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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 22 Jul 2018 : 22:15:44

So I'm going through my existing pages trying to fill in detail and I come across mention of the eldath veluuthra in unthalass.

I'm not aware of unther ever having quarreled with the elves, I wrote in an event where imaskari smashed an even nation in the methwood but can't think of how or why that organisation would set up a presence in unthalass.

Any elf will be slain or enslaved on sight in unthalass so it's very difficult to get a presence there. I don't know of any level nation ever having existed here (apart from one I made up) and there are no former nations nearby except for a few stragglers in the methwood and in chessenta.

Any thoughts or ideas

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 23 Jul 2018 : 11:58:49

I was thinking about the drow attempts to infiltrate unthalass (some dark spider cult) and I though of a devilishly evil idea.

Unther is a horrible place to live in 1356, it becomes more horrible as time passes as the entire fabric of the civilisation collapse under war and foreign invasion. So what if these drow set themselves up as people traffickers, helping to get people out of unther (for a price) only to then sell those people into slavery in one of the 7 drow cities under thay or in that itself. Only the rich could afford to pay the drow prices and then they end up as slaves and may well get sold on to unther and be right back where they started but as a slave instead of a noble.

Demzer
Senior Scribe

873 Posts

Posted - 23 Jul 2018 : 19:32:00

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

So I'm going through my existing pages trying to fill in detail and I come across mention of the eldath veluuthra in unthalass.

I'm not aware of unther ever having quarreled with the elves, I wrote in an event where imaskari smashed an even nation in the methwood but can't think of how or why that organisation would set up a presence in unthalass.

Any elf will be slain or enslaved on sight in unthalass so it's very difficult to get a presence there. I don't know of any level nation ever having existed here (apart from one I made up) and there are no former nations nearby except for a few stragglers in the methwood and in chessenta.

Any thoughts or ideas

Old Unther fought (or tried to) with the elves of the Yuirwood, almost surely clashed with the clans of the Chondalwood and may have fought against the elves of the Forest of Amtar in the Shining South (if it extended that far, I'm not sure).
There were no elven nations that I know of in the territories that are modern Unther (up to Messemprar, down to the Uthangol pass, east to the River of Swords and west to the Riders to the Sky) at the same time as the Untheric Empire.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 23 Jul 2018 : 19:39:37

How could I forget the yuirwood, but I split unther into two empires and it was the other empire that fought the elves of the chondalwood and yuirwood so that just leaves the forest of amtar.

Cheers for the pointers

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 23 Jul 2018 : 22:25:51

So I'm starting to detail the children of the god kings. I figure the first generation would be almost as powerful as the godkings themselves but most were killed off during wars and intrigue or Gilgeam assassins. The second and third generation are truly exceptional and very long lived. The other generations are a bit better than a normal Mulan with the occasional super being born once in a hundred generations.

These beings are important because their blood holds power and if you want to bring a godking back to life you need power; powerful blood, powerful rituals, and or powerful items.

I have a few of these children of the gods scattered across unther and chessenta (entropy is hunting them). They will be pivotal for a future adventure involving the invasion of unther and then it's rebirth with a return of as many old gods as the party can help with.

There are even a few children of the gods for Gilgeam. I know the sources say he has no children but Gilgeam has a habit overwriting history and fabricating the truth. His children are special because they are all first generation and were imprisoned by Gilgeam with a big part of the adventure being to stop Gilgeam from returning.

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/home/religion/mulho-untheric-pantheon/gil-geamesq/

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 24 Jul 2018 : 11:55:29

So I'm looking at ereshikigul and drugs.

So far I've penned ereshikigul as one of the godkings of akanu who rebels against anu. She is captured by Gilgeam and imprisoned and Gilgeam and his advisor experiment on her for a long time. I'm thinking that they use the body warping magics of the sarrukh to turn her into a serpentine creature that resembles a mamma noble.

DruagaI think I'm just gonna turn into a huge monster like a big land based greater quelzarm that Gilgeam has killed but in true comic book style will have had eggs that were hidden somewhere waiting for the right conditions to hatch, or which Gilgeam stupidly brought to his palace as a trophy.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 25 Jul 2018 : 11:26:01

Working on Ssintar, there is nothing in the established lore other than it is a military settlement run by Lord Gudea one of the great lords of Unther.

