Scarred Lands Assistance Request - Maps

[twofalls]

I purchased all the Scarred Lands material as soon as it all went on sale nearly a year ago. I've been waiting for my Dreams of Glory 3.0 campiagn to end before I begin my Scarred Lands game using the Serpent series modules. I'm going to raise the group to level 2, then start them on the series using the Serpent Amphora download from Sword & Sorcery to seque into the adventures.

I've been scouring the net looking for maps of the differnt continents of the Scarred Lands and have very dissapointed at the lack of results I'm finding. I've found the Ghelspad map on the S&S site, which is a copy of the book map. But nothing for Termana or the other lands. Do these files exist somewhere?

I'd also like to know if anyone is aware of a primer I could email to my players about the Scarred Lands. Nothing that is 10 pages long, just something to give them a taste of what they are in for, info that most any young adventerer of Ghelspad would likely know. I could write something up, but if there is something already made up out there that would save me the effort I'd be grateful to know about it.

Thank you in advance for any help that can be offered!

 

[Nightfall]

*turn on the Sage voice"

So young ones, you seek fame, adventure and glory eh? Admireable traits to be sure, but one should always be wary. Remember the old Hollowfaustian saying "Wishes are dangerous things. Because they often come true." Indeed wary when, what and how you seek something my young comrades, for you may be not the only ones seeking it. Treasures from the Divine War still lay untouched, grasped only by dead hands. Those few that live are probably more powerful than you can imagine. Indeed anything to survive the wake of the Godswar is something to be feared and kept in awe. I know. I was there. I was there when Mighty Corean smote down the Shaper, sundinger the Shaper, the Shaper's Forge, and all the lands around it. I watched with dread awe as Chardun bound and carved up his mother, the Titaness Mormo, and corrupted the once primal beauty of what is now the Hornsaw. I saw the great war machines of the titans, the wrack dragons, pillage and decimate whole cities, towns and villages, just because it was in their way to their goal of their foes, the divine ones. The Scarred Lands, once beauteous Scarn, is now a hard land. There is beauty still, but one of loss, regret and rememberance. So wary how you step. For god and titan alike both seek to gain more than lose what already has been lost. Some might be friends, some might be foes. Indeed merely because one is deemed "evil" by one faction, doesn't mean he or she is. But then again, neither is the other inherently wrong. There is a balance to things,young ones. But it only lies in death and among the dead. So tread cautiously, keep your spells on the ready and your swords on guard. This is the Scarred Lands, and it is not always as simple as it first appears.

Howse that for an opening?

 

[twofalls]

Thanks Nightfall, this is a good start. I'd like something more descriptive though. Something that talks about the Divine races, the Titianspawn, the Gods and the War. Because I'm using the Serpent Series I will be starting them out around Vesh, and anything that primes the players on the idea behind the setting is helpful.

Oh, and about the maps...?

 

[Nightfall]

Okay here goes:

Treatise by the Sage of Shelzar (and unofficial Sage of Ghelspad)

Regarding the Divine races, the Titanspawn, the Gods, the Titans and stuff in between

As is often the case with other learned folks, one might mistake what is written for ungarnished truth. Truth, my friends, is like a blade that has three edges to it. There's your truth, there's mine, and between the two, the actual truths. So it was a time consuming process that took me to this point but ultimately one that proved most enlightening. As a servant of Nemorga, knowledge is an important aspect but it must be one that is uninhibited by moral, ethical, or even religious concerns. Thus, I, Bla'yne Nightfall, have decided to give a short but more truthful accounting of not only the Titanswar, but in general, the nature of our present circumstances.

