Needed a tablet stand so I made one from a wire coat hanger.
Monday, 31 January 2022
Mystaran Campaign: The Soondyr
THE REPUBLIC OF SOONDYR
Technology: Moderately Technological, combined with Magic
Life-Style: Early Modern Agrarian Socialist Democracy
Population: 73, 000
Description
Confined to a number of small valleys linked by paved-brick Roads, tunnels, and bridges, and the Great Fissure where a majority of the Population live between the sheer walls of the great Mountains. Originally many of these valleys were huge lakes that simply filled with rain water and flowed over falls one into the next down into the Fissure and fed the bogs that dominated that corridor all the way out into the Jungle to the East. Now the valleys are drained, the reclaimed lands are farmed; even some of the Lakes are retained for fishing and Boating.
The Great Fissure runs from the Eastern edge of these Mountains and extends just over two hundred mile to the west though in some places it is as wide as fifty miles and in others (like the narrow gap dominated by Ilsundyl’s Gate) a few thousand feet. The Fissure has a constant wind that blows down the length of it at over a hundred miles an hour.
Idyllic farming villages are scattered throughout the Republic, but there is only one City-The Capital of Ilsundyl’s Gate. A few miles west of the techno-magical power station known as Ilsundyl’s Gate is the Great brick plaza trade-market where foreigners come to trade with the elves beyond these sprawling markets is the Parliament – a great dome with seating for a hundred thousand members.
THE SOONDYR ELVES
Oddly enough the Dyr are tall. Averaging between 5’9” and 6’4” and tanned from their many years of outdoors living. Most could drink a Dwarf under a table (if the ever meet one) and enjoy a beer after a hard day’s work. Every Village has a Pub frequented by adults. Children are often told to bugger off and do their chores.
Hard working folk with some descent Magic talent, they like their lives and have embraced Agrarianism blended with some Blackmoor technology and magic quite happily. They know there is a bigger world out there but after so long, their only contact being primitive peoples; they don’t really think much of the old world of Blackmoor has survived the many thousand years of upheaval. It concerns many of them. The Soondyr have concluded that they are it. And they are doing their hardest to educate the generations that follow and retain every scrap of knowledge.
Also attempting to revitalize interest in technology amongst the Barbaric world beyond their lands, they trade some of their technology and knowledge with the still nomadic Hin exporting their only real weapon – a compressed air rifle (referred to as the SOONDYR CARBYNE) that fires small metal pellets easily manufactured by the Hin.
They also like to sell other items of a basic technological nature that they figure will one day inspire some primitive peoples to achieve some level of technological greatness that will allow them to rise to at least the knowledge of the Soondyr. This might be something as simple as a bag of Bolts and nuts with a Spanner.
CUSTOMS
They enjoy a bit of a punch up, and Villages hold an annual fair where they hold Fights, Competitions for growing the biggest and tastiest Vegetables, or foot Races. Some Villages that sit on lakes hold Boat Racing Competitions.
Villages are linked by a network of Brick Roads and Bridges, though the only means of travel other than foot is the Auto-bus Network – A Techno-magical Transport carrying up to twenty passengers or Farm produce/Cargo between Villages and the Capital.
The Autobus network, like the Streetlamps and house lighting of the Capital and Villages, are all powered by the Ilsundyl’s Gate Power station.
The Power station generates a field of a two hundred mile radius which allows magical tech to function within that radius. It would also allow them to expand out into Hin territories if they so desired.
The Capital is dominated by a Parliament where every adult Soondyr Elf has a Seat and is expected to spend one day a month in Parliamentary Service. Even then there are whole weeks when the Parliament is empty – especially during planting, festival, and harvest times.
Because their Knowledge is so precious to them, Public Schooling is of great importance to the Elves. There is also a significant library and archive of technology and techno-magic stored in the Parliament.
Magical Engineering and Engineering are both compulsory Skills for Soondyr Elves. Boat Building is popular in the Lakes District although small four person paddle boats seem as popular as light sailing and rowboats.
History
2795: The Dyr Clan, concluding that Ilsundyl the Zealot (and the Dyl Clans that follow him/her) desires that elves abandon all knowledge and go live in the wild feeding on game, and nuts and berries. The Dyr led by Soondyr the Wise depart this insane Exodus Taking what remnants of Blacklore Science they have with them.
The Dyr eventually establish in the Mountains, hidden in a Great Fissure away from the nomadic Hin and the Giants.
Ilsundyl's Gate: From a Distance it looks like a City, but it is only under inspection that you realize it is a huge power station combining Technology with Magic on which the Elemental Boiler found in Inventions is based. Made using Steelform and Stoneform magic, It is guarded by 1000 feet high, 500 feet thick, steel walls which block access to the Great Fissure where the elves of Soondyr live.
Technology: Moderately Technological, combined with Magic
Life-Style: Early Modern Agrarian Socialist Democracy
Population: 73, 000
Description
Confined to a number of small valleys linked by paved-brick Roads, tunnels, and bridges, and the Great Fissure where a majority of the Population live between the sheer walls of the great Mountains. Originally many of these valleys were huge lakes that simply filled with rain water and flowed over falls one into the next down into the Fissure and fed the bogs that dominated that corridor all the way out into the Jungle to the East. Now the valleys are drained, the reclaimed lands are farmed; even some of the Lakes are retained for fishing and Boating.
The Great Fissure runs from the Eastern edge of these Mountains and extends just over two hundred mile to the west though in some places it is as wide as fifty miles and in others (like the narrow gap dominated by Ilsundyl’s Gate) a few thousand feet. The Fissure has a constant wind that blows down the length of it at over a hundred miles an hour.
Idyllic farming villages are scattered throughout the Republic, but there is only one City-The Capital of Ilsundyl’s Gate. A few miles west of the techno-magical power station known as Ilsundyl’s Gate is the Great brick plaza trade-market where foreigners come to trade with the elves beyond these sprawling markets is the Parliament – a great dome with seating for a hundred thousand members.
THE SOONDYR ELVES
Oddly enough the Dyr are tall. Averaging between 5’9” and 6’4” and tanned from their many years of outdoors living. Most could drink a Dwarf under a table (if the ever meet one) and enjoy a beer after a hard day’s work. Every Village has a Pub frequented by adults. Children are often told to bugger off and do their chores.
Hard working folk with some descent Magic talent, they like their lives and have embraced Agrarianism blended with some Blackmoor technology and magic quite happily. They know there is a bigger world out there but after so long, their only contact being primitive peoples; they don’t really think much of the old world of Blackmoor has survived the many thousand years of upheaval. It concerns many of them. The Soondyr have concluded that they are it. And they are doing their hardest to educate the generations that follow and retain every scrap of knowledge.
Also attempting to revitalize interest in technology amongst the Barbaric world beyond their lands, they trade some of their technology and knowledge with the still nomadic Hin exporting their only real weapon – a compressed air rifle (referred to as the SOONDYR CARBYNE) that fires small metal pellets easily manufactured by the Hin.
They also like to sell other items of a basic technological nature that they figure will one day inspire some primitive peoples to achieve some level of technological greatness that will allow them to rise to at least the knowledge of the Soondyr. This might be something as simple as a bag of Bolts and nuts with a Spanner.
CUSTOMS
They enjoy a bit of a punch up, and Villages hold an annual fair where they hold Fights, Competitions for growing the biggest and tastiest Vegetables, or foot Races. Some Villages that sit on lakes hold Boat Racing Competitions.
Villages are linked by a network of Brick Roads and Bridges, though the only means of travel other than foot is the Auto-bus Network – A Techno-magical Transport carrying up to twenty passengers or Farm produce/Cargo between Villages and the Capital.
The Autobus network, like the Streetlamps and house lighting of the Capital and Villages, are all powered by the Ilsundyl’s Gate Power station.
The Power station generates a field of a two hundred mile radius which allows magical tech to function within that radius. It would also allow them to expand out into Hin territories if they so desired.
The Capital is dominated by a Parliament where every adult Soondyr Elf has a Seat and is expected to spend one day a month in Parliamentary Service. Even then there are whole weeks when the Parliament is empty – especially during planting, festival, and harvest times.
