City States of Pelegar

Excerpted from the Realms of Chirak; still a bit dated but I plan to bring it current soon...

Valen

Valen, the Neutral City

   The immense walls of Valen, the gateway city, stretch from one wall to the other of the Cossarit Pass. The walls are as high as two hundred feet,  built over the ages by many dedicated hinterlanders who seek to preserve the privacy and integrity of their land from any outsiders.

   Valen is said to have been founded shortly after the apocalypse, and its age shows. The city is a great and maddening maze of multileveled streets and towering buildings with a pervasive gothic architecture. Here dwell both hinterlanders, lowlanders, and zealots all in harmony (on the surface) in what is agreed upon as the only neutral city of the land. Ruled by three regents named Lord Gale Medeban of the hinterlanders, Pastakar Ranhadal of the zealots, and Cherathas Delitharia (the younger sister of the queen of Talosin), Valen is carefully kept as a neutral territory for all disputes.

   Behind the curtain of Valen, the dark being Gloom rules with a quiet perseverance, maintaining its eternal charge as the slayer of Avatars. It was summoned long ago to insure that no avatar of any god should enter the Pelegar land seeking forbidden knowledge, or to lift the curse of the people. Gloom is ruthlessly efficient and enjoys the flesh of avatars in a vampiric manner. He despises all holy men, in fact, and preys upon anyone who is not a member of the Cult of the Lost Gods.

Talosin

Talosin, The Dreaming City

   With the Cossarits looming like a great and endless wall of darkness, Talosin is nestled in a fertile basin of green along two major rivers that cascade down from the mountains. It is called the dreaming city, for its lowlander nobles are said to dwell in decadent squalor, and rely on their thralls to keep them comforted and safe. The city is ruled by a king or queen chosen by the Servants of the Dream, mages who have learned to divine through dream magic the hidden will of the land. The current ruler is a young woman named Vialle Dianeni. Her youth and energy have prompted a new era of warfare, as she struggles to unite the decadent nobility in to an effective force against encroaching orcish raiders from the mountains as well as the overwhelming armies of the Empire of Sabradan in the west. 

Vanholm

Vanholm, City of Relics

   The quiet and murky city of Vanholm is ruled by a council of three nobles, the chief of which is Cartus Vindaros. Vanholm is a relic city, in which the population goes about its daily affairs in a dreamy state, but the life of the land seems gone. Only the threat of Dalevar incursions rallies the people, and then only briefly. Strange beings and predatory undead are rife in the region of Vanholm, and some suspect that the torpor of the people is in part an ensorcellment caused by these entities which use the population like fodder. The suspected leader of these beings is a vampire called Eris the Red, an ancient being, said by some to be a soldier who was alive during the apocalypse, who drank deeply of the blood of Ga'Thon, and whose enervated life force was corrupted in to a permanent servant of the destroyer.

Pillar

Pillar, City of War

   Pillar is a militant community, and many of Pelegar's finest warriors come from this region. Warfare as a sport is common here, and the grand arenas are a fabled attraction for those seeking the glory of war and bloodshed for sport. The ruler of the city is Corbas Halone, a violent and dangerous man who is known to be the famous general who repulsed the now infamous Omnios Invasion of two decades ago, in which the Sabradan Empire sought to exterminate the Pelegar once and for all under Emperor Suvias.

   Pillar is haunted, like its fellow cities, by an entity of dire nature. Memneres is a fallen Eholim, it is said, once the general of Pallath, the fallen sun god. Memneres is said to have betrayed Pallath for the love of a demon woman named Trivvetir, and when he realized his error, he remorsefully threw himself in to the Battle of the West, but was slain. The blood of Ga'Thon seeped in to his mortal wounds, and he was resurrected as the undead that he now is. Memneres now lives only to be sated by the perpetual war games of the Pelegar he incites, relishing in the deaths of the cursed people.

Pelegar: A Historical and Regional Introduction

A lot has happened in the kingdom of Pelegar since the gazetteer entry in the 2008 edition of the Realms of Chirak, and I am working on a proper update, but most of the material below is still current:

Pelegar 

(Excerpted from The Realms of Chirak, 4E edition)

Cultural Level: steel age

Population: approximately 2.5 million

Government: alliance of city-states ruled by monarchy

Rulers: Different by city state, but Vialle Dianeni of the Dreaming City is looked up to by all.

