Another of these Threads (DnD)

thomas.berubeg

Wandering the World
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So, I was recently asked by a few friends to join them for DnD. After a few games (or even one) I figured it'd be pretty cool to run my own. Which, because of my love of Fall From Heaven, would be set in Erebus.

While I still have a pretty decent grasp of the lore, I'm trying to think of what would be an interesting story arc to follow without railroading players too much:

The possible ideas I had (which all somewhat fit together)
  1. The Corruption of the Bannor?
  2. Auric's Conquests?
  3. Hyborem's appearence on Erebus?

Anything else interesting?
 
I think I heard Kael suggest opposing the Sheiam. The Sheaim doing anything is never good.
Anything. "Os-Gabella is baking muffins! Do something!"
 
So, I was recently asked by a few friends to join them for DnD. After a few games (or even one) I figured it'd be pretty cool to run my own. Which, because of my love of Fall From Heaven, would be set in Erebus.

While I still have a pretty decent grasp of the lore, I'm trying to think of what would be an interesting story arc to follow without railroading players too much:

The possible ideas I had (which all somewhat fit together)
  1. The Corruption of the Bannor?
  2. Auric's Conquests?
  3. Hyborem's appearence on Erebus?

Anything else interesting?

What about a conflict between the Luonnotar and the Emrys? Either of them could be the ones who hire the Adventurers.
 
What about this:

adventurers hired by the Emrys to find potential magic users to send back to the sheim -> leading to an eventually choice Between assisting in the destruction of erebus (couched in Good terms by Corrupt Bannor Priesthood) or to Fight against hell (Maybe Via Elohim or even Illians.)
Obviously, throughout, there’s hints of a much larger world -> Amurites, Orcs Converting to order, Grigori stuff (Dragon Slayers, Acheron, Etc).
This may set up a later campaign -> Auric Ulvin’s Ascension (Truly show off Amurites, Grigori, Brigid, and place Illians as a potential villain, which would be cool if the Illians were allies to the adventurers last game: Also, prove Bannor Corruption/empty vault.)
 
This is what I have so far, in terms of Character Creation.

If anyone has any suggestions for abilities the different gods could give clerics (at least a level one ability.)

I'm also trying to figure out how to make magic work, without breaking the game? (FFH magic seems to be a question of increased control as you level up, rather than also an increase in Power.)
 
this is not an answer to your question but a "mathematical note" on "Mutation".
I hope you are aware, that wih 2d20.. not all outcome have the same chance ?

ex :
2 is only 1+1
3 is 1+2 AND 2+1
4 is 1+3 AND 3+1 AND 2+2 (thus three times more frequent than 2)

etc.. 21 is any of : 11+10, 10+11, 9+12, 12+9, 8+13, 13+8, 7+14, 14+7 ..... 1+20, 20+1 ... so 20 different dice trows give 21 while only 1 possible dice throw give 1. (20 chances out of 400 : 5% chances that it happens, while the odds for 2 (or 40) are : 0.25%... 20 times less!)

and then the odds becomes smaller and smaller until the throw 40 has only 1 chance out of 400 to appear : 20+20.

So in your chart :
- +1 str is the less common effect (with limp), while -1 str has 2 times more chances to be granted...
-immune to disease is the most common, followed closely by diseased and increased perception...

maybe you'll want to change the chart of the "mutation" effects...
 
I'm running a Balseraph game in D&D 3.5. Here's the one page campaign write up; feel free to use. It's kind of like Lost meets Hunger Games.

The Arena
Spoiler :

Perpentach wished for a perfect arena from which to watch his gladiatorial spectacles. The best way was to create prismatic walls, and make them permanent. However, prismatic walls were opaque. He needed walls that could be viewed from one side. Creating a spell, he taught some of his own students new magic of his invention: prismatic wall manipulation with some twists. He told these students who learned his new magic that they would be the Order of the Sevenfold Veil.

