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badams30
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Background Information

#1 Post by badams30 »

Deities of Middenmark

Anu-Eye

Greater god of Archaians
Archaian magic, archomancy, knowledge
Neutral evil
Symbol: Crowned, sneering face

Anu-Eya is an ancient deity from the time before time. He long predates the arrival of demi-humans and humans to the Northern Reaches. He is a greater god and creator of the Archaians. Anu-Eya gave life to his people and bestowed many gifts upon them. These included innate magical abilities and knowledge of the cosmos. When the Archons of the Trium sought to ascend to godhood and challenge him, Anu-Eya wrought destruction upon the great city of Archaia. His wrath cracked the earth, swallowed the city, and destroyed his people. Anu-Eya is tall, lithe, with slightly pointed ears. He is often depicted wearing a large round headdress and loincloth. His arms, neck, fingers, ankles and toes are decorated in gold and platinum jewelry. He is a vengeful god.

Arcantryl (Magus)

Goddess of Magic
Lawful neutral
Symbol: A star within a star

Arcantryl derives her power from knowledge of the laws of the universe and existence. She believes in understanding the structure of the cosmos and harnessing (and bending) that knowledge to express magical energies. Instead of branching out immediately to the smaller villages of the Northern Reaches, the clerics of Arcantryl focused on developing followers in the larger centers of the Reaches. These include the city of Threshold, Eastdale in The Prelacy of Middenmark, and Ironguard Motte in The Duchy of Aerik. One might see a humble, or impromptu, shrine for prayer located in other towns or villages.

Crom (Cromm Cruach)

God of Strength and Battle
Chaotic neutral (Good)
Symbol: A silver crown over a white capped mountain

Crom, or Crom Cruach, is worshipped largely by warriors, mercenaries, and humble frontiersmen. Crom is considered grim and gloomy. He prizes feats of strength, valour, and daring in battle. He rarely answers prayers. Instead, he prefers to watch resilient and resourceful warriors blaze their own path to glory. His followers use his name as a blessing, a curse, or in astonishment. Crom’s symbol is a crown atop a great mountain. The crown represents his position as the greatest of warriors.
His followers, upon death, must climb Crom’s great mountain and stand in judgement before him. If they have been cowardly, or fled in the face of battle, Crom will laugh at them and cast them out. However, if a warrior has been stout of heart and died well he will be embraced and welcomed into the afterlife. Crom is often depicted as a barbarian with black hair and blue eyes.

Denara (Pecuna)


Demi-Goddess of Wealth, Bureaucracy, Trade
Lawful Neutral
Symbol: The scales of trade

Denara’s sphere includes the areas of trade, wealth, and administration, broadly defined. Her followers include entrepreneurs, merchants, traders, government bureaucrats, and the wealthy. Denara is not as fickle as Fortuna. She believes in judicious treatment of wealth, the hierarchical distribution of capital, and lawful organization of trade and trade agreements.

Dogma (Illuminatus)

God of Knowledge, Scholars, Learning
Lawful Neutral
Symbol: A sunrise within a book

Dogma appears as an old, thin, grey-bearded man in a monk’s habit carrying a great book under his arm. The Learned One is the patron of those who seek knowledge and those who create new knowledge, such as scholars, inventors, alchemists, and mages. Dogma embodies the notion of enlightenment through higher education.


Fortuna (Fortunatus)

Demi-Goddess of Luck, Gamblers, Adventurers
Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: A coin in the center of a horseshoe

Fortuna is the patron of luck, gambling, and adventuring. She is sometimes referred to as Lady Luck. Fortuna is known as being flighty, moody, capricious, and temperamental. Her (notoriously brief) favour often relates specifically to the acquisition of wealth (such as gambling or adventuring). Adventurers often pray to her if they face life-or-death circumstances. Fortuna appears as a beautiful, golden-haired woman. Her symbol is an upraised horseshoe with a gold coin in the center. Lady
Luck is allied with Denara.




