elegyrain

[elegyrain]

I converted Tyrant's Grasp to 5e and I'm running it for some friends. This is my take on the town of Rossler's Coffer, before and after 'the incident'.

Both maps are 101 x 62, in Roll20.

[elegyrain]

The First Paladin

In the history of the Highlands, Petrus Illustrianus and his Great Companions are figures similar to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Charlemagne and his Paladins, the Heroes of Troy, or even Jason and Argonauts.

Born during the late Age of Wonders, historians often conflate fact with myth when discussing the particulars of Petrus’ life. Although it was well established that he was born in Kajar, many Valdinoran noble lines claim descent from the First Paladin, or outright claim that Petrus was Valdinoran. Perhaps the most notable claimants are the Hölderlins, retainers to the line of Harald I. On the other hand, the Kajari maintain that Petrus had no issue, and do not recognize any of his ‘descendants’ as legitimate.

Beyond his monster-slaying accomplishments, Petrus wrote the Treatise of Knighthood, a manual on etiquette, courtly manners, conduct during wartime, and proper bearing that is required reading for Imperial officers, even today. He also founded the first order of paladins, called the Nightbreakers, who are credited with shepherding Kajar through the horrors of the Godfall. In time, the Nightbreakers grew so large that splinter chapters of their organization formed, and today over a thousand orders of paladins exist.

During his lifetime, Petrus was accompanied on his adventures or assisted by a number of famous companions. Legends about the Great Companions are historically murky, certain individuals, such as Scipio Ithaca and Agrippa Denar verifiably existed, while others, such as Grier, Wiegraf, and Roland, or the sorceress Nashira and her twin brother Eridanus, may not have lived during the same era as Petrus, or they did not exist at all. The number of Great Companions varies wildly in the stories about the First Paladin, from as low as twelve to as high as one-hundred and eight.

Petrus possessed a legendary holy avenger, called the Dawnseeker, which he used to slay giants and otherworldly horrors during the Godfall. No enemy could stand against it, and the walking dead fled before him when the blade was drawn. Unfortunately, Dawnseeker, along with Petrus himself, were lost during the War of the Black Impact - an invasion of Far-Realm entities who emerged from a fallen meteor. It is unclear where the War happened, as the world was topographically different during that time, but Petrus was slain in the fighting and neither his body, nor Dawnseeker, were recovered…

The Great Companions

Scipio Ithaca was Petrus’ second, confidant, and closest companion. Although Petrus was the first paladin, it was Scipio who encouraged the priests of Kajar to lay down their prayer beads and take up swords during the Godfall, and he developed the Sun and Moon style of sword-fighting.

Agrippa Denar was a paladin credited with being the first combat medic, and although he was less famous than Petrus, he pioneered antiseptic surgery and wrote numerous documents on medicine that are still in use today. He is immortalized outside the Seat of the White Registry, where a statue depicts him wrestling with the Stag Who Hunts Men.

Nashira was a god-blooded sorceress of incredible power who served as an advisor to Petrus. She supposedly possessed a third eye in the center of her forehead which allowed her to see both the past and future, and because of this, Petrus and his men never lost a battle. Some stories connect her romantically to Petrus, while the Kajari claim that she and Agrippa were married and that she bore him several children.

Eridanus was Nashira’s twin brother, the captain of a ship that he could sail anywhere, even into the sky, since his sister could navigate any obstacle. He served alongside the Nightbreakers as leader of their non-Chapter military forces, despite not being a paladin himself. He is usually depecited in myth as a rakish gambler, and a rogue with a heart of gold, the opposite of Petrus and Moon to the First Paladin's Sun.

Roland was an Illysian knight and the protector of the common people of the Great Plain that makes up the western portion of Illysia. He is said to have slain the dragon Pyramar.

Erwin Rossler is highly popular in the Empire due to the fact that it's possible to prove he existed and that he was unambiguously Valdinoran. He was martyred fighting in the East, in a failed crusade to halt the advance of the Dark Lord, Soren Kal, and his armies.

[elegyrain]

Caster Shells

Caster shells are enchanted bullets that produce a variety of devastating, beneficial, or esoteric effects. Although two varieties technically exist, only one type are true caster shells.

Firespitter, Boltcaster, and Ghost-touch Rounds

Firespitter, boltcaster, and ghost-touch, rounds are (beyond the science of simply making better bullets) the simplest types of magical ammunition. The first two, firespitters and boltcasters, are enchanted to mimic the effects of various fire and lightning spells, most commonly burning hands, fireball, and lightning bolt. However, rarer and more powerful versions exist, and these mimic higher-level effects such as wall of fire, chain lightning, and incendiary cloud.

Ghost-touch rounds ignore the damage resistances of undead and can possess enhancement bonuses of up to +3.

While it is legal for civilians to possess ghost-touch rounds, firespitters and boltcasters are restricted to the Imperial military and the Magisterium. There is, however, a thriving black market for them.

True Caster Shells

True caster shells are relics from the Age of Wonders. It was previously thought that eighty-three varieties existed, but in RY 71, artificing documents retrieved by a young Magistrate detailed twenty-five new varieties, bringing the current total to one-hundred and eight. Of these, the Magisterium can reliably manufacture nine types. They possess the full or partial schematics for a further twenty-five, but the magical materials required to manufacture them are either too scarce to waste on ammunition or no longer exist in the modern day.

It is illegal for anyone other than a Magistrate to possess caster shells, and adventurers who retrieve them from ruins or other Age of Wonders sites are required to surrender them to the Magisterium at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, literally no one does this, and true caster shells can fetch a fortune from the right under-the-table buyers.

