NPC: Weekly Roundup No. 3

Asop van Galgen, prosecutor at the Reichshandelsbureau, is very much the image of the new generation of Wezellian technocrats, carrying his authority with pride and enjoying the trappings of his status.

He achieved his Awakening while enrolled in the chantry-school in the Rederhafen's Academic Quarter and entered public service immediately following his dissertation.

As a student of the Three Pillars of Power, Fate, Prime, and Mind, and with a magister's degree in Juris Arcanum his career naturally lies within the Aktorate. His first office lies within the Reichshandelsbureau, the body charged with regulating international trade.

The Pyre Dancers

For more than a year, the villages of Northern Pendrell have been terrorised by a brood of spirits named the Pyre Dancers. The close proximity to the enormous Verge that is the Aelvinwoode means that there are more spirits roaming this realm than perhaps anywhere else. The Pyre Dancers are more than just roaming spirits though. These malicious entities have developed a terrible way of acquiring  the Essence they need to feed and grow stronger.

They create witch trials.

Chapter Two: We're only here for the book . . .

In which Captain Geheulitzer, Herr Kunzelzeger, and Ganda set out to retrieve a book from a preacher and get caught up in a delicate situation; in Rederhafen Onkel Engelbert tries out a new tool.

The following takes place on the night of the 15th day of Septium in YE 1053.

NPC: Weekly Roundup No. 2

Boudewijn Houdemakers, first mate of De Goudende Ezel, comes from a long line of sailors. He himself started as a cabin boy at age nine and by the time he was 19 he was the third mate on a Wezellian skytrader. The calm, quiet, always impeccably dressed man could probably have made quite a career for himself, but he seems to carry some dark sorrow in his soul.

Riding on a cold wind...

The savage Tsjude-people have their home somewhere in the farthest reaches of the North. Not even the Terema know where they come from, though they have been raided by these merciless savages as far back as the Second Age. Tall, pale-eyed and strong, the Tsjude are fierce warriors, rumoured to eat the heart of those they vanquish.

The short life of Ganda

In the land of Terema, the people walk the paths of old.
Fifteen years ago, Ganda was born on one of these ancient paths.

A realm torn asunder

During the Great War the kingdom of Pendrell was caught up in a bitter internal struggle. On one side King Rowar II and those true to him attempted to bring the realm into the war on the side of the Enlightened Alliance. On the other, the powerful Magisterium, controlled by orthodox Presbyterians, wanted to use the growing turmoil to strengthen their grip on the people. Skirmishes, assassinations, pogroms and riots were commonplace and neither side seemed able to break the deadlock.

All the tools for the job, or: building a social sandbox

Picture unrelated. Why? Will Wheaton in a d20-fez, that's why.

I originally started this blog to have a way to preserve and share game-relevant information with my players. When the original chronicle ended it was perhaps also inevitable that the blog went into (a somewhat fitful) hibernation. Now that we've started up again the blog has also been resurrected. This time however, it is but one of the tools in the box.

Spellborn

When the The Fallen Daeva was defeated on the Plains of the Prophet, its essence was released upon the world. Those whose soul were hit by these Shards of Creation immediately achieved Awakening, i.e. they became mages. For most of these newly Awakened their ascent was short and terrible, their souls literally burning up within days. Some managed to harness this awesome power and have become powerful magicians.

Not all of the Shards found a soul immediately and in the generation that has followed, a new phenomenon has been identified. It appears that when a Shard embeds itself in an infant, the soul seems to be much better suited to absorb and harness the power. Those who are born carrying a fragment of the Daeva grow up to become natural sorcerers, with an innate grasp of magic.

These wizards are referred to as Spellborn, and while few doubt their worth and capability, they are often mistrusted - even feared - by their peers.

New Merit: Spellborn ●●●●●
Prerequisite: Mage
A Spellborn Mage gains a bonus of 1 die on all improvised magic rolls. When Paradox is resolved, the roll has the 9-again quality.

NPC: Weekly roundup

Ylvana is the queen of Terema, the northernmost realm of the Enlightened Alliance.

She is credited for preparing her people for the arrival of the OUT colony, as well as a number of reforms. In her reign Terema has progressed from a retrospective and isolationist society to a progressive nation with close ties to the southern realms. She has also managed to maintain her people's culture and integrity in the face of strong influence from both Outsiders and foreigners.

Her sobriquet Sáitidronnet, literally meaning 'spear queen' was given her by her people. It reflects her strength, her keen and piercing mind, and is a reference to the Enæïdùn spear she carries.

