I think I am ready. I seek your approval, Evil DM.
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If you'll bring me up to speed, i certainly will do my best to keep up.
If you'll bring me up to speed, i certainly will do my best to keep up.
Sadly, there is no short, short version, so here's a long version.
The Scarred Lands (or Scarn) is a world that was dominated by a dozen Titans, primal entities that roamed the world making and destroying life at their whims. Their children, the gods, had lesser power, but learned to draw power from the outer planes and from the worship of the mortal races. A Divine War between the gods and titans laid waste to the world, with volcanic eruptions, the formation of vaste wastelands and an entire sea polluted by the blood of a titan chained beneath it remaining as signs of the devastation. All of the titans save one fell, the earth-mother Denev, who sided with the gods (some of them her children) against her fellow titans. None of them could die, however, and this being a White Wolf product, none of them died pretty, with dismemberment and maiming and various other forms of discombobulation being the rule.
The surviving first generation gods became the Eight Victors, one for each alignment (other than true neutral);
Corean, the Avenger - LG, Fire, Good, Law, Protection, War, favored weapon Longsword, typically worshipped by Paladins, farmers, dwarves, monks, smiths and the city of Mithril
Madriel, the Redeemer - NG, Air, Good, Healing, Plant, Sun, favored weapon Spear, typically worshipped by healers, the sick, farmers, couples being wed, much of Durrover
Tanil, the Huntress - CG, Animal, Chaos, Good, Luck, Travel, Trickery, favored weapon Longbow, typically worshipped by Rangers, hunters, many Veshians, elves
Hedrada, the Lawgiver - LN, Judgement, Knowledge, Law, Protection, favored weapon Warhammer, typically worshipped by merchants, judges, lawyer/advocates, monks, scholars and the city of Hedrada
Denev, the Earthmother - N, no Domains, only Druids serve Denev, typically worshipped by Druids, farmers, barbarian tribes, sylvan races, elementals
Enkili, the Trickster - CN, Air, Chaos, Luck, Travel, Trickery, favored weapon Flail, worshipped by gamblers, rogues, sailors, criminals, anarchists, much of the city of Shelzar (the 'city of sin') and Fangsfall
Chardun, the Slaver - LE, Domination, Evil, Law, Strength, War, favored weapon Mace or Warsceptre, worshipped by slavers, mercenaries, soldiers, generals, tyrants, monks, the Charduni Dwarves, the nobility of Calastia and Dunahnae
Belsameth, the Slayer - NE, Death, Evil, Magic, Trickery, favored weapon Dagger, worshipped by evil arcanists, lycanthropes, assassins, many Albadian women and the people of New Venir
Vangal, the Reaver - CE, Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Strength, War, favored weapon Battleaxe, worshipped by half-orcs, brigands, madmen, warlords, the Horsemen of Vangal
At least a dozen demigods exist, with Drendari, the demigoddess of shadows and patron of thieves, Manawe, the mother of oceans and Nemorga, the gatekeeper and god of death having above-average prominence. There is a dwarven demigod (Goran, very similar to Corean) and a Halfling demigod (Hwyrdd, an Enkili-like figure), but the elven demigod is not only dead, but his name destroyed by the Titan that slew him, leaving the elven race Forsaken and in decline, as the curse of Chern (the Titan of plague and disease) makes them unfertile, with their rare births commonly plagued with birth defects. The elves of the continent this game is on, Ghelspad, have mostly avoided Chern's Curse, and follow Denev and Tanil, primarily. The elves of Termana were very civilized, with five different advanced nations, and are the most strongly afflicted (as it was there that they slew Chern), attempting to 'save' their society by capturing human women and creating a caste of half-elven children to populate their cities...
During the war, Dwarves and a race of dark-skinned elves worked together, their respective demigods, Goran and Nalthalos, standing together to drive off Chern's attack on the elves and dwarves of Ghelspad (he then fled across the ocean to meet his fate at the hands of the other elven demigod and his followers, on the continent of Termana). During this fight, Chern's contagion maddened one of the demigods, causing him to betray the other, and even centuries later, the truth of this matter is obscured. All that is known is that the Dwarves of Burok Torn loathe the dark elves for this betrayal, and the dwarves are less common on the surface, devoting so much time to their war on the dark elves, who have retreated underground with the aid of their own demigod, Nalthalos (god of artifice and constructs) who barely survived the battle.
