Culture

"Lo and behold Calamandran the Black: tamer of peoples, thread cutter, manslayer, song writer, prince of the Dark Host!"

Q: Herr Selig, recently I became aware that the Cuatls of Saurian society are considered a new development, perhaps a response to the daemonic incursions of the Age of Waste. However, the famous Equitan tapestry reproducing the world hymn shows what seems to be such a creature as far back as the first age. Is this perhaps an error in the replication? Or how might such difference be explained?
A: A scholar’s question, which deserves a scholar’s answer. What I wouldn’t give to work with you (…)

King Louis: My dear Cantemont, how glad I am to see you well. But where is our Commander, the Duke of Gasconne? Is he still in the field? Cantemont: Sad news, my liege. Gasconne is slain. L: By the Lady, our nation is so much the poorer for his loss. What news from the Crusade? Is the traitor deposed? C: My duty lies heavy upon me. But I will endeavour to be direct. 4,000 knights followed us to Avras. Fewer than 400 return with me. And many of them are decidedly the worse for wear. L: (…)

The King and Queen barely move for much of the year, nor do they often speak. Their will is the will of the forest, their programmes art the seasons and their laws - the laws of nature. Tis a thing unique unto this world: supernal beings that ruleth over mortals. In Wyscan’s heart does there lie some fey source of th’eternal power of the Realm Beyond; the which sustaineth them while they art near. And yet sometimes they depart: the King on great hunts, to claim his trophies mighty, and the (…)

Q: How intelligent are the Beast Herds? Are they purely driven by primal instincts or is there a grander plan for their herds? Are minotaurs just big wildhorns, or do they have their own tribes and agendas?
A: In the current day, the herds are found on every continent, and contest those lands with their other inhabitants. The herds are diverse in culture and appearance across the world. Of the two general types of herds, the warherds are led by bestial chieftains. They are autocratic but (…)

The Gaze of the Kraken’s Logbook. 28th of Bomudh, 2682 DD A dozen leagues from the West Coast of Vetia
We left Caen Dracin two weeks ago. The ship’s company is in a good mood after the past days’ trials. When the storm came, we faced it with the iron temper of our people. The slaves revolted under the cover of the tempest, seeing a chance in the turmoil of the seas. We shattered the revolt quickly and ruthlessly, avoiding the loss of slaves when possible. It was unavoidable at times. The (…)

Ask not a noble of the Kingdom if Sunna is the same ‘Lady’ that the Kingdom of Equitaine wor-ship!, lest your head be parted from your shoulders!” was the Sage’s reply to one of my questions. Equitaine and Sonnstahl are two neighbouring nations, yet very much distinct. One is a Kingdom, led by Henry the Young. While his father might have let such an insult pass, the son is a very different prospect. He has reignited the Equitan urge to quest the world in the name of their Lady. The other is (…)

It is said among the tribes of this land that in the most ancient times, the oldest prophet-leaders of the goblins, called Darrmu, created a vast labyrinth under the Great Mountains. At its center stood what they called the Earthly Garden of Delights. This was their most secret abode and refuge between Augea and Vetia, protected by the monstrous creatures of the deep - the gogyag.
No man, elf or dwarf was allowed to enter such a secret and holy place, the goblin city. It was imagined as a (…)

Dwarves are perhaps the most indomitable of beings. Magic, corruption, disease, aging – they resist all these with a force of will centuries after others would have succumbed. Yet theirs is a troubled history, for while the two greatest of the dwarven civilisations once worked together for a time, their Empire was undone by the many calamities of the Ages of Ruin, with each side claiming betrayal and shaming their brothers. Still, both retain the ingenuity of their forefathers and the lust (…)

Fabian,
I have heard of the misfortune of ambassador Rennstein. The poor fool was here prior to his voyage, seeking wisdom, but the evidence shows he took none of it with him. I still believe it was a folly to send him to the elves of the White Isles, yet he sought answers for the predicament the people of Fredericksberg have. Those poor folks have been living with the Saurians these many years. Yet those scaled beings are as inscrutable to us as the crocodilians basking in the sun in the (…)