Warforged
The warforged are a race of living, sentient
constructs, superficially similar to golems. Warforged are composed of a
blend of materials: predominantly stone, wood, and some type of metal.
They were created to fight in the Age of Souls to fight the Elves, when
the Last War ended, they were given their freedom at the Treaty of
Thronehold. Though they have free will, whether they have a soul is not
known with certainty; they can be resurrected by spells designed to
restore human souls to life, but, unlike humans, never remember anything
of their experience in the afterlife after such an event.
While
they have no biological sex, warforged may adopt a gender role as part
of their individual personality. They do not age as the other races do,
and it is not known what effects time will have on them. It is generally
assumed that, like all living creatures, their bodies must experience
degradation over time.
Created as soldiers for a war that spelled
the end of an age, warforged are artificial beings that display a human
level of intelligence and self-awareness. Warforged sentience developed
as a side effect of their
creators’ desire to have fully functional,
adaptive battlefield units. With no great war to fight, no ancient
legacy to claim, and only the vestiges of a culture developed
within
the past century, warforged are an emergent people. Integrated into the
societies of peoples more numerous than they, warforged are famed for
their endurance and focus, in labor as well as combat.
Physical Qualities
A
warforged is a bulky humanoid with a skin of plates made of metal and
stone, supported by a skeleton of similar material and a musculature of
leathery, woody fiber bundles. An internal network of tubes filled with
bloodlike fluid nourishes and lubricates warforged systems. Powerful
warforged arms end in two-fingered, thumbed hands, and warforged feet
each have two broad toes.
Simple humanlike features—heavy brows,
hinged jaws with no teeth, no nose—make up a warforged’s face. Its eyes
sometimes glow when it experiences intense emotions, and its forehead
and pate bears runic whorls. Each warforged has a unique rune on its
forehead, much like humans have distinctive fingerprints. This rune is
known as a “ghulra,” a word that means “truth” in Primordial.
Warforged
have an obviously artificial and sexless shape. They can’t reproduce
themselves like other humanoids. However, their sense of pain seems
limited to actual injury, allowing them to modify their own bodies more
easily. Such physical modifications allow warforged to be as varied in
appearance as other races.
Playing a Warforged
Often limited
in experience, used to being occupied with various duties, and built for
killing, a warforged has a straightforward emotional range. It likes
working, takes pride in doing its assigned tasks well, and dislikes
idleness and falling short of a goal. Pain and the threat of death,
which a warforged often sees as the equivalent of oblivion, can motivate
it to fear. Attachment to comrades and acquaintances can emerge as a
gamut of emotions, not the least of which are joy and loyalty. Like any
other being, a warforged can be driven to anger when that which it loves
or desires is threatened, and it can come to hate those who are the
sources of pain, fear, or other negative experiences. A warforged is
often, however, a literal-minded being with simple and reserved
feelings, along with reactionary passions.
None of this is meant to
suggest that all warforged are naïve, emotionally crippled, or lacking
in introspection, although all these can be true. If anything, a
warforged can be more curious about the whys and wherefores of life and
existence than those born in more “natural” ways. A few warforged
develop deeply sophisticated observations and philosophies about what
they perceive and learn. Others create an endless list of goals and
chores to occupy themselves. Still others fall in with beings of a
similar mindset, or become enamored of established creeds or religions.
Some warforged have even lived long enough to develop a deep
personality.
War and military conditioning color warforged behavior.
Many warforged have keen insight when it comes to conflict, chain of
command, and other elements of war and soldierly life. Further, most
warforged are single-minded and efficient with their undertakings,
especially in combat.
Issues of gender are unique among warforged. As
sexless beings, many warforged never consider issues of gender, and
they find such issues among other races curious or even worrisome. Other
warforged adopt habits they find admirable or amusing, without
considering gender or disregarding any
possible incongruity. A few warforged develop a
personality that is decidedly female or male.
Many
warforged mull over the subject of the afterlife. Whether warforged
have a soul that endures after death is a mystery. Religious leaders
have differing opinions on the topic. Can a being created by humans have
a soul?
Warforged Characteristics: Aggressive, alert, brave,
curious, forthright, industrious, loyal, methodical, naïve, practical,
reserved, simple.
In the past, warforged had names imposed upon
them—usually having to do with military rank and position. Most
warforged end up with simple names related to their job or abilities.
Some warforged accept names or nicknames that their comrades give them,
while others search for an ideal name that defines them. Many just take a
name common to members of another race, especially those of humans.
