The Sowers of Death (Humans)

Within the barren wastelands that once was a beatiful forest live The Sowers of Death - life itself doesn´t mean anything to them so their ancestors had no problem burning the forest down to make room in order to build the Tower of the Eleven Circles - it is tall enough to be easily seen from very far away and is indeed a breathtaking and intimidating sight. It´s made from black marble, decorated with countless human skulls and engulfed by a faint blue magical glow that´s definitely not from this world...a taste of things to come in the afterlife - or rather a taste of eternal chaos to come again once the time is right... This tower is one of the most important things in their lifes as for the Initiated of their tribe are able to experience the past, the present and the future at the same time in this tower. The magic of this feeds upon souls - souls of those conquered in battle dragged into the tower by the members of The Sowers of Death. They will die a horrible death as all their vital forces are slowly drained to fuel the tower. Of course they have to be almost dead already or they might survive this ordeal...

The Sowers of Death don´t care about any kind of gods - they believe to have emerged from primordial chaos itself in contrast to being created by any kind of god(s). Also they don´t have any kind of leaders - they consider themselves to be all-equal. The only ones within their tribe that enjoy some special privileges are the Initiated - in other words: those who are brave enough to enter The Tower of the Eleven Circles - as only the strongest in mind won´t go crazy when exposed to experiencing all that has happened and all that will happen - at once. Very weak individuals might even die almost instantly upon entering the tower.

So their basic reason to take part in the Tournament is to gather souls for their tower and generally because they just enjoy torture, death and killing. They believe while death is forever (and life is not) it´s the most desired condition to be achieved. Suicide is considered to be weak and pointless, though. Needless to say that they fight without any fear in the Tournament (and in general) because of course they don´t even value their own lives - even less those of their enemies. It´s tempting to them to mutilate any enemy in the arena right then and there but they know they should not do this...nevertheless sometimes the tempatation is just too strong so they just splatter their enemies all over the arena.

Even the bravest of warriors to fight one the Sowers of Death might feel like just leaving the arena being scared to hell just by the looks of a Sower-warrior. Dressed in pitch-black from head to toe - their clothes being decorated with all kinds of sharp metal objects (mostly shards) and also pieces of human bone. On top of this they wear war paint made from human blood mixed with black ash - to any outsider those warriors hardly resemble humans anymore - but rather demons from the depths of hell. Their favourite weapon is some kind of knife that looks like a machete with a very long blade and nasty flukes - it can cut a human spine in a single blow when wielded by a very experienced warrior.

When they are not busy fighting and killing they spend a lot of time reading their collection of sacred scrolls with the name "Memories from a time before the birth of time" - while they are able to foresee the future and also to see what happened in the past in the tower - it is not able to reveal what happened before time. While humans (or other creatures like Elves, Dwarves, etc.) who are not members of their tribe won´t even attempt to get their heads into what might be important about knowing what happened before time (this term alone is able to drive most people into madness when even trying to comprehend it) - this knowledge is an integral part of the Sower´s religion. As is wisdom in general. Wisdom of whatever kind, magic and death is the driving force of every Sower-warrior´s life.

There is a vision that happens to appear again and again in the tower - Sower-warriors being fully revived into their old selfs by others of their tribe after being killed. The only problem being that this vision is so faint that it´s not possible to tell by even the most experiences Initiates if this already happened in the past or if it is yet to happen in the future... The other problem to be solved is the point of what purpose this might serve to people who worship death - what´s the point in reviving dead warriors? Only time will tell...maybe...






This Text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

sunmaster

The Order of the Boar (Half-Orcs)

"A boar is strong...but boars in a pack are even stronger!!!" - remember these words of Gryzznyr the Cruel, son of Tannak the Destroyer, when you meet him and his pack of merciless warrios in the arena or on the battlefields.

The members of The Order of the Boar live in the Forest of Dead Trees and believe themselves to be direct descendants of Ulahar the Mother Boar who suckled her offspring not on milk but on blood... until the day when Shathyrgaan - one of the Moon Wolves´ forefathers - slaughtered Ulahar. Back in the days when the world was still young, the forests were still a light and innocent green...when homicide was considered a perfectly normal leisure activitiy...not something morally condemnable...back in the days when the stench of blood was in the air...all the time.

