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Maldor

Ideas - Maldor

The diminishing middle class of imperial Maldor is represented today by courtiers and craftsmen. When the common people are concerned only with survival and the Lords only with war, the cultural heritage of the land and the world is in their hands.

Freedom is at a premium in the lawless Maldor. Even the nobility is constrained in their lives by the expectations of their peers and vassals, and by the necessities of war. The game is played for the highest stakes of all, but it is far from certain whether participating in it is worth the sacrifice, morally right or even humane. Getting out might cost even more, however, because your family is just as committed as you are.

Maldorian peasants as player characters seem to usually be either vagrants, rebels or not peasants for long; the social framework of Maldor is such that it doesn’t make for much of a drama to accept this lot in life. If the player character doesn’t want to leave and doesn’t want to change the system, the Story Guide does well to proffer him a chance at social betterment through the court or battlefield.

Rebellions discontent with the rule of particular Lords mingle freely with proper revolutions that strive to start new societies afresh. Reformation towards the society of the old Empire is far from unknown as well in the central areas that still remember. I don’t hesitate to mix modernistic, utopian and high philosophical ideas into the social movements that roll through the Maldorian countryside. There is no one revolution, but many.

Ammeni

Ideas - Ammeni

Ammeni is not, properly speaking, a nation; it is a cartel. It does not have citizens or nationals; even the individual Houses do not – they only have members.

A member of a House is an interesting character because he or she might be steeped in cruelty, but still be a human being. How does that work? Is there a tension?

The lower rungs of the House organizations have less and less stake in the endeavor that is Ammeni, thus making them more and more likely to have their own interests outside the House life. Or the middle-management might just be hungry and ambitious, ready to impress their masters by being even more ruthless than the next guy.

Women of the Houses are usually very equal with the men, and twice as poisonous. The contrast is stark, as women in general are treated as property by the House scions.

The Ammeni relationship with their slaves is an interesting topic, as it can range from pure victimization for gratification to uncaring practicality to a sort of internalized, natural partnership predicated on unequal rights. Pay attention to this, and you will see the Ammeni society in many different lights.

Zaru

Ideas - Zaru

Zaru can be secret agents of priesthoods striving for freedom, or they can collude with Ammeni masters to improve their own lot, perhaps for desperate and sympathetic reasons. They can also be passionate youngsters with no political aspirations, crushed by the limitations chattel slavery imposes on them.

Zaru can also escape their land to go elsewhere, but can they escape their past? An ordinary person might find peace elsewhere, but how about a hero?

Khale

Ideas - Khale

Khaleans are a very romantic culture, which translates to “good” in our fantasy literature sensibilities. Go along with that, it’s probably more worthwhile at first than undermining it: for instance, destroying or corrupting the poor, noble savages is going to be very, very tragic, regardless of which side player characters happen to be on.

Alternatively, consider my Ammeni Wars campaign, in which the Worst War becomes regional as a hero band travels to Orania and wins the Senate of Kalderon to their side; even if victorious, the epic heroes are going to have a bitch of a time with the Ammeni reconstruction: what do you do with a nation like that?

I have the impression that the Khalean capability for time travel has largely been neglected in practical play, possibly because it takes a campaign to such radical directions. Still, one day I’m going to play an assassin from the future, his only hope to kill the man who would sell his people to eternal slavery. Other basic directions to go here are the Celtic olden goldies, like shamed heroes cast out of their tribe, bards seeking their art in the oddest places, romantic troubles caused by the moietic taboos and so on.

Goren

Ideas - Goren

Sky God Religion brings to the table two completely different character concepts: the Highland Saints are impossibly good people with impossibly high expectations, while the deacons of the fledgling church are responsible for actual people and their lives.

Witches of Goren can be wise or wicked, and their faith condones both as long as they come in harmonious forms. Witchcraft liberates women, but only by forcing them to express themselves through the feminine, not by freeing them as people.

Urbanization of Goren is ultimately going to be the future. What does this mean to the clans? Is religion going to rule the society in their stead?

Vulfland

Ideas - Vulfland

The wendigo might or might not come with a personalized spirit. If the spirit is not personal, then it’s up to the player to play the subliminal urges and monstrosity of the character as he wishes.

The wendigo is powerful. If it could be controlled and corralled, perhaps it could even be a match for a pack of Vulfen: a weapon born of desperation.

Meetings between communities are a low-key event for heroic drama, but important for the Inuk, for whom new faces mean new marriage and trade opportunities. Consider enjoying this material at the pace it sets.

Spirit interactions can be interesting, as the smart community goes a long way in satisfying the spirit, whatever it wants. But there is a line at which the spirit becomes a liability; the good shaman knows where it lies.

I am personally convinced that the southern glaciers do not hold just doors into dreaming, but to other worlds. Perhaps the two are one and the same.