Imperiosa (Imperator)

Goddess of Tyranny, Domination, Destruction
Lawful Evil
Symbol: A clawed black fist

Imperiosa, The Conqueror, appears most often as a beautiful blackskinned human warrior. Her symbol is a defiant, clawed black fist, which represents the spheres of domination and destruction. Her church is militaristic and encourages conflict and hate. They seek to identify weakness and destroy it, both within their faith and without. She is the patron of all those who seek military conflict, destruction, and domination. Her motto is “By our swords, we rule.”

Impurax (Impuratus)

God of Rot, Decay, Corruption, and Pestilence
Neutral Evil
Symbol: A rotting fanged hand or a rotting raven’s head

Impurax, also called The Rotten God or The Fanged God, is a deity cloaked in mystery. Impurax was an ally of Nergal (the apparently deceased God of the Dead and the Underworld). Impurax traditionally granted his followers power of pestilence, rot, and fungal life. His clerics, called The Putrescalate, have powers akin to cleric-druids. Impurax also has a order of warriors called The Fanged Legion which possess paladin-like powers.

Malachai (Frumentus)

Demi-God of Agriculture (Corn) and the Harvest
Neutral Evil
Symbol: A black face crowned with corn stalks

Malachai, or He-Who-Walks-Between- the-Stalks, is one of the Ancient Gods or Anganach. His followers believe that they must make ritual blood sacrifices to appease Malachai or he would fail to provide them with a bountiful harvest. His symbol is a sneering black face crowned with corn stalks. The arrival of St. Ygg to Middenmark has all but extinguished Malachai’s faith, although some peasant folk still utter his name in hushed tones. Some believe he may be connected to the sphere of fertility.

St. Ygg (Veridicus)

God of Righteousness
Lawful Good
Symbol: A red cross on a white field

St. Ygg is the deity of righteousness and light. St. Ygg believes in the highest moral standards. He is sanctimonious and has an indignant temper with those who fail to see the just nature of his actions. The faith of St. Ygg is the most well-known of the new organized religions in the Northern Reaches. The central-southern district, known as Middenmark, was ceded to the faith of St. Ygg in order to extend their faith and bring order to the region. The Red Temple in Eastdale is the epicenter of St. Ygg’s faith in The Prelacy. His followers include clerics and a small group of paladins known as the Order of the Crimson Cross. The Red Bannermen, as they are also called, are based out of Threshold and have a small detachment stationed in Eastdale. Paladins are, generally speaking, extremely rare in the Northern Reaches.


Valdghar

Demi-God of the Valdghardt,
Nomadic barbarians, Bloodlust
Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: A woolly mammoth

Sages are unclear as to whether Valdghar is a distinct demi-god, or an aspect of Crom acclimatized to northern warrior tribes and barbarians. Valdghar appears as a brawny barbarian with black hair and cold blue eyes. He wields a broad-bladed battle-axe and rides a woolly mammoth into combat. He values strength and brave feats of arms. Sages believe he instills his bravest and most loyal warriors with an inspiring bloodlust. The barbarian tribes that range across the most northern aspect of the Reaches worship him exclusively. The Valdghardt barbarians consist of a number of small distinct tribes, such as Cougar Claw, Black Wolf, Green Griffon, Three-Eyed Raven, Horned Stag, Great Moose, Blood Moon, and others. They have their own dialect, totems, worldviews, and spiritual beliefs. The tribes are fiercely independent but will ally themselves with neighbouring tribes for security or war.

Zuul (Elementus)

Demi-God of Chaotic Elements
Chaotic Evil
Symbol: The four elements

Zuul embodies the chaotic and deadly nature of the four elements. He appears as a winged demon with four arms. When the land cracks open and swallows the earth, or a harsh winter culls the living, or extreme heat dries rivers, or tornados destroy villages, Zuul is said to be displeased. The Elemental God is uncaring, uncompromising, and cruel. Zuul is one of the Ancient Ones, or Anganach, and the status of his cult is unknown.

