the Jester
Legend
I've never used Union. I just can't get past the whole idea of epic town guards. Have you put it into play? How did it go, if you have?
D&D 3E/3.5 [Kulan] The Lands of Harqual (Updated: Feb 3/2022)
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
No, I haven't actually used it in actual game play, and there is no way that the town guards are going to be Epic. I'm going to use the Union Sentinels organization, but its members are going to be way less powerful. I won't be using the Union Sentinel Epic PrC. :\the Jester said:
Both Sigil and Union are Epic cities, in my cosmology, but there is no way that alll the NPCs are going to be super-powered Epic character. That's just crazy!
For my campaign, the standard Union Sentinel Sergeant, as per pg. 247 of the Epic Level Handbook, will only be a 12th-level fighter, while the regular guards will be 7th-level fighters. The standard Union Sentinel Backup Team Member, as per pg. 254 of the ELH, will only be a 16th-level enforcers, as per pgs. 53-54 of Dragon Magazine #310.
Those are still pretty tough city guards, but not overpowered, in my opinion. I want Union to be accessible to lower level PCs, not just Epic ones.
Cheers!
KF72
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
TWO MORE ENTRIES...
Fort Tundra
Proper Name(s): Fort Tundra, The Tundra City
Ruler: The Tundra Princess, Lady Morwen Devonald [N female human Ftr4/Sor4]
Government: Clan Structure
Capital: Fort Tundra
Major Towns: Fort Tundra (pop. – 6,780)
Provinces: One city-state, plus dozens of surrounding clan steadings.
Resources: Animals, exotic meat (caribou), honey, mead, and timber.
Coinage: NA
Population: 96,857 – Human 40%, Halfling (icefoot) 18%, Elf (urbanite) 15%, Dwarf (sundered) 10%, Centaur 6%, Half-Elf 4%, Half-Orc 3%, Giant 2%, Other Races 2%.
Languages: Barbarian, Centaur, Common, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Halfling, Orc.
Alignments: LN, NG, N *, NE, CG
Patron God: None.
Major Religions: Alathrien, Cronn, Daghdha, Draven, Ehlonna, Hades, Larea, Muamman, Narvi, Nether, Rellavar, Sanh, Sehanine, Urogalan, Vali, and Xan Yae.
Minor Religions: Aegir, Angrboda, Annam, Araleth, Bast, Brenna, Cull, Damh, Dugmaren, Hendomar, Hel, Hiatea, Inanna, Naralis, Ramara, Tethrin, Tok, and Vergadain.
Cults: Abbathor, Anacoro, Brandobaris, Enduma, Euphoria, Karontor, Kirith, Mythrien, Nessus, Santè, Sialic, Solonor, Thorn, Tulle, Vespin, and Zell.
Alliances: Dragon’s Eye Reach; Shielded Northlands.
Fort Tundra
Proper Name(s): Fort Tundra, The Tundra City
Ruler: The Tundra Princess, Lady Morwen Devonald [N female human Ftr4/Sor4]
Government: Clan Structure
Capital: Fort Tundra
Major Towns: Fort Tundra (pop. – 6,780)
Provinces: One city-state, plus dozens of surrounding clan steadings.
Resources: Animals, exotic meat (caribou), honey, mead, and timber.
Coinage: NA
Population: 96,857 – Human 40%, Halfling (icefoot) 18%, Elf (urbanite) 15%, Dwarf (sundered) 10%, Centaur 6%, Half-Elf 4%, Half-Orc 3%, Giant 2%, Other Races 2%.
Languages: Barbarian, Centaur, Common, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Halfling, Orc.
Alignments: LN, NG, N *, NE, CG
Patron God: None.
Major Religions: Alathrien, Cronn, Daghdha, Draven, Ehlonna, Hades, Larea, Muamman, Narvi, Nether, Rellavar, Sanh, Sehanine, Urogalan, Vali, and Xan Yae.
Minor Religions: Aegir, Angrboda, Annam, Araleth, Bast, Brenna, Cull, Damh, Dugmaren, Hendomar, Hel, Hiatea, Inanna, Naralis, Ramara, Tethrin, Tok, and Vergadain.
Cults: Abbathor, Anacoro, Brandobaris, Enduma, Euphoria, Karontor, Kirith, Mythrien, Nessus, Santè, Sialic, Solonor, Thorn, Tulle, Vespin, and Zell.
Alliances: Dragon’s Eye Reach; Shielded Northlands.
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
Twilight Lands
Proper Name: The Lands of Twilight
Ruler: The Shaman, Spiritwolf, Leader of the Twilight Tribes [CG male human Bbn8/Spirit Shaman8]
Government: Tribal Structure; slowly moving towards a Theocratic Monarchy based on barbaric teachings.
Capital: Highhorn
Major Towns: Blackstag (pop. – 1,027), Elkstead (pop. – 2,092), Highhorn (pop. – 6,429), Redmount (pop. – 2,390), Tallraven (pop. – 1,679), Whitehill (pop. – 2,566)
Provinces: NA
Resources: Ale, dairy (milk and cheese), exotic meat (caribou), livestock (cattle/horses), and pelts/hides.
Coinage: Rilk (gp), Siak (sp), Tiek (cp). These coins are used by urban dwellers, while those living a more traditional way of life use a barter system. Both coins and barter are legal means of commerce in the Twilight Lands.
Population: 223,139 – Human 90%, Elf (silver ‘wild’) 4%, Dwarf (hill) 3%, Halfling (icefoot) 2%, Other Races 1%.
Languages: Barbarian, Centaur, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Waracou.
Alignments: LN, NG, N *, CG, CN
Patron God: None.
Major Religions: Apollo, Cronn, Daghdha, Dionysus, Hades, Hansa, Inanna, Kord, Kuil, Larea, Muamman, Rillifane, Sanh, Sehanine, Sheela, and Tarsellis.
Minor Religions: Casiia, Brenna, Darahl, Draven, Hendomar, Immotion, Mielikki, Ramara, Solonor, Tok, Uller, Urogalan, Vergadain, and Xan Yae.