To begin to fully understand why this once proud and primal beauteuous world of ours in the shape it is, one must examine carefully the key players. That of course would be the Titans and the Gods. Some question the need for such beings, as it is readily apparent that arcane magic can and often does exist without their influence. Such a view is wildly inaccurate. The Gods and Titans are merely controllers, not sources of arcane influence. Their power, though far greater than mortals can concieve, is not what grants the amibent flows of magics. But in the case of divine magics, it is certainly their provinces and they can, at least for the magic of the gods, serve as its source. When we speak of Titans, naturally most view sorcery, that gift which was given to mortals by the Sire of Sorcery himself, Mesos, and of course the shamanistic as well as druidic traditions we see today. Thus it is common when we talk of druids to have a skewed view because of the fact Denev, the Earth Mother Titan, sided with the gods. Her reasons are of course her own, but it is widely know that she and her sister and fellow mother of many gods, Mormo, the Serpent Mother, were rivals of sorts. Thus it was to little surprise Mormo attacked the Hornsaw, a stronghold of Denev's own power. Her druids, that is the Earthmothers', were tenders of nature. Mormos were more of the hunters and death dealers of the land. Many would claim that Kadum properly has the destructive death claim while others point to Lethene, the Dame of Storms. But in my own research, Mormo is more akin to the part mortals and nature plays in the more vicious cycles of survivial. Kadum merely represent the creative and destructive aspects, an imbalanced part perhaps but a key part as his strength could save or damn a city. Lethene mean while, was more the winds and seas part of creating, shaping the very rocks and sky to her liking. Mormo felt only the need to kill. Thus to her I ascribe more sinister traits, especially in light of the fact as a creation mother titaness, she was responsible for many scaled races rising up in the fight against the Gods. So what are the titans then? Are they sentient? Certainly for many account, my own included, can easily show and document the sentient nature of the titans in their actions. They did and would change the course of a given race's state from one of limited or no intelligence to limited or even greater than our current races intellects can imagine. But are they merely nature spirits? I have my doubts. While my research in the depths of the jungles of Termana's Glamganus was revealing about spirit worship, it proved me that the Titans, not being true Ushada, (their world for great spirits), but served as a kind of spark of the life of Scarn itself. Thus they stood above such things as wildflower is below a dryad. Linked they are, but certainly no one could mistake them, in the grander picture, of being the same. But like all things natural they have needs. Insects live to grow, breed, and then wither and die. So too the Titans lived to create and destroy in the same breath it almost seemed. Their nature, while some might attribute to mere chaos, was more of a self-involved idealogy. Certainly no more evil than a deer eating many trees, or a wolf feeding as much as it needed, but unlike these creatures, the Titans knew nothing of restraint. Why should they? They were, after all the most powerful things ever in existence. At least that was the case until the coming of Vangal...

(This is just a slight stopping point.)

 

[twofalls]

Nightfall, this rocks man! Thanks! I'll give you full credit to my group for the intro to the game. Also, how goes the SL GM Guide you've been working on for so long?

 

[Nightfall]

Nightfall, this rocks man! Thanks! I'll give you full credit to my group for the intro to the game. Also, how goes the SL GM Guide you've been working on for so long?

Glad I could help. No luck on the maps yet. Sadly STILL no takers. I'm beginning to think I need to move out of state to find some.

Now back to my treastie:


Vangal's birth hearlded the Age of Gods. While the Titans, not concerned with marking the passage of time, but merely called their respective roles of dominance Epoch, for most mortals, Vangal's birth was a significant marker in the channels of time. For it was his appearance that marked not only the rise of faith in something beyond spirits, it also strove to prove that some races had inherant traits beyond that of their titan creators. While it's very unlikely anyone would consider the Charduni, the race of dwarves in Termana, anything less than the hand of Chardun himself, debates still rages among many circles as to how to best describe the hows and whys of such divine races as halflings, elves (wood elf and forsaken alike), dwarves (mountain certainly), half orcs and half elves. While the latter occurred with the interactions of the two other races, (humans mxiing with elves and orcs), the former, Humans, halfings, dwarves and elves, still have no clear progenitor. Nor were the reasons for their creation ever clarified. Indeed while one can easily look upon the broods of Mormo, the snake men Assatthi, the Yu-tian worshippers and others, as her design, none of the aforementioned races can clearily distinguish themselves as to which titan had a hand in their shaping. The religious orders of each races believe they were more called into being by forces beyond the Titans. For the elves they believe in their own immortality (at least that is one legend) For the dwarves they hold that much like Corean forged and shaped races of a celestial design, Goran was their exemplar, the first true dwarf formed from rock and stone by either Corean (as some of the staunch coreanities believe) or that the Earthmother herself had a hand in the shaping of Goran. Halfling believe they sprang from deep in the woods where the Earthmother also had a hand with their god Hyddwwd(sp). Humans vary from place to place, with no clear creator. Most though assign either an elemental power (some claim djinni, janni, efreeti, marid, or even dao) or even just one of the gods. One of the few hidden texts I've managed to uncover spoke of a race called the Firstborn, the Viren. According to this, one of the few Viren to encounter what might be Hedrada before his timely arrival, gave them intelligence and set them apart from their brethren. Still I doubt it was that simple. There is evidence to indicate some link though between the lost Viren, or called the Abandoned and today's human. But whether that link was divinely induced or magically wrought is beyond my ken.