According to the Magisterium, caster shells are dangerous in the wrong hands, and this is not entirely a product of Imperial propaganda. The largest danger to a user is that only a special type of weapon can handle the magical and metaphysical stress that caster shells place on their firing mechanisms. Non-magical guns will backfire or simply melt into slag when used in conjunction with a caster shell, potentially disarming the user or rendering them helpless if they have no backup weapons. Caster shells can also produce… unconventional effects. While these may have made perfect sense to the people of the Age of Wonders, in the modern day, their motivations for creating such ‘weaponry’ can only be guessed at. Firing a caster shell at an enraged monster only to have the bullet cause a rainstorm or grow an apple tree has meant the death of more than one adventurer, and to make matters worse - since the Magisterium guards the secrets of caster shells jealously, they can be extremely difficult to identify.

Some of the better known caster shells are listed below.

4 - Applebloom

Made of walnut-brown ironwood shot through with veins of green jade, an applebloom round makes a hollow sound when handled, as though there were a seed inside. When fired into the ground, an applebloom round rapidly blossoms into an adult tree over the course of one minute. The name of such a tree is a slight misnomer, as the fruit produced by an applebloom tree is not literal apples, but an unidentifiable type that is spicy-sweet and juicy, pleasing to all palates. Consuming one of the fruits fulfills all of an adult human’s dietary needs for one day, including water, without producing any bodily waste. Undead and monstrosities will not approach applebloom trees, typically making them safe to camp under. One day after being grown, an applebloom tree rapidly withers, disintegrating into dust at midnight on the second day.

9 - Suppressor

A suppressor round is a blunt, heavy round of undecorated star-iron, matte gray in color. When fired, it travels up to 120ft, then detonates in a soundless shockwave with a 30ft. radius. Although it lacks the force to cause hit point damage, unattended objects that weigh five pounds or less are knocked backwards or topple over, and any glass that has not been magically or alchemically reinforced shatters into splinters. The shockwave also suppresses all magical effects as though a 4th level version of dispel magic had been cast on them.

16 - Nightingale

Made of moonsilver wrapped in bands of star-iron for solidity, a nightingale round seems to change shape, occasionally seeming to possess a beak or wings if viewed from certain angles. Despite this, it always fits smoothly and perfectly into the chamber of a weapon when it comes time to be used. When used, the nightingale round transforms into a silver bird of the type most like its user in personality. This bird will carry a message of up to 100 words to anyone in the world that the gunslinger can name, flying along the planet’s leylines and always arriving within 24 hours. The person can send a message of equal length in reply, with the same travel times applying.

18 - Cloudkiller

Made of transparent feathersteel with a few drops of blue-green water inside, cloudkiller rounds are not meant to cause physical harm. Instead, when fired, the bullet arcs upwards into the sky in a contrail of blue light, where it causes a torrential downpour at the end of the round. This downpour lightly obscures the area in a 100ft. radius and lasts for a full minute. The volume of water produced is sufficient to water fields, extinguish all but massive infernos, and will fill most containers if an effort is made to collect it. So long as it doesn’t come in contact with other contaminants, the water is safe to drink.

42 - Steelskin

Something of a misnomer, a steelskin round is made of magical material quality brass - a metal usually either overlooked or considered to be a waste of enchanting attempts. When held up to the light or viewed at certain angles, a patina of emerald green is visible on the outside of the casing. When fired, a steelskin round deals no damage to living targets, instead impacting with a light string that transmutes the target's flesh into living metal for a brief moment. This effect grants a +5 bonus to AC, as well as resistance to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage until the end of the gunslinger’s next turn.

54 - Disassembler

Disassembler rounds are made of ironwood and star iron, and the outer casing is engraved with complicated diagrams, similar to blueprints or mechanical schematics. When fired, a disassembler does not cause damage to living creatures, rather, the bullet flies until it strikes an inanimate object, at which point the object is quite literally disassembled into its component parts. A chair, for example, would become a pile of wood, wool, fabric, and screws, while a brick wall would become a stack of bricks and a puddle of mortar. These parts fall to the ground arranged as neatly as possible into organized piles in the object’s space. The magical power of the round does have limits, however, and only objects that fit into 100 cubic feet of space can be disassembled. Should the targeted object go above this capacity, it disassembles as much as it can, starting in a radius that extends from the point of impact.

If a disassembler round strikes a living construct, such as a golem or clockwerk being, it instead deals damage as though it were a disintegrate spell.

55 - Horizon

Horizon rounds can only be made of star-iron from the constellation of the Gull, and the metal must be mixed with either feathersteel or moonsilver, to aid in long flight times or to adjust for the curvature of the planet. They are a favorite of Magisterium snipers, and when fired, so long as the gunslinger can see his target, he has advantage on the attack and the bullet can travel up to a theoretically infinite distance in order to hit. Such attacks deal an additional 10d6 damage if the gunslinger takes the time to engrave his intended target’s name on the shell, a process that takes ten uninterrupted minutes of work. However, engraving a name on the shell renders a horizon round incapable of dealing damage to any other target.

61 - Lightcaster

A lightcaster round is made of solid truegold and (commonly) engraved with various exaltations to Sol Invictus. When fired, it expels a 5ft. wide beam of white light that lances out from the barrel of the gun for 200ft. in a straight line. Although this light leaves a dazzling after-image seared into the eyes of anyone looking, it does not cause damage to living creatures or objects, passing through them harmlessly. However, undead caught in the beam take 9d6 radiant damage, with a Dexterity saving throw (at the gunslinger’s save DC) for half damage.