Equipipment
Warforged
use equipment much as other races do, but every warforged gains some
special advantages when using items specifically designed as warforged
components. Components can be attached or embedded. A warforged can have
only one component, attached or embedded, in each of its arms, back,
chest, feet, hands, head, hips, legs, and neck. It can also attach
rings. A component doesn’t take up the magic item slot of the same type,
unless it is a magic item that goes in that slot. Within the parameters
discussed here, what you can and can’t attach or embed is ultimately
for your DM to decide.
A nonmagical item can be fashioned as a
warforged component for no additional cost. Modifying a magic item this
way requires the enchant magic item ritual, but like resizing armor,
reshaping the item has no component cost. If you use enchant magic item
to resize magic armor, you can alter it to be a component as part of the
same ritual—you needn’t use the ritual twice.
Attached Components
Attached
components are fastened to your body in such a way that, as long as
you’re conscious, they can only be removed if you want them to be. Such
an item cannot be taken from you, and you can’t accidentally drop it.
You sense if such an item is damaged. Unless otherwise specified,
affixing an attached component to you takes the same amount of time as
it would for another character to draw and/or ready such an object.
Any
item can become a component item or be found as one. Your DM decides if
an item he or she places in an adventure is a component item, and you
can craft these items as normal. Making an item a component item does
not increase its cost or level.
Armor: Attaching the armor to
your body partially mitigates the weight of the armor. Attached armor is
considered to weigh only three-fourths its normal weight for
determining your load.
Shield: With a heavy shield attached to
you, your shield hand can hold items as if the shield were light. An
attached light shield offers no additional special benefit.
Weapon:
One-handed weapons and all crossbows make fine attached components. Such
a component covers the weapon hand, so you have to remove the weapon
before you can use that hand for another task.
An attached two-handed
crossbow still requires two hands to use with maximum accuracy, but the
crossbow covers only one hand. However, you can shoot an attached
crossbow without using an additional hand to brace the weapon. You take a
–2 penalty to attack rolls when doing so.
A two-handed melee
weapon can be attached to both hands, but doing so restricts your
movement with the weapon, making it less effective. You take a –2
penalty to attack rolls with an attached two-handed melee weapon.
Implement:
As long as it remains prominently visible, a holy symbol can be
attached to any spot on your body. An orb can be attached in your chest
like a jewel, or attached to a hand like a weapon. A rod, staff, or wand
can be attached like a weapon. You take no attack roll penalty for
using an attached staff as an implement.
Light Source: You can
have a slot in your body capable of holding a torch, sunrod, lantern, or
other lighting device. Such an attached component provides light while
leaving your hands free.
Storage: Your backpack and other storage
devices—such as pouches, weapons sheaths, or a quiver—can be attached,
making them easier to hang on to and harder to steal.
Tools:
Little tools, such as thieves’ tools, can be attached. Retrieving an
attached tool is a free action. You can attach a larger tool for use in
the same way you’d attach a weapon.
Magic Items: Items for any
slot can be attached. Those already detailed follow the more specific
rules above. Wondrous items can be attached, especially those that fall
into categories described above. Some items are specifically designed to
be attached components.
Embedded Components
Embedded
components work, except as described here, like attached components.
They’re inserted to your body in such a way that they’re almost a part
of you. Most equipment isn’t implanted in this way, because the item in
question is too big or doing so is more of a hindrance than an
advantage.
The major advantage of some embedded components is
that they can be hard to distinguish from your body. Those embedded
components that don’t need to remain visible can be hidden within your
body. Perception checks to locate such items on you take a –5 penalty.
Affixing or removing an embedded component requires a standard action
that provokes an opportunity attack.
Weapon: A dagger,
shortsword, katar, or hand crossbow can be embedded. Up to five
shurikens can be embedded in place of one of these items.
A
retractable weapon can be embedded to take up space in one arm and hand.
Such a weapon springs forth and locks into place as a minor action, and
it can be retracted as a minor action. It functions normally with the
Quick Draw feat.
Implement: An orb can be embedded and hidden in
your chest, or like a weapon. Rods and wands can be embedded and hidden
in your arm and still function, leaving your hands free for other tasks.
These two implements can instead be embedded like weapons.
Storage:
A storage device the size of a belt pouch or katar sheath, or something
smaller, can be embedded and hidden. Embedded storage containers can
only be opened by you or with your permission while you’re conscious.
Tools: Tools as large as or smaller than a dagger can be embedded and hidden. A kit of such tools counts as one item.