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badams30
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Re: Background Information

#2 Post by badams30 »

Geography and History of Middenmark

Like most of the Northern Reaches, Middenmark has been a lawless frontier until recently. In order to better protect the small, scattered villages from the ever-present threats of orcs and worse, the authorities in Threshold ceded control of the region to the church of St. Ygg. The region was structured into The Prelacy of Middenmark under His Venerable Mercy, Prelate Mordicar Justhand.
The priests of St. Ygg established their political and administrative center at the Red Temple in Eastdale, as well as sending priests and building small shrines in the villages of Kirkliston, Westkeep, and Raven’s Pass. Although the clerics of St. Ygg have a presence in each of the villages in Middenmark, their enforcement of ecclesiastical law, called the Red Laws, is strongest at the center in Eastdale than elsewhere. St. Ygg’s faith tends to be puritanical on matters of morality, and the Red Laws forbid gambling, prostitution, and alcohol. The Red Laws also promote Sabbath observance and worship.
Geography

Darkwood Forest

The Darkwood Forest is known for its density of vegetation and roughness of terrain. The forest consists of a tall canopy of oaks, beech, and birch trees that nearly blocks out the sun. The terrain is difficult to penetrate due to rolling hills and escarpment ridges. Located between these spaces are small dangerous bogs. The rugged and densely-wooded nature of the terrain limits agriculture but the forest is rich in timber, stone, and charcoal (the latter serves as a fuel source). The forest is also abundant in game (deer and moose, in particular). The villages of Eastdale, Kirkliston, and Westkeep, as well as the dwarven holdfast of Silverhame, all benefit from their proximity to the Darkwood Forest. The largely human towns also tend cattle, goats, and sheep in the shadows of the wood. A treacherous caravan route cross-sects the forest from Eastdale to Westkeep. Merchants pay double wages to men-at-arms who run “The Gauntlet” through the Darkwood Forest. Most refuse to take that route, as they fear the trolls and other monsters that ambush caravans. The local folk believe that mischievous sprites, fairies, and will-o-the-wisps live in the wood. There are also stories of an ancient giant’s tomb, and other magical oddities, hidden somewhere in forest.

The Spine

The Spine of the Northern Reaches is a mountain range that runs from south of the Darkwood Forest to the northern edge of The Forbidden Zone. It also represents the eastern edge of the Middenmark region. The mountains in the center of The Spine are ice-capped. The range is known to be rich in minerals and gemstones. The dwarves of Citadel Silver (Silverhame) mine iron ore, silver, and gold. Bards still sing songs about the first dwarves and how they built a great kingdom in the mountains. Waves of monstrous humanoids, orcs, goblins, trolls, and giants from the far north, pushed them out and they fled to the southern tip of The Spine. Some say the dwarves even found a single vein of Mithril, the most rare and precious of metals, running through the mountains.

Coal Hills

The Coal Hills extend twenty miles northwest of the Black Peaks toward Threshold. These Highlands are mined for coal and iron—key resources for the nearby city. However, there are goblin tribes that live in the hills closest to the Black Peaks and they occasionally raid the small mining camps set along the northeastern edge of the ridge. The hills are rocky and they possess very little arable land. The hills have game: deer and rabbits in particular. Sheep are also shepherded in the hills immediately adjacent to Threshold.

The Black Peaks

The Black Peaks are a mountainous range along the western border of The Forbidden Zone. The mountains have numerous named peaks of various sizes and elevations including Mount Yst, the White Mount, The Fang, and Mount Desolate. These range in size from 9,000 to 12,000 feet high. Sages believe there are at least two passes, likely on either side of the articulation with the Coal Hills, through the mountains to the badlands of The Forbidden Zone. Monstrous humanoids use the passes to raid north of the peaks. There is also at least one orc stronghold, maybe more, somewhere in the range. Lead, iron, copper, and silver, can be found in the mountains but they have not been mined by humans, as of yet.



The Red Thicket

The Red Thicket is unique. The wood consists of gigantic white and red birch trees, the tallest of which can grow as high as 300 feet and have a width of 22 feet. The white trees have red leaves throughout the year and the red trees have the reverse. These trees live for approximately 600–1000 years. The forest is a distinctly beautiful, and yet sublime and otherworldly, feature of the Northern Reaches. Raven’s Pass, a small thorp, is found on the southern edge of the forest. A pass about 15 miles long extends from Raven’s Pass to the Ford-at-the-River-Isenduin. The ford must be crossed to reach Threshold. The first human settlers logged the forest immediately around Threshold. Gnolls and orcs know the Red Thicket Pass, and the Ford at- the-River-Isenduin, provide excellent points to ambush caravans and waylay merchants seeking to conduct trade. Caravans must be well-armed and there is always work for a strong sword-arm. Giant eagles, giant spotted owls, black bears, owlbears, and other monsters wander the forest. Some say giant treants protect the forest and attack those who cut down the trees.