66 - Black

An unassuming round of darkly-colored, soulforged iron, black rounds are named for Conductor Black and they seem to drink in light when examined. Regardless of the temperature outside, they are cool to the touch. When fired, these rounds explode into a cone of vorpal black glass 60ft. long and 30ft. wide at the terminus of the effect. Most human-sized targets are slain instantly, brutally dismembered by the glass, but those lucky enough to survive take 8d8 piercing damage in addition to any damage done by the shot itself. The wounds created by a 66 are horrific, and it is nearly impossible to get them to stop bleeding. Use of these rounds created an uproar amongst the White Registry physicians during the Empire’s earliest years, and virtually non-stop protests by nurses, doctors, and combat medics led to them being first restricted to the Iron Guard, then banned outright in RY 141. Whether or not any 66 rounds still exist is a matter of debate, though the Magisterium claims they have all been accounted for.

89 - Iceblink

A faceted bullet of transparent feathersteel, an iceblink round looks similar to a piece of crystal or a sharpened icicle, and it only vaguely resembles a bullet. Iceblink rounds are cold enough to the touch that prolonged contact with bare skin can cause light frostbite (1 point of cold damage at the GM’s discretion). Like many other types of caster shells, Iceblink rounds do not cause direct damage. Instead, when fired into a body of water, the magic of the shell causes the water to rapidly freeze. Typically, the entire body of water is frozen, but for extremely large volumes of water, the maximum area is a five foot deep, 100ft. radius disc. This sheet of ice can support up to 1000 pounds and will remain frozen until it thaws naturally.

Against creatures made entirely from water, such as elementals, an iceblink round causes paralysis on a successful hit. This special form of paralysis ignores the normal immunity that such creatures typically possess. An affected creature can save again at the end of each turn, ending the effect on a success. If fired into falling water, such as a rainstorm, the effect of the iceblink round turns the raindrops into deadly hailstones or falling icicles as sharp as glass. Such ice storms deal between 4d4 and 10d4 damage in a 100ft. radius, depending on the severity of the rain.

92 - Calcobrena

Made of smooth white porcelain, a 92 often includes an authenticity seal on the primer, as though it were a precious antique and not a round of ammunition. When fired, a calcobrena round does not deal damage, instead it has one of two effects. If it strikes an inanimate object (or a pile of inanimate objects), it animates the item (or items) as though an animate objects spell had been cast on it. This special version of animate objects does not require concentration, and the gunslinger can direct the objects to take actions as normal. However, if the 92 strikes a human-like inanimate object, such as a doll or a mannequin, it brings the item to life, as though a special version of awaken had been cast on it. Living dolls were common in the Age of Wonders, used for entertainment, as baby-sitters, and as general-purpose servants. In that time, they were called Calcobrena Dancing-Dolls, and the 92’s are named after them.

[elegyrain]

Sun and Moon

The Sun and Moon fighting style is a special fighting style used by Paladins in the Empire as well as in parts of Illysia and Kajar

It is said to have been developed by the Great Companion Scipio Ithaca shortly after the Godfall, when he encouraged the priesthoods of Kajar to take up arms against the living dead. Characters who practice the Sun and Moon style wield a blade in each hand, with the off-hand weapon acting as a shield for the purposes of all effects that require a shield. Enchanted weapons are considered enchanted shields for this purpose, so a +1 longsword would be a +1 shield.

Sun and Moon style also grants the following abilities, replacing a fighting style:

Sun Parry Reaction Trigger: You are hit by an attack. Effect: Parry the attack. You take no damage and suffer no secondary effects.

Moon Parry Reaction Trigger: An ally within 5ft. is hit by an attack. Effect: Parry the attack. Your ally takes no damage and suffers no secondary effects.

[elegyrain]

A castle generated by the Deck of Many Things after it made a player in one of the games I run a Lord. He became the Lord of Dinosaur Island. Additionally, there are two masks which close off the secret vault rooms.

Dimensions are 81 x 102, 3 x 5, and 3 x 3 on Roll20.

[elegyrain]

Hey do you hand-draw your battlemaps or do you use a program for them?

I use Dungeon Painter Studio, on Steam.

[elegyrain]

Various city locations that could be used for anything. Three slums, and a nicer street.

Dimensions are 30 x 23, 30 x 30, 34 x 20, 59 x 38 on Roll20.

[elegyrain]

Shaa

Shaa means ‘The First Tribe’, and true to its meaning, the Shaa were the first mortal race to inhabit the Prime Material plane. In the distant past, the First Tribe were captured from their home, the mythological ‘Blue Planet’, and altered by millenia of selective breeding, exposure to the Far Realm’s energies, horrific experiments, and the Black Empire’s unholy state eugenics programs.

Throughout much of history, the First Tribe and the people of many other worlds were enslaved in the Black Empire - a totalitarian galactic state ruled by Far Realm aberrations. In the time before time, the Black Empire was overthrown by a rebellion of slave races, which was led by a Shaa warrior-prophet. In the inferno of this rebellion, the Black Empire and the congress of God-Monsters who ruled it burned to ash. The fires consumed the infinite vastness of the Prime Material plane, until all that remained was a single inhabitable world, Asharin.

According to the Shaa, survivors of the rebellion traveled across the stars in a silver ship, eventually touching down upon the peak of the Holy Mountain. In time, myriad religions from across the stars crystallized into worship of the Pantheon as they are known today, and the Gods emerged from the Other Land to meddle in the lives of their own creators - mortals.

This ‘creation myth’ is considered blasphemy by virtually every human nation on the planet, who hold that Asharin was created from nothingness and then terraformed by the Pantheon. According to common belief, humanity was created by the Gods only a handful of millenia ago. The Empire of the Highlands takes this a step further, and within its borders, belief in the ‘Blue Planet Heresy’ is punishable by hard labor and death. The Shaa themselves are considered enemies of the state, and when the new Emperor came to power, they were hounded out of the Empire in a series of pogroms that continue to this day.

