In the wake of Vile Darkness and all the online controversy that's been sparked because of it, a few might not have seen on the Sword and Sorcery homepage or heard about this this sourcebook. After all, how many people know much about a country that while steeped in evil is also a law abiding state, devoted to a dark god, Chardun, but also involves ideals of "chivarly and honor."? So now it's here, and I have to admit, while not vile darkness, it's certain a mature look at evil and law, especially how they work together. But I digress. Let's start with the look see.
The cover art has, for those uninitiated to the Scarred Lands, Geleeda, Queen of Calastia casting a powerful spell, with Virduk looking on, stern and unyielding, while the spell kills/immolates one person while a horrified cleric with a smiley sun looks on. While not the most flattering picture of Geleeda, the book does at least show some of the nature of the book.
The interior art is above average, with some notables as the picture of Margret the would-be Queen of Calastia and the Duke of Rhofair, as well as the Blood Monsoon picture with the Piscean rising out from the deep. The maps in the book are exceptional, in terms of them being well placed. Some might call for a fold out, but I don't really see the need IF you are familiar with Calastia and it's surrounding areas. There are maps of all the major duchies plus a map of Vashon, capital of Calastia.
The book is divided into four chapters, and appendix, plus a preface and introduction.
The book opens with a Preface from Joseph Carriker, discussing how the people and the land of Calastia, while evil, turn many such assumptions about evil and oppression on it's head. That these assumptions are based more on the treatment of it's foes than the people. After all, your foes will ALWAYS bad mouth you. The people that live under Calastian law though, are better fed, better educated as well as well protected. Ask a citizen about living in Mithril, and he'd take living in Calastia any day, what with the sailors telling him about how the paladins do go out and slay titanspawn and defend outlying villages, and yet people in their mighty city starve. This was a nice little piece and certainly I think necessary to help set the tone of the book.
Next comes the introduction, which serves as a way of giving us the ideas behind the book. I think the best line for this chapter comes from the opening page "While other nations' political pundits would have it otherwise, Calastia is not the Evil Empire." That doesn't mean there's not evil in this book, but it's subtle. The introduction makes a good point in that heroes and anti-heroes can work well here, as long as they don't break any laws or fall away from traditional Calastian ideas of hard work and self-sufficanicy. In that we can see that while the laws often serve the country or a few upper class individuals, there is still room for growth and promotion, via basic adventuring or even just political intrigue. One thing I do agree with that worth mentioning from this introduction, is this little quote "The Scarrd Lands is a high powered setting, so feel free to go over the top." This to me typifies the book as well as the setting. It's a rich sweeping epic where good and evil, order and chaos compete in a game of who get's the better licensing deal. The book itself though is more about. "This is place where heroes can thrive...but be wary about who you trust." Something I believe who heartly about this setting. Be careful who you trust. There's also a really great map of Calastia in this section and probably one of the better drawn ones. Certainly this will come up again as we move through the book.
Chapter One gives us a little geo-political look at the make up of Calastia. Here there are six main duchies, Arminoff (home of Vashon the capitial city of Calastia), Chandelvine, Golehest, Jandalore, Turrows, and Varuba. Each of these duchies has different tasks, and resources important to country as well as the Hegemony at large. Each is controlled duke/duchess who has his/her own ways of doing things, but all answer to Virduk when they meet in the Mirror Court. These duchies are broken down in much the same way the countries are in the Scarred Lands campaign setting, (Population numbers and percentages, primary resources, the ruling duke/duchess, and major settlements). Next is the Topographcial look, which has some of the natural and unnatural sites. Geleeda's Grove (formerly known as the Fiendwood), and Lake Vashon are here, but new comers might be interested in a newly discovered ruins of Ophidiseth, in the Golehest duchy. Or perhaps the Gifts of the gods, a series of islands off the coast of Calastia that have yet to be fully mapped or explored. They call it the Gifts of the gods due to the national myth that Denev gave this a sign of her loyalty to the gods. Course there are more than eight islands but who knows...a new god might waiting in the wings? My favorite would have to be the mention of the Crucible of Mesos, training grounds for mages and those wishing to serve in the armies. There they are trained and refined, until some lucky few become TRUE Calastian Battlemages. The Crucible will get a much deeper look as we move long but for now, it's a nice little set up.
Chapter Two gives us a more detailed look at the history of the country. What's most interesting is that the author makes few apologies for the glorifying of Calastian might, simply because they see history as a series of either successes or failures. Thus since Calastia is the strongest of all the nations, they certainly see themselves as being far superior since they are united and stronger for their state identity. Probably my favorite part was the start of the kingdom with Gudrhed, and his succession after death. Also another interesting aspect is Gudrhed's descendent of sorts, Delsiuk's family. More I don't want to give away but let's just say you come out of this feeling like you've read something that reads part propoganda, part history book. Certainly it proves that history sometimes IS proproganda.
