Merchants of Hate (Playtesting Gnomeworks ruleset)


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Ryn (Gunslinger 1) the assassin is up at Ghostknight's group in the characters folder. I'll need you to decide on a problem I had with my equipment (see bottom of character).

I could use some background info, because I want Ryn to come from a relatively foreign place, which has almost no magic (reasons for this are in background).
 

Spunds good so far.

So a bit more on the merchant houses:

The layout is as follows:
House name
Public Face
Head of House
Behind the scenes

Note- for obvious game reasons I will put only a bit of the better known "Behind the Scenes" info here up front - more will be discovered down the line...

House Diane

Public Face: A house beloved to many. They tend to be very active in the entertainment industry, funding many public theatres (including ones showing the illusion enhanced moving pictures). They are also purveyors of fine goods, their wines and carpets are considered far superior to anyone elses and run massive wineries in the Kingdom of Feriline

Head of House

The head of the house is Chrystal d'Limi. She is a noble women in the Kingdom of Feriline, though her nobility comes from purchase rather than noble descent- she was named a Dame of the Kingdom after donating substantial sums to the royal family- rescuing them from bankruptcy. She is invited to many noble functions- invitations coming more from a sense of gaining her help than any acceptance. Her peasant features are far too common to let her truly fit in (She is actually an extraordinarily beautiful women, having worked her way up in some of the "side" businesses of the house, but her looks are markedly different to those of the nobility).

Thos in the organisation wishing to see her generally do so through her majordomo, Guy Forgriet. He makes sure that only the most important news gets through to her, sending anything he considers less important off to other subordinates.

Behind the scenes

The house is indeed involved in the entertainment business- ALL aspects of it, including "adult" entertainment such as prostitution, slavery, gambling and drugs. In some kingdoms this is legal and the full range of perversions is catered for. In other kingdoms, well, it just means you have to be more careful about how you do things! In both cases this trade is done through proxies so as not to involve the House in activities that could cause it to loose ite reputation. Many law makers in the more controlled kingdoms would love to prove the connections- but the House is wealthy enough that even magical digging is foiled- they too are capable of making deal with powerful entities to protect them from pesky scrying and deitic interference!

Travel Coster

Public face Travel Coster are the largest movers of goods from one area to another (all the Houses do it, but they are the specialists). Want to build a castle in the swamp, they'll get the stones there (even after the castle sinks the first few times). They also move people through the Kingdoms, and across barbarian lands- they seem to have an understanding with the barbarians that no one else has yet achieved.

As such, they often have various items for sale from the Empire of Sun beyond the barbarian lands, though what is traded for it is not certain. What else is generally known is that they have added the wandering "People of Nain" to their roster, using these nomads as a source of information and security on their travel routes. they also tend to mantian much of the road network - their roads are generally in better condition than most Kingdom roads, but are also plagued by bandits afterthe pickings in their large caravans.

Head of House

Hezerial Demonspawn leads this house. Oddly enough, as a half-demon he has managed to gain acceptance in even good lands through his philanthropic nature. He displays little of his demonic heritage beyond standing eight feet tall and having red scales around his eyes (many ladies seem to find this attractive- or at least he never seems to lack for beautiful companionship). It is also known that he is a powerful sorcerer, and stories abound of him revenging the destruction of a caravan by single handedly destroying bandit groups. True or not, these stories abound, and most are very circumspect in their dealings with Hezerial.

Unlike some House Heads, Hezerial is very hands on, he knows the names of vast numbers of employees, a common surprise to many of them when they meet him for the first time and yet he seems to be familiar with them. How this information is fed to him is unknown, yet because of it the members of the house tend to be fanatically loyal.

Behind the scenes

The Travel Coster is, of course, involved in all sorts of smuggling activity. They often cooperate with House Diane in moving drugs and slaves through areas where such is illegal.

However, beyond smuggling, they really are above board. Hezrial does seem as divorced from his heritage as his appearance suggests, he will allow for some illegal activity such as smuggling (which he views as harmless- literally just breaking petty laws in his mind), but does not invove himself in anything else.

He also has string ties to The House of Iron, their mercenaries often being used to patrol the trade routes and deal with bandit activity.

House of Ferlor

Public face

House Ferlor is known for its support of rural communities. They traffic in food, farm implements, materials and beasts of burden. They are a welcome site in many small communities and maintain hubs in villages which are fed by surrounding farms. Farmers bless their name as they utilise tools, often provided for free, to prepare their ground for planting. They bless them even further for the Rangers, trappers, druids and slayers they pay to keep them safe.

As the largets growers and movers of food, House Ferlor are also responsible for keeping many of the large cities alive. They provide massive amounts of food, without which the cities would starve. As a result they generally have a lot of political clout- if they choose they can easily overthrow many governments by stopping the deliveries...

Head of House

Lirial, Scion of the great Tree, is an Elf of the noble family. He only recently took control as head of house and is slowly learning the full extent of its activities (much of it to his dismay!). A Paladin of the Earth God, he is dismayed at much of what is going on in the house. He will probable move to expunge the "dastardly and ignoble amongst us" in the near future, if he survives long enough!

