Oh, look. A biased Chronicler in a whole new (Very Howardian) direction!
Surely nothing bad will come of this.
Level Up (A5E) Sins of the Scorpion Age, Sword and Sorcery Campaign Setting
Oh, look. A biased Chronicler in a whole new (Very Howardian) direction!
Surely nothing bad will come of this.
Fun note: It was long theorized that Georgia got it's name from the love the inhabitants had for St. George being made into a name by a French Explorer. Or that it's a corruption of a Greek word meaning "Tiller of Soil". But the current theory is that it has to do with the word "Gurg" or "Gurgan" which means "Wolf".
People of the Wolf is kind of evocative, even if I only threw a single paragraph at it... followed by some heavy-handed allusions across history.
And now for one you've probably been waiting for...
Even the greatest society may fall to their own folly. And, in truth, must for the setting to fit in the Howardian mold.
Decadence and pride, hubris and lack of concern, of care, saw Ancais reduced to nothing. Feels nearly Biblical, if I'm honest...
Even the greatest society may fall to their own folly. And, in truth, must for the setting to fit in the Howardian mold.
Decadence and pride, hubris and lack of concern, of care, saw Ancais reduced to nothing. Feels nearly Biblical, if I'm honest...
Based on what I learned from the thread on Evil Deities and Demons in D&D:
D&D's standard demonic hierarchy probably wouldn't work well within the setting. I think it needs to be changed toward Unique Demons and Unique Angels rather than faceless hordes of Lemures and Cherubs. Still have different kinds of demons, though. Because each demonic "Kind" represents a specific form of corruption. Succubi represent sexual depravity, Vrocks as greed, Quasits as pride, Nalfeshnee as gluttony, Mariliths as wrath... you get the idea. Maybe do specific succubi that continually plague a given character/party rather than some random succubus?
Similarly, Demons are, or were, spiritual issues people had based on emotional and psychological issues. A succubus, for example, might represent someone's inability to control their libido, whether through socialization, trauma, or biological quirk. Such a person might be able to defeat their issue in a given situation, but it doesn't become significantly easier for an addict to avoid relapsing into their addiction just because they've avoided it in the past. It's a continual struggle and demons meant to signify that role should probably continue to be a danger for that reason.
Corollary Thought: Might still be good to have Demons as Tempters toward Transgression and Angels as Forceful Redeemers. Where a Demon will try to pull you into transgression through guile and trickery so that it feels like you're the one doing it, while an Angel does not give you a choice in the matter of redemption, you are -forcibly- redeemed regardless of how you feel about it. Would make for an interesting structure of narrative intent wherein goodness requires explicit intention and action while evil is a slow and corruptive slide into depravity with no effort behind it.
Strongly plays into Howardian ethics, too.
D&D's standard demonic hierarchy probably wouldn't work well within the setting. I think it needs to be changed toward Unique Demons and Unique Angels rather than faceless hordes of Lemures and Cherubs. Still have different kinds of demons, though. Because each demonic "Kind" represents a specific form of corruption. Succubi represent sexual depravity, Vrocks as greed, Quasits as pride, Nalfeshnee as gluttony, Mariliths as wrath... you get the idea. Maybe do specific succubi that continually plague a given character/party rather than some random succubus?
Similarly, Demons are, or were, spiritual issues people had based on emotional and psychological issues. A succubus, for example, might represent someone's inability to control their libido, whether through socialization, trauma, or biological quirk. Such a person might be able to defeat their issue in a given situation, but it doesn't become significantly easier for an addict to avoid relapsing into their addiction just because they've avoided it in the past. It's a continual struggle and demons meant to signify that role should probably continue to be a danger for that reason.
Corollary Thought: Might still be good to have Demons as Tempters toward Transgression and Angels as Forceful Redeemers. Where a Demon will try to pull you into transgression through guile and trickery so that it feels like you're the one doing it, while an Angel does not give you a choice in the matter of redemption, you are -forcibly- redeemed regardless of how you feel about it. Would make for an interesting structure of narrative intent wherein goodness requires explicit intention and action while evil is a slow and corruptive slide into depravity with no effort behind it.
Strongly plays into Howardian ethics, too.
Also... I think I'm just gonna copy-paste all the first pages from the different cities (First and Second for the big towns) into the player's guide and do up a second (third for big towns) page for each with a brief overview of how characters can/would exist in that particular city. Like the different setting-specific roles for Fighters and Warlocks in Musarra as opposed to Lagan, as well as the local Culture options and flavors.
So, like, an Ellenici Raider would be more of a Khufu Sea Pirate as compared to a Lagan Raider as more of a Desert Bandit.
So, like, an Ellenici Raider would be more of a Khufu Sea Pirate as compared to a Lagan Raider as more of a Desert Bandit.
As an experiment, I put together a Musarran Player's Supplemental Page.
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