Because their Knowledge is so precious to them, Public Schooling is of great importance to the Elves. There is also a significant library and archive of technology and techno-magic stored in the Parliament.
Magical Engineering and Engineering are both compulsory Skills for Soondyr Elves. Boat Building is popular in the Lakes District although small four person paddle boats seem as popular as light sailing and rowboats.
History
2795: The Dyr Clan, concluding that Ilsundyl the Zealot (and the Dyl Clans that follow him/her) desires that elves abandon all knowledge and go live in the wild feeding on game, and nuts and berries. The Dyr led by Soondyr the Wise depart this insane Exodus Taking what remnants of Blacklore Science they have with them.
The Dyr eventually establish in the Mountains, hidden in a Great Fissure away from the nomadic Hin and the Giants.
Ilsundyl's Gate: From a Distance it looks like a City, but it is only under inspection that you realize it is a huge power station combining Technology with Magic on which the Elemental Boiler found in Inventions is based. Made using Steelform and Stoneform magic, It is guarded by 1000 feet high, 500 feet thick, steel walls which block access to the Great Fissure where the elves of Soondyr live.
The only access is at the base of the Wall - Taking Travellers below the Great Reactor where a Gate from the Plain of Fire superheats Air forced into the 2000 feet diameter chamber from the three thousand feet high Airscoops which are topped by Rotating Wind Catchers.
Mystaran Campaign: The Vulcanian Heresy
SOUTHERN VULCANIA
Technology: Technological and magical, including robotics, prosthetics, flight devices, materials fabrications, and other Blacklore.
Lifestyle: Regimented, Military
Population: 637 Elves
DESCRIPTION
The Icewall
This sheer mountain range is the southern edge of Southern Vulcania located nearly five hundred miles south of sunlight. These Mountains are choked in ice that gets thicker with every year of polar darkness.
Ice Station Zero
Somewhere in the face of the Ice wall is Ice Station Zero – a subterranean bunker stocked with the last of the Blacklore secrets of the Southern Elves under the control of the Egg of Coot. It is from here that he and his elf Wizards have crafted all manner of Horror that might be encountered in the Darklands by those looking to plunder abandoned Blacklore. Unfortunately Magic no longer functions here on the Base in any form. The Polar drift that occurred as a result of the destruction of Blackmoor has bought with it an anti-magical zone that has slowly moved north over the Icewall and across the frozen wastes toward the edge of the Arctic Circle. As a consequence, Collectors and Pack Hunters no longer return to base, rather they skirt the lonely wastes to the north and prey on strays wandering the Ice Tundra of the Vulcanian Peninsula.
The Wastelands
The Ice and snow extends from the Icewall two thousand miles north to the Mountains that define the Diamond Ring although it will slowly retreat south to the edge of the Darklands over the coming millennia and plant life will once again reclaim the landscape, it will take a long time.
Ruins
Scattered through the darklands of Southern Vulcania are cities of glass and steel. The greatest achievement of the elves now abandoned to the Ice and snow for centuries.
ELVES OF ICE STATION ZERO
Tall, Dark Haired, (and thanks to genetic experiments with some Alien – Federation – DNA) green skinned. These elves have a mix of clan Origins. -dyr, -dyl, -dnl meaning many have traditional names ending in these suffix.
They all seem to average seven feet tall and appear fragile but are all muscle.
The southern elves residing in Ice Station Zero are broken into two Castes: The Engineering Cast made up of the few Elves who were capable of following the Wizard Path, and the Warrior Caste for those elves of a more physical lifestyle, and out of necessity in that magic has long since failed in the region of Ice Station Zero. For reasons of State security it is preferred that an Elf choose the Engineering Caste as preservation of the technological Skills vital to the continued viability of the Colony. Still, to ensure that skills are passed on, even elves of the Warrior Caste are cycled through Engineering as Technicians – The old Wizards getting very old – perhaps they are the last of their kind. No one is above knowing how to maintain and operate systems. Ignorance is the enemy.
Personal Automatons were identified as the major source of cultural laziness and decline so they were replaced with living Technicians. Much of the Blacklore was quickly replaced by Mechanical Technological Systems.
CUSTOMS
This is no single clan – rather they are military elite involved in continuous military training and protocols. The Concept of Clan Leaders and hierarchies are supplanted by the military traditions that include the influence of Blackmoor.
They are pretty much hostile toward visitors and anyone making it as far as Ice Station Zero can look forward to interrogation in the machine.
Food production is by hydroponics and the Gardens are extensive. There is some mining of vital elements but considerable recycling to make use of everything.
The oldest elves of the wizard caste were encouraged to enchant a collector and merge with the machine. The remaining elves don’t wear jewellery – only their military insignia marks their uniforms. Every elf now wears a standard non-magical firearm – the Repeating Spring Dart Pistol.
Repeating Spring Dart Pistol (Damage: 1d4-1; Range: 5/10/15); Reloadable seven dart magazine.
HISTORY
Secrets of the Old Ones
In the moments before the beginning of it all the Star-brothers (Laki-Laki) had created the Universe and the world of Mystara at the centre of it through an inversion of the inner surface of the Crystal Sphere of this Universe effectively closing the door to this new verse behind them. The price would be high – they had isolated this Universe from the Phlogiston so there would be no travel between the crystal spheres, and the Coming end-death of the Phlogiston in the infinite inferno would never reach this place.
The Unknowable Happens
The Mystaran Universe moved on from that moment of insanity, elements spilled onto the Surfaces of that inverted crystal sphere, but one Brother ceased to exist forever - Thanks to the sudden presence of entropy, Life happened and the Universe was shaped and reshaped by it; But that other Universe shrank becoming an increasingly small sphere of possibility, ever reducing.
Seventy-five Million Years Ago
In the remaining and now infinitely increasing Universe at about this time a rock fell from the sky cracking the world shield and creating fissures that would ultimately lead to the discovery of a Hollow World by the recently Immortal known as Ka the Preserver. But there are secrets, even beyond the comprehension of an overly intelligent dinosaur turned Immortal.
That which shattered this great hollow prison was in fact the remains of one of the Star-bothers, for the other had ceased to exist forming the hollow-side Universe – which in that moment of Universal Collapse became a mere inter-dimensional cavity – and then nothing more than a very big cave.
Secrets of the Immortals
After considerable study, in a conspiracy with other Immortals against Entropy, Ka the Preserver creates the Hollow World; a sunlit realm where species and civilizations facing extinction might be relocated and preserved.
Civilization after Civilization
The Carnifex seem to be one of the earliest non human civilizations to rise on the World of Mystara. These reptilian creatures vanish into the dark, the light of their predatory culture gone from the world (though not forgotten). Some are relocated by Ka - hidden in the Hollow Moon that they might survive without being at odds with other newer races and cultures.
Primitive and Degenerate human cultures like the Garl, the Brute-men, and the Neanderthals are relocated to the Hollow World that they might be preserved – though a Corrupting influence of Entropy finally breaks through in the form of the Burrowers which exert a corrupting influence on the Brute-men cultures that are sheltering in the Hollow World.
The Spell of Preservation
Somewhere around 6,000BC Ka and his Immortal companions act to exterminate the contaminated Hollow World cultures, and put in place a Spell that will prevent Entropy from interfering in the Hollow World ever again - a spell that by its very definition paralyses the Entropic Burrowers. It curtails their corrupting influence and stalls the advances of Entropy.
Recorded History begins
The Neanderthals give way to modern Mystaran man and he establishes an assortment of primitive cultures across the world. In time these peoples rise to something akin to a medieval culture permeated and influenced by Immortals and Magic. In the south of the World, in a realm that must be described as Western Grunland, the Elves have established a civilization.
The rise of Blackmoor
It is uncertain what the Egg of Coot represents, though its infernal genius, cold reality, and technological advantage seems very much to predate even the rise of the Age of Blackmoor and possibly the presence of Man on this world. For whatever reason it seems to have had the ability to rise land masses from the Seafloor to the Surface, and offered a technology to others that seems out of place with the world.