The Shaa, however, persist, as they always have. 

Shaa are genetically related to humans, though there is no such thing as a half-Shaa. The child of a Shaa and a human is either a Shaa or a human, based on whether or not they inherit their Shaa parent’s psionic abilities. Physically, Shaa appear human, and they share the full range of human skin tones, hair, and eye colors, though they occasionally have radiant, almost glowing blue eyes.

Ability Scores: Distribute a +1 and a +2 bonus between two different ability scores.  Mental Discipline. You have advantage on saving throws against the charmed and frightened conditions, as well as against any effect that originates from a Far Realm creature or an aberration. At 11th level, you become immune to charm effects. Telepathy: All Shaa are naturally psionic, the result of genetic tampering forced on them in the Black Empire. You can communicate with willing targets telepathically, so long as they are within 60ft of you and you can see them. You can communicate with other races, but a non-Shaa cannot respond unless they are also psionic and creatures with an Intelligence of 5 or less may not be able to comprehend your thoughts. Your innate psionic senses also give you an eye for fated strikes, your attacks critically hit on a roll of (19 - 20). Shaa Psionics: You know the mage hand cantrip and you can use it at will, as though you were a spellcaster with a level equal to your total hit dice. The hand is invisible. You gain access to additional psionics at the following levels: 1st: id insinuation, 3rd: shield, 5th: see invisibility, 7th: protection from energy, 9th: fabricate, 11th: telekinesis. Using these abilities requires no material components, and you regain the ability to use them after a long rest. Your version of protection from energy can protect against psychic damage.  Otherworldly Attunement: You resist psychic and force damage. Pierce the Veil: You can pass into the Other Land in places where the barrier between worlds is weak. Doing so typically requires a full minute of concentration to make the passage. The energies of the Other Land are not harmful to you (though the inhabitants may be), and you can remain there indefinitely.

[elegyrain]

Scarce Heard, Amid the Guns Below

Much can be said about the Great War Against the Dead, and almost all of it is a stain on the historical record. Although it occurred many years before the start of the campaign, the fallout from it informs numerous modern events.

The Great War Against the Dead was the worst disaster in modern history (and it is surpassed only by the Godfall when all of history is considered). The cost in human lives, territory, land, and damage to the planet were insurmountable. Historians generally agree that it began as a border conflict between the nation of Shunar and Valdinor’s newly emerging Empire.

Throughout their existence, the nations of Shunar and Valdinor had been at odds with each other, erupting into open warfare after the fall of Azurant. Each nation saw itself as the new world superpower, with Shunar’s navy and control of the Inner Sea pitted against Valdinor’s technology and impressive military might. Both nations possessed stockpiles of Age of Wonders weaponry, and the world held its breath, fearing what would happen if these armories were unleashed.

These fears came to pass in RY 162, when Shunar activated a weapon it could not control. The energies from the weapon killed every living soul exposed to them, firing three times in total. Shunar was wiped out in an instant, along with the nation of Eshaya, and three of the provinces of Western Valdinor. The death toll has been historically estimated at 260 million, but in the modern day, many believe the figure should be much higher. In the modern day, this weapon has come to be called the Deathsong, as those far enough from the epicenter of the blast to have seen it or heard it go off have described it as weaponized music.

The disaster would have been horrific enough on its own, but as the people of the Highlands reeled in the aftermath and tried to make sense of what had happened, the first attacks by the dead began.

At first, these attacks seemed random, but it soon became apparent that every person killed by the weapon had returned as an undead creature, and they swarmed across the borders of the Free States and Valdinor as a wave, hundreds of millions strong.

The military quickly discovered that the souls of those who had died in the weapon’s cataclysm were unable to return to the cycle of reincarnation. Worse, they could inhabit bodies which were not their own, or twist together into horrifying amalgams of partial corpses. To make matters worse, if the vengeful dead were particularly strong-willed, they could manifest as ghosts or other incorporeal undead without any need for a physical corpse to inhabit — meaning that even complete cremation could not end the threat. Several months into the war, the first nightgaunts were encountered, and humanity had its first brush with these intelligent, malevolent undead.

The dead marched inexorably across the continent, whipped into an unholy frenzy and urged on by the nightgaunts, heading for the Holy Mountain. Several attempts were made to evacuate civilians in their path, with only limited success. In the most infamous of these botched evacuation attempts, the Empress, Jes Harra, was killed in a botched artillery strike. Kajar, whose historical relationship with Valdinor had always bordered on hostility, allied with them in a desperate attempt to hold back the tides of the dead.

In the Free States, it did not take long for the citizens there to realize an obvious truth - that no individual nation could hope to stand against the dead. They would fall one by one, subsumed into the undead armies until the southern front collapsed completely and nothing stood between the dead and the slopes of the Holy Mountain. From this knowledge came the Union of St. Othea, at first three, then eight, then twenty-seven tiny nations and disparate city-states who unified into one whole around a military allegiance. Many other states declared temporary allegiance to the new nation of ‘Othea’, whose leadership was located in the city of Sen-Sayah, and what would have been impossible for one became possible for the whole. The border between the deadlands of Eshaya and Free States held, though hundreds of lives were spent each day to hold it.