The faith of Chardun, the god of tyranny, is easily the most dominant faith on the 'map' of Ghelspad, with the nations of Dunahnae and Calastia (which itself dominates New Venir (formerely Belsameth-run), Ankila (formerely Hedradan-run), Lageni, Zathiske (a nation with a 1/2 Orc majority population, almost every one of them a child of two 1/2 Orc parents) and 'the Heteronomy of Virduk' (formerly an independent Halfling nation, now all-but enslaved)) being powerful nations.
Directly north of expansionist Calastia and it's holdings are Burok Torn, the dwarven nation, the Hornsaw Forest, home to the Broadreach elves (tattooed and fierce spearmen and bowmen who avoided the curse of Chern) and many horrors caused by the destruction of the Titan Mormo, the serpent-queen, who was dismembered in this area, her blood falling over the forest and turning even the local unicorns into savage carnivorous things, the Blood Steppes, inhabited mostly by humanoids and barbarians and the nation of Vesh, a primarily Madriel and Tanil-worshipping country divided into twelve small vaguely democratic holdings, and guarded by elite teams of Rangers.
There's various stuff to the other directions, but if we are starting in New Venir, our borders (and most likely areas of interest) would include Calastia to the south (although the northernmost part of Calastia is a forbidden forest that is the private hunting preserve of the Queen of Calastia, so probably not!), Lageni to the east (about which I know little), Durrover, farther to the east and over some mountains, which is a country on the cusp of being added to Calastia's holdings, if King Virduk has any say in the matter (good place for some rebellious 'against the empire' action), the Haggard Hills and Burok Torn to the north and northeast, the dangerous Hornsaw Forest to the northwest, the downtrodden Halflings of the Heteronomy of Virduk to the west, and further west the independent city-states of Hollowfaust (city of necromancers, where undead patrol the streets) and Lokil (where the scholars of the phylacteric vault study esoteric magics related to dreams, chronomancy, alchemy, etc.) and then a blasted desert swept by unnatural firestorms, yet another leftover from the Divine War.
Past Vesh to the north are the Kelder steppes, which lead further into the Plains of Lede, with more barbarians, including the bloodthirsty worshippers of the god of slaughter, the Horsemen of Vangal, who basically are the horse-riding equivalent of Serenity's Reavers with a dash of 'Mongol Horde' thrown in, as well as tribes of Orcs and 'the Proud' (essentially Wemics) who do their level best to compete with the Horsemen to see who can be the most spectacularly violent and scary. Lots of little towns somehow survive in this area, thanks to hypervigilance and patrols from further to the northeast, where the city of Mithril, dedicated to the god of Paladins, Corean, stands in the shadow of a hundred foot tall golem made out of pure mithril that Corean built to fight the Titans alongside him. It hasn't moved since the Divine War, but makes a nice conversation piece. To the southeast, the city of Hedrad, devoted to the Lawgiver, has no such conversation piece, but likes to think that it is equally impressive.
Other 'nice' places a PC could come from include;
Darakeene, the largest nation not named Calastia on the continent (and the only nation of political or military significance other than Vesh not under the bootheel of Chardun, the god of tyranny). Darakeene is famous for it's 'war-colleges,' including Glamerhill (specializes in combining magic with martial skill, and tricky weapons like the spiked chain), Plague (spying, assassination and the subtler arts of war), Wake (nautical warfare), Clayborn (fancy armor, fur coats, scalplocks, considered the toughest war college), Hammerdale (Hedradan-focused, warhammer specialists famous for using blue steel weapons and armor of 'azurite'), etc.
Albadia, snow-covered land of frost-bearded barbarians and the scantily-clad sorceresses who thaw them out, Albadia is 'frontier' enough that wandering monsters in town are still an annual event. The local sorceresses use tattoo magic, and worship a trinity of Madriel, Denev and Belsameth exclusively. The local menfolk mostly flip out and kill stuff, which is the sort of attitude that serves them well in a land filled with danger, including the famous local critter, the Huror, a overly large polar bear that brings it's own magical blizzard with it.
