Archade

Okay, so we wrapped up our two year campaign of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, and we're starting this Sunday with the final Pathfinder rules.

I looked at running another adventure path, but I'm reluctant to do so. First, the adventure paths that I have don't totally grab me, and secondly I find the last two adventure paths I've run start high on roleplaying, but by the end are heavy on grinding through combat.

So, I've decdied I'm now the master of my own destiny.

I liked some of the concepts of the Second Darkness campaign, and I'm trying to bend that into my overall arcing campaign plot. Basically, I've decided my cthuloid alliance of abberation races (the Shebeleth) who reside underground have decided they've had enough of skulking, and to restart the Summoner's War, they're going to take a meteor and slam it into Theras, wiping out the Gith and ending their watch over the Theld, starting the Longest Night.

I also want this campaign to involve pirates, derring-do, and explore the history of my world, and the Verdraaken Empire (which fell the last time a meteor struck the center of their realm, wiping out most of humanity several hundred years ago).

I need a starting adventure, and I've decided the best way to do so is get all the party members to sign up for service on the ship the Wild Raven, captained by the fierce pirate Captain Erasmus Kreeg. The party won't meet the captain yet, just his fussy bosun/recruiter Thevenin Prust. They're signing on for service, when the waterfront tavern where the recruiting is happening is attacked by street urchins lobbing vials of alchemists' fire ...

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

So, I've been lagging a bit on my creativity for my campaign world, but I decided last night to flesh out my creation myth of the world.

I was able to explain quite a few things. First, why the campaign world is different from the rest of the universe (it can't be owned or changed by the whims of powerful beings), why souls go to 'heaven' or elsewhere in the afterlife, and how the different pantheons originally started together.

I'm interested if anyone has comments or suggestions on how to flesh this out. I'd love to include a paragraph explaining how giants, titans, elementals, or the like had bearing on the world in the early days.

So, without futher preamble ...


The Alabaster Scrolls Tell of the Beginning

Aarishem, the Allfather of the Court of Voices, called his prophet Manphares to him in the legendary city of Namphare from the tribes of mankind, and had him set down the earliest days of Celestia, and revealed the truths of the gods to mankind.

Aarishem says before the Court of Voices came together and raised their voices, there was dischord. The Thousand Pits of Shabel-Mar raged and the Ethereal Sea burned with such fury that none could venture forth from their worlds. From Shabel-Mar great and powerful beings waged war, stretching forth to devour worlds, drawing all life back to The Thousand Pits.

The Elder Gods stood astride worlds, the blood of all creatures upon them. They were Dagon, Bolthomogg, Nycorn, Obox-Ob, and more. Their forms were incomprehensible, and their spawn without number.

Against the ravages of Shabel-Mar stood the Gray Lords. They were led by Aarishem the White Eye, and standing with him were Karkath the First Flame, Minderhall the Stonemaster and Uarthos the Ethereal, and others who followed their banner. They could not defeat the foul creatures of Shabel-Mar, for they were without end, but they raised many warriors from across many worlds and railed against the Elder Gods. This was the First War.

The First War raged for countless millennia, until Uarthos stole from Dagon’s deep lair secret lore – he used this lore and sacrificed himself to create a realm protected far from Shabel-Mar, unmutable by the will of great beings, only by the hands of mortal creatures. This realm he called Theras, and those who followed the Gray Lords came to dwell in Theras.

Aarishem then called forth the greatest and noblest of the host of the Gray Lords now of Theras to dwell apart and raise their voices as one, to shroud this realm from the eyes of the Lords of Shabel-Mar. Their song formed the bastion wall about Theras, a shining realm of light that echoed with its celestial choir of voices. The song and the shining realm of light were named Venya, and Aarishem decreed that as long as the Court of Voices sang, this Fortress would stand fast. Another song was sung in Venya, to call forth to the Court of Voices souls that ended their time on Theras, as long as Aarishem found them worthy, and they joined the celestial choir.


Tales of the First Days of Theras

Astaroth was a powerful fiend who dwelt in a realm known as Baator, and his following had become diminished in the defense against Shabel-Mar. He knew his realm would not stand long if he did not have creatures to guard Baator’s borders. So he whispered to those in Venya and offered them a place in his court to those who would teach him the song that called souls to their choir. The song could not be sung by the harsh voice of Astaroth, and so it was instead a whisper of temptation, that mortal souls could choose to follow. Aarishem heard the whisper, and knew he had been betrayed. He exiled from his court Triel and Mephistopheles and others who had hidden their treachery. Astaroth called them to Baator, and this exile as known as the First Falling

I'm looking for ideas to flesh out my deities of my campaign ... here's the first. Anyone care to chime in?

