb triggered a cataclysmic chain reaction. The lake buckled and boiled, and strange energies exploded outwards. The shores were scoured for miles around. The region lay shrouded in burning mist for weeks; when the fog finally receded, those who ventured back found that the lake had become filled with huge, jagged, outcroppings of rock, often hundreds of feet tall. Navigation became nigh-impossible, for the boat-ripping spars of rock which lined the bottom could appear anywhere -- and, indeed, seemed to shift position, as one week's "safe" route became next week's ticket to the bottom.
Worse still, while there was no active, visible, Worldhole in the lake, it showed all the effects of one. Hideous mutations emerged from the lake, all kind and manner of twisted abominations. Gargantuan monsters would emerge to swallow those few foolhardy enough to attempt a crossing, while the shores were filled with things of nightmare that emerged during the dark to lay waste to a lakeside camp or a struggling village, only to vanish back into the rocky depths with the coming of the sun.
Present Day
The best reason to venture near the Sparred Sea are the Chicago ruins. The city and its associated suburbs are half-drowned and mostly rubble, but they still contain considerable wealth, and there are always rumors of lost caches of material, be it gold, fine wine, or high-tech engine parts. The sunken eastern half of the city is a monster-infested maze, the spires of the skyscrapers mixing with the rocky outcroppings which give the Sparred Sea its name.
There is also the fact that the lakes remain a source of fresh water, and, if they could be tamed, a navigable route. On Arith, the same geographical region held a number of cities linked in a trade federation known as the Mantarian Alliance. The Codex Mantaros, the law guiding the city-states in their dealings with each other, became the basis for the Alliance Of Free Kingdoms. Many hope that the lake could once again provide a basis for a similar trading state.
Many creatures seeking isolation have made their homes among the spires. Wyverns are known to nest there, near the shorelines, allowing them to forage on land and retreat to relative safety. It is rumored that Duergar have tunneled into the rocks and built a small fortress. Brave and foolish raiders will use the shelter of the stones to hide bases, striking from them at shoreline communities. Creatures of elemental earth are also known to hide among the towers, and stonetouched animals and other monsters are common along the shore. If there are any great or ruling powers on the Sparred Sea, they have not yet made themselves known.
Far from the initial destruction point, there are communities which have set up, or simply remained, along the great lakes, though the corruption and chaos of the Sparred Sea touches on them, as well. Such communities report that the spars themselves seem to be spreading, with maps needing to be constantly updating as new juts of rock emerge seemingly overnight. Whether this phenomenon is natural or directed is unknown.
The magic of the region breeds strange and fierce weather; blistering heat waves and lethal blizzards. Travelers on the lake may face giant waterspouts or rogue waves a hundred feet in height.
The Firefox spell checker doesn't recognize 'thaumaturgic'? What gives?
EDIT:Corrected a whole bunch of embarrassing geographical errors. I'm a writer, not a cartographer, damn it!
====================
Sparred Sea
Where two of the Great Lakes, Michigan and Huron, once stood, there now exists a vast and twisted inland sea, one which has swallowed most of northern Michigan and which is rendered almost impassable by great juts of land. This region, the creation of nuclear and thaumaturgic energies intermingling, is the Sparred Sea.
History
Shortly after the Crush, a sequence of events -- the details may never be fully known -- set off a nuclear exchange which destroyed many of the world's largest urban areas and unleashed the dreaded Worldholes. One powerful bomb was intended for Chicago, but narrowly missed, impacting a few miles offshore in Lake Michigan -- not, as erroneously reported by clearly drunk chroniclers, Superior. This area was already grossly unstable, and the bomb triggered a cataclysmic chain reaction. The lake buckled and boiled, and strange energies exploded outwards. The shores were scoured for miles around. The region lay shrouded in burning mist for weeks; when the fog finally receded, those who ventured back found that the lake had become filled with huge, jagged, outcroppings of rock, often hundreds of feet tall. Navigation became nigh-impossible, for the boat-ripping spars of rock which lined the bottom could appear anywhere -- and, indeed, seemed to shift position, as one week's "safe" route became next week's ticket to the bottom.
Worse still, while there was no active, visible, Worldhole in the lake, it showed all the effects of one. Hideous mutations emerged from the lake, all kind and manner of twisted abominations. Gargantuan monsters would emerge to swallow those few foolhardy enough to attempt a crossing, while the shores were filled with things of nightmare that emerged during the dark to lay waste to a lakeside camp or a struggling village, only to vanish back into the rocky depths with the coming of the sun.
Present Day
The best reason to venture near the Sparred Sea are the Chicago ruins. The city and its associated suburbs are half-drowned and mostly rubble, but they still contain considerable wealth, and there are always rumors of lost caches of material, be it gold, fine wine, or high-tech engine parts. The sunken eastern half of the city is a monster-infested maze, the spires of the skyscrapers mixing with the rocky outcroppings which give the Sparred Sea its name.
There is also the fact that the lakes remain a source of fresh water, and, if they could be tamed, a navigable route. On Arith, the same geographical region held a number of cities linked in a trade federation known as the Mantarian Alliance. The Codex Mantaros, the law guiding the city-states in their dealings with each other, became the basis for the Alliance Of Free Kingdoms. Many hope that the lake could once again provide a basis for a similar trading state.
Many creatures seeking isolation have made their homes among the spires. Wyverns are known to nest there, near the shorelines, allowing them to forage on land and retreat to relative safety. It is rumored that Duergar have tunneled into the rocks and built a small fortress. Brave and foolish raiders will use the shelter of the stones to hide bases, striking from them at shoreline communities. Creatures of elemental earth are also known to hide among the towers, and stonetouched animals and other monsters are common along the shore. If there are any great or ruling powers on the Sparred Sea, they have not yet made themselves known.
Far from the initial destruction point, there are communities which have set up, or simply remained, along the great lakes, though the corruption and chaos of the Sparred Sea touches on them, as well. Such communities report that the spars themselves seem to be spreading, with maps needing to be constantly updating as new juts of rock emerge seemingly overnight. Whether this phenomenon is natural or directed is unknown.
The magic of the region breeds strange and fierce weather; blistering heat waves and lethal blizzards. Travelers on the lake may face giant waterspouts or rogue waves a hundred feet in height.
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Vatican Rag
And so, I wade into that most dangerous of territory, playing with real-world religions in a game setting. In a world where you risk the death penalty for naming a teddy bear "Mohammed", one must tread with caution...
IAE, this all started because someone wanted to play a Jesuit. Easy answer -- a cleric is a cleric is a cleric, pick some domains and be done with it. Lizard answer -- work out what the Catholic Church has been up to since a)2008, and b)the Crush.
This job is only made the harder because 99% of what I know about Catholicism can be boiled down to:
a)They are ruled by some guy in a funny hat.
b)Jack Chick claims they invented Communism, Nazism, and Islam.
So I did extensive (read a few pages of Wikipedia) research, and came up with this. This isn't any kind of commentary on Catholicism per se; I consider all religions equally silly, with the exception of Scientology, which is especially silly. It's not Dantesque wish fulfillment in which I get to inflict on the Church whatever punishment I think it deserves. What it is, is an attempt to create a quasi-plausible "future history" and lay the seeds for potentially interesting stories, and do so in about 20 minutes of total work time.
Catholicism
Pre-Crush
Catholicism, steeped in ritual and clinging to a belief in literal demons, has survived the transition to the new world better than most other major religions, though the very hierarchies which once gave it strength have, in their absence, turned the faith into an ever-fragmenting set of splinter cults. No one ever anticipated the instaneous loss of so much of the higher leadership or the near-total breakdown of communication among those officials who remained.
The Pope in 2020 was Pope Paul VII, who was elected in 2018 and was, previously, Cardinal Ernesto Juan Gomez, a native of Brazil. He was chosen due to the still-rapid growth of Catholicism in South and Central America, and as a symbol of the Vatican trying to distance itself from corruption and nepotism, by choosing someone who was far outside the inner circles of power. In his two years in office, he earned a reputation as the most liberal and socially active Pope in history, and this probably contributed to the explosion of separatist factions which occurred after the Crush.
The Four Popes
Paul VII
Vatican City was shaken to rubble during the events of the Crush, and also found itself surrounded by armed legions of the Kolarian Imperiate, which was based in the same region on Arith. The resulting chaos killed many, though legend has it the Swiss Guard managed to get Paul VII to safety, and that he still lives and is the true Pope. Most dismiss this, as there has been no word from him other than easily-forged letters; those who claim he is still alive, in turn, dismiss the controversy as the creation of those looking for a split.
The Jesuits, for the most part, follow Paul VII, supporting the claim he is alive, but remains in deep hiding, as there are powerful forces who seek to kill him -- and if he dies, it will be a triumph for the forces of darkness.
However, he would know be a man of 72, making his continued survival difficult. According to rumors, the Cardinals surrounding Paul VII are preparing to elect a new Pope from among their number. According to other rumours, this is their excuse for 'revealing' a new Pope to the world.
Benedict XVII
Of those who do not accept the survival of Paul VII, the largest group, mostly in Europe where the United Church Of Christ has little old and ecumenicism is something Americans do, follow Pope Benedict XVII, who has been a prolific writer of letters and recorder (where the technology exists) of video messages. Benedict was the highest-ranking Cardinal to survive the fall of the Vatican, and assume the Popehood by decree, claiming elections could be held once the church has stabilized. He has an apprentice, Giuseppe Maritono, who will take over should Benedict fall. The 'new Vatican' has been established in a sheltered part of the alps, where armed guards keep yeti, winter wolves, and frost giants at bay. Benedict XVII is a staunch traditionalist, and while he has not explicitly said so, he has hinted the Crush was a sign from God that the Church had veered from the truth. He is sometimes referred to as the 'Pope Of Europe'.
