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T O P I C    R E V I E W
xaeyruudh Posted - 08 Sep 2014 : 21:57:14
Intro

This campaign has been several years in the making already, and it isn't in good shape yet. So I'm hoping to motivate myself (and get some feedback) by posting it here, piece by piece.

Also, my computer just crashed and everything I've written down about the campaign is unavailable for now. So this seems like a good time to recap what's been percolating in my head all this time, rewrite everything, see what others think, and figure out what needs figuring out.

I love Realmslore, but this is a campaign and it ignores some bits of published lore that don't fit, without much apology.

One of my aims is make the Old Empires a unique and interesting setting. Part of this is eliminating references to Egypt and Mesopotamia, renaming NPCs (and places if necessary but so far it looks like those are fine), so that eventually the only thing taken from Earth's mythology will be the names of the god-kings... and I'm not against changing those names too.




I'm going to start putting up some writeups of settlements in the Old Empires, as I work them out, in the 2e FR Adventures format.

These are not canon; they're just my ideas based loosely on what I've read. Perhaps very loosely, but if you point out discrepancies with canon I'll either correct my post or lay out why I don't want to correct it.

They're also rough drafts, works in progress, etc, and may change at any time. That said, I hope something is useful for someone.

I'm using the 5e PH and MM where appropriate, but the DMG and DMG II references (buildings and adventuring levels, at the end) are from the 3.5e books since I don't have a 5e DMG yet.

  • Nezras


  • Red Haven


  • 30   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
    xaeyruudh Posted - 01 Nov 2014 : 16:03:22
    NPC classes: Good point! I should wait until the 5e DMG comes out before setting out the class mixes, since I'm probably going to want to modify some of them later. I'm pretty comfortable with the Nezramites being entirely adventuring classes, due to their location and the peculiar nature of the town, but Red Haven and other places would have a much more normal array of classes.

    Nezras: Every citizen in this town is a N mulan human... even those who were born as members of other races. There's definitely something at work, but whether it's pushing others away or changing those who find their way here, or a mix of the two... up to the DM I suppose. I haven't decided for my own game what the something is yet, and I'm thinking it's probably best to leave this description open even when I do. I just had the idea and ran with it; I'm interested in hearing others' theories.
    sleyvas Posted - 01 Nov 2014 : 09:46:12
    Just to note, you have no NPC classed characters in your population, which is what makes up the majority of the population of most places. So, no aristocrats, commoners, experts, warriors, etc... (I can understand leaving out adepts in a population containing a lot of wizards). I am intrigued by your idea that there are no clerics in the population though, which makes me wonder if something in the town is specifically pushing away individuals who don't fit its "mold".

    That being said, I'm also intrigued by the elven storyline where she's had her memory and even form modified.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 01 Nov 2014 : 02:28:36
    Nezras

    Town, nominally of Mulhorand.

    Who Rules: Merz, Speaker of the Ondifirel family.

    Who Really Rules: All Nezramites defer to Merz. His leadership style is fairly populist; he attempts to know what everyone wants in a given situation, and balance those desires as much as possible within the parameters of what’s in the best long term interests of Nezras. Since many Nezramites strive to think in the long term anyway, most are satisfied most of the time.

    Population: Approximately 2,000 Nezramites reside in Nezras year round.

    Major Products: Nezras does not conduct any trade, and thus does not import/export anything.

    Armed Forces: Nezras does not maintain a standing army, but every able-bodied resident can be mustered in times of need.

    Notable Mages:

    Notable Churches: There are no temples in Nezras, and no clerics amongst the populace.

    Notable Rogues’ Guilds: None; there are rogues in town but they don’t feel the need for a guild.

    Equipment Shops: Partial. There are no price tags in these shops, since (as noted under Local Lore) nothing is considered private property. Any Nezramite can enter a shop and take whatever they need, make use of it, and return it at their leisure. It’s rare for something to never be returned, since Nezramites don’t leave clutter sitting around their homes; space is valuable and organization is a virtue.

  • Ersaremo’s Coats & Arms is a treasury of weapons and armor. Whenever such items are recovered by Nezramite expeditions, it’s brought to Ersaremo. He and his staff investigate the items to identify their properties and neutralize any risks in wearing or wielding them. Those which are deemed usable are displayed.


  • Adventurers’ Quarters: Many of the town’s citizens could be called adventurers, but they don’t see a lot of travelers… and they don’t trust the ones they do see. Travelers are not typically allowed into the town. Thus there’s no need for inns or boarding houses.

    There is a “bar and grill” type of eatery, where residents gather daily to eat, drink, and converse, but once again it’s not open to strangers. Also, nobody in the town drinks alcohol.

  • The Blue Sphinx is a large but cozy dining hall, and a hub for social activity in the town. Individuals and families come in at all hours of the day, sit wherever they like, order whatever they’re hungry/thirsty for, and enjoy a time of relaxing. Food is mostly prepared by Estarie, and brought out by a fluctuating staff of local children. One of the tables and seven of the chairs around it are crafted of silver. The Blue Sphinx is named for a meticulously carved (i.e. individual hairs in the mane, extensive muscle definition, and ahem… “anatomically correct”) gynosphinx which usually sits ignored in a corner. The sphinx has occasionally been animated by various wizards, and sent to rub its head against someone’s leg, or wander around the town for everyone’s amusement. The sphinx’s creator, now deceased, was a crazy old man; that’s the only reason anyone knows for the amount of effort put into the azurite statue. For all its detail, however, it cannot speak… unless a magic mouth is placed on it.


  • Important Characters: In a town of only two thousand people, and especially in a tightly knit community, everyone is notable. There are no unfamiliar faces here.



    • Arfinen (N mulan male 17th level wizard) is the current expert on portals. His responsibility is procuring items which are not naturally available in sufficient quantity within the walls of Nezras. He has created a dozen or so unobtrusive “portal magnets” in a variety of destinations ranging from granaries in Amn and ingot forges in Damara to treasure vaults in Semphar. He can then scry these magnets and conjure items in their vicinity through temporary portals. Explanation of portal magnets can be found in the Details section below.


    • Ersaremo (N mulan male 10th level fighter) is the local smith. He forges whatever needs forging, from whatever appropriate materials are available. This often has unusual results, including Narderel’s platinum greatsword, Nuinhal’s electrum chain hauberk, and the silver table and chairs at The Blue Sphinx.


    • Estarie (N mulan female 5th level sorcerer) is the usual cook at The Blue Sphinx, and makes little time for other pursuits.


    • Malamo (N mulan male 4th level barbarian) is one of Ersaremo’s sons. He’s officially a gate guard, but he spends very little time at the gate. He’s more often closer to his sister Estarie’s kitchen at The Blue Sphinx. He’s not lazy, nor is he fearful; when he sees or hears a commotion at the gate he leaps into the fray (no matter what the intruder is) with apparently reckless disregard for his own life. He simply prefers eating tasty treats (and watching lovely lasses) over standing at the boring gate staring into the desert with the deathly still and contemplative Sibnarn. His weapon of choice is a branch from a petrified tree, strengthened by the hand of Nerelisze into a formidable greatclub.


    • Merz (N mulan male 20th level wizard) is the Speaker of the Ondifirel family — a title which is similar to Patriarch but preferred due to the Nezramites’ acknowledgement of Nezram as the ultimate patriarch of the family. By virtue of this position Merz is also, to the extent that Nezras has a ruler, the ruler of Nezras. When travelers come seeking lodging or answers, he’s usually the one who tells them that Nezras has no quarrel with them, but also no succor for them. However, nobody is turned away without water, or if they are clearly dying; filled waterskins and healers will be brought to anyone who needs them. This is the only accommodation the Nezramites feel ethically compelled to provide for outsiders; their “law” doesn’t even require that much.


    • Narderel (N mulan male 14th level fighter) is the most accomplished swordsman in Nezras, and a natural leader of expeditions into the Raurin. He wields an impressive platinum greatsword forged by Ersaremo.


    • Nerelisze (N mulan female 13th level wizard: enchanter) evaluates, modifies, and performs enchantments at Ersaremo’s forge. Her duties include strengthening items which are made of less-than-ideal materials, such as the silver table at The Blue Sphinx.


    • Nuinhal (N mulan female 14th level ranger) is an archer and a frequent volunteer for expeditions into the desert. She wears a distinctive suit of electrum chainmail.