Magic
Items: Items that are like jewelry, such as rings, amulets, and similar
neck items, as well as can be attached only. Some items are
specifically designed to be embedded components. simple circlets
and
comparable head items, are the most easily embedded and hidden. Most
other items can be attached only. Some items are specifically designed
to be embedded components.
Monday 13 October 2014
Saturday 11 October 2014
Gaming Space
Been cleaning and organizing my gaming room.
The below pictures are older pics, my room is far messier as I have been assembling 3D terrain for my D&D 4th ed. game I want to run for my current Pathfinder group when it finishes.
Below is the map of the Nentir vale which has been enlarged and pieced together to show where my current Thursday night group "War of the Lance" campaign, is adventuring.
They started in Solace went down the road and skirted to the west towards the old hills to avoid forces of the Red army in battle with an army from Fallcrest.
They were chased by wolf riding goblins into Darken woods and the Forestmaster flew them on Pegasus, past the Ruins of Fastermel to an island and a short boat ride later entered the Ruins in search of the Disc's of Pelor.
A few Mausoleums assembled.
The below pictures are older pics, my room is far messier as I have been assembling 3D terrain for my D&D 4th ed. game I want to run for my current Pathfinder group when it finishes.
Below is the map of the Nentir vale which has been enlarged and pieced together to show where my current Thursday night group "War of the Lance" campaign, is adventuring.
They started in Solace went down the road and skirted to the west towards the old hills to avoid forces of the Red army in battle with an army from Fallcrest.
They were chased by wolf riding goblins into Darken woods and the Forestmaster flew them on Pegasus, past the Ruins of Fastermel to an island and a short boat ride later entered the Ruins in search of the Disc's of Pelor.
A few Mausoleums assembled.
Thursday 9 October 2014
Plan B
Fat Dragon Games sent me a nice little email about 25% off sale and I purchased 5 sets for my games that I run. It was nice to see discount as I planned to get these one a week but a discount like that you have to jump on.
This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving, so I have a few extra posts and at least one day to assemble the 120+ pages of printed material I currently have sitting in my gaming room.
I still regret not buying wraith of the righteous bricks for the discount weekend my local game store marked them down when they got them, I will make sure I purchase the pathfinder lost coast set on its realease IF they discount it again.
Did my first look through of the 5e monster manual, i like it very quality production.
Sold terrain I made for Warmachine and Warhammer on Bartertown this week and used the funds to purchase alea tools magnets for gaming and once i get them If I like them will get more
What is Plan B?
I had a nice long talk about what if scenarios.
And we came to a decsion about what to do if x happens. It was a nice healthy discussion about possiblities.
Again please excuse poor grammer, i do this on my phone at work.
This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving, so I have a few extra posts and at least one day to assemble the 120+ pages of printed material I currently have sitting in my gaming room.
I still regret not buying wraith of the righteous bricks for the discount weekend my local game store marked them down when they got them, I will make sure I purchase the pathfinder lost coast set on its realease IF they discount it again.
Did my first look through of the 5e monster manual, i like it very quality production.
Sold terrain I made for Warmachine and Warhammer on Bartertown this week and used the funds to purchase alea tools magnets for gaming and once i get them If I like them will get more
What is Plan B?
I had a nice long talk about what if scenarios.
And we came to a decsion about what to do if x happens. It was a nice healthy discussion about possiblities.
Again please excuse poor grammer, i do this on my phone at work.
Minotaurs in my 4th ed. game
Minotaurs
Minotaurs are half-bull, half-human. They are a mostly evil race usually associated with strong beliefs in honor and the sea due to their nation being located on the Blood Sea Isles. The Minotaur Empire now expanded to the mainland of Ansalon with the new territory of Ambeon.
Minotaurs that are from Ambeon are the only surviving successful descendants of that city, it was destroyed in countless wars of the years and all the survivors were taken to Silvanesti as slaves.
Minotaurs on this Continent are dwindling with the race thriving many leagues away on the Isles of Mithas and Kothas.
These Minotaurs found here are tribal and use the primal animal totem powers to try and survive in captivity.
MINOTAURS EMBODY the tension between civilization and savagery—discipline and madness—because
the minotaurs stand in two worlds. Tugged toward wanton violence but bound by conscience, numerous minotaurs are driven to rise above their dark impulses.