I've made it a trailstop as well servicing caravan traffic between Dalath and Unthalass.

It also has one of the Grey Chimaera Inns (I figure it would be useful to have one in a trailstop town as well as the major cities of Shussel, Unthalass, and Messemprar).

I've not really got much else, other than Gil-Geamesq established this town with the real purpose of making sure he had a loyal general and lord within a few days ride of Unthalass in case he was threatened. So it would have been established soon after he became God-King of Unther.
I'm wondering if perhaps Gil-Geamesq also had it placed atop something evil imprisoned here perhaps. I have Gil-Geamesq eliminating a number of the godkings (whose names are no longer known). I figure he may not have been able to kill all of them so perhaps he had some imprisoned.

I'm also tempted to make Gudea one of the children of the gods (first, second, or third generation or just a random powerful descendent). Purely because he is such a high level (13 in the Old Empires sourcebook at a time when level 9 meant you were really really hard).

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions or anything they have done with Ssintar in the past.

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/home/regions/the-old-empires/unther/ssintar/

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 25 Jul 2018 : 21:55:43

Added Ningal into the list of NPCs, and made her one of the children of the gods.

She is a great grandchild of Nanna Sin (I named him Sin-An'na). Her abilities are of course inherited from her ancestor. The magic items she possesses come from another source (she claims a gift from the sea - a cryptic clue to a secret extradimensional shelter that Shu-Mmatq; Untheric god of the sea, once discovered and stored his relics in before fleeing Gilgeams secret purge of the godkings).

It will be Sin-Ningal that leads the population to the secret extra dimensional refuge high above Shussel (the Vanishing), although she will not travel there herself, and the population of Shussel will there be attended to and trained by the divine servants of Shu-Matq.

Sin-Ningal will not accept help from others because she intends to become Sin-An'na reborn (and a future goddess cannot be seen to be weak and accept help from others), she will also not compromise her future power by aiding those who are unworthy or those who might reduce her future power (servants of other gods of the moon or protection).

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/home/npcs-2/npcs/

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 30 Jul 2018 : 13:00:30

Okay, so Northern Wizards is next.

I've decided on it being a new organisation commissioned by Hercubes Jedea to help Messemprar gain independence and thus create an additional city state in threskel to counter the rising threat of the vanities in mourktar (Hercubes predicts they will seize power and will then seek to conquer all of threskel).

So Shu-Urlasq and the other members of the northern wizards listed in the old empires book are the inner circle and all come from threskel (although only Shu-Urlasq knows the true mission and benefactor).

The Northern Wizards chose the moniker of an old military order of wizards from Unther's past when Chessenta gained independence and it was thought Tchazzar would March on messemprar first. The old order has long since disbanded but the name has entered folklore as the city's defenders.

The Northern Wizards recruit from wizards in messemprar that seek an end to Unther's dominion over the city. The requirement for entry into the order is that they provide a number of friends/family/associates that will be used as messengers by the order (thus lowering the risk of betrayal).

There are at least two red wizards in the list of members (They want an end to Gilgeams rule over the city so they qualify for membership). Borsipa is a double agent for Gilgeam (she escaped slavery during the slave revolt, was later captured by Unther's forces and offered her life and freedom in exchange for being a double informant, and was later rescued by the slave revolutionairies.

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/home/organisations/the-northern-wizards/

Edited by - Gary Dallison on 30 Jul 2018 13:41:02

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 22 Aug 2018 : 20:43:07

A little off topic but I'm trying to figure out Deiros Forktongue. He's a mulan, supposedly former Tchazzaran priest, now a priest of Tiamat.

He was originally in Surkh where the Cult of Tiamat is strong. Now he is in Unther.

I'm intending to use him to explain how/why the Cult of Tiamat (the dragon queen) has split the cult of TiaMa'at (cult of the queen of chaos), by converting Shudu-Ab and most followers in Unthalass to the dragon queen.

The question I have is first, how/why would Deiros come to worship Tiamat. I'm guessing its a simple matter that Tchazzar's worship declined to the point of nonexistence by 1356 DR and so he went looking for another divine patron.

