Peoples of Arn: Llysans

To the east, across the sea from Arn, lies the diabolical apostasy of the Kingdom of Llys. Though a former colony of Thystara, and a former bastion of the Issian faith, a cruel and foolish king opened the door for a revolution supported by diablerie, and the rise of a new aristocracy who treat with the denizens of the Hells to support their decadent rule.

Centuries ago, before the fall to infernalism, Llys sought in religious zeal to expand into Arn. Eastern areas of Arn fell under their sway, and crusader fiefdoms were established. Under later, inept monarchs, these fiefdoms gained greater and greater independence. After the revolution, Llys was in no position to reassert control, and in fact, the expatriate Llysan population in Arn was bolstered by refugees. This region continues as a remnant of Llys-that-was within Arn. Later, young Llysans nobles and even veteran commoners came to Arn as filibusters, seeking to reclaim the old territory and conquer new in the name of their dread queen--but mostly for their own enrichment and glory.

The majority of Llysans trace their ancestry to the sharp-featured Deaslith people of Llys and the Old Thystaran Empire it sprang from. Most have dark hair and eyes and pale skin, though many in Llys, and many more in Llysan Arn, show the traits of admixturing with the fairhaired, and often ruddier complected, Ilsdaana peoples.

Llysans have a reputation as aesthetes, and sticklers for concerns of honor and etiquette. They are often stereotyped as vain and supercilious by other ethnic groups of Arn, but also as highly cultured.

MANY LLYSANS (roll 1d20 3 times):
1. Think of themselves as superior to other cultural groups.
2. Proselytize about the glories of Issus the Revelator.
3. Dress in the finest garments they can afford.
4. Take pinches of analeptic zauphur snuff from tiny snuff boxes.
5. Deride those not of the Issian faith as heathens.
6. Have their family coat of arms on their shields or surcoats.
7. Call the Kael "savages."
8. Pray to Issus before battle.
9. Quote Thystaran or Llysan literary works.
10. Defer to their social "betters."
11. Expect their social "inferiors" to defer to them.
12. Use peoples formal titles, and expect the same courtesy.
13. Duel over offenses to their honor.
14. Wear perfume.
15. Fastidiously trim their facial hair (if applicable).
16. Know courtly dances.
17. Prefer wine to beer or liquor.
18. Think all Hazandi are thieves.
19. Claim chastity as a virtue, but don't practice it.
20. Aspire to restore the Issian faith to their homeland.

SOME LLYSANS (roll 1d10 once):
1. Are diabolists--perhaps secretly.
2. Carry folding fans.
3. Are paupers, but live beyond their means.
4. Pretend social rank they don't have.
5. Are the illegitimate child of a noble.
6. Regale companions with the deeds of obscure (perhaps fictional) Issian saints.
7. Have a weapon of quality, which is a family heirloom.
8. Compulsively vow to do various valorous deeds.
9. Carry the favor of a mysterious paramour.
10. Have a lackey or squire.

Free Talislanta!

As many of you perhaps already know--and the rest should--Stephan Michael Sechi has liberated his creation Talislanta--at least from the black iron prison of out-of-print obscurity. Many of the old books (and perhaps, eventually, all) are offered as free pdfs under the Creative Commons License on talislanta.com.

For the uninitiated, Talislanta is an rpg created by the aforementioned Stephan Michael Sechi, and wonderfully realized by the art of P.D. Breeding-Black, first published by Bard Games in 1987. Most of us first heard of Talislanta through the ads in Dragon proclaiming "No Elves!"

And there were no elves--at least not by name. Indeed there weren't any of the usual Tolkienian or Nordic/Celtic influences common to fantasy gaming. Instead, the eclectic and (dare I say) slightly campy setting, is very Vancian (and is, in fact, dedicated to Jack Vance). Sechi outlined the rest of his Talislantan "Appendix N" in an online interview:

"Besides Vance, there was also Marco Polo's The Travels, Lovecraft's The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath, certain of the works of William S. Burroughs (from which many ideas of Talislanta's illicit substances were derived), and many others. Visually, I was very much influenced by Salome, a three-part story published in Heavy Metal magazine, and written and drawn by Phillipe Druillet - I've looked for it ever since, but with no success. Richard Corben was also an influence, especially his vivid use of colors; also Steve Ditko's Dr Strange, and his depiction of spells and other dimensions. Those are just a few."

Talislanta has always been a setting I've had a a great deal of affection for, even though I haven't actually played in it that often. It's just fun to read, particularly the Chronicles.

Check it out, if you haven't already.