Then, in RY 165, a miracle, at least, it seemed that way to the people of the time. The Emperor and the White Registry unveiled an unprecedented invention, the first great artifact built since the Age of Wonders, a spirit-catching repository that they called the Soulcatcher. While the magic behind it is not well understood, the Soulcatcher blankets the world in a field of magic that draws any souls who are unable to reincarnate inside. When an undead creature is ‘disrupted’ (usually by being physically destroyed, but occasionally by being turned or exorcised with a ritual or spell), the soul (or souls) animating it cannot flee into a new body, and instead are pulled into the Soulcatcher.

Initially, the purpose behind the Soulcatcher was genuinely humane — it allowed the military to make gains against the undead forces, as well as preserving the traumatized souls of the weapon's victims for future purification and return to the proper cycle of reincarnation. Purification, however, proved more difficult than the Registrars had imagined — those who had been killed by the Deathsong weapon were unable to reincarnate, and no divine or arcane intervention appeared possible. The best the White Registry managed was a host of failed experiments on human souls (which, after great public outcry, the Emperor and Magisterium banned in early RY 167).

Even with this new innovation, which had at last allowed the armies of the Highlands to make a dent in the undead numbers, it quickly became apparent that Valdinor, Kajar, and the Free States could not field soldiers quickly enough to win the War. To this end, the Emperor granted the White Registry leave to create artificial soldiers from the souls captured by the Soulcatcher, clay mined from the Godscar, and a series of secret spells and reagents. These soldiers, called 'Alchemcials' could be created, trained, and sent to the field in a matter of months, their souls absorbed back into the Soulcatcher when they died. The use of Alchemical soldiers proved so effective that they continue to be employed by the Imperial military in the modern day.

It took three more years to push the armies of the dead out of the Highlands. In the winter of RY 168, the war ended in victory by only the most generous definition of ‘victory’. The continent was in ruins, with huge swaths of it unreclaimable and given over to the dead. Millions had been displaced, and plague swept through communities of survivors with starvation on its heels. Valdinor’s military had been massacred, out of every thirty soldiers, twenty-nine had died fighting. The economy was in shambles, and trade between nations ground to a halt. The final death toll is usually accepted at 340 million, but this number is political, controversial and highly contested, considered by most experts to be quite low.

To the shock of much of the continent, Othea did not dissolve after the end of the War. It had been forged for wartime, but its leaders were able to navigate the transition into peace better than anyone had imagined. Experts and intellectuals from across the Free States traveled to Sen-Sayah to advise the Othean leadership, who would, following the war, be chosen in free elections. On the advice of these experts, Othea began funding a barrier of consecrated land that separated the Free States from the deadlands. This project, called the Reclamation, is the largest public works project in history - even considering the Age of Wonders, and it stretches from the Inner Sea to the Southern Sea, holding back the tides of the dead. A wonder for the modern age.

Meanwhile, in the North, faith in the Emperor and Valdinor’s leadership plummeted. Cities erupted into open rebellion, and the Magisterial Director was assassinated by a bomb in RY 170. In RY 171, Survivors from Valdinor’s military refused to serve the Emperor, with bolder men going so far as to point out how convenient the solution of the Soulcatcher was, that there were no Shunari demi-gods (so then who had activated the weapon in the first place?), and that perhaps the Emperor had allowed the disaster to occur, in order to sweep Jes Harra and the other heads of state aside.

Unsatisfied with the Emperor and the Senate's leadership, and (perhaps rightly) furious at the mismanagement of the Imperial Army during the War, discontented officers, the leaders of former Valdinoran states, and key members of the Black and White Registries led a military-backed rebellion (or a coup attempt, depending on an individuals perspective) in RY 172. Their attempt failed, and in retaliation the Emperor purged both the Senate and most of the former royal families, leaving no power in Valdinor other than his own.

The continent troubles were not yet over, for In the East, the Queen of Belar became concerned about the health of her citizens (many of whom suffered from degenerative conditions from mining Godscar clay) as well as with Valdinor's growing military presence and the lack of any checks on the Emperor's powers. At her word, heavy taxes were placed on the sale of godflesh, and the Queen strictly controlled how much could be sold and to whom. The Emperor made a few, half-hearted attempts at negotiation before turning to the still-imprisoned leader of the coup, Hermann Augustus Graf. In exchange for the Godscar, the Emperor offered Graf as much of the Free States as he could conquer. The disgraced officer would be free to do as he pleased, the ruler of a small Empire within an Empire, so long as nothing restricted the export of godflesh and the production of Alchemical soldiers.

Graf agreed, and his war against Belar was short, brutal, and exceptionally cruel, even as Imperial wars went, ending with murder of the Queen and the firebombing of the province of Lozarov. Despite the outcry from Imperial citizens and the condemnation of Graf's actions by the Kajari priesthoods, the Emperor kept his promise. Graf and his officers withdrew to the Godscar, naming their new province Sancrist, and they built a fortress called Blacktower from which they oversee the extraction of godflesh and the creation and training of the Alchemicals. In the decades that followed, many attempts have been made to oust Graf from power, though all have failed, and Belar remains under his heel even today...

[elegyrain]

The Death Cult of the Stag

Following the Great War Against the Dead, a cult that followed the Stag Who Hunts Men emerged among the surviving Valdinoran military officers, of whom few remained.

These men sought a way to release the victims of the Deathsong from the curse of undeath and return their souls to the cycle of reincarnation. In order to do so, they took the dramatic step of self-initiating into a Reaper cult, and more surprisingly, the Stag took notice of them, allegedly teaching them how to pass into the underworld, how to sever the souls of those who had been too horrifically maimed to pass on, and many other secrets about hunting the dead.

Valdinor is a secular nation, and while the powers that rule there will quietly look the other way for some offences, worships of the Reapers remains highly illegal. To publicly be a member of the Death Cult of the Stag is to invite arrest, censure, and execution, but nonetheless, the Cult persists, even in the modern day, seeking a way to save those that even the Gods have given up on.