Cults: Anacoro, Deltum, Erevan, Euphoria, Nessus, Seraph, Telchur, Thorn, Tulle, Zealot, and Zell.
Alliances: The Kingdom of MaShir; Town of Fade Hill; Domain of Ahalgot.
Proper Name: The Lands of Twilight
Ruler: The Shaman, Spiritwolf, Leader of the Twilight Tribes [CG male human Bbn8/Spirit Shaman8]
Government: Tribal Structure; slowly moving towards a Theocratic Monarchy based on barbaric teachings.
Capital: Highhorn
Major Towns: Blackstag (pop. – 1,027), Elkstead (pop. – 2,092), Highhorn (pop. – 6,429), Redmount (pop. – 2,390), Tallraven (pop. – 1,679), Whitehill (pop. – 2,566)
Provinces: NA
Resources: Ale, dairy (milk and cheese), exotic meat (caribou), livestock (cattle/horses), and pelts/hides.
Coinage: Rilk (gp), Siak (sp), Tiek (cp). These coins are used by urban dwellers, while those living a more traditional way of life use a barter system. Both coins and barter are legal means of commerce in the Twilight Lands.
Population: 223,139 – Human 90%, Elf (silver ‘wild’) 4%, Dwarf (hill) 3%, Halfling (icefoot) 2%, Other Races 1%.
Languages: Barbarian, Centaur, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Waracou.
Alignments: LN, NG, N *, CG, CN
Patron God: None.
Major Religions: Apollo, Cronn, Daghdha, Dionysus, Hades, Hansa, Inanna, Kord, Kuil, Larea, Muamman, Rillifane, Sanh, Sehanine, Sheela, and Tarsellis.
Minor Religions: Casiia, Brenna, Darahl, Draven, Hendomar, Immotion, Mielikki, Ramara, Solonor, Tok, Uller, Urogalan, Vergadain, and Xan Yae.
Cults: Anacoro, Deltum, Erevan, Euphoria, Nessus, Seraph, Telchur, Thorn, Tulle, Zealot, and Zell.
Alliances: The Kingdom of MaShir; Town of Fade Hill; Domain of Ahalgot.
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
You're welcome!Piratecat said:
I ran another sesssion tonight. Man, holy word is a powerful spell!
It wiped out half my bad guys. The wizard's phantasmal killer also killed a important NPC.I was running part of the adventure, Lords of Oblivion, from the Shackled City Adventure Path, BTW. It's a tough module, but I had to make it even tougher.
I actually dealt out some damage tonight. Shield guardians are cool.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
BTW, make sure oy check out these two threads, if you haven't already...
New Angels and Angel Paragons!
New Angels and Angel Paragons!
- this one isn't World of Kulan specific, but it will lead to some unique angel paragons for World of Kulan. Later.
World of Kulan: Demon Lexicon
Knightfall's Fiend Lexicon (Updated: Sept 22/07)
Cheers!
KF72
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
THE HISTORY OF ANORIA
Original text by fusangite
Modified for World of Kulan by Robert Blezard
Original text by fusangite
Modified for World of Kulan by Robert Blezard
History of the Kelvin Clan
The Dark Years
More than a thousand years ago, on the island where the Mór’s Citadel now stands, a dark and twisted race whose name is now lost held the ancient lands of Anoria in their thrall. Though these ancient oppressors were much hated, their city sat astride a great crossroads and gold flowed into their coffers from far-off lands. Exotic spices from far-off lands were traded at bazaars; gold and silver flowed into the city’s coffers from tariffs, tolls and trade; dried perch, fine watersilk and most importantly, human slaves flowed out of the lands of Anoria on the limestone roads built by these ancient creatures.
For many years, the ancient Anorians lived under the cruel yoke of their overlords, farming the fields of the Milvian Valley, living in fear of the next slave raid, secreting their brightest and most favorite children away from these evil masters. The Anorians were not the only people who nursed a hatred of the cruelty of the forgotten city. Others, more powerful and vengeful than they became angered at the city's overlords for some long-forgotten crime; for one day, the sun did not rise on Anoria and the earth shook and stones hailed from the sky and the next day, the people awoke to a smoke-filled purple sky and nothing but a pulverized blasted ruin where the city had been.
And so the Anorians became a rustic people, living a simple wholesome life of tending their small gardens and herding their sheep across the rolling plain that surrounds the Milvius River. They lived in freedom, harmony and abundance, trading from time to time with the fisher-folk who lived along the shores of Lake Anoria and with the barbarian mountain tribes.
After many years of prosperity and harmony, new evil creatures began appearing in the lands in greater numbers; not the orcish sheep rustlers they had grown accustomed to hunting or the creatures of the fetid swamp. These orcs and evil humanoids were well armed and imbued with a purpose and organization. They came to steal not sheep but children whom they took far into the deep places of Fortress Mountain to toil for their new masters, the duergar.
But the Anorians were a hardy people, valiant and brave. They resisted these raids, often overpowering raiding parties, slaughtering the minions of the duergar and keeping their lands free from domination. Because of their fear of the Anorian people, the raiders went farther a field, first attacking the fishing villages on Lake Anoria, then attacking the barbarians of the Kul Moren Mountains and finally traveling by the ancient and forgotten roads to distant lands of the west where the people had grown fat and complacent.
Thus, Anoria remained a land that was wild and hard yet also free even as other places in the world paid tribute to the slaver mercenaries. And so it came to pass that when the mason Mór Mac Iomhair raised an army of ex-slaves against the Duergar Kingdom, she came first to the people of Anoria for they were the most valiant, strongest and proudest of all who resisted. It was in those years that Erich Kelvin was the Duke of War of the Anorian people; it is said that Erich forged a bond of blood with Mór and made a promise to lead the rabble of ex-slaves to war. Though the army of slaves was wretched, Erich chose to lead the Anorians in the front line, for he was a man of valor who believed in honorable war.