Warlord Wednesday: The City in the Sky

Let's enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"The City In The Sky"

Warlord (vol. 1) #8 (August-September 1977)

Written and Illustrated by Mike Grell

Synopsis: Morgan, Machiste, and Mariah are loungingin Kiro, admiring Machiste's new mace-head prosthetic, when their attention is called to a flock of pteranodons descending on the city.  The three do battle with the flying reptiles, unil one snatches Mariah in its talons and flies off with her.

For a moment, Morgan thinks he's lost her, but he notices a pteranodon that hasn't taken flight yet.  Morgan jumps on its back, hoping he can ride it to their roost and find Mariah.  While cursing Morgan for a fool, Machiste nonetheless follows.

Their perilous flight takes them over the jungles of Skartaris to a city floating in the sky.  Dismounting before the pteranodon reaches its perch, Morgan and Machiste discover that despite the wondrous nature of the city, its in fact decaying with age.  They set off in search for Mariah, but are themselves discovered by a squad of security robots.  The two warriors make short work of them.  Feeling a greater urgency than ever to find Mariah, they run through the city streets with weapons drawn.

Hearing voices from one buidling, they charge in to find Mariah engaged in relaxed converstation with a bald stranger.  The stranger welcomes them to the city of Skyra and offers them wine.

Morgan remains suspicious despite their host's friendly demeanor and demands answers.  The stranger gives his name as Tragg, and explains that the pteranodons are trained to hunt meat for him to supplement his synthetic food supplies.  They picked up Mariah by mistake.

Skyra was built by the Atlanteans before the Great War as a defense station.  The task of running it was beyond the capacity of the human mind, so Tragg--a cyborg--was created.  The computer interfaces in his brain allow him to control every function of the city with his thoughts--which he demonstrates by having an energy weapon blast a carnosaur in the jungles below.

After that display, Morgan is ready to leave the sky city, but Mariah (ever the archeologist) wants to see Tragg's collection.  Morgan agrees to a quick look around, and he and Machiste step forward into a dark--and strangely cold--room.  Unseen, Tragg grabs Mariah and pulls her away.

The doors shut behind Morgan and Machiste, and they find themselves in a meat-locker full of frozen humans.  The leering voice of Tragg suggests they "stay for dinner."  Morgan realizes that this is what became of the inhabitants of Skyra--the supplies stopped coming and Tragg turned to humans as a source of food. 

Jets of cold liquid began coating the pair, feezing them to human ice-sculptures.  With great effort, Machiste manages to use his mace hand to break free Morgan's right hand--and his gun.  Morgan shoots the freezing device.  That gives Machiste time to smash through the ice and free them.  Before hunting for Mariah, they quickly improvise gliders so they're sure they can make good their escape.

Meanwhile, Tragg offers Mariah the choice to become his bride--or die.  Before he can carry out his threat, he's interrupted by Morgan who has a gun to his head.  Tragg still controls the city, however, and activates jets of flame that trap Morgan and Machiste, and make Morgan drop his pistol.  While Tragg gloats, Mariah dives for Morgan's pistol.  Before the cyborg can react, she's put a bullet through his skull.  

The instant of Tragg's death, Skyra begins to quake.  The three run for the gliders.  They fly away as the sky city crashes into a snowy mountainside.

Things to Notice:

• This is the first appearance of Machiste's mace hand.
• Tragg's hunting pteranodons weren't able to find any easier picking that plucking Mariah from the palace of Kiro?
• Atlantean robots are built from sub-standard materials--Morgan is able to tear 'em apart barehanded.
• The Atlanteans made Tragg with scary-sharp teeth for some reason.

Where It Comes From:
The idea of a floating city is a common one in science fiction and fantasy. It goes back at least to Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726) and the flying island of Laputa. Once such floating city Grell no doubt encounterd was Stratos in the 1969 Star Trek episode "The Cloud Minders."

Tragg's appearance recalls (albeit with a different color scheme) the Silver Age appearance of the Superman villian, Brainiac--who was also an artificial being (at least after a 1964 retcon):

Tragg's plot and freezing modus operandi are clearly inspired by Box, a robot in the 1976 film adaption of Logan's Run. Box operates a freezing facility for foodstuffs ("Fish, plankton, sea greens... protein from the sea!"), but when the food stopped coming he began freezing and storing escaping runners instead:

Interestingly, though the movie Box is a robot, in the original Nolan and Johnson novel he's a cyborg like Tragg.

The Gonne-Slinger

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed."

- Stephen King, The Gunslinger

A gaunt revenant stalks the wastes of the world of Arn.

No one knows what sorcerer summoned this entity from some alternate material plane, nor what sorts of strange magics animate his deathless form, nor what blasphemies are held back by his rawhide-sown lips. Perhaps he was called forth with the sepulchral sorceries of the Tomb-Lords of Amenti, or perhaps he's wandered since the days of the God Makers, themselves.

