http://dandy-in-the-underworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/players-campaign-questions -galbaruc.html http://dandy-in-the-underworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/answering-jeffs-20-campaig n-questions.html http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/jeffs-twenty-campaign-questions-for.h tml http://dandy-in-the-underworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/players-campaign-questions -galbaruc_17.html http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/questions-about-dark-country-part-1.h tml http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/these-are-from-anthony-who-currently.

html -----far future - fantasy with sf elements? ----Dwarves Dwarves play on the fear of avarice. Dwarves are capable of fantastical acts of creation; their rune-inscribed weapons are the most powerful to be found in the World Between and they can harness the intersection of magic and technol ogy to craft wonders that no other race is capable of. However, a dwarf feels an unreasonable need to be paid magnificently for his or her labor. Dwarves are un predictable in what they will accept as tender; each is driven by a specific gre ed: some lust after gold, some favor gems, yet others crave stranger things like the hair of blonde maidens. A dwarf who feels he has been cheated will go to gr eat lengths to exact revenge and gain their reward; cheating a dwarf is the mark of a suicidal mind. Eladrin Eladrin play on the fear of alien-ness. Though the eladrin are the de fa cto leaders of the Seelie Court, their motives and desires are utterly inexplica ble from a human perspective. Eladrin exist at a remove from the World Between, and are content to pursue their own ends within their mystical traveling towers. However, when humans come into contact with the eladrin they are left with an i mpression of emptiness, coldness, and dispassion towards the vagaries of the hum an condition. While eladrin may sometimes aid mankind, their reasons for doing s o are their own and seldom possess a correlation to an understandable human expl anation. Dragonborn Dragonborn play on the fear of masculinity. Dragonborn act as unbridl ed representations of masculine force without emotional counterbalance. They emb ody competition, pure physicality, and proving oneself through strife, and posse ss limited faculties for empathy, group endeavors, or concern for moral and ethi cal considerations. A dragonborn simply takes action, driven by his own sense of infallibility, and damns the consequences as belonging to the world of weak-wil led and weak-bodied untermensch. Dragonborn frequently subscribe to Dragon Cults that support their feelings of innate superiority. Drow Drow play on the fear of decadence. The drow have their own corrupt empire beneath the surface of the World Between in the Neverwhere, from which they rule the Unseelie Court of the fey. Whereas the ideals of a grand empire should run towards progress, egalitarianism, and the personal growth of its constituents, t he empire of the drow is regressively barbarous, brutally hierarchical, and morb idly fixated on exploring the boundary between pain and pleasure. Their empire i s a deeply magical one; they have mastered arcane spell-casting, alchemy, and th e art of brewing enchanted poisons. However, drow magic is never used to the bet terment of their society rather, it is deployed to bring about the ruin of others. Drow also bolster their power by seeking divine favor; Narlathia is their patro n goddess, but many drow also revere Matakhan, The Lamenting Mother, and the Dem on Queen Slithian Vor. One final note on the drow of the World Between: they are not color-coded for your convenience; they range from the palest skinned to the darkest skinned, and are thus impossible to separate from regular elves or elad rin at first glance.

