The Primordial Beasts

A recurring bit of worldbuilding that has been going on throughout my Greylands campaign have been the Primordial Beasts - large, quasi-divine animals of varying power and influence.

Unlike the Sun God (who’s religion now dominates the world), and the Wild Gods (who still have pockets of worshipers doggedly holding onto their ways), the Primordial Beasts don’t really offer much in the way of magic to those who follow them, as there simply isn't much there to give. They are barely godlings in their own way, and even then that applies only to some of them.

However that has never stopped some people (contrarians, as they are usually called) from trying anyway. And so the Beasts do occasionally get small pockets of non-animal worshipers.

This has actually caused surprisingly little friction with the Sun God’s followers. After all, while some of the Solar religions are more syncretic than others and incorporate acceptable versions of the Wild Gods, the veneration of Primordial Beasts is such a backwoods and rare occasion that most church leaders simply don’t even believe it to be true. And with how little it produces in terms of tangible effects on reality - who can blame them?

And yet, those who dedicate themselves to a Primordial Beast do get a small benefit or two from it. As such, below I will explore in some more detail the three Primordial Beasts that players have encountered so far throughout the campaign, and what (if any) potential powers aligning yourself with them can bring you. Who knows, maybe it’ll be something players are interested in doing in the campaign.

Simple Rules for Beast Worship

A character who devotes themselves to the veneration of a Primordial Beast must spend at least one downtime action per month in maintaining a shrine to the beast in question, offer sacrifices and generally refrain from harming normal animals of the appropriate type, save for ways allowed by the Primordial Beast in question.

Failing to follow these duties for 6 months or longer simply withers away the connection. Depending on what boons the devotee was granted, they may or may not still keep them anyway - the Primordial Beasts usually don’t have enough divine power to exert punishment. Faith is lost not through grand gestures, but through apathy.

Medved (Bear)

Description: The Master of the War Bears is arguably the single most potent and powerful of the Primordial Beasts currently alive. He still causes fear and respect in humanity, for those were instilled within their collective unconscious very firmly in the old and hazy past. He keeps them current too by the presence of his favored children, the War Bears.

Medved likes to travel a lot, usually setting up camp in some border territory or forgotten piece of unfinished Chaos and spends his days in leisure, merriment and laziness. He has enough personal magical power that he can change his appearance at will. When dealing with humans he often makes a point to appear as a large, hairy, bearded, and usually buck naked, man. In most other cases he appears as an impressively massive brown bear with a golden shine to his fur.

 
Cult Requirements: Being a man’s man (in every way you can imagine), Medved greatly prefers and favors male characters, however he will still accept anyone’s veneration if given.

Boons: Characters that worship Medved get +1 to reaction rolls when interacting with War Bears and +1 to the morale of War Bear hirelings. Furthermore if the character is looking for new hirelings and there are War Bears around, at least one will always be willing to consider joining them (and only them).

A devotee of Medved of level 2 or greater can also temporarily set their Strength to 18 and perform Feats of Strength (ripping off doors, hurling small boulders, bending iron bars etc) for 1d4-1 turns (the -1 is because Medved sometimes just zones out and forgets about you). They can use this power once per day.

Markings: Male, non-ursine members of the cult find themselves becoming noticeably hairy over time.

Svine (Swine)

Description: Svine is a minor Primordial Beast, really little more than a very big and ponderous swine with a faint aura of magic around her. She is quite happy with that, as humanity keeps her children well fed and taken care of, breeding more and more of them all the time. Sure, the wilder ones tend to get hunted down and killed, but that is how life goes.

Her current residence and center of power, if you can even call it that, is a small commune of Wild Gods-worshipping pagans living in the magically desiccated zone known as the Greylands. She is given veneration, offerings and worship by these people as well as physically taken care of by them.

Svine appears as a fat and quite large swine, covered in glittering fur and with shining tusks. She does not have the power (or the desire) to change her shape.

Cult Requirements: None

Boons: Svine is willing to grant some of her larger and more aggressive children to aid her followers. These War Boars have the same stats as the monster entry. A devotee may have as many war boars for followers as their character level.

War Boars do not require upkeep, still take up a follower slot, and as long as treated well will never abandon the person they follow, even if that person stops being a devotee of Svine.