Pope Patrick
In the former United States, while many surviving Catholic bishops and cardinals were sending the messages that would soon help form the United Church, others were contacting each other to reconstruct the Catholic Church in America until contact could be established with Rome (or what was left of it) and a final determination of the true Pope be made. This led to what has since been called the American Vatican Council, a loose alliance of priests which has formed a Constitution defining the 'temporary Church'. They have declared no Pope and have backed none of the other candidates, and are lead by Cardinal Patrick Brian Malloy, formerly of New York City (he was visiting family upstate when the Crush hit, saving his life). They are based in a large holdfast relatively close to Albany. The AVC is active in sending out missionaries, supporting charities in various Holdfasts, and issuing polite but firm encyclicals on the theological fallacies of the UCC. Despite his refusal to claim the title, Cardinal Malloy is often called 'Pope Patrick' or 'the American Pope'.
Novus I
Lastly, the Southwest is home to a movement, mostly imported from the remains of Mexico and parts south, of the 'New Catholic Church', one which claims to be the rightful heir to old while not being a direct continuance of it. Heavily influenced by the Central/South American style of Catholicism, and revering 'Saint Ernesto' (whom they believe died in the Crush), it is the most vigorously evangelical, reaching out to Arithian humans and non-humans alike. NCC priests often travel in small caravans, acting, in many ways, like old-style Revival preachers of the early 1900s in America. The head of this branch of Catholicism is Pope Novus I, or "The First New Pope". (Lizard is almost certainly mangling the Latin)
Game Mechanics
Followers of the Catholic faith may, if they choose, accept the following rule modifications:
Demomic Lore: The Catholic church has always believed in demons as real entities and has studied them more than any modern faith. While the exact details of their beliefs were inaccurate, much of what they had written about evil outsiders had a useful ring of truth. As a consequence, Catholic clerics gain a +4 Competence bonus to Knowledge(The Planes) checks, and a +2 bonus on all Charisma based skills when dealing with Outsiders. In addition, Dimensional Anchor, Banishment, and similair spells which either hold or dismiss outsiders are cast at +2 caster levels for all purposes.
Prayer: Because prayer and litany is such an important part of Catholic ceremony, the Silent Spell feat cannot be used.
IAE, this all started because someone wanted to play a Jesuit. Easy answer -- a cleric is a cleric is a cleric, pick some domains and be done with it. Lizard answer -- work out what the Catholic Church has been up to since a)2008, and b)the Crush.
This job is only made the harder because 99% of what I know about Catholicism can be boiled down to:
a)They are ruled by some guy in a funny hat.
b)Jack Chick claims they invented Communism, Nazism, and Islam.
So I did extensive (read a few pages of Wikipedia) research, and came up with this. This isn't any kind of commentary on Catholicism per se; I consider all religions equally silly, with the exception of Scientology, which is especially silly. It's not Dantesque wish fulfillment in which I get to inflict on the Church whatever punishment I think it deserves. What it is, is an attempt to create a quasi-plausible "future history" and lay the seeds for potentially interesting stories, and do so in about 20 minutes of total work time.
Catholicism
Pre-Crush
Catholicism, steeped in ritual and clinging to a belief in literal demons, has survived the transition to the new world better than most other major religions, though the very hierarchies which once gave it strength have, in their absence, turned the faith into an ever-fragmenting set of splinter cults. No one ever anticipated the instaneous loss of so much of the higher leadership or the near-total breakdown of communication among those officials who remained.
The Pope in 2020 was Pope Paul VII, who was elected in 2018 and was, previously, Cardinal Ernesto Juan Gomez, a native of Brazil. He was chosen due to the still-rapid growth of Catholicism in South and Central America, and as a symbol of the Vatican trying to distance itself from corruption and nepotism, by choosing someone who was far outside the inner circles of power. In his two years in office, he earned a reputation as the most liberal and socially active Pope in history, and this probably contributed to the explosion of separatist factions which occurred after the Crush.
The Four Popes
Paul VII
Vatican City was shaken to rubble during the events of the Crush, and also found itself surrounded by armed legions of the Kolarian Imperiate, which was based in the same region on Arith. The resulting chaos killed many, though legend has it the Swiss Guard managed to get Paul VII to safety, and that he still lives and is the true Pope. Most dismiss this, as there has been no word from him other than easily-forged letters; those who claim he is still alive, in turn, dismiss the controversy as the creation of those looking for a split.
The Jesuits, for the most part, follow Paul VII, supporting the claim he is alive, but remains in deep hiding, as there are powerful forces who seek to kill him -- and if he dies, it will be a triumph for the forces of darkness.
However, he would know be a man of 72, making his continued survival difficult. According to rumors, the Cardinals surrounding Paul VII are preparing to elect a new Pope from among their number. According to other rumours, this is their excuse for 'revealing' a new Pope to the world.
Benedict XVII
Of those who do not accept the survival of Paul VII, the largest group, mostly in Europe where the United Church Of Christ has little old and ecumenicism is something Americans do, follow Pope Benedict XVII, who has been a prolific writer of letters and recorder (where the technology exists) of video messages. Benedict was the highest-ranking Cardinal to survive the fall of the Vatican, and assume the Popehood by decree, claiming elections could be held once the church has stabilized. He has an apprentice, Giuseppe Maritono, who will take over should Benedict fall. The 'new Vatican' has been established in a sheltered part of the alps, where armed guards keep yeti, winter wolves, and frost giants at bay. Benedict XVII is a staunch traditionalist, and while he has not explicitly said so, he has hinted the Crush was a sign from God that the Church had veered from the truth. He is sometimes referred to as the 'Pope Of Europe'.
Pope Patrick
In the former United States, while many surviving Catholic bishops and cardinals were sending the messages that would soon help form the United Church, others were contacting each other to reconstruct the Catholic Church in America until contact could be established with Rome (or what was left of it) and a final determination of the true Pope be made. This led to what has since been called the American Vatican Council, a loose alliance of priests which has formed a Constitution defining the 'temporary Church'. They have declared no Pope and have backed none of the other candidates, and are lead by Cardinal Patrick Brian Malloy, formerly of New York City (he was visiting family upstate when the Crush hit, saving his life). They are based in a large holdfast relatively close to Albany. The AVC is active in sending out missionaries, supporting charities in various Holdfasts, and issuing polite but firm encyclicals on the theological fallacies of the UCC. Despite his refusal to claim the title, Cardinal Malloy is often called 'Pope Patrick' or 'the American Pope'.
Novus I
Lastly, the Southwest is home to a movement, mostly imported from the remains of Mexico and parts south, of the 'New Catholic Church', one which claims to be the rightful heir to old while not being a direct continuance of it. Heavily influenced by the Central/South American style of Catholicism, and revering 'Saint Ernesto' (whom they believe died in the Crush), it is the most vigorously evangelical, reaching out to Arithian humans and non-humans alike. NCC priests often travel in small caravans, acting, in many ways, like old-style Revival preachers of the early 1900s in America. The head of this branch of Catholicism is Pope Novus I, or "The First New Pope". (Lizard is almost certainly mangling the Latin)
Game Mechanics
Followers of the Catholic faith may, if they choose, accept the following rule modifications:
Demomic Lore: The Catholic church has always believed in demons as real entities and has studied them more than any modern faith. While the exact details of their beliefs were inaccurate, much of what they had written about evil outsiders had a useful ring of truth. As a consequence, Catholic clerics gain a +4 Competence bonus to Knowledge(The Planes) checks, and a +2 bonus on all Charisma based skills when dealing with Outsiders. In addition, Dimensional Anchor, Banishment, and similair spells which either hold or dismiss outsiders are cast at +2 caster levels for all purposes.
Prayer: Because prayer and litany is such an important part of Catholic ceremony, the Silent Spell feat cannot be used.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Expanding Elves
So, a few weeks ago, I posted something on Elves. Here's a lot more. Why? Because I stupidly decided there'd be a small elf community a bit north of where the campaign begins. Which means people might decide to go there. Which means I need some vague ideas on what elves are like. Again, I am not claiming I'm redefining elves or making some amazingly original creations here. I begin with the core D&D tropes and then try to detail them in a way which I think breeds plots or the potential for interesting characters. To me, the essence of the D&D (i.e, Tolkein ripoff) elf is alienness. Living for centuries makes you different, and a bit weird. Being chaotic by nature just magnifies it. Elves understand the world differently. They don't see in four dimensions, but maybe they see in three and a half. They're just a little bit out there, and you know everything they do and say makes perfect sense to them, but they're still tilted just a couple of degrees outside our reality. They're playing by rules you not only don't know, but can't learn.
As is usually the case, this essay is bass-ackwards, in the sense that first I wrote up an elvish community, making up some names and roles and concepts, then, from the community, I back-engineered elvish culture. (This isn't all that odd -- for example, Gene Roddenberry created Spock with pointy ears and greenish skin, then reverse-engineered this to establish an arid, thin-aired Vulcan and copper-based blood.) I'll bet an awful lot of creative types do "Concept first, justification after".
Anyway, elves -- Revised&Expanded.
Elves
The elves of Arith are among the oldest of the Free Peoples, though certainly not the oldest sapient species. They are long-lived beings who dwell in environments which carefully blend natural beauty and civilized comfort. They once ruled over vast empires, long before the first Magewar, but now are a somewhat diminished race, gathered into a few large woodland cities and countless small settlements and villages. The elves produce many skilled individuals, but few great heroes -- but those who do exist are great indeed.