Two legends - both equally considered valid - exist concerning the reasons...the first one tells that Shathyrgaan killed Ulahar in revenge for the severe blasphemy he accused the members of The Order of the Boar of commiting - using weapons - sabers; which blades resemble the crescent! And for praying to a creature whose fangs look a lot like crescents, also. This can´t be happening! So he made a sacrifice to Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh and went out to hunt down and kill Ulahar. Obviously he was successful - Ulahar´s head in hand, covered in blood from head to toe he appeared at the village inhabited by the members of The Order of the Boar - raised the severed head and screamed and laughed at them - for their stupidity to worship a mere boar as goddess - brainless barbarians; blasphemers!

Then, as soon as he appeared he disappeared into the forest again - before anyone realized what exactly was going on. Yes, boars are strong...but not very smart or quick to realize much of what´s happening on around them.

The other legend says that Shathyrgaan was just hunting for food when he killed Ulahar in accident - not that he would have cared a lot that she was considered a goddess, though...

And for this event having taken place untold aeons ago none of the Elder and Wise (and that´s actually much of an overstatement) were yet able to verify the truth of the one or the other. The only thing they know for sure is that Shathyrgaan wore Ulahar´s head with pride as a helmet whenever he took part in a battle.

The Boars don´t take honour that seriously, but still seriously enough not attempting to annhilate a whole tribe on assumptions only... So sooner or later the truth has to be revealed...revenge is calling... if the second legend would appear to be true then certainly they would capture some of them alive to enslave them...but if not...even the trees would turn away from the atrocities, if they could.

Another legend tells that all the trees died because of the blood of all those Moon Wolves members severely tortured in search for the truth - but in fact it appears that no-one of the tribesmen know - the only thing the Boars ever found out that they have to talk to one of the Heretics of Vhergathalmyer...they would surely know. After sharing that piece of information the prisoners usually die from exhaustion and are hacked into tiny pieces to be fed to the (animal) boars.

Gryzznyr made it his personal assignment to capture one of the Heretics of Vhergathalmyer alive in the Arena; even though this might be difficult as none of them has ever been an easy kill. But for the day when this might happen he has an agreement with the Sowers of Death - he will give to them his life and soul for the exceptional right to take the Heretic to The Tower of the Eleven Circles - where the past, present and future become ONE - to find out what really happened...






This Text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

sunmaster

The Three Trees (Elves)

Deep within the Emerald Forest lies the sacred grove which the Elves of The Three Trees call their home. It is unbeknown to most creatures - even other Elves. On this grove is the triangle of the three trees - a place of worship for aeons.

Centuries ago it happened that an emerald of the size slightly bigger than a human fist appeared within this triangle - it is believed that it fell down from the sky; to be the heart of Lord Audan - the once highest God of the Elves of The Three Trees. Something happened then - the ancient oak trees were now engulfed in a glaring green fire - fire that is bright enough to almost blind anyone who dares to look at it - yet it does not burn; it´s cold as ice but instantly kills most creatures who come in contact with it. Spilling blood they fall to the ground while their flesh is being consumed from within in a moment of utter agony - and all that is left is a small pile of ash and bone fragments. Only the truly strong and brave are spared.

The Elves had no idea what to make of this at first - until one of their elders - going by the name of Aetan - came forward and told them of the ancient scrolls that were almost forgotten - scrolls telling of Audan the High One who was displaced by other, younger (and believed to be stronger) gods. Now it became clear to them - Lord Audan is dying!

Upon studying the scrolls Aetan the Elder suggested to bury the emerald within the triangle of the three trees when he realized that the fire was slowly fainting and the trees weren´t ablaze anymore but now rather emitting an enchanting glow. The glow got weaker every day... and with this it appeared that the surrounding nature seemed to die alongside the green fire. Was this real or just an illusion? To their sorrow the Elves very soon realized that indeed this was real - nature WAS dying! Inch by inch consumed by death at an ever increasing speed... Lord Audan´s revenge for being ignored for so long and being replaced by other gods? Aetan studied any old scroll he could get his hands on and was soon startled by the harsh truth - the only chance to avoid the dying of nature was...to spill the blood of other creatures on the ground where the emerald now lies buried; the blood of creatures that do not belong to the tribe of The Three Trees. The once peaceful Elves were disgusted! Spilling the blood of innocents to avoid the dying of a god they didn´t even care for the recent hundreds of years?