The Egg of Coot rises to oppose the activities of Uther, King of Blackmoor – though it is never certain why.
However – History records the rise of a civilization known as Blackmoor (either taking the name as a banner of revolution, or rising directly from the petty warlord of centuries past – it is uncertain) as a globally reaching power in both technology and magic, while the Egg of Coot vanishes from history’s page – though the corrupting drive to invest everything in the exploitation of the technology scavenged from the FSS BEAGLE seems to have the scent of its continued participation in the centuries that follow.
State cedes to the Church
Though the Technocracy of Blackmoor is rapidly approaching a peak and its trade and trade-wars with the Southern elves and their northern colonies have finally convinced the elves to embrace Blackmoorean Technology, its Government is increasingly weak – mostly due to so many factions vying for influence. At some point the Priests gain sufficient influence to compel the state to commit to a three hundred year long Holy War of extermination against the Beastmen of the Borean Valley in response to the Chaos they represent. The Conflict is obviously drawn out by the fact that there has been a dangerous trade in Blackmoor Technology with the Beastmen. The Legions of Holy Warriors in their Powered Armour, armed with flame weapons zipping about on their Personal flyers are met with violent resistance.
Victory - Blackmoor
Blackmoor has become in these three centuries a Theocracy of Absolutes opposed to Chaos in its ultimate form of the Immortal Hel whose few surviving Beastmen eventually flee the Borean Valley for distant Hyborea at the edge of the world. The Theocracy of Blackmoor declares Victory. The truth is three centuries of mass murder with millions dead, and the best of Blackmoor lost to the war-machine and tyranny of the Holy Empire.
A time of Peace and Achievement
Peaceful Sciences and technology find themselves in ascendancy over these next two hundred years. The final Technological secret of the City of the Gods is contemplated by Blackmoor’s greatest minds and an Experiment conceived. It is an experiment involving the possibility engine (inter-dimensional drive) of the FSS Beagle. Unknown to all the long forgotten Egg of Coot is intimately involved in the experiment – Heading up OARD Industries. The Egg of Coot relocates to realm of the Southern Elves to watch the outcome of the experiment from a location of safety. In the blink of an eye Blackmoor ceases to exist, vanishing from this Universe.
The Great Rain of Fire
The Vanishing act causes a number of Blackmoor devices to explode across the region and all trace of the Theocracy of Blackmoor is swept aside in a great catastrophe involving some of its great devices.
The Immortals are unable to find any trace of the Blackmoorean culture to save. Only some technological debris remains. The Blackmoor civilization is now only accessible via the Comeback Inn at a moment in its past just before the influence of technology found in the City of the Gods (the FSS BEAGLE).
Global Warming
The Egg of Coot decides to secretly establish a subterranean stronghold with an elite group of Blacklore Elves and technology to ride out the coming millennia of chaos. Blacklore Experiments begin in developing the Pack Hunters and the Collectors unleashing them on the region. In as little as five hundred years the disaster shifts the world by around forty degrees off axis moving the Ruination of Blackmoor in Northwest Skothar toward the Northern Pole and Western Vulcania into the Southern Pole. Unfortunately this drift of the Poles carries with it an anti-magic region that expands north shutting down all Blacklore techno-magic.
Two Directions
Realizing a crisis with its ‘do nothing – everything will be fine’ government a separatist ‘back to nature’ group led by led by a Zealot named Ilsundyl abandons their fellow elves and head north to find the lost elf colonies who settled in the northern hemisphere.
The Southern Elves remaining begin evacuations from their now Polar home to Grunland now freed of its polar climate thanks in part to rising volcanic activity. It is a time of hardship for the technologically dependant elves.
Ice-gnomes Flee Darklands
Many Ice Gnomes are flushed from Southern Vulcania by the Egg of Coot and his elves and forced north into the Forests on the northern edge of Vulcania and the lost Valley. Others are taken hostage for ‘experimentation’.
Ex Vulcania
The Vulcanian Elves have lost most of their technology and Magic, and are facing doom from exposure to the Elements – Vulcania is an increasingly volcanic region now constantly rocked by earthquakes and tremors.
A second group of Separatists abandon their fellow Vulcanian Elves and migrate north taking what little technology they easily can maintain with them. They settle into the Lost Valley region amongst the Ice Gnomes – The Elves are dominated by those who have followed the Warrior Path instead of the Wizard path. Few are powerful wizards.
The Immortals, realizing that the Vulcanian region is about to experience an extinction level event in the form of a Super-volcano relocate a small group to the Hollow World altering their failing technology with immortal magic.
Super-volcano
Within a century a Super-volcano erupts in the Vulcanian chain devouring the remnants of the Blackmoor influenced elf civilization living there and their technology. For the next century the Vulcanian region is darkened and frozen by a cloud.
BC 2300 – Here and Now
It is a century since the eruption of the Super-volcano that devastated Grunland and made it uninhabitable to most life. It has become an Arctic desert devoid of plant life.
Broken Ruins of the last stand of the Southern Elves are scattered across the region – the more technologically significant located in the Darklands of Southern Vulcania.
The Egg of Coot has been busy exploiting Blacklore and securing the region from the safety of his underground base. His collectors and Pack Hunters sweep the region in search of any powerful foe seeking to plunder the ruins of the Southern Elves – though they are no longer able to patrol closer in due to the anti-magic region now encompassing Southern Vulcania – leaving an opportunity for those prepared to risk it all.
RELATIONS WITH OTHERS
The Vulcanian Heresy has little to nothing in the way of relations with other Races. The Egg of Coot’s Minions are utterly hostile toward intruders. Only the Ice Gnomes of the Lost Valley and Diamond Ring are even aware there is ‘something terrible’ down there – across the ice wastes – in the dark - biding its time and building its power.
NPCs
Hptmn Jlmgrndnl
History: He was born centuries ago, just after the Base was established and is a Child of that Military Order has been raised in its military culture.
Personality: Hptmn Jlmgrndnl is Commander for Security in the Research station. There hasn’t been an incident for several decades (a mating pair of Great Sloths bred from experiments on Ice-gnomes escaped their cages making it outside), but rules are rules and he carries them out with absolute conformity to the rules. He is fearless. He knows that his small group of people are the last of a great civilization in a world that has long gone to barbarity. As a consequence he is prepared to fight to the death to protect what he has. He is however fascinated by the prospect of encountering ‘other intelligent life’.
Appearance: Outside his personal quarters, he is a physically strong and healthy elf with short cropped white hair and pale skin wearing tight black leather Uniform (It is actually a carbon weave cloth that acts like leather). A Spring-repeating Dart pistol is on his belt.
DM Notes: Jlmgrndnl has occasionally left the base to inspect ruins during his years in lower ranks but hasn’t left the base in a few decades. He will never consider throwing in with outsiders (unless ordered to do so from above) as he is absolutely loyal to the Order.
HORRORS IN THE DARK
These terrible creations have been spawned from the Laboratories in Ice Station Zero and represent the exploitation of the darkest and nastiest parts of Blacklore.
The Collector
The Collector is a small Scout vessel designed to allow for the collection of Samples piloted by the consciousness of an Elf who is bound to the Machine for all time. In truth it is a living horror crafted by a combination of the worst of Blacklore.
Enchanted like any magical flying ship, it combines A Steel-form Flying ship with an inverted crystal ball Stone-form chamber (the ultimate Camera Obscura) as a Pilot interface allowing the pilot to see any distance. The Pilot’s infusion with the Machine is the final mockery. The Elf Pilot – enchanting his own ship includes a permanent gate spell and sacrifices himself to a Brain Collector who is now permanently bound to the vessel.
Symbols of Paralysis dance like lights across the surface of the vessel to paralyse any potential harvest.
Enchantment of the Collector
Enchant Hull: 2 x steel-form, 1 x stone-form, 3 x fly, 1 x clairvoyance, 1 x Gate
The Pack Hunter
This is a pack of ice-wolves who were technologically modified by the Egg of Coot in an experiment to create a golem guard dog capable of hunting a foe and killing them without the need for food.