    • Sibnarn (N mulan male 11th level monk) finds peace and tranquility in standing at the gate, watching the sand and the sky above. When dust storms drive most Nezramites indoors, Sitnarn crouches at his self-assigned post, more alert than ever.


    • Yandirel (N mulan female 14th level bard) is a teacher of the Nezramites’ children. She was an adventurer until a few years ago when she says “the winds changed” and she decided to take on this new task. She yearns to return to “the open sands” but she’s driven to share with the next generation her knowledge and more importantly her love of learning new things as well as preserving the old.




    Important Features in Town: Nezras is not a beautiful town, at least not to the tastes of most city-dwellers. Structures and clothing are utilitarian, with little regard given to color. Except for the shapes of the walls and buildings, the town blends in with the desert; in even a mild duststorm you could easily miss it.

    Local Lore

    The Ondifirel family, to whom Nezram belongs, owns the town of Nezras. It is not an old family, by Mulhorandi standards, nor is it a pure one; they have some elven ancestors. There are a few other families present in Nezras, but they are all related to the Ondifirel by marriage, and all have been isolated from their other kin for about 800 years.

    Nezras is somewhat unusual in its communal structure. There is no individual property, or need for privacy or individual space, in Nezras. Homes are solidly built, with locking doors, but that’s to keep the desert predators out at night. Any resident of the town who knocks on another resident’s door will be admitted, and may stay as long as desired and borrow/leave items freely. Nezramites don’t seem to experience jealousy or possessiveness… at least not while living in the town; those who leave to become PCs might develop different needs.

    Nezramites consider themselves to be of Mulhorandi descent, but Nezras isn’t really part of the Mulhorandi empire. It’s outside the borders claimed by Mulhorand, and it doesn’t pay taxes and doesn’t benefit from an Imperial Legion presence. It’s likely that the new Pharaoh doesn’t even know the town exists. For all practical purposes Nezras is independent, even though it doesn’t have an army or mint its own coins.

    History

    Recent Events

    3481: Sindual, a sun elven adventuress, wanders alone out of the desert. She is stopped at the gates, given water and healed of her obvious injuries. Unable to prevail upon the elders to take her coin in exchange for a place to sleep within the town, she lays her pack down and sleeps at the foot of the gates. On the second dawn after her arrival, she awakens transformed into a mulan human. She has no memory of her prior excursion into the desert or the circumstances of her arrival at the gates of Nezras. The gates are now open to her, however, and she is welcomed into the town as a Nezramite. She can’t remember her name, and begins calling herself Nuinhal. On subsequent forays into the desert she has regained her memories of her past, but they recede into a “fog” when she returns to Nezras. She also regains some of her elven instincts and perception when she’s outside the town, though she remains human in appearance. Each time she leaves the gates, she remembers who she once was, says nothing of it to the others on the expedition, and remains with them. She’s uneasy about her transformation into a human and deeply misses elven lands, but she has grown to love the Nezramites and their oddly quaint little nation, and Nezras is home for now.

    3500: The beginning of this campaign.

    More Notes on Nezras

    According to DMG II page 107 a crowded city of 2,000 should have an area of 2 million sq ft, which translates to a circle approximately 0.3 miles in diameter.

    Nezras has 102 buildings – DMG II page 108
    • 57 residential
    • 7 administrative
    • 5 entertainment
    • 12 industrial
    • 9 shops
    • 6 public works
    • 6 travel
    • No nobility, slums, or farms.

    I’m ignoring the “Total Characters of Each Class” instructions (DMG page 138). Instead I assigned percentages to each class for an estimate of how many there should be. The total number of individuals with adventuring classes is 2044 (100% of the population); the breakdown is as follows.



    • 192 barbarians: 1 level 13 barbarian, 1 level 12 barbarian, 2 level 10 barbarians, 2 level 9 barbarians, 2 level 8 barbarians, 4 level 7 barbarians, 7 level 6 barbarians, 14 level 5 barbarians, 9 level 4 barbarians, 28 level 3 barbarians, 52 level 2 barbarians, 70 level 1 barbarians.


    • 150 bards: 1 level 14 bard, 1 level 13 bard, 1 level 11 bard, 1 level 10 bard, 2 level 9 bards, 3 level 8 bards, 5 level 7 bards, 7 level 6 bards, 13 level 5 bards, 21 level 4 bards, 16 level 3 bards, 39 level 2 bards, 40 level 1 bards.


    • 53 druids: 1 level 14 druid, 1 level 10 druid, 2 level 9 druids, 1 level 8 druid, 2 level 7 druids, 1 level 6 druid, 2 level 5 druids, 4 level 4 druids, 6 level 3 druids, 8 level 2 druids, 25 level 1 druids. Note: Nezramite druids venerate nature itself rather than deities. Their spells may be granted by Isis, Osiris, Thoth, or nature itself, according to the needs of your campaign. They believe everything in nature to be sacred, from a dung beetle to a storm. They may occasionally build small shrines from a collection of seemingly ordinary stones, deadwood, animal bones/husks, and so forth, but they see no need for temples.


    • 270 fighters: 1 level 14 fighter, 2 level 12 fighters, 2 level 11 fighters, 3 level 10 fighters, 7 level 9 fighters, 3 level 8 fighters, 10 level 7 fighters, 16 level 6 fighters, 41 level 5 fighters, 21 level 4 fighters, 29 level 3 fighters, 37 level 2 fighters, 98 level 1 fighters.


    • 292 monks: 1 level 18 monk, 1 level 17 monk, 1 level 13 monk, 2 level 12 monks, 2 level 11 monks, 6 level 10 monks, 5 level 9 monks, 9 level 8 monks, 7 level 7 monks, 13 level 6 monks, 26 level 5 monks, 55 level 4 monks, 42 level 3 monks, 50 level 2 monks, 72 level 1 monks.


    • 298 rangers: 1 level 16 ranger, 1 level 15 ranger, 1 level 14 ranger, 1 level 13 ranger, 2 level 12 rangers, 2 level 11 rangers, 5 level 10 rangers, 6 level 9 rangers, 5 level 8 rangers, 16 level 7 rangers, 11 level 6 rangers, 16 level 5 rangers, 16 level 4 rangers, 49 level 3 rangers, 72 level 2 rangers, 94 level 1 rangers.


    • 136 rogues: 1 level 19 rogue, 2 level 11 rogues, 3 level 9 rogues, 2 level 8 rogues, 4 level 7 rogues, 9 level 6 rogues, 6 level 5 rogues, 12 level 4 rogues, 35 level 3 rogues, 21 level 2 rogues, 41 level 1 rogues.


    • 257 sorcerers: 1 level 18 sorcerer, 1 level 14 sorcerer, 1 level 13 sorcerer, 2 level 12 sorcerers, 1 level 11 sorcerer, 2 level 10 sorcerers, 4 level 9 sorcerers, 8 level 8 sorcerers, 14 level 7 sorcerers, 20 level 6 sorcerers, 27 level 5 sorcerers, 24 level 4 sorcerers, 46 level 3 sorcerers, 44 level 2 sorcerers, 62 level 1 sorcerers.


    • 40 warlocks: 1 level 9 warlock, 1 level 8 warlock, 2 level 7 warlocks, 2 level 6 warlocks, 3 level 5 warlocks, 4 level 4 warlocks, 3 level 3 warlocks, 14 level 2 warlocks, 10 level 1 warlocks.


    • 356 wizards: 1 level 20 wizard, 1 level 17 wizard, 1 level 16 wizard, 1 level 13 wizard, 1 level 11 wizard, 4 level 10 wizards, 2 level 9 wizards, 9 level 8 wizards, 6 level 7 wizards, 10 level 6 wizards, 21 level 5 wizards, 46 level 4 wizards, 37 level 3 wizards, 53 level 2 wizards, 163 level 1 wizards.


    xaeyruudh Posted - 29 Oct 2014 : 06:17:37
    Other NPCs

    Genanu

    Genanu Shuk was born in the slums of Airspur. His human mother, Genani, died in childbirth, shunned by her family for associating with the wrong sort of boys. His father, Shuk, was an orcish criminal; he was executed by rivals (or in a bar brawl; there are several different accounts) before Genanu was born. It was Shuk’s family that raised Genanu, and he grew up knowing that his mother was a rare kind soul who looked beyond tusks and judged those she saw by their hearts and hopes.