These students were powerful mages in their own right, some touched by Perpentach's insanity and others not. One of his mages, the leader of the Order of the Sevenfold Veil seeks to dominate Perpentach's mind. After learning the secret of his master's insanity, he theorized he could create a spell that would serve to duplicate his personality in Perpentach's mind beyond the first time each time Perpentach entered his mind. In this way he has performed the part of a wily courtier, always veiling his plans so Perpentach must use his magic to see the man's mind. It was this veiling of plans that seemed to give the insane clown the idea for the order's name, so he made this man its leader. Slowly but surely, the population of the Momus' mind will be made up by a majority of the Sevenfold Veil's leader, where the mad king will eventually be overwhelmed by this leader's singular personality.

The twist is, the order's leader is of neutral alignment: a good man willing to do horrible deeds for the greater good. He secretly opposes the Ashen Veil, and has taken to his task of Arena master in the hopes of forging the most battle hardened creatures by any means necessary, to create his own personal army to rule destroy the Ashen Veil.

The Arena of Jubilee is a standard coliseum. Except the pit of the arena where the matches are fought is a giant scrying pool, where the crowd watches the action in complete safety looking down upon the action as if from a television, but the screen is a small lake.

The actual Arena is miles outside of the city in a forest bordering the coast. Here, under the direction of the Momus, the Initiates of the Sevenfold Veil gathered together to create a permanent yet adjustable prismatic sphere miles in diameter augmented by the mad clown's wishes, and visible from the outside. The effects of the sphere are focused inward, so that any creature may enter the sphere, but once entered their only leave is death. The Seven of the Order can enter and leave the sphere freely, however, it is their order that stalks the preserve hidden. When a crowd gathers at the Arena, and the time for a show has come, the Scrying Pool is activated, and it works two ways. Above the battle a cloud forms showing the audience back in Jubilee's coliseum. The Seven create a battlefield of the desired type using their own warding abilities. The battlefield can be of any size, and is often augmented by magic. Those living on the preserve are often herded by spectacular magical means to their battlefield, via incentives such as avoiding fireballs and other spells that if ignored will surely cause death.

Creatures crossing a veil must make DC 28-32 save or be affected by the veils present. To determine veils randomly, roll 2d8 on the prismatic spray table, pg. 265 of the PHB. Otherwise, two veils are chosen to create the walls of the battlefield. Four mages will be called to make a battlefield, with each one raising a ward as a standard action. A wall can be up to 70ft long and 35ft high, and is usually visible and crossable from the outside, so others may join the fray, unless the mages wish no other participants than those already engaged. Weapons are conjured as seen fit for the battle to be fought.


Now, all that the player's know is that they are either captured prisoners of war, political upstarts, or gladiatorial slaves sent into a giant prismatic dome to fight for the pleasures of the crowds in Jubilee's coliseum. The rest would be given in slowly unfolding revelations as they learn the identities of the Powers that Be and the origins of each of the factions. So far got quest one off, and their interest is piqued.


Factions
Spoiler :
The Reavers: Calabim Moroi gone insane with blood lust, they were bought by the Lord of Seven from Calabim governors who eagerly wanted these out of control soldiers gone. The more feral the better, and there would be no problems with transport as an Initiate of the Seven would stun and transport any crazed Moroi personally. Having become so deranged, when these so called Reavers leave a body behind, it is so ravaged and mauled for blood that it looks like it was torn apart by wild animals. Reavers are particularly fond of eating hearts, this and the state bodies are left in from attacks has helped shield their vampiric nature, and the method of killing them (beheading). The Reavers have formed into a pack mentality, and hunt like wild animals as well as feast like them. All living in the Arena share nothing but the utmost fear for them.

The Gatekeepers: The Order of Seven is a secret society, and prefers to keep it that way. Those who have been rarely seen by the populace of the arena describe them as old men who control the colors, and bring those they captured into the Arena. They always wear grey, and their hoods make them hard to differentiate. They run the arena, and it is said they are the only ones who hold the keys to get out.

