Realms of Chirak the Setting and Pathfinder 2E

By popular demand my Wednesday group has returned to Pathfinder 2E, now Remastered, and everyone is having a good time. I gave some thought to what setting I would use...I had created the Oman'Hakat world for Pathfinder 2E when the system came out and ran a series of successful campaigns in that world, including one that ran to 20th level. I ran some shorter campaigns in PF2E using Keepers of Lingusia, and even the Enzada campaign, which was the world I designed for Pathfinder 1E when I switched over to that back in the day. I had not, however, used Realms of Chirak.....which I ran a huge number of campaigns for using D&D 3.0, 3.5, 4E and then Pathfinder 1E. I had kept my scenarios and campaigns in Chirak with D&D 5E, but a side effect of that was that I was generally less satisfied with running future games there because of my many issues with the 5th edition mechanics, which were now amplified by the even less satisfying new 2024 5.5 edition. So it was time to merge PF2E with Chirak!

This has led me to realize that I have a lot of work cut out for me, though maybe less in some ways than I might have thought, as specific ancestries in Chirak that do not have proper analogues in Pathfinder 2E will require more extensive write ups with the racial feats and such to provide proper support. Right now I am sort of running these scenarios ad hoc....reskinning appropriate NPC and monster stat blocks to get what I want, and finding the best analogue already in PF2E for players. Eventually I will work up the energy to develop actual ancestry paths for things such as the animates, cannesh, Masirians and so forth, and add in feats to support the gnome/goblin connection stuff like that. If you are unfamiliar with tis setting, I still have an old 4th edition take available out there on Drivethrurpg sites. I have an extensive 5th edition draft that I have run 5E games with for years, but never compiled into a print-worthy document. Now, maybe, I will find my writing spirit again and cough up something for Pathfinder 2E. Who knows! I'd love to feel that inspiration to write hit me again like it did back in the day, though I think it didn't so much leave me as life kind of crumpled it up and shoved it down deep into the couch cushions. It's hard to feel motivated to indulge in such fancies when the world is going to hell in a handbasket, you know?

Anyway, I am having fun with this return to Pathfinder, and likewise this return to Chirak. I rolled the timeline forward another 20 years so many of the plots and NPCs the PCs are meeting are now older than their last appearances, and many children of said NPCs are now adults. It will be interesting to watch this develop. Some venerable old PCs who have gone on to become important NPCs will weigh in, and I admit it is a shame I lost touch with some of my old gaming crew, would be fun to have them back again, but life has a way of carrying on....ah well!

As a side note, Friday's biweekly game has wrapped a scenario in Tales of the Valiant (we all enjoyed it, and found it slightly more satisfying than classic 5E, and much more satisfying than the new 2024 5E lite), but we are all eyeing the new Starfinder 2E hungrily now, especially since it is now 100% fully compatible with Pathfinder 2E mechanics....I have the Player Core, GM Core and Galaxy Guide now and I have to say, I like the approach they have taken over all --though I miss a lot of the older art style in the game; a lot of the newer art is just not as dynamic as it used to be from the old core books. The art is still good, though....just not as good as it used to be. Either way, this new edition handily embraces its space fantasy elements and fixes practically everything I had issues with in the prior edition, so I am looking forward to trying it out now.  

Return to Theliad - an Update and Revision to the Northwestern lands of Chirak

The History of Theliad

   Northwestern Chirak is a remote location, isolated from much of the central civilizations of the Sea of Chirak region, and only tenuously connected by trade and warfare with certain regions of the West and the North. Syrgian traders have been journeying to the eastern regions of Theliad for two centuries now, and on certain occasions the Madigar and Abraheilites have engaged in trade by way of the difficult sea and land routes to Theliad. Still, it is not as isolated as Far Therias, and its people know something of the wider world, though their insular cultural groups are not receptive to outside influence.

   Theliad is described by some as a land that has moved on. While the rest of the world still mourns the loss of old gods or eagerly awaits the rise of new avatars and demiurges, Theliad has dispensed with the old pantheon in disgust and created its own new ways. Chiefly, the earliest arbiters of civilization were several clans who claimed trueborn blood of the old Inadasir, and that this was divine blood, which asserted their ultimate destiny as ascended beings. The first true civilizations to rise in Theliad after the Apocalypse were driven by these early god-kings, and the concept prevailed. The notion of a leader being directly equivalent to a god is commonly accepted among the people of this land, and their belief that mortals can ascend to divinity is very strong.

   Theliad’s history has not been without conflict. The earliest god kings arose in three primary cultural groups, including the Atarthic kingdoms, the Shellas, and the Adenar. These three groups rose from the ashes of the Apocalypse within three or four centuries, and it was around seven centuries that the first self-proclaimed god kings manifested. The first such was the enigmatic being called Hakarthos. This man ruled Atarthis as a benevolent ruler, who claimed to have visited a cavern in the Agardash Mountains, where he was spoken to by a divine spirit some claim to be Pallath and others claim was Pornyphiros (and still others believe something else entirely happened; see Black Kyanite later on). The legends say that this variably named divine spirit passed on the essence of godhood to Hakarthos, who then went on to rule, as an immortal, for nine centuries before his fall during the Keterash Uprising.

   Two other divine beings manifested during this early period, including Nimrasa, the divine queen of Shellas, and Sulturian of Adenar, an amorphic being who, though starting as a man, eventually transformed in to a terrible entity. Like Hakarthos, Sulturian was eventually deposed, though his followers found they could not slay him, and instead entombed the terrifying being in the deepest levels of the catacombs of his great city, and then abandoned it. This city is known today as Afar, and it is said that the blood of the entombed god poisoned the land all around, turning Adenar in to a dead land.

   Nimrasa is the only one of these ancient ascended beings to remain alive to this day. Though her kingdom collapsed long ago, her loyal priesthood spirited her away to a place of safety during the time of the Keterash Uprisings and kept her safely hidden. A century after the collapse of the old empires she was revealed anew, though Nimrasa swore she would never again demand servitude of mortals. The goddess dwells to this day in her venerable mountain temple just south of the lake city of Typhonis.