Kobolds Kobolds play on the fear of misrule. Kobolds are animal-headed fey (most are dog-headed) who were horrible warped by the cataclysm that caused the Ruino us Scar; in fact, they may be the only beings who remember what transpired to cr eate the Scar due to their nigh-immortality. Kobolds are generally immune to agi ng and death by decrepitude so long as they consume human flesh at least once a mo nth. The terrible price required by their immortality has transformed the kobold s from a race of merry fey pranksters into a species who use foul traps and tric kery to catch potential human meals. Indeed, the lure, snares, and mechanical tr aps of the kobolds are infamous and have inspired many a cautionary fairy tale t hroughout the World Between. Elves Elves play on the fear of chaos. Though elves are friendlier to mankind th an much of the fey, they are creatures of terrifying impulses. Elves are beings of constantly shifting moods who follow their whims and caprices with no regard to the harm that this causes to mortal men. One day an elf may offer to help a c obbler create wondrous shoes so that he might better feed his family, the next d ay that same elf may shoot down the cobbler's children with arrows for mere spor t. Unpredictable and motivated entirely by their passions, elves exist in what s eems to be a constant state of madness; they are capable of moments of manic rev elry, crushing sorrows, and fierce violence. As creatures who represent the chao s of the natural world, they give worship to a myriad of gods and goddesses asso ciated with the wilds, such as the Crooked Moon, the Forest Who Walks, and the L amenting Mother. Other types of fey (such as sprites, pixies, brownies, etc.) ac t in much the same way as elves. Orcs Orcs play on the fear of savagery. Orcs are not a natural species in the Wo rld Between; they are sorcerous creations birthed in the laboratories of wizards and from the cauldrons of witches. They are created solely for the purpose of b loodshed and are used by their creators as brute henchmen, assassins, bodyguards , and as the basis of evil warbands. Orcs care for little more than slaughter; t he only thing that gives them joy is to snuff out the candle of life through dir ect, violent means. If an orc survives their creator, they usually migrate to th e wild-lands of the World where they congregate with others of their kinds into barbaric hordes who assault the settlements of the World Between solely for the pleasure they find in destruction. Such orcs have been known to come under the i nfluence of the Demon Lord Hakhan. Tieflings Tieflings play on the fear of racial degeneration. Tieflings are the r esults of consorting with demons and devils; as such, they represent both the al lure and danger of mixing one's bloodline with that of infernal beings. Tiefling s are secretive, shadowy, and manipulative by nature. They are openly accepted i n Caligari, Harrowfaust, and the Ghael Islands, but in other lands they may be h unted down as unclean abominations. All tieflings are looked upon as potential s ervants of the Demon Lord and Demon Queens; it is rumored that many of the tiefl ings of Caligari are members of the cult of Slithian Vor. Giants Giants play on the fear of inebriation. The sad truth is that all giants wh ether the rarefied philosopher kings of the cloud giants or their malformed cous ins the fomorians are slaves to their addictions. While some are more functional t han others, all are dangerous when under the influence of alcohol or other more exotic substances. While in their cups they rage and destroy, turn against frien d and ally, and are capable of the basest deeds. The day after their rampages wi ll be one colored by crushing remorse, but they are doomed to forever repeat the ir tragic cycle. Goblins Goblins play on the fear of science run amok. Goblins are the great magi cal experimenters of the fey; they use sorcerous rites to invent bizarre hybrid creatures (owlbears, manticores, and hook horrors are said to be their handiwork ), magical automatons (the secrets of golem-craft and the warforged are rumored

to have originated with them), and cursed magic items. Above all else, goblins l ove to use their experimental magic on living creatures; they have been known to raid human lands for subjects on which to test their demonstone-fueled mutation al processes. The existence of closely-related kindred species (such as nilbogs, bugbears, and hobgoblins) are likely the results of demonstone experiments that the goblins have inflicted on their own kind. Though they primarily worship the ir own ability to create, goblins have a healthy respect for the goddess Narlath ia, whom they see as the original creator of their race and as the dark spark that initiated the known universe. Gnolls Gnolls play on the fear of animality. While man prides himself on his abi lity to tame and domesticate the animals of the World Between, gnolls stand as a reminder that not all of the World's creatures can be taught to accept man's yo ke. Gnolls exemplify the state of nature; they revel in the bestial violence tha t makes their lives nasty, brutish, and short. The gnoll social unit the pack stands in opposition to the more complicated bonds of reciprocity that have allowed ma nkind to flourish across the World Between. Gnoll shamans most often serve Hakha n and Sluurge. Trolls Trolls play on the fear of the abject. Impossibly gangly and horrifically countenanced, there is just something wrong about trolls. Men feel the presence of trolls long before they spot them; a man or woman knows that a troll approac hes when they feel the hair on their arms prickle and their skin involuntary shi ver. When confronted by a troll, a person's mind is attacked by brief flashes of unclean things such as viscera, human waste, and diseased flesh. The smell of a troll is an unmistakable blend of rubbish, spoiled meat, and swamp vegetation. As creatures of filth and squalor, trolls are the servants of the Demon Lord Slu urge. Gnomes Gnomes play on the fear of the unheimlich. Gnomes typically appear as per fectly-proportioned humans, save for the fact that their mouths are filled with rows of shark-like teeth. Gnomes are known throughout the World Between as the F ell Bargainers, for while they can offer powerful enchanted items their deals al ways come at a horrific price. Gnomes often appear to adventurers bearing exactl y what they need, when they need it, but a gnomish bargain almost always brings a terrible doom. Gnomes are notorious masters of illusion (and are sometimes to be found performing on the cabaret stages of Caligari) and have an unnatural abi lity to converse with and control animals. One strange ability that no-one has e ver been able to satisfactorily explain is the gnomes' power to enter and exit a building through its closets instead of the more traditional portals of egress. Halflings Halflings play on the fear of place. Whether dumpy and diminutive or l ithe and agile, halflings curiously take on the worst qualities of where they li ve. For example, the bayou halflings of the Ghael Isles are backward, ignorant, illiterate, and slyly cruel, while the halflings who have made their homes in Ca ligari City are urbanely corrupt, convincing dissemblers, and prone to engage in urban criminality. Smiling scamps that they are, halfings tend to revere Killan e of the Road as their patron god. Much like their god, halflings are tricksters , shysters, con-men, and charlatans; and yet, there is something supernaturally charming about them that often disarms the folk they regularly cheat. Ogres Ogres play on the fear of cannibalism. Ogres appear as brutish humans infl ated to a ungainly size that seems like a mockery of mankind's form. They rarely possess more than the rudiments of what might be called culture or society; rat her, they live in family-based tribes that often appear to be a cruel satire on the social arrangements of the lowliest lower-class humans. Ogres are justly fea red because of their never-satiated hunger. Their desire to consume can drive th em to commit unparalleled acts of gruesome consumption; it is said that an ogre who has given over to their hunger will devour any living creature that comes wi thin their grasp. Ogres tend to worship the primal spirits associated with fire,