Behind the scenes

Well, yes, House Ferlor provides food and tools to farmers. but where a farmer seems to be reluctant to join them or tries to sell his food in an "unaproved" manner- terrible things seem to happen. Floods, lightning, droughts all can occur, sometimes within just hours of each other. On top of that- it appears that if a farmer is in a really fewrtile spot, those beasts around his property get lethal, and he and his family end up working the land - as zombies in the cntrol of the House (the estate being bought once the family is dead).

As for the tools- yes, they are supplied for free- IF you sometimes do a little favor for the local House of Ferlor representative. Don't inquire too closely though, many of these seemingly innocuous tasks result in sure loss or death for someone- better not to ask and be the next one! And don't forget, not all Rangers and Druids are good- some of those suppposedly killed beasties tend to find their way to disloyal areas- no idea how they get transported though...

House Mercurial

Public face

House Mercurial stands for change. They are the greatest of innovators, pusing new ideas and items, striving to gain acceptance for all manner of devices. they prefer neither technology nor magic, equally happy whether presenting a new wind driven engine to grind meal or a pestle and morter that grinds on command.

But they are also known to be oppossed to strict government, and many times they are in the forefront of people oppossing oppressive regimes and unjust tax systems. For that reason they are banned in some Kingdoms (theonly House to have this distinction), but they still carry on- their motto being "Freedom of though, Freedom of Ideas, Freedom from Tyranny"

Head of House

Derig Son of Duarg son of Heree, of the Iron Dwarf clan has been head of this house for longer than any can remember (his name appears as Head of the House in some Kingdom records from as long as 700 years ago). How he maintains this longevity is unknown, but is suspected that the House has long been sitting on the secret of immortality but will not release it because of the destruction it would wreak on the social order.

Derig is a Paladin of Freedom (See Unearthed Arcana), and uses the House to further his aims. He is a believer in the wonders of Magic and Technology, equally happy with both and apparently both a wizard and technologist of note (exactly how powerful nobody knows, but after 700 years of life, it is expected that he is far more powerful than many expect). Shorter than even the average dwarf, his massive shoulders betray the immense strength he possess in his upper body, his piercing eyes making many uncomfortable in his presence.

Behind the scenes

The House is involved in many conflicts nehind the scene. Wherever they believe their are wrongs to be righted they can be found funding resistance groups and opposition groups. They also often come into conflict with House Ferlor, trying to prevent their manipulaton of politics and control over rural life and detest their making of zombies out of dead farm families.

They also often come into conflict with House Diane- the latter's involvment in the slave trade going agianst their creed of change. They generally are neutral to the Travel Coster and have cordial, but not particularly friendly relations with the House of Iron (rumors persist that they have a running war with the House of Iron's Band of Brother's, but snce the Band of Brother's is not officially part of the House of Iron the war is discounted by all.)

House of Iron

Public face

The House of Iron provides much of the industrial capacity of the Kingdoms. They run factories, mines and smelters. Producing the bulk of weaponry, machinery and industrial goods. As a major sideline they also run various mercernary comnpanies which are only hired out to "legitimate authorities" i.e. police forces and standing armies supported by a government.

Head of House

Beryl Great Belly is an oxymoron, a rotund, jovial halfling, she is also one of the finest swordsman in the realm, can lift an ogre over her head and drink a dwarf under the table. She is renowned for the parties she throws, the gladiatorial bouts she sponsors, and the number of assasins that have died at her hands (a surprisingly large number of them having been throttled to death - the rest being dispatched in a blr of twinned blades). She runs her house with military precision. No one has any doubt who they report to, what they are meant to be doing or who they complain to.

She also has a darker side. Rumors persist that she is the sponsor of the Band of Brothers, authorising their targets and despatching them at her whim. People who delve too deeply into this tend to go missing (nothing being found that could be used to resurrect them if one were so inclined). Her second command is a half-elf named Giova Herdman, a smith and gunsmith of note. He started life tending his father's flocks but left when the entire flock was eaten by a marauding dragon (rather than face his father's wrath for not getting them out of the fields when warned, mainly because he was sleeping at the time as a result of a rather interestingnight with an extremely inventive lady).

Behind the scenes

House of Iron does not just produce their weapons, but they sell them too- mainly to anyone that will pay their price. They have no qualms of selling to both sides in a conflict and will sometimes take a hand to make sure a conflict persists (with an assasination or two) to keep the money flowing. Their main tool for this is the Band of Brothers, a mercenary company that has a very unsavoury reputation (with the right contacts and a bit of maney ANY obstacle can be removed, understand?)
 

I'll give some thought to geography tonight- for now the basic idea is this-

a bunch of small kingdoms, kept relatively innocuous and powerles sby the trading houses (it is in ther interests to be the big boys on the block- keeps the Kingdoms from getting ideas), a bunch of barbarians on the borders with a large Empire beyond them (ala Europe, Asian barabarians then China). Roads are generally pathetic, movement slow and bandits rife. The roads maintained by the travel coster a lot better, but you pay for the privelege of using them and a few days out of any city and the bandits start getting ideas...