   It was approximately eleven hundred years ago that the second pantheon arose. This time, the first scended mortal was a man known only as Agarthis, a warlord of the Ekarthask clans, he was a powerful figure, and in this era he conquered a great deal of territory. On one occasion, near the edge of the White Desert, he was visited by a seductive spirit, a woman who claimed to carry the blood of the god Ga’Thon in her veins named Ierata. As the tale goes, she seduced Agarthis, and gave him a taste of divine godflesh from her father’s own body. Agarthis was transformed, and rode forth to declare his status as risen god. He conquered much of the known world in that time, and his own troops were now prepared to venture across the burning sands of the White Desert to sack the fabled city of Eristantopolis, when he was confronted by a man named Pallath Eridanos, a chosen avatar of the sun god, who allegedly united the surviving foes of the risen god with the troops of Eristantopolis to at last stop the mad immortal. Agarthis was imprisoned, again found to be unkillable, beneath a massive stone monument, usually called a tomb, but known also as a temple by his followers to this day. Even imprisoned, his voice can be heard in the dreams of men of great desire and power, and it a common term to speak of one who has fallen to madness as having “received the dreams of Agarthis” as an explanation for his insane behavior.

   The mysterious Pallath Eridanos is still revered by the people of Theliad today, though little is known of this man. He is said to have studied for a time in Eristantopolis after saving his people, and then to have traveled to the western islands, where he founded the modern city and kingdom of Theliad before passing on in to time. His whereabouts to this day are unknown.

   The Demon Kings of old were feared and reviled by all, and Theliad, much like the rest of the world, was not spared their rampaging shortly after the Apocalypse ended with the death of the gods. In this region it is known that many such ancient demon kings settled, as they tired from their ceaseless rampaging or were at last captured, imprisoned, or sometimes even destroyed. Scholarly records suggest that eleven demon kings were left alive or imprisoned in the land, and to this day there are Cults of the Eleven in the region, which revere and seek dark power from these entities.

   The last thousand years of history in Theliad have revealed two more “ascended immortals.” One is a man named Krytias, a scholar and student of lore who discovered, some say, the very cavern in which Hakarthos gained his divinity. Krytias manifested his divinity two centuries ago, and has been a peaceful ascetic ever since, teaching others how to achieve spiritual unity based on his visions prompted by the visits he makes to the sacred caves. His temple is located in the isles of Nelindiros.

   The other immortal is a man of mixed infernal heritage, whose mother may have been taken by one of the Eleven, specifically the infernal king Naramaeos. This son, named Tyrios, rose to power by virtue of his wiles and charms in the city of Masar, where he has ruled with an iron fist now for four centuries. Masar is a decadent kingdom of dark delights and opiates, reveling in the slave trade and the exploitation of others. It serves as an unpleasant bridge between the westerlands of Abraheil and the rest of Theliad.

   Of the many lands in the region, Theliad and Ekarthask are unique in that they eschew all faith in magical teachings, and disdains sorcery in all forms. These people only nominally tolerate divine practitioners, and seek instead the guidance of men who are enlightened through conventional wisdom.

    In contrast to these two lands, Nuliria and Nelindiros venerate their divine practitioners, and keep a watchful eye out for others who might claim potential immortality. These lands believe that the old age of gods is gone, and the essence of the gods has been imbued in mortal flesh, to be revealed at a time of their choosing. As a result, there are perhaps two dozen cults to various “living gods” in these lands, as well as certifiable ones such as Krytias and Nimrasa. A short list of these more popular living gods include:

Katharios the Wise

Chelisana the Divine Mistress of Light

Traidoros the Living Spirit of Strength

Macharadan the Healer

Setrinara the Oracle

The twins Tython and Ulistrana, divine sparks of Pornyphiros.

   Further east, in Sytaris, the people are less prone to worshipping living gods, though it does happen, and they instead venerate the ancestral dead, where they believe that the immortal spirits of their kings are all descended from the first true god, Hakarthos. They believe that Hakarthos was a unifying god-spirit, and that all of his descendants carry his spark. This ancestral cult is not unlike those of Nubirion, although with the added belief that each reincarnation brings an ancestral spirit closer to divinity.

   In the distant east, the city states of Ghurthal tend toward the worship of their resident goddess, the ancient Nimrasa, but there are cults and factions to many other gods as well. In an alarming trend, there are those who worship the entombed gods, Sulturian and Agarthis, and feel that they must follow the “children of Ga’Thon.” Where such teachings begin is a mystery, though rumors of Ierata’s hand in the matter are troubling. This mysterious entity, branded a Thousandspawn by the Preservationists of Eristantopolis, is believed to have secret designs on Theliad at large, and that she is partly to blame for the enigma of the so called ascended immortals and living gods in the land.

   In recent years, through the determined scheming of many lifetimes Ierata has consipired to manipulate the Theliadic Emperor Tiraeus into mad schemes of grandeur. Emperor Tiraeus has initiated a plan to conquer all of Theliad, to assassinate all of the immortals, to clean the slate for his great empire. He will then establish himself as a new, living god. Even as Ierata uses the emperor to destroy her enemies, Tiraeus quietly conspires to destroy the witch as well, using the maddened creature that was once Agarthis, whom he freed from imprisonment to use as his guide in his new war against the world.

Next: Black Kyanite

Cypher System for Everything

I've got a real temptation to try using Cypher System for a while as my default go-to game. Even more so than I have, recently. This would mean, among other things....

--Seeing how it feels to run one of my existing worlds like Chirak or Lingusia using Cypher System. I suspect that it would actually be a more comfortable and entertaining experience than the default system for those worlds (D&D or Pathfinder)

--Prepping my Cyberpunk campaign idea for Cypher System

--Using my "Restoration" SF campaign which I am already designing for Cypher System

--Experimenting with Cypher for horror settings; here and only here I feel that Cypher may work well for other horror, but pure Lovecraftian Mythos must remain the domain of CoC 7E. However, a Cypher game focusing on something not intrinsically mythos might be worth experimenting with.

If I use it for a Realms of Chirak game I figure some rules are in order, including the need for a house rule that lets each PC pick a descriptor as well as a species (that would mean writing up a human race entry for species). It might mean making them into foci; I could see an animate PC working better as a focus*, for example. I'd need gnomes, dragonborn, and a few others not currently covered in the various Cypher books. Maybe. My current Cypher fantasy game (with heavy SF elements) pretty much lets players pick their race as part of their general nature and doesn't sweat stat details.

Beyond that, there's not a significant amount of prep involved. Almost all magic items in a D&Desque world are already handled by the cypher rules and artifact rules. Monsters are a piece of cake. The inherent archetypes of the descriptor/type/focus system let you build analogs for about all of the classes you might find in D&D, which means that thematic consistency should be self evident.

I have traditionally only run two flavors of Realms of Chirak: one set using the Runequest/Mythras mechanics, and one using D&D mechanics in whatever flavor it currently presents. The idea of running Chirak games in Cypher seems more natural, oddly, than back when I ran Chirak as a setting for D&D 4E, honestly.