Such a minotaur walks the labyrinthine pathways of introspection, seeking the balance between the monstrous and refined. Like a deadly maze, this personal journey has hazards and traps aplenty. Innumerable minotaurs succumb to the wicked temptations staining
their souls, whereupon they find themselves thralls to the dread Baphomet, the Horned King. Minotaurs
must struggle to become more than the beasts they resemble or succumb to demonic brutality.
Physical Qualities
Minotaurs combine the features of human and bull,having the build and musculature of a hulking humanoid,but with the cloven hooves, a bovine tail, and,their most distinctive feature of all, a bull’s head. Fur covers their upper bodies, coarse and thick on their heads and necks, and it gradually thins around their shoulders until it becomes normal hair over their arms and upper torso. The thick hair turns shaggy once more at the waist and thickens around their loins and legs, with tufts at the end of their tails and around their powerful hooves. Minotaurs take pride in their horns, and sharpness, size, and color speak to the minotaur’s power and place within its society. Fur and skin coloring runs from albino white to coal black, and everything between, though most have red or brown
fur and hair, with lighter tones underneath.
Labyrinthine patterns are important to minotaurs and such decoration appears on minotaur clothing,
armor, weapons, and sometimes, on their hides. Each pattern is particular to a clan, and its size and complexity helps minotaurs identify family allegiance and caste.
The patterns evolve through the generations, growing more expansive based on its members’ deeds and the clan’s history, each knot remarking on a signature event.
Minotaurs live as long as humans do.
Playing a Minotaur
The minotaurs’ preference for labyrinths is legendary,but their connection to mazes is more than a
quirk. It is central to their beliefs and how they see the world around them. The labyrinth is the physical
representation of the spiritual and psychological journey each minotaur must undertake to make
peace with its conflicted nature.
Each minotaur must navigate the perils of the self to transcend bestial impulses. One minotaur
might achieve this easily. Another might wander the corridors of his or her mind and soul for an entire
lifetime, trapped within the circuitous passages of self-deception and monstrous desires. Those who fail
might descend into depravity, becoming the thralls of the Horned King, whose presence darkens every
minotaur community like a looming specter.
Minotaur society is similarly complex, stratified into discrete, merit-based castes. A minotaur
can move in social rank through aptitude, as well as great deeds or terrible crimes. Among civilized
minotaurs, duty and traditions reinforce the caste structure. Social class is a restriction and a weapon
among corrupted minotaurs.
Priests occupy the highest caste. Minotaurs look to holy ones for leadership, so priests command the
respect and accord of all the people. They define laws, pass judgment, and keep histories and traditions.
The caste can include a variety of mystics, shamans, holy warriors, and clerics. Minotaurs who
have escaped Baphomet’s depravity look to priests professing faith in Erathis, Moradin, Pelor, and
Bahamut, or some subset of these. Cabalists spread Baphomet’s wickedness among the minotaur settlements under their control. Although the priest caste holds the greatest power
and influence, the warrior caste is very powerful.
Battle prowess a high ideal, and many minotaurs strive to master combat training and join the warrior
caste. To wield a weapon with skill is important,but to know when to use a weapon is of far greater
value. Minotaurs who revere the gods also admire discipline and the judicious use of battle prowess.
For Baphomet’s minotaurs, weapon skill is a tool for acquiring power and defiling the world.
Artisans, scholars, hedge mages, and other skilled workers form the commoner caste of minotaur
society. Beneath these are the slaves. In civilized communities, the slave caste consists the corrupted
and the criminal. Evil minotaur societies enslave any whom they conquer, and any slave can be
sacrificed to Baphomet at any moment. Magicians, such as wizards, defy the norm in
minotaur culture. One wizard might have only enough skill to be considered a commoner, while
another mage is considered a warrior for her great destructive power. A highly educated and pious
mage could even be considered a priest. Station informs a minotaur’s outlook. Even those
who leave their secluded communities find it hard to escape caste expectations. A minotaur adventurer
might show deference to a priest. Similarly, minotaur rogues and other ne’er-do-wells might affect meekness around those whom they see as their betters.
Though many minotaurs are civilized, they suffer suspicion and hatred from other races. Animosity
stems not only from monstrous appearance, but also from infamy. Wicked minotaurs are remorseless
raiders and killers, and these are often the only minotaurs known in a given area.
MINOTAUR ORIGIN
Civilization’s wreckage litters the world, and in these ruins, one can divine the secrets of fallen empires that even time has forgotten. The empire of Ruul is one of these lost civilizations, brought low through moral corruption. Minotaurs once tamed themselves and Ruul's lands. Evil shattered all they created.