Markings: Especially devoted followers sometimes find themselves granted boar heads in place of their usual faces. The effect is only ever temporary though, lasting for several months to a year at most.

Vuycho Vulk/Uncle Wolf (Wolf)

Description: Uncle Wolf was once as powerful as Medved is now, if not even more so. His presence sent humans fleeing in terror, for they knew that his arrival heralded only bloody death for them and their kin. His family to this day are feared by humans, even if not respected much and though humanity keeps trying to eradicate them, wolves are smart and also know the value of cooperation just as well as humans do.

In his day he was able to freely turn himself into multiple forms - a human warrior, a giant wolf, a large black shadow that stalked the night. He cut his way through entire kingdoms, gorging himself on their livestock, their children and everything else he wished.

That all changed once he got himself killed. Nowadays Uncle Wolf is barely venerated or worshiped at all. Oh sure, human mothers still use his name to scare their pups into obedience, but in reality he can’t do shit to anyone anymore. And yet, he still persists. Despite being dead, his aura of fear is still there, still lingering in the primal parts of the human brain.

He has mellowed out significantly since being decapitated - not having a physical body makes it hard to revel in bloodlust and carnage like he used to. Nowadays he is just happy for anyone to remember him and leave him an offering once in a while.

Cult Requirements: Vuycho Vulk still pines for the good old days and so will generally only grant boons to warriors or at a pinch, thieves. War Bears can join, because he finds it deeply amusing.

Boons: Once per day, a devotee of Uncle Wolf can channel that deep-seated fear in any targets they choose within a 20ft radius. Those targets all have to immediately make a morale check, and if failed will stop whatever they’re doing and flee in terror. This ability does not work on the undead or, for that matter, on wolves.

Markings: No overt ones, though devoted followers of Uncle Wolf just make humans around them kind of uncomfortable, even if people can’t quite place why.

Talking Animal - A Greylands OSE Class

I kept working on a replacement for the dwarf and halfling classes from B/X, similar to my take on the Elf, in a continuing effort to help define the setting of my campaign a bit more. However that one was just not coming together. After spending over a week of not being able to actually write it out, I decided that if it isn’t working, it isn’t working. Instead I am going to draw on another common trope of folk stories, which is animals talking and behaving like humans.

Thanks to everyone on Discord who helped with ideas and links to existing ones, and thanks to this blogpost in particular since I am basically copying large chunks of it!

Talking Animal

Requirements: Minimum DEX of 9
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: 9
Weapons and Armor: A Talking Animal can use any weapon appropriate to its size (so no two-handed swords or polearms for example), but not firearms. They can wear up to medium armor (as long as it is tailored to them individually) and can use shields.

Description

Like their bigger and stronger cousins, the War Bears, this class represents what are ostensibly normal animals that due to the powers of Chaos and the influence of the Primordial Beasts have the ability to speak the human tongues, walk on their hind legs and even use their paws to wield weapons or use tools.

Talking Animals are seen as a fantastical curiosity in the stable corelands of the world, but out in the rough and unfinished parts that still feel the influence of Chaos, they are rarely even given a second thought.

These animals do not really have any real culture or customs, being simply individual occurrences (or at most, a small family unit), however a common practice is a sort of ancestral veneration of the Primal Beast that is associated with their specific species. Beyond that they simply act like other people in whatever area they are, though often in slightly exaggerated stereotypical manner in some unconscious attempt to draw attention to, and act as a mirror of, certain human traits. Most talking animals tend to feel mildly embarrassed at their tendency to do that.

Abilities

Small size: Talking Animals all seem to end up roughly the same size, which is about a meter tall when standing up. As such they can not effectively wield large two-handed weapons or tools, any armor they wear must be tailor made for them (doubling its base price) and when fighting opponents that are larger than human-sized, they get a +2 to their AC.

Natural weapons: Be it claws, fangs or anything else. Unarmed attacks by talking animals deal 1d4 damage.

Animal Traits:
Either select or roll what kind of animal you are. In addition to anything granted by your species you also have the ability to communicate with mundane, non-talking versions of your species.

1. Badger - You may fly into a fit of rage, allowing you to make as many attacks per round as your level, but making you easier to hit (-2 to AC). Lasts a number of rounds equal to your level and you can’t use that again until a night of sleep.