Chapter Three deals with the people. Here we get to see the treatment of the peoples, from the lowest commoner to the high born. Also we have a more indepth look at the race relations between the predominantly human aristrocracy and the rest of the low borns. Basically unless you have some human in you, or you're a halfing, don't expect a very warm welcome. The book also gives us some random physical characteristics if you're a human in Calastia. The next section of the book deals with faith. It's interesting to see that there ARE elements of agnosticism in this country but don't expect that to mean you'll get much sympathy from the locals if you go around disparging the gods. They will take it personally. The low born do make Chardun apart of their lives, even if it's not always for the right domains. Example, a peasant might pray to Chardun for good harvests. While they acknowledge the other gods, Chardun becomes more of a household figure, taking up more and more places as they see the order he brings protects them from the ravages of the outside world. Most of the military though have the more traditional blackhearted approach to worshipping the Slaver, but even so, it's nice to see that they do take their god seriously, or at least enough to give lip service to him. We also look at the other gods, most prominant being Hedrada (being a lawful god, there's not as much antipathy, but still some regard this as a lack of faith in their leaders), Madriel (goddess of Harvest would make a showing here folks) and even the titaness Denev. The other gods are seen as being too unpredictable or soft, especially regarding the chaotic natures of Vangal, Enkili and Tanil. What's interesting to note is that they also despise Belsameth and Vangal, seeing them as serving no one but themselves. This doesn't mean they disparge those gods, but certainly don't expect many large shrines to them. There is also much on the customs and traditions, discussing official holidays, such as the King's and Queen's birthdays, Commemoratus, a military holiday celebrating the might of the Calastian army, Fast of Madrer, commentorating the sacrifice of fasting by farmers so that wheat and rye could be grown in much greater quanities so they could be sold to other countries, and Vash- Chardi, commemorating the day the country adopted Chardun as it's patron. The customs are neat, such as the national custom of not carrying weapons openly (it's alright to armed but don't expect to be well liked if you're not a member of military or one of the two main mercenary companies, the Legion of Ash or the Legion of Crimson) as well as the local custom in the duchy of Arminoff, where it's considered rude to eat a certain crop before it's been taxed or given in tribute.
Chapter Four gives us a great detail of each of the duchies and some of the major stopping places, like large cities or towns of import. Along with them are encounter tables such as the one for general encounters inside Calastia, or in Geleeda's grove. While I could go into greater detail for each, I think it's safe to say, you'll find a plot hook in each place, and that there's something for every DM. Also in this section in more detail Geleeda's Grove and Ruins of Ophidiseth. I also think some people when the read about what's going on in the heart of the Geleeda's grove will probably go "Eew." I know I did.
There's also a section on power groups inside Calastia's borders. One of them, the Kilharman League, is actually a bunch of displaced nobles with connections to various regions. They use their connections to become a kind of mob family. That's right folks, the city of laws DOES have it's own crime family. Also in here is the mention of the Calastian Military and the Calastian Battlemages. Overall I'd say this is the strongest and most fascinating part of the book.
The appendix concludes with a couple new feats, six new Pr-classes, five new spells, and a look at the prominent characters in this realm, mainly Virduk, Anteas, Geleeda and Geleeda's champion, Guylan Gavirel. Anteas has been updated to reflect the use of the Calastian Battlemage Pr-class. To give you an idea of what's in here, I'll give you a brief look at each of these.
The feats here are as follows:
Battlemage training: Allows them to gain access to the training needed gain the power of the Calastian battlemage as well as +2 on all Concentration and Spellcraft checks
Noble Immunity: Allows for a character to resistant to poisons. (Apparently the nobility enjoy their poisonings.
)
Kiss of Mesos: Effectively gives the character immunity to the heat effect generated by arcane spells in the Scarred Lands, but also loses the endure elements ability.
Thousand Chain Style: Allows for the wielder to use the spike chain as dual weapon but also can give the character a bonus to his AC if he uses his off hand in a defensive manner, or as a second attack (counting for ambi-dexterity)
Next are the Pr-classes which are as follows:
Calastian Battlemage: wielder of arcane magics as well as compentent solider. Can also be probably the best at counterspelling any spell toss at him.
Dragon Knight: Elite riders of mock dragons, they gain a great bond with their mount as well as giving their mount more power.
Halfling Stalker: Probably better than most other rogue type pr-classes, great at attacking from afar as well as sneaking up and disabling guards.
Kilharman League Envoy: A made man, with connections every where as well as being a good rogue type.
Monk of the Sacred Chain: Master of Chains better look out, this monk Pr-class makes Master of Chains look like an amatuer. With the Monk's Spike Chain mastery ability, ability to infuse with a lawful/unholy power type deal, and also very well versed in being able to withstand enchantment spells, this one I expect will see a lot of people wanting to use more than WotC's version.
Thorned Purifier: Chardun's answer to dealing with the unfaithful as well as being torturers. These lawful evil types ensure that if any are not diligent in their pursuit of the slavers goals of order through domination and success, they will be put to the test.
The new spells are as follows:
Crown of Thorns: Can aid a caster or hamper a target
Naligod's Consumption: Causes the target to lose hit points by having it's body eat itself to death
Purge the Taint of the Fallen: Apparently used in large scale battles, this spell causes bodies and blood to burn at very high rates.
Scourge of Obediance: Helps to create a special collar to enslave the target.
Ulica's Dweomer of Protection: Causes a small field of magical energy which can negate the effect of one school of magic.
For those of you looking for something outside of the Scarred lands, I think the best bet for use is probably the appendix section, if you wish to use the book. The other stuff that might be of interest to you is the social structure, as well as how slavery is handled in Calastia. That plus the Mirror Court (if only for ideas on how to handle assassination attempts without fear of retribution), might be the most mallable parts. Certainly there might be other interesting sections, such as the village of Keress-lin where no one born there can speak, or the town of Whitford where they made a deal with the Pisceans generations ago, but fear retribution from them, are probably some of the more colorful aspects of this book.
Overall, I felt very drawn to the book. I didn't much care for the writing styles but the sections on the duchies, the customs and traditions in Calastia, along with views of religions and self-service all served to entrance me to this book. While it's not without faults (I'm not sure I'd make the Calastian Battlemage that good at counterspelling) I STILL found this book enlighting and revealing to the character of the country. Certainly it will help in planning for any further intrigue and campaigns I might have in this country. So for now, I bid farewell to Calastia, but know that I'll be coming here again soon.