AANYAR

The god of storms, lightning, and the sea. He is worshipped, or his name is invoked to avoid poor weather, by farmers, sailors, foresters. As well, he is seen as a healer and a giver of life by bringing rains and rivers to the land, and wells often are capped with a small shrine-roof depicting his image to keep them from drying out. He is depicted either as a giant kraken or a windswept old man with one eye.

Aanyar, the Storm King is worshipped heavily in Tamris, a religious state ruled by the Theocrat of that church.

Aanyar’s church was comprised of rural chapels during the era of the Verdraaken Empire, and now it has grown to fill the need of worshippers seeking comfort and protection from weather, or the dangers of the land.

Alignment: N
Domains: Destruction, Healing, Water, Weather
Favored Weapon: Falchion
Symbol: An eye

MAGIC OF AANYAR

Clerics, rangers and druids of the Storm King may prepare whispering wind as a 2nd level spell and clerics and rangers may prepare call lightning as a 4th-level spell.

Clerics of Aanyar channel positive energy and spontaneously convert memorized spells to cure effects.

Aanyar’s Blade
Evocation [electricity]
Level: Clr 2, Drd2 (Aanyar)
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 ft.
Duration: 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: Yes

A 5-foot bolt of electricity springs forth from your hands. You may wield this bold of lightning as if it were a falchion. Attacks with Aanyar’s blade are melee touch attacks. The bold deals 2d4 points of electricity damage +1 point per two caster levels (maximum +10). Since the bolt is immaterial, your Strength modifier does not apply to the damage. A bold can ignite combustible materials such as parchment, straw, dry sticks, and cloth.

So, my one player prodded me to include half-orcs in my campaign, and I did so, finding a good social niche for them. He then went on to prod me on kobolds (since he likes playing them for some reason). I'm not big on mini-dragon kobolds, but I did find a good place for them to exist ... feedback, anyone?

KOBOLDS
The kobolds, whose name in Khoteshali translates to "slave of magic", are unusual in the world because of their origins; they are not a natural race, but a crafted form of life.

Many centuries ago, the rising civilization of Khotesh had a plague that all but wiped out their slave caste. With the great need for slaves, the nobles of Khotesh appealed to the Temple of Apollyon for reprieve from the ravages of their dread lord. Given pressure from the state, the church researched spells to create the kobold, crafting their bodies from the remains of desert lizards and their souls from criminals who are sacrificed to Apollyon. As the divine magic came from the Horseman of Pestilence, these creatures are pitiful and wretched, often covered with sores and cursed with a short lifespan. The first of the kobolds were little more than bestial creatures, but over the march of years, they have gained cunning and intelligence, to avoid punishment and curry favor with their human masters.

Kobolds cannot breed, and are constructed magically. They live in underground warrens below the cities of Khotesh, and are left to fend for themselves until the need for a slave arises, at which point they are bound by a ritual to a master, and a bound kobold can be unmade with a single word from their owner. Kobolds resent their masters, but live in fear of the unmaking. Kobolds are driven mercilessly to build the great architecture of Khotesh, and hundreds of kobolds work to death or fall from great heights to their doom in the construction of the Black Towers.

It is said that in the underground warrens, there is a kobold of a great age, having lived nearly 60 years. This aged kobold claims to know the secret of freedom and wards against unmaking, and he is revered as a divine servant sent to Khotesh by Apollyon to free the kobolds from their slavery, and his name of Kurtulmak is whispered in warrens everywhere.

In the warrens, kobolds live in communal harmony, like a nest of rats. Unless fed by their masters (who often forget), they live as scavengers, feeding on scraps and corpses and defenseless desert creatures. As kobolds live a great deal of their lives in the darkness, they find sunlight repellent, and abhor it, but fear the lash of their masters more.

Kobold Characters

Kobold player characters are almost always descended from feral kobolds that have escaped their Khoteshi masters. Use the standard Kobold entry in the Monster Manual or Pathfinder Chronicles with the following additions:

· Creatures of Apollyon: Kobolds are naturally resistant to diseases, gaining a +4 racial bonus to Fortitude saves to resist such.