This looks like a metal cylinder with an organic remnant head of an ice-wolf fused into the mechanism at the top and a spiked lightning wand attached to the bottom. A Mirror of Life Trapping to ‘capture’ the occasional foe is attached to the front of this flying predator. These predators might be encountered in packs of eight within a hundred miles of Ice Station Zero or in packs of four specifically deployed to some ruin in the Darklands of interest to the Egg of Coot.
It has all the Stats of an ice wolf with Steel Barding (-2AC).
Enchantment of the Pack-hunter
Hull Enchantment: 1 x Steel-form, 1 x fly, 1 x Animate Dead
Extras: Mirror of Life Trapping, Lightning Wand
Lifestyle: Regimented, Military
Population: 637 Elves
DESCRIPTION
The Icewall
This sheer mountain range is the southern edge of Southern Vulcania located nearly five hundred miles south of sunlight. These Mountains are choked in ice that gets thicker with every year of polar darkness.
Ice Station Zero
Somewhere in the face of the Ice wall is Ice Station Zero – a subterranean bunker stocked with the last of the Blacklore secrets of the Southern Elves under the control of the Egg of Coot. It is from here that he and his elf Wizards have crafted all manner of Horror that might be encountered in the Darklands by those looking to plunder abandoned Blacklore. Unfortunately Magic no longer functions here on the Base in any form. The Polar drift that occurred as a result of the destruction of Blackmoor has bought with it an anti-magical zone that has slowly moved north over the Icewall and across the frozen wastes toward the edge of the Arctic Circle. As a consequence, Collectors and Pack Hunters no longer return to base, rather they skirt the lonely wastes to the north and prey on strays wandering the Ice Tundra of the Vulcanian Peninsula.
The Wastelands
The Ice and snow extends from the Icewall two thousand miles north to the Mountains that define the Diamond Ring although it will slowly retreat south to the edge of the Darklands over the coming millennia and plant life will once again reclaim the landscape, it will take a long time.
Ruins
Scattered through the darklands of Southern Vulcania are cities of glass and steel. The greatest achievement of the elves now abandoned to the Ice and snow for centuries.
ELVES OF ICE STATION ZERO
Tall, Dark Haired, (and thanks to genetic experiments with some Alien – Federation – DNA) green skinned. These elves have a mix of clan Origins. -dyr, -dyl, -dnl meaning many have traditional names ending in these suffix.
They all seem to average seven feet tall and appear fragile but are all muscle.
The southern elves residing in Ice Station Zero are broken into two Castes: The Engineering Cast made up of the few Elves who were capable of following the Wizard Path, and the Warrior Caste for those elves of a more physical lifestyle, and out of necessity in that magic has long since failed in the region of Ice Station Zero. For reasons of State security it is preferred that an Elf choose the Engineering Caste as preservation of the technological Skills vital to the continued viability of the Colony. Still, to ensure that skills are passed on, even elves of the Warrior Caste are cycled through Engineering as Technicians – The old Wizards getting very old – perhaps they are the last of their kind. No one is above knowing how to maintain and operate systems. Ignorance is the enemy.
Personal Automatons were identified as the major source of cultural laziness and decline so they were replaced with living Technicians. Much of the Blacklore was quickly replaced by Mechanical Technological Systems.
CUSTOMS
This is no single clan – rather they are military elite involved in continuous military training and protocols. The Concept of Clan Leaders and hierarchies are supplanted by the military traditions that include the influence of Blackmoor.
They are pretty much hostile toward visitors and anyone making it as far as Ice Station Zero can look forward to interrogation in the machine.
Food production is by hydroponics and the Gardens are extensive. There is some mining of vital elements but considerable recycling to make use of everything.
The oldest elves of the wizard caste were encouraged to enchant a collector and merge with the machine. The remaining elves don’t wear jewellery – only their military insignia marks their uniforms. Every elf now wears a standard non-magical firearm – the Repeating Spring Dart Pistol.
Repeating Spring Dart Pistol (Damage: 1d4-1; Range: 5/10/15); Reloadable seven dart magazine.
HISTORY
Secrets of the Old Ones
In the moments before the beginning of it all the Star-brothers (Laki-Laki) had created the Universe and the world of Mystara at the centre of it through an inversion of the inner surface of the Crystal Sphere of this Universe effectively closing the door to this new verse behind them. The price would be high – they had isolated this Universe from the Phlogiston so there would be no travel between the crystal spheres, and the Coming end-death of the Phlogiston in the infinite inferno would never reach this place.
The Unknowable Happens
The Mystaran Universe moved on from that moment of insanity, elements spilled onto the Surfaces of that inverted crystal sphere, but one Brother ceased to exist forever - Thanks to the sudden presence of entropy, Life happened and the Universe was shaped and reshaped by it; But that other Universe shrank becoming an increasingly small sphere of possibility, ever reducing.
Seventy-five Million Years Ago
In the remaining and now infinitely increasing Universe at about this time a rock fell from the sky cracking the world shield and creating fissures that would ultimately lead to the discovery of a Hollow World by the recently Immortal known as Ka the Preserver. But there are secrets, even beyond the comprehension of an overly intelligent dinosaur turned Immortal.
That which shattered this great hollow prison was in fact the remains of one of the Star-bothers, for the other had ceased to exist forming the hollow-side Universe – which in that moment of Universal Collapse became a mere inter-dimensional cavity – and then nothing more than a very big cave.
Secrets of the Immortals
After considerable study, in a conspiracy with other Immortals against Entropy, Ka the Preserver creates the Hollow World; a sunlit realm where species and civilizations facing extinction might be relocated and preserved.
Civilization after Civilization
The Carnifex seem to be one of the earliest non human civilizations to rise on the World of Mystara. These reptilian creatures vanish into the dark, the light of their predatory culture gone from the world (though not forgotten). Some are relocated by Ka - hidden in the Hollow Moon that they might survive without being at odds with other newer races and cultures.
Primitive and Degenerate human cultures like the Garl, the Brute-men, and the Neanderthals are relocated to the Hollow World that they might be preserved – though a Corrupting influence of Entropy finally breaks through in the form of the Burrowers which exert a corrupting influence on the Brute-men cultures that are sheltering in the Hollow World.
The Spell of Preservation
Somewhere around 6,000BC Ka and his Immortal companions act to exterminate the contaminated Hollow World cultures, and put in place a Spell that will prevent Entropy from interfering in the Hollow World ever again - a spell that by its very definition paralyses the Entropic Burrowers. It curtails their corrupting influence and stalls the advances of Entropy.
Recorded History begins
The Neanderthals give way to modern Mystaran man and he establishes an assortment of primitive cultures across the world. In time these peoples rise to something akin to a medieval culture permeated and influenced by Immortals and Magic. In the south of the World, in a realm that must be described as Western Grunland, the Elves have established a civilization.
The rise of Blackmoor
It is uncertain what the Egg of Coot represents, though its infernal genius, cold reality, and technological advantage seems very much to predate even the rise of the Age of Blackmoor and possibly the presence of Man on this world. For whatever reason it seems to have had the ability to rise land masses from the Seafloor to the Surface, and offered a technology to others that seems out of place with the world.
The Egg of Coot rises to oppose the activities of Uther, King of Blackmoor – though it is never certain why.
However – History records the rise of a civilization known as Blackmoor (either taking the name as a banner of revolution, or rising directly from the petty warlord of centuries past – it is uncertain) as a globally reaching power in both technology and magic, while the Egg of Coot vanishes from history’s page – though the corrupting drive to invest everything in the exploitation of the technology scavenged from the FSS BEAGLE seems to have the scent of its continued participation in the centuries that follow.
State cedes to the Church
Though the Technocracy of Blackmoor is rapidly approaching a peak and its trade and trade-wars with the Southern elves and their northern colonies have finally convinced the elves to embrace Blackmoorean Technology, its Government is increasingly weak – mostly due to so many factions vying for influence. At some point the Priests gain sufficient influence to compel the state to commit to a three hundred year long Holy War of extermination against the Beastmen of the Borean Valley in response to the Chaos they represent. The Conflict is obviously drawn out by the fact that there has been a dangerous trade in Blackmoor Technology with the Beastmen. The Legions of Holy Warriors in their Powered Armour, armed with flame weapons zipping about on their Personal flyers are met with violent resistance.
