The Daughter of the Forest

The woman known only as the Daughter of the Forest has recently taken an interest in the town of Zurogh. Two months after the soldiers of the Stormfist Empire arrived, she wandered out of the surrounding forests and into town. Although she was a stranger, her power and her wisdom quickly earned her the respect of the more traditional residents of the town. The more superstitious of Zurogh's people whisper that her mother is a dryad of the forest, while the more practical merely shrug at the suggestion and assume that she comes from a far-off tribe.

Although she hasn't expressed an opinion one way or another, the Daughter of the Forest could not help but be swept up into the conflict between those who live in Zurogh. Divided between the new arrivals from the Empire and the native residents, between the expansionistic fervor of the soldiers and the traditional way of life, between the once-dominant Falling River tribe and the tribes who see the current upheaval as their chance to take control, the majority of the townsfolk feel strongly about her: either as a reminder of the old ways that must yield to the new, or as a symbol for those who resent the intruders. The Daughter of the Forest claims neither: while she protests the Empire's incursions into and consumption of what she claims are her forests, she does not challenge their right to be in the area. For her part, she cares little for whether the traditional ways of Zurogh continue or are subsumed by those of the Empire, as long as her forests remain sacred and inviolate. Nevertheless, her druidic beliefs align with those of the Falling River traditionalsts, and the captains of the Stormfist companies in Zurogh see these traditional beliefs as a threat to the order they have imposed.

The Daughter of the Forest is a tall, heavyset hobgoblin woman. Although youthful in appearance, she holds herself with the self-assurance of a much more mature woman, and her eyes hold wisdom beyond her years. She dresses simply, in the clothing of a woodsman or a farmwife as suits her business.

The Daughter of the Forest
Female Hobgoblin Druid 4, TN
AC 8 (leather), MV 12, hp 14, THACO 18, #AT 1, Dmg 1d8 (scimitar), SZ M, ML 7
STR 13 DEX 9 CON 8 INT 18 WIS 13 CHA 15

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An Overview of the End of the World

(Excuse my rough map. I've improved upon it in the months since I drew it, but my scanner is packed away while I'm in the process of moving.)

The land commonly known as the End of the World encompasses the southernmost part of a huge supercontinental landmass. Separated by the towering mountains now known as The Gates of Exile from the rest of the supercontinent, these lands follow the Spine of Korthag Mountains south, ending past the planet's south pole. 

The Northern Lands include the Gates of Exile and the lands immediately to the south. The Gates are a massive chain of mountains stretching from the west coast of the continent to the east, and continuing on for thousands of miles against the southern coast of the lands of the Others. Still young, these mountains are tall, sharp, and eternally capped with snow and ice. Few navigable passes through the mountains exist, among them the Winding Stair in the west and the Eastern Pass in the east.

Below the Gates of Exile, the Spine of Korthag dominates the Northern Lands. The Spine is an older and less severe range than the Gates, having had more eons to weather and erode. Even so, the southern latitude of these mountains give rise to extensive glaciers in their heights.

East of the Spine, the land is lush and blanketed in primeval forest, and crossed by many rivers flowing from both mountain ranges. The greatest of these is the Serpentine, which draws its headwaters from both the Gates and the Spine. The warm currents from the north in the Ocean of Storms keep these lands temperate, and the easterly winds carry the ocean's moisture to the land. West of the Spine, however, the land is frigid and parched, a desert as desolate as it is cold.

Several islands dot the Ocean of Storms east of the Northern Lands.

The Northern Lands are the most populated of the End of the World. Cities and towns dot the coastline and follow the great rivers up from the ocean. Even the Gates of Exile are inhabited, especially near the passes to the Lands of the Others.

The Isthmus lies south of the Northern Lands. As the name implies, the End of the World narrows here to little more than the Spine of Korthag. With little room on either coast between the mountains and the oceans, the coasts are gouged into fjords and jagged rocky isles. The largest of these fjords is known as the Bite, and it is here that the Isthmus is at its most narrow. 
 

The great city of Narkuz, the seat of power in the Stormfist Empire, looms above the northern channel of the Bite. Several other settlements cling to the coastline and venture into the foothills to harvest the bounties of the sea and the riches of the mountains.