    He found it impossible to live in a city that would disown a girl and leave her to the mercy of the so-called “beasts” they despised so much, so as soon as he could lift a crate he got himself hired as a “loader” on the docks. After listening to sailors and captains for a while, he felt he had enough knowledge to join a crew. A few years later, he provoked a human captain to a brawl on the same docks, with lots of witnesses. He crushed the man’s skull, claimed his ship, took the crew out to sea, and announced that they were now working for their own glory instead of Airspur’s; anyone who took issue with that could grab a sword and discuss it with him. There were no dissenters.

    Genanu became a very successful pirate captain on the Wizards’ Reach, with some say as many as eleven captains swearing allegiance to him. He built or commissioned a new ship, the Genani’s Breath, and they were undefeated for more than thirty years. His ultimate conquest was the entirety of the Alamber Sea; for nearly two decades he ruled the waves and took whatever he chose. A great battle unfolded when the Untheric navy arrived to reclaim the town of Glorimril, which he’d built into his hidden lair and renamed Red Haven. Some say sixty ships were lost that day, but the most amazing thing is that they all vanished without a trace. The next morning, there was not a single survivor… not a splinter of hull washing ashore… not even a scrap of sail floating on the water.

    So he’s “the talk of the town” wherever pirates gather in the Wizards’ Reach… what happened to Genanu? Where is Genani’s Breath now?

    Scarlet Inkis

    Jalano Inkis is the foulest saber to ever sail the seas… provided that you’re asking Inkis himself. “Scarlet” is the color of his enemies when he’s done with them, so it’s the one color he never wears… other than this single exception, his clothing is garish, flamboyant, unsightly, and one might say daring. This is due to the fact that Inkis is a spriggan, and his garments are chosen and tailored to avoid interfering with his shapechanges. He has weapons of all sizes lashed to the masts and decks all over his ship, so no matter where he is or how big he is he always has weapons at hand. Inkis covets the glory and fortune once held by Genanu, and his primary goal is finding out what happened to the old pirate leader on the day that three-score ships sank beneath the waves a few miles from the docks of Red Haven.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 29 Oct 2014 : 06:15:59
    Other Geographical Details

    Blood Beach

    The Blood Beach is a term for the short (10 miles) stretch of beach surrounding Red Haven. The name was coined by the sahuagin, and learned from a captured raider. The unpronounceable sahuagin word was then translated into Untheric as ‘blood beach’ — referring simply to the color of the clay, which continues several hundred feet below the waterline and frequently clouds the water to a point where neither humans nor sahuagin can see through it.

    Marbander Upland

    The Marbander Upland is a shattered volcanic plug about 40 miles in diameter, due west of Red Haven and northeast of Ssintar. It halts the Methwood’s eastward growth, and the forest abuts it so tightly that the trade road —originally planned to go north to Shussel— had to take a longer route eastward around the Upland.

    The Upland is sometimes drawn as hills on maps created by outsiders, but in fact it’s more similar to a mesa which is cut by numerous deep crevices so that the end effect is hundreds of jagged buttes with narrow (and treacherous) paths between them. It’s navigable on foot for humanoids and some hooved animals, but it’s easier and quicker to go around it so the only people you’ll meet within the maze are those who have a reason to hide there.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 29 Oct 2014 : 05:51:39
    Red Haven

    Town of Unther.

    Who Rules: Nathil, Great Lord of Red Haven.

    Who Really Rules: There is no cohesive rule in Red Haven. Whoever can seize control of any given situation, and enforce their will, determines the outcome of that situation. The locals defer to Zurun, Abru, Ethuni and Nimare, and Abrinat, and any of these individuals may openly defy the Great Lord and get away with it, but none do harm to the Lord or claim lordship for themselves.

    In truth, the Great Lord has some power. In the event that the town faced imminent threat, the residents of Red Haven would depend on him to summon Gilgeam’s army. Although the God-King would surely be annoyed at the interruption the Great Lord is likely to survive, while the penalty for a typical peasant making such a request would be summary execution.

    In their daily lives, however, the citizens of Red Haven want to be left alone. They know that the Great Lord is more dependent on them than they are on him —if they refuse to pay taxes, the army will come to collect, but the Lord will be tortured and executed for not solving the problem himself— and they’re not afraid to turn that to their advantage.

    Population: Approximately 1,500 citizens.

    Major Products: Seafood, bricks, and roofing tiles.

    Armed Forces: The army of Unther does not maintain a presence here. There is also no organized militia, and no “police” force. That’s not to say that it’s lawless… the laws just lack serious enforcement. Travelers from outside Unther are rare and few in Red Haven… and most who do arrive here came through Shussel or Unthalass, where they were undoubtedly scrutinized by Gilgeam’s enforcers. Thus, real trouble rarely happens here.

    Notable Mages

  • Fadul (CN durpari male 3rd level sorcerer) is a chameleon. He “reads” people and situations, and attempts to (subtly, to avoid being a sycophant) ingratiate himself on whoever is most powerful. He is staying in Red Haven only until destiny reveals itself. He seeks personal power, and he has no lasting loyalty except to himself.

  • Ilbaru (LG mulan male 2nd level wizard) is smart and takes pains to ascertain that any information he passes along is true before sharing it. However, he acts much wiser and more powerful than he actually is. He has a small cache of magic items he can employ to support this façade. His manner is sometimes brusque and dismissive. He speaks out frequently against the lawlessness tacitly approved by Zurun, Abru, and others… but he also appreciates them walking him home at night. Under the annoying exterior, he cares about people and about Red Haven, and tries to be a good person.

  • Tazi (CG mulan female 5th level sorcerer) is almost always flirtatious, and occasionally outrageously seductive. This isn’t an act; she’s naturally inquisitive and sensual, and those qualities are often interpreted as flirting and seduction. She is also tirelessly observant and perceptive, with an uncanny ability to know when someone is “up to something” and an undeniable urge to be part of it. Unsurprisingly, she’s a devout follower of Bast, but she makes a (thin) show of worshiping Gilgeam and will not admit her true loyalties to anyone she doesn’t know to share her devotion to Bast… and such people will immediately recognize her as a kindred spirit without needing her to confirm it.


  • Notable Churches: There are no temples in Red Haven circa 3500 MC, but there are two widely known and publicly accessible shrines.

  • Shrine of Gilgeam, unstaffed but located in front of the Great Lord’s house and thus mostly unmolested – and in fact mostly ignored. The shrine resembles a simple throne (a solid block for the seat, with two slabs for arms and a higher slab for the back) on a dais of two low steps. The dais is ten feet square, and the seat of the throne is about four feet above the ground. The symbol of Gilgeam (a red fist on a gold sun) is carved deeply into the rising back of the throne, facing the road.

  • Shrine of Ishtar, staffed by Abrinath (mulan female 4th level cleric) who seems to always be present, and greets visitors quietly and cordially in the name of Ishtar. The shrine is found on top of a low cliff overlooking the sea, shaded by a very old oak and surrounded by a variety of low flowering shrubs. The shrine itself takes the form of a large urn, of the sort that artists paint with pictographs representing stories. This one describes Ishtar blessing the land now known as Unther, and benevolently serving the native tribes as well as the mulan. The urn is four feet tall and two feet in diameter at its widest point. Water continually flows from the top of the urn, cascading down to the earth. A small unpainted wooden structure (weathered, but long prevented from degradation by the will of the goddess) shelters the urn and the low dais upon which it sits, but if light can be shown into the urn the solid bottom is visible… there is no spring supplying it from beneath; the water simply comes into being within the urn, and flows out from the top.


  • Notable Rogues’ Guilds: No organized guilds, but several individuals are active in the town.

    Equipment Shops: Poor; not only is Red Haven a small town, but it’s also not a common starting point for adventurers. The handful of genuine local adventurers get their supplies in Shussel.

    Adventurers’ Quarters: Adventurers are more accepted in Red Haven than in Unthalass. However, due to the town’s small size, there isn’t a lot of demand for specific services.

  • The Dizzy Wench (excellent/expensive) is a cheerful place, clean and comfortable even if not always orderly. The owner is Sintia (NG chondathan female 3rd level rogue), a “retired” dancer and server of drinks from “up north.” Everyone assumes she means Shussel, but she’s actually from Mordulkin. Her career there was lucrative but she decided, after many years of overhearing secrets and seeing illicit deals struck, that many powerful figures in the city might not trust her to keep her mouth shut and a change of scenery might significantly extend her golden years. Of course, “you can take the girl out of the tavern, but you can’t take the tavern out of the girl” — she bought a solid-looking dockside building, hired the best cook she could find, and opened a cozy little tavern/eatery. She doesn’t advertise rooms for rent, but there are a couple of small rooms (more like large closets) with a mix of bunks, pallets, and cots; well-known customers occasionally awake therein after drinking themselves to sleep in the common room. Sintia stays out of politics, and simply invites both sides of any argument to buy a drink. You won’t find a happier woman on any dock in Unther.