A large river separates into two distinct flows, creating a set of three kingdoms overall (think the peace symbol for a rough plan). The top left section houses a majority of humans and elves, abutting onto the sea. Manners are more formal and the kingdoms here more orderly (not necessarily good, but they at least dispose of the corpses timeously!)

The top right, which has sea along the north coast but then moves onto barabaria lands is very mountainous. here the majorty of residents are dwarves, gnomes, goblins and orcs (and many of these are neutral- long since having come to terms with their neighbors). People living here are genrally more lawful- their livelihood being harder to obtain leading to more orientation towards cooperation. As one goes more easterly, the survival orientation becomes more individual focused and the people tend towards chaotic behaviour- also, as one goes more easterly the area gets more mountainous and communities smaller- thus the need for individual self sufficiency rises. Where the mountains drop off, at the Border Cliffs, the barbarian lands start- the wide open plains making it easy for the barabarians to sweep down onto the plans and wipe out any villages that have been started.

The bottom section is filled with halflings. They literally run most of these kingdoms, along woth a strong presence of kobolds and elves. Humans are often found here, but most do not dwell in this region permanently. The area between the two rivers is incredibly fertile, making this area a breadasket feeding many large cities, and here are found most of the decadent pursuits. Most residents in this region tend towards neutral bordering on chaotic behaviour. They usually don't care what their neighbor is doing as long as it doesn;t affect their lives. Let them continue on with their pleasures, as long as I may have mine. Of course this means that the poor and destitute are heavily neglected, so along with the largest cities, this area also boasts the largest number of beggars.
 


Everything sounds really great! The Houses look really interesting and I am intruigued to find out more about them. What other major organizations exist in this world? I am particularly interested in how religion operates in the world as the party cleric. What are you doing for the deities of the world? Would you allow me to create an outline of the church my PC represents and then you modify it however you need to fit your world?

I appreciate your work.

tm_supreme
 

I am going to go for an element based deity system. Essentially there are five elements, Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Void. Each element attracts worshippers of each alignment, and each has different manifestations. Within each element, different manifestations carry different names, and sometimes the biggest enemy of a particular church is another manifestation of the same element (sometimes even of the same alignment of the same element but with a radically different interpretation.)

The domains available are generally dictated by the bias of the cleric although the following are forbidden for each element

Earth – Air, Death, Fire, Water, Magic
Fire – Earth, Air, Water, Luck, Magic
Water – Air, Earth, Fire, Sun, Magic
Air – Earth, Fire, Water, Trickery, Magic
Void – Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Evil, Good, Law, Chaos

The astute will notice that magic is the sole domain of the Void, while the void tries to avoid polarisation to the elements or Evil/Good, Law/Chaos. The other elemental deities try to restrict worshippers to them and do not grant spells from other deities.

The Earth deity sees the dead as bringing unwanted elements with them, as all y creatures eventually die it sees no need to hasten the process. For this reason many clerics of the earth deity take the healing domain, even evil ones, to try and slow the pollution of the earth.

The Fire deity is generally seen as one of creation and destruction and thus followed by many artificers and crafters. However, in the view of many the Fire god is too reliant on having the correct tools and thus cannot access the Luck domain.

The Water deity is often seen as being the hidden element bringing life. Water need not be visible to sustain life yet without it all die. The sun is believed to be a drinker of water, removing it from the surface and thus the Sun domain spells are forbidden.

The air deity is visible, nothing within him hidden, one can see through him and see that there are no tricks to be played. Due to this belief the Air deity attracts the largest percentage of “honourable” people of all alignments.

(The astute will note this is the same set-up in my Wprld of Darkness Game - nothing like plagiarizing yourself- it is also very flexible and allows for minimal set-up time when unprepared and you have to pull a cleric out of your hat - hey, we DMs are ALLOWED to appear all knowing - even when we aren't!)

So tm. within this framework create a church. ethos etc. You also get to do some of my work for me- please detail at least one friendly faction and one enemy faction (either within or outside of your own element). And yep- if you so desire it you do get factions linked to specific houses (although other members may be linked to other houses and thus you have anmosity within a single faction - church politics rival that of the merchant houses....)
 

I think you are doing some darn good work here, Ghostknight. :) I like how the houses are set up, I like the background you have written out, I like the religious structure... I like the whole thing. :)
 

Hmm, so I'm wondering where to put my character's origins. Is there anywhere high-tech but low magic that has relatively little contact with the rest of the world, or could I create such a place. My character would be in conflict with the Band of Brothers, as is shown in his background.
 

Nac Mac Feegle said:
Hmm, so I'm wondering where to put my character's origins. Is there anywhere high-tech but low magic that has relatively little contact with the rest of the world, or could I create such a place. My character would be in conflict with the Band of Brothers, as is shown in his background.

The point about the Kingdom's region is that virtually any mix will be found somewhere...

So, create a place, the most likely being in the mountainous north eastern regions. mainly city-states, reliant on themselves and the ore they can extract- technology is their mainstay rather than magic (survival is the key and who has time for lengthy studies? Surrounding yourself with cannons is far quicker and requires less training for the operators!)
 

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