Religions: The faith of Pelegar is tested by its haunting entities

Social Titles: slaves, commoners, land owners, knights, barons, lords, kings

Coinage: the nick-name for coins in this land is “bones, “ Ex: “I’ll pay 3 gold bones for that.”

Allies: The Pelegar are isolationist and don’t like outsiders. They trade through middlemen, and only deal directly with the Sabiri.

Enemies: The Sabradan are the greatest enemies of the Pelegar.

   The only clear passage through the Cossarit Mountains going east and west, and the only easily accessible pass, Pelegar is poised in a unique position of being one of the few readily available regions by which the east and the utter west can converge in relative safety.

   Pelegar is divided in to three cultural groups which are all descended from the soldiers of the final war of the Apocalypse that resolved in this region. Most populous of these local groups are the western hinterlanders, a breed of private, uncouth mountain men who dislike the people of almost all other lands and even refuse to learn foreign languages. They live as herders of reindeer, build great houses from the massive oaks of the forests that range along the lower slopes of the immense Cossarit range, and fight their local wars with more bravado than blood shown on the battlefields. The hinterlanders refuse to learn any other languages, and dislike all foreigners, though they make excellent mercenaries because of this disdain. Many enjoy levying heavy taxes on raiding caravans that pass through the range. They are also hardened by the conflicts they experience with the clans of Dalevar dwarves, Skull biter goblins, Blood fire Orcs and the many giants in the mountains.

   The Central Pelegar culture, known as the lowlanders, are the old aristocracy of the land, men who claim to have the oldest elite heritage in the land and a natural right of rule. The lowlanders are driven by ancient politics and intrigue. They recruit most of their forces from those who dwell about them in the mountains to continually pursue their ages-old Machiavellian plots and wars of intrigue.

   The westernmost culture of the Pelegar is centered in the city of Tulos, and they are known as the zealots, for the city of Tulos is a monument city of ancient temples and shrines to the fallen gods, as well as to the demon gods and evil spirits which haunt the lands of Pelegar. The zealots are seemingly more open and diverse of thought than their brothers, but are in fact the most dangerous and xenophobic of all. They are strong followers of the principles of the cults of the Lost Gods, and believe that they are the only hope of salvation, of providing sanctuary from eternal damnation for all those who have been left behind in the mortal plane. The zealots are as diabolical in their devious schemes as the lowlanders.

   Pelegar labors under an ancient curse, one which explains why the people of the land are so grim and unhappy with outsiders. It is said that the land was cursed by the terrible evils which were dealt to it, as the Battle of the West, where so many countless demonic beings and gods fell, took place in this land. The ancestors of Pelegar are believed to have been servants of the betrayer gods, followers of Ga'Thon, and indeed Shaligon herself was said to have come from Pelegar in the ancient days. When the war was over, the land was wracked with the residual essence of evil as well as the mounds of the dead. The surviving men of Pelegar were left to disperse throughout the remains of their fallen kingdoms, to carve out a life for themselves branded forever as the men who sided with the apocalyptic forces of destruction. All other men shunned them, and the very essence of the dead god Ga'Thon seeped in to the souls of the men, tainting them forever more.

   Though two thousand years have passed, and much of the old ages have been lost to memory, the curse of the land still pervades all of its inhabitants, and ancient demon spirits trapped in the mortal realm haunt the land. Creatures such as Gloom, Shmaga'thael, and Molabal continue to taint the land, while finding that they, too, are locked to it for mysterious reasons. To pass the time, these entities play maddening psychic games with the inhabitants.

   There are also two unique species in the region of Pelegar: The Yakovi yak folk of the Tulos area, and the Simviriin cat folk, who dwell throughout the Cossarit region, but seem to thrive in the Pelegar area, and are tolerated as a nuisance by the men of the land, like gypsies and mummers.

   Throughout the woodlands of Pelegar dwell small enclaves of elves, unseelie descendants called the ithiri, believed by many to be dangerous entities who have a capricious hatred toward humanity. Ithiri are rarely seen in the company of normal mortals and usually feared by men when encountered. They are believed to have been permanently affected by the close proximity of the Weeping Wall in the Cossarit Mountains, where the remnants of the fey realm were expunged from the dying flesh of Ga'Thon and frozen in stone forever.