2. Hedgehog - Due to your spikes you can’t wear any armor, but you have a natural bonus of +2 AC and anyone attacking you in close quarters suffers 1 point of damage.

3. Fox - Once per day you can cast Read Magic and can cast non-divine magic from scrolls with a 10% of a magical mishap occurring.

4. Wolf - If you are in a melee where you and your allies outnumber the enemies you get +1 to hit and +1 to damage. During downtime you can call forth 2d6+character level regular wolves to join you for one session, after which they leave. You can’t use this ability again until you’ve gained a level.

5. Squirrel - You can climb up sheer surfaces like a Thief on a 5-in-6 chance.

6. Rabbit - You can jump up to a distance of 30 ft.

7. Weasel - Your natural attack does 1d4+1 damage. On a successful hit you can latch onto the enemy. At the beginning of each round of combat they can try and shake you off with a save vs paralysis. If they fail they take an automatic 1d4 damage.

8. Boar - You may use your tusks to charge someone, giving you +1 to hit and double damage if the hit succeeds. You need at least 20 ft of clear space to pull off a charge.

Level Progression

Experience and saves as Dwarf.

The Wondrous - The Greylands alternative to the Elf

I have been doing some worldbuilding and/or refining of ideas in my head about my Greylands setting and one of them is to lean a bit more into getting rid of your Tolkienesque stuff like dwarves and elves and lean into more human-centric stuff. I am also working on a replacement of sorts for Dwarves and Halflings, but more on that in the future.

I still like the “Elf” in B/X as the powerful intersection between Fighter and Mage (balanced with very slow leveling), so I figured I’d try a different spin on it. As such I am leaning into the many stories of children born from mortal mothers and a dragon, zmej or other serpent as a father, or heroes such as Krali Marko who was nursed by a supernatural mother like Vila Samodiva.

The Wondrous

Requirements: Minimum POW of 9
Hit Die: 1d6
Maximum Level: 9
Weapons and Armor: Wondrous can use all non-black powder weapons and all types of armor.

Description

While Chaos has been observed to produce many strange things such as naturally occurring dungeons, fell beasts, the Little Folk, mutations, magic and worse, its effects are not always as dramatic. Often it simply just makes people that are strange, weird or just kind of off.

The Wondrous are those people. Born of a mortal parent and a supernatural being of some kind, the Wondrous are obnoxiously competent compared to most of humanity. Being innately magical due to their heritage and close relation to Prima Materia grants the Wondrous the ability to master and cast spells, while most of them also being very adept at combat. The downside, however, is that the societal perception of them as being too full of themselves does make them advance slower in its arbitrary measurement of one’s place in the hierarchy (a.k.a. gaining levels).

The Wondrous are rare, but not unheard of, within the stable and mundane parts of the world, but seems to be a very steady phenomenon in more Chaotic zones, perhaps due to humanity’s never-ending propensity to have sex with supernatural creatures.

Outwardly most Wondrous look just like normal humans, however there is something off or strange in their eyes that betrays their true nature.

Abilities

Spellcasting: The Wondrous can cast spells similarly to magicians, but due to their inherently magical nature they also can learn a new spell every time they level up, without needing to devote time and resources to research or learn it from a teacher. Of course, they can still do those things if desired.

They can not learn any Healing or Law-associated spells, as those are the domain of the followers of the Sun God.

Inability to use firearms: Again due to their personal connection to Chaos the class can’t use firearms or other gunpowder-based weaponry. It simply doesn’t quite work for them.

Immunity to energy drain: A Wondrous often has a very strong personal aura, and are immune to the effects of energy drain (which in my game will make you lose stats, rather than levels, cos fuck that noise!).

Keen senses: The Wondrous are only surprised on a roll of 1, instead of a 1 or 2. They can also spot secrets or traps with a 2-in-6 chance even when not actively looking.

Level Progression

As Elf. Duh.

The Sun God's Church in Mordavia

The Mordavian Church (full name: Church of Our Most Beloved Sun God of the Princedom of Mordavia) is the dominant religious sect of the Mordavia princedom. Though a deeply conservative-to-the-point-of-atavism branch of the Sun religion, a protracted (and shockingly bloody) 50 odd years long campaign within the church’s clerical structure has caused some major shake ups within it.