The Ganjus, a large forest north of the Haggard Hills that escaped the rain of Mormo's blood and bits that tainted the Hornsaw forest below it. This forest remains much less tainted and serves as the primary 'elven nation' of Ghelspad. It's still much less city-centric than the Termanan elven nations, and does not suffer from the Forsaken Curse (so they don't kidnap human women to make 1/2 babies, for instance). They are a mix of wild elves and wood elves, by Greyhawk / Realms standards, being tattooed Rangers and Barbarians, more than Wizards. Reincarnationists, their Druids sometimes become 'Incarnates,' focusing their Wild Shape abilities to not become any sort of animal, but to specifically form themselves into the shape of an animal (or humanoid, or fey!) that they were in the past, gaining the use of that past life's full abilities, allowing an Incarnate to designate a past life as an Expert, for instance, to use Wild Shape to access skills from this 'past life.' PrCs and Feats related to Totem powers or channeling Totems are rife with these elves, but not something that's been converted for Pathfinder as of yet.
Some notes on classes in the Scarred Lands, from an old campaign I ran
Note that Sorcery derives from a Titan, Mesos, the Sire of Sorcery (the first to fall in the Divine War, as he was considered the greatest threat), but any Sorcerer can derive abilities from any Titan (or no Titan at all). Titans include;
Chern - disease, plague, insects, killed the now-nameless elven god, then became the only Titan to fall at the hands of non-divine forces, as the combined might of five outraged elven *nations* fell upon him in a mindless rage and tore him down.
Gaurak - gluttony and consumption, created mindless eating machine creatures that existed solely to eat stuff and then come to him so that he could eat *them*, teeth ripped out so that he couldn't eat. They became a mountain range near Fangsfall (named for the fact that the nearby hills are indeed 'fallen fangs')
Golthagga, the Shaper - 'improved' beasts, often by adding metal to them, don't remember what happened to him...
Golthain, the Faceless - actually not a bad guy, the other Titans beat him up for not being mean to people
Gormoth, the Writhing Lord - loved to transform things, ripped in half and unable to reform.
Gulaben, Lady of the Winds - seductress, her name is mostly forgotten, as the gods worked to stamp out her addictive faith
Hrinrukk, the Hunter - believed that everything in the world was his prey, for his amusement to hunt and kill, don't remember, but his daughter Tanil probably shot arrows into him as they had a falling out over his concept of appropriate father / daughter boundaries.
Kadum, the Mountainshaker - pretty much Godzilla, grappled by the mithril Golem, chained by Chardun, axed into submission by Vangal and heart cut out by Belsameth. His chained body sits at the bottom of the Blood Sea, where his taint corrupts thousands and thousands of miles of ocean.
Lethene, the Dame of Storms - one of the few Titans not dismembered, her son Vangal, god of Slaughter, said 'no, we're not ripping apart my mom' and made a portal into Limbo, where she remains trapped
Mesos, Sire of Sorcery - magic, scattered on the winds
Mormo, Mother of Serpents - very prolific, has multiple competing races fanatically attempting to gather her dismembered remains to put her back together. Voted most likely to return...
Thulkas, Father of Fire - artificer of the Titans, a heretical cult claims that neither he nor his inheritor Corean are truly the divine spark of creation, but that both draw their power from the same artifact Forge, which is the 'true god of creation.' Currently imprisoned within the sun.
The splatbooks have Sorcerer 'bloodline feats' for each of these Titans, but we'd have to completely rework them for Pathfinder into Bloodlines.
A Hrinrukk or Lethene or Mormo Sorcerer could be awesome... A Mesos Sorcerer would probably just be your standard Arcane Sorcerer Bloodline.
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One cool thing about the Scarred Lands is the sheer variety of options they made for some of the classes that seem more one-dimensional in some other settings;
Monk - Initiates of the Forge try to turn themselves into steel, like constructs made of flesh. Exemplars serve Hedrada. The Brotherhood of Steel serve Corean and use Longswords as Monk weapons. The Dawn Spear Adepts serve Madriel, and use Spears and Longspears instead as Monk weapons, as well as gaining light and sun-related abilities. And there are others, those are just the four that most strongly appealed to me! Chardun the Slaver, even has a LE order of 'Monks of the Sacred Chain' who use the spiked chain as a special monk weapon and have some special binding attacks.