for like fire an ogre must live with the burning desire to consume until nothin g is left. ------Speaking of adventurers, I'm taking a page out of RQ's Big Rubble: No self-resp ecting City-State is going to stand for hordes of violent transients descending into its ruins, vaults and caves without wanting a cut themselves. To that en d... FREELANCE ADVENTURER LICENSES are mandatory for non-citizens (all PCs, at least at the beginning, fall into this category) wishing to explore and plunder known "dungeon areas." Failure to produce a valid license upon request can result in fines, confiscation of goods, imprisonment, branding, and, for repeat offenders, death. Licensed adventurers pay a 10% exit fee on any loot obtained within the Galbaruc Senate's jurisdiction. Players should keep the following in mind: 1. Fake licenses can be obtained, meaning that the PCs forgo taxes after expedi tions, paying nothing other than a one-time forger's fee. There is always a cha nce of the forgery being recognized, however. 2. Sites unknown to the Senate and kept secret by PCs cannot be taxed. 3. It's amazing what a little bribery can accomplish. DUNGEONS: I took a course in Italian Archaeology once, and one thing that kept coming up over and over again was how so many now-famous sites and artifacts we re discovered completely by accident. Workmen digging wells and channels, farme rs ploughing into the tops of ancient burial mounds, etc. In areas where there' s been continuous occupation for millenia, like Rome, you've got layers and laye rs of forgotten sites being accidentally discovered, looted, re-buried, forgotte n, rediscovered, etc, A building is destroyed, you set to work on a new foundat ion, and there's a temple under your feet. I want to go for the same sort of feel with Galbaruc. There are still plenty of sites outside the city limits, but you've got dungeons, crypts, catacombs, and ruins beneath the still-populated urban areas. I loved this idea when I encount ered it in EPT, and I wonder why it isn't a more common approach. The settled, civilized areas are intimately lip-locked to the weird, otherworldly ones, and b oth sides are engaged in frenzied tonsil hockey as adventurers venture below and the monsters from beneath find their way up to the light. Fashion-wise, it's all over the map, a' la the Dying dash and flamboyance (especially among adventurers). nt jury-rigged for adventuring purposes -- primitive s mounted on them, or a shallow bowl for luminescent diving suits for exploring undersea ruins, etc. Earth, with an emphasis on There'd be lots of equipme mining helmets with lantern fungus, even more primitive

GUNS? : Wheel-lock pistols and muskets are the most advanced weapons being fiel ded currently, but are prohibitively expensive and not ideal for dungeon environ ments. Primitive grenades are also available. Greater destructive power = grea ter potential risk of horrific fuckups. Adventurers tend to be armed and armore d in archaic fashion, with heavier armor, swords more robust than are currently fashionable in most civilized places and a greater reliance of crossbows, stone bows, etc. --in places deep The Dark Country Precis: A wet and mountainous haunt of pagans, vampires, and satanists. Hammer