A much more egalitarian branch (The Sun-Encompassing Humano-totalists) has emerged through public debates, agitation among the Peasantry and Nobility (the Bourgeoisie being considered a lost cause) and multiple semi-spontaneous short and brutal wars. They now nominally hold control of the church hierarchy, with most the higher level positions filled by once disregarded priestesses of the Sun God, and with female clergy becoming much more prominent in various parts of the princedom.

Their only problem, however, is Supreme Patriarch Slunceslav the XVth, current head of the Mordavian Church and a veritable ancient at the, frankly absurd, age of 133. While the internal laws of the church have been amended to put in an alternating genders clause for the top seat, Slunceslav continues to squat on the hopefully soon-to-be-Matriarchal Throne like a bearded cross between a vulture and a sloth. 

Over just the past year there have been over a dozen attempts to assassinate him or in some way remove him from his position, but he continues to hold onto it with the sort of dogged stubbornness that can only come with being that old.

As such, most of the lower ranks of the church appear simply happy to sit and wait, while muttering potentially heretical prayers to the Sun God to please, for fuck’s sake, take his most blessed servant into his embrace already, thank you good day.





Their prayers yet stay unheard.

Talasumi

 The Talasum (Bulgarian: Таласъм) is a spirit in the folklore of my part of the world. In Bulgaria it is primarily described as an often invisible spirit of a person who was built (either physically, or just their shadow) into a house or bridge to keep the construction from collapsing. As the person dies their spirit turns into a talasum, and is either a protector or, more often, a malevolent presence that haunts the place they were built into. In more modern day parlance a talasum is usually described a furry monster of some kind, often mischievous but not necessarily evil. 

In my Greylands game, I don't really have goblins in the typical D&D sense of the word. So during my current house game set in that campaign, I have decided that the goblins the characters encounters are actually talasumi.

The Greylands Goblin -the Talasum

In some of the more remote parts of the Blessed Empire of Unity (say, like the Greylands) as well as neighboring territories like the small mountainous princedom of Mordavia, the ritual practice of building a living person into a construction is still fresh in the minds of the people living there.

While sages, scholars and other learned folk insist that the ritual hasn't been actually practiced in centuries, ever since the light of the Sun God has blessed those lands, old women in the villages tell a different story. Whenever a bridge keeps falling down, or a manor house needs an extra protective oomph to it, a young man or woman are chosen at random from the villages and made part of the building, burying them in the walls so that their spirit might keep the building safe.

Often times this is the end of it, but in areas with high levels of Chaos (again, like the Greylands) those buildings abandoned by their owners or inhabitants tend to get kind of..weird. 

Ruined manor houses or abandoned old castles with a person built into them tend to begin generating these small and hairy creatures the seem to simply appear out of the shadowy corners. These are the talasumi, Chaos-spawned echoes of the person trapped within the building's foundation. They are rather simple and basic construct - they mostly are concerned with eating, guarding their territory and sorting any household goods they might get their hairy hands on. 

Talasumi do not have a conception of name or age, and only the barest sense of individual self. If a talasum is taken out of the ruins that spawned it and away from others of its kind it can start to develop a sense of self, a vestigial trait of having a human soul as its parent. 

They are not innately hostile or friendly, their disposition often simply depending on the environment they are in and what mood strikes them at the time. 

Physical Traits

Talasumi are usually around 100 to 120 cm (so roughly between 3 and a half and 4 feet tall), and look like small men covered in thick black hair or fur, with wide faces and big, saucer-like eyes that seem to reflect light almost like a mirror. They usually do not wear clothes and do not appear to have any sexual organs. Often they are armed with anything from kitchen or farm tools to proper weapons, if they can get their mitts on them. 

There are also taller and much bulkier talasumi who seem to often have a rusty red hair and have large, pronounced noses. They seem to act as leaders to the smaller kind.

Stats

The smaller ones have stats as goblins in whatever system you are using. 

The big ones have the stats as hobgoblins. 

There are even bigger ones, potentially, but those are very rare. Give them stats as appropriate for something big and scary that goes bump in the night.

All Talasumi also have the ability to blend into the shadows of the building that birthed them (and only that one) and become invisible to anyone without magical sight. However doing so for long periods of time (anything over 10 minutes) or too often has the risk of the talasum simply melting back into the shadows that gave it birth and simply disappearing forever. As such they try and not use this ability if they can help it.