It is told elsewhere in the “Song of Erich” of the great valor of those days and the deeds of the men and women who defeated the orc armies and smashed the gates of the Duergar Kingdom, of the combat between the great orc chieftain and Erich. Though Erich clove the skull of the chieftain with his war axe and slew countless orcs, he perished in the battle. Still, there were many valiant warriors who did great deeds and lived to tell the tale; the clans of Colquhoun, Gunn, Innes, Kelvin, Kerr, Macgillivray, Murdoch, Ogilvie, Rankine, and Skene fought proudly in the advance guard of the army and slew many on the battlefield. It is for this reason that they stand at the head of the Anorian people.
The Years of the City
After the battle, the Anorians returned to their pastoral life in Anoria; to express their thanks to the other peoples who had fought alongside them against the duergar and their mercenaries, they allowed Mór Mac Iomhair, Erich Kelvin's deputy, to found a city on the Blasted Isle of the Milvius River in the heart of the Kelvin Clans holdings.
In the three hundred years since the founding of Mor’s End, many of the younger sons and daughters of the Anorians have settled in the city to pursue the arts and professions. By the generosity of the lords and ladies of the Kelvin Clan, these younger sons and daughters have received benefices, charters and places of prominence in the city. The city, for its part, holds an annual muster and maintains a standing force to aid the Anorian farmers and herders in the event that war returns to Anoria.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Cult of Erich
Domains: Strength, Animal, and Protection.
Alignment: Chaotic good.
Clerics: Handle Animal, Survival available as class skills.
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
The History of Anoria (cont.)
History of Mor's End
Legend of the Founding
425 to 495 N.C.
For as long as anyone can remember, the dwarves of Kul Moren have been at war with the duergar of Dvoriathroglim, each vying to dominate the endless caverns beneath the Kul Moren Mountains and Fortress Mountain, to the west. Fortunately for those who live in the light of day, much of this war has taken place in the deep places of the earth where their two realms converge.
Nevertheless, the people of Anoria have, for many years, lived in fear of the duergar’s slave raiders: orcs, bugbears, giants, gnolls, and the savage human tribes of Fortress Mountain. Yet despite the raids, a tiny scattered human population has eked out an existence in the lands of Anoria. For many centuries, the people of Anoria lived a marginal life, scratching out an existence either as pastoralists along the Milvian Valley, herding various animals or, more often, as fisher-folk along the shores of Lake Anoria.
One day, many hundreds of years ago, a girl named Mór Mac Iomhair was born in a small fishing village in the foothills of the Kul Moren Mountains. It is said that Mór’s mother died in childbirth and her father was a cruel man who sold her to duergar slavers.
Raised as a glorified draft animal under the capricious and cruel yoke of the duergar, Mór nonetheless realized she had a destiny greater than being a slave. As one of the mining slaves, she quickly learned many of the duergar secrets of mining, smithing, and masonry and she came to be respected by her fellow slaves who included men, giants, gnomes, goblinoids and dwarves from Dvoriathroglim.
In particular, Mór befriended Erich Kelvin, a barbarian of the pastoralists of the Milvian Valley; where Mór was prized by the duergar for her stonecunning and artisan skills, Erich was prized for his extraordinary strength and endurance, which rivaled that of the frost and hill giants who served as expensive, occasional workers when feats of great strength were required.
One day, while working in the mines, there was a great cave-in, in which Mór and Erich was believed to have been killed under a thousand tons of stone. But somehow, by luck, great strength or magic art, Mór and Erich escaped and traveled through long-forgotten passages to the surface.
Mór and Erich thanked the North Gods for their great fortune in allowing them to escape and set off home. But when Mór arrived in Anoria, she found the whole land laid waste by the duergar’s mercenaries and her own village reduced to ash. Mór was filled with grief and was inconsolable; nevertheless, Erich would not abandon her and instead brought her to a secret place where his tribe, the Kelvin Clan, hid in times of peril.
After grieving for seven weeks, Mór was visited in her sleep by a vision of Erich leading a great army to smash Dvoriathroglim. When she awoke she told her dream to the wise man of the village, he told Mór that he himself had been visited by the very same dream that night; so it was with everyone in the tribe. And so it was decreed that Erich would lead the clan to war. Over the next seven years, he traveled to all the divers lands from which his fellow slaves had been taken and raised a great army of many races and lands including many dwarves from the Kingdom of Abathnar who were eager to strike a decisive blow against their ancient enemies.
After seven days and nights of marching, the army arrived at the gates of Dvoriathroglim and fought a great field against cunning and bloodthirsty mercenaries of the duergar. But after a seven-month siege, the army smashed through the stone gates of the kingdom and met the evil gray dwarves in battle. But even as he surrendered, the Duergar King pierced Erich with a poisoned dagger; the great warrior died even as victory had been won. The general's sacrifice was not in vain; kin long sundered were reunited and Mór took from the duergar a great horde the gray dwarves had collected through tribute, as well as the treasures from their mines.
Even as she mourned for Erich the night after the final battle, Mór was again visited by a prophetic dream – a dream that she would build a great city wherever three eagles alighted on a cypress tree. While most of the slaves and the army returned to their homes, many like Mór had no home to which to return. It is said that following her dream, Mór and her followers marched for seven long nights until they came to an island in the Milvius River near the fishing Village of Lalaton. On this island stood a single cypress; as Mór looked out upon the isle, three eagles alighted on the tree before her eyes.
It is on the precise site that Mór and her followers built their city (of course the cypress tree still remains at the center of the city in the courtyard of Mór's Citadel), aided by giants and dwarves whose knowledge and strength allowed the construction of the many wondrous structures in the city and, of course, its nigh-impenetrable walls. But when the city was completed, despite the great numbers and strength of her army, instead of setting herself on its new bronze throne, Mór supported the accession of the head of the Kelvin Clan, the clan of Erich's people on whose lands the city was built. For Mór felt that even in death, she owed a great debt to Erich and his people who had fought so valiantly.
The first Lord Kelvin, Erich's nephew, was honored by this and agreed that Mór should sit at his right hand as Castellan. After her death, Mór was granted a place amongst the celestial paragons of the Upper Plains from whence she advises, on occasion, the city's lords.