The Stolen Clans: A reference to the varied independent orc tribes, each having had their village whisked off by magic and placed inside the Arena. It is known among their kind that they are the Gatekeepers' fodder for the Balseraph amusements.

The Village of the Lost: A village of political prisoners, exposed spies, and the rare convicts too dangerous to be jailed any other way. These are mostly the people and descendants of people who tried to organize uprisings and overthrow the insane government of the mad king and his daughter, but there are representatives of other nations having been caught causing trouble for the Balseraph authorities. All the malcontents thrown into the Arena that survive long enough make it to the Village, the only place where the power of its folks can ward off the Reavers and the Stolen Clans. Anyone straying too far from the Village often find themselves caught in amusements of the Arena, providing the Balseraph audience in the Coliseum a semblance of a story and that human touch. These unfortunate events are sometimes planned and orchestrated by Initiates who become exceedingly bored.
 
this is not an answer to your question but a "mathematical note" on "Mutation".
I hope you are aware, that wih 2d20.. not all outcome have the same chance ?

ex :
2 is only 1+1
3 is 1+2 AND 2+1
4 is 1+3 AND 3+1 AND 2+2 (thus three times more frequent than 2)

etc.. 21 is any of : 11+10, 10+11, 9+12, 12+9, 8+13, 13+8, 7+14, 14+7 ..... 1+20, 20+1 ... so 20 different dice trows give 21 while only 1 possible dice throw give 1. (20 chances out of 400 : 5% chances that it happens, while the odds for 2 (or 40) are : 0.25%... 20 times less!)

and then the odds becomes smaller and smaller until the throw 40 has only 1 chance out of 400 to appear : 20+20.

So in your chart :
- +1 str is the less common effect (with limp), while -1 str has 2 times more chances to be granted...
-immune to disease is the most common, followed closely by diseased and increased perception...

maybe you'll want to change the chart of the "mutation" effects...

Yeah, I still have to go through and organize, the current order is just things as I thought of them. Thanks, though. (Might actually use a d100 to give effects)
 
I know I'm Necromancing the thread, but I have to ask, how did you handle vampires? Did you just use Monster Manual I or did you custom build them for the Calabim?

I ask because I'm making FFH inspired D&D 3.5 campaigns as well.
 
I remember Kael saying that in his D&D campaigns he with a straight face allowed his players to load up on garlic, crosses, holy water, and spells against the undead just before their assault on a Calabim castle, not mentioning until the battle had started that all of these things are completely useless against his type of vampires.
 
You'd probably have to custom build them, from a quick glance of the SRD. Very few of the vampire template abilities make much sense for the Calabim.

It's probably a matter of giving them the blood drain ability from the vampire, maybe some spell-like abilities and a stat increase or two. To try and mimic their main in-game ability you might give them some additional innate (probably temporary, for balance) bonus every time they completely drain the life essence of a mortal.

IIRC Kael never really gave any proper explanation for how they work or what powers above a mortal they might possess. It's even somewhat contradactory why they need blood per se - they are supposed to perform some form of immortality ritual which involves stealing mortal 'essence' which doesn't explicitly involve blood (and can be passed on just by, basically, explaining the ritual?), but at the same time a lot of their civ imagery, stories and mechanics revolve around a more stereotypical idea of a vampire sans undeadness and stakes/garlic etc.
 
Im working out how Im going to handle Calabim Vampires, Ill post what I do once I figure it out.

Magister, what is the lifespan of elves in FFH? I assume they are not immortal (infered from Gabella's lore), but they are clearly very long lived, as the lore for both the Ljos and Svart rulers indicates that they had the same queens in the age of magic that are queens in the age of rebirth. So, how long do they live?

I guess I could make it a general question, how long do the various races live? I mostly want to know for elves though.

Obviously life expectancy would vary from nation to nation due to living conditions, just give the maximum natural span.


Thanks in advance!
 
It is not clear how long they should live on average.

