[Banestorm] Rom's custom Banestorm

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Me Too. If you want home-grown high tech in your Yrth at all (I generally don't, myself), putting it in Zarak where they have the seclusion, industrial base, long lifespans, and inclination for R&D is IMHO the most plausible option.

Al-Haz persecutes the mages, Al-Wazif just signs them up for government work.

Yeah, you give the dwarves a mechanical/materials engineer and they'd go fricken' nuts.

Al-Haz then. I think having the hard-line religious guys also be the pro-tech guys would really turn a lot of assumptions on their head.

[LoneWolf23k]

Short update this morning... Decided to recycle some of my old ideas for this...

The Cabal
Some people might wonder how the humans brought to Banestorm managed to adapt to a world of sorcery so quickly, and were able to master the ways of Magic within a generation of arriving on Yrth.

The simple answer, of course, is that the humans secretly had wizards all along, and didn't even know it. Many cabalists were brought to Yrth along with the countless mass of mundanes, and they were pleasantly surprised to find themselves on a world with (mostly) Normal Mana levels. Many of those, finding their power levels grown substantially, felt confident enough to stop hiding their abilities, and soon enough wizards were well known amongst humans.

As the Cabal was brought to Yrth right in the midst of their civil war, they would remain a fractious group until the rise of Simon Menelaus. Not just a scholar, a mage and a politicial mastermind, he was also the scion of a tradition of Cabalists from Earth, and quickly rose through the ranks of the local Lodge, becoming a Master by the time he became chief advisor to the king of Sarcula.

A great visionary, he planned to form the Empire of Megalos as not only a resurrection of the Roman Empire, but also as a creation of a thaumarchy, a kingdom of magic. This was accomplished with the aid of his Lodge, which expanded to absorb other lodges as Menelaus conquered more and more neighboring kingdoms to expand his empire.

As Megalos stabilized, the now solidified Megalan Cabal formed under Menelaus' direct control, and retreated back into the shadow, becoming an Invisible Empire with which Menelaus hoped to use to ciment his power base. New, ambitious soon arose to challenge him, creating new factions within the Megalan Cabal. This battle between the Menelaen dynasty and it's rivals for control of Megalos raged on in secret, until 1551, when the line died off without an heir, and an appearance of new Cabalists from Renaissance France forced the remaining Cabalists to reorganize as a united front to defeat these new upstarts.

As time progressed, Caithness, Cardiel and Araterre developped their own Cabals, which entered into a kind of conspiratorial cold war against the Megalan Cabal and with each other. Other, similar organisations arose within Al-Haz and Al-Wazif, but remained at odds with the more christian cabalists, who suspected them of being in league with the Djinn. The Nomad magic users have yet to organize in any sizable ways, and the Sahudese, as with everything else, are utterly enigmatic to even the Cabal.

The Cabal's membership consists primarily of human mages, though one faction of Sylvan Cabalists are lead by an Elven Grand Master, and rumors abound of a Dragon who bought his way into the Cabal by offering a fair dosage of his own magically-extracted blood to the Grand Masters.

The Cabal's goals are varied, but one of them is primordial: preventing the rise of science and technology on Yrth, to secure the dominance of Magic. To this end, they are great contributors to the functionning of the Ministry of Serendipity (and similar organisations across Ytarria).

[DaRKBeTo]

Excellent material, keep it coming, I'm running a banestorm campaign right now and I'll use all these.

[LoneWolf23k]

Creatures of the Night in Banestorm

Because, really, what's a Fantasy Adventure setting without some monsters to slay?

From the original book:
-Betweeners: unknown to the inhabitants of Yrth, there is at least one orbiting the planet, having created some of the hybrid creatures now inhabiting it.

-Bookworms: known to some scholars. Commonly found in the remains of necromancers and assassins.

-Brakish Hounds (and other Brakish creatures): known of through the occasional local legends across Ytarria. Many communities can boast having their own Brakish Hound legend; most live in fear of them, but a few are actually rather proud of their "local monster".

-Brine Furies: Sailors across Ytarria tell legends of the Brine Furies, also known as Wave Wisps and Storm-bringers. Some ruthless crews have been known to draw lots to select a sacrifice to the Brine Furies during particularly strong storms.

-Chillers and Sandghouls: Known as "Frost Hunters" in the Nomad Lands, Chillers are considered a form of undead spirit. Many Northlander tribes use funeral pyres to cremate their dead to avoid creating them. Meanwhile, Sandghouls are considered tales told to frighten children in Al-Haz.

-Chimneyrules: Rare in the pre-industrial world of Yrth, most recorded sightings show only small, dog or cat-sized chimneyrules hidden inside the fireplaces of large keeps, passing themselves off as "friendly" ghosts to manipulate family members into feeding the flames. Larger and more dangerous Chimneyrules are rumored to exist in the cavernous smokestacks of dwarven forges.