Several possible solutions to this dilemma had been discussed until they accepted the fact that the only way out was to hunt down their enemies to sacrifice them to Lord Audan. Which bore a problem - up until then they didn´t have any enemies. So the strongest and bravest among the Elves were chosen to raid the villages of other Elves - and those of any other races which may come in their way. Those warriors cursed themselves for what they were up to - but what could have been the alternative? Witnessing helplessly the dying of the Emerald Forest - their home! - they couldn´t let this happen. It didn´t take long until the Elves of The Three Trees became the most feared tribe of Elves in the known world.

None of their victims have ever been aware to the motifs behind the attacks on their villages and the murdering of their people. Not that it would have made any difference, though; for they always came in the dark of the night - killing anyone in sight, burning the huts and houses and abducting those alive who they believed to be the strongest warriors of the attacked tribe/village - to spill their blood on the ground where the emerald lies deeply buried.

This went on for hundreds of years until the Elves of The Three Trees learned about the "Tournament" that takes place in the City of Caalhan once every year. For once in a long, long time they felt relieved - those taking part in the tournament do so on their own free will...or do they...? So they are not "innocent" in the original meaning of the term, right?

So it was decided to send a group of warriors to this tournament every year. And as for the rules of this tournament are pretty loose anyone who defeats his/her opponent is allowed to do with him/her whatever he feels up to. Kill them right then and there in the arena, torture them - or leave them alive and take them away. No-one ever wants to think about too in-depthly about what happens to those left alive and dragged away...no-one... what is it that they want to hide from the eyes of the obviously bloodthirsty audience? ...no-one is ever about to find out except for the pitiful souls who are taken to the Emerald Forest; to the Three Trees...

Upon arrival back home the ritual is prepared - eleven sticks are sharpened at both ends and put in a circle around the Three Trees...sticks that will soon display the heads of those slaughtered in the name auf Lord Audan! One by one is dragged into the triangle - to be tied to one of those trees. Once there is a victim tied to every single one of those trees the ritual begins. A priest in the tradition of the customs that Aetan the Elder managed to re-establish comes forward to thrust a large, sharpened piece of obsidian into the victim´s back - just in between the shoulder bladebones - piercing the lungs to make them spill their own blood. As for the only blood good enough is the blood spilled in total agony... so it is done to them, one by one until all are slaughtered. Once the victim´s blood drains into the ground the trees are ablaze in the sacred green fire again and the Elves rest assured that nature and Lord Audan have for now been saved from annihilation.

And the victims? Dead eyes staring without seeing into the pool of blood in front of them - the last thing they ever saw was that those trees never cast any shadows...




This Text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

sunmaster

The City of Caalhan

Once every year the great "Tournament" is celebrated here - it is free for anyone to enter but for the last hundreds of years mostly four different guilds/tribes have been participating - each of them for their very own reasons - ranging from pure bloodthirst over the fight for honour to religious reasons.


Moon Wolves (Humans)

Their reason for taking part in the tournament lies way back in history; gathered around campfires at night they tell their children that the phases of the moon are a punishment bestowed upon them by their gods aeons ago. Once there was only one phase - full moon, every night. Now, by witnessing the crescent and any other phase in between the crescent and the full moon they reckon it is a punishment; though the exact details to what caused this punishment are unknown- they suppose it was for weakness; for running away in battle and for begging for mercy. They believe that the only way to re-establish the "natural" condition of permanent full moon is to fight bravely and kill as many enemies as possible. Honour is especially gained by killing followers of the "Order of the Boar" - because their favorited weapon is the saber - a weapon which shape resembles the crescent - an outraging blasphemy in their eyes. (The members of the "Order of the Boar" can only laugh at such superstition, though.)

The Moon Wolves refuse to fight in daylight - any light that is not caused by the full moon is considered to weaken the warrior´s natural fighting abilities and strengths. It is also seen as unfittig to fight at crescent or waxing moon though not completely excluded if inevitable - such as fighting in self-defense. It is needless to say that at full moon any warrior of the Moon Wolves becomes possessed by bloodthirst and the strong urge to please the gods by showing that they ARE indeed worthy to witness the total everlasting full moon once again. To achieve this they are willing to do anything that´s necessary - kill, burn, destroy - CARNAGE! Any use of magic is frowned upon.