Whatever the case, the grim walker may be encountered randomly in sparsely inhabited deserts and badlands across the world. He is a tall, almost skeletally thin man.  His weathered skin has the corpse-pallor of the undead. Beneath the wide brim of his hat, his eyes glow with blue-white witch-fire. His dust-colored long-coat flaps in the breeze--even when there isn't one. 'Round his waist is a low-slung leather belt, and odd scabbards--holding even odder weapons--hang on either side, strapped to his thighs.

The sole weapons of the man are cunningly wrought gonnes in miniature. These weapons fire fast, and they never need to be reloaded. Those who don't die on the battlefield from their eldritch shot typically succumb later to a wasting sickness, unless clerical magic is used to cure the disease.

This bounty-killer from the Outer Dark may be hired by leaving a piece of paper, with the likeness of the person to be killed drawn upon it, in a ruined (and so unconsecrated) church of a lawful good deity in a ghost-town in the wilderness, or at the edge of a desert or waste. He will only accept a commission from a person once in their life. The price for the killing is variable, but always includes gold--and ages the would-be employer in the bargain.

Mechanics: The Gonne-Slinger can be tailored to fit the needs of the campaign. Warriors & Warlocks stats for my current game aren't as easy, but here's some Old School-ish guidelines: I'd suggest a rough level of say the AD&D Fiend Folio Death Knight (AC 0, HD 9, Magic Resistance: 75%) though with a number of attacks reflecting the RoF of his guns (3 shots/round, maybe?). The cost of the killing should be based on the hit dice of the target, and perhaps the aging should, as well. Despite his undeadish nature (and the resistances/immunities that might imply) the Gonne-Slinger can't be turned, commanded, or destroyed, and is immune to the effects of holy/unholy symbols, holy water or the like.

The Peoples of Arn: The Kael

The Kael hold sway over the wilds in the northern reaches of Arn. These ethnically Ilsdaanan (mostly fair-skinned and -haired) tribesmen once held all of Arn, only allowing the Hazandi gypsy-folk--with whom they have an ancient blood-pact--to pass unchallenged. The coming of the forces of the Thystaran Empire changed all that, leading to years of warfare. Whole tribes of Kael were lost, and their names are no longer spoken. Gradually, the tribes were pushed further and further into the less hospitable hills and broken lands of the north.

While they still claim all of Arn as their ancestral right, the Kael only control the areas of the Ael-Uthaidd Plateau, Shielddome, the Delanoch Hills, and the Chailéadhain Highlands. The loss of the south is an ever bitter draught, and the young and disaffected tribesmen still launch raids against those they consider interlopers.

There are seven tribes of the Kael. These tribes are divided into bands, which are in turn divided into local groups composed primarily of families in of one matrilineal clan. Marriage within clan is not permitted.

Kael are predominantly pastoralists, though some live a completely nomadic lifestyle following auroch herds. Though war and raiding is generally considered the province of men, both boys and girls are trained to ride, and in the use of the bow and spear. A Battle Woman (seen as being imbued with the spirit of the war goddess) accompanies war-parties and gives counsel to the male leader on the treatment of prisoners and the division of spoils.

Inspired by the random tables originating in Aaron Kesher's "The Devil's in the Details" in Fight On!, here are a couple of tables to flesh out cultural/personality quirks of Kael characters:

MANY KAEL (1d20 3 times):
1. Dislike cities.
2. Prefer to sleep in stables near their horse.
3. Take trophies (scalps, ears) from defeated foes.
4. Treat elves with deference--and wariness.
5. Sing tribal war-chants before battle.
6. Have tattoos in geometric patterns.
7. Have tattoos of stylized animals.
8. Think battle-scars make them more attractive.
9. Name their favorite weapon.
10. Try to interpret their dreams to divine the future.
11. Have a mohawk haircut.
12. Spike their hair to look fierce.
13. Are afraid of ghosts.
14. Have an idiosyncratic taboo placed on them at birth.
15. Are illiterate.
16. Talk to the stars as if they're family elders.
17. Are mistrustful of magic-users and call them witches
18. Believe having a dwarf in a party is a auspicious omen.
19. Believe weapons have spirits.
20. Take new names to reflect noteworthy deeds.

SOME KAEL (1d10 once):
1. Are hiding from an arranged marriage.
2. Call all non-Kael or Hazandi humans "Thystari."
3. Smoke djesha-leaf immoderately
4. Have a feud with another Kael clan.
5. Have a totem animal they won't kill.
6. Attach feathers to their spears.
7. Think halflings are funny--even the anthrophagous kind!
8. Find non-Kael exotically attractive.
9. Speak the common tongue without an accent.
10. Are fascinated by civilization.

