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Loving this path so far, but since Golarion is a new setting for some of my players, I wanted them to know about some of the events that shaped the land where they are adventuring. I felt that there should be someone to explain some of the reasons why things are the way that they are, as well as providing background information on some of the people that the PCs meet. Somewhat inspired by the Prologue of Fellowship and the Erebor scenes from 'The Hobbit' I thought a Galadriel-like narrative detailing the history of Ustalav would prove enlightening to my players. I plan on reading this history as a narrative from Alpon Caromarc at the beginning of the third module, helping me foreshadow some of the things that they'll face in modules 3-6. What is below is taken from the Inner SeaWorld Guide, Rule of Fear, and the AP itself. I'm pretty sure the content is accurate to canon, though if anyone sees any errors, let me know!
It can be said that the earliest inhabitants that we know of were the ancient Kellids. They were a superstitious lot who worshiped things far older than our present pantheon. For untold years, they lay claim to these lands, still evidenced by their ancient runes and standing stones. All things change though, and the Kellid tribes' dominion over the area was no different.
Over 7 millenia ago, the legendary hero Soivida Ustav drove the Kellid tribes from the region. Though possessed of strange powers bestowed by their inhuman deities, the Kellids stood no chance against the forged steel and formulated spell-power of Ustav's company. Victorious, he claimed and divided the country amongst his allies and lieutenants, who passed their holdings onto their descendents in turn. This created the foundations of the country of Ustalav, a loosely knit union of supporters who eventually forgot the reason for their purpose of unity. 500 years of tentative peace passed, but as more Varisians became integrated amongst the people of the country, the more disputes over familial rights came into play. Some of these conflicts, particularly ones centering around land holdings, escalated into of open conflicts. Rather than face civil war, the then-appointed King Kaldemov divided the country into sixteen regions, each controlled by the most influential families. This created a lasting peace, one that would endure for nearly 3,000 years. Again, all thing change, and the glory days of Ustalav were no different.
Tar Baphon, known today as The Whispering Tyrant, was once a mortal wizard, born some 6,000 years ago. It is said that in life he was born of greatness, possessed of an incredibly gifted mind that also bore the cruelty of detachment. It is perhaps this cold, calculating mindset that led him to the arcane arts and more specifically, Necromancy. Dozens of conflicting tales are remembered about his rise to power, that he murdered his professors at his arcane academy and then brought back them back as undead so they might continue to teach him; that he turned an entire city into a town of zombies overnight, that his undead could not be harmed by all but the most powerful clerics, that he could alter reality on a whim. His power began to rise, for with each horror he committed, his dead foes would rise up to join his ranks. Eventually, he began to amass a small army that in turn began to swell into a legion. As the numbers grew, so did his necromantic prowess, for each victory afforded him new test material. Furthermore, as word of his atrocities traveled, dark souls sought him out to learn from him and in turn teach him new secrets. However, as his power and might grew, so did his hubris. In an act of supreme arrogance, Tar Baphon attempted to utilize his great magic to lure the god of Humanity down to fight him, whether to simply destroy him or to supplant him is not known. The histories speak of a great battle fought on The Isle of Terror, many leagues south of here, a battle where the combined might of the-then-great nation of Taldor and a manifestation of Aroden himself came forth to battle Tar Baphon. Aroden is recorded to have mortally wounded him, but it is believed that the wizard king somehow used his necromancy to survive and to retreat to the depths of The Isle of Terror. Some say, particularly The Whispering Way, that Tar Baphon succeeded in the end, and it simply took him a few millenia to accomplish his goal. Nonetheless, all trace of Tar Baphon vanished for nearly 2,000 years. When he returned, he had at some point made the transition between life and death, reappearing as the most powerful Lich Golarion has ever known. Again, all things change, and Tar Baphon was no different.