The Clay Years
496 to 594 N.C.
Shortly after Mor's End was built, the dwarven masons who had served Mór Mac Iomhair discovered that the soil west southwest of the city was made of the richest, finest clays ranging in color from a deep ochre to a strange violet clay whose like they had never before seen. The clay bed rich, pure and spanned a great area. And so the dwarves traveled north with merchants and court officials to Abathnar with samples of the clay. After a time, Mor's End concluded a rich trade agreement with the dwarves of the Kul Moren Mountains who even add a trading post to Kul Moren, Abathnar’s closest surface community to Mor’s End.
The combination of the clay trade, the new city's impressive guard and the defeat of the duergar led to a period of great prosperity and growth for Anoria and Mor's End. Forests were cleared, swamps were drained and farmers, many of whom were fleeing men called the Sand Barbarians far to the south, joined the fishermen and ranchers.
But after a time, the scattered and defeated mountain orcs and other evil creatures also returned to the lands around Anoria. Lacking the resources and direction of their former masters they nonetheless made fearsome raiders who again and again harried the fledgling city and surrounding countryside. They burned crops and smashed fishing boats; three times, the city had to pay them a ransom to be spared. Often, also, the city paid tribute to the dwarves of Abathnar or the barbarian mountain tribes to defend it against the ravages of the mountain orcs and their allies.
Yet despite all the city's efforts, a great orc chieftain, named Zomb, who had united many of the orc tribes south of Lake Anoria, breached the walls one summer and his horde poured into the city. Many citizens fled downstream in fishing boats and makeshift rafts while others fled across the Hather Plains. The raiders took others away in chains while many dwarves secreted themselves in the underground dwellings they had been carving out beneath the city. But most of the city's population was put to the sword.
It is in this battle that Lord Ol’Vahan Kelvin died without a male heir.
It was in this flight that a fleet of perch fishermen rescued a party of kitts. The kitts fear of orcish spears overwhelmed their historic fear of water. During their three weeks on Lake Anoria, they first saw the watersilk and conceived of its value.
The Silk Years
595 to 747 N.C.
Fortunately, whatever unity Zomb instilled in the disparate humanoids that fought under his Red Skull banner quickly evaporated as they sacked the city, burning, raping and murdering. And when winter came, many returned to their homelands in the mountains while others set upon each other in petty squabbles over loot.
Thus, when the former Castellan of Mor’s End, a man named Baruch Rochus, who had escaped the sacking of the city, returned with many of the scattered inhabitants, and a disciplined force of dwarves from the Town of Kul Moren, the orc invaders were soon driven away.
Baruch then oversaw the reconstruction of the city, a long labor of repairing the breached walls and building new ones; the invaders had destroyed most of the wooden buildings and the stone structures. But the work was made easier by the discovery of the dwarves who had discovered a store of ancient quarried stone in the natural caverns they had found beneath the city. The stone was of a kind not found in the Kul Moren Mountains and proved sturdy enough to fashion new walls. Word also quickly spread of the discovery of the watersilk and soon, new merchants appeared in the city, eager to buy a place in the city's hierarchy by aiding in the reconstruction.
The Silk Years were a prosperous time. No longer did the merchants of Mor's End have to travel to the Town of Kul Moren to sell their wares (though many still did); now, merchants came from far off lands to buy watersilk and violet clay and carried them off in their caravans. Still other merchants with only a passing interest in the clay and silk set up a brisk transit trade now that Anoria was safe enough for their caravans.
These new merchants came not only from the north but also from the east and the west as well, making Mor's End a favored crossing of the Milvius River. Some loremasters claim that, in fact, the isle on which the cypress tree stands today had, in ages past, been a great crossroads of ancient caravan routes in the days before Anoria became a wilderness shunned by civilized men.
It was in these years that the south walls of the city were built and that the fishing Village of Lalaton was officially annexed into the lands of Anoria. The mountain communities of Kohold and Wallslad were annexed soon after that, at the urging of the dwarves of the Town of Kul Moren. Although not built with the great craftsmanship of Mór Mac Iomhair’s original walls, or the extraordinary stone discovered beneath the city, the southern walls were nonetheless very strong and more beautiful and ornate than the original walls.
At the outset of the Silk Years, the nobles of the Kelvin Clan were almost wholly destroyed. For many years, Baruch ruled as regent in the name of the one surviving heir, a young girl named Alma. After she came of age (though continuing to honor Baruch with a high place in her household) she ruled boldly and with great wisdom.
So prosperous was the city that it again grew beyond its walls and a southeastern section was added. Its great wealth also allowed the lady to pay tribute levied by the various mountain tribes and ransoms to hostile armies. So proficient was the lady at manipulating the tribes that after a time, her various Castellans, through the years, began paying tribes to attack one another and thus prevent any of them accumulating sufficient strength to assail the city.
When Matriarch Alma Kelvin lay on her deathbed, Mor’s End was at its zenith; so well had she ruled that instead of allowing the lands of the Kelvin Clan to pass to her eldest son, she decreed that her youngest daughter should succeed her. Since that time, the custom has been established that the reigning lord or lady should choose their heir; and to the surprise of the farmers and ranchers of Anoria, these heirs were often female.
It was in these early years of the Kelvins of Mor’s End that the dwarves abandoned their subterranean dwellings beneath the city and instead built the Dwarven Quarter of heavy windowless stone houses. They gave no explanation of their abandonment of their former homes and those impoverished halflings and humans who sought to take up residence in their abandoned dwellings found that the entrances to the under city had been sealed.
The dwarves will tell no one why.
The Year of the Dawn
748 N.C.
The last Lord Kelvin, a man named Uriel, and his corrupt Castellan were too at ease with their seeming limitless power; for in 748 N.C. an especially ambitious and cunning clan leader amongst the mountain barbarians spent his tribute on hiring a team of assassins to kill the Lord, the Castellan, and their slothful heirs.