Paladin - Four different Coreanite orders, Iron (seige warfare and crafting skills), Silver (dealing with extraplanar issues, add some spells, including summon monster and planar ally spells), Gold (healing specialists, give out special tokens that allow them to channel their lay on hands or cure spells to allies at range) and Mithril (gains the ability to infuse weapon with holy power), plus some 'kinda/sorta' Paladins of Madriel, who gain similar abilities (but more related to sunlight and fire, or healing, mercy and redemption).
Rangers - a dozen different Veshian Vigils, each with a different focus, and that's just the most Ranger-friendly country. Broadreach elves have their own distinctive Rangers, and, as with all things, it seems, Calastia has the Black Thorn Rangers, in service to Chardun, who imbue fiendish qualities into their Animal Companions (and / or summoned nature's allies). Those Black Thorn Rangers end up sounding like a perfect Chelaxian Ranger, actually...
I think I am ready. I seek your approval, Evil DM.
Looks good, except I've banned Profession (sheperd) as a skill since it's ridiculously broken. Please consider making Lugdro a fishwife instead.
How's that for evil?!
Yeah, Set's got a pretty thorough rundown there, Memento. Sorry I didn't get something together for you sooner.
So far we've got:
Set- Incantator Maro, human cleric of Belsameth
David- Galwynn, human sorcerer (fire elemental)
Gavgoyle- Lugdro, human druid of Denev
robin- Dusis, human barbarian
nightflier- working at it until later
We can work just about any class you want from the main rulebook into things, so don't worry about that too much. An ally of the Vigils would have a strong hook, but any good or neutral aligned character can fit into things well.
Looks good, except I've banned Profession (sheperd) as a skill since it's ridiculously broken. Please consider making Lugdro a fishwife instead.
How's that for evil?!
If a fishwife practices animal husbandry, is that what they mean by 'sexual confusion?'
I believe it's called "The Troy McClure Syndrome".
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I like the idea of a ranger, although i'm not sure of race. The tattooed elves certainly appeal to me- as does the idea of a halfling, but they're not very common right?
regardless i think i'm leaning towards halfling ranger.
Right next door to New Venir, our starting country, is the Heteronomy of Virduk, a sleepy little Halfling dominated country that has been taken over by the Calastian war machine (just as New Venir has been). So you'd be one country over from the most common starting point for Halflings, who are already relatively common in human dominated countries (more so than elves or dwarves, particularly).
Halflings are very to taking sneakier 'independent' classes, like Ranger and Rogue, not because of a penchant for thievery (although that can happen as well), but because their race has fairly recently been brought low by the conquest of their lands, putting some of them into a bit of a 'Viva la Halfling Resistance!' mode and others into a 'keep your head down and don't stir up trouble' mode.
The local elves, of the Broadreach or Ganjus, are reincarnationists, for the most part, worshipping Tanil (the Huntress) and Denev (the Earth-mother) equally, but also revering all sorts of ancestral Totems, with the four 'First Animals' being near the top of their list. Wings-of-Fire was (supposedly) the First Hawk, Seven-Tines the First Stag, etc. (a bear and a wolf (Moon-in-the-Eyes? Fur-of-Dusk?) round out the first four, but I don't remember their names). Elves on the cusp of adulthood are led through dreams by their druids and adepts to try and find out what great people (or animals) they are descended from, and the rarest of the rare are found to be reincarnations of legendary animals like these, and they tend to become leaders in elven society (far more simply learn to channel their totems and become Lodge-Warriors or Totem-Channelers, while not being actual reincarnations of Winds-of-Fire or whomever). These spirits aren't seen as actual gods, and don't have Clerics or grant spells, but are still honored. Rangers with an affiliation with one of these animals would tend to take a companion appropriate to that creature (eagle or hawk, stag, bear or wolf / hound), and learn an appropriate fighting style (ranged archery for hawk, mounted spearman for stag, power attack with big weapons for bear, trip and 'dirty' fighting for wolf, IIRC).
This atrocious fanfic might give some inspiration for how an elf in the Scarred Lands might have his life affected by a totem seeking.
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Set you've yet to cease to amaze me with your cornucopia of scarred lands knowledge, i'm debating between elf and halfling...hmmm
Thanks! I think the setting did a much better job putting in hooks for the elves than the halflings, or the dwarves, for that matter (and gnomes didn't even appear on the main continent, only being added in to the later developed Termana because of fan protest at their exclusion!). In favor of elves, more stuff to play with. In favor of halflings, more room to add your own stuff. Either has it's perks.