Although not as heavily forested as the Northern Lands, the eastern side of the Isthmus is still wet and relatively mild, while the west remains locked in a deep freeze. The southern end of the Isthmus is crossed by the Dusk Line, the planet's Antarctic Circle. 
 

South of the Isthmus, the End of the World widens again to the vast Lands of the Long Night. So called due to their location south of the Dusk Line, these lands offer endless day during the summer months and endless night during the winter. Given these extremes, the weather can get quite warm during the summer months, while the temperature plunges in the darkness of winter. Even with the months-long darkness, though, the winters are survivable outside of the mountains due to the warm ocean currents that follow the eastern coast.

The Spine of Korthag reaches its terminus in the Lands of the Long Night, curling around the pole like a puma's tail. Enormous glaciers stretch down these mountains toward the coast of the Endless Western Waters and deep towards the pole. Closer to the pole itself, the glaciers end in great trackless tundras, with the rare stand of trees in sheltered areas. In this endless expanse of grassland and marsh lies the pole itself, where the People have long tended a shrine. Beyond the tundra, the land grows more lush, and trees appear again near the coast of the Ocean of Storms.

Despite their expanse, the Lands of the Long Night are sparsely populated, with no large cities and few widely spread towns and villages. These are concentrated along the coast of the Ocean of Storms, but a scattering of villages can be found across the rest of the area.

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Languages of the People, Part I

The languages spoken by the People of the End of the World are many and varied. Neighboring tribes of the same race might speak the same language, but it is just as possible for such tribes to speak tongues not only mutually unintelligible but of vastly structure and origin. Given the vastness of their lands and their tumultuous history, the People speak hundreds, if not thousands, of different languages and dialects. 
 

For the purposes of running a campaign, however, many of this myriad of tongues can be combined into broad groupings. It is these groupings that are termed “languages” by the game rules. It should be noted that a person fluent in a grouping can usually, with no more than minor difficulty, understand and communicate with others fluent in the same grouping, even though their native languages in that grouping might be different. Languages within a grouping share many elements, such as syntax, vocabulary, and structure.

Languages within a family descend from a common ancestor language. Although the evidence for a common ancestor for languages in a given grouping is convincing, ancestors to different groupings can be theorized as well, although with less certainty. These mother tongues are thought to be the original tongue of a given race of the People, or at least of a given race of People living in the End of the World. It is unknown if the tongues of any remnant populations of the People living elsewhere in the world share any appreciable traits with their counterparts in the End of the World.

The Orcish Tongues

Orcish languages are all thought to derive from one language, known to scholars as ur-orcish. This mother tongue was likely spoken long before the exile of the People; the legends of numerous orcish tribes tell that the orcs already spoke many different languages during the flight to the End of the World.

Three main branches of orcish language are extant today: western orcish, eastern orcish, and central orcish, which correspond to the three routes of migration taken by the People after the Exile. By far the most widespread of these is eastern orcish, with speakers ranging from the eastern coast of the lands north of the Bite and the islands of the Ocean of Storms, to almost all of the lands south of the Dusk Line. Central orcish is the next most widely spoken, with most speakers located directly south of the Gates of Exile. Lastly, the few speakers of western orcish are restricted to the slopes of the Spine of Korthag.

The extant groupings of eastern orcish are coastal orcish, spoken by the traditional fisherfolk and whalers of the coasts and islands, southern orcish, spoken by the nomadic tribes that roam the endless steppes, forests, and tundras south of the Dusk Line, and imperial orcish, originally derived from the Stormfist dialect of coastal orcish and influenced by the many diverse peoples of Stormfist's empire. Imperial orcish is the closest thing to a common language among the People, and is spoken far and wide by soldiers, merchants, and other far-ranging souls.

Western orcish has diverged into two groupings, mountain orcish and slave orcish. Mountain orcish is spoken by the tribes native to the slopes and foothills of the Spine of Korthag, while slave orcish is spoken by the tribes enslaved by the frost giants common to the icy western coasts of the End of the World, and has been influenced greatly by the giant languages.