But more importantly how/why did the cult of Tiamat gain power in Surkh. The only event I can find that vaguely explains it is when a band of sarrukh flee Dragon's Eyrie (presumably the planar domain known as Dragon's Eyrie) pursued by a dragon turtle. The sarrukh attracted large numbers of lizardmen who adopted sarrukh ways and became civilized, establishing surkh.

The dragon turtle I'm assuming was a planar servant of Tiamat and so he converted the outcasts and criminals and disenfranchised of Surkh to worship Tiamat.
So Deiros travels to Surkh and converts to Tiamat, then is sent to Unther after the cult hears about the sighting of a multiheaded dragon in Unther. He converts Shudu-Ab (or she sees an opportunity to exploit him and his followers), and we have a split in the Cult of TiaMa'at between the old and new.

Icelander
Master of Realmslore

1864 Posts

Posted - 26 Aug 2018 : 18:17:54

I imagine Deiros officially became a priest of Tiamat once he discovered the secret of the Tchazzar cult, i.e. that they were really worshipping Tiamat, and he decided to switch from the false front to the real goddess.

Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!

Forgotten Realms fans, please sign a petition to re-release the FR Interactive Atlas

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 26 Aug 2018 : 18:20:50

Sounds plausible although how a lowly priest would learn that Tchazzar is sponsored by tiamats I don't know.
If that is what happened how/why would he learn that information in surkh

Icelander
Master of Realmslore

1864 Posts

Posted - 26 Aug 2018 : 18:36:08

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Sounds plausible although how a lowly priest would learn that Tchazzar is sponsored by tiamats I don't know.
If that is what happened how/why would he learn that information in surkh

He wasn't a lowly priest, he was above 10th level in Surkh. For all we know, he might have been the most powerful priest in the Tchazzar cult, or at least powerful enough to be privy to the innermost secrets of the cult.

I'd have to check the sources to be sure, but I thought Deiros didn't travel to Surkh until after he graduated from the Tchazzar cult to becoming a full-fledged priest of Tiamat. Until then, he presumably lived in Chessenta, where he presumably was born. The Tchazzar cult doesn't really exist anywhere else.

Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!

Forgotten Realms fans, please sign a petition to re-release the FR Interactive Atlas

Edited by - Icelander on 26 Aug 2018 18:36:52

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 31 Aug 2018 : 17:44:43

I think I've developed the Church of Ish-Tarri as much as I can.

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/home/organisations/the-church-of-ish-tarri/

I've included how the church gradually migrates to the worship of Isis (or is in progress of doing so). I've dealt with Ish-Tarri's absence and a possible means for her return (although in an altered form). I've got the oil of eternity in there. I've got some adventuring ideas. And there are a few more npcs to flesh out the organization.

If anyone has any other thoughts or something I've missed from existing lore (relating to the religion - not the god, that's a separate article).

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2018 : 18:55:03

So I've come up with am explanation for why sebek has a crocodile head and why he can transform into a huge crocodile and why his followers can do the same.

It makes no sense for the Mulan godkings to bring a monstrous man eating crocodile on their space barge, so I don't think sebek was always that way. Similarly it makes no sense for the mulhorandi to worship a giant crocodile but not the dragons or giants or any other number of wondrous creatures.

Sebek being a crocodile headed man predates the arrival of beast worshippers in mulhorand (The explanation I use for why the other godkings are depicted with animal heads).

Now sekras is near to azulduth so is quite close to the heartland of okoth. The sarrukh created the yuan ti so must have invented the histaachi brew originally but u reckon it wasn't perfected until the sarrukh spread out and so merrshaulk had yuan ti while okoth and isstosseffifil did not.
Why would the sarrukh invent a brew that makes the drinker part reptilian, because their body shaping powers only work on reptilians.

So sebek plundered an old sarrukh ruin and drinks some of this proto histaachi brew which makes him into a half crocodile (top half), half human (bottom half) with the ability to transform into a huge crocodile like reptile. Any children sebek has also inherit this appearance and ability but inlesser form.

So when the mulhorandi turn up in sekras in 425 DR after ignoring sebek for several centuries (busy rebuilding after the civil war) when he sided with set against horus in the civil war (and was thus outcast), they find a city full of these monstrous half crocodile and subsequently raise the entire city to the ground.