Victory - Blackmoor
Blackmoor has become in these three centuries a Theocracy of Absolutes opposed to Chaos in its ultimate form of the Immortal Hel whose few surviving Beastmen eventually flee the Borean Valley for distant Hyborea at the edge of the world. The Theocracy of Blackmoor declares Victory. The truth is three centuries of mass murder with millions dead, and the best of Blackmoor lost to the war-machine and tyranny of the Holy Empire.
A time of Peace and Achievement
Peaceful Sciences and technology find themselves in ascendancy over these next two hundred years. The final Technological secret of the City of the Gods is contemplated by Blackmoor’s greatest minds and an Experiment conceived. It is an experiment involving the possibility engine (inter-dimensional drive) of the FSS Beagle. Unknown to all the long forgotten Egg of Coot is intimately involved in the experiment – Heading up OARD Industries. The Egg of Coot relocates to realm of the Southern Elves to watch the outcome of the experiment from a location of safety. In the blink of an eye Blackmoor ceases to exist, vanishing from this Universe.
The Great Rain of Fire
The Vanishing act causes a number of Blackmoor devices to explode across the region and all trace of the Theocracy of Blackmoor is swept aside in a great catastrophe involving some of its great devices.
The Immortals are unable to find any trace of the Blackmoorean culture to save. Only some technological debris remains. The Blackmoor civilization is now only accessible via the Comeback Inn at a moment in its past just before the influence of technology found in the City of the Gods (the FSS BEAGLE).
Global Warming
The Egg of Coot decides to secretly establish a subterranean stronghold with an elite group of Blacklore Elves and technology to ride out the coming millennia of chaos. Blacklore Experiments begin in developing the Pack Hunters and the Collectors unleashing them on the region. In as little as five hundred years the disaster shifts the world by around forty degrees off axis moving the Ruination of Blackmoor in Northwest Skothar toward the Northern Pole and Western Vulcania into the Southern Pole. Unfortunately this drift of the Poles carries with it an anti-magic region that expands north shutting down all Blacklore techno-magic.
Two Directions
Realizing a crisis with its ‘do nothing – everything will be fine’ government a separatist ‘back to nature’ group led by led by a Zealot named Ilsundyl abandons their fellow elves and head north to find the lost elf colonies who settled in the northern hemisphere.
The Southern Elves remaining begin evacuations from their now Polar home to Grunland now freed of its polar climate thanks in part to rising volcanic activity. It is a time of hardship for the technologically dependant elves.
Ice-gnomes Flee Darklands
Many Ice Gnomes are flushed from Southern Vulcania by the Egg of Coot and his elves and forced north into the Forests on the northern edge of Vulcania and the lost Valley. Others are taken hostage for ‘experimentation’.
Ex Vulcania
The Vulcanian Elves have lost most of their technology and Magic, and are facing doom from exposure to the Elements – Vulcania is an increasingly volcanic region now constantly rocked by earthquakes and tremors.
A second group of Separatists abandon their fellow Vulcanian Elves and migrate north taking what little technology they easily can maintain with them. They settle into the Lost Valley region amongst the Ice Gnomes – The Elves are dominated by those who have followed the Warrior Path instead of the Wizard path. Few are powerful wizards.
The Immortals, realizing that the Vulcanian region is about to experience an extinction level event in the form of a Super-volcano relocate a small group to the Hollow World altering their failing technology with immortal magic.
Super-volcano
Within a century a Super-volcano erupts in the Vulcanian chain devouring the remnants of the Blackmoor influenced elf civilization living there and their technology. For the next century the Vulcanian region is darkened and frozen by a cloud.
BC 2300 – Here and Now
It is a century since the eruption of the Super-volcano that devastated Grunland and made it uninhabitable to most life. It has become an Arctic desert devoid of plant life.
Broken Ruins of the last stand of the Southern Elves are scattered across the region – the more technologically significant located in the Darklands of Southern Vulcania.
The Egg of Coot has been busy exploiting Blacklore and securing the region from the safety of his underground base. His collectors and Pack Hunters sweep the region in search of any powerful foe seeking to plunder the ruins of the Southern Elves – though they are no longer able to patrol closer in due to the anti-magic region now encompassing Southern Vulcania – leaving an opportunity for those prepared to risk it all.
RELATIONS WITH OTHERS
The Vulcanian Heresy has little to nothing in the way of relations with other Races. The Egg of Coot’s Minions are utterly hostile toward intruders. Only the Ice Gnomes of the Lost Valley and Diamond Ring are even aware there is ‘something terrible’ down there – across the ice wastes – in the dark - biding its time and building its power.
NPCs
Hptmn Jlmgrndnl
History: He was born centuries ago, just after the Base was established and is a Child of that Military Order has been raised in its military culture.
Personality: Hptmn Jlmgrndnl is Commander for Security in the Research station. There hasn’t been an incident for several decades (a mating pair of Great Sloths bred from experiments on Ice-gnomes escaped their cages making it outside), but rules are rules and he carries them out with absolute conformity to the rules. He is fearless. He knows that his small group of people are the last of a great civilization in a world that has long gone to barbarity. As a consequence he is prepared to fight to the death to protect what he has. He is however fascinated by the prospect of encountering ‘other intelligent life’.
Appearance: Outside his personal quarters, he is a physically strong and healthy elf with short cropped white hair and pale skin wearing tight black leather Uniform (It is actually a carbon weave cloth that acts like leather). A Spring-repeating Dart pistol is on his belt.
DM Notes: Jlmgrndnl has occasionally left the base to inspect ruins during his years in lower ranks but hasn’t left the base in a few decades. He will never consider throwing in with outsiders (unless ordered to do so from above) as he is absolutely loyal to the Order.
HORRORS IN THE DARK
These terrible creations have been spawned from the Laboratories in Ice Station Zero and represent the exploitation of the darkest and nastiest parts of Blacklore.
The Collector
The Collector is a small Scout vessel designed to allow for the collection of Samples piloted by the consciousness of an Elf who is bound to the Machine for all time. In truth it is a living horror crafted by a combination of the worst of Blacklore.
Enchanted like any magical flying ship, it combines A Steel-form Flying ship with an inverted crystal ball Stone-form chamber (the ultimate Camera Obscura) as a Pilot interface allowing the pilot to see any distance. The Pilot’s infusion with the Machine is the final mockery. The Elf Pilot – enchanting his own ship includes a permanent gate spell and sacrifices himself to a Brain Collector who is now permanently bound to the vessel.
Symbols of Paralysis dance like lights across the surface of the vessel to paralyse any potential harvest.
Enchantment of the Collector
Enchant Hull: 2 x steel-form, 1 x stone-form, 3 x fly, 1 x clairvoyance, 1 x Gate
The Pack Hunter
This is a pack of ice-wolves who were technologically modified by the Egg of Coot in an experiment to create a golem guard dog capable of hunting a foe and killing them without the need for food.
This looks like a metal cylinder with an organic remnant head of an ice-wolf fused into the mechanism at the top and a spiked lightning wand attached to the bottom. A Mirror of Life Trapping to ‘capture’ the occasional foe is attached to the front of this flying predator. These predators might be encountered in packs of eight within a hundred miles of Ice Station Zero or in packs of four specifically deployed to some ruin in the Darklands of interest to the Egg of Coot.
It has all the Stats of an ice wolf with Steel Barding (-2AC).