Horror meets The Baltic Crusades with a dash of Diablo I for taste. Conspectus: undead Templars; The White Lady and her bestial servitors; pagan re bel groups and secret societies; satanists masquerading as clerics; horrible na ture "deities" that demand sacrifice; bickering city states and bishoprics; wi ld eyed mercenaries who believe they kill for God; werewolf villages hidden the woods; fogbound forests; ruins tainted by foul sacrifices; haunted battlefields; Frogling caravans with perversely magical wares; secretive necromancers probing the nature of humanity; human sacrifice; villages besieged by unseen forces; t he Great Swamp; cyclopean ruins older than humankind; the Mountain King and the last kingdom of the dwarfs; Black masses; the Devil; mindless vampires; glowing horrors created by a magician's mad experiments; fearful peasants; lots of frogs ; the haunted and endless ruins of Nightwick Abbey Taste, Sound, Image: A mouthful of mud, Pagan Altar Volume 1, Roger Corman's Mas que of the Red Death Novgova/Muscgorod Precis: Feuding principalities play dangerous power games in a ham-fisted versio n of fantasy Russia with strong horror overtones. Conspectus: Terrible Old Gods who live in the rivers and pray on travelers; baba yagas (plural); Scheming Grand Princes who back their ambitions with torture an d violence; sorcerers who sustain their vile lives with the blood of innocents; massive, onion domed fortress cities that dwarf their kind in the West; fiendish cleric-spies who use torture to root out sedition and heresy; werebears; Cossac k-style adventurers roaming the wilderness looking for plunder and easy prey; fu cking tigers; brooding taiga forests. Taste, Sound, Image: Vodka on the way back up, "The Song of the Volga Boatmen" R ussian Red Army Choir, Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible ---------------13 flavours of fear Caligari - Germany Frostreave - Russia and all those Scandinavian countries. (Yeah, sorry Scandina vians, I lumped you lot all in there.) The Ghael Islands - The Caribbean. Harrowfaust - Eastern Europe. The Iron Principalities - Italy. The Island of Jade Mysteries - Basically where North America would be. This is the most distant land from all the others in the World Between. The Islands of Unparalleled Liberty - Sicily. Midian Spain. Mord-Stavian - Egypt. Well, all of Northern Africa actually. Relmeenos - Greece. The Ruinous Scar - China. It's a big scar. Scarabae - France. The Scavenger Lands - The Middle East, India, etc. The Shae Isle - Ireland. Ulverland - Great Britain. Ulverland Precis: A dreary land of rain, despair, and stoic warriors; morbidity, tradition , and reliance on magic as the ideals of a moribund culture. Conspectus: Ruled by Barthon I (The Glorious King) and his Council of High Wizar dry; worship of Garm-Gorak (the Bloody Maw, God of Wolves and War) and lesser go

ds of the Storm Sovereigns pantheon (such as The Gaunt Gent, God of Knowledge, L ibraries, and Silence; Maham, the One-Eyed God of Beast Taming; Charlak, God of Imprisonment; and Hulmora, Goddess of the Elements); cockatrices kept as pets by the aristocracy; skull oracles and divination via entrails; hidden libraries gu arded by berbalang and gargoyles; wandering towers and deathknights; black drago ns, kenku, owlbears, and hook horrors; the Orxham school of magic and other occu lt universities; blood oaths and raven messengers; cavernous fortresses of the e ye tyrants and their beholder-kin, dandy highwaymen; stoicism as a way of life; secret cults devoted to Sluurge (Demon Lord of Pestilence, Famine, and Gallows H umor) Taste, Sound, Image: Guinness, Sol Invictus's Laws and Crowns, e First Greeter. Stephen Kasner's Th

The Shae Isle Precis: Fey-touched realm of storytellers and pagan cults that follows the logic of warped fairy tales. Conspectus: Ruled by clan chieftains and druid hierophants; worship of pagan nat ure gods (such as The Forest Who Walks, The Lamenting Mother, and The Crooked Mo on) by witch cults, warlocks, and druidic initiates; banshees howling across the moors; the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the fey; treants, shambling mounds, an d wilden as protectors of the forests; bards and magical storytelling; blue-tatt ooed warriors; elf bargains, blood contracts, hollow hills, and the Wild Hunt; c urses and hexes wandering hex-breakers; green dragons; perytons, bog mummies, anim ate scarecrows, families of cursed ghouls Taste, Sound, Image: Irish whiskey and soda bread, The Pogues's The Sickbed of Cu chulainn, John William Waterhouse's Circe Invidiosa. Caligari - Weimar-esque decadent empire riddled with crime, drugs, and cabaret h alls; Warhammer's Empire meets Michael Moorcock's Melnibone Frostreave - Grim frozen northern land with pseudo-vikings and snow witches; Geo rge R. R. Martin's The Wall meets Norse myth meets Russian fairy tales. Ghael Isles - An island chain that is home to cannibals, voodoo, and swamp witch es; Serpent and the Rainbow meets The Isle of Dread meets Aztec mythology. Harrowfaust - Vampire families battling pennangalan families amidst a Gothic b ackdrop of superstitious peasants and occult mysticism; Gothic novels meets film noir meets Hammer Horror. Iron Principalities - Petty kingdoms constantly at war, with Borgias-esque famil ies and mercenary kings; Warhammer's Border Princes meets The Castle of Otranto meets Black Adder. Islands of Unparalleled Liberty - Lawless pirate islands where rum is cheap and life is even cheaper; Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Call of Cthulhu meets Cl ive Barker's Abarat novels. Island of Jade Mysteries - Isolated realm of holy shrines, warrior clan warfare , ceaseless bureaucracy, and an immortal queen; Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan meets e very Akira Kurosawa samurai epic. ------------The Scavenger Lands Precis: Nomadic barbarian tribes struggling to survive in post-apocalyptic badla nds. Conspectus: Ruled by tribal leaders; worship of Beast Gods (such as The Golden L ion, The Luminous Hawk, and The Unconquered Badger) through blood rites and occu lt totems; barbarian tribes; djinn, gnolls, fomorians, and ogres; dragon cults a nd vision quests; highly prized recruits for mercenary bands; hobgoblin warbands ; exiled Black Warlocks and their orc servants; drow cities underneath the plain s occasional evangelists of the cult of Narlathia (Fey Goddess of Enchantment, Pai n, and Plunder) travel the surface with a vanguard of driders; blue dragons; the fabled Spring of Unexplainable Youth; The Plains of Unquenchable Sorrow.