The Long Sleep
Elves live for centuries, but very few spend all, or even most, of that time in a single pursuit. After a few decades of life, an Elf will grow weary, and develop a deep sense of ennui and indifference. All joy flees from existence; food is bland, lovemaking tiring, even life-and-death struggles begin to pall. At this time, the elf enters what is known as the Long Sleep, where they enter into a coma-like state, needing nothing but air to survive. (Obviously, they do this in safe surroundings -- usually a sacred hall in a larger Elvish community). The Long Sleep lasts for 6-10 years. When the elf awakes, he is reborn in spirit. While he retains, in part, all of his old memories, he has lost much of his learning. In essence, he emerges with no class levels, and begins life anew, studying different arts than he did before. The dreams of the Long Sleep serve to show him new paths in life, and he might emerge with a different alignment. While still technically the same person, he thinks of himself as one reborn, and often ignores old friendships and commitments, as if they belonged to another. (Elf law dictates this is so -- marriages end when one spouse enters the Long Sleep, and debts are forgiven as if the debtor had died. Laws of other cultures are not so understanding.)
Government
Elvish government is summarized by lalithilianilis, or 'Agreement reached by consensus which transcends speech'. Elves simply understand how things are supposed to happen. They are bound by few rules, and most of those rules are based on complex webs of understanding and cultural assumptions. To an outsider, everyone simply seems to do as they please, but to the elves, their society is perfectly sane and controlled. Even a simple request such as "Who is in charge here?" is meaningless to elves, since the answer could change based on the situation, the time of year, or even the phase of the moon. Long dealings with other races have taught them to have a few spokesmen, but those are not the true 'leaders' -- rather, their job is to appear to humans, etc, to give them a person to consider as a leader so that their needs are met. Elves have little concept of hierarchy and 'leader' and 'follower' can shift and change with each passing moment.
Names
Elf names are long and complicated. Unlike their place names, which are usually descriptive and poetic, an elf's name seems to others -- even those who speak Elvish - to be merely a long collection of syllables, usually five or six words in length. To the elf, though, the name is summation of their essence, and speaking it will produce, in the listener, a resonance which tells them all they need to know of the person. As such, the name changes as the person does, and one elf can tell another all that they have gone through over a decade merely by giving their new name, which might differ by as little as a syllable from their old one.
Personality
Elves are constantly torn between the Now and the Never. An elf can become suddenly focused, sometimes frighteningly so, when an event occurs which demands immediate attention -- such as an attack. However, anything which doesn't need to be done now might as well need to be done never -- if an elf loses focus, he/she might well forget about the undone job for a month, a year, or more, unless suddenly reminded.
Religion
Elves worship a large pantheon of gods. All of their deities blend humanoid and natural traits, either plant or animal, and tend to shift in the degree to which these traits balance over time. Jalillianili, Goddess of the Hunt, for example, sometimes appears as an elf with a few slightly lupine features, other times as an elvish werewolf, and other times as a wolf which a few hints of elven blood. An artist might portray her anywhere along the spectrum in accordance with what aspect of her he was trying to convey or invoke.
Elvish worship is not predicated on specific rites and rituals, but on a 'sense of properness' -- they will sometimes stop and pray at seemingly random moments, or ignore the gods for years and then volunteer for a holy quest. Elvish clerics are simply those more attuned to the moment than the lay populace. Religion is one thread of the entire tapestry of life; a blade might contain symbols of the Goddess of the Hunt, the God of Ironworking, or even the Goddess of Family, depending on the whim of the crafter or the inspiration of the customer. (It might contain no religious iconography at all, too)
Language
The elvish language is lyrical and complex. While most people can learn the basics, truly mastering the language is amazingly difficult for non-elves. The individual words are not exceptionally complex, though the elves pride themselves on single words which encompass multiple aspects of a single concept. Rather, the true complexity is in the tenses, as the Elvish frame of reference is so long that conjugation includes span of time in the past of the future. Further, both nouns and verbs must be conjugated in this fashion, so that "I walked to the store" must be said, in Elvish, as "I(From the point in the past where I was born to the point in the future where I will cease to be) walked (seven days ago) to the store (as it existed in that point in the past)" To elves, this is intuitive; to others, it is nightmarish. Further, as befits their nature, elvish "rules" of grammar are more polite suggestions; poetic phrasings and metaphors are more important than sticking to the rules.
Art And Culture
Some non-elvish sociologists have commented on the 'beautiful simplicity' of Elvish arts, from woodcarving to cooking. They miss the point. Elves have remarkably complex arts, but the complexity is hidden by an obsessive drive to perfection. An elf cook might make a thousand variants on a single dish, constantly experimenting by varying ingredients by the tiniest degree, until he has achieved absolutely the flavor he desires. An arrowsmith might make ten arrowheads a day, year after year, and only the most keen of observers would note that each one has a slightly different pattern carefully hammered into it, making them as unique as snowflakes. The smith, though, could look at anyone and then tell you the day, and even the hour, it was made, simply by studying the pattern she implanted.
After The Crush
The elves found themselves "trapped in a world they never made", but then again, so did everyone else. Their centers of civilization in the region of the Pacific Northwest were wiped out, and their ancient foes, the bugbears, emerged in force to ravage what remained. As with most of the other races, it was the small outposts and isolated villages which survived more-or-less intact.
Elves had earned great respect from the humans of Arith for their wisdom and power, but the humans of Earth at first saw them as one more set of invaders. Early battles between the two races still leave bitter memories, even though hesitant truces have been forged in many regions. Older Earthborn refer to the elves as "Spocks" or "Keeblers", or greets any passing elf with "Yo, Legolas!", though a certain segment of the populace finds their unearthly beauty and aloof intellectualism compellingly attractive, so it is hardly surprising that half-elves are becoming common anywhere that the two peoples live together in any kind of peace. (Some elves find humans' energy and enthusiasm sufficiently appealing that their other flaws can be overlooked, at least for a night's pleasure...and what is one night out of many tens of thousands?)
The elves thought the humans of Arith were living life at a full gallop with no ability to slow down and appreciate things, as well as dying so fast you hardly got to know one before you were meeting his great-great-grandchildren. Thus, they see the humans of Earth as little more than mad blurs of motion, and what they've learned of pre-Crush Earth society fascinates and repels them. The walls that Earthborn humans erected between themselves and their world -- both physical and metaphysical -- terrify them. Many have found a new appreciation for the humans of Arith, suddenly aware of how far they might have gone. "Skallidane across the entire world" is a typical Elvish phrase for Earth human culture.
They are also fascinated, and intensely curious, with the fact that a race very similair to their own features so prominently in human art and literature -- along with dwarves, gnomes, and other such beings. Those philosophers who have survived have begun to formulate theories, but it will be decades, or longer, before any of them feels they know enough to voice their hypotheses.
Most elvish communities are more isolationist than ever. Few in number and slow breeding, they wish to preserve all they can. When it is prudent to deal regularly with other societies, they usually have an outpost a few miles from their main population center, which serves as a place to meet and trade. They often prefer to be helpful, within certain limits, as long exposure to human psychology has taught them humans hate most that which they do not understand. Thus, no matter how odd or distasteful they might find it, many elves regularly leave their communities to work in cooperative ventures with humans, often in the form of shared patrols, teaching of history or art, or running messages back and forth. "To the humans, the mysterious is the dangerous, and that which is dangerous must be killed out of hand."
As is usually the case, this essay is bass-ackwards, in the sense that first I wrote up an elvish community, making up some names and roles and concepts, then, from the community, I back-engineered elvish culture. (This isn't all that odd -- for example, Gene Roddenberry created Spock with pointy ears and greenish skin, then reverse-engineered this to establish an arid, thin-aired Vulcan and copper-based blood.) I'll bet an awful lot of creative types do "Concept first, justification after".
Anyway, elves -- Revised&Expanded.
Elves
The elves of Arith are among the oldest of the Free Peoples, though certainly not the oldest sapient species. They are long-lived beings who dwell in environments which carefully blend natural beauty and civilized comfort. They once ruled over vast empires, long before the first Magewar, but now are a somewhat diminished race, gathered into a few large woodland cities and countless small settlements and villages. The elves produce many skilled individuals, but few great heroes -- but those who do exist are great indeed.
The Long Sleep
Elves live for centuries, but very few spend all, or even most, of that time in a single pursuit. After a few decades of life, an Elf will grow weary, and develop a deep sense of ennui and indifference. All joy flees from existence; food is bland, lovemaking tiring, even life-and-death struggles begin to pall. At this time, the elf enters what is known as the Long Sleep, where they enter into a coma-like state, needing nothing but air to survive. (Obviously, they do this in safe surroundings -- usually a sacred hall in a larger Elvish community). The Long Sleep lasts for 6-10 years. When the elf awakes, he is reborn in spirit. While he retains, in part, all of his old memories, he has lost much of his learning. In essence, he emerges with no class levels, and begins life anew, studying different arts than he did before. The dreams of the Long Sleep serve to show him new paths in life, and he might emerge with a different alignment. While still technically the same person, he thinks of himself as one reborn, and often ignores old friendships and commitments, as if they belonged to another. (Elf law dictates this is so -- marriages end when one spouse enters the Long Sleep, and debts are forgiven as if the debtor had died. Laws of other cultures are not so understanding.)