Enchantment of the Pack-hunter
Hull Enchantment: 1 x Steel-form, 1 x fly, 1 x Animate Dead
Extras: Mirror of Life Trapping, Lightning Wand
Linguistic Archaeology: That first Dog
Dog in almost every language
1. Dog
2. Hond
3. Qen
4. Wisha
5. Kalb
6. Shun
7. It
8. Txakurra
9. Sabaka
10. Kukura
11. Pas
12. Kuche
13. Gos
14. Iro
15. Galu
16. Gǒu
17. Cane
18. Pes
19. Hundo (esperanto)
20. Koer
21. Aso
22. Koira
23. Chienne
24. Chien
25. Can
26. Dzaghli
27. Skýlos
28. Kūtarō
29. Chen
30. Kare
31. ʻīlio
32. *B (hebrew)
33. Kutta
34. Aub
35. Kutya
36. Hundur
37. Nkịta
38. Anjing
39. Madra
40. Cagna
41. Inu
42. Asu
43. Nāyi
44. Ït
45. Chhke
46. Imbwa
47. Gae
48. Seh
49. Ma
50. Canis (latin)
51. Suns
52. Šuo
53. Kuče
54. Amboa
55. Nāya
56. Kelb
57. Kuri
58. Kutrā
59. Nokhoi
60. Hkway
61. *P* (pashto)
62. S* (persian)
63. Pies
64. Cadela
65. Cachorro
66. Kutā
67. Câine
68. Sobaka
69. Maile
70. Cù
71. Ntja
72. KC* (sindhi)
73. Ballā
74. Eey
75. Perra
76. Perro
77. Mbwa
78. Sag
79. Nāy
80. ET (tatar)
81. Kukka
82. S̄unạk̄h
83. Köpek
84. AYT (uyghur)
85. Chú chó
86. Ci
87. Inja
88. Hunt
89. Aja
Popularity of Use
A % E % I % O % U %
47 53% 23 26% 21 23% 18 20% 23 26%
B % C % D % F % G %
10 11% 15 17% 6 6% 0 0% 9 10%
H % J % K % L % M %
16 18% 4 4% 26 29% 9 10% 6 6%
N % P % Q % R % S %
24 27% 7 7% 1 1% 14 15% 16 18%
T % V % W % X % Y %
11 12% 0 0% 4 4% 1 1% 8 9%
Z %
1 1%
Popularity of use
53% A:
30% K, A:
27% N, K, A: Kukka,
26% E, U, N, K, A:
23% I, E, U, N, K, A: Inu,
20% O, I, E, U, N, K, A:
18% S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Seh, Suns, Šuo, Nokhoi, S* (persian), S̄unạk̄h Shun, Aso, Asu,
17% C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Chú chó, Ci, Câine, Cù, KC* (sindhi), Kuče, Chhke, Canis (latin), Chienne, Chien, Can, Chen, Kuche, Cane,
15% R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Kuri, Kukura, Cachorro, Koira, Kare, Iro, Koer,
12% T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: ET (tatar), Hunt, Kutrā, Kutā, Kutta, Nkịta, Ït, Kūtarō, It,
11% B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Aub, Sobaka, *B (hebrew), Sabaka,
10% L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Ballā, Sag, Cagna, Kelb, ʻīlio, Kalb, Gos, Galu, Gǒu, Gae,
9% Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: AYT (uyghur), Eey, Nāy, Kutya, Nāyi, Nāya, Skýlos,
7% P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Perra, Perro, Köpek, *P* (pashto), Pies, Pas, Pes,
6% M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Amboa, Maile, Ma, Madra, Hundur, Cadela, Hundo (esperanto), Dog, Hond,
4% W, J, M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Inja, Aja, Ntja, Hkway, Imbwa, Wisha, Anjing, Mbwa,
1% Z, X, Q, W, J, M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Dzaghli, Qen, Txakurra,
0% V, F
Conclusion: originating in the A-K Linguistic Subgroup,
A-K subgroup Sex % Dev. Chain bandgap
Inuit M 83% (A; K; N, Q, L, S, O)
Inuit F 75% (A; K; L; I; T, O, S) ●
Crow 74% (A; K; R; O; G)
To fuck 72% (A; K; E; I, T)
Ainu Dictionary 54% (A; K; N; I; U; M, O)
Dog 53% (A; K; N; U, E; I; O)
The earliest named Dog is Kukka (teluga) at 27%.
At 26% is a development bandgap.
The second named Dog is Inu (japanese) at 23%.
A second development gap occurs at 20% before dogs become popular at 18% peaking in popularity at 17% before declining down to 1%.
1. Dog
2. Hond
3. Qen
4. Wisha
5. Kalb
6. Shun
7. It
8. Txakurra
9. Sabaka
10. Kukura
11. Pas
12. Kuche
13. Gos
14. Iro
15. Galu
16. Gǒu
17. Cane
18. Pes
19. Hundo (esperanto)
20. Koer
21. Aso
22. Koira
23. Chienne
24. Chien
25. Can
26. Dzaghli
27. Skýlos
28. Kūtarō
29. Chen
30. Kare
31. ʻīlio
32. *B (hebrew)
33. Kutta
34. Aub
35. Kutya
36. Hundur
37. Nkịta
38. Anjing
39. Madra
40. Cagna
41. Inu
42. Asu
43. Nāyi
44. Ït
45. Chhke
46. Imbwa
47. Gae
48. Seh
49. Ma
50. Canis (latin)
51. Suns
52. Šuo
53. Kuče
54. Amboa
55. Nāya
56. Kelb
57. Kuri
58. Kutrā
59. Nokhoi
60. Hkway
61. *P* (pashto)
62. S* (persian)
63. Pies
64. Cadela
65. Cachorro
66. Kutā
67. Câine
68. Sobaka
69. Maile
70. Cù
71. Ntja
72. KC* (sindhi)
73. Ballā
74. Eey
75. Perra
76. Perro
77. Mbwa
78. Sag
79. Nāy
80. ET (tatar)
81. Kukka
82. S̄unạk̄h
83. Köpek
84. AYT (uyghur)
85. Chú chó
86. Ci
87. Inja
88. Hunt
89. Aja
Popularity of Use
A % E % I % O % U %
47 53% 23 26% 21 23% 18 20% 23 26%
B % C % D % F % G %
10 11% 15 17% 6 6% 0 0% 9 10%
H % J % K % L % M %
16 18% 4 4% 26 29% 9 10% 6 6%
N % P % Q % R % S %
24 27% 7 7% 1 1% 14 15% 16 18%
T % V % W % X % Y %
11 12% 0 0% 4 4% 1 1% 8 9%
Z %
1 1%
Popularity of use
53% A:
30% K, A:
27% N, K, A: Kukka,
26% E, U, N, K, A:
23% I, E, U, N, K, A: Inu,
20% O, I, E, U, N, K, A:
18% S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Seh, Suns, Šuo, Nokhoi, S* (persian), S̄unạk̄h Shun, Aso, Asu,
17% C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Chú chó, Ci, Câine, Cù, KC* (sindhi), Kuče, Chhke, Canis (latin), Chienne, Chien, Can, Chen, Kuche, Cane,
15% R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Kuri, Kukura, Cachorro, Koira, Kare, Iro, Koer,
12% T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: ET (tatar), Hunt, Kutrā, Kutā, Kutta, Nkịta, Ït, Kūtarō, It,
11% B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Aub, Sobaka, *B (hebrew), Sabaka,
10% L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Ballā, Sag, Cagna, Kelb, ʻīlio, Kalb, Gos, Galu, Gǒu, Gae,
9% Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: AYT (uyghur), Eey, Nāy, Kutya, Nāyi, Nāya, Skýlos,
7% P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Perra, Perro, Köpek, *P* (pashto), Pies, Pas, Pes,
6% M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Amboa, Maile, Ma, Madra, Hundur, Cadela, Hundo (esperanto), Dog, Hond,
4% W, J, M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Inja, Aja, Ntja, Hkway, Imbwa, Wisha, Anjing, Mbwa,
1% Z, X, Q, W, J, M, D, P, Y, L, G, B, T, R, C, S, H, O, I, E, U, N, K, A: Dzaghli, Qen, Txakurra,
0% V, F
Conclusion: originating in the A-K Linguistic Subgroup,
A-K subgroup Sex % Dev. Chain bandgap
Inuit M 83% (A; K; N, Q, L, S, O)
Inuit F 75% (A; K; L; I; T, O, S) ●
Crow 74% (A; K; R; O; G)
To fuck 72% (A; K; E; I, T)
Ainu Dictionary 54% (A; K; N; I; U; M, O)
Dog 53% (A; K; N; U, E; I; O)
The earliest named Dog is Kukka (teluga) at 27%.