In what is called the Night of Invisible Blades, this hired group of magic-wielding assassins stole into the palace and killed all those inside, save for one person, Adriana, the grandmother (and former regent) of the Lord; she is the tenth ruling “Lady Kelvin” since the beginning of the Silk Years.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Cult of Mór Mac Iomhair
Domains: Earth, War, and Travel.
Alignment: Neutral good.
Clerics: Knowledge (architecture & engineering), Craft (stonemasonry), Profession (miner) are available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Dwarven as a bonus language if appropriate.
History of Mor's End
Legend of the Founding
425 to 495 N.C.
For as long as anyone can remember, the dwarves of Kul Moren have been at war with the duergar of Dvoriathroglim, each vying to dominate the endless caverns beneath the Kul Moren Mountains and Fortress Mountain, to the west. Fortunately for those who live in the light of day, much of this war has taken place in the deep places of the earth where their two realms converge.
Nevertheless, the people of Anoria have, for many years, lived in fear of the duergar’s slave raiders: orcs, bugbears, giants, gnolls, and the savage human tribes of Fortress Mountain. Yet despite the raids, a tiny scattered human population has eked out an existence in the lands of Anoria. For many centuries, the people of Anoria lived a marginal life, scratching out an existence either as pastoralists along the Milvian Valley, herding various animals or, more often, as fisher-folk along the shores of Lake Anoria.
One day, many hundreds of years ago, a girl named Mór Mac Iomhair was born in a small fishing village in the foothills of the Kul Moren Mountains. It is said that Mór’s mother died in childbirth and her father was a cruel man who sold her to duergar slavers.
Raised as a glorified draft animal under the capricious and cruel yoke of the duergar, Mór nonetheless realized she had a destiny greater than being a slave. As one of the mining slaves, she quickly learned many of the duergar secrets of mining, smithing, and masonry and she came to be respected by her fellow slaves who included men, giants, gnomes, goblinoids and dwarves from Dvoriathroglim.
In particular, Mór befriended Erich Kelvin, a barbarian of the pastoralists of the Milvian Valley; where Mór was prized by the duergar for her stonecunning and artisan skills, Erich was prized for his extraordinary strength and endurance, which rivaled that of the frost and hill giants who served as expensive, occasional workers when feats of great strength were required.
One day, while working in the mines, there was a great cave-in, in which Mór and Erich was believed to have been killed under a thousand tons of stone. But somehow, by luck, great strength or magic art, Mór and Erich escaped and traveled through long-forgotten passages to the surface.
Mór and Erich thanked the North Gods for their great fortune in allowing them to escape and set off home. But when Mór arrived in Anoria, she found the whole land laid waste by the duergar’s mercenaries and her own village reduced to ash. Mór was filled with grief and was inconsolable; nevertheless, Erich would not abandon her and instead brought her to a secret place where his tribe, the Kelvin Clan, hid in times of peril.
After grieving for seven weeks, Mór was visited in her sleep by a vision of Erich leading a great army to smash Dvoriathroglim. When she awoke she told her dream to the wise man of the village, he told Mór that he himself had been visited by the very same dream that night; so it was with everyone in the tribe. And so it was decreed that Erich would lead the clan to war. Over the next seven years, he traveled to all the divers lands from which his fellow slaves had been taken and raised a great army of many races and lands including many dwarves from the Kingdom of Abathnar who were eager to strike a decisive blow against their ancient enemies.
After seven days and nights of marching, the army arrived at the gates of Dvoriathroglim and fought a great field against cunning and bloodthirsty mercenaries of the duergar. But after a seven-month siege, the army smashed through the stone gates of the kingdom and met the evil gray dwarves in battle. But even as he surrendered, the Duergar King pierced Erich with a poisoned dagger; the great warrior died even as victory had been won. The general's sacrifice was not in vain; kin long sundered were reunited and Mór took from the duergar a great horde the gray dwarves had collected through tribute, as well as the treasures from their mines.
Even as she mourned for Erich the night after the final battle, Mór was again visited by a prophetic dream – a dream that she would build a great city wherever three eagles alighted on a cypress tree. While most of the slaves and the army returned to their homes, many like Mór had no home to which to return. It is said that following her dream, Mór and her followers marched for seven long nights until they came to an island in the Milvius River near the fishing Village of Lalaton. On this island stood a single cypress; as Mór looked out upon the isle, three eagles alighted on the tree before her eyes.
It is on the precise site that Mór and her followers built their city (of course the cypress tree still remains at the center of the city in the courtyard of Mór's Citadel), aided by giants and dwarves whose knowledge and strength allowed the construction of the many wondrous structures in the city and, of course, its nigh-impenetrable walls. But when the city was completed, despite the great numbers and strength of her army, instead of setting herself on its new bronze throne, Mór supported the accession of the head of the Kelvin Clan, the clan of Erich's people on whose lands the city was built. For Mór felt that even in death, she owed a great debt to Erich and his people who had fought so valiantly.
The first Lord Kelvin, Erich's nephew, was honored by this and agreed that Mór should sit at his right hand as Castellan. After her death, Mór was granted a place amongst the celestial paragons of the Upper Plains from whence she advises, on occasion, the city's lords.
The Clay Years
496 to 594 N.C.
Shortly after Mor's End was built, the dwarven masons who had served Mór Mac Iomhair discovered that the soil west southwest of the city was made of the richest, finest clays ranging in color from a deep ochre to a strange violet clay whose like they had never before seen. The clay bed rich, pure and spanned a great area. And so the dwarves traveled north with merchants and court officials to Abathnar with samples of the clay. After a time, Mor's End concluded a rich trade agreement with the dwarves of the Kul Moren Mountains who even add a trading post to Kul Moren, Abathnar’s closest surface community to Mor’s End.
The combination of the clay trade, the new city's impressive guard and the defeat of the duergar led to a period of great prosperity and growth for Anoria and Mor's End. Forests were cleared, swamps were drained and farmers, many of whom were fleeing men called the Sand Barbarians far to the south, joined the fishermen and ranchers.