Orania

Ideas - Orania

Kalderon is like Constantinople, a great remainder of a greater culture. I really adore it out there on the western edge of the Sea of Teeth with my settingdesign senses; the northern Near is so sparse of culture without it, and the Ammeni need a counterbalance of some sort in the area to get a good sea battle going. This way there’s some place where the Qek and Khaleans and such can meet in a tavern without the tavern being in the middle of a jungle somewhere.

The political process of Kalderon is complex, dehumanizing and essentially modern. This does not mean that it is necessarily evil: not only can a politician hold onto his morality by being willing to curtail his inculcation into the system, but even were he to turn into another politician, that implies nothing about the nobility of his goals.

A Skironite character, on the other hand, faces two obvious questions: his relationship to Kalderon, whose gates are never closed, and his relationship to the Purda. The questions are related, but not entirely.

Winning Blessings is a necessary step in becoming a Skironite hero, but that might require accomplishments or political influence itself, depending on the nature of the given tribe’s priests. The similarities with Kalderonite politics are not incidental.

Inselburg

Ideas - Inselburg

Serving the Fleet is such an overbearing consideration in Inselburg that refusing to do it or being too good at it can be interesting, especially when we remember that there is probably just less than a dozen career officers in the whole country.

The political system of the fortress is in reality a secret, unacknowledged battleground for the various collegiums and their magisters, some of which wield the collegiate vows as threats against their own members. The collegiate magic will prove the undoing of the Vadenite democracy.

Pere-di-Fey

Ideas - Pere-di-Fey

I’m intrigued by the idea of Pere-di-Fey as a refugee camp. The local culture is essentially hospitalitybased, and they can’t get too hostile towards armed newcomers as a group anyway, but the isles are not infinite in resources. Something has to give; if nothing else, perhaps the earlier arrivals start refusing new people entry.

The pirates are also interesting, especially if you need a dedicated pirate mythology for your campaign. The idea that pirate crews consist of the refused minorities of Near’s various social disturbances goes a long way towards justifying the piracy, at least as far as sympathy goes. The consequences will sooner or later fall on the isles, though.

I included the Governor as a sort of scenario-in-action, and to suggest that the pirate idyll on the isles is not a stable proposition that can just go on and on without the social dynamics going out of whack. Or perhaps it can – our own history knows of societies that successfully, continuously worked for hundreds of years on nothing but piracy and slave trade. Perhaps the original Kairakau humanism will get abased just like that.

Nine Celestials

Ideas - Nine Celestials

The Nine Celestials make a great slot-in solution for a campaign in Maldor in that they’re very simple to bring in: one or more of the group just need to get involved with a player character. This can happen when a character stumbles upon one of their artifacts they are trying to regain, or when they want to initiate a player character into the Nine, or simply when a familiar secondary character is revealed to be a member.

A player character can also be a member of the Nine himself, no problem. The big issue for them in that case is genuineness: do they really believe in the Sun King theology, or are they just in it because the conspiracy can help them wield power themselves? If the latter, how do they react to co-conspirators who genuinely believe, not only in the Sun King, but in him? If the former, what about co-conspirators who obviously have other interests?

Also, let’s say that Gwangju has witnessed a player character do something that makes him think that we have a Sun King here. Do you really think that the next thing to happen isn’t a series of murders, as either the prospective Sun King and his supporters, his opponents or ingenuine conspirators, or everybody for that matter, get killed? They have done it before, and they will do it again.

The Horned God

Ideas - The Horned God

The Horned God was not evil, originally. Redemption attempts are encouraged, and perhaps there are some people with the old knowledge still around.

It might be that only an Eclectic could successfully subvert and reveal the inner cult; those Thrice-Bound Oaths are a pretty good guarantee of loyalty. Where to get one when you need him?

Even if the Consortium is evil (I sort of hope that you agree with me that it is, although the game works swimmingly either way), Thomas Conne might be just intellectually lazy and/or fanatical. What if his goals are a good idea?

An original motivation for including this chapter was that I didn’t have room for the witchcraft magic item creation rules in the Witchcraft chapter. Do reintegrate if you want, or steal the Secret in play and return it where it belongs.

Sireap Valley

Ideas - Sireap Valley

This is the sort of simple, straightforward material that characterizes solid TSoY scenario preparation: some history, some crunch, social principles upon which to build people, a player character concept. Just add a mix of characters and go.

In the heart of the Valley lies Casnic, now an abandoned nest of ratkin. The beasts are addicted to the farro, which they eat or burn in water pipes scavenged from the ruins.

An elf lives in Casnic, one going by the name of Slusch Bash. She wields Three-Corner magic and alchemical powers akin to those of the Assartist, but none know for what purpose. Other elves visit her out of curiosity, but none stay long.

It is possible to bring animals to Sireap, it’s just that the farro is so unexpected. Enter after or during rains, and you might have a week. Come in winter and you could have a month. But sooner or later you’ll find the horses dead and the dogs at your throat, or nowhere to be seen.