Pelegar: The Mercenaries of Zelhamat

More stuff on Pelegar...because I've decided the first week of September is "Pelegar Week."

A Paladin of the Order of Night

The mercenaries of Zelhamat

Zelhamat is the northernmost city state of Pelegar. Zelhamat's dominated by an order of knights known as the Templars of Night, which was until recently dedicated to Molabal. They recruited mercenaries to defend the northern frontier against Dalevar barbarian incursions, and regularly recruited from orcish stock, seeing orcs as superior fighters and also extremely cheap; a side effect of so many orcs is a local culture that leads to more interbreeding and general acceptance of half-orc children. 

Two years ago when Pelegar was thrust into civil war after the grand reveal of the vampiric overlords the Zelhamat were first to act, cutting down their rulers (regardless of vampiric affiliation), and placing Lord Davon Galkharest of the Order of Night in charge of the city-fortress. Galkharest executed most of the older aristocracy on charges of conspiring with the undead, and appointed his trusted lieutenants and followers into their positions of power, doling out the properties of these slain nobles as he did so.

Six months ago when the Cult of Molabal collapsed, the Order of Night swiftly set about retaining its grasp of power by executing or imprisoning the monks and priests of the cult which failed in their powers and proclaimed that they had been found unworthy. Galkharest declared that the will of The Four was the true power of the land, and subsequently allowed the founding of a new temple ot the Four. These avatars (Obohon, Meretrox, Dyshara and the last one who's name escapes me at the moment) have never been worshipped in Pelegar before, and in fact it was a crime by order of the cult of Molabal to worship them, so this was a huge gain for the avatars. However, it has put Zelhamat at odds with its allies, who recognize the need for Zelhamat to protect the land from the Dalevar barbarians but dislike their acceptance of the foreign avatars.

Locally it is suspected that Lord Galkharest has actually been forging an alliance with the Dalevar Barbarians and dwarves, to cease hostilities. There is a suspicion that he may seek to forge them into an army, to make a power play using these foreign mercenaries to assault the southern city states of Pelegar to bring them under his control and unite the land under his banner as a new king. This is a rumor you had heard before leaving the city!

Pelegar: The Ruins of Vornzak and the Mad King Amessus

This was the second part of my "Fall of Pelegar" campaign, though in terms of player focus it became the subject of the first area they explored. Many of the plot elements lurk in wait now for a future reboot as I burned out on Pathfinder before this one got properly resolved, and switched to 13th Age and a different setting. The campaign itself has a lot of potential, and will definitely be back for 5E however.

Lady Arondola

The Fall of Pelegar campaign

Plot #2: The Ruins of Vornzak and the Mad King Amessus

Six hundred years ago Pelegar had a firm ruler who held all the city states under his control. It is said that King Amessus was a storm and fair ruler….for a time. But it is also said that he gained the power to control the land from a dark pact of understanding from nightmarish immortals who visited him in his sleep. Sent my Molabal, these demons convinced Amessus to become increasingly cruel and depraved, and his pinnacle of vileness was when he forged his highmountain palace retreat called Vornzak. Terrible atrocities were committed there, all in the name of diablerie. Many stories are told about the mad king to this day, including how in the end he was driven to sacrifice his entire family and all who lived in the city to these nightmare demons in a day and night of bloody slaughter.

Vornzak rests to this day on the high peak overlooking the gloom-ridden walls of Valen, with its vast defensive walls stretching over nearly twenty miles of valley in the high mountains. Vornzak is noted for the great arch, with ancient Inadasir inscriptions upon it which marks the entry to the crumbling palace. Some say that any who pass beneath the arch will be cursed to death…

The Secret Truth

Amessus was power-hungry, and regularly engaged in séances with the dead of the land of Pelegar to seek out power and lore. He mined the region where he built his palace retreat for ancient artifacts, finding a plethora of Inadasir relics from a lost era. He consorted with nightmarish spirits of the dream world, astral beings which included Vorsag-Null. Unable to experience the mortal plane any longer these nightmare beings prompted the willing king to commit carnal…and charnel…acts that they might experience such sensations once more, if only briefly and at a distance. In exchange they told him secrets, and sometimes where to find lost artifacts and lore.