Between the Serpents of Smoke & Steel - Bastion of the Roaring Bull

 My party has recently travelled down the Serpent of Smoke in search for some more adventure locations, and have set up shop in a city near the edge of the jungle - the Bastion of the Roaring Bull, or simply The Bastion for short.

Background

The Bastion was once simply the fortified core palace of a much larger city, but as the Empire broke apart and shattered, it ended up eventually becoming a small and very heavily fortified city. The city was used as a safe haven against the raging war with the various invaders, as well as the fights between the forces of Law and Chaos, with people being guided there by the priesthood of the Bull of Heaven, one of the old gods of the Empire. 

Now, a century later, the Bull Priests are firmly in control of the city, along with their devoted guards, and the divine protection of the Bull of Heaven. 

General Description

The Bastion of the Roaring Bull has architecture similar to most of the old Imperial cities, although a lot of the style seems almost archaic, with traditionalism and attempting to maintain the Old Ways of life in the empire are prized within the city walls.

Speaking of city walls, the outer walls of the Bastion are perhaps its most striking feature, being almost absurdly and unnecessarily tall slabs of stone and brick, built up over the preceding century as a reaction to the various armies of Order and Chaos that fought in its vicinity.

The great walls of the Bastion.

The city is composed of a series of walled segments - the largest one is the actual city itself, where only citizens are allowed to enter, or those outsiders given a special permit by the Bull Guards. Next to the city's ports is a single and very heavily fortified gate which leads into the Public Sector, the main place where outsiders, traders and visitors are allowed to stay. The Public Sector does maintain several temples (the largest being, of course, that of the Bull of Heaven), markets and loads of places to sleep, eat or drink. There are even some out of town merchants, mostly members of the Golden Fraternity, who own homes in there. 

To the side of the Public Sector is the Restricted Sector - the place where people who are obviously tainted by sorcery, barbarians and others are permitted to stay. The people of the Bastion dislike magic for its unpredictable and often corrupting way, and while they are okay allowing its practitioners within the city walls, they prefer to keep the more corrupted and mutated ones in a separate location, where they can be kept under watch in case they try to pull something. 

Quirks and Features

Dislike of Sorcery 

As stated above, the people of the Bastion tend to mistrust any magic that does not come from the Bull of Heaven and its sorcerer-priests, or has clear corrupting powers like demonology, necromancy or anything to deal with otherworldly and inhuman forces. Outsiders that perform magic within the boundaries of the city are escorted to the Restricted Sector and allowed to only reside there, or leave. After a second infraction, they are executed without any trial or chance of mercy. 

Most people from the city also tend to greet themselves by throwing up the bull horns with their hand, as a sign of protection against evil magic, and bull testicles are often hung above door frames as a protective charm.

The Sons of the Bull Warrior Society

A Bull Guard standing atop the city walls.

The old Empire had a long tradition of Warrior Societies - organizations somewhere between a social club and mercenary companies, composed of nobles, professional soldiers and others who all shared traditions, military practices or worshiped a specific imperial deity. 

The Sons of the Bull (most commonly referred to as Bull Guards)  are one of the few remaining warrior societies, and Bastion is their city. They are each personally devoted to the Bull of Heaven, and have undertaken the rituals and initiation rites of the society, granting them various powers and martial techniques kept secret from outsiders, as well as the right to wear a horned helmet as a symbol of their status. 

The Bull Guards are in charge of most things in Bastion, being its defenders, police force and guardians. Their leader is Commander Utu, an actual divine offspring of the Bull of Heaven himself - a towering mountain of a man with a bull's head. They are devoted to the Bull Priests and it is incredibly rare for a Bull Guard to disagree with the orders and judgement of one of the priests. 

Alignment

The city is staunchly against both the Lords of Order and Lords of Chaos. The Bull of Heaven is one of the few remaining City Gods and gods of the old empire that still answers the prayers of its worshipers, and as such the population (mostly, again, based on the guidance of the Bull Priests) looks upon both Law and Chaos with distrust - recognizing them as both ultimately inhuman and anti-human forces. 

Anyone associated with either Law or Chaos is generally only allowed within the Restricted Zone, if let into the city at all. The city is thus a strange contradiction - a traditionalist, very conservative and militaristic society, which none the less still ultimately cares about humanity over other concerns. 