But after a time, the scattered and defeated mountain orcs and other evil creatures also returned to the lands around Anoria. Lacking the resources and direction of their former masters they nonetheless made fearsome raiders who again and again harried the fledgling city and surrounding countryside. They burned crops and smashed fishing boats; three times, the city had to pay them a ransom to be spared. Often, also, the city paid tribute to the dwarves of Abathnar or the barbarian mountain tribes to defend it against the ravages of the mountain orcs and their allies.
Yet despite all the city's efforts, a great orc chieftain, named Zomb, who had united many of the orc tribes south of Lake Anoria, breached the walls one summer and his horde poured into the city. Many citizens fled downstream in fishing boats and makeshift rafts while others fled across the Hather Plains. The raiders took others away in chains while many dwarves secreted themselves in the underground dwellings they had been carving out beneath the city. But most of the city's population was put to the sword.
It is in this battle that Lord Ol’Vahan Kelvin died without a male heir.
It was in this flight that a fleet of perch fishermen rescued a party of kitts. The kitts fear of orcish spears overwhelmed their historic fear of water. During their three weeks on Lake Anoria, they first saw the watersilk and conceived of its value.
The Silk Years
595 to 747 N.C.
Fortunately, whatever unity Zomb instilled in the disparate humanoids that fought under his Red Skull banner quickly evaporated as they sacked the city, burning, raping and murdering. And when winter came, many returned to their homelands in the mountains while others set upon each other in petty squabbles over loot.
Thus, when the former Castellan of Mor’s End, a man named Baruch Rochus, who had escaped the sacking of the city, returned with many of the scattered inhabitants, and a disciplined force of dwarves from the Town of Kul Moren, the orc invaders were soon driven away.
Baruch then oversaw the reconstruction of the city, a long labor of repairing the breached walls and building new ones; the invaders had destroyed most of the wooden buildings and the stone structures. But the work was made easier by the discovery of the dwarves who had discovered a store of ancient quarried stone in the natural caverns they had found beneath the city. The stone was of a kind not found in the Kul Moren Mountains and proved sturdy enough to fashion new walls. Word also quickly spread of the discovery of the watersilk and soon, new merchants appeared in the city, eager to buy a place in the city's hierarchy by aiding in the reconstruction.
The Silk Years were a prosperous time. No longer did the merchants of Mor's End have to travel to the Town of Kul Moren to sell their wares (though many still did); now, merchants came from far off lands to buy watersilk and violet clay and carried them off in their caravans. Still other merchants with only a passing interest in the clay and silk set up a brisk transit trade now that Anoria was safe enough for their caravans.
These new merchants came not only from the north but also from the east and the west as well, making Mor's End a favored crossing of the Milvius River. Some loremasters claim that, in fact, the isle on which the cypress tree stands today had, in ages past, been a great crossroads of ancient caravan routes in the days before Anoria became a wilderness shunned by civilized men.
It was in these years that the south walls of the city were built and that the fishing Village of Lalaton was officially annexed into the lands of Anoria. The mountain communities of Kohold and Wallslad were annexed soon after that, at the urging of the dwarves of the Town of Kul Moren. Although not built with the great craftsmanship of Mór Mac Iomhair’s original walls, or the extraordinary stone discovered beneath the city, the southern walls were nonetheless very strong and more beautiful and ornate than the original walls.
At the outset of the Silk Years, the nobles of the Kelvin Clan were almost wholly destroyed. For many years, Baruch ruled as regent in the name of the one surviving heir, a young girl named Alma. After she came of age (though continuing to honor Baruch with a high place in her household) she ruled boldly and with great wisdom.
So prosperous was the city that it again grew beyond its walls and a southeastern section was added. Its great wealth also allowed the lady to pay tribute levied by the various mountain tribes and ransoms to hostile armies. So proficient was the lady at manipulating the tribes that after a time, her various Castellans, through the years, began paying tribes to attack one another and thus prevent any of them accumulating sufficient strength to assail the city.
When Matriarch Alma Kelvin lay on her deathbed, Mor’s End was at its zenith; so well had she ruled that instead of allowing the lands of the Kelvin Clan to pass to her eldest son, she decreed that her youngest daughter should succeed her. Since that time, the custom has been established that the reigning lord or lady should choose their heir; and to the surprise of the farmers and ranchers of Anoria, these heirs were often female.
It was in these early years of the Kelvins of Mor’s End that the dwarves abandoned their subterranean dwellings beneath the city and instead built the Dwarven Quarter of heavy windowless stone houses. They gave no explanation of their abandonment of their former homes and those impoverished halflings and humans who sought to take up residence in their abandoned dwellings found that the entrances to the under city had been sealed.
The dwarves will tell no one why.
The Year of the Dawn
748 N.C.
The last Lord Kelvin, a man named Uriel, and his corrupt Castellan were too at ease with their seeming limitless power; for in 748 N.C. an especially ambitious and cunning clan leader amongst the mountain barbarians spent his tribute on hiring a team of assassins to kill the Lord, the Castellan, and their slothful heirs.
In what is called the Night of Invisible Blades, this hired group of magic-wielding assassins stole into the palace and killed all those inside, save for one person, Adriana, the grandmother (and former regent) of the Lord; she is the tenth ruling “Lady Kelvin” since the beginning of the Silk Years.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Cult of Mór Mac Iomhair
Domains: Earth, War, and Travel.
Alignment: Neutral good.
Clerics: Knowledge (architecture & engineering), Craft (stonemasonry), Profession (miner) are available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Dwarven as a bonus language if appropriate.
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
The History of Anoria (cont.)
The History of Kul Moren
The Beginning
Fifteen hundred years ago, the then young Kingdom of Abathnar was rent in twain by civil war. A powerful deepstone sorcerer named Riath sought to usurp the line of Kings and set up state paying homage to the evil powers of the Underearth. For many years the civil war continued until Kul the King challenged Riath to a single combat. Using all the wiles and treachery he could, Riath slew Kul but even as he lay dying the King threw his great axe at the wounded and retreating Riath, which cut the deepstone sorcerer’s head off.