Taste, Sound, Image: A highly-spiced stew, Siouxsie & the Banshees's st, Eswin Lord Weeks's The Maharaja of Gwalior Before his Palace.

Cities in Du

Scarabae Precis: A cultured kingdom of knightly virtue haunted by the spirits of a past a ge. Conspectus: Ruled by Leeza VI (The Sun Queen); worship of sorceresses as avatars of The Lady of the White Way; questing knights in search of the grail; roadside chapels and wandering clerics; red dragons, bulettes, philosopher manticores, a nd basilisk-riding kobolds; spiritualists, seances, and ghosts; ectoplasmic horr ors; devil cults and false prophets; haunted battlefields patrolled by wights an d wraiths; courtly intrigue, romanticism, and debts of honor; elven towers that disappear into a misty haze unless approached with the correct talismans; dryads and lamia struggling against each other for control of the Talonback Woods. Taste, Sound, Image: Pure water, Beirut's Nantes, Aubrey Beardsley's Excalibur in the Lake. The Ruinous Scar Precis: A destroyed kingdom home to vast wastelands and labyrinthine ruins. Conspectus: Former holy land decimated by a forgotten magical apocalypse; dungeo ns, caverns, and endless mazes of tunnel compounds beneath the earth; chaos muta nts and mutagenic magical radiation, accursed artifacts and the remnants of past c ivilizations; temples to elder elemental gods; the Tomb of Seven Swords, scaveng ing carrion crawlers, giant acid roaches, otyugh, and umber hulks, lost grimoire s and scrolls of forbidden knowledge; architectural magic, portals to other worl ds, and shrines to Junox (the Ever-Flowing God) and Skaylex (Goddess of Fungi) Taste, Sound, Image: Dust and sour water, The Black Heart Procession's Wasteland, Simon Marsden's photographs of Whitby Abbey. Caligari Precis: Weimar-esque decadent empire riddled with crime, drugs, and cabaret hall s; Warhammer's Empire meets Michael Moorcock's Melnibone. Conspectus: Ruled by Empress Christiana the Scarlet; pleasure cults that worship Slaanesh; wizards who manufacture clay golem servants for the very wealthy; ram pant crime and gangs of thieves; opium dens, cabarets, and parlors where illusio nists entertain using shadow magic; forests teeming with beastmen, werewolves, a nd blood owls; vast cathedrals with even vaster dungeons underneath; mind flayer s and dopplegangers waging a secret war against each other; hedonism and excess; sewers infested with skaven; Cthulhoid cult networks operated by tieflings and cambions Taste, Sound, Image: Cold lager, The Tiger Lillies's Bad Blood + Blasphemy, Gust ave Moreau's Salome Dancing Before Herod. Frostreave Precis: Grim frozen northern land with pseudo-vikings and snow witches; George R . R. Martin's The Wall meets Norse myth meets Russian fairy tales. Conspectus: Ruled by Katrina Rimeheart (The Masked Queen of Iron and Ice); dread stars worshiped as gods (Caiphon, Hadar, Gibbeth, etc.); berzerk warriors who r ide polar bears into battle; githyanki raiders from beyond space and time; frost giants, trolls, and rakshasa in skeletal forests; mead halls, drinking contests , and skalds recounting tales of valor; reverence for the Raven Queen (a goddess of death) and her shadar-kai Valkyrie servants; dwarf artificers; grim fatalism ; Baba Yaga and her traveling hut; white dragons; the hallucinogenic mushroom fo rests of Khem populated by mad goblins Taste, Sound, Image: Meat all bloody and red washed down with ale, Neurosis's En emy of the Sun, Frank Frazetta's The Silver Warrior. The Ghael Isles Precis: An island chain that is home to cannibals, voodoo, and swamp witches; Se rpent and the Rainbow meets The Isle of Dread meets Aztec mythology.