Many thanks to Eldritch Fields for helping me come up with the name for this place, as well as some of the cultural quirks of its people.

Between the Serpents of Smoke & Steel - The Undying City

 

Background

The Undying City wasn't always called that, of course. It was renamed after the fall of the empire as a move of political propaganda, as the city was one of the last to actually fall.

Back in the days of the Empire the city was on both sides of the river, however war, raids and other devastation has made the rulers of the city pull back and concentrate things only on the southern bank. 

The other side of the river is now a vast field of ruins, often crawling with scavengers from the poor side of town, as well as barbarians, travelers and various nasty things that go bump in the dark. 

General Description

A view from the north side of the river into the Merchants' Quarters

Buildings are mostly made from adobe and mud if poorer, or bricks and stone in the wealthier parts of town. The entire city is surrounded by very tall and sturdy brick walls, doted with towers at regular intervals. There are two main gates that enter and exit the city, along with the so called Eternal Bridge that offers connection into the ruins of the old city. 

All but the poorest of slums are at least whitewashed, with richer buildings being covered in ornate patterns painted on their facades. Most people who can afford to have gardens or greenery around their house or on their roofs, which help with the hot sun of the dry season. 

In all areas except the Noble District and around the Great Temple, things are very cramped. The city maintains a population about 3 to 5 times its actual capacity. 

Key Areas or Locations

1 - Riverside or Poortown

A vast slum of tenements, cramped houses and shanties makes up this part of the Undying city. The majority of the population of the Undying City live here in misery and squalor - the few who get enough money to leave usually move into the merchant quarters, or buy out and fortify some of the old larger houses that still stand in what used to be the more prosperous part of Riverside. 

With all of that said, the people living here are still citizens of the city and as such at least have the benefit of being on the inside of the great city walls, as well as having access to clean water wells - a benefit people living in the slums reserved for outsiders rarely get.

2 - Merchants' Quarters

Most of the traders, merchants and free artisans of the city live in the two districts surrounding the grand central market plaza. The area is a curious sight, a mixture of modest one story buildings sitting next to opulent complexes with multiple houses belonging to rich members of the Golden Fraternity. 

If you want to purchase anything beyond simple food or livestock, the Merchents' Quarter is where most of the markets that offer such things are located.

3 - Central Market Plaza

The heart of the Undying City is taken up by the vast Central Market plaza, which is where most of the weekly markets are held. The poor citizens rarely go there to shop, at most just selling their wares in the smaller stalls. The plaza is also where the larger roads in the city converge. Because it is located right next to the internal gates that lead into the Noble and Great Temple districts, violence anywhere around the Plaza is ruthlessly punished and suppressed. 

4 - Noble District

The nobility of the Undying City spend their days in a walled off part of the city living in decadence, leisure and pursuits of fighting and occultism. The entire district houses vast mansion complexes, each of them walled off and surrounded by lush gardens. The entire district is itself walled off from the common parts of the city, the nobles preferring to not see the squalor and overcrowding in places like Riverside. 

Anyone who is deemed to look too poor or like they don't belong will never be allowed through the gates of the Noble District, and carrying a weapon without the explicit permission of a noble is not allowed. Weapons are confiscated at the gate, and anyone found sneaking a weapon will be promptly attacked and put to death by the various bodyguards and mercenaries that work for the nobility. 

This doesn't mean that fights and violence are rare in the Noble District, mind you. It's just that the nobles are very specific about who gets to do it. 

5 - Great Temple District

This walled off district houses the true power in the Undying City - the sorcerer-priests of the Great Temple. Very few are permitted entry into the district, the internal gate leading to it being even more heavily guarded than the gates to enter into the city itself. 

The Undying City has firmly pledged itself with the forces of Law, coming under the protection and patronage of the Lord of Order known simply as The Pale Stillness of Justice. Statues of this benefactor can be found everywhere around the city, and offering of worship, sacrifices and devotion to them is mandatory. The old gods of the Empire are still worshipped, of course, but their religious organizations have dwindled in relevance. 

While the Nobles would never allow for it to be publicly stated, everyone in the Undying City knows that the High Priest of the Pale Stillness is the true ultimate ruler of the Undying City, along with his lesser temple priests. The sorcerer-priests are easily recognized by the pale alabaster masks they wear whenever outside of the Great Temple District - a practice of veiling and masking that has been common among the religious castes even back in the heyday of the Empire. 

