RichGreen
Adventurer
Hii,
Here’s the fifteenth and final 13th Age icon for Parsantium. Fittingly, it’s the campaign setting’s arch-villain, the rakshasa Rajah, Vrishabha. You can check out the rest of the series here.
THE RAJAH
The Rajah is Vrishabha, the rakshasa lord who ruled Parsantium nearly 2,000 years ago when the city was known as Dhak Janjua.
QUOTE
“Soon…”
USUAL LOCATION
Frozen in the ice at the top of Mount Kalathang, highest peak in the Pillars of Heaven Mountains to the southeast of Parsantium.
COMMON KNOWLEDGE
The Rajah cruel and tyrannical rule over Dhak Janjua lasted for 33 years. Vrishabha would brook no challenges to his authority, outlawing the worship of Kali whom he believed too popular with the masses within a few years of taking the throne, and brutally crushing a rebellion led by priests of Hanuman in the later days of his reign. Those directly involved in the revolt, their families, friends and acquaintances were tortured viciously before being put to death. The temples of the Monkey God were razed and his priests rounded up and slaughtered.
One young priest, named Srivatsa, escaped into the great forest outside the city and prayed to Hanuman for help. The god sent a messenger to Srivatsa in the form of a talking blue-bottomed monkey, who arrived at the priest’s camp riding on an enormous white elephant. Wrapped in its trunk the elephant held the means to bring down Vrishabha: a great bow forged from steel that fired holy arrows.
Srivatsa rode into Dhak Janjua astride the elephant, a mount fit to serve the avenger of the god. Unopposed by the guards on the city gate, he was cheered by gathering crowds as he passed through the city streets. Arriving at the palace, the hero fought his way through the Rajah’s soldiers and sorcerers, before confronting Vrishabha himself in his throne room. Here, Srivatsa shot the rakshasa through the heart with Hanuman’s bow, slaying him, and thus saving the city of Dhak Janjua from tyranny and evil.
But that wasn’t the end of the Rajah. After his death Vrishabha was reincarnated in his tiger-like form, frozen in the ice at the top of the Pillars of Heaven Mountains. For 1,900 years he has been trapped in the ice, waiting to be freed so he might return to rule Dhak Janjua with an iron fist once again.
The Rajah’s agents have been searching for centuries for the ancient texts and rituals and esoteric components needed to free their master. Dire warnings of the Rajah’s imminent return can be heard on the streets of Parsantium from the lips of mystics and fakirs, but these are usually dismissed as the rantings of madmen.
ADVENTURERS & THE ICON
Only the most black-hearted and evil adventurers would knowingly serve the Rajah, but his rakshasa agents often employ parties of unwitting PCs to carry out missions on their master’s behalf. These jobs might involve retrieving an ancient scroll from a location in the Hidden Quarter below the city for a “kindly old priest”, or spying on a foreign merchant or noble house for a rakshasa who has infiltrated the city’s bureaucracy.
ALLIES
The rajah is served by rakshasa agents in Parsantium, and by a cryptic cabal of yak-headed sorcerers living in the Pillars of Heaven Mountains; both are capable of taking human form and hiding in plain sight. In Parsantium, Vrishabha’s rakshasa agents hold positions of power in the city’s bureaucracy, noble houses and criminal underworld (see Secret Knowledge below).
ENEMIES
No one (with the possible exception of the Mummy) wants to see the Rajah return.
HISTORY
Vrishabha was among the refugees who fled across the Pillars of Heaven Mountains from the evil geomancer rulers of Karjan to the fledgling town of Dhak Janjua. The young rakshasa had been sent there by his fiendish master Nataraj with orders to infiltrate the new city and insinuate himself into a position of power. Vrishabha was both charismatic and devious so this wasn’t hard for him, and both his wealth and his influence with the nascent ruling class grew rapidly. He soon took control of the burgeoning city as its Rajah, aided by powerful servants, including other rakshasas, human sorcerers and warlocks, as well as some infernal allies. By now he had superseded his former master Nataraj in influence and magical power, which granted him independence and advancement to the highest rakshasa caste.
During his reign, Vrishabha expanded the city’s influence, strengthening trade links and instituting a programme of public works to make Dhak Janjua even greater: the huge stone bridges crossing the Dolphin Strait were built during this time.
THE TRUE DANGER
Everything will be alright as long as the Rajah is not freed from the ice…
Spoiler space…
SECRET KNOWLEDGE
The Rajah is served by two rakshasa lords in positions of great power in Parsantium: the Boss of all Bosses and Aurius Kalothese, tribune of the Imperial Quarter. While Avishandu tends to rely on his lieutenant, the deadly assassin Heinsoo, to undertake missions for his master, Aurius will often employ adventurers, assuming a suitably innocuous guise to do so, and disposing of them after their work is complete.
The number of rakshasas in the city recently increased considerably following a very unfortunate incident in which the Juma Gang accidentally freed 49 rakshasas who had been transformed into cows by a curse*.