It is however known that the average lifespan of all the races has tended to decrease with each generation as their members move further and further from the Nemed and Anesidora.

Men of the first few generations aged very slowly and typically lived for several thousand years. (Note that the Age of Dragons was far longer than all the subsequent ages combined.) Most (perhaps all) of those men were killed by the extreme violence of the Godswar. The shorter lived humans were able to breed faster and better survive such conditions, driving the average lifespan down.

The Elves were originally humans who were dear to Sucellus, and whose god protected them from all the horrors of the Godswar until almost its very end. Their life expectancy did not become any greater than that of their human ancestors, but it did not decrease nearly so fast as their more distant cousins. (I suspect that the Elves would call Nemed and Anisedora the first Elves, and would consider humans to be as degenerate an offshoot as humans consider Orcs to be. The Svarterlfar especially are racial supremacists, but even the Ljosalfar tend to look down on the short lived humans.)

By the time that Kylorin established Patria as single empire that ruled over all of humanity, I'd guess that the average human life expectancy was probably around 500 years. There were still some men who were fewer generations removed from the source of life and so lived longer, and some who were further removed and lived shorter lives.


Perpentach was able to survive for several centuries imprisoned in the Tower of Eyes, and was centuries old before being imprisoned. His body was very near death when a traveling carnival finally came close enough for him to control, but a modern human body would have died lone before that. His original body is dead now, but he transferred his consciousness to new host. As modern men are not so long lived, he may have to do this several times in the Age of Rebirth.

The harsh conditions of Age of Ice drove the average life expectancy considerably. Among most peoples, it became rare to live even to age 40.

Since conditions have gotten better in the Age of Rebirth, the average human lifespan has begun to increase. It is now at about the point where it was during most of recorded history in the real world. Many people still die young, but a significant minority live into their 80s and 90s.


I believe that Kael once said that the Bannor of the late Age of Magic lived at least twice as long as the men of the Age of Rebirth. Some of those who were children when their citadel was cast into hell were still alive and well 160 years after they emerged back into Erebus. Those with the noblest blood among the Bannor continued to enjoy great longevity (if they did not fall in combat), but most of the Bannor interbred with other humans and diluted their advantage. By the time that Capria died, the Bannor lived no longer than the humans of other nations.


It is not clear what modern Elvish life expectancy is. We do know that a 40 year old elf born in the Age of Magic would still be considered a little child. I would guess that most elves born in the current age could only live to be about 500. However, there are plenty of 600 year old elves still alive from before the Age of Ice, and they are not considered elderly or even middle age yet. Elves who were born in the Age of Magic and grew up during the Age of Ice would probably form a significant majority of contemporary elven society. Those few who can remember life in the Age of Dragons are now revered elders.

Among the Once-Elves, a roughly 600 year old Varn Gossam seemed to be treated like a teenager by his elder brother. It should be noted that a couple centuries of that time were spent in the Netherworld though, where no one aged at all.


Dwarves of the first generation created by Keldon Ki are said to be immortal, or at least impervious to age. Bambur might be the last of these still living. Dwarvish life expectancy has decreased more rapidly than human, but not yet gone so far. The Age of Ice did not have much of an influence on the Khazad life expectancy, as they lived underground about as comfortable during it as they did before and after. There are still plenty of dwarves in the Underhome who are about 500 years old. I'd guess that the Khazad dwarves born in the Age of Rebirth are likely to live closer to 250 years. The Luchuirp are less hardy than their cousins, and so I'd place their life expectancy at closer to 200.


Orthus was already an adult during the Age of Magic, and he managed to survive the whole Age of Ice and into the Age of Rebirth. That means that there are at least some Orcs around who have lived about 500 years. I tend to think that most Orcs, Goblins, etc are quick breeding and quick dying, and so do not live as long as modern humans. It should perhaps be noted that Orthus was originally a Bannor noble of the highest rank, the closest friend of the last king of Old Braduk. The nobles of that age were typically fewer generations removed from Nemed, and so longer lived. I suppose it is also possible that his longevity might be increased by the Matron Essendi, the holy scepter of the high priestess of Bhall which he stoke and affixed as the handle to his axe.