Amessus was fine until he met his wife, the lady Arondola, a Helian woman from the south of great beauty and mystery, allegedly the youngest daughter of the Helian Pharaoh at that time. Unknown to him this was only half true; she was adopted, under mysterious circumstances….for she was in fact a natural thousandspawn.

With Arondola’s prompting Amessus delved deep into forbidden lore, learning the secret of bonding demonic spirits to mortal flesh. He sought a means of opening forbidden portals to other worlds, including the Abyssal Rift and Perdition itself, even the forbidden lands of the Thirteenth Planet itself. He pulled from these realms even darker secrets, though sometimes at great sacrifice.

It was on the eve of his greatest discovery: the Tempest of Malador, an artifact of great power and chaos from Perdition itself that he pulled into his realm that Amessus had his fall. The night he pulled the artifact into his palace it activated, bonding alchemically the spirits which haunted him to the flesh of the family and servants of his palace. In a terrible rush these bonded demons slaughtered all others who came before them, and assaulted the city of Valen itself. The following day, after the demons had fled into the darkness of the mountains, an army was forged by General Vetarus to hunt them down, and to bring the emperor and his wife to justice.

It is said that when Amessos was found he was already dead, but Vetarus himself knew better; dozens of the haunting demon-spirits had bound themselves to the king, who was a grotesque monstrosity at this point, an amalgamation of foul beings tethered to his flesh. The general herded him deep into the dungeons beneath the palace and collapsed the entrance.

Queen Arondola’s fate was bloody but swift. Her form unblemished by corruption or possession, she was marked a witch and hauled to the city of Valen for trial. At the gates of the city as she passed beneath the archway Gloom descended, eviscerating her in one swift blow. As a thousandspawn her divine spark fled, migrating to whatever unknown souls would serve as its new habitation….but the queen was dead.

The Ruins Today

Arcanists led by Zhomas the Irredeemable, who has recovered from prior engagements some six years ago during his encounter with the avatar Mardieur, has begun a restoration operation in the high mountains to uncover the secrets of the old king. He has been paying for protection from the gnoll tribe of Giskos, which themselves have a somewhat vested interest in uncovering old relics in the name of their dark cult of Vorsag-Null.  Zhomas is working with two other agents of the Arcanists now: Sutra Leveros, an Abraheilite Samsaran magus and Kaladan Amoros, a local human mage of Pelegar who survived his family’s execution in Vanholm during the uprising. Serving as liaison to the gnolls they have employed is the toadie troglodyte Satropus. Together they have been uncovering the lost wealth of the old king, including hundreds of still magical Inadasir artifacts. They have also found the entrance to the old king’s dungeon-tomb…

The Plot

Amessus has long ago lost any true memory of what it was to be a normal human. He is now a mass of different minds and bodies jammed into one fluid form. He is desperate to serve Vorsag-Null, who calls to him constantly….but he does not understand why. The truth is that he contains a fragment of Vorsag-Null’s astral form, one shred of the demon lord which among many others harried him in his mortal years. Vorsag-Null needs that shred of his astral self to complete his own spirit, and so he needs Amessus to either give it up, or for his minions to slay the monster so that the astral shred may escape and return to the rest.

Rivals

Zhomas is not the only arcanist group interested in the ruins. A group of Sabiri bandits and “merchants” have been raiding the ruins for nearly a year now to move the artifacts to dealers in the east. They are led by one mage named Suvaian, who himself is an Arcanist and loyalist to Lord Shattarav Oldaran of Westgate. He works with his two younger brothers and his wife, the former Shumariin assassin Suladiri, who is a master of chain fighting. She has two apprentices studying under her. They are hauling artifacts to Fartheren…and even to Westgate, for sale to the eastern kingdoms of the Sea of Chirak.

Pelegar - a Map

A glorious map of the Kingdom of Pelagar and some environs, from The Realms of Chirak (5E-compatible edition to come soon!)

Here's the direct link at 4shared

Not sure if 4shared is still that great or not....if someone can recommend a better place to offer files let me know.