Conspectus: Ruled by plantation masters whose operations are fueled by either th e labor of enslaved natives or zombies; peasants who fear curses above all else; worship of spirits as gods and possession as a religious rite; lizard men, hags , and aboleths; tribes of primitive savages living in bayous; secret entrances t o Lovecraftian Dreamlands; devil cults and bullywugs; gibbering mouthers regarde d as divine oracles; neogi slavers; cursed gold coins, Lost World islands of prehi storic beasts; The Crystalline Brotherhood of Admixers (an exiled order of alche mists) Taste, Sound, Image: Gumbo, The Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards, Vodou veves. Midian Precis: A degenerate family feuding amongst itself for control of a fractured ki ngdom amidst a backdrop of traveling carnivals, fanatical inquisitors, and dueli sts looking to prove their skill. Conspectus: Ruled in the east by Prince Medrose II and ruled in the west by Prin cess Avengelina two siblings who contest the other's right to sit upon their fathe r's throne; traveling carnivals and fortune tellers; fanatical worship of a godd ess known as The Lady of the White Way (a warrior-mother goddess whose faith was spread by the sword in ancient ages); inquisitors, witch-hunters, templars, and flagellants; settling matters of honor with rapier and dagger duels; fencing sc hools; dustbowl-roaming bandits and bugbear thugs, Southern Gothic atmosphere Taste, Sound, Image: Rotgut tequila and beef jerky, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' s "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry, Jerome Jean Leon's Duel After a Masquerade Ball. Harrowfaust Precis: Vampire families battling pennangalan families amidst a Gothic backdrop of superstitious peasants and occult mysticism; Gothic novels meets film noir me ets Hammer Horror. Conspectus: Half of the kingdom is ruled by Sebastian von Karlok (an ancient vam pire lord), the other half is ruled by Gabrielle Lorbrek (a pennangalan priestes s); ignorant, fearful peasants; the demon Orcus worshiped as a god; gypsy carava ns and riverboat travelers; isolated mad scientists crafting magitech that is fu eled by lost souls; ancient keeps and fortresses; Gothic atmosphere; pennangalan cults vs. vampire cults; armies of animate skeletons and zombies (Army of Darkn ess-style); secret societies of vampire hunters; tarot card magic; the poisonous gardens of Mother Mina; undead vultures as spies Taste, Sound, Image: The coppery tang of blood, Bauhaus's In the Flat Field, the film Nosferatu. The Iron Principalities Precis: Petty kingdoms constantly at war, with Borgias-esque families and mercen ary kings; Warhammer's Border Princes meets The Castle of Otranto meets Black Ad der. Conspectus: Comprised of many small fiefdoms, each ruled by a backstabbing famil y of schemers and poisoners; brisk mercantile activity because there are few (if any) trade restrictions; gigantic bazaars; mercenary bands that serve Khorne (t he demon god of bloodshed) or Arioch (chaotic god of stratagems); The Guild of t he Red Hand (assassin's guild); Tiamat worshiped as the goddess of prosperity; a rtistic renaissance and enchanted paintings; famed mask makers and grand balls; sacred murderers of the cult of Khaine (which may be connected to the worship of Khorne); the drowned city of Karmodia Taste, Sound, Image: Red wine, Mars, the Bringer of War from Gustav Holst's The Pl anets, Paumgartner altarpiece Mord-Stavian Precis: Death-obsessed desert kingdom ruled by warforged despots serving an unde ad sorcerer-king. Conspectus: Ruled by a lich-king called The Necropolitan (high priest of a panth eon of a hundred death gods including The Dismembered One, The Flayed Maiden, an d The Carrion Marquis); warforged (sentient automatons made of metal and wood) u

pper caste who use Anubian (jackalwere) enforcers to keep the human populace und er control; giant scarab beetles used as mounts; thri-kreen, kruthiks, and fire giants in the wilds; dracoliches; necromancy, necrophidius, and mummies; tomb gu ardians and professional mourners; dervish tribes seeking enlightenment in the d esert; the Guild of the Frayed Noose (kukri-wielding spies and assassins); the C olossal Sepulcher of Faraad-Ka, which is known to be guarded by necrotic sphinxe s Taste, Sound, Image: Honey, Abney Park's Neobedouin, Hubert Robert's Klassiche Rui nen. Relmeenos Precis: Warrior cults contest with each other in a land where proving individual merit is a spiritual path unto itself. Conspectus: Independent city-states ruled by Poet Kings and Queens (who are ofte n insane and incomprehensible); succubi, harpies, and nymphs; satyr cults and or giastic rites to the Gods of the Grapes; yearly competition of athletic prowess, philosophical debate, and poetic ingenuity called The Annual Wrestling with the Self and the Divine; frequent skirmishes between the Sisterhood of the Rending Spear (a cohort of wild, debauched warrior-women) and the Purple Helm'd Brethren (legions of militarist, pseudo-fascist warrior-men); mathematical magic stolen from the mazes of minotaurs; werebears, medusa, and displacer beasts; gladiatori al games where crabmen face off against hydras and cyclops; stirge swarms Taste, Sound, Image: Spanakopita, Estradasphere's King Krab Battle, 's Atlantis. Frank Frazetta