At 26% is a development bandgap.
The second named Dog is Inu (japanese) at 23%.
A second development gap occurs at 20% before dogs become popular at 18% peaking in popularity at 17% before declining down to 1%.
Friday, 28 January 2022
Basic Expert: Using Bruce A. Heard's Castle building rules to build a city
USING BRUCE A. HEARD'S CASTLE BUILDING RULES TO BUILD A CITY
DETERMINE WHO LIVES HERE
"My home this is!"
Calculate who lives in the City/Castle: Generate a Quick list of NPCS and give them Social Ranks.
IMPORTANT PEOPLE: Lord, Lady, Children, Guests, Adult Children, Senior Officials
SERVANTS: These are the Household Staff and the Menial labourers
Personal Servants* = #people of Importance x SRM
Smithy & Stables* = soldiers/20
Kitchen Staff* = (Important People + Soldiers + Personal Servants + Smithy&Stables Workers)/20
*Round upwards
SOCIAL RANK MAGNIFIER(SRM)
- KING/DUKE x 3
- MARQUIS/COUNT x 2
- BARON/LORD x 1
- KNIGHT x1/2
We can use this to increase the size of a room using the SOCIAL RANK MAGNIFIER (ex - Count Gregor might have a bedchamber of 800-1000 square feet instead of 400-500 square feet).
LIVING QUARTERS
"Trying to Sleep Here!"
LORD & LADY: Located in the Uppermost levels, these are the quarters of the Top People in charge. This chamber is 400 - 500 square feet and 9-10 feet high.
GUESTS: These rooms are for adult children of the Ruler and Senior Officials. They are near the Upper most floors (but not likely on the Same floor as the Lord & Lady's Bedchamber). 'Such Guest Rooms' should be 200-300 square feet.
CHILDREN: For reasons of security these are on the top floor. Such a Nursery should be 30 square feet. There is likley a Servants quarters and Guard post on this level.
SERVANTS & TROOPS: Crowded into Three Tier Bunkbeds, They have about 20 square feet per person. Most likely this is a Servery (a Quarters for Servants) or a Barracks (Troops Quarters).
GATHERING ROOMS
"Bring on the Dancing Girls!"
THE GREAT HALL: This is a huge chamber with Chimney or fire pit, maybe a balcony for musicians, ect. Its dimensions are about 14 - 20 feet to ceiling. Area is 500 square feet + 50 square feet per person.
COMMON HALL: This is where Troops and Servants Eat their meals or Guard Rooms. These should be 50 square feet + 20 square feet per person.
CHAPEL: A private Chapel might be as small as a Guest Room or you might be dealing with something the size of a Church. It should be about half the size of a Great Hall, with maybe a balcony if the ceiling is high enough - where the Nobles sit and watch the show. There is probably an altar. A Cleric might have an apartment connected to this chamber.
UTILITY ROOMS
"Is that elf in the stew pot? It tastes like elf."
KITCHEN: There will be Work Tables, Sinks, a Hearth for cookery. 150 square feet + 1 square foot per person served. most likley it is used to cook for Nobles, and servants and Soldiers alike if their places of residence are scattered. Else there might be a second kitchen attatched to a Baracks or Servery. Some Kitchens also have a Seperate larder for the hanging of Game (other than the Cellars).
BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP: This is the room with the Forge, Anvils, hammers. They look after equipment, make repairs to tools and weapons, Horses, ect. This is 150 square feet + 5 square feet per soldier.
STORAGE AREAS
"Wow! Thats a lot of Swords..."
ARMORY: This is filled with Weapons and Armor. It is likley 1/3 the size of the Blacksmith's Workshop.
BUTTERY: This is where the Servants prepare Beer and Wine in jugs before taking them to the Great Hall. it is about 1/3 the size of the Kitchen. It may have a Cistern (or a Tap).
PANTRY: It is where Linen and Tableware is stored along with bread. This is about half the size of the great hall's kitchen.
CELLAR: This is where Stockpiles of supplies against famine and Sieges are stored. Barrels filled with Preserved meats, Ales, Wines, Salts, Spices, cheese, honey, dried fruits. All stored in a cool cellar for preservation. The Ceiling is about 15 feet high, and is 40 cubic feet per person for 6 months. Stacked to the Ceiling.
GRAINARY: This is a Drystore filled with Barrels of Grain (or Sacks). it is about half the Size of the Cellar at 20 cubic feet per person per 6 months.
STABLE: This is 100 square feet per horse (larger for Monstrous Mounts +25 square feet per HD).
STOREHOUSE: Household Tools might be stored here. No Specific Size but assume 25 square feet x SOCIAL RANK MAGNIFIER.
OTHER DETAILS
"Has anyone found the toilets yet?"
CISTERNS & WELLS: A thirty cubic foot Cistern can hold 250 gallons of water. This might mean a Cistern of 30 cubic feet of water per person per six months. This could be Storage Tunnels with 10 foot diameter barrels. A Well might simply be a vertical Shaft for the storage of Water with a lid. The Water supply is a matter of security. An Underground Cistern Vault supplied with water from a hundred mile long Aquaduct.
GARTEROBES: These are toilets for those who dont want to squat over a bowl in their bedroom.
STAIRS & HALLS: These are designed to keep people from wandering though the private residences of others. Privacy is an issue. There might be private staircases and Halls to provide secrecy of movement and interaction.
FIREPLACES AND HEATING: There are likely a few permanent Fireplaces with Braziers (Bowls on Tripods where coals burn) to heat smaller Rooms, perhaps Cupboards lined with copper sheet to draw heat from a Chimney Pipe and heat the air through convection causing hot air to rise up to different floors.
Using the Social Rank Magnifier: Mutliply The size of Rooms used by a Ruler by the Rank Modifier.
USING THIS TO BUILD A CITY
"You can't bring your horses in here!"
STORES: A City of 10,000 people might have a 1/2 mile of 10 feet wide 15 feet high Storage Cellars and 1/4 mile of Grainaries, a Subterranean Cistern of 100 feet x 100 feet x 30 feet ceiling and Well shafts for drawing out water and brine salt.
Ideally feces and urine will be retrieved for industrial fertilizer production eliminating the lack of hygene and sources of cholera from the city.
CHURCH: A Grand Cathedral build for the King with a capacity of a thousand people might be calculated as 750 square feet + 75 square feet per person (75,750 square feet or 100 feet x 760 feet long). Stores, kitchens and housing for monks, scriptoriums, and libraries...
OTHERS FACILITIES: if the city is a site of significant habitation history it may be sitting on the ruins of even older structures. Work out the history of the site. Put in a barrow of some ancient king. Build a village on it. Add a fortress with Old tunnels.
Lay down the ancient city on top of it. And then build the new city on that.
Mystaran Campaign: The Akuma
Akuma is Japanese for Demon, and it provides us with an appropriate 'Race' Name.
Akuma: The Fiends that invade our world are a little different. They are not the fiends we know from Monster manuals. They are the mortal Race from which the more powerful entities have emerged.
As an alternative to the Common Races available as NPC and PC, Akuma being a far more diverse option, we simply develop a class as though it were human and follow the following rules to describe our unique fiends.
BASE ABILITIES
First off lets replace Gate Travel by Transposition - The ability to Exchange places with another. This gives our Mortal Demons the ability to swap places with Red Riding Hood while she is obscured from the view of the Woodsman escorting her through the Forest. The Method of exchange does not allow for the movement of clothing and equipment so When Demonwolf swaps Places with Red Riding hood, she winds up in the woods buck naked, and Demonwolf finds himself wearing a nice red cloak and clothing. When Nerone the Serpent needs to flee the Adventurers who have him surrounded- He swaps places with a flock of Crows in a distant tree so his robes collapse as he apparently becomes a flock of startled crows.
Transposition - Swap places with any living thing (or group of smaller living things). The exchange of location does not include the clothing, weapons, or equipment of the individuals involved. Range of Transposition (1 mile per level - Line of Sight - yes our Akuma have incredible sight).