Adherents tot he Cult must be male and must be Valdinoran. They are forbidden from committing suicide, from refusing to perform sendings (even for dire enemies), and they are called to destroy the undead wherever they find them.

[elegyrain]

Reapers, the Dark Patrons

Reapers first began appearing about a century after the Godfall, though it’s long been theorized that they were created (or emerged) during the Godfall and only attracted humanity’s attention later.

For the most part, the Reapers are vanishing and reclusive. They shun contact with humanity and typically the living only catch brief glances of them. Cultural attitudes towards the Reapers vary widely. In places they’re seen as minor deities, troublesome or benevolent spirits, or dangerous boogeymen, and their purpose on Asharin is not well understood.

Research into the nature of Reapers is difficult. No Reaper has ever been captured and held prisoner long enough to be studied or questioned, though a handful of individuals have managed to scan them with magic or psionics and the results were, to say the least, disquieting. The most popular belief currently is that Reapers are a symptom of the planet’s Godscar disease. Another theory is that when the Fallen God died, he fragmented into pieces, which in turn, manifested as the Reapers, a cadre of dark, lesser Gods. The theory goes on to suggest that these mysterious beings represent important components of his being or distinct aspects of his personality.

Reapers are believed to attend the deaths of every individual on Asharin (often while invisible or at a distance, so as not to attract attention), with each one having a ‘specialty’. An unknown number of Reapers exist, but the four most well-known are described below.

The Stag Who Hunts Men

Standing twenty feet tall at the shoulder with eyes full of darkness and stars, the Stag Who Hunts Men is the Reaper of those who die of old age or natural causes. The Stag is ceaseless, untiring, and implacable - no matter how strong a man is, how wise, or how fast, the Stag will catch up with him eventually and return his bones to the earth. Most cultures on Asharin consider the Stag to be an important part of the natural cycle, moving souls from life to death, from death to the River of Souls, and from the River of Souls back to life. Petrus Illustrianus, the First Paladin, used the Stag’s skull in his personal heraldry, and his Chapter, the Nightbreakers, still use it today. The Death Cult of the Stag, a secret society for Valdinoran military officers, allegedly worships the Stag through the use of clandestine rituals. Finally, the Stag is sometimes depicted as a confidant and advisor to Lunarus, and an ally of Asharin’s Druids.

Conductor Black

Sometimes called Director Black or Controller Black, Conductor Black is the God of Murder and the Wartime Dead. Of all the Reapers, he is the most human and approachable, often finding that he is unable to render himself invisible. He has a tendency to appear in paintings, photographs, and (extremely disturbingly) psychic recordings or magical impressions of historical events — especially events with high body counts —  even if he was not present originally. Black’s fascination with mortals is well known, and when compared to the other Reapers, he interacts with humanity quite often. He has been a muse and companion to artists, and he appears as a character in several famous novels and plays. According to some accounts, he has even taken human lovers from time to time, and he supposedly has sired numerous illegitimate offspring. Pacts with Black result in the creation of Freischütz, and his interest in the art of gunslinging is well documented.

Our Lady of Plagues

Stately, imperious, and somber, Our Lady hides her face with a mask and comes to retrieve those who die of sickness and disease. Always appearing to be in a hurry, she is never without her coat, gloves, and her case of otherworldly medical tools, and she is sometimes known as the Crow Physician. No living human has seen her face, and she is alternately thought to be breathtakingly beautiful or to have been horrifically ravaged by every known disease. She speaks to humans less often than Black, and is far less concerned about their well-being, but on rare occasions, she has offered advice or insight to doctors.

Hunger

A monstrosity that stands two hundred feet tall, Hunger appears as a withered black skeleton, to which tattered ribbons of flesh cling. Violent, raging, and utterly mad, it collects the souls of those who die of starvation, thirst, or neglect, and catching a glimpse of it is said to incite humans to cannibalism. Thankfully, it seems to keep its distance from humanity, but in art and literature, it is often depicted as holding the whip that drives the undead to consume human flesh. Hunger is known to obsessively engage in geophagy, and bizarre damage to the environment in remote areas (such cliffs or hills that were clawed to pieces) are sometimes attributed to Hunger’s violent outbursts by Asharin’s Druids.

[elegyrain]

(days ago - iron rails and brass wires)

AO3 Link

Early in the morning, before even the earliest shifts in the mines, Marcus Enderin stood on Corrine’s Bridge and watched his men pull a body from the canals.

The air was cool, and frost collected in the places where the shadows fell heaviest. It was late autumn, winter soon, and it would be a long one, if the fortune-tellers who would read the weather for a penny were to be believed.

Though Marcus, like many of the people of the time, had no idea just how long.

Korvosa was not large or powerful enough to dirty her hands with international politics. He doubted that most of the city-state’s citizens knew the lay of the land beyond the bordering nation of Rouheim, and Korvosa did not send diplomats far and wide or make her presence known on distant shores.

The Empire, which stood astride the world like a colossus, was different. Imperial diplomats attended the courts of every nation on the planet, and Imperial citizens traveled far and wide. A great network of iron rails and brass wires allowed them to enforce their will across the continent, and mighty ships ferried their soldiers across the South Seas, to Sudar.

Few nations were wealthy enough to maintain their own Relay stations, so the Relays played Imperial music, hosted Imperial speakers and intellectuals, and broadcast Imperial politics. At any hour of the day, a man of the Free States could tune in and listen to as much Imperial propaganda as he could stomach, and Marcus sometimes wondered why everyone pretended it was a shock each time a city-state was dissolved into the Imperial borders.