Think I need to try this. Just have to get the current D&D campaign to wrap up soon!




*I mean, stuff like "Abides in Stone" is already doing the groundwork, I just need some extra tier options to cover the modifications Animates can make. Or, just tell the PC to make an animate with a suitable flavor, and write up those extra animate options as a "Animate" flavor. So many ways to do it in this system.....

Eradariin: The Red Elves of Chirak for Runequest 6/Mythras

Eradariin, the Red Elves of Chirak in Runequest 6/Mythras

The Red Elves, called Eradariin in the old elvish tongue, are elves who were enslaved in the Goblin Wars and later freed themselves, adopting the worship of Shaligon as they did, and assuming the mantle of control over the goblins. They are normal elves, but ritually scarred and tattooed in honor of Shaligon, and they revel in the vile ways of goblinoid culture.

Although the eradariin are not all evil, it is difficult to be good in a society which is dominated by the worship of Shaligon and the veneration of chaos. As such, red elves born of good alignment are usually found out and killed, or escape to the surface world to find freedom. Luckily, the depravities of the red elves on the surface world are largely an unknown, except for

regions such as Correnstal where they are manifesting as a dangerous military presence.

Languages: Red elves begin play knowing both elvish and goblin as languages, although they do not start knowing Tradespeak, but instead know Lower Common, the trade language of the Lower Dark.

Eradariin Traits: once a breed of high elf, the eradariin have been deeply scarred and changed by several centuries of assimilation into goblin culture and the worship of Shaligon. They have the following unique traits:

Ability Scores and Base Traits: Eradariin are identical to normal elves (per elves as depicted in Classic Fantasy).

Languages: Eradariin start play with two native languages at +40%: goblin and elven.

Marks of Shaligon: The red elves brand themselves with ritual scars and tattoos in veneration of Shaligon. Any red elf may elect to start with the Tattoo Mage skill at character creation (as a professional skill option for the elvish culture) but must invest points in it.

Combat Style Suggestions: Blades of Shaligon, the Cruel Whip, Bloody Brawler, Pain Striker 

Tattoo Mage Professional Skill (DEX)

Prerequisite: any spell caster; Eradariin elves gain this feat as part of their Mark of Shaligon trait

Benefit: Called tattoo mages, the practitioners of this art stand out due to the garish spell tattoos which cover their bodies. The character may brand ritual spells upon his or her body in lieu of a spell book, gaining unique special effects for those spells.

   In Chirak there are several cultures which engage in this form of ritual magic: most notable are the eradariin elves, who engage in a form of ritual scarring that imbues their flesh with spells. In the west, the Sabiri use elaborate forms of artistry and sharply contrasting pigments to imbue spell magic on their skin. Among these cultures heavily decorated skin is a sign of great power.

   Rules on tattoo magic are as follows:

   The Sabiri and Eradariin have learned the unique art of inscribing spells on their own bodies. Through the use of this skill, along with 100 SPs worth of tools and a special ink which comes from the blood of an enchanted creature (usually a gorgon), the Sabiri artist can spend one day placing the inscription or engram of the spell in question upon the body of the caster.

   For this to work, the skill of the tattoo artist must be higher than the skill of the recipient’s spell being tattooed. The time involved will take approximately 4 hours, but the GM can rule more time for more complex spells. The spell may be of sorcery or rune magic. Once it is placed upon the sorcerer’s skin, then he can never lose or forget the spell; he knows it innately.

   The Sabiri tattoo artist can also transfer the power of any rune stone* to the skin of the runecaster. This requires the same details as above, but the rune caster must integrate the stone at the time of the inscription, transferring the power of the rune to his own flesh. If all skill rolls succeed, then the process is done and the rune is now integrated physically. If the tattoo artist fails, the rune is integrated, but not on the skin (in the stone, instead). If the runecaster failed, he now has a cool tattoo that does nothing.

   If the runecaster dies, it is possible to take the rune from his flesh. It is also possible to then integrate the rune through the process described above, with the integrated rune being on stripped flesh instead of a stone or other object.

   Tattoo artists among the Sabiri often charge enormous sums to foreigners of the culture for the privilege of an integrated tattoo rune. The base price is usually 1,000 SPs, plus maybe some task.

*depending on which edition of Runequest you are using.... 

Tales from the Sea of Chirak IV: Intrigue in Dunnare

I am way behind on these! Time to catch up:

Our intrepid crew:

Naivara, the noble half-elven wizard
Tia, the half-elven priestess of Kalieyana
Ungarak, the half-orc paladin of the cult of the forgotten
Nehenac, the immortal last emperor of Xaxican and former prisoner of the Fortress of Hathor (NPC)

We have had some in-and-out guests, will name their PCs if I remember who they were....

Session 4 Summary:

When we left off, the crew had arrived in Port Dunnare after some harrowing adventures. Here they have had a day's rest before awakening to a busy day.

In this session the group divvied up to gather information and learn about the port. Key events that transpired include:

Ungarak stumbles on a murder....a druid was slain outside the city in the farmland and crucified on a tree. Evidence suggests it was orcs who did the deed. In following up on this they met the Watch Commander of the city, and learned that this has been an ongoing problem....the orcish tribes of the Northwood seem to be uniting, and are targeting the druids dedicated to the "White Goddess," a local spirit figure revered by the tuadathen elves.

Naivara enjoyed a pleasant stay in the Royal Inn. In the morning she meets Kargath, the minotaur who is a priest-dedicate to the mysterious cult of Hun'hunal, who is sipping martinis on the patio and scaring away customers. She learns Nehenac awoke at dawn and left early on an unknown (and worrisome) errand. She investigates where he went, meeting with Ungarak on his own investigation.

Tia spends time at the local (and smaller) temple of Kalie'yana, before setting out to meet the rest.

The group ultimately finds that they are directed to the Hunting Lodge in northwest Dunnare, where the Warden of the Northwood, a ranger named Ovidio, keeps his own special order. Ovidio might know more about this mysterious local threat by the orcs which has all concerned.

They arrive at the North Lodge and learn that this ancient fortress on the city's edge has been here for at least six centuries, predating the arrival of the old Sea Kings and the founding of Espanea. It was further built on top of older ruins that may be ancient. Ovidio, a pleasant older ranger, has had the complex in his family for almost four centuries.

As it turns out, Ovidio's lodge had an unexpected visit this morning: a mysterious man that by description must be Nehenac broke in, entered the catacombs beneath, and sealed the passage off with a hidden stone block that even the rangers didn't know about. They are working to find men who can remove or chisel away the stone so they can pursue the invader, who is now locked in a catacomb that runs seven levels deep before ending at a flooded passage.