FACT: Relmeenos is the newest location I've added to the World Between; after re ading Jeremy Duncan's Weird Classical Age contributions to my Flavors of Fear su pplement, I knew I needed a place where I could make use of all this good ideas. -----------tons of gods (conan, tales of grotesque and dungeonesque. pcs can make it up. I was thinking about how the cosmology of the typical D&D world is really stacke d against humanity (and, by extension, elfity and dwarfity etc.) You have gods, yeah? Gods are generally good, neutral, or evil. This is a nice mix of otherw orldly beings who want to help or harm humanity. Fairly even playing field. But then you realize that there are these other classes of otherworldly intellig ences that want to eat the souls of man/drag them into internal servitude/tortur e them for an eternity just for kicks. When you add in greater demons and archd evils, you've slanted the playing field against humanity's favor. If your setting includes Cthulhoid horrors or hungry Far Realm overlords, the si tuation is even more dire. Yet settings seldom reflect this. I've decided to make this uneven cosmic playi ng field part of my World Between setting. Even the gods who grant mortals a sh are of their divine power are generally grotesque, demanding, and utterly unfath omable. Which is to ask, what if all divine powers were demons? Humanity, good luck with that. --------Magiic is largely practiced by secret schools, orders, and societies, which ofte n have philosophical, social, and political interests. Magic-users operating out side these groups are viewed with a mixture of envy, disdain, suspicion, and mur derous rage. - While there is a traditional aristocracy, Galbaruc is a Republic, heavily base d on pre-unification Venice. It was originally a mercantile and naval hub of a now-extinct empire. Like Haiti

, it was born out of a slave revolt, the uprising swiftly joined by those aristo crats who saw where the tide was turning and switched sides while they still cou ld. The fact that their descendants still retain a considerable amount of power and influence in the modern Republic is galling to some, but too much harping on this point is generally seen to be in bad taste. As a result of its origins, sl avery per se is absolutely forbidden in Galbaruc and its territories, though the re is an elaborately detailed system of indentured servitude. - Galbaruc is a colorful, bizarre, decadent city -- a flurry of frenzied activit y, sober tradition, and ecstatic ritual, set against a backdrop of slow, magnifi cent decay. - There are islands some miles from the coast, ruled by semi-autonomous "Island Princes"-- descendants of slaves, pirates, and renegade nobles who were instrume ntal in fighting for the Republic's independence when it split from the Empire t hat had ruled it for centuries. In times of war, they supply ships, troops, and armaments to Galbaruc's navy. During times of peace, they busy themselves with i nternecine wars and deadly intrigues. - The city-state is littered with ruins, catacombs, and strange, isolated commun ities. Medieval monsters and bestiaries, bosch etc --------------------Idle of the Dead Conspectus: Resting on warm but brooding seas, the Idle of the Dead is a palimps est of ruins. Many different civilizations have in the past settled on the Isle. The wilderness is haunted by the hidden realms of Faerie, visible only to those with the second sight. The Isle is scattered with abandoned colonies, restless dead, ghost towns, and the cast-off outposts of past inhuman visitors. The fragi le but tenacious settlements of recent colonists cling to the coasts and ply the shallow seas. Spirits and wizard kings have set themselves up as petty gods dem anding worship and tribute. The primary visual inspiration is obviously Bcklin's piece above, but I'll post m ore images in the future. I don't want to clutter this post up too much. Here is information about some of the past inhabitants. The Monument Builders. Their works are crude but of immense scale. No one knows anything else about them. The Old Empire. This was a civilization of tremendous advancement. They built wo nders of engineering including bridges, aqueducts, soaring towers, and cities be neath the ground. Little is known about the society of the Old Empire. In fact, it is unknown whether it even was an empire. It is assumed to have been an empir e due to the vast extent and uniformity of obviously related ruins. It is so old that nothing is known of its history or rulers, and few artifacts other than th e architecture itself has survived. Many Old Empire structures have been repurpo sed by later settlers. The Visitors. These ruins are obviously not of human origin and sometimes contai n strange devices. Sages differ on whether the remnants of the Visitors came bef ore or after the Old Empire. The Hundred Kingdoms. The beginning of written history as far as most scholars a re concerned. For the most part, the kingdoms did not extend to the Isle, though there are ruins of small outposts, perhaps the homes of heretics or outcasts. O ther islands, and of course the mainland to the east, are the primary sources of