Speakers of central orcish can be divided into those who speak border orcish and bastard orcish. Both groupings are descended from old border orcish, but bastard orcish has picked up a large amount of vocabulary and syntax from the languages of the Others (mostly human tongues, with lesser dwarven influence) who live on the other side of the Gates of Exile, while border orcish has evolved without such influences.

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Orcs as a Player Character Race

Orcs

Orcs are tall and muscular, although their stooped posture tends to disguise their full height. Their appearance varies widely, with skin ranging from gray-green to sooty black. Orcs usually have coarse dark hair and dull, dark eyes. They possess prominent brows, flattened and upturned noses, slightly pointed ears, and great tusks that protrude from their lips. Orc men are slightly larger than orc women, but the difference between the sexes is not as great as it is in humans.

Orcs tend to be brutal and savage. Orcish culture prizes strength above all else, although such strength need not be physical: an orc clever enough to secure his or her position through intelligence is granted as much respect as another who relies on physical might. An orc must fight for what he or she wants; weak orcs deserve to serve the wishes and whims of their betters. Likewise, a strong orcish tribe sees it as their duty to conquer a weaker tribe.

Orcs enjoy hearty food and strong drink, and will indulge to excess if given the chance. Valuable items such as weapons, precious metals, and gemstones are prized and jealously hoarded. Orcs do not understand arcane magic, and like all other things they don't understand, fear it. Orcs consider goblins and kobolds beneath them and possess a fierce rivalry against hobgoblins. They fear the physical might of the ogres, although they sometimes form alliances with them. Orcs save their true hatred for the Others, especially dwarves and elves.

Orcs are superstitious and zealously religious as a race, although individual orcs may believe or not as they choose. Orcish gods reflect orcish society, and value strength, fertility, and war.

Orcs can be found in almost any environment, although they prefer mountainous terrain pocked with numerous caves and caverns, and prefer to make their homes underground. Due to their affinity for these dark places beneath the earth, orcs enjoy a 35% chance to detect new and unusual construction while underground, and a 25% chance to detect sloping passages.

Orcs do not like the sun, and prefer to venture out at night. Full sunlight blinds them, and in such conditions, orcs take a -1 penalty to all attack rolls. While they dislike any daylight, they do not take this penalty under cloudy or darker conditions. In nighttime or similarly dark conditions, orcs possess heat vision out to 60 feet.

An orcish character may choose to be a fighter, a ranger, a cleric, or a thief, and may choose to multiclass as a fighter/cleric, a fighter/thief, or a cleric/thief.

Racial Ability Requirements (Minimum/Maximum)

Strength 6 / 18

Dexterity 3 / 18

Constitution 8 / 18

Intelligence 3 / 16

Wisdom 3 / 16

Charisma 3 / 17 

Racial Ability Adjustments

+1 Strength, -1 Charisma

Average Height and Weight (Male / Female)

(61 / 59) + 2d12 inches, (160 / 150) + 7d12 pounds

Age

Starting Age 12 + 1d4, Maximum Age 70 + 2d12

Aging Effects

Middle Age 35 years, Old Age 47 years, Venerable 70 years

(Middle Age: -1 Strength, -1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom; Old Age: -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom; Venerable: -1 Strength, -1 Dexterity, -1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom)

Class and Level Limits

Fighter Unlimited

Ranger 8

Cleric 9

Thief 11 

Thief Skill Adjustments
-5% pick pockets, +5% hide in shadows, +5% hear noise, +5% climb walls, -10% read languages

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Tribalism and the People

   Although the Stormfist Empire's ascension has brought the People together from all corners of the End of the World and the barriers between the People have been lowered, tribalism still plays an important role in the day-to-day life of the People. Although all People, at least in theory, have the opportunity to take what power they can wrest for themselves, one's tribal affiliation often colors how one is seen by society. A powerful warrior, for example, may be denied the opportunity to lead her fellows in battle due to the unsavory reputation of her tribe, while another may rise to power based solely on the honorable standing of his tribe.

   In practice, the tribes of the People are divided into three broad categories: the honored tribes, the low tribes, and the bastard tribes. While an honored tribe may be considered to have a bad reputation or a bastard tribe may be recognized for their valor, in general, honored tribes have more prestige than low tribes, and low tribes more than bastard tribes.