Sebek flees through a sarrukh portal (they didn't walk from okoth to merrshaulk).

Now in 1356 DR the sarrukh have returned and are using a better histaachi brew on humans to make them reptilian serpents that have some snake like traits (like lifeblood yuanti) but are otherwise undetectable.

Icelander
Master of Realmslore

1864 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2018 : 22:37:12

Uh, why doesn't it make sense for people to worship animal-headed gods or to endow the creatures that live in their environment with personalities, qualities and divine responsibilities?

When you reject something that actually happened in real history because it's inconceivable, then, well, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

The Mulhorandi didn't worship dragons or giants in their all-important pantheon they took with them because there weren't any in Egypt where their gods developed. Crocodiles, hippos, lions and falcons, though, not to mention various serpents, ibises, baboons and so forth, were, however, and both anthropomorphizing and mythologizing animals is a well documented and nigh universal human trait.

Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!

Forgotten Realms fans, please sign a petition to re-release the FR Interactive Atlas

Edited by - Icelander on 04 Sep 2018 22:37:36

BadLuckBugbear
Seeker

USA
92 Posts

Posted - 05 Sep 2018 : 06:21:08

Set came along, didn't he?
If one evil god arrived on the divine barge, why not another?
Sebek is part of the pantheon.

Bring Sebek to devour the Imaskari!

Ewan Cummins

Edited by - BadLuckBugbear on 05 Sep 2018 06:23:06

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 05 Sep 2018 : 10:08:33

I get that as humans we anthropomorphise metaphysical concepts such as super powerful beings we cannot see or interact with. We need to give them a form in order to categorise them and relate to them.

However the godkings of Mulhorand are not metaphysical concepts (not at first). So a super powerful being that walks around and performs miralces might find it a bit odd if his followers suddenly put an animal head on his statues.

Unless of course the godkings did have animal heads all along, but then why wasn't that trait passed onto their children. Alternatively the godkings did not have animal heads at all, but human heads, and the depiction was due to style and cultural choices. In which case I've weaved that cultural choice into the history on FR (to reduce the shallow ripoff of earth cultures that Unther and Mulhorand currently are, and to turn them into something more FR.

Sebek is a special case because he has a pure animal form (a 40ft crocodile) and his followers in Sekras can turn into crocodiles as well. Anhur is depicted as human (the four arms is unusual but he is still human), Geb depicted as human, Hathor is human with cow head, Horus is human with hawk head, isis is human, nephtys is human, Osiris is human or mummy, even Set is human with jackal head.

So why is Sebek a crocodile, why is he different from the others. Again, why would you bring a man eating crocodile with you on a lengthy journey across the stars to rescue people from slavery (especially when that crocodile likes to eat your people). Unless of course he was not always a crocodile and acquired that form later.

I'm just seeking an in realms explanation for the unusual depiction of Sebek that doesn't include a shallow copy of earth mythology, and isn't hand waived away (thus reducing the immersion of the realms).

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 06 Sep 2018 : 21:59:40

Added pages on Sebek and his cult, rather than have him as an always "ebil" outcast that gets eradicate by the armies of Mulhorand every few centuries, I've tried to turn him into a misguided brute that made some bad choices and fell victim to a curse that made him into the crocodile monster.

Having passed that curse onto his followers, I'm leading towards the Cult of Sebek being another pawn of the sarrukh (an accidental creation), that they intend to use against the Mulhorandi so they can drive them from the region and reclaim their former territory.

Sebek
The Cult of the Smiling Death

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 09 Sep 2018 : 09:39:33

So I've got the cult of sebek as a pawn of the sarrukh and the guild of scribes infiltrated by what is essentially a variant of the yuanti.

Opposing the sarrukh of okoth are the gaunds (who were a tribe of sarrukh that used body shaping magic on themselves and declared abominations for straying too far from the perfection that is the sarrukh). The gaunds may have a measure of control over the cult of sebek as well and likely habe their own allied band og lizardmen and troglodytes.

I've noticed the purple stair in raisin which leads to a city of magic using lizardmen and it sounds like that could be another tribe of sarrukh declared abominations.