Government
Elvish government is summarized by lalithilianilis, or 'Agreement reached by consensus which transcends speech'. Elves simply understand how things are supposed to happen. They are bound by few rules, and most of those rules are based on complex webs of understanding and cultural assumptions. To an outsider, everyone simply seems to do as they please, but to the elves, their society is perfectly sane and controlled. Even a simple request such as "Who is in charge here?" is meaningless to elves, since the answer could change based on the situation, the time of year, or even the phase of the moon. Long dealings with other races have taught them to have a few spokesmen, but those are not the true 'leaders' -- rather, their job is to appear to humans, etc, to give them a person to consider as a leader so that their needs are met. Elves have little concept of hierarchy and 'leader' and 'follower' can shift and change with each passing moment.
Names
Elf names are long and complicated. Unlike their place names, which are usually descriptive and poetic, an elf's name seems to others -- even those who speak Elvish - to be merely a long collection of syllables, usually five or six words in length. To the elf, though, the name is summation of their essence, and speaking it will produce, in the listener, a resonance which tells them all they need to know of the person. As such, the name changes as the person does, and one elf can tell another all that they have gone through over a decade merely by giving their new name, which might differ by as little as a syllable from their old one.
Personality
Elves are constantly torn between the Now and the Never. An elf can become suddenly focused, sometimes frighteningly so, when an event occurs which demands immediate attention -- such as an attack. However, anything which doesn't need to be done now might as well need to be done never -- if an elf loses focus, he/she might well forget about the undone job for a month, a year, or more, unless suddenly reminded.
Religion
Elves worship a large pantheon of gods. All of their deities blend humanoid and natural traits, either plant or animal, and tend to shift in the degree to which these traits balance over time. Jalillianili, Goddess of the Hunt, for example, sometimes appears as an elf with a few slightly lupine features, other times as an elvish werewolf, and other times as a wolf which a few hints of elven blood. An artist might portray her anywhere along the spectrum in accordance with what aspect of her he was trying to convey or invoke.
Elvish worship is not predicated on specific rites and rituals, but on a 'sense of properness' -- they will sometimes stop and pray at seemingly random moments, or ignore the gods for years and then volunteer for a holy quest. Elvish clerics are simply those more attuned to the moment than the lay populace. Religion is one thread of the entire tapestry of life; a blade might contain symbols of the Goddess of the Hunt, the God of Ironworking, or even the Goddess of Family, depending on the whim of the crafter or the inspiration of the customer. (It might contain no religious iconography at all, too)
Language
The elvish language is lyrical and complex. While most people can learn the basics, truly mastering the language is amazingly difficult for non-elves. The individual words are not exceptionally complex, though the elves pride themselves on single words which encompass multiple aspects of a single concept. Rather, the true complexity is in the tenses, as the Elvish frame of reference is so long that conjugation includes span of time in the past of the future. Further, both nouns and verbs must be conjugated in this fashion, so that "I walked to the store" must be said, in Elvish, as "I(From the point in the past where I was born to the point in the future where I will cease to be) walked (seven days ago) to the store (as it existed in that point in the past)" To elves, this is intuitive; to others, it is nightmarish. Further, as befits their nature, elvish "rules" of grammar are more polite suggestions; poetic phrasings and metaphors are more important than sticking to the rules.
Art And Culture
Some non-elvish sociologists have commented on the 'beautiful simplicity' of Elvish arts, from woodcarving to cooking. They miss the point. Elves have remarkably complex arts, but the complexity is hidden by an obsessive drive to perfection. An elf cook might make a thousand variants on a single dish, constantly experimenting by varying ingredients by the tiniest degree, until he has achieved absolutely the flavor he desires. An arrowsmith might make ten arrowheads a day, year after year, and only the most keen of observers would note that each one has a slightly different pattern carefully hammered into it, making them as unique as snowflakes. The smith, though, could look at anyone and then tell you the day, and even the hour, it was made, simply by studying the pattern she implanted.
After The Crush
The elves found themselves "trapped in a world they never made", but then again, so did everyone else. Their centers of civilization in the region of the Pacific Northwest were wiped out, and their ancient foes, the bugbears, emerged in force to ravage what remained. As with most of the other races, it was the small outposts and isolated villages which survived more-or-less intact.
Elves had earned great respect from the humans of Arith for their wisdom and power, but the humans of Earth at first saw them as one more set of invaders. Early battles between the two races still leave bitter memories, even though hesitant truces have been forged in many regions. Older Earthborn refer to the elves as "Spocks" or "Keeblers", or greets any passing elf with "Yo, Legolas!", though a certain segment of the populace finds their unearthly beauty and aloof intellectualism compellingly attractive, so it is hardly surprising that half-elves are becoming common anywhere that the two peoples live together in any kind of peace. (Some elves find humans' energy and enthusiasm sufficiently appealing that their other flaws can be overlooked, at least for a night's pleasure...and what is one night out of many tens of thousands?)
The elves thought the humans of Arith were living life at a full gallop with no ability to slow down and appreciate things, as well as dying so fast you hardly got to know one before you were meeting his great-great-grandchildren. Thus, they see the humans of Earth as little more than mad blurs of motion, and what they've learned of pre-Crush Earth society fascinates and repels them. The walls that Earthborn humans erected between themselves and their world -- both physical and metaphysical -- terrify them. Many have found a new appreciation for the humans of Arith, suddenly aware of how far they might have gone. "Skallidane across the entire world" is a typical Elvish phrase for Earth human culture.
They are also fascinated, and intensely curious, with the fact that a race very similair to their own features so prominently in human art and literature -- along with dwarves, gnomes, and other such beings. Those philosophers who have survived have begun to formulate theories, but it will be decades, or longer, before any of them feels they know enough to voice their hypotheses.
Most elvish communities are more isolationist than ever. Few in number and slow breeding, they wish to preserve all they can. When it is prudent to deal regularly with other societies, they usually have an outpost a few miles from their main population center, which serves as a place to meet and trade. They often prefer to be helpful, within certain limits, as long exposure to human psychology has taught them humans hate most that which they do not understand. Thus, no matter how odd or distasteful they might find it, many elves regularly leave their communities to work in cooperative ventures with humans, often in the form of shared patrols, teaching of history or art, or running messages back and forth. "To the humans, the mysterious is the dangerous, and that which is dangerous must be killed out of hand."
A few small hints...
To: Tom Gordon.
Subject: Good Guess. :)
Which brings up an interesting problem for this blog, in that some parts of the world need to remain hidden for the sake of the live game -- not just NPCs and adventures, but Mysteries To Be Revealed. It's not that I don't trust my players not to act on OOC knowledge -- they're much too good for that -- but rather, that it robs them of the fun of discovering the world. Ultimately, the game is about showing the players a good time, and anything which gets in the way of that is problematic.
So, while it surprises no one that something has survived more-or-less intact(ish), (It's such an essential trope of the genre that it must be included) the where, when, and how has to remain hidden for the nonce. (I also need to work out a few key details...)
As a side note, this is the kind of thing I loathe in commercial products -- the "setting details revealed in next supplement" marketing scheme. (Brave New World, I'm looking at YOU.) I'm not talking about things where the world is too big for one supplement to detail properly, I'm talking about things where core premises or major, major, plot elements are left out, not to give the GM freedom but to sell more books. If the campaign world has any big Secrets or Hidden Lore, they should be given up-front -- maybe not detailed to the nth degree, but there so the GM knows about them and can take them into account. Forex, imagine if the new Galactica were released as an RPG first, and the first sourcebook completely failed to mention that Cylons now come in fleshtone. (I also hate metaplot in game settings; give me the world at Point X, give me everything I need to know to start running it, and sell me supplements which simply expand on that base in terms of depth and detail. Don't "advance the timeline" to kill off major NPCs, nuke a city, or otherwise screw with my live game. If you think you've run out of crap to milk for sales, then, if you must, release a "future" setting or a "past" setting which basically kicks off a whole new baseline. (OK, I never use prepackaged supplements anyway, but when these tactics annoy me on a general level.))
Enough ranting. Elves later. (Been setting up a new computer, and, as usual, that sucks down most of my time and energy. Gack.)
Subject: Good Guess. :)
Which brings up an interesting problem for this blog, in that some parts of the world need to remain hidden for the sake of the live game -- not just NPCs and adventures, but Mysteries To Be Revealed. It's not that I don't trust my players not to act on OOC knowledge -- they're much too good for that -- but rather, that it robs them of the fun of discovering the world. Ultimately, the game is about showing the players a good time, and anything which gets in the way of that is problematic.
So, while it surprises no one that something has survived more-or-less intact(ish), (It's such an essential trope of the genre that it must be included) the where, when, and how has to remain hidden for the nonce. (I also need to work out a few key details...)
As a side note, this is the kind of thing I loathe in commercial products -- the "setting details revealed in next supplement" marketing scheme. (Brave New World, I'm looking at YOU.) I'm not talking about things where the world is too big for one supplement to detail properly, I'm talking about things where core premises or major, major, plot elements are left out, not to give the GM freedom but to sell more books. If the campaign world has any big Secrets or Hidden Lore, they should be given up-front -- maybe not detailed to the nth degree, but there so the GM knows about them and can take them into account. Forex, imagine if the new Galactica were released as an RPG first, and the first sourcebook completely failed to mention that Cylons now come in fleshtone. (I also hate metaplot in game settings; give me the world at Point X, give me everything I need to know to start running it, and sell me supplements which simply expand on that base in terms of depth and detail. Don't "advance the timeline" to kill off major NPCs, nuke a city, or otherwise screw with my live game. If you think you've run out of crap to milk for sales, then, if you must, release a "future" setting or a "past" setting which basically kicks off a whole new baseline. (OK, I never use prepackaged supplements anyway, but when these tactics annoy me on a general level.))