Tia uses her true seeing to discover three hidden secret doors: one is a plastered wall behind which it turns out is what appears to be an ancient planar gate, now overlooking the pig pens. A second secret passage is in the back of the pantry, and a third is in the armory. Ovidio knew of only the pantry, which leads to a secret passage out....a safe passage to escape the fortress if it's defenses were ever compromised. The other two were mysteries; none lead to alternative routes to the catacombs so far as they know....at least not without investigation!

The group begins with the armory secret door, after determining the other is a hidden gate that is very worrisome. Ovidio explains that Taddeos, the high wizard of the local Academy, outfitted the armory as a gift a few years ago with four enchanted suits of animated armor. Each suit contained a silvered skeleton on which the suit draped. As they investigated, pulling a decorative shield triggered the skeleton-armor to turn and push a pivoting hidden door in the wall, revealing a wide spiral staircase going down. This is quite a surprise to Ovidio.

The stairs descend in to a chamber with a strange, blue-illuminated pool dominating a large chamber, with a passage to the right and a far wall in the chamber that appears to have a charnel stone sculpture of human flesh and limbs carved out of marble, partially overlapping two doors along that wall, such that they don't look like they can be opened without breaking the wall statuary to do so. As Naivara gets closer, it turns out the wall is alive! It is flesh with a gray pallor, and moves slowly but certainly, speaking in telepathic whispers, asking the adventurers to come closer, just a bit closer. They decline.

The group, fascinated at what's going on here, head to the passage in the right and follow a cooridor to a large, oddly shaped chamber with six deep cistern-style pools on the floor with utterly still water, and what appears to be a massive white dragon skeleton suspened with metal wires from the high ceiling. Each cistern has what appears to be a sealed iron hatch at the bottom of each pool.

Before they can really investigate a horde of bloody skeletons burst in from two of the three doors at the end of the chamber! A brutal fight ensues, as several of the skeletons appear able to summon a maelstrom "blood storm" in which acidic blood fills the chamber, eating at flesh and blinding the eyes. The party is immediately fighting for its life, and narrowly defeats them after a brutal fight.

In the middle of the fight one of the bloody skeletons is knocked in to a cistern, and its body begins to dissolve immediately....the cisterns are not full of water, but caustic acid!

After they skeletons are defeated the adventurers, with a badly wounded Ovidio, quickly retreat to recover and regroup. They have a very dangerous mystery to solve...

While resting up, a messenger boy from the Royal Inn arrives, looking for Naivara. He has a message from Nehenac, who states that he needs to learn if his "old cache" is still intact, and that he feels he must prepare for the revenge he is commited to against the ancestors of the Masirians who wronged him. He states that he knows the Lodge contains a secret entrance to the old Vault which he built beneath the lost Xaxicani colony that once rest on this exact spot, 2,500 years ago before the Masirians razed it to the ground....and he thinks they may never have found his hidden cache in the vault.

Next: Masurana's Secrets Revealed!

Tales from the Cannadad Dei: Haddaran Zamac (villain)

Here's a snippet of a possible future villain and plot in Realms of Chirak...as yet not realized, but the possible plot lingers for some future date. It's a bit complicated, however....and I've been favoring simpler scenarios lately, so who knows when I'll get around to exploiting it:

Haddaran Zamac

The cruel Masirian sorcerer-exile of Masiria, Haddaran Zamac has been living in the dominion of Nubirion for more than a century now. He was exiled from his homeland for the most grievous of crimes: the practice of chaos magic, entropomancy. In his secret mastery of this magic, Zamac stumbled across a dark secret about the nature of the old lord of chaos, Ga’Thon, and in doing so he discovered the secret of the dead god’s offspring, the Thousandspawn.

Zamac discovered that the Thousandspawn were immortal reanimates, godflesh given the semblance of life, and that the creatures were made “alive” by the tiny shards of the topaz Aries Stone, the divine source of Ga’Thon’s power. It was a clever means of surviving, Zamac realized….Ga’Thon had fractured his soul and his power into a thousand pieces, but it preserved his existence in the form of countless “offspring.”

As Zamac continued his research he delved deep into the nature of chaos magic, and began to explore the depths of the entropic magic. Zamac discovered that the source of the power came from the Far Realm, and in turn the Far Realm was the nebulous tether to the madness of a chaotic realm beyond which all of the universe was encompassed by. It was there that he discovered the “tunnels,” holes bored into reality from which the Far Realm propogated, and so it was that he saw fit to follow these “tunnels.”

Zamac discovered that the tunnels led to ancient Chaos Gods, the first and oldest such gods, beings of truly unimaginable power and might. These were gods in the truest sense; their point of existence was to destroy, to unmake the ordered reality of the world. As Zamac delved deep into the hidden corners of chaos, he realized that at least two of these beings had arrived in the mortal realm of Chirak in the dawn of time. One was called Molabal, and was trapped via the Pillar of Night in the dreamlands. The other creature had arrived and apparently been slain; it’s moldering corpse rested deep beneath the caverns and tunnels of the underworld below Nubirion. It’s body still resonated with power, he learned…though the beast had somehow been slain in some ancient prehistoric conflict with the Twelve, the flesh of the creature continued to hold unfathomable power.

Zamac was exposed for his vile thaumaturgy and cast out of Masira a century ago, but it suited him to do so, for he could continue to carry out his research, specifically in the land where he could learn the most about chaos magic. He traveled to Nubirion and took up residence for a time in the Yellow City before his experiments eventually forced him to migrate to Tedron, where he was able to remain to the present. In his time in Nubirion he forged a loyal group of servants, soldiers and followers, and spent decades delving into the depths of the earth in search for the body of the moldering lost Chaos God.

A decade ago, Zamac was at lat successful. The body of the dead god was immense, and filled a cavernous stretch for miles beneath the earth, beneath the Venedati Mountains. He found much more than just the corpse of a primordial old god, however: he also found Skazas, the Destroyer, first spawn of Ga’Thon.

Skazas was a formidable foe, and set thousands of years ago in the cavern by Ga’Thon to guard the secret of the Old God by destroying any who entered the cavern. Skazas sought to murder Zmac and his men, but Zamac had come prepared, thanks to his study of the Thousandspawn. Skazas was captured and bound to Zamac’s will.

Zamac then began the ritual, and partook of the flesh of the Old God, as he had now determined Ga’Thon must have. In so doing he realized that this process held the secret to Ga’Thon’s terrifying might at the end of the Final War, and may have accounted for his ability to forge the Thousandspawn at his moment of death.