I thought it might be an interesting development that the lizardmen and cult of sebek start targeting mulhorandi caravans and settlements, but only official government caravans and buildings. When mulhorand invades unther the lizardmen start attacking unther too.
The twist is that the lizardmen and cult of sebek are being directed by the gaunds to attack scribes from the guild of scribes who are most often agents of the sarrukh.

The pcs get hired by goodies (mulhorand) to stop the bad guys (lizardmen) but in so doing are helping the sarrukh whom the lizardmen are trying to stop (A fact only discovered much later when mulhorand is full of histaachi like agents and then mulhorand starts targeting the pcs.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 10 Sep 2018 : 15:09:16

On to the cult of set next and the guild of scribes.

It makes sense to me that cultists of set would seek to use the disaffected, the greedy, the ambitious in mulhorandi society against it. Now the cultists cannot offer more power to the politicians and priests of the godkings because they already hold all the power in mulhorand. But the slaves, no matter how well treated, will always want power and freedom.

So I'm still set on setites infiltrating mulhorandi society through the guild of scribes. Rich and powerful people do not want to do grunt work so I figure they have slaves handle all the paperwork under the "supervision" of the priests (who are of course laxy like most rich and powerful people).

This puts the slave scribes (the elite, most educated, and most intelligent slaves) at an advantage. You want something done, you need a scribe to deal with the paperwork. Anger a scribe and you could find your land suddenly belongs to dsomeone else, or your name appears on an execution order.

I'm also still intending for the sarrukh to infiltrate the guild of scribes and the cult of set. In a previous version I used wereserpents but now I'm thinking the sarrukh used a histaachi like brew to reptilianise their humans so they could transform them, command them, and inflict pain on them at will.

So converted scribes use this hiistachu brew to convert people to reptilian humans and then if ever the sarrukh get near them they cannot refuse the order.

BadLuckBugbear
Seeker

USA
92 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2018 : 04:54:38

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Added pages on Sebek and his cult, rather than have him as an always "ebil" outcast that gets eradicate by the armies of Mulhorand every few centuries, I've tried to turn him into a misguided brute that made some bad choices and fell victim to a curse that made him into the crocodile monster.

Having passed that curse onto his followers, I'm leading towards the Cult of Sebek being another pawn of the sarrukh (an accidental creation), that they intend to use against the Mulhorandi so they can drive them from the region and reclaim their former territory.

Sebek
The Cult of the Smiling Death

Could Sebek have contracted lycanthropy?

He's...the wereodile!

Ewan Cummins

Edited by - BadLuckBugbear on 11 Sep 2018 04:55:03

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2018 : 07:18:35

It is entirely possible for me to have said he contracted lycanthropy, and in essence sebek and the other cultists do have lycanthropy of a sort (they can shapeshift from a humanoid form to an animal form).

But I'm finding that the more I get into this world building thing, the more I'm enjoying coming up with unique origins and explanations for each character.
Sebek just being a lycanthropy allows only one story, how he contracted lycanthropy. Sebek being a hiistachi like creature allows me to tell how he became that creature, how the sarrukh and other sarrukh offshoots can control him, how the sarrukh have used an improved hiistachi brew to make serpent men out of sets cult and to infiltrate the government of mulhorand through its slaves, how the gains are controlling some of sebek cult and other lizardmen to attack official mulhorandi buildings and caravans to root out the serpent men under sarrukh control, and how the sarrukh are directing sebek cultists to attack the lizardmen causing rumours of a reptilian war in the wilds.

That is just an example of one set of plot hooks derived from coming up with my own variant of what is essentially lycanthropy and mixing it with hiistachi.

I came up with another variant of lycanthropy for the moonshaes several years that was tailored to that region. D&D is all about fairy tales and magic so why use another generic monster when a unique one is soon much more interesting and can be tailored better to the region.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2018 : 20:54:33

I'm debating what to call the naval forces of Mulhorand.

Individual ships are named after monsters of mythology, but what would the entire navy be referred to.

I've got the army named as the Legion of Dawn (there are many legions depending upon the need).

How about the Krakens of the Sun, or the Sun's Tridents, or the Khopesh of the Sea.

Demzer
Senior Scribe

873 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2018 : 08:05:54

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

I'm debating what to call the naval forces of Mulhorand.