In the year 3203, Tar Baphon reappeared as the leader of the orcs in The Hold of Belkzen. Having somehow united all of the constantly warring orc tribes into one force, Tar Baphon, whose name soon became known as The Whispering Tyrant, began to raise a force that no country was prepared to withstand. Some say that after his defeat and during his long absence, it was The Whispering Way that taught him the deepest secrets of necromancy and how to pass between the threshold of life and death. Whatever the case, his power was greater than any spellcaster the world has seen, as he summoned forth legions of ancient dead to join with the already swelling orc horde. Leading his armies were the most powerful undead known to exist, the Nightshades. These creatures of unliving darkness exist only to see the world consumed of life, and few could stand before the apocalyptic onslaught that these terrors wrought. Ustalav was the first country to face The Whispering Tyrant's wrath, as he began his assault with the siege of the Grodlych, a n Ustalavic county now part of the nation of Lastwall. He then spread eastward towards the capital, quickly taking the land of Virlych from its former owner, a count whose name is stricken from all records. It is believed that the nameless count sold the Whispering Tyrant the lives of his people and his city in exchange for wealth and freedom. Whatever the case, Adorak became The Tyrant's new capital and the staging point for the rest of his conquest. From there, dozens of great heroes perished as they tried to wrest the Lich's control of the land from him. This culiminated with the loss of the heir to the throne, Prince Ardurras Virholt II, as he rode forth to confront the Lich Lord with his undead-destroying blade, Corpselight, only to be felled by the Lich's powerful magic and reanimated as an undead blasphemy. The entire nation, at the backing of the church of Pharasma, led a crusade to destroy the Lich King. This crusade, comprised of holy warriors and crusaders, were lead by Pharasma's High Arch-Bishop at-the-time, Prince Adamondais Virholt, who wielded the holy artifact Raven's Head.Even with this divine relic and their strength of purpose, the crusade was slaughtered to the man when they attempted to march upon Gallowspire, the Tyrant's seat of power. Further betrayal occurred within the very heartland of Ustalav itself, when the powerful wizard known as Socorro, a well respected scholar and leader in the town of Carrion Hill, lead an uprising that butchered thousands of citizens in the name of the Tyrant. Beset from within and from without, the fractured counties of Ustalav crumbled to the assaults of the monstrous hordes. By 3206, The Whispering Tyrant had secured all of Ustalav. A final stand was made at The Battle of Dawnmarsh by the last King of Ustalav, King Ardruras Virholt, a massacre where he and his company were slain to the last . The fallen king, reanimated as the grim jongleur called the Shrieking Sovreign, preceded the Tyrant's legions into the capital city of Ardis where he crushed all hope by hanging himself from the Palace Tower. With the destruction of the noble line, the annihilation of the armies, and the eradication of the church from the land, The Whispering Tyrant made Ustalav his seat of power, spreading from there like a cancer across Golarion. For 6 centuries he ruled the land in fear, uncontested. However, all things change, and even the mightiest wizards can fall when they have enough enemies.
Two elements contested the Tyrant's rule from within the country's borders, two supernatural elements that had long resided within the nation, Ustalav's vampires and werewolves. The nation's vampires, having long established themselves within its cities, found themselves at odds with the purposes of The Whispering Way and its most powerful member, for a world devoid of life was a world devoid of blood. This split the vampires into two factions, those that supported The Tyrant and those that did not. Powerful enough to not be beneath the Lich's notice, a purge of the vampires not loyal to The Tyrant was lead by the vampire lord, Malyas. This further schismed the vampires into warring factions, and a number of them escaped to other countries where they spent centuries rousing forces against the Lich King. How much of the vampires' influence might be responsible for the campaign launched against him centuries later is unknown, but the absence of vampires amongst his forces during the final years of his rule suggests that the vampires eventually withdrew their support from the Tyrant's forces. All things change, and loyalty from something centuries or millenia old is always a questionable gamble.
The nation's Werewolves are believed to be the descendents of Kellid tribes who were never fully driven from the region, people who hid amongst the unassailable Shudderwood and over the years integrated themselves and their customs amongst the Ustalav populace. Some of these customs and religions are very old and blur the line between man and beast. For those of their ancient line, the curse of Lycanthropy is seen as a hereditary blessing, one passed on by the blood of their ancestors. Indeed, what few accounts of the werewolves of the Shudderwood exist depict re-enactment of old Kellid rituals and gatherings around their old standing stones. Despite their old bloodlines, a number of them had relatives and friends who were citizens of the country, if not lords. When the Tyrant invaded Ustalav and killed the two sons of King Ardurras Virholt, his bastard Prince Andriadus Virholt was selected to be the next heir of the crown. Rather than accepting the crown's responsibility of leading what little forces were left on a suicide mission against The Tyrant, the Bastard Prince retreated to the Shudderwood, where he went about a campaign of rousing the forests's Lycanthropes against The Tyrant, recruiting the lycanthropic Sczarni in a shadow war against the Lich. Even years after the Lich's complete control of Ustalav, the Shudderwood can never truly be considered to be within his grasp. Even to this day, few tread into the deeper parts of the forest for fear of what ancient things lay undisturbed. As for the Prince, it is said this his blood mingled with that of the ancient shapeshifters, and that even now, some Lycanthropes can trace their blood back to the first king of the realm. The werewolves were thus the staunchest enemies of the Whispering Tyrant and his forces until something changed, the completion of The Shining Crusade.