Attached to the south-eastern part of the city is a walled off district that can only be entered through the Great Temple district itself. Nobody has any real knowledge or idea of what is housed there, as so few have even seen it. 

6 - Visitor's Quarters/Slums

Just outside the gates of the city are vast sprawling slums filled with hovels, tent cities and the occasional fortified and walled tavern or inn. This is where Outsiders, people who have not been granted citizenship, are allowed to stay. Anyone who travels to the city along the road and not the river must stay in one of the two Visitor's Quarters during the night. During the day people are allowed to enter the city to do trade or to travel through of course. 

In general the north-eastern Visitor's Quarters is much safer and less slum-like, as it is located near the Merchants' Quarters and thus often caravan people, mercenary companies and others tend to stay there instead. 

7 - Old Bridge and Tower Ruins

This used to be the second bridge that spanned the Serpent of Smoke river in order to connect the two parts of the old city. On the sizable island in the middle of the river was located a guard tower which would defend against attacks by ship, along with buildings that housed bureaucrats that kept track of the ship traffic. 

About 20 years ago or so the tower was abandoned and the bridge was demolished, leaving only one single entrance into the Old City. This was done on the command of the Priesthood, with the safety of the city being cited as the reason behind the act. 

More recently, people from Riverside report that sometimes in the night they can see lights from the buildings on the island, however nobody has dared really do much about it. 

8 - The Eternal Bridge

The second of the old bridges that connected the two parts of the city, it was renamed the Eternal Bridge by the priesthood after it withstood a ferocious attack by northern barbarians and their strange beasts. It is now the only way to cross into the Old City (except of course by boat). There are guard towers located on both ends of it, and anyone going into the Old City must be catalogued by the guards there. The main traffic into that dangerous area consists of Scavengers and adventurers, both of which must pay a toll of 10% of any treasure or money they find in their expeditions, before they are allowed back into the city.

While it's absolutely possible to simply cross the river via boat, doing so is dangerous for two reasons. Firstly, boats like that often get attacked by bandits or other scavengers as soon as they reach the other shore. Secondly, crossing into the Old City through any other means besides the Eternal Bridge is technically a criminal act. 

9 - The Old City Ruins

A vast sprawl of ruins from what used to be the old city, along with the various smaller towns and villages that were close to it. A lot of treasures, rare materials and other things are still left there, as going into the ruins is dangerous. They are full of bandits, barbarians, as well as other more inhuman things like dangerous animals, monsters and even demonic forces, keeping an eye on this established stronghold of Law. 

The majority of the citizenry of the Undying City simply refuse to even look at the ruins, let alone go anywhere near them. The only ones to go there are people exiled for various crimes (a punishment often equal to a death sentence), adventurers willing to make their fortunes, and the Scavengers. 

The Scavengers tend to be poor members of the citizenry who make short ventures into the ruins and back. They often are looking for old treasures or valuables left behind, along with precious resources they can sell to the merchants. It is a desperate career with a very short life expectancy, however plenty of the richer people in the Merchants' Quarters actually made their fortune by leading Scavenger bands, and plenty of them still do. 

This is also where most of the initial dungeons and other locales will be. None of them are easy to reach - the closer and safer ruins have long ago been stripped of any value by the Scavenger bands, but deeper into the ruins there is plenty of forgotten things just waiting to be claimed! 

Between the Serpents of Smoke & Steel - Setting Primer

Here is a very rough primer on the setting for my campaign, Between the Serpents of Smoke & Steel (either BSSS or just Smoke and Steel for short from now on). This is mostly for the benefits of my players, but hey - why not get a blog post out of it while I'm at it?

General Inspiration 

The sales pitch is - Ancient Mesopotamia as written by Robert E. Howard. Though with less racism, hopefully.

So while set in what should be a Bronze Age society, there is still plenty of iron and even steel (I mean it is in the name of the campaign after all), along with borrowing very loosely from the actual historical realities of Sumer, Babylon and Assyria. The Mesopotamian aspect is going to be mostly just an aesthetic coat over fairly typical S&S nonsense. 