Next lets look at Magic Resistance and Normal Weapon Immunity. I really want to keep these though the assumption that they are resistant to all magic and can only be harmed by Magic Weapons seems overly powerful for something that should be a rival to Humans in our Mystara Setting. Normal Weapons should mean that at fourth level it takes a Silver Weapon to harm our Akuma. It means we can call our old werewolves by the name Akuma. This gives a more traditional feel to our horrors and broadens the nature of our Akuma.
Akuma Immune to Normal Weapons at Level 4+
Finally lets look at our problem area - Magic Resistance. Basically we are dealing with beings from other planes. Unless magic is at superposition to all realities, Magic must differ with the differences that those realities impose. If there is a problem, it is that the Akuma becomes 100% immune to Magic at around 10th level. We could decide that this immunity is progesssion. Basically 100% means immunity to 1st level magic, 200% means immunity to 1st-2nd level magic, but this seems to weaken it. So lets keep it for now.
Magic Resistance 50% + 5%/level
Choose Akuma Class: Roll up a class as though it were human (any class is available).
Appearance: Simply select a human (or animal), and a monster and combine the results. This has a minor effect on our character - they gain any unusual abilities associated with a physical attribute -a tail might allow a whip attack, claws allow a claw attack, wings might allow flight.
Clans of the Akuma
Amongst the many diverse Akuma subtypes that have crossed the planar boundary and invaded Mystara are four:
- Ryu Ojo
- Shiroi Karasu
- Gekko Ryoshi
- Warui Okami
The Ryu Ojo or Dragon Princess have the upper body and head of a female human and the lower form of a Snake.
The Shiroi Karasu or White Crow have the head and legs of a White Carrion Bird and the Body of a Man. These are the source of the Miasma that plgues the lands.
The Gekko Ryoshi or Moonlight Fisherman has the body of a Spider and the head of a Man.
Warui Okami or Bad Wolf is perhaps one of the few who look most like the animal form. They have all the appearance of a Wolf with powerful arms (almost bear like) as they stand upright. They are the origin of the Werewolf in the Republic.
RACE: 'Albino Crow' (Shiroi-Karasu)
CLERIC OF ORCUS (L5); STR(7), INT(13), WIS(16), DEX(13), CON (9), CHA(4); 32HP; AL: Neutral (Evil); 75% Spell Resistance; Immune to Normal Weapons; Gate Travel; Spells (as level 5 Cleric); Description: Likes to pass itself off as a Plague-warden (aka Cleric) and is never seen without it's 'mask', black full length robes and black broad-brimmed hat). It is usually involved in the burial of the victims of the Maisma (which it spreads thanks to the fleas it carries). Currently wanders about the Plague ridden lands. Undisguised this fiend has the body of a Human, and the Head and Legs of a White Carrion Bird (Albino Crow).
Gaming Origins: The German Kriegspiel
It is stated in our late English telegrams that Prince Arthur had delivered a very successful lecture, in the military town of Dover, on the Kriespiel, or German war-game.
The following description of this intricate military game is from the Pall Mall Gazette: It is somewhat remarkable that this game, or rather method of instruction, which has been in use in Germany for many years, has not only never been introduced, but has been until recently almost unknown in England. It was first invented by a Prussian gentleman who was interested in the study of campaigns, and who found that the best method of acquiring knowledge of the movement of troops was to imitate them on the map by means of moveable blocks. He then endeavored to work out problems of evolutions, laying down rules for the guidance of sham armies. His son, a Prussian officer, seized upon the idea and enlarged upon it, until the game became an imitation of war fought by small blocks, made according to scale to represent battalions, companies, regiments of cavalry, squadrons, batteries, pontoon trains and even skirmishers and patrols. The game soon became popular among Prussian officers, and was used in the war schools as one of the principal me as of instruction in strategy and tactics. General Eyrye, hearing of its merits from General Von Blumenthal, sent for the necessary apparatus from Germany, and brought it before the notice of the War Office. Here, however, an instructor in the mimic war was required, and Major Boerdans [Roerdans?], the military attaché of the German Embassy, kindly volunteered to explain it. On December 22, at the United Service Institution, before a large audience comprising many distinguished military and naval officers, he again exhibited the game, and rules, which are somewhat complicated, but pointed out in a masterly manor the uses to which it might be turned. . He showed how necessary is instruction in tactics, and how few officers ever hive opportunities of their simplest rules beyond the evolutions of the drill book. At the same time he pointed - out how much might be acquired by learning to move troops over carefully executed maps. The war-game aims at affording this instruction.
The apparatus' necessary are maps prepared on a scale of 6in. or 8in. to a mile, carefully contoured and distinctly colored, together with boxes of metal blocks to represent the opposing armies, also every arm of the service, and made of sizes on a scale proportioned to that of the map. This may be considered to be the materiel of the game.
The personnel consist of at least six officers -vis., a general of each army, an officer to command the advanced troops on either side, and above all an umpire and his aide-de-camp. These officers must not only be well acquainted with the rules of the game, but must-be able to read maps, and must understand thoroughly the principles of commanding and maneuvering troops. The umpire, above all, should be an officer well instructed in every branch of the service and of a decided character.
The method of playing is as follows: The map to represent the theatre of war, possibly 15 or 20 miles square, firmly stretched on blocks, is placed on a table. It is first carefully studied by the players, who may also avail themselves of private maps for reference, Short general directions are given by the umpire, stating the purpose of the campaign, together with private orders giving broad directions for each of the opposed generals. The troops represented by the red and blue blocks, numbering perhaps 10,000 men on either side, are handed over to the players, who place them separately on the board in the positions indicated by the umpire as the localities from which the armies are to commence the campaign. The first practice, therefore, is the arrangement of the outposts and of the bivouac. Neither player sees his opponent's army, excepting as far as he can ascertain its disposition by pushing forward patrols and advanced guards. The umpire alone sees the whole disposition of the forces. The time of year is settled upon, as on it various conditions of the tactics, such as the length of the day, the state of the roads, etc. depend.
Each player move in turn, the adversary leaving the room until the move or moves are completed, and the portion of the map occupied by the troops out of sight of his patrols is covered up. The moves represent the space over which artillery, cavalry, aid infantry can march at the various paces of each arm in a give time - i.e. two minutes. The orders issued to the officer or officers of detached portions of the armies - say, the advanced guard, must be given precisely by the general, who can only convey his order by aid-de-camps moving over the map at a fixed rate of speed. As the armies approach each other, and the troops come under fire, a new phase of the game develops itself - The losses have to be estimated, and these are calculated by carefully prepared tables, the various circumstances, such as troops being covered by entrenchments, or a wrong estimate distance at which fire is opened being taken into consideration. The element of chance, or rather of conditions which are not governed by rules, is imitated by employing dice, The chances for or against the particular regiment, squadron, or battery, being taken from the tables, and then settled by lot. Thus the action gradually develops itself as each portion of the army comes on the battle field, and it is decided, as in real battle, by the success or defeat of various detachments. The more the game is made to represent real service, the more instructive and interesting it becomes. It must be played under the rules of strict discipline, and the decision of the umpire must be regarded as unimpeachable.
The Kreigspiel is not only used in the war schools, but it is the amusement of Generals Von Moltke, Von Blumenthal. and Prince Frederick Charles, and other officers whom the last great European wars have brought prominently forward. As Major Roerdans [Boerdans?] pointed out, it is not suited for young officers, but in the hands of instructed soldiers becomes a means of acquiring knowledge which no other method affords. The very questions which arise during the game lead up to discussions on the most difficult of military problems, and direct the attention of officers to the details of their profession. General Napier, who took the chair at the meeting, stated that our War Office was preparing the necessary apparatus suited for the tactical formation of English troops, and hoped soon to introduce the game generally into our army, commencing with the Staff College at Sandhurst. Should it prove as useful in England as it has been in Germany, our officers will owe a debt of gratitude to Major Boerdans for so carefully explaining its rules and illustrating its practical working by means of so instructive a lecture as that which he delivered at the United Service Hotel.
Source: Queanbeyan Age 23 May 1872
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