Zamac survived the ritual, but he was forever changed, his flesh absorbed into chaos such that he was no longer himself, and his physical form was but a shadowy puppet in the mortal plane. The new Zamac realized his ambitions at the mastery of chaos magic, the discovery of Ga’Thon’s secrets, were pale shadows of the real truth. He was the offspring of a great, ancient destroyer called Sarvanilos: he was the inheritor of a power that was meant to undo creation, to bring to universe back into the folds of chaos. Though his “father” had perished tens of thousands of years ago, his destiny was the same: he could unmake reality.

It was Zamac’s companion, the gorgon Semilta, who brought him back from the brink. Her gaze no longer affected his corrupted flesh, but it calmed his madness, and brought back the man Zamac. His sanity restored with her gaze and touch, Zamac realized that the chaos magic he now wielded, if he could learn to channel it, would allow him to conquer the very world, and then remake it in the image he desired….exactly the same sort of power which Ga’Thon had once craved.

His only problem, he realized, was that the power to do so lay in the Zodiac Aries Stone itself. Ga’Thon held the stone, and it had been divided into a thousand shards. There must be a way, he realized, to reunite the stones, and to abolish the consciousness of Ga’Thon hidden within the flesh of the thousandspawn.

Zamac set about pushing to discover a way to do this. He learned in his research of an ancient order of wizards who had studied this phenomenon, albeit with the intention of imprisoning or destroying the Thousandspawn: The Order of the Grey Wren. He found out Lord Adan Nistur of Varkal was one of the members, and so he sought the man out. When he stole Nistur’s knowledge and memories, he turned then to the next on his list: Malenkin.   

Chirak: The Serpent Caldera

Southern Mercurios: The Serpent Caldera

Locations:

Sulfur Lake

   This miles-wide and long lake is at the heart of the great caldera that marks the centerpoint of the Southern Kasarak Mountains. The lake water is often tainted by sulfurous emissions releasing from volcanic vents below, and little lives in the lake beyond some hardy fish and algae.

Lizard Man Territory

The lizard men of Serpent Caldera are a hearty group of expatriates who disagreed with the Hashykarystyr militarization of recent decades, and so broke off and migrated south to remain apart from it. Their dedication to the Ancentral Cult of Hossor, a prophet of great legend among the Hshykarystyr is what they are dedicated to. The Chieftain of the tribes is Shakat Haldaran, a fair but sometimes cruel leader who strives for neutrality with the neighbors in the region. They are only at odds with the orcs of Gozad and the kobold tribes, while staying neutral with the humans of Serimore. They avoid the soldiers of Fort Axeron, who are dedicated to enslaving them as curiosities for the arena, and they also avoid the territory of Sen’Samir whee the Kulaidoriin elves despise lizard folk of all types.

Kobold Territory

The kobolds inhabit numerous caves formed from lava tubes, creating long, winding hives. They are mostly nestled along the entrance to the caldera, a lengthy rise down which the Great River emerges from. The kobolds were until recently led by the winged urd named Mang Drog who was murdered, and the shaman Vosokos has taken over temporarily. They live a life of banditry and theft and are a plague on all other denizens in the region.

Goval

This is the southern Hsahykarystyr fortress led by general Kavoriss, a female lizard woman of great repute in the region. Goval was originally founded to defend against Kasark incursions a century ago when the barbarians, like men everywhere, reacted violently to the manifestation of a lizard man kingdom in their midst. Goval is one of the Basilisk Towers, and on its highest tower is mounted one of the dreaded Reflecting Mirrors, powered by the ancient basilisk eyes that the Hashykarystyr have used to enforce their borders against Kasark and Mercurious. No one knows what dire magics they used to create these artifacts.

Serimore

The town of Serimore has been here for two centuries and its hunters have learned to live with the basilisks, hunting them carefully and avoiding their petrifying gaze. Natives have, in fact, displayed a curious resistance to the basilisk gaze (gaining advantage) though none know why. In time, the town grew to 400 strong; there are another 300 or so who live in remote outlying communities in the area. There is also a small local dwarven population and the mayor of the town is a dwarf named Vax Durggen. The story is that the local dwarves came from Syrgia long ago to prospect for mithril in the mountains, but never succeeded and eventually settled down to stay.

The town was thrown into chaos one year ago when the Cult of the Night Serpent arrived, led by the medusa Goz  Semilta, who turned several threatening townsfolk to stone before they left her and the cult alone. In the last year the cult has grown hundreds strong and built an impressive earthen pyramid entrance to the eastern mountain cave once known as the breeding cave of the basilisks and now dubbed the Temple of the Night Serpent.

Temple of the Night Serpent

Once this was a cave where the basilisks descended every year to breed, lay eggs and let their next generation hatch and grow, usually with a matriarch basilisk overlooking the younglings. Now it is the entrance to an impressive temple to the Night Serpent of the new cult which claims to be pureblood descended serpent men of old, led by a high priestess medusa. The interior of this complex will detailed more later, but the exterior includes a shantytown of crude huts and tents which holds the ever growing population of pilgrims who believe they have the blood of the serpent god within them.

The Old Road

This ancient road winds its way through the eastern Kasarak Mountains, and remains in surprisingly good shape considering no one seems to maintain it. Passage on this road can take one all the way to the mountain city of Arus, and from there the Old Road skirts close to Castle Dorn before exiting in the southern merge of the Dryssyrian and Kasark ranges along the river that leads to Knovyskus. The Kasark barbarians use it as a principle “safe route” through the mountains.

Olegast

The town of Olegast was a thriving lake town before the first settlers ever came to Serimore. It was a major city in the days of the Pellucid Empire, but was sieged and destroyed by the Kasdalani forces four centuries ago. Olegast bounced back but never recovered as a city, remaining a smaller township for nearly a century and a half before it was destroyed by unknown forces. Decades later the first settlers at Serimore found only ruins and undead in Olegast, and decided the ground was cursed, so they settled northward. No one has ever discovered who or what sealed the town’s final fate.

The Tainted Lands

Some of the freshest lava flows can be found here, laid down only a century and a half back when Mount Uridon erupted to the west and great burning flows of lava covered the land and filled out the deep valleys. Stories say that there was an elven city here once, but that it is now completely submerged beneath the lava flows. Stories suggest that you can run into elven ghosts in the Tainted Lands. The name comes from the observation that nothing grows in the area anymore.

Sen’Samir

The citadel of Sen’Samir was founded long ago, and it’s architecture is clearly elven. It is one of the reasons people suggest the Tainted Lands may have once held an elven city before the lava covered it all up. The citadel is dangerously close to the twin volcanic mountains of Uridon and Seridon, named after the two Elohim brothers and warrior-templars of Akquinarios that fell to the earth during the Final War twenty six hundred years ago.