So it was that the single combat resolved little and instead began the years of the Cold War of the Delves; the duergar followers of Riath took the deepest places underneath Fortress Mountain and made it their own realm, called Dvoriathroglim, while most of the remaining dwarven clans stayed in Abathnar. In the deep Underearth, the duergar followers of Riath allied themselves with that of bugbears, mountain orcs, ogres, and morlocks, waiting for a time to strike at Abathnar.
The Great Delve War
Though there was the appearance of peace, the next five hundred years were years of fear and great vigilance as both dwarven kingdoms amassed arms, trained their troops and waited for the inevitable day that war would return. And just as the dwarves of Abathnar feared, the duergar came upon them in open war (five hundred years ago) and the delves beneath the Kul Moren Mountains and Fortress Mountain resounded with the echoes of iron on iron and was illumined by fire and lightning. And so the Great Delve War continued for many hundreds of years; and after a time, the duergar gained advantage for they used the rich ores beneath Fortress Mountain to purchase slaves and hire mountain orc mercenaries to fight in their armies.
But this stratagem was to be the gray dwarves undoing for an escaped slave named Mór Mac Iomhair assembled a great host of the surface peoples who had suffered under the depredations of the duergar and their humanoid mercenaries. Having learned the Dwarven language and crafting of stone, Mór came to the Gates of Abathnar and asked the aid of the dwarven kingdom, for while her forces were valiant they had few weapons and little armor. And so it was that not only did King Kul XI give Mór the arms and armor she asked for, he also sent out a great army of his own dwarven elite too aid Mór, and dwarven guides to help her find the secret entrances to the duergar delves, deep under Fortress Mountain.
Sensing that many of the dwarven army had abandoned their places on the front lines, the duergar attacked the Gates of Abathnar with mighty savagery. Having foreseen this, King Kul XI himself led the advance guard of his depleted army against duergar and held them back in what is remembered in song as the Battle of Three Hundred Days. Many hundreds of dwarves died in that campaign, on both sides, and King Kul XI fell on the three hundredth day.
The Dwarven Kingdom of Abathnar fell, but the Town of Kul Moren would survive.
For Mór Mac Iomhair and her army’s attack on the duergar kingdom brought justice to the fallen of Lost Abathnar. Using the war arts of the masons King Kul XI had lent her, Mór smashed the Gates of Dvoriathroglim in a seven-month siege. The duergar were forced to flee their ancestral home and take up residence with the wild mountain orc tribes of Fortress Mountain.
Kul Moren Today
In the years following the end of war, the dwarves of the Town of Kul Moren (and many other dwarven communities) formally allied itself with Mor’s End. As the years past, a great friendship and brotherhood grew between the dwarves of the Kul Moren Mountains and the Anorians, until they became one land under the banner of the Independent Domain of Anoria. Just as Kul Moren has a human quarter, so too does Mor's End have a Dwarven Quarter, so that the bonds between the descendants of Kul and Mór shall never be sundered.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Cult of the Kul Kings
Domains: Law, Earth, and War.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Clerics: Knowledge (architecture & engineering) is available as a class skill.
The History of Kul Moren
The Beginning
Fifteen hundred years ago, the then young Kingdom of Abathnar was rent in twain by civil war. A powerful deepstone sorcerer named Riath sought to usurp the line of Kings and set up state paying homage to the evil powers of the Underearth. For many years the civil war continued until Kul the King challenged Riath to a single combat. Using all the wiles and treachery he could, Riath slew Kul but even as he lay dying the King threw his great axe at the wounded and retreating Riath, which cut the deepstone sorcerer’s head off.
So it was that the single combat resolved little and instead began the years of the Cold War of the Delves; the duergar followers of Riath took the deepest places underneath Fortress Mountain and made it their own realm, called Dvoriathroglim, while most of the remaining dwarven clans stayed in Abathnar. In the deep Underearth, the duergar followers of Riath allied themselves with that of bugbears, mountain orcs, ogres, and morlocks, waiting for a time to strike at Abathnar.
The Great Delve War
Though there was the appearance of peace, the next five hundred years were years of fear and great vigilance as both dwarven kingdoms amassed arms, trained their troops and waited for the inevitable day that war would return. And just as the dwarves of Abathnar feared, the duergar came upon them in open war (five hundred years ago) and the delves beneath the Kul Moren Mountains and Fortress Mountain resounded with the echoes of iron on iron and was illumined by fire and lightning. And so the Great Delve War continued for many hundreds of years; and after a time, the duergar gained advantage for they used the rich ores beneath Fortress Mountain to purchase slaves and hire mountain orc mercenaries to fight in their armies.
But this stratagem was to be the gray dwarves undoing for an escaped slave named Mór Mac Iomhair assembled a great host of the surface peoples who had suffered under the depredations of the duergar and their humanoid mercenaries. Having learned the Dwarven language and crafting of stone, Mór came to the Gates of Abathnar and asked the aid of the dwarven kingdom, for while her forces were valiant they had few weapons and little armor. And so it was that not only did King Kul XI give Mór the arms and armor she asked for, he also sent out a great army of his own dwarven elite too aid Mór, and dwarven guides to help her find the secret entrances to the duergar delves, deep under Fortress Mountain.
Sensing that many of the dwarven army had abandoned their places on the front lines, the duergar attacked the Gates of Abathnar with mighty savagery. Having foreseen this, King Kul XI himself led the advance guard of his depleted army against duergar and held them back in what is remembered in song as the Battle of Three Hundred Days. Many hundreds of dwarves died in that campaign, on both sides, and King Kul XI fell on the three hundredth day.
The Dwarven Kingdom of Abathnar fell, but the Town of Kul Moren would survive.
For Mór Mac Iomhair and her army’s attack on the duergar kingdom brought justice to the fallen of Lost Abathnar. Using the war arts of the masons King Kul XI had lent her, Mór smashed the Gates of Dvoriathroglim in a seven-month siege. The duergar were forced to flee their ancestral home and take up residence with the wild mountain orc tribes of Fortress Mountain.