Enough ranting. Elves later. (Been setting up a new computer, and, as usual, that sucks down most of my time and energy. Gack.)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Let The Infodumping Re-Commence! (Bugbears)
So here's the thing. I've been churning out world details like mad, but a lot of it has been scenario-focused since the game is now up and running. I don't plan to post major NPCs and stats somewhere where nasssty playerses can gets their pawses on them, preciousss. So I sort of need to edit and filter that which is truly world-based out from that which is in-game based.
In any event, there's a whole mound of what I term 'cascade creation' going on. I start doing X, I have a tossaway reference to Y, then when I do Y I realize a need for Z, and so on. A lot of the offshoots of what I'm doing for the scenario can and will be posted here. In the meanwhile, though, I've been developing the culture and background for one of the many humanoid races which wander the campaign world. That they also happen to be antagonists for the first story arc is a nice bonus. Nothing in here is current-plot-specific, though, so I can post with minimal fear. (This is also an interesting example how plot and general creation drive each other. I had some short notes on bugbears, which inspired my plot -- then I found that the plot caused me to ask questions of myself, which caused me to do a lot more development on the bugbears to fill in some gaps. There's still some things left, such as family life and exotic weapons, and mebbe some racial spells, and....sigh. Here's the annoying thing. Give me a week, I could write a 32 page PDF with full details to make the race fun and interesting for any campaign, but with 4e looming and GM-focused supplements selling extra-poorly, what would be the point? Eventually, I'd like to have an ad-supported blog which earned enough money to justify serious time investment, but for now, I have to limit myself to interesting tidbits that are created during my normal 'allotted' time for creative endeavours.)
Anyone want to be a Patron Of The Arts?
Didn't think so. Sigh.
Anyhoo...Bugbears! (Tomorrow -- more on Elves.)
=============================
Bugbears
History
Bugbears have long been mortal enemies of the elves, as both claim the woodlands for their own. While the elves adapted the arts of men and dwarves into their own culture, becoming masters of crafting and construction, the bugbears clung to the simplest of tools, albeit fashioned with cunning. They built no great cities, but lived as semi-nomads, wandering during warm months and settling into small villages during the cold winter. They also raided passing travelers and outlying villages, and many individuals turned to banditry. Over decades of war with the elves, they were driven into the deepest and most remote parts of the wood, denied access to many areas which had been their traditional homes. Many tribes became semi-underground dwellers, seizing the upper levels of the underdark passages for themselves and driving out smaller, weaker, races, including their goblin kin. There, they nursed their hatred for the elves who had driven them out of the lands which were rightfully theirs.
The Crush impacted them little, directly. To some extent, all it did was dump a host of fresh raiding targets in their laps. While many of the Earthborn who dwelled in the regions the bugbears called home were armed, they were not prepared to deal with organized raiding parties. The bugbears reacted to guns, tractors, and other artifacts of man with insane hatred, and tore apart anyone using such devices against them with no hint of mercy. Small towns nestled in the deep woods were attacked, raided for fresh foods, and then burned, the inhabitants slaughtered if they could not escape. Elves fleeing the destruction of their great cities were also targeted, and the many elvish outposts which kept the bugbears in place were overrun and destroyed.
The bugbears have no great nations, but the two largest collections of tribes are found in the former Pacific Northwest and in the heart of Europe, in and around the former Black Forest. Smaller groups are known to exist in parts of the American South, New England, and the jungles of Central America. Individuals who have left their tribes for whatever reason might be found anywhere, though they are welcomed in few settlements.
Culture
Bugbears consider themselves guardians of nature and embodiments of the natural order, which is a struggle of all against all where the weak exist solely as prey for the strong. They have a deep seated, perhaps almost instinctual, hatred of metalworking, and this extends to almost any craft beyond a late paleothic level. They are, perhaps, the finest stoneknappers and woodworkers of the humanoids, but all their craft cannot make a wooden shield hold against a mithral axe or allow a sling stone to be deadlier than a crossbow bolt. They compensate for this by breeding powerful druids, and training their best warriors in the arts of stealth and ambush.
Bugbears are also violent and chaotic by nature, and no tribe can grow to more than a few hundred individuals before it fragments, usually in a single day of brutal conflict. When tribes disagree over territory or resources, there will be a contest of champions, but the losing tribe often disregards the results and attacks anyway, if it sees an advantage. Unlike the more egalitarian goblins and hobgoblins, bugbears view their females as nothing more than breeding machines and tokens of status for the alpha males of the tribe. On the other hand, females and young are protected with insane vigor, and attackers will not reach the women and children of the tribe until every male of fighting age is dead.
In times past, bugbears were taken as prisoners by the hoboblin nations, and these slaves have been bred for strength and obedience for centuries. Despised by their free ancestors, they are shock troops and workers for the hobgoblins. In the aftermath of the Crush, some have freed themselves, and, without homes among the Free Peoples or their own kind, they often join up with bandit gangs or seek work as mercenary soldiers.
Religion
Bugbears are a nature-oriented people, but, unlike the elves, their gods do not incorporate nature into their physical forms. Bugbear religion is based partially on reincarnation, on the belief that a spirit travels through life over and over -- for a time. If the spirit survives life's challenges, it grows stronger with each incarnation, until it eventually ascends to godhood. A weak spirit is torn a little for each life in which it fails, and eventually, it is too weak to remain in the materal world and is pulled into the Maelstrom Forest, a lower plane where the souls of the weak are hunted, tormented, and tortured until they are reduced to raw soul-stuff, which then reincarnates with a 'fresh start'. Souls strong enough to break free of the material but too weak to become gods become the deities servants, avatars, and messengers. Bugbears do not believe reborn souls can incarnate as anything but bugbears; all other races have alien souls, even their goblinoid kin.
Some spirits linger between incarnations, lending their power to the worthy. From these waiting souls come the shamanic powers of some bugbears.
Glugruk The Challenger
Bugbears do not have a well defined hierarchy of gods. Indeed, each tribe has at least one 'local' god who is the deified version of their greatest and most famous ancestral hero. A few deities, though, seem to exist in one form or another across bugbear culture, and one such is Glugruk The Challenger. In life, it is said, Glugruk would never refuse a challenge which the challenger was also willing to do -- swim a raging river, enter a human city and kidnap an infant, march into an orc lair and slay ten of their warriors. As long as both contestants faced the same task with the same odds, Glugruk would accept, and the legends say he never, ever, lost.
After his ascension, Glugruk began to appear to worthy-seeming bugbears to offer them tasks to undertake. For these challenges, Glugruk would incarnate himself in the same form as the one being challenged, and if the target managed a decent showing without cowardice or hesitation, Glugruk would offer a blessing. If he failed or refused...he died. Victory was not essential, but performing beyond the normal limits was.
Bugbear rangers and barbarians are the most common followers of Glugruk. He has few true clerics, as that sort of religious training is not a major part of bugbear culture.
Blugrul The Wisdom-Giver
While might and skill are admired among bugbears, there is also respect for those capable of cunning, insight, and awareness -- provided such things lead to victory! Blugrul is the second of the 'shared gods' known to most bugbear clans. He was, in life, reputed to be a great seeker of secrets, tearing them from those who guarded them. He believed that nothing should be unknown or hidden to those with the courage and daring to learn the great truths.
When he ascended, he became a revealer of knowledge to bugbear shamans -- but he never gave answers, only a path to where the answers could be found. Winning the answer -- and understanding it -- was up to he to whom the answer was given.
Obviously, spirit shamans are the main followers of Blugrul, but rogues and scouts -- all those who seek that which is hidden -- hope to emulate his success and ascend into his service.
Classes
The typical bugbear is a first level Warrior, but elite bugbears are likely to be Rangers, Rogues, or Druids. As with all races, there are bugbear Sorcerers, and many bugbears become Barbarians. Few bugbears are true fighters, as they lack the dedication to the fighting arts which that class requires, as well as lacking the metal armor and weapons the class tends to rely on. A rare few are psychic warriors or psiblades. Wizards, standard Clerics, and Monk are almost unknown. A handful of bugbears find they can become tribal drum-shamans, or bards, often with a slightly different spell list.
In any event, there's a whole mound of what I term 'cascade creation' going on. I start doing X, I have a tossaway reference to Y, then when I do Y I realize a need for Z, and so on. A lot of the offshoots of what I'm doing for the scenario can and will be posted here. In the meanwhile, though, I've been developing the culture and background for one of the many humanoid races which wander the campaign world. That they also happen to be antagonists for the first story arc is a nice bonus. Nothing in here is current-plot-specific, though, so I can post with minimal fear. (This is also an interesting example how plot and general creation drive each other. I had some short notes on bugbears, which inspired my plot -- then I found that the plot caused me to ask questions of myself, which caused me to do a lot more development on the bugbears to fill in some gaps. There's still some things left, such as family life and exotic weapons, and mebbe some racial spells, and....sigh. Here's the annoying thing. Give me a week, I could write a 32 page PDF with full details to make the race fun and interesting for any campaign, but with 4e looming and GM-focused supplements selling extra-poorly, what would be the point? Eventually, I'd like to have an ad-supported blog which earned enough money to justify serious time investment, but for now, I have to limit myself to interesting tidbits that are created during my normal 'allotted' time for creative endeavours.)
Anyone want to be a Patron Of The Arts?
Didn't think so. Sigh.
Anyhoo...Bugbears! (Tomorrow -- more on Elves.)