A Plague of Goblins

"Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours."

- Planet of the Apes (1968)

Goblin plagues are suffered in the less settled areas of the world, particularly in the lands of Arn, though they have been known in the wilder parts of the Eridan continent, as well. They are more common in places which lie near ancient ruins. In such an infestation, tens, perhaps hundreds, of goblins swarm forth from underground dens or nests. They overrun manor, hamlet, and village, and have even been known to assail the gates of small cities.

No one knows what spawns goblins, but it is certain they don't reproduce in the manner of most humanoids. All goblins seem to be of the same sex, though in truth, this is something of a conjecture. Smaller goblins, perhaps immature ones, are seen among their swarms, but never is any parental nurturing or concern offered them by any of their fellows.

It's difficult to guess the intelligence of goblins. There's no questioning their cunning, but they don't structures or make tools, behaving only as brute beasts. This may be more preference than lack of capacity, as there are reports of them taking up knives and even smallswords and brandishing them in deadly mockery of men. Though they may wear rags or stolen bits of clothing or armor as rude decoration, they are just as happy to go naked.

When swarms of goblins pour forth from the underground, they tend to move toward human habitations, though wild animals will sometimes suffer their assaults. While popular entertainments have made much of the mischievous nature of goblin attacks--their crude pranks, surprise scares, and harassment of livestock--their deadliness is not be discounted. Typically, the actions of the swarm escalate from behaviors which create fear or annoyance to outright attacks with their sharp teeth, stolen weapons, fire, and large numbers. They have been known to consume humans they kill, but that seems to be an after-though.

The infestations may last as little as a night or two or as long as a month, depending on the amount of resistance they encounter. If the swarm doesn't end of its on accord, it can be dispersed by killing a quarter or more of its number.

Scholars have attempted to discern how goblin plagues may be predicted. Folklore suggests that they are "summoned"--perhaps by children entering puberty. Adolescents suffering from the anxiety of an unwanted betrothal, the birth of a new sibling, or other sorts of emotional duress are thought to become unwitting "Goblin Kings" or "Goblin Queens," and call forth their subjects in some psychic manner.  Naturalists remained unconvinced but are at a loss to explain the tales of goblins paying rude homage (in imitation of human courtly deference) to a single child in a decimated village or attempting to abduct such a child without harming them in any other way.

Release the Kraken!

I saw the Clash of the Titans remake this morning with some friends.  Contrary to the lackluster pronouncements of several critics, we three fans of the original film enjoyed it.

The plot follows a broadly similar outline to the '81 original, though a theme of Man versus God is emphasized (and perhaps over-emphasized.  We got it already!), and a true villain is added--instead of just antagonists--which is what I think the original had.

Comparing the 1981 and 2010 films is interesting.  The remake suffers from what I see as a common flaw of modern genre/action film screenwriting compared to the style of older films.  Events are streamlined, probably in the name of making the film more "fast-paced," leading to the feeling of jumping from one action set piece to another, and inevitably losing some filler details, and atmosphere-building.  Serving this same goal of narrative straight-forwardness, characters are eliminated and "good guy" and "bad guy" tend to get more sharply drawn.  And this is all in comparsion to an original which was a pretty shallow fantasy film!

This rapid pace tends to necessitate broadly painted characters, and character "bits" are almost inevitably scenes of comic relief and badass-itude.  These can be well-down and enjoyable, but also feel cliched.  Of course, secondary characters in the original (besides Burgess Meredith's character) can hardly be said to be developed at all, so I suppose you could view this as an improvement.

CGI is certainly superior to stop-motion in terms of versatility and versumilitude, but the "ritual dance" nature of a lot of modern action sequence direction, means that doesn't equate to greater thrill value most of the time.  The giant scorpion sequence in the new film is certainly more frenetic, but I can't neccessarily say that its better. 

The ferry across the Styx, likewise, isn't really any better or worse, though for different reasons.  The Stygian witches, I think, actually work better in the original, though I can't put my finger on exactly why--and admittedly, I'm working form memory.

So did the new one do anything better?  Sure.  The Olympians with speaking roles seem more "into it" than the slumming stars of the original.  The "floor map" of the world in Olympus is a lot cooler than the "amphitheater"the god's crowd around in the original.  Princess Andromeda is better developed, if in cliched ways.  The sets for Argos are sumptuous. 

The thing the new film does best in my opinion is the medusa.  She's fast moving, and so more menacing, but she also has a great deal of expression in her facial animation.  You actually get a sense of the medusa as a charatcer, more than just an obstacle.

Anyway, its worth checking out, in my opinion--though the 3D doesn't add anything, so save yourself a few bucks.