The members of the Moon Wolves have 107 different deities - the highest ones being Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh - meaning "the full moon" and Vhergathalmyer meaning "the absence of full moon". It is believed that Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh emerged from primordial chaos alongside all other gods (whose names are only known to the elder men and women of their tribe) except for Vhergathalmyer - who was created by Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh for reasons unknown - it is speculated, though, that this happened because he was so angered at the Moon Wolve´s weakness that he felt compelled to wipe them out completely but he changed his mind and in this moment of total anger created Vhergathalmyer as a sign for humanity that they are on the wrong path. Thus, Vhergathalmyer is on his own - and of course he is considered the enemy of the natural course - while Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh and the other 105 gods are on the right path.

To be a member of the Moon Wolves you have to be born into the tribe - they won´t let slaves or members of other tribes fight for them, mostly of couse because slaves run away as soon as given the chance and are unworthy warriors because of this and also because no-one except for the Moon Wolves themselves would understand the reason they are fighting for.
If a newborn child (male or female) is considered too weak to be a warrior once grown-up it is sacrificed in a bloody ritual to Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh to be reincarnated into a stronger physical appearance soon.

Their society consists of warriors only - physical labor is frowned upon and anything they need is taken by them through force and violence. The only non-fighting activity permitted is hunting and, of course, training. They see other humans as weak and unworthy and in return other humans often call them "werewolves".

When they are not in the City of Caalhan for the tournament they live in the woods - in tents made of the rawhide of hunted animals. They also dress in these (raw) skins mostly - so their appearence is pretty barbarous to the eyes of other humans. The Moon Wolves use little armor - only what they find on the battlefields from time to time. Forging is considered physical labor and thus unfitting for a Moon Wolf warrior. Though, there are rumors by other humans that they just don´t know how to do it and because of this dismiss it as being "unfitting".

The Heretics of Vhergathalmyer is a small group of Moon Wolves Warriors who live on their own. They are called "Heretics" by their fellow tribesmen whom they seldomly have contact with - while they call themselves Seekers of the Hidden Truth. Their philosophy is based on the fact how it could be possible that ONE god - Vhergathalmyer is obviously equally strong than the other 105 gods together - but at the same time despised for representing an "unnatural condition" - while that condition seems to be a lot stronger than the alleged "natural condition" worshipped by the other Moon Wolves. Look at the sky at night - what do you see? One day of true fullmoon (represented by Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh and the other 105) while there is an abundance of other days that are NOT fullmoon - represented by Vhergathalmyer. The only reason the Heretics are not slauthered for blasphemy by their fellow tribesmen is the fact that Vhergathalmyer was created by Hasthyrfadhyrlakkh - probably for a reason, though it is yet unknown. But still they are despised and forbidden to live among the others of their tribe.

The Heretics dedicate their lives to magic and finding the truth - and they are believed to be the only ones who might know the truth about what exactly happened when Shathyrgaan killed the Mother Boar Ulahar in The Forest of the Dead Trees. This wisdom is deeply imbedded into their memories and no-one dares to think about it too in-depthly - thus it can only be brought to light through the use of the most sophisticated of magic...



This Text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

sunmaster

Hi ,

I want to support the Simulacrum games - aka Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC and BFRPG -. My motivation for this is the writers gave us fully functional rules systems which have the "old and dusty" feeling for free to use as we want.
So, I want to give something back. I want to give something back for free with an "old and dusty" feeling.

This is the reason why I want to begin with the development and writing of four settings and adventures for the Simulacrum games. I looked at the classical fantasy writings and saw that they have for the most part a dark and gritty feeling. I like it :-) And because I am a Metal Head the idea of the so called "Metal Chronicles" was not far.

Every chronicle is a setting. With its own "Metal" feeling and its own history, races and (later) adventures. Let us look at each of them.
Death Metal Chronicles: In this setting
every player has the control over a
guild of gladiators. Every adventure
is about the power control of these
guilds.

Doom Metal Chronicles: The characters
live in a world controlled by
mysterious, old and mighty beings.
The day to day mission to survive is
giving the reason to the adventure(s).

Black Metal Chronicles: A setting where
the world is ruled by many churches and
cults. The characters are "special
troops" of these churches to widen
the believe of their church.

Power Metal Chronicles: A setting in
which the characters are inhabitants
of a big and vast city which is under
siege since many, many years.
The characters adventure to bring the
impossible chance of breaking out of
the siege to possibility.

As I said, I want to write all these settings for free. I choose a so-called Creative Commons license so that everyone can use, copy and also write for these settings for free.A background to develop great texts and great materials together for all fans.

sunmaster