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.