-Cipher Scarabs: Due to their particular habits, Cipher Scarabs are little known to most people. There are recorded sightings of their existence in a few old tomes, however. Some mad necromancers have tamed the occasional Scarab swarm, using them for nefarious purposes.

-Clutches: These tend to be artificially created by Necromancers as security measures to protect their lairs from outsiders. They instantly recognize their makers and heed their commands.

-Corpse-Kissers: Not found on Yrth, due to the lack of radio static (...And I don't know what to use in it's place. Any suggestions?)

-Cryptlings: One of the many varieties of Undead found on Yrth.

-Darklings: More then a few isolated communities across Ytarria have become havens for darklings, organized into extended families, cults or even entire communities.

-Darkriders: Widely present across Yrth, Darkrider infections are considered a form of Possession by "Demonettes", but can be treated by the Cure Disease spell.

-Defilers: Known to scholars, there are multiple theories concerning their origins; these range from victims of critically failed Making and Breaking spells to thralls of destructive demons to living embodiment of entropy, depending on who's asked. The Church considers them anathema.

-Dread Blossoms: Known to alchemists and hedge mages, who use the flower's petals as key ingrediant for especially potent Fear potions (extra -2 against resistance in all forms, pastille included).

-Dusklords: These grim, vampire-like beings enjoy lives of wealth and privilege hidden amongst human nobles, using their psionic powers and knowledge of magic to gather wealth, influence and victims without drawing too much attention to themselves. In Megalos in particular, Dusklords often seem no more monstrous then many human noblemen, and can hide in plain sight.

-Eonights: Rare on Yrth.

-Etherworls: A by-product of the Banestorms, Etherworls are apparantly unaffected by Yrth's sargasso effect, and are occasionally harnessed to transport people to and from other worlds.

-Fabricants: The few Fabricants found on Yrth are the result of critical failures of Gate spells. These are usually TL3+2 beings of strange clock/steam designs, although the Ministry of Serendipity has fought and destroyed an Aralaise Fabricant of TL4+2, which displayed even more advanced capabilities.

-The Flayed: Often confused with the undead or with lepers, Flayed come in many varieties on Yrth, from shadowy killers to brutish thugs to terrifying mages.

-Gallows Trees: Occasionally, a Pagan cult will turn to dark, bloody rituals, and perform human sacrifices. Very occasionally, those sacrifices will create a Gallows Tree, which is then revered by the cult as a divine blessing. Dark Elves are also known to create them for the same reasons. Other Gallows Tree are created by accident, and the reborn people created by them are confused with dryads.

-Gear Gnomes: Not usually found on Yrth.

-Greendreads: a growing number of those can be found in the Blackwoods, contributing to that forest's grim reputation.

-Grue Beetles: Surprisingly, grue beetles are not unknown on Yrth, occasionally developping in Mills, torture devices, printing presses or alchemical apparatuses. They are considered demonic creatures, and often used in MoS anti-tech propaganda for obvious reasons.

-Guardian Ghouls: Another one of numerous types of Undead found on Yrth.

-Hexmutes: Tend to congregate in the seedier neighborhoods of Yrth's cities, revelling in human misery. Geb'al-din has a growing population of Hexmutes, born of the city's current plague.

-Hoarders: Hoarders are occasionally found in Muslim nations, where severing the hand is the usual penalty for thievery.

-Hobbles: Often mistaken for misshapen, twisted fae, hobbles tend to hover on the outskirts of civilized communities, using their abilities to blight the land and cause trouble.

-Inretches: these skeletal undead can often go unnoticed for decades, if not centuries, dwelling inside hidden compartments of old castles, driving their inhabitants towards increased fortification and isolation. Whenever a Skullswitch occurs, this can be misintepreted as a sign of demonic possession.

-Iphids: These horrid creatures are found in the hot, dry regions of south-west Ytarria, such as the Great Desert and the Djinn lands. Fortunetly, few of them have developped into Archiphids, but those that have are making plans to secure a steady supply of brains out of Caithness.

-Jackstraws: these occur when people make scarecrows near magically charged locations. These inanimate constructs will then use their slowly growing magical abilities to manipulate others into improving them to make them more human, thus increasing their abilities. One variety of Jackstraw, the False Idol, can be found created (and worshipped) by pagan cults (or heretical christian cults).

-Lodgers: Often enough, Lodgers appear on Yrth, confused with "ordinary" haunted houses. The oldest Lodger known to have appeared on Yrth inhabited an elven forest manor for over 500 years, terrorizing two generations of elves before it was finally identified and banished.