At last, after years of horror piled upon atrocities, the people of Avistan began to resist. Spurred on by righteous indignation at the blasphemies within Tar Baphon's kingdom, the nation of Taldor began what is known as The Shining Crusade. Besides Taldor, the crusade was comprised of dwarves from the kingdom of Kraggodan and the Knights of Ozem, a dedicated order of Iomedaen paladins, clerics, and other holy warriors. For 26 years the crusade fought a long and bloody path to the heart of Ustalav, where lead by Taldan General Arnisant, they emerged at the gates of Adorak, the Lich's capital city. Many legendary battles were fought in the campaign to reclaim the land from darkness, and in the end, the crusaders succeeded. There before the Lich's stronghold of Gallowspire, General Arnisant sacrificed his very life to finally defeat the Lich, destroying The Tyrant and himself in a final, epic battle. Yet despite his destruction, Tar Baphon's spirit remained intact. Given enough time, the Lich would rebuild his body and begin his conquest of terror anew. Rather than face their foe again with a less certain outcome, the remaining crusaders and holy warriors utilized their most powerful magics to create a prison for Tar Baphon, an oubliette to hold their enemy for all time. Even to this day, almost 4,000 years later, the prison still supposedly contains Tar Baphon within it, left to plot his revenge against the world of the living...
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I think it's cool that you've prepped this! However, here's something to be careful about:
You know your players best, but be careful that they don't get bored or zone out while you're reading to them. Maybe you could encourage them to ask the Count some questions about the history, so they're a little more engaged.
You've got about 2,000 words here. If you read at a normal speed of about 150-200 words per minute, you'll be talking for at least ten minutes, maybe closer to 15. Think about whether your players will want to listen for that long. Plus, resist the temptation to speed up in your reading, because that will just make it worse for your players.
Most importantly, don't surprise them with this. If they're expecting to be actively roleplaying and instead they get a ten minute speech, they're likely going to be frustrated. So even if you do decide to just read this to them straight, let them know what's coming beforehand.
My players are pretty role-play heavy and like knowing all the details about the world around them, so for them it should work. Nonetheless,you have a point about the length, so I think that I'll add in some musical tracks to accompany the different parts written (so its more like a narrative movie than a boring monologue). Thanks for advice!
I might even suggest recording it and sending them the file to listen to prior to the first session. Describe it to each of them as one of the many history lessons that the professor used to spontaneously burst into. That way they are integrating it into their backgrounds rather than using up game time.
Not yet, we just wrapped up a mini-story arc for our Kingmaker game (The Harrowing, which is awesome) and are going to the do the last few sessions of "Savage Tide" (starting with a fight against a certain death knight). Once these are wrapped, our group is going to get back into 'Carrion Crown", where I plan on using this in the first session of Broken Moon. I'll let you know how it goes.. (probably within a week or two).
Well, you guys were right about the length. In the game, I ended up skipping the final paragraph about the Shining Crusade and paraphrased a little bit with the Werewolf section. I'm used to speaking for a long time, but it was hard maintain rhythm towards the end. Still, it worked, and here's why-
-I warned the players before-hand about a monologue that I would read to let them know what they were in for.
-I emphasized with tone and emotion at different points, such as the fall of the noble line during the coming of the Tyrant. This helped convey some the feelings of loss and despair that the country felt.
-I used a score of music that I handpicked for the reading, with each musical track corresponding to a different paragraph.
-I allowed them to intermittently ask questions of the Count in between the paragraphs, flushing out some details.
My players all still seemed to like it, particularly the parts about the vampires and the werewolves (one is playing a Kellid human while another is playing a Dhampir). Can't wait to start tying backstory to characters in this and the coming modules...
Helaman, I REALLY like the restructuring you did to it. I think it would have made it a bit easier to read (as far as its pacing) but I saw your post after I ran the beginning of the module and read the aforementioned part. Still, well done.
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Awesome! I'm glad it worked for you, Rakshaka!
And thanks, Helaman, for the revision!
One of my groups has played through the first three books of Carrion Crown, and then we've been taking a break from it and playing Skull & Shackles. When we eventually come back to it, I'm thinking of maybe sending this out to my players as a refresher to help them get back into the spirit of it.
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I had Kendra invite them to a History of Ustalav lecture at the Lepidstadt University and emailed the lecture to everyone. That way people can read it if they want, and if not, they don't benefit from the knowledge.
I know the barb-druid will be interested because of the Kellids and wolves bit. Her character seems to be getting lots of wolf-themed items. (random jewelry, a wolf-fur vest from the treasury of the macabre pdf, and I made the shape-shifter bane dagger have a wolf motif)
I like the idea of giving the characters this when they are making characters as lesson from the professor