Kul Moren Today
In the years following the end of war, the dwarves of the Town of Kul Moren (and many other dwarven communities) formally allied itself with Mor’s End. As the years past, a great friendship and brotherhood grew between the dwarves of the Kul Moren Mountains and the Anorians, until they became one land under the banner of the Independent Domain of Anoria. Just as Kul Moren has a human quarter, so too does Mor's End have a Dwarven Quarter, so that the bonds between the descendants of Kul and Mór shall never be sundered.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Cult of the Kul Kings
Domains: Law, Earth, and War.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Clerics: Knowledge (architecture & engineering) is available as a class skill.
Last edited:
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
INSERTED POST: The New, Free Kul Moren!
HOLD OF KUL MOREN
Small City
Other Names: Clans of the Silverbeard
Political/Religious Affiliations: Church of Berronar (major); Church of Calphas (minor); Church of Clangeddin (major); Church of Cull (minor); Church of Dugmaren (minor); Church of Dumathoin (major); Kord (major); Church of Moradin (major); Church of Muamman (minor); Church of Ulaa (major); Cult of Erich; Cult of the Kul Kings; Cult of Mór Mac Iomhair.
Power Center: Nonstandard (clan elders).
Alignments: Lawful good
_____________________________________________
Population: 6,000
Demographics: Mixed [84% dwarf (hill & high), 6% halfling (hairfoot), 5% human, 2% elf (urbanite & half-elf), 2% kobold, 1% other races]
City Type (pop. 5,001+ only): Founded.
Fortified?: Yes; underground.
Epic?: No.
_____________________________________________
GP Limit: 15,000 gp
Assets: 4,500,000 gp
Main Import: Livestock.
Main Export: Iron.
_____________________________________________
Authority Figures: Kragg Arduun [male high dwarf (Master Clanwarden of Kul Moren)]; The Stone-Heart Wizard [male hill dwarf (Master Arcanist of Kul Moren)]; Toryn Stonecutter [male dwarf (hill) (The Silverbeard, clanwarden and Master Smith of Kul Moren, member of the Order of the Silver Hand)].
Important Characters: Barendd “Colossus” Reusbloed [male high dwarf (giant-blooded, mute clanless dwarf)]; Brandon Raimer [male human (grew up in Kul Moren, is friends with Colossus)]; Jarwyn Eskan [male high dwarf (a local weaponsmith); Lidda Hilltopple [female hairfoot halfling (grew up in Kul Moren)], Neepnal [male kobold (a druid, grew up in Kul Moren)]; Tanhk [male high dwarf (a close friend of Toryn Stonecutter)]; Tebul and Ushbarte Jokulsson [male dwarves (twin dwarven smiths, members of the Order of the Silver Hand)]; The Four Brothers [male hill dwarves (soldiers of Kul Moren)] ~.
Organizations: Glazers Guild (new, restricted), Glittering Brotherhood (restricted), Order of the Silver Hand, The Chisel (guild), and the Wardens of Kul Moren (the city's militia).
Dwaven Clans: Arduun, Coldrock, Culder (new), Eskan, Imar (new), Phal (new), Ruthar, Stonecutter, and Stone-Heart. (There are more but these are the major ones.)
Adventurers Welcome?: Yes.
_____________________________________________
Notes: ~These were four dwarves that the Order met on the road, between Kul Moren and Mor's End, during a journey that ended up in Pretensa. They have become good friends with Toryn Stonecutter.
HOLD OF KUL MOREN
Small City
Other Names: Clans of the Silverbeard
Political/Religious Affiliations: Church of Berronar (major); Church of Calphas (minor); Church of Clangeddin (major); Church of Cull (minor); Church of Dugmaren (minor); Church of Dumathoin (major); Kord (major); Church of Moradin (major); Church of Muamman (minor); Church of Ulaa (major); Cult of Erich; Cult of the Kul Kings; Cult of Mór Mac Iomhair.
Power Center: Nonstandard (clan elders).
Alignments: Lawful good
_____________________________________________
Population: 6,000
Demographics: Mixed [84% dwarf (hill & high), 6% halfling (hairfoot), 5% human, 2% elf (urbanite & half-elf), 2% kobold, 1% other races]
City Type (pop. 5,001+ only): Founded.
Fortified?: Yes; underground.
Epic?: No.
_____________________________________________
GP Limit: 15,000 gp
Assets: 4,500,000 gp
Main Import: Livestock.
Main Export: Iron.
_____________________________________________
Authority Figures: Kragg Arduun [male high dwarf (Master Clanwarden of Kul Moren)]; The Stone-Heart Wizard [male hill dwarf (Master Arcanist of Kul Moren)]; Toryn Stonecutter [male dwarf (hill) (The Silverbeard, clanwarden and Master Smith of Kul Moren, member of the Order of the Silver Hand)].
Important Characters: Barendd “Colossus” Reusbloed [male high dwarf (giant-blooded, mute clanless dwarf)]; Brandon Raimer [male human (grew up in Kul Moren, is friends with Colossus)]; Jarwyn Eskan [male high dwarf (a local weaponsmith); Lidda Hilltopple [female hairfoot halfling (grew up in Kul Moren)], Neepnal [male kobold (a druid, grew up in Kul Moren)]; Tanhk [male high dwarf (a close friend of Toryn Stonecutter)]; Tebul and Ushbarte Jokulsson [male dwarves (twin dwarven smiths, members of the Order of the Silver Hand)]; The Four Brothers [male hill dwarves (soldiers of Kul Moren)] ~.
Organizations: Glazers Guild (new, restricted), Glittering Brotherhood (restricted), Order of the Silver Hand, The Chisel (guild), and the Wardens of Kul Moren (the city's militia).
Dwaven Clans: Arduun, Coldrock, Culder (new), Eskan, Imar (new), Phal (new), Ruthar, Stonecutter, and Stone-Heart. (There are more but these are the major ones.)
Adventurers Welcome?: Yes.
_____________________________________________
Notes: ~These were four dwarves that the Order met on the road, between Kul Moren and Mor's End, during a journey that ended up in Pretensa. They have become good friends with Toryn Stonecutter.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