Thus it is we come back to the Divine, the Eight, the Victors in the Divine War. For one must again see that Vangal, eldest and most terrible of all, held in his hands the destruction and change of times. Indeed there are some heretics of his faith that believe he,more than Enkili, is an agent of change through destruction. If that is so, then it is certainly apparant that Vangal's rage and need for people to revel in bloodshed through his name, gave the Titans pause. For here was a near equal, able to shape soul stuff into demons, send them out to fight and slaughter, and drew strengthen when the victors yelled and called out to him. Then came Corean, as an opposite to Vangal, created in hubris by his father, Kadum, to "Protect and rebuild." It was that hubris that would prove the undoing of them all. Then came Chardun, Madriel, and Belsameth. Then quickly followed Tanil, then Hedrada, and finally Enkili. People might know their lineage but here I will show it in a diagram format:

Kadum + Denev = Corean
Golthain + Denev = Hedrada
Mesos + Mormo = Belsameth and Madriel
Gormoth + Mormo = Chardun
Thulkas + Lethene + Chern = Vangal
Lethene and some unnamed Titaness = Enkili
Hrrinruuk + Denev = Tanil

Thus it was the gods were made and the face of our world changed forever...

(more forthcoming)

 

[twofalls]

Well thats too bad. If you end up being unable to publish it, I hope you wont waste all that work by not allowing us SL ethusiasts to see what you have done. I just sent your write ups to my group, thanks again.

 

[Nightfall]

If you mean my own stuff I'm certainly working on making it into a complete SLCS Revised compendium.

Second part of my treastie is up.

 

[twofalls]

If you mean my own stuff I'm certainly working on making it into a complete SLCS Revised compendium.

Second part of my treastie is up.

When you finish this I plan to put it all together in a word doc and give it out as handouts the next time we meet. Please add any credits you would like me to include at the end of the doc. And thanks again!

 

[Nightfall]

Well I'm glad I could help Twofalls. It's my duty to ensure SL booty and enjoyment gets passed along.

Final part of the treastie:

Change is an inevitable part of life. We see it all the time as certain species gain dominance, only to have another rise up to resist them. If any thing can be certain in a place where time is the only balance and the dead the only true medium, it is that nothing truly lasts forever. Perhaps it is because of this arrogance that the Titans didn't see it. Certainly if they had, they might not have fought so hard. But then again that is the nature of all living things, to fight and either die off or come back stronger. But some ask the question, "Why fight at all?" Certainly there was a time where the Titans and the Gods didn't fight. Indeed there are speculative if spotty records of both the titans and the gods fought against another power, that of the strange and alien Slacerians. But that is for another discussion and another topic. But the fact is the Titans didn't realize their progeny depended on mortals to survive. Their very existence was predicated on the fact mortals drew to them for meaning, purpose, ethics, laws and substances beyond the daily existence of natural causes. Thus while the Gods withdrew from their followers it wasn't because they didn't care. It was because they sought and debated the ways to get their creators' attention to their own plight. Of course pleading, cajoling, and even compromises failed before this action was taken. The Titans cared little about honor or idealogy. Their own needs, selfish as some of them were, came well before that of any creations of theirs. Besides, like any other creation, they could always make more, perhaps better. The Gods, withdrawn and tired of the ceaseless struggles with their progenitors, debated, consulated and finally reached the conclusion that war, however ugly and strife ridden it was, was the only true option left. Thus came the Divine War.

Many people speak about war in terms of hell, or insanity. How then to describe the slaughter, carnage and fighting of immortal beings? It is almost beyond description, as the War with the Gods fighting when and where they could against their forebearers, caused the very fabric of the universe to shake. Time stopped, shifted backwards, moved like a charging bull forward. One could almost lose oneself in the madness and find themselves aged beyond normal. The sun fell as well as the moon as the stars bled and grew dim. The War lasted only years but indeed could have lasts decades for all one could sense. But slowly, surely, as the Gods, united in strength and purpose, defeated, bound, hacked, gutted, and generally subdued in vicious ways their creators. Indeed they had won the battle and some say the War. But I, however, doubt the entirely of that truth. True, the heads of the titanspawn armies are no longer active, but the armies themselves, fractured though they might be, still in places remain. Safety is still an issue, along with surviving places where gods and titans fell. Indeed because of the influence prevalent with violent deaths, landscapes, creatures, both natural and unnatural, have come and flourish. There are places where the boundries between our world and that of fundamental planes, often called Elemental Planes, and places beyond the known worlds, have been breached by misused magics called upon by the titans. So guard yourself well my students. If you seek treasures, they are there to be found. Just be careful what you seek. For some times, it can be more dangerous than you could ever know.