   Honored tribes are the most well-established, with legacies stretching far into the past. Many honored tribes tell of their histories going back to before the People were driven to the End of the World, these are almost certainly self-serving myths. However, there is little doubt that these tribes have been around for a long time, and have maintained their individual identities scrupulously. With such lengthy histories, many of these tribes have built storied reputations on the many deeds of valor, cunning, and bravery shown by their members.

   An example of an honored tribe is the Falling River tribe of hobgoblins. For eons, the Falling River have lived in and tended to the ancient forests at the headwaters of the Serpentine River. Throughout the centuries, their fierce protection of their lands has earned them a reputation of strength and tenacity. The Falling River have also produced a long line of powerful druids, whose wisdom has proved invaluable to both the tribe and to those who seek their assistance.

   Low tribes are those that have been established recently, or those that have formed from the merger of two or more older tribes. These tribes lack the reputation of the honored tribes, but have existed long enough that they have established a measure of stability. With time and luck, a low tribe may eventually rise to the status of a high tribe.

   An example of a low tribe is the Stormfist tribe of orcs. First formed around seventy years ago, the Stormfist orcs have produced a number of renowned warriors, but their relative isolation have kept them from gaining much recognition from other tribes. Since the Conquest led by their most famous scion, Gothron Stormfist, their fortunes have grown immensely, but there are some who still consider them lesser due to their lack of history.

   Bastard tribes are those that have formed out of necessity in very recent times, often since Gothron's conquest and the establishment of the Stormfist Empire. This term is especially used to refer to tribes of mixed race. Bastard tribes are typically looked down upon and not trusted. Without a history to draw upon, a bastard tribe has little renown except for that earned by its current members. Bastard tribes that remain intact for a decade or so may begin to be recongnized as low tribes. 

   An example of a bastard tribe is the Sons of Hud, a savage and degenerate tribe of ogres. Formed in the past decade by the particularly loathsome warlord Hud, the ogres of Hud consist of ogres too belligerent and vile to belong to another tribe. With the death of Hud during the Conquest, his sons have inherited his tribe, but without an agreement to share power, they have fallen into a murderous struggle for control. While it is possible that one of Hud's progeny could survive and stabilize his tribe, a bloody end seems all too likely.

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An Introduction

Welcome to the Stormfist Empire!

The intent of this blog is to develop a campaign setting for roleplaying games, namely the Stormfist Empire. While I'm choosing to use the ruleset of the fantasy roleplaying game published by TSR in the 90s, I plan to keep things mostly edition-neutral--you shouldn't have many problems using this setting with other games. If you're unfamiliar with the second edition of TSR's advanced fantasy RPG, you can find the rules in a free (as in speech and as in beer sense!) incarnation in For Gold and Glory. So, technicalities aside, let's move on.

Long ago, the orcish and goblinoid Peoples lived alongside the elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and humans. But the gods of these Others could not tolerate such coexistence, and bade their children drive the orcs and goblins from their green lands into the cold wastes at the End of the World. The Peoples fought back, but whereas the Others were united, the People were not and were defeated. The gods of the Peoples were shamed and turned their backs, and for many ages, the Peoples suffered and died while the Others grew powerful and decadent. But the gods had not completely abandoned their children. Unto their misery came Gothron, warchieftainess of the Stormfist orcs. Under her banner, her tribe conquered and united many of the Peoples in a great empire, and the gods were satisfied. For upon her conquest, the gods led the Peoples to great treasure hidden deep under the wastes, and Gothron's empire grew as rich and as powerful as any of those of the Others. But even with all her strength, Gathron died in childbirth and her empire was thrown into chaos as the Peoples squabbled to take the reins. Even today, five years after her death, the struggle continues, and the Others see an opportunity to once again steal the Peoples' land now that they know of its wealth. You are children of this chaos, and your actions may shape the future of Gothron's empire...or doom it to a forgotten memory.

In future posts, I'll be posting rules for creating characters of the Peoples, details on the geography and inhabitants of the End of the World, notes on the societies of the Peoples in general and the Stormfist Empire in particular, and whatever else I can come up with.

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