Korvosa’s exports were of incredible value to the Empire, but she was too physically distant to simply absorb. This would be the outcome if it ever came to that, Marcus was under no illusions about his nation’s ability to resist an Imperial invasion. Other Free States had been conquered in the past. In Belar, by far the strongest and largest, the war had lasted nineteen days. Lozarov, who had bragged that the men of the Imperial Army would be hunted like deer in their forests, had been firebombed into dust by the Black Registry. Parvell had surrendered after only a single day of fighting. It was the logistics of Korvosa’s location and the persistent Imperial fear of the Free States uniting that had thus far spared them.

Instead, the Empire hoped that Korvosa would join them willingly. After that happened, it was just a matter of crushing the states between them and opening a corridor back to the Imperial Heartland.

Eodred I, when he had been alive, had liked to take Imperial money but disliked Imperial demands. He had resisted every attempt to allow the Imperials to gain a greater foothold, restricting them to exporting fathom stone and little else. The Varuni called him the ‘Tiger of the West’ and although Eodred I had lived before Marcus’ time, the officer had a great respect for the former King. 

Eodred’s son had not been the man his father was, and he greatly expanded the Imperial presence in Korvosa, allowing them to build an embassy, advise the Senate, and station soldiers in the city. It had been the Imperial military who had kept him on his throne when the export of fathom stone had tripled to meet the High Imperial Capital’s demands, and mining disasters and dangerously long shifts had strained the tolerance of the citizens to their limit.

However, Marcus did even have the pleasure of dealing with Eodred’s son, who had also lived before his time. The King of Marcus’ time was Eodred II, who shared his grandfather's name and none of his heroic qualities. In fact, the less said about Eodred II, the better. 

The people of Korvosa often joked that the best thing their King could do for them would be to die, and it seemed that at long last, Eodred II intended to oblige them. A mysterious illness had confined the King to his bed, and the royal physicians could only speculate on its origins. Although Marcus was publicly a civil servant, the officer privately believed that the King’s… fixation on very young girls had brought Lunarus to Korvosa in disguise, and that Eodred’s wasting sickness was a product of her wrath.

It would explain the frustration of the royal physicians, at least.

There was movement at the end of the bridge, and Marcus saw the line of officers part to admit the Imperial Commander, Hölderlin.

Hölderlin was tall and narrow, with dark hair and sharp, hawkish features. He might have been called handsome at one point, but one side of his face was marred with scars he had gotten during the War, and his expression was grim, distant, and cold.

Hölderlin’s arrival at this hour of the morning and his interest in the dead man were both a surprise to Marcus, but he nodded to his counterpart.

“Commandant,” said Hölderlin, as he came to stand next to Marcus. He spoke in Valdinoran, the language of the Empire, and despite the hour his uniform was pressed and crisp, as though it had just been brought back from the cleaners. Marcus wondered if Hölderlin ever slept. “I heard you found a man in the canals.”

“We did,” said Marcus, answering in the Imperial language, though he wanted to ask just how Hölderlin had heard that. “Not the first this year. But I take it that there’s something about this one that’s of interest to you?”

“I also heard someone had–” Hölderlin considered. “Cut off his face.”

Marcus felt himself grinding his teeth, even as he wondered who the mole was. Not for the first time, he cursed Alexander Tarn.

“Don’t be upset,” said Hölderlin, and took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put one between his lips and lit it with a match. The head of the Imperial forces smoked as though he had something against his lungs. “It’s my business to know things.”

Shaking out the match, Hölderlin flicked it over the edge of the bridge, into the waters below.

“May I see the body?” he asked. A command, phrased as a question.

“Of course,” said Marcus, for there was no other answer, and the two men descended the narrow access on the side of the bridge.

A cluster of junior officers surrounded the dead man and Marcus waved them off so that he and Hölderlin could get a better look.

After a few days in the canal, the flesh of the corpse was bloated and gray-white, and what was left of his clothing hung from him in tatters. His left arm was missing above the elbow, but that injury seemed almost trivial compared to the gory mess of his face.

There were other details that the water had not entirely washed away. The man had been young, in his early twenties, perhaps, and in fantastic shape. He could have been a runner or a boxer, if not for the unfortunate fact that he was dead. He might have jumped from the bridge, or been pushed from behind, because the knuckles of his remaining hand were clean and smooth. He had not been injured defending himself. A few tufts of blonde hair clung to the fragments of his skull, but there was no hope of identifying him.

Blood was everywhere on the man’s ruined shirt, like a grisly bib. The wound to his face had, horrifyingly, happened while he was still alive, or just after he died. In contrast, there was almost no blood on the man’s missing arm. It had been taken later, and the cut was clean. Someone had hacked it off with a blade.

“Commandant,” said Hölderlin.

Marcus glanced at him.

“Can we speak in private?” Hölderlin glanced at the Watch forces, who were milling about.

Curious about what the situation demanded privacy for, Marcus got the lead officer’s attention and pointed back up the stairs. The man nodded in return, and the Watch patrolmen cleared out, leaving the two officers and the dead man alone on the bank. The canal crawled past in front of them, the waters sluggish and dark.

Hölderlin took a long drag from his cigarette and flicked it into the water. “He was a Magistrate.”

Marcus felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

“The Imperial secret police?” he asked, glancing at Hölderlin, incredulous. “Here? How can you know?”

Hölderlin went to the corpse and knelt down, turning the dead man’s remaining hand over, forcing the fingers open to display the palm. There were faint blue scars on his skin, barely visible.

“What does that prove?” asked Marcus.

“Spellfire scars,” Hölderlin said, rising to his feet. “Feedback from a caster shell.”