Sen’Samir was unoccupied for centuries, but about eighty years ago a tribe of Kulaidoriin ascetics and spiritualists settled in the area, gradually purging the tower of old denizens and traps and converting it to a new home for their order. Ever since the dark elves of the south have called the citadel their home, and other Kulaidoriin have since joined them, creating a rather impressive town. The waters of Lake Perast along which the citadel resides are surpisingly pure despite being nestled against the southern slopes of Mt. Seridon. The elves seem to think they are a protecting force; the mystical beliefs of the local cult are that the purity of their belief insures the volcanoes will not erupt.

The cult at Sen’Samir seems to be a form of ancentral worship on the surface, but it’s actually a bit more complex. The leader of the cult, the Kulaidor woman named Saatha Verunis, had a profound experience once when she discovered her ability to commune with the dead. She developed a fascination for ghosts and their lore, and learned that through ghosts one could learn of avenues to the afterworld that would allow guided elven spirits to at last seek true peace. The cult believes that it is doing a great service to their kind by seeking out elven spirits to aid them in finding a place of rest in the afterlife. The unnaturally regular encounters with elven ghosts in the region suggests that are at least partially on to something…

Saggaros’ Crown

The great wall known as Saggaros’s Crown is a stretch of mountains to the southwest noted for an impressive drop from their height, as the mountains look like a great tidal wave with several crown-like points jutting at the top. Scaling the great cliffs of this mountain is near impossible, but at the base of the mountain are several caves which open up into a vast series of cavern complexes.

The caverns of Saggaros’s Crown are dominated by the Orcs of Gaar, a tribe led by the warlord Magnathor and his queen Aitsu. There are two main orcish complexes/cities, one at Gozad where the warlord rules, and the other at Valdur where his main forces build relentlessly, engaging in regular raids against Kasarak tribelands and Kasdalani territory to the south.

The wall gets its name from the Demon King Saggaros, said to have been the Lord of Xylom, also the one who slew the Elohim warrior twins Uridon and Seridon. The orcs nominally pay homage to him, but what little worship they actually engage in is reserved for Shaligon.

The Secret Hut of Paask Venar

Paask Venar is a stout agent of the Durnitari gnomes of the growing Empire of Epinfael, which now encompasses territory from Balenorn, Knoviskus and Selgarde. The gnomes of Epinfael are on the move, and they are driven by the magnetic personality of their leader, the once famous swashbuckler and privateer now turned king Seramis Den’dator. Paask venar is a distant cousin of the king and part of the First Recon Advanced Corps of Engineers (FRACE) which has been methodically scouting out enemy territory and stealing valuable magic. Paask Venar stumbled across the machinations of the cult of the Night Serpent and realized that they had found a powerful artifact, the Orb of Serpent Kind, an relic of the old war. He’s recruited the trolls used as guards and seeks a way of stealing it…most recently the plan being to do so after the coronation of a new high priest, in the dawn hours when the cult is drunk and unconscious following a celebratory orgy. He’s gotten the trolls to secure the ingredients to six potions of petrification resistance (granting advantage on such saves for 24 hours). He will, if met, pass himself off as a dedicated supporter of King Dukas in Mercurious.

Despite some suspicions that the Night Serpent Cult is a product of the Kasdalani, that’s actually all the work of Paask Venar, who is diligently trying to sew the seeds of dissention among the two nations, so that if Mercurios and Kasdalan go to war, they will be sufficiently weakened that Epinfael will be able to take full advantage of both lands.

Fort Axeron

Axeron was founded a century ago as a northern outpost for the protection of caravans of Kasdalani origin, but in fact it is much more obviously a listening post for possible danger from Mercurios, and likely could serve as a staging ground for war should the two nations ever come to blows again. It is currently being run by Commander Partanos and the sorceress Sera Takhanis, both of whom have been taking a keen interest in what is going on to the north.

The soldiers of Axeron are known for their love of combat sport, and two arenas provide daily entertainment. A beastmaster named Haggaran Daile came to serve the fort a decade ago, and brought with him the skill necessary to tame manticores. He has since aided the fortress in finding the local Kasarak breed of manticores and aided in turning the beasts into useful war machines as well as arena sport.

Shae

Shae is the closest full Kasarak community in the region. Chieftain Sondor Magharas dwells here, as does his daughter Brigihita, the once great warrior who served with Mardieur Mardieux during his travels through the mountains a decade ago. Brigihita has since settled and founded a family but can still fight with the best of them, as can her husband Varagos.

The tribe considers itself responsible for what goes on in the tumultuous caldera, and as such keep a vigilant watch on Fort Axeron and Serimore. The cult has concerned them greatly, but also done nothing against the tribe, even going so far as to offer medicinal made by the pilgrims in exchange for skins and food harvested by the tribe. At one point the yuan-ti pureblood named Proxis Sarne offered to divine if any of the tribesmen were of “true bloodlines” but the chieftain put his foot down to such nonsense an drove them off.

Current Plot Notes:

Patron: Lord Athun, cousin to Seneschal Mortan, needs potions made from basilisk parts to cure his brother-in-law Antonares, who during the wedding in Niudan of Athun and his new wife Serena was turned to stone by Goz Semilta. Not known why she broke in to the wedding, or what she was after.

Goz Semilta was actually getting revenge on Antonares, because he was the one who found the secret of the ancient Mythric City in the depths of the mountain and uncovered the Orb of Serpent Kind. She knew he was going to betray her and struck before he could take his information to a greater and more lucrative source.

Players:

Goz Semilta, gorgon of the Night Serpent and dedicate to Dendar. She feels she has been ordained with the divine purpose of restoring the lost power of the Yuan-Ti, an ancient race that was a great threat in the old era of the Mythrics.

Proxis Sarne – the yuan-ti abomination which has allied himself with Semilta and seeks to restore his people. He believes that the heart of the old Yuan-Ti empire of Khos ran from the Kasaraks all the way into Nubirion, and it was destroyed three thousand years ago in a war with the Mythric Empire.

Neighboring Lands in the Pellucid Kingdoms

Neighboring Lands in the Pellucid Region:

There are several locations in or near the region of Mercurios proper that bear mentioning.

Varkal

   Located in the northern-most lands of the old Pellucid empire, this city once belonged to the ancient empire, and was even founded by its greatest ancient general, Alvenadras. It is a cross mixing of Pellucids and Nubirions.