=============================
Bugbears
History
Bugbears have long been mortal enemies of the elves, as both claim the woodlands for their own. While the elves adapted the arts of men and dwarves into their own culture, becoming masters of crafting and construction, the bugbears clung to the simplest of tools, albeit fashioned with cunning. They built no great cities, but lived as semi-nomads, wandering during warm months and settling into small villages during the cold winter. They also raided passing travelers and outlying villages, and many individuals turned to banditry. Over decades of war with the elves, they were driven into the deepest and most remote parts of the wood, denied access to many areas which had been their traditional homes. Many tribes became semi-underground dwellers, seizing the upper levels of the underdark passages for themselves and driving out smaller, weaker, races, including their goblin kin. There, they nursed their hatred for the elves who had driven them out of the lands which were rightfully theirs.
The Crush impacted them little, directly. To some extent, all it did was dump a host of fresh raiding targets in their laps. While many of the Earthborn who dwelled in the regions the bugbears called home were armed, they were not prepared to deal with organized raiding parties. The bugbears reacted to guns, tractors, and other artifacts of man with insane hatred, and tore apart anyone using such devices against them with no hint of mercy. Small towns nestled in the deep woods were attacked, raided for fresh foods, and then burned, the inhabitants slaughtered if they could not escape. Elves fleeing the destruction of their great cities were also targeted, and the many elvish outposts which kept the bugbears in place were overrun and destroyed.
The bugbears have no great nations, but the two largest collections of tribes are found in the former Pacific Northwest and in the heart of Europe, in and around the former Black Forest. Smaller groups are known to exist in parts of the American South, New England, and the jungles of Central America. Individuals who have left their tribes for whatever reason might be found anywhere, though they are welcomed in few settlements.
Culture
Bugbears consider themselves guardians of nature and embodiments of the natural order, which is a struggle of all against all where the weak exist solely as prey for the strong. They have a deep seated, perhaps almost instinctual, hatred of metalworking, and this extends to almost any craft beyond a late paleothic level. They are, perhaps, the finest stoneknappers and woodworkers of the humanoids, but all their craft cannot make a wooden shield hold against a mithral axe or allow a sling stone to be deadlier than a crossbow bolt. They compensate for this by breeding powerful druids, and training their best warriors in the arts of stealth and ambush.
Bugbears are also violent and chaotic by nature, and no tribe can grow to more than a few hundred individuals before it fragments, usually in a single day of brutal conflict. When tribes disagree over territory or resources, there will be a contest of champions, but the losing tribe often disregards the results and attacks anyway, if it sees an advantage. Unlike the more egalitarian goblins and hobgoblins, bugbears view their females as nothing more than breeding machines and tokens of status for the alpha males of the tribe. On the other hand, females and young are protected with insane vigor, and attackers will not reach the women and children of the tribe until every male of fighting age is dead.
In times past, bugbears were taken as prisoners by the hoboblin nations, and these slaves have been bred for strength and obedience for centuries. Despised by their free ancestors, they are shock troops and workers for the hobgoblins. In the aftermath of the Crush, some have freed themselves, and, without homes among the Free Peoples or their own kind, they often join up with bandit gangs or seek work as mercenary soldiers.
Religion
Bugbears are a nature-oriented people, but, unlike the elves, their gods do not incorporate nature into their physical forms. Bugbear religion is based partially on reincarnation, on the belief that a spirit travels through life over and over -- for a time. If the spirit survives life's challenges, it grows stronger with each incarnation, until it eventually ascends to godhood. A weak spirit is torn a little for each life in which it fails, and eventually, it is too weak to remain in the materal world and is pulled into the Maelstrom Forest, a lower plane where the souls of the weak are hunted, tormented, and tortured until they are reduced to raw soul-stuff, which then reincarnates with a 'fresh start'. Souls strong enough to break free of the material but too weak to become gods become the deities servants, avatars, and messengers. Bugbears do not believe reborn souls can incarnate as anything but bugbears; all other races have alien souls, even their goblinoid kin.
Some spirits linger between incarnations, lending their power to the worthy. From these waiting souls come the shamanic powers of some bugbears.
Glugruk The Challenger
Bugbears do not have a well defined hierarchy of gods. Indeed, each tribe has at least one 'local' god who is the deified version of their greatest and most famous ancestral hero. A few deities, though, seem to exist in one form or another across bugbear culture, and one such is Glugruk The Challenger. In life, it is said, Glugruk would never refuse a challenge which the challenger was also willing to do -- swim a raging river, enter a human city and kidnap an infant, march into an orc lair and slay ten of their warriors. As long as both contestants faced the same task with the same odds, Glugruk would accept, and the legends say he never, ever, lost.
After his ascension, Glugruk began to appear to worthy-seeming bugbears to offer them tasks to undertake. For these challenges, Glugruk would incarnate himself in the same form as the one being challenged, and if the target managed a decent showing without cowardice or hesitation, Glugruk would offer a blessing. If he failed or refused...he died. Victory was not essential, but performing beyond the normal limits was.
Bugbear rangers and barbarians are the most common followers of Glugruk. He has few true clerics, as that sort of religious training is not a major part of bugbear culture.
Blugrul The Wisdom-Giver
While might and skill are admired among bugbears, there is also respect for those capable of cunning, insight, and awareness -- provided such things lead to victory! Blugrul is the second of the 'shared gods' known to most bugbear clans. He was, in life, reputed to be a great seeker of secrets, tearing them from those who guarded them. He believed that nothing should be unknown or hidden to those with the courage and daring to learn the great truths.
When he ascended, he became a revealer of knowledge to bugbear shamans -- but he never gave answers, only a path to where the answers could be found. Winning the answer -- and understanding it -- was up to he to whom the answer was given.
Obviously, spirit shamans are the main followers of Blugrul, but rogues and scouts -- all those who seek that which is hidden -- hope to emulate his success and ascend into his service.
Classes
The typical bugbear is a first level Warrior, but elite bugbears are likely to be Rangers, Rogues, or Druids. As with all races, there are bugbear Sorcerers, and many bugbears become Barbarians. Few bugbears are true fighters, as they lack the dedication to the fighting arts which that class requires, as well as lacking the metal armor and weapons the class tends to rely on. A rare few are psychic warriors or psiblades. Wizards, standard Clerics, and Monk are almost unknown. A handful of bugbears find they can become tribal drum-shamans, or bards, often with a slightly different spell list.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Gods, Demigods, and Heroes
Huh. Didn't realize it's been so long since I posted.
Currently, we (by which I mean, 'me') are in the panicked drill-down phase, where I need to run a game in, oh, five days, so I need to assemble enough world to support the first game session. This means making sure every PC class and race has a place and role in the world. This means, especially, religion. And since religions are regional, I had to first come up with something for the general region of the first few games. That meant deciding, in broad strokes, what the Arithian area was like, then creating some gods which fit that culture. Oh, and since I don't know if the PC plans on being an Earthborn human or not, I needed to sketch out a few of the faiths which have evolved among the post-Crush Americans, and give them game stats.
Religion in D&D is a fairly mechanistic thing -- it tends to be mostly about what domains you get and any annoying restrictions on play you might have to endure in exchange for being a mobile first aid kit. Of course, I want it to be more than that, but first things first -- you can have a D&D faith with game stats but no substance, but not one with substance and no game stats.
I view the gods of a D&D world as the bored CEOs of truly huge corporations, and the clerics as relatively low-ranking employees. Spells are their paychecks. The CEO doesn't know the names of one one-thousandth of his employees, and certainly doesn't monitor their daily activities too much. So long as a cleric doesn't too drastically violate the workplace policies, he gets his spells every day, just like an office worker who barely does his job still collects his pay. Every so often, though, there's a surprise inspection. Further, the higher ranked an employee is, the better the odds that a senior VP of marketing (i.e, an archon or celestial or something) is keeping close tabs on him.
What this means is that, in actual play, it doesn't matter if the cleric of god 'a' uses a quick Cure Serious Wounds on a follower of god 'b'. That's like taking an extra-long coffee break. The CEO might object if he knew about it, but he doesn't, and no one is going to waste his time bringing it to his attention. Of course, using beneficial spells on out-and-out enemies of your god is a lot more like corporate espionage -- you might not get caught instantly, but, when you are, you will be summarily fired, and possibly turned into a leprous weasel.
(Paladins are on permanent probation. They're always being watched, and their manager is a be0tch who will write them up for every tiny violation...)
This post contains a lot of small essays I've been hacking together, and should not in any way be considered the exhaustive, or even semi-useful, list of religions and deities. I still need to define some more evil gods, add at least two more Earthborn faiths, and so on. But, hey, it's a beginning.
Earthborn Faiths
Following the Crush, the religions of Earth underwent many changes. The following discusses the perceptions and game mechanics, but offers no opinion on the validity of belief, either in terms of the fictional world or the real one. The observed facts are presented; theologians on the Shattered World draw their own conclusions as to what they mean.
United Church of Christ (Earthborn)
Following the Crush, the countless denominations of Christianity in America found themselves bereft of numbers and facing a profound theological crisis -- first, alien gods, and their followers, had appeared everywhere (and were wielding palpable power), and, second, the truly holy and devout suddenly found themselves able to do the same, seemingly without regard to the many distinctions and doctrinal disputes which had consumed the branches of the faith for so long.
Communication post-Crush was a nightmarish mix of still-surviving technologies and hand-delivered messages. Surviving leaders of major deominations spent several years exchanging letters, often with weeks or months between responses, slowly building a rickety ecumenical framework which they felt could keep Christianity from shattering into a thousand irrelevant and shrinking cults, and offer a basis for evangelism and outreach to the newcomers whose souls were at risk from their polytheistic faiths. The United Church of Christ built from the teachings of many faiths, and tried to adapt them to their new reality. A key doctrine of the United Church is that there is still only one true path to salvation, and that other gods are either Yahweh revealing himself in alien ways, or deceptions of Satan -- there is still tremendous debate over this, and the newly-formed Church is clearly heading for a major schism sometime in the future.