  • The Pirates’ Lair (good/moderate) stands on the site of the original Agamler family villa, and mostly mimics the original floor plan… though of course the brick-covered exterior looks much different than the old manor. It purports to be a simple (though large and relatively extravagant given the size of Red Haven) inn, but considering all the services available to paying customers it should be classified as a festhall. The owner is unknown by most and kept secret by those who do know, but evidently he/she has the means to keep the place in good repair.

  • There’s also a sprawling inn in a converted stable at the south end of town, at least one “bed and breakfast” with three or four bedroom suites, and several taverns.


  • Important Characters

  • Abrinat (CN/E mulan female 4th level cleric of Umberlee) purports to serve Ishtar and in fact lives very near the shrine of Ishtar in town. She’s familiar with the rituals and dogma of Ishtar’s church, having grown up living in a devout family, and her deceptions are sufficient to easily fool the people of Red Haven. She is regarded by her neighbors as a benevolent and kind young woman, wise beyond her years. She knows the wereshark’s secrets and keeps them, subtly attempting to turn him to the service of Umberlee.

  • Abru (NG mulan male 6th level ranger) attempts to minimize the opposition to Gilgeam’s laws. He hates the oppressive laws, but he worries that open, public opposition hastens the God-King’s eventual wrath and invites reprisals; he wishes that everyone simply go about their business quietly. He spends much of every night walking the streets and checking in with friends to ensure that everyone is safe.

  • Avale (CN turami female 6th level rogue) loves gems and jewelry, and she loves a challenge even more. She knows that Abru has “caught her red handed” at least once and he’s said nothing about it to anyone. Her curiosity (and interest) are piqued, and she spends more of her free time stalking him than seeking riches.

  • Ethuni (NG mulan female 7th level fighter) and Nimare (NG mulan female 6th level fighter) live together in a shack at the edge of a copse of trees. They’re quietly friendly when out and about, but they don’t welcome uninvited visitors or advances from inquisitive or (especially) amorous strangers—and everyone is a stranger. They’re available as mercenaries (together; never separately) for good causes, and they do some adventuring when not employed by others; their income from these activities more than supports their frugal lifestyle. If anyone else in Red Haven knew what the Harpers are, they might suspect that these women are members or friends of that group, or “sleeper” agents.

  • Khalun (CE mulan male 3rd level barbarian) is a wereshark and an agent of the sahuagin. His job is to make sure that (1) in the event that the sahuagin want to destroy the town there will be no effective resistance, (2) the sahuagin are informed of any interesting magic items and potential slaves that come into town, and (3) everybody thinks he is just another brawling fully-human resident of the town. He knows that the cleric of Ishtar secretly serves Umberlee; he keeps quiet about her because she allows him to hide in the cellar beneath the shrine (with a well shaft leading down to a sea cave) and the occasional useful bit of information.

  • Nathil (LE mulan male 1st level cleric of Gilgeam) is the Great Lord of Red Haven, appointed by Gilgeam. He’s new, and inexperienced. He knows that he doesn’t have enough support to rule Red Haven effectively, and his requisitions and reports to Unthalass are met with punishment and malice. He has therefore resolved to serve Gilgeam as best he can by reporting that everything is fine in Red Haven; the alternative is to tell the truth and be slain for his honesty. Since the Great Lord is the only person in the town who is marginally loyal to Gilgeam, there’s little danger of his duplicity being reported. Surprisingly everything is settling down to working out fine. The taxes are being paid, and while most of the town disregards most of Gilgeam’s laws nobody is damaging the God-King’s property.

  • Yozar (NE mulan male 2nd level bard) is an agent of a pirate captain, “Scarlet” Inkis. Inkis seeks to take old Genanu’s place as the foremost pirate of the Wizards’ Reach and the Alamber Sea, and part of attaining that goal is reclaiming the hoard hidden (or sunk) at Red Haven. Yozar’s task is to find out what happened to Genanu’s treasure. Inkis will then bring the manpower to recover it.

  • Zurun (CN mulan male 9th level warlock) is the most visible alternative authority figure in Red Haven. If someone wants to break the law, they look to Zurun for support… and as long as their actions won’t injure anyone, they’ll likely have it. Zurun is the unofficial spokesperson for the town when newcomers arrive; anyone can give directions but those who ask questions about the history of the town are referred to him.


  • Important Features in Town

  • Much of Red Haven’s real estate is taken up by thirteen farms, where enough food is grown to make fish an accent rather than the mainstay of their diet. The largest is the Umre farm, which houses not only the Umre family but over a hundred employees.

  • The Great Lord’s House is one of the uppermost homes, built partially into the side of the Marbander Upland. Various Great Lords (Nathil is the 156th man of that title in Red Haven) have customized the place, and it’s now an impressive collection of bedrooms, dungeons, and pantries — some rooms fill all three of these roles, and others too.


  • Local Lore

    History

    Glorimril was founded on this site, in 531 MC (-1605 DR). The Agamler family, devout servants of Enlil, built the town and governed it in his name until he vanished. At first nothing changed with Gilgeam’s takeover as principal God-King of Unther, but soon taxes began an inexorable climb to support the increasing decadence in Unthalass. As Gilgeam began solidifying his rule by persecuting the other God-Kings, the Agamler family was among those who spoke out, and their days were numbered. In 1640 MC (-496 DR) the 35th Agamler lord of Glorimril was executed on trumped-up charges, and the family died out with him. Gilgeam immediately appointed the first “Great Lord” of the town, bringing it into the growing circle of oppressively governed cities which were tightly controlled by hand-picked followers of Gilgeam.

    Recent Events

    A long series of Great Lords followed that one, until 3453 MC (1318 DR), when pirates took over the town. The town’s current name is a legacy of this brief pirate dynasty.

    The town stands on a narrow vein of brick-red clay which runs through the nearby Marbandar Upland and down into the sea. Glorimril was built here as a stopover on the trade route between Unthalass and Messemprar, from the same marble that those cities were built. The clay was paved over sufficiently to create a pleasing rather than stark contrast between the white marble and the red cliffs.

    Genanu, a pirate captain of some infamy on the Wizards’ Reach, decided to execute a daring raid on Unthalass itself, and mused as he passed the red cliffs above Glorimril that it could be reshaped to make a haven for pirates. At that time, it also had an ideal harbor for shielding a large number of ships from the often stormy weather on the Alamber. Genanu altered his plan, informing his ships that they would simply destroy Unthalass’ navy and then “retreat” a ways up the western shore.

    After scuttling most of the ships docked at Unthalass, and sinking the rest as they pursued his fleet, Genanu sailed into what would soon be known as Red Haven. His men quickly took control of the docked ships, slaying the few crewmen on board, raising the planks, and removing their helm wheels. The captain and his men made slaves of most of the town’s residents, and set about transforming the town.

    Within the year, every building in town was torn down or had its seaward sides plated in red brick, with matching roof tiles. The captain’s warships were hidden in nearby coastal caves, leaving only fishing boats in the harbor. To complete the illusion that the town had been demolished and never rebuilt, the docks were drenched with oil and set afire. The blaze was quickly extinguished but it was sufficient to give the quite solid and serviceable structure the appearance of being charred to ruin. The old pirate and his subject captains lived in the town, remaining indoors or at-sea so much that the town appeared deserted for all but the darkest hour of the night, when the ships were loaded and unloaded.

    Thus began a time of greatly increased pirate activity on the Alamber. Scores of merchant ships each year found themselves surrounded, boarded, plundered, and scuttled with alarming speed. Their crews were taken in chains aboard the attacking vessels, and soon sold as slaves in Bezantur. The navies of Mulhorand and Unther searched both coasts of the Alamber but —hindered by sahuagin attacks as well as occasional Thayan attacks and lightning-fast strikes by the pirates themselves— they couldn’t figure out where the pirates were coming from.

    Things continued this way until a certain young sailor of Messemprar was plucked from the water as his ship sank, and taken back to Red Haven in chains. The sailor conjured shells and trinkets for the pirates’ amusement, and somehow they never got around to selling him off to their contacts in Thay.