The Aifons are all gone, but if they had survived they would probably have similar longevity to the Elves as Danalin shielded his favored people from the Godswar just as much as Sucellus did.

The only surviving descendants of the Aifons are the rare Blue Lizardmen, which actually descend from hybrids made by archmages in the Age of Magic. (The Green Lizardmen were made from Elves, and the Grey Lizardmen from Humans.) I suspect that none of these hybrids (which also include Lamia and and Centaurs) have as great a longevity as the beings from whom they were made.

I think natural hybrids (which tend to be half-elf and half-human, although I suppose you might even count the descendants of a Bannor noble and a more base human) tend to have life cycles closer to that of the shorter lived parent's race. Kithra Kiriel seemed much more human than elvish when he was growing up, although Hemah's dream seems to have caused the Elvish nature from his father's side to become dominant.

Satyrs are basically a type of elven Aasimar, descendants of elven woman and Cernunnos himself. Only the male children inherited horns, while the females looked like normal elves. I suspect that their life expectancy is the same as that of normal elves. There may still be a few highly regarded Satyrs of the first generation who have survived since the Age of Dragons, but most are the modern descendants of those and mortal (mostly elven) women.




The vampires of Erebus are living (not undead) beings who are psychopathic enough to voluntarily choose to use a dark ritual to consume the souls of their murder victims. This allows them to steal the vitality of their victims. The primary benefit is that the vampire can add all of the remaining years of his victim's natural life expectancy to his own. (This would make young elves vastly more desirable victims than older humans.) Feeding on youthful victims also allows a vampire to restore his appearance to a similar level of youth, feeding on healthy victims allows him to restore his own health, and feeding on physically strong victims allows the vampire to gain that level of physical strength. A vampire could live quite well only feeding once every 70 years (or much longer, if the victim is an elf), but most of them are so vain and so cruel that they prefer to feast far more often. They still have all the bodily functions of mortals, and often have huge appetites for sex and exquisite food. No vampire needs to drink blood, although many do acquire a taste for it and some even enjoy cannibalism. (It is not clear, but I think that they might need to use some of their victim's blood in the ritual, perhaps using it to paint certain runes.) They heal much more quickly than normal mortals, at least if they have consumed enough souls recently, but can still be killed by any injury that would be fatal to an ordinary living man. Their only characteristic weakness is direct sunlight, or the light miraculously produced by the priests of Lugus. This robs them of all their superhuman abilities that their dark rituals give them. (Since many vampires depend on feeding on strong victims to maintain their strength, rather than keeping an exercise regimen, the light may leave them so frail that they can barely stand. This of course would not be true of a new vampire that had not yet let his natural muscles atrophy.) It also forces them to feel all the regret that a normal empathetic would feel if guilty of their crimes. This feeling is so foreign to a vampire that it is usually misinterpreted as intense physical pain. It may trigger a panic attack strong enough that the vampire is unable to defend himself in battle, and as likely to injure himself as any of his enemies. Sunlight does not, however, cause any more direct physical harm to a vampire than it does to a normal human. Since vampire normally avoid the sun too much to develop a tan they might be particularly vulnerable to sunburn, but no more than a regular human who keeps similar hours and spends as much time indoors. Sunlight alone will not kill a vampire, only make him easier to kill.
 
Ah, good to see the return of the MC method of lore creation.

On a serious note, where does that leave the Sidar?
 
The Sidar are mortal men who revere Arawn. Their ancestors worshiped the God of Death, but in time it became so obvious that their deity would do nothing for them that most abandoned the religion and maintained only a special respect. While they love Arawn, they also fear death enough to want to prolong their own lives indefinitely. Still, they consider Necromancy to be a particularly vile practice which is a great insult to the god they revere.