Hundred Kingdoms ruins. The religion of the Kingdoms held that past the western seas lay the land of the dead. Some believe this is the origin of the name Isle of the Dead. The Great Empire. The Great Empire arose on the mainland to the east when the Hu ndred Kingdoms were unified. The First Expedition. During the zenith of the Great Empire, armies and settlers were sent in all the directions of the compass to explore and subdue. This was the first of two waves of colonization, and was a direct political extension of the metropole. Not much is known about these earlier colonies because after seve ral generations contact was lost. The legend is that they rebelled against the h omeland and so were cursed by the gods. That was 500 years ago. The Second Expedition. Founded approximately two hundred years ago, the Second E xpedition followed in the disastrous footsteps of the First. Unlike the First Ex pedition, the Second was led by adventurers and frontierspeople. At this time, t he Great Empire was in a more inward-looking mood. When the settlers arrived, al l they found were ruins and ghost towns. Initially, the colonies flourished, and spread around the edges of the Isle. Trade and commerce with the homeland was s trong, but over time fewer and fewer ships returned until there was no contact. It has been two generations since the last successful voyages, and many assume t he Great Empire has either suffered some disaster or disintegrated once more int o feuding kingdoms. ---------------------The Corelands are human civilization. Though wars, political machinations, plagu es, and the rest of the human drama play out here, from the perspective of Canto ners these lands are something of a movie facade. There is no whiff of the Weird ere, magic doesn't function. Monsters and adventure has no real place here. Like a fantasy Oakland there is no there there. Whole areas exist in the hills were the Veil Between the Worlds has ripped asund er filling the areas with the flotsam and jetsom of many worlds and times. This is the Weird. Here be monsters and golden, onion-domed barges and great cyclopea n halls filling mountain-tops. Geography is exaggerated and uncoupled from the e xpectations of other lands. The rising tide of such cosmic strangeness produces a startling density of these so-called sites of adventure. It's not uncommon to walk a few hours from one on ly to uncover another and then another a short jaunt away. The Borderlands is the contested zone between. Magic functions here, yet civiliz ation exists here too even if sparsely and tentatively. The entirety of human se ttlement in the Hill Cantons (the political/regional entity not the campaign) is found here and it is rippled like a marble cake with pockets of the Weird. As s uch adventure can be found here, but it involves neither the big-ticket risks no r the rewards of exploring the otherworldly regions. Life here for humanity is tainted by the contact with the Weird, indeed literall y many who return back to the core from here die quietly and strangely of maladi es in the night. Though a rough frontier, fashion is extravagant and quick to ch ange. Doctrines of the mind are extravagant and quick to heated dispute in their over-elaboration. While desperate, life here also carries with it the freedom from the dull routin e. Heretics, runaway servants, poets, and the sociopaths and picaros calling the mselves adventurers flock here as a result.

I really like this particular map because it has two major sections with a nice small choke point in the middle. I'm envisioning those connective lowlands as th e center of civilization on this island with deep, forested wild mountains to th e east and more wild interior to the west past the barrier of the rocky mountain s. Flipping the assumptions of Keep on the Borderlands, I think the mountains wi ll contain chaotic border forts (like the gates of Mordor, but smaller scale) pr otecting the western interior from the settled lowlands. In addition, other lawf ul settlements will be scattered around the edges of the island, much like the w ay settlements hugged the shore of Ancient Greece. Communication between the law fuls will be by short range sea vessels, but more on that in later posts. The campaign is set in a frontier region of the Overkingdom of the Nemmetz and P ahrusky Lands, a sprawling, loose federation of human-peopled domains ruled by an Overking elected by the Lords Te mporal and Spiritual. Our downandout heroes have just ridden into the Hill Cantons, a wild and woolly sparsely-se ttled borderlands region of independent-minded freeholders and petty aristocratic micro-states. As the curtain lifts, the Overkingdom teeters on the brink of collapse. Two long grueling overseas wars against distant sultanates, the collapse of the large merchant banking houses, bumbling incompetent national leaders, and other sundry calamities have fractured the already fragile and decentralized realm. A nominally-monotheistic church, the Supernal Orthodox Temple of the Puissant Sun Lord, ostensibly dominates the realm spiritually. But powerful new heretical movements such as the Morning Star and Evening Star societies seek to restore a spurned female deity, the Celestial Lady, to her proper place in the pantheon. The weakening of the Overking's power has also allowed old pagan religions kept alive by country folks to be worshiped publicly again in the Hill Cantons. Further ominous rumors abound about the reawakening of slumbering elder gods and unspeakable evil. The cantons mark the end of human civilization in the northern lands, both near and beyond lie many aspects of the weird and magical. The Overking's authority is now mostly nominal in outlying re gions. Magical happenings have become more common and some say long-banished elves, dwarves, and things that go bump in the night have returned to forgotten homes. It is a time and place that can hold great fortune for those da ring and lucky enough to leave the safe environs of home for lives of adventure.