Note also that the Scarred Lands had a metaplot, and I'm only detailing stuff from the introduction of the setting. If James is setting things later, some of the stuff I said may no longer apply. (as I understand it, not having read the novels, my favorite city in the setting was destroyed and a previously dead diety 'came back'). I pretend metaplots don't exist, being still tender from the whole Time of Troubles brouhaha...
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Hmmm any possibility of a Elven monastic tradition, Whose fighting style would reflect their totem?
I don't remember reading about any specifically, but there are mentions of monk orders that use animals as inspiration. Example styles include the Blade Hood Praya (inspired by a sharp scaled cobra like serpent), the Emperor Stag Praya (focused on damaging bull rushes), the Plaguecat Praya (inspired by a disease-bearing panther) and the Ten Animal Praya (which draws upon natural attacks emulating the strikes of ten different wild animals). Choosing appropriate weapons, like Kama for the blade hood (to represent it's curved fangs and slicing scales) or Sai for the stag (to represent it's tines) could work.
The emperor stag thing seems most likely to inspire an elven martial artist who identifies with Stag-of-Seven-Tines (focusing on Bull Rush attacks and / or charging & piercing attacks with a spear or something), but a grappling martial artist could identify with the bear (Fur-like-Dusk), a taunting dirty fighter who focuses on tripping foes with the wolf (Moon-in-the-Eyes) and a leap-attacker / shuriken flinger with the falcon (Wings-of-Fire, I just grabbed the book, so I'm not making up names for them this time!).
Elves of Vera-Tre (the main city in the Ganjus forest) tend to wear leathers and skins, decorate themselves with bones, furs, feathers and teeth/claws. Their tattoos tend to be animalistic, or evoke stylized images of other natural Totems (River, Moon, Night, Wind), and they go for piercings, but of bone or polished stone, more often than metal. They can look like anything from a punk-rocker to a Native American to an extra from Mad Max, depending on how much or little they 'glam it up.' Some are very practical, and just look like a rangery-type with pointy ears. Others go all-out to intimidate others with their 'savage' appearance and are festooned with clattering bones and teeth and have brightly-colored feathers dangling from their hair.
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Hey Set or James...
Do either of you have access to a regional map that you could post up? It would really help cement some of the locations in my mind better. Thanks, if it is possible!
A picture of the cover is the best I've found online so far.
The where of barbarianism :
Where is the bar ?
Where is the gold ?
Where is the girl ?
If your INT is 9 or more (which exclude 8 of 10 barbarians )you can add the fourth where :
Where is the exit ?
Thanks again, Set.
A halfling or an elf would both have strong hooks in the campaign, Memento, so whichever you like best.
We'll get started next week, if everyone can be ready by then?
I'll post up information on Trela either this evening or on the weekend. It's a small enough settlement that you could easily get the lay of the land in only a few hours of being there, especially if you've plyed the route before with a caravan (like Dusis may have).
The Village of Trela
Trela is a small village along the river that runs from the large lake in the midst of the Kelders and into King Virduk's lands, forming the eastern border of New Venir, the western border of Lageni until it empties into Lake Vashon in Calastia.
The town was founded in response to the number of trading caravans coming from Vesh seeking to use it as a jump-off point for continued travel into Calastia or east along the New Venir border towards the city-states and nations of the west.
Trela is ruled by a River-master, who is the appointed representative of Prince Urlis. Trela is supported by taxes taken from the caravans coming down the river into the lands of King Virduk, as well as the fees collected from the boatmen who use the village as their main place of business. The village's food comes from the river, as well as a few small farmsteads south of the village.
Authority Figures
River-master Phuram Dayal, human male: the head of river operations and de facto leader of Trela.
Radraan of Belsameth, human male: Keeper of the Midnight Shrine, the local shrine of Belsameth. Radraan is a silken speaker and very charismatic, though his charming smiles rarely reach his eyes.
Jonegar, half-orc male: Captain of the Riverguard, Trela's militia force.
Important Characters
Paransala, human female: the only real wizard of note in Trela. It is whispered that she and Radraan are lovers and co-conspirators (though most refrain from commenting on exactly what they are allegedly conspiring on).