Individual ships are named after monsters of mythology, but what would the entire navy be referred to.

I've got the army named as the Legion of Dawn (there are many legions depending upon the need).

How about the Krakens of the Sun, or the Sun's Tridents, or the Khopesh of the Sea.

The navy could be something that in common translates as "The Sea Storm" and the marines could be something that translates as "The Sea Lions" or "The Sea Hawks". Just going with some iconography already associated with the church of Anhur that's still responsible for the navy.

Since you like political turmoil you can have two names, one historical and coming from the church of Anhur but deprecated due to the loss of favour of said church replaced with a fancier title chosen by the church of Horus-Re. So old people, veterans and true Anhurites would mostly use the old name while the common people, city officials and all the paperwork would use/have the new name.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2018 : 08:10:33

You must have read my mind Demzer. There is already a navy in skuld which will likely be the official navy dedicated to horus re. The church of anhur are building a navy in secret in preparation to invade the alaor so that will be my second navy which at the moment is named like a mercenary company (because that is what they are pretending to be).

The sea lions is not a bad one, I like the imagery. If I can find a bird of prey that lives near the sea then I might use that for the original navy

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2018 : 15:32:22

I'm on to Sultim now.

I've got that it is home to the Blood Fortress of Anhur; the high temple of his church.

Other than that I can find precious little detail.

I'm imagining it as a huge fortification that happens to serve as a rapidly growing city.
Since Thay's rebellion it probably became quite important as the northern border and premier fortification along that border. So initially it is the Blood Fortress, with surrounding ancilliary settlements. As time goes on a settlement springs up around it. Then Thay rebels and it needs a wall, one reinforced against magical energies (because they are powerful wizards). This wall is tested when Thay invades the first time and all goes well.

1280 DR, and Thay almost breaches the defences so work starts on a new wall. Keeping in the pyramid motif I've decided on a sloped granite wall that leads up to a rounded top. The surface is polished and oiled each day (stop siege engines and people moving up it).
Then you have the outer circle where most of the new buildings are. Then is the inner wall built after 922 DR, its just a straight up wall, but with metal and magical reinforcing, it is also a bit taller than the outer wall to help with defence. Then you have the hill and the tor upon which the Blood Fortress is built (with a little wall round that which has now worn down to a stone lowwall.

Now any ideas why the Blood Fortress might be called that. I like to think all names have a meaning from a historical, or aesthetic point of view. I was thinking perhaps there was a big battle here in the distant past, hence its name. Or perhaps the tor it is built into (you typically build fortresses on hills and natural rises) could be dotted with rubies or other red gemstones, so when the sun shines on it it gives the impression of blood trickling down the hill. Or perhaps the word Blood is actually a mis hearing (by a foreigner) of a Mulhorandi word which means something entirely different.

I've got the ruler of the city as a devout worshipper of Anhur, but the regional Precept is an independent who is secretly in the pocket of the Church of Horus-Re (following 1280 DR when the church nearly failed to defend Mulhorand and it lost the position of the major Precept of Sultim).

I've branched out the position of major and minor precept (Fakh-Ab meaning greater sun lord, and Fenkh-Ab meaning lesser sun lord). The Greater Precepts hold domain over a region or part of a large region, while the Lesser Precepts hold domain over a single settlement. In Sultim the Greater Precept Koramon resides in Sultim so he effectively tells the Lesser Precept what to do in the city making Koramon the real ruler and the lesser precept his glorified secretary (just how the Vizier wanted it)

As Mulhorand is all about guilds I intend to have lots of guilds in the city for blacksmithing, armourer, fletcher, farrier, wheelwright, shipwright, sailmaker, etc.

The new navy and army that the Church of Anhur is building are being trained in a secret base in the mountains on the border with the Thazalhar (the ships are in a bay in the Thazalhar coastline).

I've read that Outer Sultim is fairly lawless, I'm debating whether to make Outer Sultim to apply to the countryside around Sultim (the original name for the region is the Taranoth), or whether Outer Sultim should be the Outer Circle which has sprung up since 1280 DR and could be little more than sprawls and slums at this point.

There are two NPCs in Outer Sultim that I have names of, and both would not be allowed to exist if it was a lawful and controlled area.