Followers of the United Church of Christ gain access to the following domains: Law, Healing, Protection, and Good. Clergy must be of any Good or Lawful Neutral alignment. Vows of Poverty are common but not required; neither are vows of chastity, though marriage is still a sacrament.
Unitarians (Earthborn)
Once a relatively small sect filled with tofu-eating granola heads, the Unitarians have found their belief system proven empirically -- or so they claim -- with the plethora of different gods who all seem real, at least in terms of the ability of their devout followers to cast spells in their name. The Unitarian basic philosophy of peace, love, and all that other tree hugging hippie crap remains unchanged, and the stresses of life post-Crush have actually strengthened the faith -- it now takes real guts and dedication to preach non-violence, forgiveness, and especially tolerance. The Unitarians are evangelical in a low-key way, and work to incorporate all they can learn of Arthian deities into their faith -- at least, those Arithian deities not dedicated to slaughter and mayhem. Of all Earthborn faiths, the Unitarians are most likely to accept humanoids, especially half-orcs and half-ogres, into their ranks, provided they manage to abide by the tenets of the faith. Many Arithians consider them to be insane or deluded, but elves, half-elves, and, halflings, find aspects of the faith appealing, especially since it doesn't require the abandonment of their own gods, holidays, and traditions. Unitarian 'churches' are a mix of church, school, and town hall, and they run charities and provide shelter for those in need. Their relationship with the United Church Of Christ varies from cordial companionship to borderline religious war, depending on the nature of the community and just where the local branch of the UCC fits on the scale from Hairy Thunderer to Cosmic Creampuff.
Unitarian clerics have access to the domains of Liberation, Healing, Protection, and Community.
The Verithanian Gods (Arithian)
The Verithanian gods were worshiped in Mantaros, Denethon, and Calval. They are mostly human-seeming beings, each with many traits and foibles. The Verithanian deities are very active, and their structures and relationships change over time. Myths tell of the rise and fall of various gods, and of the impact these internecine struggles have on the world. The Verithanian pantheon is the largest of the three major faiths of the Alliance Of Free Kingdoms, and contains many minor deities without large active priesthoods. Such lesser gods are remembered alongside the more powerful entities, or are called on by those whose immediate needs fall within their specialty.
As might befit the complex politics and changing alliances which defined the eastern nations of the Alliance, the gods are seen as the nobles of the High Kingdoms. Each god has his own province in those kingdoms, and all swear putative loyalty to Marridan, High King Of The High Kingdoms. The events of the Crush have led some to speculate that there has been a coup in the heavens, that after aeons of plotting, Borrabos has finally overthrown Marridan, and the world itself has trembled in response. Certainly, Borrabosian cultists have spread this tale among the ruined cities of the Shattered World.
Gods are defined as follows:
King or Queen -- Greater God
Duke or Duchess -- Intermediate God
Baron or Baroness -- Lesser God
Earl -- Demigod
Knight or Dame -- Quasi-Deity
A few of the Verithanian gods...
Marridan
Divine Rank: 20
Symbol: A gold crown crossed by two red swords
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Law, Verithania, Rulership, Power, Justice, Command, Patriarchy
Worshippers: Nobles, the powerful, generals, judges
Cleric Alignment: Any lawful
Domains: Law, Leadership, Nobility, Pride, Glory, Strength
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Description
Marridan appears as the essence of rulership -- a massive, red-haired, full bearded, and strongly muscled man, always garbed in fine raimant, either that of the highest nobility or ornate plate armor of the grandest make. He usually manifests as 30 feet in height. His weapon, Law's Might, appears in his hand as needed. His aura of command is such that anyone who sees him treats his every word as a suggestion with a Save DC of 50. Unlike many such gods, he never seeks to diminish or disguise himself. He would no more walk among his followers as a common man than he would gouge out his own eye.
Dogma
Command, duty, discipline. Marridan rules a fractious and quarrelsome kingdom of gods, all seeking power, and he maintains absolute fairness and order. In the mortal world, laws are to be obeyed, hierarchy is to be respected, and all things must happen in their due course. The greatest possible sin is treason and treachery. Remember your duties to those below you as well as those above. To fail to do right by your bondsmen is as wrong as failing to obey your liege.
Clergy And Temples
Clergy of Marridan usually serve as advisors to the nobility, and as judges and lawgivers in many communities. The most powerful clergy are often given noble rank, and this is not considered a conflict of interest. After the Crush, some of the lowest ranking of Marridan's clerics have become wandering justices, making a circuit of the holdfasts and offering to resolve conflicts or settle disputes. Some of the academically minded have begun to make a study of the laws of Earth, which they find, in general, to be ill defined and alien. A few Earthborn lawmakers, police, judges, and politicians have taken oaths of service to Marridan, as well.
Hallenia
Divine Rank:20
Symbol:A tree, surmounted by the sun
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Nature, life, healing, rebirth, creation, weather
Worshippers: Druids, rangers, healers, midwives
Cleric Alignment: Any non-evil
Domains: Plant, Healing, Animal, Weather
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Description
Hallenia, Queen of Nature, traditionally appears as a women clad in ever-growing plants, and wearing a grown of golden -- but still living -- leaves. She always appears with a dire animal of some sort, the exact type depending on her mood and her mission -- a wolf for when she is angry or seeks to tell her followers to fight, an owl for when she wishes to dispense wisdom, and so forth. Whenever she appears on the material world, life blossoms; areas where she has walked are incredibly fertile for years afterwards.
Dogma
Hallenia is the goddess of life, healing, nature, and rebirth, and she encourages her followers to create, nurture, and care for things -- nature, their homes, their families. She is seen as the wise protector of nature from excesses which would lead to the destruction of all; she sets limits and boundaries on relentless expansion, and blesses those who respect her. As befits a deity of the often-wartorn nations of the East, she does not preach pacifism or indiscriminate use of the gifts of healing; a dead orc is a boon to the natural order. Cruelty is forbidden, though, and compassion to any who might be worthy of it is a boon.
Clergy And Temples
Hallenia's clergy are usually found in farming villages and small towns, though there are temples in the large cities, too. Her temples are usually found in areas of wilderness otherwise surrounded by fields and orchids, a sign of tribute to nature itself, a sacrifice of some land to the wilderness. Many of her lay clergy are midwives, nurses, or other caregivers. Those who stand between the world of nature and the cities of man often worship her -- druids and rangers, in particular.
Gabriella, Duchess of War
Divine Rank: Intermediate God
Symbol: A sword and axe crossed, over a round shield.
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: War, battle, defense, victory
Worshippers: Soldiers, generals, guardsmen, paladins
Cleric Alignment: Any, but usually lawful
Domains: Law, War, Protection, Glory
Favored Weapon: Any
Description
Gabriella is the Verithanian Duchess of War, and she appears as a heavily armed and armored woman possessed of a fierce beauty. When she appears, it is always wearing the armor and wielding the weapons of the army to whom she shows herself, or the leader she has appeared to council.
Dogma
Gabriella is the Duchess of war, not violence or mayhem. She preaches directed and purposeful action, of battle for a cause, of sacrifice for glory. She disdains those who disobey orders or who engage in brutality for its own sake. She respects courage, but not foolhardiness. She is also considered an "Officer's Goddess", though most of the rank-and-file pay her homage as well.
Clergy And Temples
Most fortresses, barracks, and military schools maintain shrines or even full scale temples of Gabriella, and her clerics accompany troops into battle, healing or smiting as needed. Those too old or wounded to fight become teachers and advisors.
Post-Crush, many fighting men of Earth, especially national guardsmen, police, and remnants of the military, have begun to embrace her doctrines, though this is not widespread. A few surviving military units openly follow her, but on Holdfasts centered on old Guard bases or the like, there is more likely to be a carefully hidden shrine and some copies of Arithian holy writings, laboriously translated.
Currently, we (by which I mean, 'me') are in the panicked drill-down phase, where I need to run a game in, oh, five days, so I need to assemble enough world to support the first game session. This means making sure every PC class and race has a place and role in the world. This means, especially, religion. And since religions are regional, I had to first come up with something for the general region of the first few games. That meant deciding, in broad strokes, what the Arithian area was like, then creating some gods which fit that culture. Oh, and since I don't know if the PC plans on being an Earthborn human or not, I needed to sketch out a few of the faiths which have evolved among the post-Crush Americans, and give them game stats.
Religion in D&D is a fairly mechanistic thing -- it tends to be mostly about what domains you get and any annoying restrictions on play you might have to endure in exchange for being a mobile first aid kit. Of course, I want it to be more than that, but first things first -- you can have a D&D faith with game stats but no substance, but not one with substance and no game stats.
I view the gods of a D&D world as the bored CEOs of truly huge corporations, and the clerics as relatively low-ranking employees. Spells are their paychecks. The CEO doesn't know the names of one one-thousandth of his employees, and certainly doesn't monitor their daily activities too much. So long as a cleric doesn't too drastically violate the workplace policies, he gets his spells every day, just like an office worker who barely does his job still collects his pay. Every so often, though, there's a surprise inspection. Further, the higher ranked an employee is, the better the odds that a senior VP of marketing (i.e, an archon or celestial or something) is keeping close tabs on him.
What this means is that, in actual play, it doesn't matter if the cleric of god 'a' uses a quick Cure Serious Wounds on a follower of god 'b'. That's like taking an extra-long coffee break. The CEO might object if he knew about it, but he doesn't, and no one is going to waste his time bringing it to his attention. Of course, using beneficial spells on out-and-out enemies of your god is a lot more like corporate espionage -- you might not get caught instantly, but, when you are, you will be summarily fired, and possibly turned into a leprous weasel.