During the Age of Magic, just before the start of the Patrian Civil War, Laroth used his power to sense a chance of heart in Kylorin even before the Emperor himself knew that he would soon repent his evil ways and rebel against the system he had built. He fled from the capital city, hired a band of Elven mercenaries (neither Ljosalfar nor Svartalfar) led by Arak the Erkling, and set up a base on the Isle of Nemora. Kyloring did not concern himself with Laroth at first, but once he had vanquished most of his other pupils he sought him out. He could find no sign of them on the paradisaical Isle of Nemora, except a giant well that seemed to have no bottom. Laroth had used this as a passage to the Netherworld. In the Netherworld, the experience of every soul is like a dream created by it own subconscious. Laroth's spirit magic allowed him t control the subconscious of himself and others to be point that he became a nearly omnipotent lucid dreamer. The elves he brought with him were reduced to slaves.

At some point during the Age of Ice, the Once-Elves rebelled. Arak the Erkling had to stay behind in order to allow his sons and followers (and several relics that they stole from Laroth) to escape the Netherworld and enter the Shadow Rift. This was a liminal place between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Under Arak's son Haerlond Gossam (who unfortunately places too much trust in one advisor who is secretly in league with Laroth), the Once-Elves built a great city here. They follow a code of laws that forbids any soul which has seen the world of the dead t return to the world of the living, and have established guards to prevent threats from the netherworld from ever entering Erebus.

There are three buildings of note in the city of Barathrum. The Malachite palace is an enourmous ziggarat which towers over the city. At the top is an archway which is a gate to and from he world of the dead. The Tower of Calling is a lighthouse whose strange golden flame is the main source of light in the dim city. The library is not particularly large, but is is very special: all of the books it contains are unique masterpieces which were written (or at least completed) by authors in the netherworld. Most of these were written by dead men whose lives were not long enough to perfect their literary genius. A few of them are the work of Laroth himself.


Sandalphon of the Sidar was among the first men to find the Well of Shadows and meet the Once-Elves within the rift. This was during the Age of Ice, not long after they first escaped from Laroth. He established good relations between the Sidar and the only living beings who could describe to him the world of Arawn. While in Barathrum, the Once-Elves welcomes him into their library and let him study undisturbed. There he found the books of Laroth, and learned the magic within.

The most important magic gained from those tomes was the Waning ritual. This allows a moral to become a Shade, making his physical body and consciousness immortal by slowly draining his soul into the next world. This form of immortality has side effects. It prevents all the weaknesses of growing old and sick, but can cause the body to slowly become less substantial until it seems more like a mere spirit. It does not make a violent death or suicide impossible, but does make one very hard to kill. It makes it hard for others to see a shade, or to remember what they have seen. Even a shade's closest friends and family must often struggle to remember who he is. While most of those who choose to become Shades to do in order to have time enough pursue some grand goal (often to complete a great work of art) about which they are very passionate, becoming a shade slowly drains them of all passion and enjoyment. They may continue to act only out of habit for centuries before becoming so idle that they might as well be dead.


While Waning may on the surface seem similar to Necromancy, the Sidar view it as the opposite. The crime of necromancy involves preventing the soul from reaching the realm of Arawn. The Sidar believed that their waning ritual would honor Arawn, not realizing that they were actually trading their souls to Laroth and aiding his quest to usurp Arawn's godhood.


In his enthusiasm, Sandalphon made several mistakes in transcribing the rituals. This made the magic much less effective than it should have been. Sandalphon was a superior shade to all those who followed him, because he performed the ritual on himself using the original manuscript rather than his own poor copy. The man who discovered his many errors was Rathus Denmora. Rathus became a shade using the faulty copy first, and then decided it was not enough. He got permission to enter Barathrum, just as Sandalphon had done generations earlier. There he produced a flawless copy of the original texts, and performed the ritual on himself the way it was meant to be performed. Because of this, the Once-Elves forgot he had ever visited.