-Lonesouls: As the practice of leaving flowers on graves is not yet widespread across Yrth, lonesouls are rare.

-Lunefish: the truth behind the Lunefish is little known, as their madness-inducing songs are often blamed on Merfolk or hostile Sea spirits. The few born Moonchildren encourage this belief, keeping the truth about the Lunefish as best as they can.

-Lynchlichen: a common threat in dungeon ruins, old sewers or deep tunnels. The Dwarves have a policy of burning them wherever found.

-Marrowfiends: Considered by most scholars to be a type of demon, in spite of their resistance to Banishment spells.

-Mazeworms: Some mazeworms on Yrth have developped a unique adaptation letting them attract intelligent prey: they assume the appearance of ordinary tunnels, and use strange powers to animate the remains of past victims, gathers their wealth into rooms inside the tunnel, and thus creates "dungeons" to lure adventurers into it's clutches. Some go even further, developping symbiotic relationships with other monsters to further inhabit it.

-Mirror Ghosts: they, and prattling portraits, are occasionally found on Yrth, mentionned in some dark stories. A few Evil Wizards manage to deliberatly turn themselves into such beings to avoid Death.

-Mooring Trees: Known by a few hedge witches, mooring trees are occasionally used by would-be killers to perform "impossible" murders.


-The Matchless: wandering freakshows are not all uncommon on Ytarria, but there's a specific subgroup of Matchless, formed of "Dwarfs" (midgets, as opposed to the Dwarven race) working as jesters for decadent nobles, whom they secretly manipulate.

-Mockers: Well-known by wizards, Mockers thrive well enough on Yrth, where they seldom have trouble finding spellcasters, lycanthropes or other supernatural beings to feed on.

-Motes: When people on Yrth speak of the "Evil Eye", sometimes they're talking about Motes without realizing it.

-Murder Crows: Well-known in the Nomad Lands, where they are believed to be sent by Odin to test mortals. In christian lands, they are said to be sent by the Devil to lure mortals to performing acts of murder.

-Necroids: there have been a few attempts by mad Underground Engineers to create undead of their own. The resulting Necroids are nevre more advanced then TL5, and crudely made at that.

-Needlers: A few Necromancers on Yrth hold the secret to creating Needlers.

-Netherpunks: not commonly found on Yrth.

-Oracle Wells: common enough on Yrth, each Oracle Well is somewhat different, either a different kind of shaft, or divining a different kind of future, from success in battles to future deaths.

...Okay, I've been typing these up for over an hour now... I'll have to continue this tomorrow. Although I now realize a lot of those monsters don't need a lot of work to adapt to Yrth.

[nik1979]

Originally Posted by NorphTehDwarf

You've got my attention. Personally I'm planning on beating the everloving tar out of medieval Russia until it resembles a suitable DF setting but maybe I'll use this instead.

mystara's kingdom of karameikos is a russian derived setting that can be easily DF-ised. Its fluff is highly usable for DF.

[Xenarthral]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

-Hoarders: Hoarders are occasionally found in Muslim nations, where severing the hand is the usual penalty for thievery.

Going out on a limb here, but I've been lead to believe that it was also quite
common in western Europe during the period when the banestorm hit.

[LoneWolf23k]

Originally Posted by Xenarthral

Going out on a limb here, but I've been lead to believe that it was also quite common in western Europe during the period when the banestorm hit.

Huh, true enough.

Truth be told, many of the Creatures of the Night monsters can be used as-is in Banestorm already. Maybe it'd be easier just to note which monsters need alterations to fit on Yrth, like I did with the Fabricants and Chineyrules.

[LoneWolf23k]

And now, to continue my adaptation of Creatures of the Night monsters to Banestorm.

Prayer Wolves: featured in numerous Ytarrian legends, the creatures are believed to be either demonic beings or divine punishment who target the unfaithful. When confronted by them, the only recourse is to fall on one's knees and pray.

Protean Pools: Rare on Yrth, these pools are mostly known by the monsters they occasionally create. Their true nature is unknown, however, and thus protean pools are believed to be magic.

Pumpkins: The idea that each pumpkin holds the soul of a dead child is considered an old wives tale on Yrth. It's just that... ...Isn't it?

Puppeteers: these slimy creatures constantly seek to take control of powerful nobles, rich merchants or influential clergymen. They are believed to be demonic tempters, leading the rich and powerful to sin.

Quietkin: Mostly known through ghost stories, on occasion a Quietkin will be created from a Mage with the knowledge of Fire spells. Unless he knows it at 15 or more, however, he cannot use them to maintain his presence.