ANIMATE PLAGUE SERVANT
Necromancy (Evil)
Level: Clr 3, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: One corpse touched
Duration: Indefinite (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell turns the body of a humanoid corpse formerly of evil alignment into a large egg that will hatch into a fully mature kobold within 1d4 days.

Note that these kobolds as created are humanoids, but are also indefinite magical effects, and radiate faint necromancy magic, and can be dispelled (a targeted Dispel Magic DC to dispel a kobold is 15 + the kobold’s HD + the kobold’s Cha modifier) or hedged out by appropriate magical wards. Kobolds are asexual creatures, and cannot reproduce.

This kobold is not necessarily loyal to you, but at a command word, the spell will end, and the kobold will cease to exist, which is a powerful incentive for cooperation.

Clerics of 11th level or higher can add the Daemonic or Draconic template to all kobolds created.

Material Components: The corpse of an evil humanoid, scales of a lizard scattered over the corpse, and a piece of jade placed in the corpse's mouth worth 25 gp.


BLESSING OF APOLLYON
Conjuration (creation)
Level: Clr 4
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: Kobold touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No

Upon touching a kobold, it transforms the creature from being sustained by a magical effect that can be dispelled into a truly existing humanoid. As well, the Blessing confers upon the target creature a +2 inherent bonus to Charisma as the gaze of Apollyon is upon it.

Material Components: Specially prepared incense worth 500 gp per HD of the kobold to be transformed.
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Hey all,

My campaign is going to eventually be heading into the territory of half-orcs. That's right, a stable half-orc kingdom.

You see, half-elves get it easy -- established kingdoms of their own, social acceptance, and all sorts of positive elven influence, while the half-orcs end up being the gardeners or cooks or lower tier of an existing society, or they are lieutenants to an orc warlord.

In my Western Marches campaign, one of my players lamented the lack of half-orcs as a player choice. I pointed out I had created an alternative that was mechanically identical, but then he suggested that orcs represent the savage tribal human, and to not represent that would be a shame. I gave it some thought, and looked to my campaign map.

I had a North-East corner of the map marked "The Black Ice of Kozeh". Thinking of half-orcs there cast my mind back to the Erokese novels, and gave me inspiration for a half-orc kingdom. I could see a series of clans of humans interbred with orcs now long gone, riding in sleds of wrought iron pulled by dire bears, carrying bone-carved halls with them as nomads.

So here's what I did -- comments and suggestions are always welcome!

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The Black Ice of Kozeh: North of the Theld lies the frozen waste of Kozeh. It is a blasted wasteland of rocks and dark ice and eternal cold, where the scars of the Summoner's War can still be found frozen in the ice.
Kozeh was originally home to the Mor'Urak over a thousand years ago, a warlike race that were in tribute to the Verdraaken Empire, and enemies of the Linnorm. This ended with the coming of the Shebeleth and the Summoner's War, when the Verdraaken Empire was destroyed, and Kozeh nearly with it. The black ash of the Theld was cast as far north as Kozeh, freezing in the ice and snow, turning it black.
Kozeh's temperatures are usually below freezing, except in the all-too-brief summer season. Annual precipitation is minimal, and usually is seen as black snow. The region is home to very little vegetation, which grow only in the most southern reaches where sunlight and warmth are slightly more than fleeting. The rest of Kozeh consists of permafrost, low wind-eroded mountain ranges, roving glacial packs or ice-choked seaways. In the winter months, raging blizzards of black snow can rage across Kozeh, and these blizzards often can dampen, limit, or even negate magic use, causing a great threat to those who depend on magic for warmth and food.
The animal life that manages to eke out an existence on The Black Ice are necessarily some of the heartiest stock in the Western Marches. Confronted with sparse food and biting cold, almost every creature sports an extra thick coat of fur and/or blubber. Roving herds of dire elk, wolves, bears of all types, and birds of prey live above the ice, while fish and whales live below. Many small artic mammals and birds survive on the scraps left by their larger cousins.
In this unnatural arctic world, some magical beasts and exotic creatures call the Black Ice home. Remorhaz are a threat to herd animals and hunters alike on the open tundra, as are frostworks on the glacial planes. Roving packs of worgs harass travellers in the southern regions, while small colonies of yeti live out an isolated existence in the low mountain ranges.
In recent centuries, a small flight of githwyrm dragons has established itself as the top predators. These mighty creatures are both feared and worshipped by the local clans of Kozehk, as well as gith and Theldane that have made their way to the Black Ice.