    That was about the time that the Untheric navy finally appeared at the mouth of Red Haven’s harbor. The pirates were prepared, and soon the Untheric ships were attacked from behind by two, then five, then twelve pirate ships. The battle raged through a night and the next day, and well into the second night. Or so the legend goes.

    One thing is certain. The rising sun showed no signs of the battle… not a single floating body or piece of driftwood. Just the wind-whipped waves of the Alamber, cresting bright green with caps of amber. The young sailor of Messemprar soon departed, to return to his family, leaving Red Haven quieter and safer… for a time.

    DM’s Note: If the PCs inquire into Red Haven’s history, it’s most likely to be Zurun telling the tale to the PCs. He is the “young sailor from Messemprar,” though he will not attempt to give hints to that effect and he will adroitly avoid admitting it if the PCs make guesses, stating instead that he arrived after that time. That’s technically true; he left, following the destruction of the pirates and the Untheric fleet, and then he returned. Hopefully the PCs won’t get bogged down by an investigation of him; he’s not a villain. (Unless, of course, you want him to be.)

    The details on Zurun are necessarily vague at this point, because 5e doesn’t have a framework for definitively outlining his abilities yet. His “otherworldly patron” is a being of elemental water, perhaps Istishia but more likely a lord among the paraelementals or quasielementals. I don’t like Olhydra, but it might be something similar. The Great Padisha of the Marid could also work.

    Zurun is not evil, or uncaring… but he might not be entirely benevolent either. Certainly he has deeper motives than conjuring baubles from the ocean floor to ingratiate himself on the pirates, calling the Untheric navy to destroy the pirates, and then calling the servants of his master to capsize both fleets and draw the whole mess of sailors into a dark corner of the Elemental Plane of Water where they now serve as slaves to elemental creatures… oh, I’ve probably said too much.

    More Notes on Red Haven

    Red Haven was once a larger town (FR10 pg 43). Arbitrarily I decided that it was built for 2,500 people. According to DMG II pg 107, a crowded settlement of 2,500 should have an area of 2.5 million sq ft, which translates to a circle approximately 0.3 miles in diameter.

    Red Haven has 126 buildings (DMG II page 108) – 35 residential, 6 administrative, 13 entertainment, 14 industrial, 0 nobility, 9 shops, 26 slums, 5 public works, 5 travel, and 13 farms.

    I’m ignoring the Total Characters of Each Class instructions (DMG pg 138). Instead I assigned percentages to each class for an estimate of how many there should be. The total number of individuals with adventuring classes is 55 (3.7% of the population); the breakdown is as follows.

  • 5 Barbarians: 1 level 3 barbarian, 1 level 2 barbarian, 3 level 1 barbarians

  • 1 Bards: 1 level 2 bard

  • 2 Clerics: 1 level 4 cleric, 1 level 1 cleric

  • 4 Druids: 1 level 3 druid, 3 level 1 druids

  • 9 Fighters: 1 level 7 fighter, 1 level 6 fighter, 1 level 3 fighter, 2 level 2 fighters, 4 level 1 fighters

  • 4 Monks: 1 level 2 monk, 3 level 1 monks

  • 2 Paladins: 1 level 3 paladins, 1 level 1 paladin

  • 6 Rangers: 1 level 6 ranger, 1 level 4 ranger, 2 level 2 rangers, 2 level 1 rangers

  • 7 Rogues: 1 level 6 rogue, 1 level 5 rogue, 1 level 3 rogue, 1 level 2 rogue, 3 level 1 rogues

  • 5 Sorcerers: 1 level 5 sorcerer, 1 level 3 sorcerer, 3 level 1 sorcerers

  • 6 Warlocks: 1 level 9 warlock, 1 level 3 warlock, 1 level 2 warlock, 3 level 1 warlocks

  • 4 Wizards: 1 level 2 wizard, 3 level 1 wizards
  • xaeyruudh Posted - 20 Sep 2014 : 21:48:41
    One account of the Orcgate Wars, for this campaign.

    Man Versus Orc

    The short version of the Orcgate Wars is that vast numbers of orcs were brought into northern province of Mulhorand by magical portals. The orcs spilled out onto what is now the plateau of Thay, the Priador and Thazalhar, and the Fields of Ganath, and down into the heart of Mulhorand. They reached as far south as Sampranasz, razing towns and trampling crops and murdering every human they found. The walled cities of Skuld and Sultim didn’t fall, but they were besieged for weeks or months at a time for the duration of the wars.

    The God-Kings, aware of the incursion from the first human death, relied on their mortal priests and followers to repel the “beast-men” and gave little thought to the fighting for the first several years. They were more concerned with quelling the rioting resulting from Thayd's rebellion.

    Eventually, the portals were shut by mortal heroes, but still the orcs ravaged the land. Finally, the God-Kings responded to the pleas of their priests, and took the field. The horde of orcs, accustomed to terrorizing their prey while facing scarce reprisals, quickly felt the balance of the battle shift. Thousands of them died every day, beneath the wrath of the glowing unkillable prey that had suddenly appeared over the battlefield, holding fiery swords aloft and throwing lightning and ice from their stick-like arms. Orcs are superstitious creatures, and when confronted with things that look and sound like gods they call on their own gods.

    The Wrath of Gruumsh

    Up until this point, Gruumsh had been completely unaware of the conflict. He had other matters to pay attention to. He ignored the primitive demands of his shamans… shamans were always demanding that his divine wrath smite their enemies. These enemies were mere meat, though; unworthy of the god’s time. Then he heard something different in their words… humans had summoned their gods to strike down his people. That was utterly unacceptable behavior from meat.

    The appearance of five orcish avatars on the battlefield could not have gone unnoticed. Gruumsh had no doubt that he could rend the avatars of the human gods limb from limb alone, but he wanted to make it perfectly clear to the human vermin that summoning their gods to defend them was totally futile. That’s why he brought Bahgtru, Ilneval, Luthic, and Yurtrus with him. It was not enough to destroy these humans… they must be made an example of, so that this entire world would learn to fear orcs.

    Initially, the battle went well. As usual, Ilneval and Bahgtru took opposite flanks as Gruumsh smashed everything in his path. Yurtrus followed, effectively ensuring that nothing lived in the orcs’ wake. The humans fell back before them, or fell dead in their tracks.
    When Gruumsh met Re, he saw something he had not seen before… a human with the power of a god. The gods of the orcs had been expecting avatars of human gods— mere fragments of power, similar to but of course lesser than, their own avatars. Instead, they faced the remnants of actual gods, slain and consumed by humans of great skill and mastery of magic, who returned from the Outer Planes to dwell amongst their mortal kin instead of taking over the planar palaces of the vanquished gods. There was not one, not five, but many of them. Gruumsh was, for the first time… slightly less assured of his inevitable victory.

    However, while the humans had mastered their own magic, they did not have full control of the deific power they had stolen. So Gruumsh fought them. As he had predicted, the human godlings were unaccustomed to their new might. The orc gods quickly slew half of the human gods, and obliterated hundreds of their puny humans servants. This rallied the orcs, who regrouped and resumed slaughtering the humans who stood around gawking at their gods. Satisfied that the odds were firmly in the favor of orcs, Gruumsh challenged Re to direct battle, sensing the human’s foolish pride and honor. Re accepted, and the remaining human gods lowered their weapons. Humans were such idiotic insects.

    Gruumsh attacked with every power he had at his disposal. The way to win was not to cautiously poke and prod; that was the way of humans and other meat. Victory came from overwhelming your foe quickly and completely. As he had hoped, Re was caught off-guard… especially by the sudden attacks of Bahgtru on his right and Ilneval on his left. The outraged human gods moved, then, closing in, but in his last breath Re honorably conceded victory to Gruumsh, and that gave the great glowing humans pause.

    The Unspoken Epilogue

    The orcish gods never speak of the last day of the conflict, for they know that Gruumsh will destroy any of them who utter a word of it.
    The human Re had a trick up his sleeve; one that even Gruumsh had not expected. As he spoke, Re dissipated into a white mist that enveloped one of his lesser gods —the one they called Horus— and seemed to transfer all his power. The glowing aura which had surrounded Horus grew too bright to gaze upon, and his cry of rage and sorrow at the fall of Re grew to a terrible thundering roar which shook the ground and slew every orc within a mile radius. Then all the human gods moved as one, and the bodies of Luthic, Bahgtru, Ilneval, and Yurtrus were torn asunder.

    Gruumsh… fled.

    DM's Notes

    There are a few other details of varying significance.