Talbot Cormath, half-elf male: The Bard of Trela is well-loved by most citizens for he spends most of his days wandering the town with a tune on his harp and a song on his lips.
Locales of Note:
The Riverhouse: The large dock-side offices and warehouses of the River-master, the Riverhouse also serves Trela as a defacto town center and meeting hall. At any time of the day, citizens of the town can be found here, seeking the council or permission of the River-master for some piece of bureaucracy or another.
The Midnight Shrine: This small windowless building houses the town's only altar- dedicated, in this case, to Belsameth. The large door is engraved with the symbol of the Slayer, and remains shut during the daylight hours. Only during the night is it open for the prayers and sacrifices required of the faithful of Belsameth.
You are all in Trela for the Carnival of Flowers, a feast day to celebrate the second Wildday of Tanot (the months and days are named for the Victors; Wildday is Enkili's day of the week, Tanot is Tanil's month, it's a spring festival). River traffic has stopped in town for the feast day, since no one really wants to miss out on games, food and music if they can help it.
No inns or taverns in sight. If you've been through before one of the residents has likely put up a barn or floor for you to sleep in.
Sorry, guys. Gonna put off starting a few more days. Tight deadline.
No problem !
Okay, we'll get rolling Wednesday (likely in the evening) with the Festival of Flowers.
I dropped David a line on Facebook; not sure about nightflier. The carnival has a few events going on, so there's time for them to drop in anywhere.
Memento? nightflier? Still around?
Let me know if you guys are getting completely bored at the Carnival. This may be something that works better in a face to face game as a fifteen/twenty minute time frame. We can also look for one or two more players if we figure out if nightflier and memento have dropped out.
Just a heads up: busy at work between now and the 23rd and I've got more illustrations to work on by the 18th. So updates may be sporadic.
Sorry, update tonight with stuff for Maro and Galwynn to do.
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No worries, insanely busy with Christmas at the post office.
My back has been spasming all week from the amount of mail I've had to fling around.
Important note: Do not attempt to mail a lasagna to your relatives for Christmas. It will not survive the various six foot drops and flips and tosses that occur in mail delivery.
Sending *two* of them? Worse. Also, messy.
Mailing lasagna. Bad idea, even if packed well. What happened to sending fruit cake?
If I don't hear from memento and nightflier this week (or maybe after the holiday), I'm going to open up a slot or two and see if anyone's interested in joining in. Things will pick up from the carnival soon, rest assured.
Wrapping up some illustrations, will update when I can. Love getting more freelance work, but it sucks sometimes to get home from work just to do more work.
Merry Christmas/ Chinese food and movie day everyone!
Sorry for taking so long to get to the good parts; I wanted to give you a chance to see life in the setting when you're not fighting for your life against Titanspawn. We'll be moving along at a better pace now and I hope to get one or two more players in to bolster the group.
Also, if you have any concerns or criticisms on how things are going, let me know. I'm more than willing to make changes or anything to make sure the game is fun for everyone.
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I've had a chance to read over the Scarred Lands Campaign Setting. Apparently Corean isn't very popular in the lands of the Calastian Hegemony. Would it be more appropriate for the campaign if Amon were a paladin of Hedrada from Ankila?
Possibly, but I suspect that we aren't going to be staying in Calastia for long, as the adventure seems to be leading towards Vesh, at the moment (which is a land much friendlier to Paladins, being run by goodly Madrielite and Tanilite Ranger sorts).
Nice picture, btw!
A link to my character sheet is in my profile. How does it look?
Also, what language would be useful to the group for my bonus language?
Looks good. The only problem I see is that your stats are 1 point over what 20 points would allow you according to the point buy cost table. And your reflex save should be one higher if you have a +2 dex bonus. I don't think we're using character traits, either.
Even if Corean isn't popular in the south, the rule for the culture is that all of the Victors are respected, wherever you go. Some more than others, of course, but each played a part in the Divine War. For example even in Mithril, the seat of Corean's priesthood, shrines to Chardun, Belsameth and Vangal are maintained even if their worshippers must go about their business secretly. You could very easily be this far south as a missionary or returning from carrying a message to the Order of Iron stronghold even further south in the city of Shelzar. Perhaps as part of your training, you're on a rotating training schedule with the different knighthoods and you're just on your way north toward Mithril after finishing a period with the Order of Iron.