   The current city-state is independent, and very powerful in the region, seeking tribute from many local tribes and polities. It is ruled by King Trabalas Garuh, the True born King (said to be a direct descendant of Alvenadras). His wife is the half-Varkalite Skimian Trianay, step mother to his true born daughter Cyria Nystor (a blood mage), and Prince Sabalen Shiantal-Nystor (also of the former true queen, Alia). He has a second wife, concubine Alsia Nariamal, and a third, Cyriana, a true Nubiri woman. He has 13 daughters and 11 sons to these wives and his dead wife, but none are considered true born.

   The Chancellor of the State is Kurdon Osho, a Nubiri blood mage and taciturn economist. He is very shrewd in dealing with foreign interests. The city’s master at arms is Luranges, a great warrior of true Varkal descent, dedicated to the ancient martial arts of the Nubiri. The wizened advisor to the king is Krios the Bald, a Correnstalian who has been exiled from his own realm but impressed the king in his youth with skill and tenacity.

   The General of the Armies is Pur Gan, a Nubiri of the eastern tribes who was conquered in warfare years ago by the King and swore undying fealty to him. He has fought many skirmishes to keep the peace of the Varkal lands.

A popular hangout in the city is the Wry Spriggan, owned and operated by a Varkal native named Tulboso, who caters to the wealthy foreign merchants. The spriggan is named after a specific fey creature, which Tulboso allegedly bartered with for his wealth and fame, all in exchange for his first born daughter!

The Dreamwood and the Dryssyrian Mountains

   A mystical woodland, running amidst the great mountainous ranges of the Dryssyrian Mountains, the Dreamwood and mountains contain many interesting things, including:

   The Stonebiter tribes, a loose association of ogres and ettins who are ruled by the giant lord Gagranor, father of Lady Poe’s only bastard son, Grigos, who dwells in the mountains with his father. They are sworn to allegiance with Poe.

   The elvish tribes of the Xernethian elves. Ancient elfin kin, far removed from fey lands over time and memory, they dwell as simple nomadic hunters and gatherers, but skilled with what they know. They are good at defense, and war with the Stonebiters, Kraggits, and other foes of the mountains.

   Somewhere in the woods is Castle Halyk, the cursed domain of Lord Sytos Halyk, who is lady Poe’s cursed ex-husband, trapped in undeath by her magic. He dwells forever more in shadowy limbo, and only on the nights of the new moon do he and his entourage of shadow minions arise to mock life.

Near Halyk’s castle is said to be a great lake, and along its waters the ancient elvish barrow lands. Long before the elves entered into the portal of the lake to another Fey realm, they buried their mortally killed here, in the ancient haunted barrows. The last avatar of the Aquarius stone was buried here.

Somewhere north of all that is the tomb of Iron Madragor, the first of the Iron Kings of Mercurios. It is a haunted, dangerous domain, said to be braved only by the ogres and the foolhardy.

Kraggit Orcs as Characters

   Kraggit orcs (old sp. Kraggit) are the strongest overall force in the mountain lands, but are incapable of uniting to become a force of power. The Kraggits will raid and make small wars with all neighbors, however, and so are despised and hunted in most lands. Nonetheless, many Kraggits are known to raid human lands in Mercurios and the Yellow Kingdoms, as well as Kasdalan, and half orc children in this region tend to come from the product of such deeds. Kasdalanians value half orc children; they are often brought in to the elite legions of Lady Poe's armies. In Mercurios, they are usually slain or raised in orphanages managed by the priests of Laddaskar, then forced to join the king’s armies when they come of age.

Use the template for player character orcs in the DMG for Kraggit orcs.

Brutish: Kraggit orcs and half orcs suffer serious Diplomacy and bluff penalties (disadvantage) when dealing with people in the Pellucid kingdoms and the Yellow Kingdoms (unless they are intimidating someone.)

Languages: Kraggit Orcs start with the Kraggit tongue, and may also learn one more of: Masirian, Ogreish, Tradespeak, Dragosian, Correnstallian, Goblinoid, Ogreish, or Minotaur.

Half Orcs: Rare Xernethian Half Orcs (half elf, half orc) are possible; Xernethian women who are taken by orcs will give birth and then abandon the half orc child at the doorstep of a human settlement, or accept exile from her clan and raise it herself. Such orcs may replace one orcish trait with one elvish trait.

Weak Magic: Kraggit orcs lean strongly toward the Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger or Rogue classes. Precious few Kraggits ever learn magic.

Chirak: Traveling through the Pellucid Kingdoms

Traveling through the Pellucid Kingdoms

Città Eddernine

A visitor would likely begin his journey in the port city of Eddernine, ostensible modern capitol of Mercurios.  Ruled by Callosus “Iron” Dukas (ferro re Callosus Dukas), the Iron King of Mercurios, inheritor of the Pellucid lands, Eddernine has been Capitol of the realm for two and a half centuries. The Dukas family has maintained control ever since it successfully conquered the Mercurian lands and united them two hundred and fifty years ago. Iron Dukas’ father was responsible for driving out the menace of the Nithiadians in their quest to expand beyond the Tedroy province. Iron himself has managed the delicate trade alliance Mercurios now has with the Nithiadians, and continues to maintain a strong alliance with Espanea.

The Iron King of Eddernine

   The Dukas family has a secret history, which says that when the last true blood ruler of Grand Mercurios (Shyvoltz XI) fell to the blade of the first Iron Dukas, he cursed them. The curse starts with a growing madness madness, and gradually transmogrifies into a form of corrupting lycanthropy in which the man becomes dire bear. After death the Dukas descendent changes again into a horrible undead monstrosity. The first Iron Dukas, Madragor, was interred in a great Tower of Rust in the Dreamwood. After that, other children of clan Dukas were given over to a secret order when they displayed the curse. Only one son in a generation of the Dukas line will manifest the curse, and it is never known which son. To compensate, the Dukas family has always been prolific. Callosus (the fifth) currently has four sisters and five brothers, for example.

Famous Locales of Eddernine

   The Old Gray Wren is an upscale tavern near the tidal flats which caters to the foreign merchant crowd and the wealthy local businessmen and nobles. It is a two story affair with a pavilion overlooking the cliffs which jut out over the flats. Less than a quarter mile away is the docks and the shipping district.

   South of Eddernine about twelve miles is the Lighthouse Keep. Held by Count Arnos Vaskar, the old sea dog noble was once a great lord in the navy, but with age and time, he has retired to his coastal properties. The keep holds one of the many lighthouses that serve to warn incoming ships of the Pellucid Gulf against the ship-shattering cliffs. Vaskar is an honest man who hates the Nithiadians and despises the delicate peace kept with them. He lost two sons in sea skirmishes against the Nithidians. He has a daughter who pursues the military way in conflict in the Scalewood, as well.