NPC: Johannes Drowan, Nether-warden of Rederhafen

Johannes was born by the side of a narrow road just north of the Redlands, sometime during the winter of '29. His mother, a young whore travelling with her pimp, died while giving birth. The child, his small horns clearly marking him as an Umbrian, was sold to a merchant in Fork. What motive the merchant had may never be known, but the child was well cared for until his custodian was killed over a barrel of wine five years later.

Totems of the North

Idjebbas the Shadow Lynx
Aspect: Hunting
Ban: Only kill what you will eat or in self defence
Boon: Add Merit-rating to ambush rolls

Few ever see a shadow lynx, even the most skilled hunters rarely catch a glimpse of this elusive predator. They are believed to be part spirit and part animal, slipping between worlds to avoid detection. Idjebbas, the totem spirit, has been revered by Tereman hunters since the world was young.

Gabba the Reindeer Bull
Aspect: Leadership
Ban: Do not abandon kin or allies in need
Boon: Add Merit-rating to assist rolls

There are many stories about the majestic Gabba. Of all the Tereman spirits, the reindeer bull is the one most often seen. He will often appear in the midst of a snowstorm, leading the lost to shelter, or he will show himself before a momentous event. This is the totem of the royal house.

See also: Totem-spirits

Chapter One: Inauspicious Cargo

In which Captain Geheulitzer and Herr Kowalski accept a grim cargo, make a big profit, and return with a long list of questions.

The following takes place between the 5th and 9th days of Septium of the Year of Enlightenment 1053.

Finally the plan has come together. Engelbert Profitt Nieuwhuis has managed to get a loan big enough to purchase a skytrader. The Goudende Ezel is a good ship. Granted, he's up to his ears in debt, but that's a minor concern. He has a ship, a crew, and he's managed to land a contract. Engelbert would have been there for this first job but, as the saying goes, no man becomes Onkel without giving up his dreams. He has to trust his associate and his captain to bring home the mutton.

Power at its most liquid

Wealth flows from energy and ideas.

                            - William Feather

On today's Argos no coin is as pure as the Wezellian gylden, and no currency is as trusted. The heavy gold coins of the Syndikaat is even said to have some magical protection against counterfeiting.

In this short post I'll provide a few words on how to relate to the currency, and how it translates according to the framework of the WoD ruleset.

Shadows and dust

Death is one of the very few things one can rely on, although after the war death is perhaps not as reliable as it once was. People still die, but it has become common knowledge that all is not well in the Underworld; the god of the dead was killed during the War of Enlightenment, and the vast darkness of the Abyss rose to engulf whole regions of the Underworld. The result is a world where the dead often do not pass on, instead crossing back into the world of the living. This has led to a change in burial customs all across Eria, with magic and superstition mixing to form elaborate, and often gruesome, rituals aimed at keeping the souls of the dead from returning.

Skyships of Argos

Less than a century ago it was believed that there was no way for humans to fly, in fact the very thought itself was close to being heretical. Since its infancy, manned flight has come a long way. Today every town in the North worth its salt has a skyport, and there's hardly a single kingdom in Eria without its own air-navy. Though surface ships and ox-and-horse still dominate the mercantile world, wealthy passengers and luxury goods are being shipped with skyships to an increasing extent every year.

Brave new world

Before the War of Enlightenemnt the Duchy of Diemed, located in the Traen valley east of Wezell, was one of the most prosperous in the Empire. When a powerful plague demon was deployed by the Alliance of the Deep this was changed forever. The plague that struck the area turned people into walking dead  whose soul focus was to consume living flesh. Today the region is simply known as the Redlands, a wild and terrifying place where the material and the ethereal meet - it is considered to be a Verge. Spirits and lost souls dwell in the ruins and the living does wisely to be cautious.

The Golden Ass

As you turn the corner you see her. 46 feet from stem to stern, made of promise and freedom. Sure, she'll need some loving - she's been grounded for too long and birds have nested in her rigging, poor girl. Still, she looks solid and has nice lines. Even better, once you sign the banknotes she'll be all yours. As you take in the sight of her where she sits gilded by the evening sun, you can't help but grin as you mutter to yourself, "she'll be shitting gold soon enough."

The Goudende Ezel is a first generation commercial skytrader, also known as a Wezelender. The ship was built in YE 1013 by Anker & Jahnsen of Zaarbrugge. It has a keel of depleted oak and a hull of bronze birch over witchwood ribs, making it extremely light while keeping the cost down. Buoyancy is delivered by three balloons - the ones currently fitted are patched and somewhat worn, but made of Umbral silk.