Rathus remained in the city as Gosea stole the Heartstone and as a young Auric Ulvin and his friends wandered into the city. He used them as a diversion in order to allow him to ascend the Malachite Palace and enter the Netherworld, seeking to be of personal service to Arawn. He instead met with an angel of Arawn who had defected to the service of Laroth. He was given the Netherblade, supposedly to help him bring justice to those who disrespect Arawn by killing so many men before their time. The actual purpose was to bind the strongest souls to Laroth's domain within the netherworld, to help him build up an army with which to depose the god.
 
The Bannor were one of the factions that formed during the Patrian Civil War. They have no older ethnic ties binding them together. Their identity was mostly religious, formed around a devotion to Bhall. Their originated as a resistance movement against the corrupt rule of evil mages. Some rebels turned to the power of Fire to fight against sorcery even before Kylorin repented. The worship of Bhall was probably the most popular religion among the common people at the height of Patria, even when the worship of Ceridwen was mandatory among the upper classes and the power of the state tried to suppress the worship of all the good gods.

When Kylorin revolted against the system he had created, the rebels movement which would go on to form the Bannor quickly rallied behind him. However, they never trusted him completely. While there were archmages of fire who served important roles in the Old Bannor empire, those who practiced any other forms of sorcery were generally suspected of wickedness. This wasn't a horrible presumption, as most mages of that era were evil, but it was sometimes unfair. For the most part though, the Bannor judged ethics by a single principle: will it burn? They believed that the sacred flames of Bhall could only ever harm the wicked, never the innocent.

By the time that Bhall fell, the Bannor were by far the largest and most powerful of the Patrian successor states.

While the Bannor of the Age of Magic were devoted to Bhall rather than Junil, it is worth noting that Junil was also highly revered in their empire. He was considered a fairly minor deity, of no greater importance than Bhall's Archangel Brigit the Shiring, but the God of Law did have a shrine within most of the temples of the Goddess of Fire. (Those few Bannor who remained uncorrupted and were led out of Hell by Sabathiel were those who took refuge at the altar of Junil within the largest of all teple complexes, in the citadel of the capital city of Braduk.)



The Lanun can trace their lineage back further than the Bannor, to the Traders and Seamen who rules the waves before Patria itself was established. Kylorin nominally subdued them and required that they all swear fealty to his rule, but they were never fully integrated into the rest of human society. Their relations with the Aifons were good enough that they could get by without interacting with the rest of Patria if they wished. Their waves were too far away from the heart of the empire for them to be governed effectively. They didn't even have a government of their own, only a set of loose alliances between independent captains. They were never important enough to warrant the kind of expensive military campaigns required to truly conquer them. Patria did not have a particularly powerful navy separate from the Lanun fleets, which allowed the Lanun to demand considerably payments when the army needed to charter passage.

The Lanun tried to stay pretty neutral during the Patrian Civil War, but they also tried to profiteer. When the Bannor were hunting down evil sorcerers, the Lanun often offered to smuggle them away to safety (for a price). (Many sorcerers in the late Age of Magic chose to worship Danalin in order to gain some protection from Bhall.) They also accepted payments to help transport troops to track down those sorcerers whom they has also granted passage.


The Hippus are also older than Patria, and maintained something of a separate identity even through they were incorporated into the empire. They originated in hills that were fertile and teemed with both sheep and horses. They tamed the first horses shortly after the Compact was signed, and have passed down the skills of animal husbandry through all generations. They were in time fully incorporated into Patria. When Kylorin began his rebellion, he hired many of the Hippus horsemen as mercenaries. They were instrumental in hunting down many evil sorcerers. This gave the Hippus a reputation for martial prowess, and caused them to become increasingly war-like. Their clans have fought among themselves so much that they have not been able to accomplish much in the ages since.


The Doviello's legendary founder was of Hippus ancestry. They are mutts formed from the outcasts and survivors of many different tribes though, and as a whole are no more Hippus than they are everything else.