[*see the adventure Hellcow 3 by Keith Baker, En Route III]
Hope you've enjoyed reading these as much as I've enjoyed writing them
Cheers
Rich
Here’s the fifteenth and final 13th Age icon for Parsantium. Fittingly, it’s the campaign setting’s arch-villain, the rakshasa Rajah, Vrishabha. You can check out the rest of the series here.
THE RAJAH
The Rajah is Vrishabha, the rakshasa lord who ruled Parsantium nearly 2,000 years ago when the city was known as Dhak Janjua.
QUOTE
“Soon…”
USUAL LOCATION
Frozen in the ice at the top of Mount Kalathang, highest peak in the Pillars of Heaven Mountains to the southeast of Parsantium.
COMMON KNOWLEDGE
The Rajah cruel and tyrannical rule over Dhak Janjua lasted for 33 years. Vrishabha would brook no challenges to his authority, outlawing the worship of Kali whom he believed too popular with the masses within a few years of taking the throne, and brutally crushing a rebellion led by priests of Hanuman in the later days of his reign. Those directly involved in the revolt, their families, friends and acquaintances were tortured viciously before being put to death. The temples of the Monkey God were razed and his priests rounded up and slaughtered.
One young priest, named Srivatsa, escaped into the great forest outside the city and prayed to Hanuman for help. The god sent a messenger to Srivatsa in the form of a talking blue-bottomed monkey, who arrived at the priest’s camp riding on an enormous white elephant. Wrapped in its trunk the elephant held the means to bring down Vrishabha: a great bow forged from steel that fired holy arrows.
Srivatsa rode into Dhak Janjua astride the elephant, a mount fit to serve the avenger of the god. Unopposed by the guards on the city gate, he was cheered by gathering crowds as he passed through the city streets. Arriving at the palace, the hero fought his way through the Rajah’s soldiers and sorcerers, before confronting Vrishabha himself in his throne room. Here, Srivatsa shot the rakshasa through the heart with Hanuman’s bow, slaying him, and thus saving the city of Dhak Janjua from tyranny and evil.
But that wasn’t the end of the Rajah. After his death Vrishabha was reincarnated in his tiger-like form, frozen in the ice at the top of the Pillars of Heaven Mountains. For 1,900 years he has been trapped in the ice, waiting to be freed so he might return to rule Dhak Janjua with an iron fist once again.
The Rajah’s agents have been searching for centuries for the ancient texts and rituals and esoteric components needed to free their master. Dire warnings of the Rajah’s imminent return can be heard on the streets of Parsantium from the lips of mystics and fakirs, but these are usually dismissed as the rantings of madmen.
ADVENTURERS & THE ICON
Only the most black-hearted and evil adventurers would knowingly serve the Rajah, but his rakshasa agents often employ parties of unwitting PCs to carry out missions on their master’s behalf. These jobs might involve retrieving an ancient scroll from a location in the Hidden Quarter below the city for a “kindly old priest”, or spying on a foreign merchant or noble house for a rakshasa who has infiltrated the city’s bureaucracy.
ALLIES
The rajah is served by rakshasa agents in Parsantium, and by a cryptic cabal of yak-headed sorcerers living in the Pillars of Heaven Mountains; both are capable of taking human form and hiding in plain sight. In Parsantium, Vrishabha’s rakshasa agents hold positions of power in the city’s bureaucracy, noble houses and criminal underworld (see Secret Knowledge below).
ENEMIES
No one (with the possible exception of the Mummy) wants to see the Rajah return.
HISTORY
Vrishabha was among the refugees who fled across the Pillars of Heaven Mountains from the evil geomancer rulers of Karjan to the fledgling town of Dhak Janjua. The young rakshasa had been sent there by his fiendish master Nataraj with orders to infiltrate the new city and insinuate himself into a position of power. Vrishabha was both charismatic and devious so this wasn’t hard for him, and both his wealth and his influence with the nascent ruling class grew rapidly. He soon took control of the burgeoning city as its Rajah, aided by powerful servants, including other rakshasas, human sorcerers and warlocks, as well as some infernal allies. By now he had superseded his former master Nataraj in influence and magical power, which granted him independence and advancement to the highest rakshasa caste.
During his reign, Vrishabha expanded the city’s influence, strengthening trade links and instituting a programme of public works to make Dhak Janjua even greater: the huge stone bridges crossing the Dolphin Strait were built during this time.
THE TRUE DANGER
Everything will be alright as long as the Rajah is not freed from the ice…
Spoiler space…
SECRET KNOWLEDGE
The Rajah is served by two rakshasa lords in positions of great power in Parsantium: the Boss of all Bosses and Aurius Kalothese, tribune of the Imperial Quarter. While Avishandu tends to rely on his lieutenant, the deadly assassin Heinsoo, to undertake missions for his master, Aurius will often employ adventurers, assuming a suitably innocuous guise to do so, and disposing of them after their work is complete.
The number of rakshasas in the city recently increased considerably following a very unfortunate incident in which the Juma Gang accidentally freed 49 rakshasas who had been transformed into cows by a curse*.
[*see the adventure Hellcow 3 by Keith Baker, En Route III]
Hope you've enjoyed reading these as much as I've enjoyed writing them
Cheers
Rich