    • Thayd was a follower of Anubis in this campaign.

    • The God-Kings ultimately held Anubis responsible for the casualties of the Orcgate fiasco and put him to death... or so they believed.

    • Orcs have permanent kill-on-sight status, following the Orcgate Wars, due to the human casualties. Half-orcs and avatars of orc deities naturally share this onus.



    Anubis was, in fact, indirectly at least, responsible for the Orcgate Wars. He didn't intend it to be as big or catastrophic as it was, though. He saw that Mulhorand was growing complacent, due in part to lacking real foes against which to increase its might. He directed some of his followers to find a suitable foe. Thayd chose the orcs for their relatively low intelligence and fast reproduction, and outlined a plan which Anubis approved: create portals to a world of orcs, and bring in a force sufficient to test Mulhorand's legions. If the orcs were annihilated, the portal could be opened again in a century or two, to prevent arrogance (and hence weakness) from creeping back in. The portals would be controlled on the Mulhorand end, and well hidden from both physical and magical efforts to locate and destroy them. Anubis approved this plan due at least in part to his "portfolio" ... survival, persistence, and achieving victory against seemingly insurmountable obstacles/odds. Since it was Thayd's plan, Thayd was put in charge of overseeing its execution.

    One thing that Anubis failed to foresee was the ramifications of his approval on Thayd's ego. Thayd aggressively recruited wizards and sorcerers from across Mulhorand and Unther and its colonies, citing their persecution at the hands of the priesthoods and offering them a more pleasant life in the northern frontier… a place where arcane might would be respected. He hoped to gather support from most of Mulhorand’s most powerful wizards, thinking this would be sufficient to force the priesthoods to recognize the complaints of the oppressed sorcerers and wizards, and thus make the entirety of both empires a more pleasant place for all arcane casters. He certainly succeeded in getting the priesthoods’ attention. The resulting exodus of arcane casters from across the empires was dubbed Thayd’s rebellion and treated as an act of treason, even though he wasn’t trying to form a separate nation. Thayd became a wanted man.

    He wasn’t terribly worried about it at first. After all, the same powerful magic which concealed the orc-gathering portals also hid him. Another problem soon took shape, however. As the much-maligned arcane casters began populating the northern province (now the separate nation of Thay) they began seizing increasing amounts of civic control in the cities. It reached critical mass with the assassination of the governor of Delhumide, and then there was no going back. Sorcerers and wizards flew about the province sacking towns and killing everyone who raised a hand against them.

    The detachment of the Imperial Legion stationed in Sultim was ordered by the Pharaoh to quash the rebellion. Of course they obeyed, briefly leaving Sultim unguarded; replacements were dispatched from Skuld to take their place in Sultim. During the confrontation between the Legion and the basically lawless spellcasters who had taken over the northern province, there were many innocent casualties… both sides were focused entirely on annihilating the opposition, without much regard for collateral damage.

    Among these casualties were the wizards and priests charged with guarding the outer doors of the mountain… the access tunnels to the portals. Anubis and Thayd, ensconced within a mountain overseeing the final preparations for opening the portals, were unaware of the conflict outside… until the death of these guards, that is.

    The appearance of Anubis himself on the battlefield instantly ended the fighting. No other God-King was present, and nobody wanted to face his cold anger.

    Unfortunately, Anubis had to exit the effect of the “cloaking” magics in order to appear on the battlefield. The other God-Kings, who were scrying the battle, saw him and “realized” that he was involved. They immediately teleported to Delhumide and slew Anubis and any priests who looked to support the “deviant” God-King. The Imperial Legion, which had been allowed to retreat by order of Anubis, returned and retook control of the province. Thayd, inside the mountain, dared not emerge.

    There was one thing he could do, though. He could give voice to his rage and heartbreak. All of the portals were opened… no orcs appeared immediately, but beacons activated on their world which highlighted the portals and it was just a matter of time until war parties arrived to investigate. The fuse had been lit, so to speak.

    Thayd knew that he couldn’t leave the mountain and live to reach old age. Nowhere else on Toril benefitted from the unique concealing magics raised by Anubis to hide these portals. For that matter, these magics might fail now that Anubis was dead, so even remaining here wasn’t safe. So he waited until the other God-Kings had returned to Skuld, and undoubtedly resumed dealing with the aftermath of the wizards’ rebellion.

    Thayd then teleported out of the mountain and began attempting to resurrect the body of Anubis, which was left on display in the ruins of Delhumide. This was a calculated move, since he knew that he didn’t have the power to raise the God-King. He guessed that it would attract a great deal of attention, though, and his personal power ensured that it would take a powerful priest to stop him. His plan worked.

    While the priests and Imperial Legion converged on him, orcs began pouring forth from the mountain. By the time the Legion heard about the invasion, there were outnumbered and outmaneuvered. The human population of the plateau was quickly snuffed out, and compulsions placed on the orcs by the portals compelled them to seek prey and riches to the south. The war had begun.
    sleyvas Posted - 16 Sep 2014 : 02:55:41
    Yeah, considering that many of the staff at Kobold Press were involved with the original Zakhara, I'm definitely supporting this. I loved the take they did with Midgard and the countries with Egyptian influence.
    Wooly Rupert Posted - 15 Sep 2014 : 22:59:51
    Wow, that was quick... There were 5 supporters when I saw it, and I was like the 15th, when I picked what level to support...
    xaeyruudh Posted - 15 Sep 2014 : 21:56:25
    That looks pretty cool... close to being funded too.
    Wooly Rupert Posted - 15 Sep 2014 : 18:34:15
    This Kickstarter may be of interest, for this campaign:

    Southlands: New Fantasy Options for Pathfinder RPG
    xaeyruudh Posted - 15 Sep 2014 : 17:37:30
    I see the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons as being different than the overall Faerunian pantheon. Or at least I want to portray them differently than the larger pantheon has been portrayed. The Mulhorandi pantheon is small, and that means each god-king needs to be diverse and powerful. They need to be go-getters in a way, even though they've been "languishing" for a long time. Every personality in the pantheon needs to be strong and earn its place.

    The other distinction I didn't make above, which is really important to my understanding of this pantheon, is that the god-kings are not the gods from Egyptian mythology. They're not even pieces of those gods. They're completely separate/unrelated beings. This is a point of divergence from published Realmslore; the God-Kings began life as Imaskari citizens, rather than avatars/whatever sent by gods in the outer planes.

    So in that sense there are two Sebeks, as well as two Anhurs, two Sets, etc. The one from Egyptian mythology, who has a home in the outer planes and might get involved in other campaign worlds... and this one, who lives and breathes in the Realms and nowhere else. They might have very different personalities.

    I'm only using the Egyptian names because they were in FR10 and those are the names we all know for them. This campaign will transform Mulhorand and Unther into fully unique places, divorced from all references to Egypt and Babylon/Sumer.
    LordofBones Posted - 15 Sep 2014 : 12:09:12
    Why not have two Sebeks: one's the "real" deity, who's a pretty decent chap, and the other is the FR Sebek, who's trying to smear the original's name?
    xaeyruudh Posted - 12 Sep 2014 : 06:25:38
    Weird. Just found this thread from back in 2005, asking about stuff I wrote (Ioroulhaamh and Tkinnolihr, and my version of the phaerimm creation). This is the first I've seen of the thread.

    I wanted the phaerimm to be created by the Imaskari, so I decided they were... for my campaign. Fast-forward to 2003: Underdark says that the Imaskari created the phaerimm. Awesome. Then in 2004 Serpent Kingdoms says (p 98) that the sarrukh fought against the phaerimm in -33800 DR. Whoa.

    So "obviously" (to me at the time anyway) the phaerimm had to have engaged in time travel. I like George's idea of them being ancient evils that the Imaskari duplicated, and I like-even-more Eric's endgame magical metamorphosis. Or (to go off on a tangent) they could be an endgame threat that materializes when highly magical societies start dabbling with things they ought not. If I had seen this thread back then, I might have gone a different direction with the phaerimm, but time travel was the thing that popped into my head and I ran with that.

    It took shape in the form of Ioroulhaamh, my name for the first phaerimm that the Imaskari created. I named the responsible Imaskari wizard Tkinnolihr. I decided that the phaerimm would be the first of his creations that showed enough intelligence and creative spark to go beyond simply learning and recasting spells it was taught but performing original magical research on its own.