The Order of the Elohim is the oldest of all human institutions. It was founded by Immanuel Logos during the Age of Dragons, and had become well established and universally respected by the end of that age. Monks of this order were invited to witness the signing of the Compact, and were entrusted by Sucellus to guard the holy sites. They first became settled in order to fulfill that mission, having previously migrated from place to place as their help was needed. They continued to be highly respected throughout the Patrian era. Their supporters eventually formed a cultural identity around the order, and became a good faction during war at the end of the Age of Magic. During the Age of Magic they lost control of many of their sacred sites, but devoted themselves all the more to their original mission of caring for their fellow man. They took in refugees in the Age of Ice and have grown into a great nation.



The Calabim rulers, Alexis and Flauros, have been alive since the Age of Dragons and were greatly feared predators of man before Kylorin was born. It is unclear when they first started farming humans instead of just hunting them, but I get the impression that they have led multiple civilizations to ruin. Kael did say that they led a Calabim faction formed during the Patrian civil war. He also said that vampires were almost driven to extinction by the Age of Ice, and that they had to start their whole civilization all over again from a random ice age tribe. The current Calabim cattle have no ethnic relations to the ancient Calabim, but they serve the same rulers.


The Malakim were already desert holy men during the Patrian Civil War. They already served Lugus, but the Calabim of that age persecuted that faith so harshly that they drove the religion to extinction. The Malakim of the Age of Rebirth had forgotten the name of Lugus and all the tenants of his organized religion, before Varn Gosam revealed it to them again.


Cassiel chose to live like a man in early Patria, and became a famous and revered philosopher before Kylorin made his deal with Ceridwen. While most of those who wanted to resist his cruel rule turned to the religions of the good gods, a minority turned to this philosophy instead. The Grigori were founded by those men during the Patrian Civil War. Cassiel guided them safely though the Age of Ice, and worked behind the scenes to help Kylorin discover the locations of the pieces of the Godslayer.


The Balseraphs were said to have been a faction in the civil war led by Perpentach. I prefer to think that this faction has little to do with the current civilization of that name, but was instead the rump state of the evil arcane Patria. Perpantach was not merely a favorite student of Kylorin, but was treated like his adopted son. He would be the heir apparent of the evil empire. If the other students of Kylorin disagreed, he wouldn't have much trouble dominating their minds and forcing them to do his bidding. He even managed to dominate Kylorin himself a couple times, although his master was able to break free. I prefer to think of the old Balseraphs as a somber totalitarian state, in start contrast to the madness of the kingdom Perpentach reigns after having his mental barriers broken.


Of course, others have argued that Perpentach managed to escape from the Palus after a relatively short period of time, and transferred his mind into The Momus before the Age of Magic had ended, and then led the current Balseraph civilization through the Age of Ice.



The Sheaim have no existence prior to the Age of Rebirth. It was formed only recently, by Os-Gabella and Tebryn Arbandi drawing together misfits from all the other civilizations and forcing them into a tool to destroy the world. They have particularly tried to recruit those with arcane talents and ambition. Patria at its most corrupt may have been more like this empire than any other.


The Luchuirp existed in the Age of Magic as one of several dwarven tribes that together formed the The Empire of Kradh-Ke-zun, or the Open-Skiers. The other tribes perished in the Age of Ice, but is is said that Kilmorph herself came to the Luchuirp leader Graoin the Delver and taught his people to relearned the skills that their ancestors had used to thrive below the surface. They are now reemerging and trying to reestablish the art and golem based urban society of the age of magic.

The Khazad haven't changed much since the Age of Magic.
 
Thanks Magister. Like I said I love this stuff. So when Bhall fell, why did it occur within Erebos? Wouldn't her fall through the Bannor empire have caused a breach of the Compact? And at the end of Kylorin's rebellion is sounds like the various rebels like the Bannor established themselves as nations, so what was Kylorin's position or relation to those nations? Did he still have any political power as a ruler or emperor? Or did he choose to take a back seat and let the emergent nations govern themselves?
 
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