Città Manarak

   The ruler of Manarak is Highlord Arturos Normanio. He is a friend to the Tower of Kaledon, a close ally to Iron Dukas, and a strong protector of his river lands. His wife is Lady Alithia Dukas, oldest sister to Iron Dukas. He has two sons and a daughter.

    Inside Manarak are some particular places of interest. The Fabled Tower of Kaledon draws practitioners of magic from across the world. It is the first of the great towers, and it is said it rivals the Masirian Tower in size and splendor, though its look is decidedly antique. The Lord of the Tower and current Chancellor presiding of the Order of the Tower is Darnao Karvos. Darnao is a stern and diligent man who believes in the preservation of lost magical arts and the idealism of Kaledon, the tower’s ancient founder. Said to be an ancient archmage of Mythric descent, Kaledon aspired to insure that mankind never forgot that magic was a tool to serve and teach. So it remains at the Tower.

   The Monastery of Laddaskar in Manarak is of the Order of the Frail Samaritan (Ordine de il fragile Samaratino), founded on the grave site of an ancient half-elf man named Samaritano Maritenze. Martienze devoted his life to teaching the lost children of Manarak the ways of survival, farming, and fishing. The story says that when the marauders of the south broke through the gates of the old Pellucid cities, Manarak was razed to the ground, and nothing was left to stand. All men and women were killed or taken away, but the barbarian general who did this instructed that the children and frail would remain. The mysterious Samaritan Maritenze was allowed to live, because he was considered as feeble as an infant.

   With the aid of the Samaritano, Manarak lived on in its children, and years later, when new occupiers arrived to claim the land, they were amazed to discover that the children had lived on to the recreate the city anew. When the Samaritan died, they founded the monastery in his honor.

   The monastery is kept by the high father, Padre Pyrnaen. He is a wise and dedicated monk of the order, and fulfills Laddaskar’s benevolence in all ways. The Keeper of the Peace is Vusor, a man who honors the dead and seeks to save the damned. Vusor is required to be in attendance at all high courts held in Manarak. Finally, the unusual and unique Padre Kryvysk, the exiled Hashikarystyr noble who as a young lizard-child found refuge with the monastery, can often be found here when not wandering.

   A popular riverside spot along the docks is the Riverside Tavern. Owned and operated by Gumicha, a man who once warred for Mercurios against the Dragos during the trade wars, This is the prime spot of rest and relaxation for travelers, adventurers, and river men alike.

   The northlands from Manarak are part of the North County, Kesrick County. There, Lord Aesrick Krenshaw rules obediently. He is an old questing Paladin and Kasdalani expatriate dedicated to Laddaskar, one of the rare soldiers to take up the priesthood and sword in hand to defend the innocent and protect the land for duty and deity. He has a son, Dale, who is 16 and learning affairs of state. His wife, Villaris, is the primary keeper of the household and local affairs when her husband quests. His master-at-arms is Goris, a rough soldier who is descended from southern blood. He took on a squire named Aden while serving Mardieux Mardieux, whose estate lies ten miles south of Manarak.

Grande Città de Mercurios

   The Capitol of the Old Empire, Grand Mercurios was at one time the heart of Pellucid, a bastion of great power. It never recovered from the sacking and occupation by Kasdalan, which is when the empire is generally regarded as having gone in to decline, but the old architecture remains intact, and is quite marvelous. Some believe that Lady Arvilia Poe, when she occupied the city, took a fancy to its architecture and so preserved it. She has visited the city on several occasions over the last two and a half centuries, always as a visitor. Her image rests with a dozen Pellucid emperors of old in the Grand Hall of the old palace, placed there during her occupation but kept as a reminder of what the city, and empire, survived.

   Though Grande Mercurios is regarded as a bastion of philosophical and religious thought, it is largely absent of wizards and mages, or at least the organized branches thereof. It is a little known fact that the local region contains some unique properties, which are not exactly well understood: the region is a center of low magic, where the flow of magical energy has waned long ago. One side effect of this weak flow of magic is that spells are more difficult to cast; any spell caster attempting magic in the city must make a check on his appropriate stat (Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisa) at a DC of 10+the desired spell level for the casting to even succeed. Even stranger is that no local children are born with magical talent; it seems that the skill of magic is dependent on the strength of the magical ley lines in a region, and Grande Mercurios rests in a dead zone.

   Because of this element of low magic, most who seek curatives or magical means of assistance cross il Lago de Brenner (the Lake of Brenner) to Cradle or Sorvask, where the phenomenon is nonexistent. Cradle, in turn, has become the seat of magical influence in the area as a result.

   Still, despite the weak element of magic in Grande Mercurios it has become the center of religion and philosophy, and the Temple of Knowledge (Tempio de Conoscenza), now administered by the Preservationists, resides at the heart of the city beside the famous Old Palace (Vecchio Palazzo) where Governor Artoram Ristro resides. There is a great row of temples dedicated to almost every dead god, demiurge, avatar and spirit which has been heard of in Mercurios, and the Grande Tempio de Laddaskar resides over them all at the end, a vast cathedral of impressive design, managed by the High Priest Arisinze (sommo sacerdote).

Città Culla (Cradle)

Across il Lago de Brenner lies the smaller but more deeply political and magical city of Cradle (Culla), a different sort of bastion of thought, one in which politicians and sorcerers hold sway. Cradle has a Tower of the Order of Kaledon, founded by the elder mage Prialn, whose true origins are unknown, though he is believed by some to have been born in Cradle close to a century ago. He does not look a day over fifty, and his current wife is the young Espanean contessa Emiriana.  Prialn is not the ruler of the city…..but many think of him as its most influential citizen.

The governor, Hespero Pachadore, is a large man who actively invites the politians, the “senators” of the land and the governors of the cities of Mercurios to attend regular summits in his city. Cradle has become a safe zone for many to discuss delicate political matters, and a retreat for those who wish an escape from their home city due to trouble. It has also served as a neutral meeting point on three occasions for the king himself to meet with the powers of Correnstal, Varkal and Dragos to settle on matters of peace and war.

Outside of its role as neutral center for politicians and mages, Cradle is also the principle bastion of defense against the Kraggit Orcs to the south. A standing army is maintained at Castello Bastione just south of the main city, where a permanent standing army serves as a deterrent against orcish raiders and incursions into Mercurian territory. The forces of Castello Bastione, under direction of Esercito Generale Artiom Musallio, are also privately a deterrent against the Dragosians to the east.