“Nothing else causes it?”

“Nothing else,” said Hölderlin.

“But what was he doing here?” Marcus asked. 

“I can assure you, Commandant,” said Hölderlin, “I don’t know. Whatever he was carrying must have been of immense value, for someone to risk attacking him.”

“How will the Magisterium take this?” Marcus asked. “Politically?”

“I think that, for now,” said Hölderlin, “it would be best for both of our careers if Lord High Director didn’t find out about this.”

“I see,” said Marcus.

For a time, they stood there in silence.

“A vagrant fell from the bridge, the fish in the canal ate his face. Case closed.” Hölderlin gestured with one hand. “No one else has seen the body, other than your men?”

Marcus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No one else.”

Hölderlin watched the river. “They can be trusted?”

Marcus nodded.

“Then, if you can solve this problem for me,” said Hölderlin, “perhaps there’s a problem I can solve for you.”

[elegyrain]

A dye shop, for all your dye shop needs.

Dimensions are 34 x 30 on Roll20.

[elegyrain]

Banners

While transformed, celestial God-Blooded have halos inscribed with a short phrase or even a single word that relates to their personality or, in some cases, to their destiny. This phrase is called the character's banner. In the Age of Wonders, terrestrial God-Blooded had such banners as well, though in the modern day, it is rare for terrestrials in the Highlands to manifest halos and banners.

In the case of terrestrials , their banners manifest when they use mingle with the wind (air), call to the wave (water), reach to the flame (fire), and merge with stone (earth), as well as when they use their 5th level abilities.

Normally, a character's banner is written the first time they transform and remains unchanged throughout their lifetime. However, characters who undergo significant personality growth, or who experience events that alter their worldview, often find that their banners have changed to reflect their new outlook.

[elegyrain]

Various residences, used for specific things in my D&D games but they're generic enough to be anything. A townhouse, a gentleman's club, an inn, and a small apartment.

Dimensions are 34 x 29, 30 x 40, 38 x 30, and 24 x 20 on Roll20.

[elegyrain]

Jakob Aprilis

Age: 181 Race: Human (Fallen God-Blooded) Nationality: Bellish Class: Fighter/Phantom Rogue Level: 16th  Sign: The Raven

Widely regarded as one of the most famous monster hunters in history, Jakob Aprilis is the leader of the Black God's Guard, a monster-hunting secret society who stand watch at the Godscar, hunting the horrors that emerge from it to protect the rest of humanity. After the destruction of Belar in the War, and the seizure of the Godscar by Hermann Graf and his men, the Black God's Guard became a resistance movement, harrying the Imperials and trying to drive them out of the East.

In addition to his monster-hunting exploits, Jakob is also famous for having robbed the Underworld. When his wife, Mays, was killed during a monster-hunting expedition, Jakob lied, tricked, and fought his way into the Underworld, boarded one of Conductor Black's trains, found his wife, and escaped with her back into the world of the living. Whether or not historians are conflating truth with legend is unclear, though it's true that Jakob did possess a number of gunsmithing documents penned by Black, and that he used them to manufacture a godslaying weapon called the Red Raven, the only such weapon to have been created in the modern day.

His fate after these events is murky. Some of his allies claim he is still alive and leading the Resistance, while others claim he was murdered by Hermann Graf, or spirited away to Blacktower, where the Imperials are trying to torture the divine secrets of gunsmithing out of him.

Jakob has the elohim affliction, which causes him to appear monstrous and terrifying while transformed. His halo is made of soulforged iron and black glass, and reads 'Do Not Be Afraid'.

[elegyrain]

Aspects of Water 

Water Aspected God-Blooded are the children of Laentis, the Goddess of Water, Fall, Healing, and Family. Laentis is the eldest member of the Pantheon, and she is often depicted as a stately, handsome matriarch from the islands of the Great Western Ocean. Water God-Blooded tend to be insightful, responsible, and grounded - the ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’ friend of any group. 

Most Water Aspects are fit and well-balanced, with physiques like swimmers. Their skin tones include the normal human range, as well as a variety of blues and greens. They often have blue or green hair, which seems to float freely, as though they were underwater. Some Water Aspects smell of the ocean or of petrichor, and they occasionally have visible gills, fins, or patterns on their skin that resemble swirling whirlpools, rain, or waves. In the West, these ‘water features’ are considered to be the sign of natural leaders.

Ability Scores: Distribute a +1 and a +2 bonus between two different ability scores. 

Elemental Heritage: If you can cast spells, add the following spells to your spell lists.

1st: ice knife, create or destroy water 2nd: healing spirit, lesser restoration  3rd: create food and water, tidal wave 4th: control water, aura of life 5th: cone of cold, mass cure wounds

Call to the Wave: You know the shape water cantrip and you can cast it at will. Once per day, you can tap into the power of your divine blood and use a bonus action to briefly assume a watery form that lasts for one minute. While in this form, difficult terrain does not cost you extra movement, and your fluid, protean body cannot be paralyzed or restrained. You regain the use of this ability after a long rest. You may activate this ability while you are already paralyzed or restrained, and doing so ends any such effects.

Amphibious: You can breathe both air and water. You have a swim speed of 30ft.

Cold Blooded: You resist cold and acid damage.

Master of the Sea: At 5th level, you can call on your divine heritage to heal others. You can concentrate briefly to release a burst of elemental power that restores vitality and knits wounds closed. This restores [2d10 + your highest ability modifier] hit points (or 3d10 at 7th, 4d10 at 11th, 5d10 at 14th level, and 6d10 at 16th level) to a number of targets equal to twice your highest ability score bonus.