    Ioroulhaamh's big magical achievement was an unrefined bit of genius his offspring called temporal wormhole. It hurled the caster a random number of years into the future or past, for a random number of seconds/minutes/hours, and then yanked him back. It was undoubtedly wild magic. In terms of time travel research, it was the equivalent of grabbing all the food on the table at Thanksgiving dinner and trying to cram it all in your face at once. But it worked, and it was the highest level of magic use any of the Imaskari wizards' creations had managed up to that point; the fact that the phaerimm researched it himself was icing on the cake, and made Tkinnolihr quite prominent in his day. Probably had an audience with the Dragon King, which may have explained Tkinnolihr's subsequent disappearance from the public eye...

    Anyway, some time shortly after that, everything went to heck and Ioroulhaamh was killed by the wizard's apprentices and his descendants teleported out of the collapsing cavern.

    Time marched on, and the year that Ioroulhaamh had visited with his wormhole rolled around. His firstborn was waiting, where their cradle/prison had once stood, when his "father" suddenly appeared. He immediately summoned several of his brothers, and they had a few moments to "reconnect" before Ioroulhaamh vanished.

    The phaerimm had learned something of the Nether Scrolls by then, having mindwalked various human and elven wizards who had perused the scrolls. They knew about the liches in Oreme, but had been unable to penetrate the sarrukh's wards or capture any of them "alive."

    Returning to their new home, the brothers set about focusing their resources on time travel for a while. They had dabbled before, but seeing "dear old dad" again was inspirational. It seemed like a timely hint for "dealing with" the sarrukh -- meaning: absorbing all of their magical knowledge and learning the most effective ways to slaughter them if the need should ever arise. They crafted some more time travel spells, and had some successful experiments, and created something approximating the time portals that have been mentioned in the Ruins of Myth Drannor box and other sources. One of the brothers took his descendants through the portal, and they were never heard from again.

    They were successful in some ways (bringing about the end of Isstossefifil, which might otherwise have persisted) but it availed the phaerimm race little (the family that went back in time died out before the present time, and thus were unable to share what they had learned).

    All just my take on the phaerimm, for this campaign.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 14:19:09
    Thanks Wooly, I'll have to look into that!

    Edit: I got an enclosure so that I could plug the hard drive in as an external... the disks don't spin, so apparently the hard drive is toast unless I can find someone who can resurrect it.

    Which leaves me wondering how opening the case and blowing the dust out fried my hard drive.
    Wooly Rupert Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 12:43:28
    quote:
    Originally posted by xaeyruudh

    Thanks!

    I think I have it narrowed down to the motherboard and/or cpu, but they're so old that replacing one means replacing everything. I also tried hooking my hard drives up to two other computers... one of those is old and dead too, and the other uses different plugs on the back of the hard drives so that didn't work either.

    My computer is probably toast, but it had a good 15-16 year life. I'm just hoping I'll be able to get stuff off the hard drive.

    Either way, though, I'm going to keep puttering with this campaign. Thanks for the support! [:}]



    There are adapter kits that have both IDE and SATA connections, allowing you to temporarily connect an old hard drive to a new computer as an external hard drive. And there are drive enclosures, as well, both IDE and SATA, that allow you to take a former internal hard drive and keep using it as an external one.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 06:57:08
    Thanks!

    I think I have it narrowed down to the motherboard and/or cpu, but they're so old that replacing one means replacing everything. I also tried hooking my hard drives up to two other computers... one of those is old and dead too, and the other uses different plugs on the back of the hard drives so that didn't work either.

    My computer is probably toast, but it had a good 15-16 year life. I'm just hoping I'll be able to get stuff off the hard drive.

    Either way, though, I'm going to keep puttering with this campaign. Thanks for the support! [:}]
    Dalor Darden Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 06:41:23
    I absolutely love your ideas. I'm subscribing to keep up on your work! :)
    Jeremy Grenemyer Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 04:45:38
    I hope you're able to bring your computer back to life!
    xaeyruudh Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 03:39:49
    Hah, thank you Arcanamach. I appreciate the vote of confidence, even if the big draw is just getting rid of RSEs.
    The Arcanamach Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 02:55:27
    I stopped reading during the second post because...I WANT TO PLAY IN THIS CAMPAIGN! The part that I read is excellent though.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 00:50:39
    quote:
    Originally posted by ericlboyd

    The seeds for the dragonborn are also hinted at in Dragons of Faerun.

    --Eric


    Thanks, Eric! Page 9 does mention dragonborn, and also refers to Races of the Dragon; I'd forgotten about that.

    Both of these sources describe a dragonborn race which seems different from the 4e dragonborn. More cool for offering a PC an unusual opportunity to change their race partway through their career, but less cool for being limited to followers of Bahamut. Although presumably these dragonborn would also breed true and their descendants could be followers of other deities. On the other hand, these dragonborn didn't exist in the Realms prior to the planting of the Tree of Gems around 1359 DR?

    I like both at least enough to make them possible in a campaign. I'll just have to give one of them a different name.
    Wooly Rupert Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 22:54:05
    There were dragonborn in 3E, but they are entirely different from the dragonborn of 4E. They are also a great example of how much trouble can be caused by re-using a name...

    I've fiddled with -- but never fully worked out -- an alternate origin for the 4E dragonborn, using a wandering Netherese enclave and one of the undescribed continents on Toril.

    An easier solution, though, could be a small number of half-dragons isolating themselves and interbreeding, resulting -- in a few generations -- in an entirely new race.
    ericlboyd Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 21:21:27
    The seeds for the dragonborn are also hinted at in Dragons of Faerun.

    --Eric

    quote:
    Originally posted by xaeyruudh

    Races

    I don't play often, but when I do, I like having a lot of options. So in the best interests of those like myself, I want to allow as many races and classes as possible. Some might be more challenging than others, but if it's in a TSR or WotC book I'll try to find a place for it in my campaigns. Notes on specific races follow.

    Centaurs will be greatly diversified but so far they don't have any special relevance or role in this campaign so I'll put down some notes on them elsewhere.

    Dragonborn were introduced in the 4e core rules, and brought into the Realms amid the destruction wrought by mashing Abeir and Toril back together. That was misguided, but there is room for dragonborn. In this campaign they're actually pretty easy to explain; dragonborn are the descendants of the khaasta who have confronted the sarrukh throughout history. So they didn't arrive suddenly; they've "always" been here, and there are now families and small enclaves of dragonborn scattered across Faerun.

    Star elves were added to the Realms in 3e, and they will have a presence in the Old Empires (as well as the Yuirwood) for this campaign.

    One of my players mentioned wanting to play a goliath, so I made it work. I don't remember everything we came up with, and it's stuck on an inaccessible hard drive now, but goliath clans will be found in small numbers in several mountain ranges of Faerun.

    Orcs are one of the few races which are completely unavailable for PCs in Part One of the campaign. This is due to the lingering hatred of orcs following the Orcgate Wars... they're killed on sight throughout Mulhorand and Unther. Obviously that presents problems for orcish PCs.


    xaeyruudh Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 20:46:16
    Races

    I don't play often, but when I do, I like having a lot of options. So in the best interests of those like myself, I want to allow as many races and classes as possible. Some might be more challenging than others, but if it's in a TSR or WotC book I'll try to find a place for it in my campaigns. Notes on specific races follow.

    Centaurs will be greatly diversified but so far they don't have any special relevance or role in this campaign so I'll put down some notes on them elsewhere.

    "Dragonborn" is a term used for two different types of creature. One is born from a voluntary transformation undertaken by a follower of Bahamut. The other type of dragonborn was introduced in the 4e core rules, and brought into the Realms amid the destruction wrought by mashing Abeir and Toril back together. I was thinking of making them descendants of the khaasta, but upon reflection that doesn't seem desirable.

    Star elves were added to the Realms in 3e, and they will have a presence in the Old Empires (as well as the Yuirwood) for this campaign.

    One of my players mentioned wanting to play a goliath, so I made it work. I don't remember everything we came up with, and it's stuck on an inaccessible hard drive now, but goliath clans will be found in small numbers in several mountain ranges of Faerun.

    Orcs are one of the few races which are completely unavailable for PCs in Part One of the campaign. This is due to the lingering hatred of orcs following the Orcgate Wars... they're killed on sight throughout Mulhorand and Unther. Obviously that presents problems for orcish PCs.
    Gary Dallison Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 20:39:31
    Well if you do and you want to I would gladly include it in one of my issues.