The Kozehk: The Kozehk are a nomadic barbarian culture of their own true-breeding race descended from the same cultural stock as the Theldane, as well as the Mor'Urak.
While they have many parallel cultural similarities to the Theldane, they are physically distinct. Their features are bestial, with pointed teeth and animalistic eyes. Their hirsute bodies are covered in thick, coarse hair, not dissimilar to that of a wolf. Their senses of scent are heightened from that of a normal man. They are tall and powerfully built and sport many tattoos, which they conceal under their thick fur clothing. Unlike the Theldane, they prize their hair, both beards and long tresses. Kozehk men insulate their faces with great thick black beards and both men and women wear their hair long; decorating it with intricate braids and decorations of bone, ivory, and even gold.
The Kozehk are continually migratory, travelling across the Black Ice in search of fish or hunting grounds. They travel on sleds of wrought iron, pulled by wolves, bears, or even other beasts they have tamed. With them, they pull their Sledge Halls, large clan-buildings of carved bone pulled on massive sleds, hauled by the largest bears they can tame. These Sledge Halls define power within the Clans, and serve as homes and fortresses against the cold and dangers of the north. However, during the long night of winter, that lasts three months, the Sledge Halls halt their travels, and the Kozehk defend their homes against the predations of winter and strange creatures that find the dark to their liking.
Not surprisingly, the Kozehk are master herdsmen and have domesticated a wide variety of animals and dire beasts that provide serve as mounts, draft animals and even war machines. Almost every Kozehk clan keeps a wolf or two as a domestic pet and hunting companion. The most feared and revered beasts are bears, which pull the great Sledge Halls of the Hetmen and warlords, and are used as great warbeasts as well, wearing armor and some rare times serving as mounts.
In the short but relatively warm summer season, the Kozehk people migrate south to the most hospitable part of their tribal grounds, and clerics of all clans work together to use magic to plant, cultivate, and harvest plants for food and linens, all within a matter of a month or two, and trade their furs, bone and ivory goods with the Theldane in exchange for steel weaponry. Food is plentiful and almost festive for these normally stoic and harsh people. It is at the height of the warm season that the Kozehk celebrate their Bloodmoot and Bearfeast days. Here, marriages are performed, clan treaties ratified and trade occurs.
In the darkest days of winter, far to the north, the Kozehk travel to the Amber Hall, and solemnly celebrate the Days of Amber. All of the clans gather at the last standing cathedral of the Mor'Urak, a massive and permanent stone hall lined with amber, to celebrate for three specific days in midwinter. This is where the disciples of the enigmatic Mor'Urak travel from their places in the mountains to trade their goods of much coveted metal, magic, and wisdom with the Kozehk in secret gatherings in the Amber Hall.
Kozehk culture is organized around clans of extended family units ruled by a Hetman, whom holds their position until someone within the clan is strong enough to wrest it from them. The harsh environment easily weeds out the sickly and timid, so weak leaders are almost unheard of. The day-to-day spiritual needs of the tribe are seen to by the bear-priests; who are usually a cleric, although there are some druids who worship the Ghostwind or (red) dragon shamans who worship Karkath, although they live isolated from the clans.
Kozehk clerics worship a unique pantheon – their ancestors. The Mor'Urak are said to live in the mountains, and all Kozehk acknowledge they are descended from their blood. These creatures hold great sway over their nomadic cousins because they alone control the magic and coveted weapons and cultural secrets of the Kozehk. Their goods, each a work of art no matter how lowly an item, command high prices at the Days of Amber. It is unwise to slight a priest, as their magic keeps animals and biting winter at bay and creates the summer crops - If these priest's feel slighted or their advice is ignored, then they will exile someone from the clan, regardless of station, with nothing but their fur garments and a single blade to protect themselves. Needless to say, they are shown great reverence and respect.

Kozehk Characters: If you wish to play a Kozehk, they are played as half-orcs from the PHB, with the following minor exceptions.

• Gain a +2 racial bonus to Handle Animal checks
• Gain low-light vision as well as darkvision.
• Clerics choose a named ancestor to worship, and choose any two domains that reflect that ancestor's traits. Common domain choices are War, Strength, Destruction, Evil, Chaos, Community, but are not limited to those choices.