Cargo capacity is 15 tonnes and the ship takes a crew of twelve. Current armament is two Bansl & Galan sparrowguns, extremely light long-range cannons, but there are ports for eight. It has never fallen out of the sky and has has had but one previous owner. It has been well cared for and only sailed between Marburg and Wezell.

Cost: ●●●●●

Storyteller's note: Today's bonus post describes the skyship recently bought by our new heroes. granted, play has not officially started, but there's been plenty of chatter in our Facebook-group. Congratulations gentlemen, you've bought yourself a boat.

A breed unto themselves

Ever since the War of Enlightenment the world has been changing. Sometimes the changes have been sudden and sometimes they've been subtle. Sometimes, as is the case with the emergence of the umbrians, the changes have been gradual and disturbing. It first started on the Redlands borders, where some newborns displayed non-human features such as horns and strange eyes. Giving birth to an umbrian often proved fatal to the mother as the horns or other inhuman features tore into her flesh. At this point is was believed that the children were in fact changelings, i.e. that the real child had been stolen by spirits and replaced by one of their own. Research into the topic soon revealed that this was not the case. They were in fact both human and spirit. Nevertheless, many such children have been, and still are, killed at birth or put out in to woods to die.

It is believed that the human soul and the spirit merge while the foetus is still in the womb, likely as the soul is drawn towards its future vessel and while it is still unattached. Some scholars believe that it is actually a matter of two ephemeral entities inhabiting the same corpus, but there is no proof for this theory. On the contrary, tests appear to support the claim that the two form different aspects of the same whole, both equally dependent on the physical body. This discovery has led the Enlightened Council to classify Umbrian as a new and distinct genus related to mankind, and in YE 1033 they were afforded the same charter rights as all other mythicals.

A definitive presence of force

The construct-world of Corregidor is the capital of the Commonwealth of Man. It is, and not without justification, held to be the centre of the multiverse by millions spread across several worlds. Corregidor itself is ruled by a Queen, but nothing is decided without having consulted the calculations of the God Machine that occupies the world's core. Beneath the monarch, a class of Captains of Industry govern the 314 wards of what is essentially one massive city.

Just as Corregidor is the centre, Argos is accepted as being the First World - the one from whence all of mankind sprang - and during the Second Argonian War the Commonwealth again fought the Ordo Ultima Thule, that age old enemy. For some reason, humans born outside of Argos cannot achieve Arcane Enlightenment and so the people of the Commonwealth have turned to science and technology instead.

Destiny manifest

With the death of Dr. Mörbius, the Ordo Ultima Thule lost its leader through seven centuries. The heavy casualties sustained during the Repatriation War also left it changed. The new leadership, a tribunal of senior officers referred to as the Triarchy, decided to abandon the Mörbian doctrine of descendental hegemony in favour of a policy of colonisation, production, and procreation. Several locations had already been surveyed, and of these the Axefjord area provided the best premises for an archcolony: an abundance of minerals, rich fisheries, an unsophisticated native population, and strong natural defences.

Return to Argos

The Great War, the one they call the War of Enlightenment, ended a generation ago. They say we won. I guess they're right. I mean, we're still here, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful, and I certainly don't think the other side should have won. From what I hear, the whole rotten outhouse would have come down around our ears had that happened. And this New World of ours sure has its advantages. Skyships for one.

Detroit on the eve of the 21st century

The once bustling Motor City has become all but a ghost town, with nature having reclaimed whole districts. For decades, the richer suburbs and the financial district managed to survive, while the rest of the town slowly withered. Finally, around the middle of the century, it became clear that metropolitan Detroit was dead. After that realisation, it was only a matter of months before all corporate and municipal activity were closed down. Those who could picked up and moved. Those who could not were left stranded in a dead city.

Today Detroit has become something unique, where frontier-spirit and gangland mentality has created something akin to a new Wild West. With drones and automatic weapons.

ADAMA

The Autonomous Defense/Assault Military Android (ADAMA), developed by UltraLohft Industries, Inc. is a cutting edge weapons platform, tailored for a wide variety of roles. Equally at home on the modern battlefield, on the streets, or in your home, the ADAMA is a force to be reckoned with. 

It comes off the assembly line with a powerful organic core processor, a state of the art targeting package, as well as a formidable array of leathal and non-leathal close quarters features. For customers wishing a little more bang for the buck, the ADAMA's biometric configuration allows it to be equipped with a wide variety of weapons (no hard mounts).