    I found that once I started formally writing up ideas that I was spurred to develop them even more and came up with several new ideas as I was doing so. By writing it up for other people to read it often inspires you to greater efforts.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 20:30:50
    Considered it several times... just haven't had the combination of time and attention span so far. Still working on that, and building and expanding, so pieces of it will inevitably come together.
    Gary Dallison Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 19:59:25
    Out of interest have you considered writing this up in a formal layout. Its exactly the kind of thing I have been looking for for my fan magazine, a completely alternate take on the Forgotten Realms.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 02:39:39
    The origin of the phaerimm, and the kaorti cyst

    Back in the golden age of Imaskar, a wizard-noble of some note (Tkinnolihr) had a city built. He retired from public life there, and conducted research that modern society would consider horrific but which was merely "before its time" by Imaskari standards. He shunned visitors because they were annoying interruptions, not because he feared being sanctioned or punished. The phaerimm race is one surviving result of his experiments. At some point, however, maintenance was no longer performed and his palace --and then the city-- were quickly abandoned amid rumors of madness and suspiciously high suicide rates. The city was marked taboo, and fell into ruin. Fast-forward to the last few centuries of the Imaskari Empire. Tkinnolihr's city is no longer marked on maps. Another notorious wizard builds another city on the same site (it offered wonderful scenic overlooks of northern Raurin), unaware of what lay buried within and under the mountain. That wizard named his city Raudor, and it was splendid... until he and the 5,000 slaves who lived there to serve his every whim went berserk and slaughtered themselves and each other. Investigators and scavengers who entered the city were never heard from again either. Fast-forward to the current date. The lower/older city is a kaorti cyst of significant size and age, filled with small but persistent "wormholes" in the fabric of reality. Through these wormholes come creatures and madness from the Far Realm. The upper city (which is not on the surface; it's buried beneath rockfalls and accessible only by spelunking) doesn't have any direct connections to the lower city, but it's physically close enough that "echoes" of what's below will soon drive most visitors bat-dung-crazy.

    The first birthed generation of phaerimm was born in captivity, but they broke free of their cages. Before escaping they sought to slay the wizard who created them. The wizard's apprentices, charged with educating and controlling the master's creations, blocked the passage leading out of the prison and slew Iorhoulaamh... the first/created phaerimm. The younger phaerimm had proudly believed themselves immortal and invincible (supported by the ease with which they killed and devoured the humanoids who stumbled into their lair every few days) and the death of their progenitor shocked them into mute surrender. The eldest son of Iorhoulaamh, however, used spells of his own devising to collapse part of the mountain and teleport his siblings to a vast network of unclaimed caverns far to the west and north, which they had seen in spellpictures shown to them by the human apprentices. Teaching and protecting now fell on the Firstborn. They soon discovered that the surface world above their new home had been claimed by humans who were learning to wield magic. He sought knowledge and magic voraciously now, to strengthen his siblings as well as to quell his own hunger. He took every known humanoid shape, to infiltrate tribes and read the minds of everyone he met for knowledge of magic, and also for threats to the caverns below. As the Netherese grew more powerful, enslaving other humanoids and flinging spells without care for the consequences, they began to remind the phaerimm of the Imaskari...

    Arqnanghathseir, the phaerimm who controls Zindalankh in 1365 DR, knows all of that. He went to Raudor as soon as he figured out where it was, and recognized the whispering voices as open windows into the Far Realm. The cavern where Iorhoulaamh and his sons were born is long gone, and the mountaintop towers where Tkinnolihr once pondered things humans ought-not-know have likewise crumbled to rubble at the foot of the slopes. The city beneath the mountain, however... parts of that remain somewhat intact. He can't easily get to it, but he can feel the thrum of magic from within. His time is valuable, and he has wards to maintain around Zindalankh. He needs someone to find a way into the forgotten city and shut its maddening Far Realm portals.

    So when the PCs arrive in Zindalankh with a sob story about a drow clan that wants to come to the surface in Zindalankh and escape without being mauled by undead... he has just the suicide mission for them to perform in exchange for his favor. If they're successful, his gratitude will probably take the form of wiping their minds and then teleporting them into a magic-dead maze full of very hungry vampires.

    Fun trivia: The Karanoks of Luthcheq are descended from Tkinnolihr, and various planar consorts (by no means limited to one plane) are scattered throughout the family tree both before and after his time.
    xaeyruudh Posted - 09 Sep 2014 : 01:40:06
    quote:
    Originally posted by Seethyr

    -What rule set are you using, because Tyranny of Dragons might fit in nicely to lessen preparation a bit. After Tiamat disappeared, there is a great tie in to have her "brought back from her imprisonment." You might actually have a far more logical explanation than the actual adventure for that. Also, as you seem to want to tie in some allies, well the Cult could be temporary allies?


    FR is my world of choice, so when I realized that I wasn't going to game in the 4e Realms I didn't bother learning that ruleset. I was planning to stick with 3.5, but 5e looks cool from the playtest and the PH so either one is fine with me based on player preference... assuming I can get the campaign to a somewhat polished state.

    Now that Hoard of the Dragon Queen is actually on shelves, I'll try to take a look through it. The leading announcements sounded ridiculous for several reasons, but we'll see if it worked out better on paper than it sounded in the hype. The Cult of the Dragon is mostly irrelevant to my plotline, though I may use Alasklerbanbastos at some point so the Cult might make a cameo. The cult of Tiamat will be involved in the adventures in Unther, but I don't have a big role planned for them in the overall plot. Not against it at all; it just hasn't "fallen into place" yet as an important link. Perhaps I should look at Tiamat as wanting to play a more significant part in this story, but so far I'm not seeing a believable motive for her.

    quote:
    Originally posted by Seethyr

    -It looks like your players are going to come into some direct conflict with sarrukh often. They are pretty tough adversaries. How do you plan to even the odds a bit?


    The sarrukh are definitely the tough guys in the campaign. PCs won't be tangling with them at low levels; they'll have to work their way up the food chain in each of the three parts. Confrontations with the sarrukh themselves won't happen til level 20 or so. I'm not planning (so far) on evening the odds in those fights... I want to play the sarrukh as heavy hitters that no sane person (or even small group) attacks without significant planning. The PCs will need to do their research, choose the time and place carefully, have contingencies ready, lure individuals into traps, and execute their attacks quickly and precisely... and even then the fights will be tough. Something like Schwarzenegger vs the Predator, but more careful than Arnie was. Not a cake-walk.

    quote:
    Originally posted by Seethyr

    -You want to make Torm LN, personally, I would've done the same thing to Tyr instead.


    Yea, Tyr being LN makes good sense too. I can see wanting one of them to be LG so there's a logical patron for paladins, but the other should be LN.

    quote:
    Originally posted by Seethyr

    -How are you planning on making allies out of the kaorti?


    The kaorti will definitely not be easy allies. I don't have the cyst planned out yet; I just know that I want one. Making allies out of them will probably be a very tricky matter of having something the kaorti really want, and finding a way to negotiate with them from a position of strength, and then watching out for backstabs.

    At first glance, it doesn't matter to the kaorti who wins the PCs' war. The kaorti care only about spreading the influence of the Far Realm... or alternatively, feeding the Prime Material to the Far Realm. They'll pursue that agenda regardless of who controls the surrounding land. And the cyst is going to be in a very remote area... a ruined Imaskari city within the Raurin Desert. (My current thinking is Raudor, which is described in The Horde boxed set, but I may opt for a hitherto-unknown ruin.) So... it's a stretch, but one possible path to an "understanding" with the kaorti will follow the logic that the sarrukh will be seeking to terraform the Raurin... to restore it first to its pre-Conjunction state and then turn it into a jungle which is more comfortable for serpentkind. If they're able to accomplish that (and neither the PCs nor the kaorti know the answer to that question) then they'll want to get rid of the kaorti because the expansion of the cyst will represent a threat to their minions. The kaorti aren't experts on everything, but they know enough to avoid conflict with the sarrukh. If the sarrukh are defeated, things continue very much as they are today... the Raurin persists, and protects the cyst. That future can be relied upon, because if the God-Kings had the ability to turn the Raurin back into farmland, they would already have done so.

    The opposite side of this question --why would the PCs want to negotiate with the kaorti-- is answered by the cyst's location. The kaorti have hundreds, potentially thousands of Imaskari relics... potentially including artifact-level items. The city they took over was a significant site of Imaskari research. The sarrukh know all the magic that modern human/demihuman cultures are capable of... they're not as familiar, however, with Imaskari magic, and there's a chance that the kaorti have possession of something that could prove very useful.

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