Anyone got any ideas or information I haven't found about Sultim?

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 14 Sep 2018 : 09:58:49

Noticed a few odd things in my research of Mulhorands settlements.

Firstly is the city of the dead is home to undead. This seems incredibly odd that guardians of the dead (The priests of osiris) who are meant to be ensuring the pharaohs of the past get their eternal rest, are actually using something inherently evil and anathema to life (and death) to protect the tombs. These priests are good people on the whole, it should be abhorrent for them to infuse a corpse with negative energy and bring it to undeath.

Second is the mulhorandi creating portals linking Skuld and delhumide and another portal into tethyr. How did the mulhorandi learn a magic that is meant to be incredibly rare and powerful. I suppose they could have got it from imaskari but I think that would be such a difficult magic that you would need significant instruction to use it. More importantly why is mulhorand not riddled with portals if these powerful and essentially immortal godkings and incarnation have learned to cast portal magics

Demzer
Senior Scribe

873 Posts

Posted - 14 Sep 2018 : 14:00:10

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Firstly is the city of the dead is home to undead. This seems incredibly odd that guardians of the dead (The priests of osiris) who are meant to be ensuring the pharaohs of the past get their eternal rest, are actually using something inherently evil and anathema to life (and death) to protect the tombs. These priests are good people on the whole, it should be abhorrent for them to infuse a corpse with negative energy and bring it to undeath.

Like baelnorns and other types of archilich? Most unintelligent undeads are merely instruments, similar to constructs, and some other forms of undeath may be bestowed or sought after to ensure eternal protection of something (considering that the constructs mentioned earlier doesn't seem to belong into Mulhorandi's toolbox with the notable exception of the Statues That Walk that probably are not even Mulhorandi). Also Osiris is a mummy.

So in all I don't see it as too surprising, since I expect all such creatures (the undead) to exist only through the will and power of the Church of Osiris and only to protect the tombs from raiders. I see it as fitting of Mulhorand for the priests of Osiris to turn the remains of would-be tomb robbers into new guardians for the tombs they sought to pilfer.

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Second is the mulhorandi creating portals linking Skuld and delhumide and another portal into tethyr. How did the mulhorandi learn a magic that is meant to be incredibly rare and powerful. I suppose they could have got it from imaskari but I think that would be such a difficult magic that you would need significant instruction to use it. More importantly why is mulhorand not riddled with portals if these powerful and essentially immortal godkings and incarnation have learned to cast portal magics

Uhm I don't remember clearly this, was it in one of the Portal Series from the WOTC website? Anyway remember that Nezram "the Worldwalker" was Mulhorandi and both Thoth and Set had millenia of time to study Imaskari relics and knowledge and both would have reasons to keep it quiet (Set for obvious reasons, Thoth because he seems to be the hoarder of knowledge type). Isis doesn't strike me as possibly interested in portal/travel magic but I may be wrong.

If the Theurgist Adepts could create and/or activate/control the gates of the Orcgate War then I can see the Mulhorandi knowing a thing or two about portals.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 14 Sep 2018 : 14:21:47

The portal thing I could understand although it doesn't explain why there is no mention of any portals in mulhorand except for those two. Since both portals are quite ancient and in former imaskari territory I'm considering having mulhorand discover old portals and claim they created them (although why any of the portals open onto tethyr I cannot fathom).

The undead thing though doesn't gel with me. If you are a church dedicated to guiding souls through the afterlife, you could not condone eternally disturbing that rest by sentencing creatures to the abomination that is undeath. With very few exceptions, creating undead is regarded as an evil act.
If you were a parishioner and worshipped a god of the dead, you would not trust your eternal soul to him if there was even a remote chance that he might animate your decaying corpse.
I understand myrkuls church doing such a thing. They essentially run a protection racket where you pay them to stop your corpse joining the ranks of the undead.
I'm tempted to have something else going on in the land of the dead that is animating the corpses into undeath, some ancient curse that predates mulhorand perhaps.
And for those guardians the church of osiris did make (with willing volunteers) it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for a flesh golem to be confused with a zombie and a bone golem to be confused with a skeleton (not all creatures need match the description in the monster manual).

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