The setting is very human-centric. There are no elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes or other such standard fare. Most people you will run into are either humans, or something else, but difficult to identify and put into a neat box. 

Background

The Fertile Lands is the most used name for the territory in the immediate vicinity of the Twin Serpents rivers. The Lands were ruled for several centuries by an empire - not a particularly large one, but a local power in it's own right. However the old empire is no more. About 100 years ago it fell and broke apart under the pressure of the various barbarian groups that had been steadily pushing into its territory for a few decades. That combined with internal problems and pressure resulted in its ultimate rupture and dissolution into a variety of petty kingdoms, city-states, even semi-nomadic groups like the Chariot People. 

The fall of the empire also heralded a more metaphysical shift (or perhaps the shift was what ultimately cased the downfall. It's never easy to say with these kinds of things) in the landscape. The forces of Law, represented by the legalistic, bureaucratic and conservative empire, grew weaker, and an incursion of the forces of Chaos soon followed. Some of those were through mortal agents like the northern barbarian folk, some were a bit more alien, like the enormous chaos worm that devoured an entire city from underneath, leaving a massive gaping wound in the landscape from which hordes of demonic beings spread across the Fertile Lands. 

Violence and death had become very common place around the Twin Serpents. And while the otherworldly vanguard of Chaos was pushed back, Law is still weak. This is where the campaign begins - The city-states, kingdoms, tribes and others all feeling the pressure of this conflict impressed upon their once relatively peaceful lands. Sides are picked, one way or the other, with consequences that mortal minds can only barely comprehend. 

People of the Fertile Lands

Being the territory of a former Empire the Fertile Lands has a fairly wide variety in human appearances. However some trends are still noticed - most people tend to have dark hair, ranging from dark brown to glossy black, skin ranging from dark olive to very deep brown, and eyes ranging in all human ranges, and some not found in Earthly humans, such as red, orange, yellow and so on. 

Material Culture

Being, as stated earlier, a riff on Mesopotamia written by Robert E. Howard the material culture of the Fertile Lands broadly maps to a confused mix of various ancient Mesopotamian cultures, except with way more iron and steel than existed on Earth in that time period. 

Think this kind of stuff, but with way more iron and steel mixed in there.

There are certain things one might expect in a typical D&D fare that are not present - there are no double handed swords, no European Renaissance style plate armor, no lanterns, and so on. Chain armor exists, but is quite rare. Most heavy armor tends to be made of iron or steel scales. 

Due to the dangers from wild animals, bandits, warlords, nomads, demons and other things lurking in the wilds, most humans have retreated to the safety of heavily fortified cities. Most farming is done either close to the city itself, or in the few remaining smaller towns and fortified villages. What is left of the empire's population has become highly urbanized by necessity. 

Culture and Religion

Generally quite rigid, though less so since the fall of the empire. The nobility and priesthood are often one and the same in most cities, though not always. Slavery is common, but also not as widespread as it was during the height of the empire - a lot of slaves got themselves freed during the turmoil and are, understandably, very unwilling to go back to servitude. 

The gods of the cities are distant, if not dead. Magic often comes from either people like sorcerers, or people who gain their magic through pacts with powerful entities like the kings of the Elementals, the Lords of Chaos and Law, or other entities of that caliber. A lot of the common people still maintain the old rituals, mostly out of habit, but it seems the god rarely do much to answer them. 

With law being now fragmented and highly decentralized, those who are daring and willing to risk their life for it can go out and make a name for themselves, where otherwise the system would have shoved them back into their spot. Petty warlords, tyrants, cult leaders, "benevolent" dictators and others spring up everywhere on a daily basis. Maybe with some luck and coin, your character might also be one of them. 

One of the biggest mortal forces to occupy the power vacuum left by the break up of the empire has been The Golden Fraternity. A combination of descendants (and in some cases, actual members using life-extending magics) of the old noble caste of the empire, now turned into ruthless merchant-lords. They control virtually all major traffic up and down the Twin Serpents rivers and they can be found almost everywhere, save for the smallest and most wretched villages. 

The next post is going to give a bit more detail on the Undying City, the starting location for the campaign. 

And to close this off, some more visual inspiration! 

Art credits go to whoever drew all of this amazing stuff. Unfortunately I found most of it through Pinterest, so no way in hell I could figure out the artist for most of these.