(Paladins are on permanent probation. They're always being watched, and their manager is a be0tch who will write them up for every tiny violation...)
This post contains a lot of small essays I've been hacking together, and should not in any way be considered the exhaustive, or even semi-useful, list of religions and deities. I still need to define some more evil gods, add at least two more Earthborn faiths, and so on. But, hey, it's a beginning.
Earthborn Faiths
Following the Crush, the religions of Earth underwent many changes. The following discusses the perceptions and game mechanics, but offers no opinion on the validity of belief, either in terms of the fictional world or the real one. The observed facts are presented; theologians on the Shattered World draw their own conclusions as to what they mean.
United Church of Christ (Earthborn)
Following the Crush, the countless denominations of Christianity in America found themselves bereft of numbers and facing a profound theological crisis -- first, alien gods, and their followers, had appeared everywhere (and were wielding palpable power), and, second, the truly holy and devout suddenly found themselves able to do the same, seemingly without regard to the many distinctions and doctrinal disputes which had consumed the branches of the faith for so long.
Communication post-Crush was a nightmarish mix of still-surviving technologies and hand-delivered messages. Surviving leaders of major deominations spent several years exchanging letters, often with weeks or months between responses, slowly building a rickety ecumenical framework which they felt could keep Christianity from shattering into a thousand irrelevant and shrinking cults, and offer a basis for evangelism and outreach to the newcomers whose souls were at risk from their polytheistic faiths. The United Church of Christ built from the teachings of many faiths, and tried to adapt them to their new reality. A key doctrine of the United Church is that there is still only one true path to salvation, and that other gods are either Yahweh revealing himself in alien ways, or deceptions of Satan -- there is still tremendous debate over this, and the newly-formed Church is clearly heading for a major schism sometime in the future.
Followers of the United Church of Christ gain access to the following domains: Law, Healing, Protection, and Good. Clergy must be of any Good or Lawful Neutral alignment. Vows of Poverty are common but not required; neither are vows of chastity, though marriage is still a sacrament.
Unitarians (Earthborn)
Once a relatively small sect filled with tofu-eating granola heads, the Unitarians have found their belief system proven empirically -- or so they claim -- with the plethora of different gods who all seem real, at least in terms of the ability of their devout followers to cast spells in their name. The Unitarian basic philosophy of peace, love, and all that other tree hugging hippie crap remains unchanged, and the stresses of life post-Crush have actually strengthened the faith -- it now takes real guts and dedication to preach non-violence, forgiveness, and especially tolerance. The Unitarians are evangelical in a low-key way, and work to incorporate all they can learn of Arthian deities into their faith -- at least, those Arithian deities not dedicated to slaughter and mayhem. Of all Earthborn faiths, the Unitarians are most likely to accept humanoids, especially half-orcs and half-ogres, into their ranks, provided they manage to abide by the tenets of the faith. Many Arithians consider them to be insane or deluded, but elves, half-elves, and, halflings, find aspects of the faith appealing, especially since it doesn't require the abandonment of their own gods, holidays, and traditions. Unitarian 'churches' are a mix of church, school, and town hall, and they run charities and provide shelter for those in need. Their relationship with the United Church Of Christ varies from cordial companionship to borderline religious war, depending on the nature of the community and just where the local branch of the UCC fits on the scale from Hairy Thunderer to Cosmic Creampuff.
Unitarian clerics have access to the domains of Liberation, Healing, Protection, and Community.
The Verithanian Gods (Arithian)
The Verithanian gods were worshiped in Mantaros, Denethon, and Calval. They are mostly human-seeming beings, each with many traits and foibles. The Verithanian deities are very active, and their structures and relationships change over time. Myths tell of the rise and fall of various gods, and of the impact these internecine struggles have on the world. The Verithanian pantheon is the largest of the three major faiths of the Alliance Of Free Kingdoms, and contains many minor deities without large active priesthoods. Such lesser gods are remembered alongside the more powerful entities, or are called on by those whose immediate needs fall within their specialty.
As might befit the complex politics and changing alliances which defined the eastern nations of the Alliance, the gods are seen as the nobles of the High Kingdoms. Each god has his own province in those kingdoms, and all swear putative loyalty to Marridan, High King Of The High Kingdoms. The events of the Crush have led some to speculate that there has been a coup in the heavens, that after aeons of plotting, Borrabos has finally overthrown Marridan, and the world itself has trembled in response. Certainly, Borrabosian cultists have spread this tale among the ruined cities of the Shattered World.
Gods are defined as follows:
King or Queen -- Greater God
Duke or Duchess -- Intermediate God
Baron or Baroness -- Lesser God
Earl -- Demigod
Knight or Dame -- Quasi-Deity
A few of the Verithanian gods...
Marridan
Divine Rank: 20
Symbol: A gold crown crossed by two red swords
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Law, Verithania, Rulership, Power, Justice, Command, Patriarchy
Worshippers: Nobles, the powerful, generals, judges
Cleric Alignment: Any lawful
Domains: Law, Leadership, Nobility, Pride, Glory, Strength
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Description
Marridan appears as the essence of rulership -- a massive, red-haired, full bearded, and strongly muscled man, always garbed in fine raimant, either that of the highest nobility or ornate plate armor of the grandest make. He usually manifests as 30 feet in height. His weapon, Law's Might, appears in his hand as needed. His aura of command is such that anyone who sees him treats his every word as a suggestion with a Save DC of 50. Unlike many such gods, he never seeks to diminish or disguise himself. He would no more walk among his followers as a common man than he would gouge out his own eye.
Dogma
Command, duty, discipline. Marridan rules a fractious and quarrelsome kingdom of gods, all seeking power, and he maintains absolute fairness and order. In the mortal world, laws are to be obeyed, hierarchy is to be respected, and all things must happen in their due course. The greatest possible sin is treason and treachery. Remember your duties to those below you as well as those above. To fail to do right by your bondsmen is as wrong as failing to obey your liege.
Clergy And Temples
Clergy of Marridan usually serve as advisors to the nobility, and as judges and lawgivers in many communities. The most powerful clergy are often given noble rank, and this is not considered a conflict of interest. After the Crush, some of the lowest ranking of Marridan's clerics have become wandering justices, making a circuit of the holdfasts and offering to resolve conflicts or settle disputes. Some of the academically minded have begun to make a study of the laws of Earth, which they find, in general, to be ill defined and alien. A few Earthborn lawmakers, police, judges, and politicians have taken oaths of service to Marridan, as well.
Hallenia
Divine Rank:20
Symbol:A tree, surmounted by the sun
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Nature, life, healing, rebirth, creation, weather
Worshippers: Druids, rangers, healers, midwives
Cleric Alignment: Any non-evil
Domains: Plant, Healing, Animal, Weather
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Description
Hallenia, Queen of Nature, traditionally appears as a women clad in ever-growing plants, and wearing a grown of golden -- but still living -- leaves. She always appears with a dire animal of some sort, the exact type depending on her mood and her mission -- a wolf for when she is angry or seeks to tell her followers to fight, an owl for when she wishes to dispense wisdom, and so forth. Whenever she appears on the material world, life blossoms; areas where she has walked are incredibly fertile for years afterwards.
Dogma
Hallenia is the goddess of life, healing, nature, and rebirth, and she encourages her followers to create, nurture, and care for things -- nature, their homes, their families. She is seen as the wise protector of nature from excesses which would lead to the destruction of all; she sets limits and boundaries on relentless expansion, and blesses those who respect her. As befits a deity of the often-wartorn nations of the East, she does not preach pacifism or indiscriminate use of the gifts of healing; a dead orc is a boon to the natural order. Cruelty is forbidden, though, and compassion to any who might be worthy of it is a boon.
Clergy And Temples
Hallenia's clergy are usually found in farming villages and small towns, though there are temples in the large cities, too. Her temples are usually found in areas of wilderness otherwise surrounded by fields and orchids, a sign of tribute to nature itself, a sacrifice of some land to the wilderness. Many of her lay clergy are midwives, nurses, or other caregivers. Those who stand between the world of nature and the cities of man often worship her -- druids and rangers, in particular.
Gabriella, Duchess of War
Divine Rank: Intermediate God
Symbol: A sword and axe crossed, over a round shield.
Home Plane: The Fortress
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: War, battle, defense, victory
Worshippers: Soldiers, generals, guardsmen, paladins
Cleric Alignment: Any, but usually lawful
Domains: Law, War, Protection, Glory
Favored Weapon: Any
Description
Gabriella is the Verithanian Duchess of War, and she appears as a heavily armed and armored woman possessed of a fierce beauty. When she appears, it is always wearing the armor and wielding the weapons of the army to whom she shows herself, or the leader she has appeared to council.
Dogma
Gabriella is the Duchess of war, not violence or mayhem. She preaches directed and purposeful action, of battle for a cause, of sacrifice for glory. She disdains those who disobey orders or who engage in brutality for its own sake. She respects courage, but not foolhardiness. She is also considered an "Officer's Goddess", though most of the rank-and-file pay her homage as well.
Clergy And Temples
Most fortresses, barracks, and military schools maintain shrines or even full scale temples of Gabriella, and her clerics accompany troops into battle, healing or smiting as needed. Those too old or wounded to fight become teachers and advisors.
Post-Crush, many fighting men of Earth, especially national guardsmen, police, and remnants of the military, have begun to embrace her doctrines, though this is not widespread. A few surviving military units openly follow her, but on Holdfasts centered on old Guard bases or the like, there is more likely to be a carefully hidden shrine and some copies of Arithian holy writings, laboriously translated.
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