River Isenduin

The River Isenduin, and its tributaries, dominates the geography of the Northern Reaches. Moving from the north it winds its way southwest towards Threshold and the westernmost settlements in the Duchy of Aerik. The Isenduin is broad and deep, although there are fords and bridges where men and wagons can pass. Both men and monsters alike know the importance of these locations and they are often the site of skirmishes, ambushes, and battles. The best known is called the Ford-at-the-River-Isenduin. The other crossings have variant names based on the locale. This ford is absolutely crucial to The Prelacy of Middenmark as it provides the only route to conduct trade with Threshold, the capital of the Northern Reaches. Merchants in Middenmark can conduct trade directly with those in the Duchy of Aerik but this is rare. There is a caravan trail and river-ford west of Westkeep that winds its way to Ironguard Motte but this path is fraught monsters, danger, landscape hazards.

The Forbidden Zone

The Forbidden Zone is a central feature of Middenmark. The zone is a badland that was created in the wake of Anu-Eya’s cataclysm that destroyed the ancient city of Archaia. Such was his wrath that he laid waste to the entire region. The badland is dry, sandy, or cracked-earth terrain, with low short hills and almost no vegetation. The soil is black or black-grey in colour. Traversing The Forbidden Zone is very dangerous. The badland is wracked by flash storms that include dust squalls, extreme high winds, earthquakes, sinkholes, meteor showers, acid rain, and wide variance in temperature.

Dragon’s Teeth Henge


Dragon’s Teeth Henge is a huge stone landmark at the edge of the Forbidden Zone
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greyarea
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Re: Background Information

#3 Post by greyarea »

badams30 wrote:Deities of Middenmark
Oak

tree
neutral (Good shade tree)
cymbal: ride

Dreaming of resting under an oak tree means you will have a long life and wealth. Climbing the tree in your dream means a relative will have a hard time of it in the near future. Dreaming of a fallen oak means the loss of love. If you catch a falling oak leaf you shall have no colds all winter. If someone does get sick, warm the house with an oakwood fire to shoo away the illness. Carry an acorn against illnesses and pains, for immortality and youthfulness, and to increase fertility and sexual potency.
Carrying any piece of the oak draws good luck to you (remember to ask permission and show gratitude.)
King Arthur's round table was made from a single cross section of a large Oak.

Mistletoe

hemiparasites
neutral (unless caught under one at Yule celebrations)
cymbal: hi-hat

From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. It was considered to bestow life and fertility; a protection against poison; and an aphrodisiac. The mistletoe of the sacred oak was especially sacred to the ancient Celtic Druids. On the sixth night of the moon white-robed Druid priests would cut the oak mistletoe with a golden sickle. Two white bulls would be sacrificed amid prayers that the recipients of the mistletoe would prosper. Later, the ritual of cutting the mistletoe from the oak came to symbolize the emasculation of the old King by his successor. Mistletoe was long regarded as both a sexual symbol and the "soul" of the oak. It was gathered at both mid-summer and winter solstices, and the custom of using mistletoe to decorate houses at Christmas is a survival of the Druid and other pre-Christian traditions. The Greeks also thought that it had mystical powers and down through the centuries it became associated with many folklore customs. In the Middle Ages and later, branches of mistletoe were hung from ceilings to ward off evil spirits. In Europe they were placed over house and stable doors to prevent the entrance of witches. It was also believed that the oak mistletoe could extinguish fire. This was associated with an earlier belief that the mistletoe itself could come to the tree during a flash of lightning. The traditions which began with the European mistletoe were transferred to the similar American plant with the process of immigration and settlement.

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badams30
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Re: Background Information

#4 Post by badams30 »

Magic System Details:

See the attached document. I'll redo this as a PDF soon. My pc wouldn't let me. :(
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