Rift Hags: These powerful entities are in fact Parachronozoids, who's purpose is to repair the fabric of space and time. They are naturally drawn to Yrth's banestorms, and have tried to mend the damage since they first came to the world in the 1100s. Though they lack spells and other direct forms of occult power, their knowledge of magic and dimensions is unequalled, and many adventures seek them out for answers.

River Wretches: There are many stories, often conflicting, about River Wretches. Some claim that the creatures will attack anyone reminding them of their lost love, while others believe them to be blessed servants of the gods of the sea. All agree that dealing with them is hazardous, however.

Shrill Rats: Ytarrian medecine now accepts that the Plague is caused by rat fleas, so rat-hunting is a time-honored (if not glamorous) profession in most Yrth cities. It is also a dangerous profession, if only because they occasionally stumble upon threats like shrill rat hordes...

Slaver Dogs: these creatures can control most kinds of nonhumans as easily as they can control humans, and wild slaver dogs will occasionally be found in control of groups of orcs, ogres, hobgoblins or trolls, although those encountering them will assume the dogs serve the savage humanoids instead of the other way around.

Slitherwens: Slitherwens have been drawn to Yrth ever since the start of the banestorms; the first few brought via banestorm infected a few victims, and through those "fleshlings" more of the creatures wormed their way to Yrth.

Stormbairns: Not much to modify here, save that children of many races can become Stormbairns.

Tattlers: alchemical potions will (very) rarely result in the user's next offspring being born a tattler. These mutants believe themselves divinely ordained to reveal secrets and force truthfulness upon others.

Tomb Moths and Tombwalkers: Tomb moths and their larvae can be used to create alchemical compounds useful for necromantic magic. Tombwalkers can be affected by Control Zombie and Turn Zombie.

War-wights: Every culture in Ytarria has recorded stories concerning War-wights, from christian knights and muslim gazi returning from the grave to continue old battles from the crusades, to sahudese samurai seeking to wage High War on behalf of their Lord one last time.

Watchtowers: Wizard towers occasionally become host to Watchtowers, who then begin manipulating the wizards dwelling within.

Wax weirds: Wax weirds are failed experiments by Megalan wizards, golems originally created to infiltrate enemy organizations. Unfortunetly, the creatures proved to be highly unstable, and thus unusable. While most were destroyed, more then a few escaped into the wilderness. Some of those were later captured by other wizards who tried replicating the process and try to improve them, only to be met with more failures. This has continued in a recurring cycle that maintains a small population of wax weirds on Ytarria to this day.

Wereshadows: a rare variant strain of lycanthropy, wereshadows often manifest Dark or Night-aspected Magery, and learn spells from the Light and Darkness college. Are often confused with the Undead variety of Shadows (although whether or not a Wereshadow turns into such a Shadow upon death is up to GMs).

Wildermasques: these creatures come in many forms beyond the classic "Headless Horseman". Recorded variations have included a wizard holding a crystal ball, a monk clutching a reliquary, and even an old goblin merchant grasping a bag of gold.

Wither puppets: Known to scholars. Many healers can recognize the withering as symptoms of a Wither puppet attack, which can fortunately be treated with the Restoration spell.

...And that's it for the original Creatures of the Night book. Next time, the PDF books.

[LoneWolf23k]

Y'know, looking back at all those entries, I realize it probably would've been more interesting if I'd made Yrth-based Adventure Hooks for those monsters instead of broad conversion notes.

Oh well, I'll see about revisiting those later.

[combatmedic]

My old teacher, Imam Johari,has said that he thinks that a bracelet device on the wrist which warns all who see it that the wearer is a thief, and which tracks his movements is an acceptable modern equivalent of the old punishment. Severing a hand was supposed to be a way of marking the thief for all to see and of discouraging future thefts. An electronic bracelet tracker with the letters 'T-H-I-E-F' emblazoned on it would work pretty well for that.
In the Prophet Muhammed's [pbuh] day, there were essentially no jails or regular court systems in Arabia. A simple and direct punishment was desired. Modern technology might give us an acceptable alternative that still fits the intent of Sharia.


Yes, I am well aware that there are more traditional Muslim scholars who would disagree with Imam Johari. They are entitled to their own opinions, naturally. I'm just giving an example of a progressive Muslim thinker who seeks to make sharia applicable in a way that better agrees with our modern American notions of human rights and due process.


EDIT- Why all this? I'm giving an example of how sharia thinking is not static. islamic law evolves and changes over time, while keeping its core precepts [drawn from the Qur'an and the Hadith] intact.

I don't think Islamic law in Al Wazif or Al Haz needs to look like the schools of sharia prevalent in modern day Saudia Arabia or in Iran. In fact, it obviously diverges or expands in several areas: the treament of magic, the need to deal with nonhumans [not too hard, as Islam recognizes non human intelligences already: the djinn],etc will lead scholars in new directions.