The demon lord Baphomet was once a great primordial with strong ties to the natural world. He can
rightly claim minotaurs, for it is he who raised them as soldiers to claim nature for him in place of Melora, his most hated deific foe. In the Dawn War, minotaurs fought against the gods on the side of Baphomet. But Baphomet was defeated. One myth says the Horned King hurled himself into the Abyss ratherthan face the final judgment of the gods.
In defeat, minotaurs were without direction in the world. Acting quicker than Melora, Erathis claimed
the minotaurs for herself, teaching them language and law. She called on Moradin to instruct them in
crafts. In the name of their new guardians, minotaurs founded the city of Ruul on a southern archipelago.
From its first founding, Ruul was destined for greatness. Erathis blessed Ruul’s people, and they
benefited from a close kinship with the lord of artisans. Legends hold that Erathis’s servants walked
among the minotaurs of Ruul, advising them and giving them the tools they needed to spread across the islands and beyond.
Baphomet, however, endured in the Abyss. Numerous minotaurs, in Ruul and elsewhere, still revered
the Horned King and could feel his influence on their souls. Eventually, Baphomet responded to their rites. He offered unbridled freedom and conquest. Corruption wormed its way into Erathis’s grand experiment.
Cultists of Baphomet secretly influenced Ruul’s policies. What began as Ruul’s peaceful expansion
became an adventure of subjugation. The folk of Ruul became cruel. They spread their beliefs by fire and sword, slaughtering those who stood against them and enslaving the rest.
Although some minotaurs clung to the ways of the gods, wealth and conquest blinded most of Ruul’s
folk to their traditions. As Ruul swelled in size, it also swelled in corruption. Decadent nobles committed
unholy acts in the darkness of their homes. False priests spread through the land, inviting others
into mysteries best left alone or put to the sword. Baphomet’s blood cults rose, poisoning the civilization with their wickedness. Eventually, the Horned King became the spiritual master of Ruul, his followers bold enough to show themselves in the streets.
Conquest quickly turned to desecration.
Its fall complete, Ruul's wickedness was something the gods could no longer abide. With Erathis’s allowance, Melora visited volcanic devastation on Ruul.
Kord aided her with storms the likes of which the southern seas have not again seen. In the end, Ruul
was no more. Its center destroyed, the empire's remnant fell into civil war and eventual dissolution. Its
survivors—some of whom, for their loyalty to the gods, received warning—scattered across the world.
Minotaurs developed an abiding fear of divine reprisals and a passionate attitude—love or hate—
toward the world’s deities. Although the destruction drove countless minotaurs to serve Baphomet more fervently, it made others repent or continue to serve the gods with more zeal. In the early days after Ruul’s fall, even good-hearted minotaurs held the empire’s
destruction against Melora and Kord. They revered the old gods of their people, Erathis and Moradin, and took up allegiance with Pelor and Bahamut to guard them against the reemergence of iniquity. In time,these preferences became traditions.
Minotaurs are products of a tragic history. Ruul’s bones are scattered on a volcanic archipelago in the
southern seas, and across the world. Baphomet’s blood lust and butchery run in minotaurs’ veins, a
tainted birthright. But a similar yet righteous ardor allows some to hold to civilization and better ways.
Minotaurs are half-bull, half-human. They are a mostly evil race usually associated with strong beliefs in honor and the sea due to their nation being located on the Blood Sea Isles. The Minotaur Empire now expanded to the mainland of Ansalon with the new territory of Ambeon.
Minotaurs that are from Ambeon are the only surviving successful descendants of that city, it was destroyed in countless wars of the years and all the survivors were taken to Silvanesti as slaves.
Minotaurs on this Continent are dwindling with the race thriving many leagues away on the Isles of Mithas and Kothas.
These Minotaurs found here are tribal and use the primal animal totem powers to try and survive in captivity.
MINOTAURS EMBODY the tension between civilization and savagery—discipline and madness—because
the minotaurs stand in two worlds. Tugged toward wanton violence but bound by conscience, numerous minotaurs are driven to rise above their dark impulses.
Such a minotaur walks the labyrinthine pathways of introspection, seeking the balance between the monstrous and refined. Like a deadly maze, this personal journey has hazards and traps aplenty. Innumerable minotaurs succumb to the wicked temptations staining
their souls, whereupon they find themselves thralls to the dread Baphomet, the Horned King. Minotaurs
must struggle to become more than the beasts they resemble or succumb to demonic brutality.
Physical Qualities
Minotaurs combine the features of human and bull,having the build and musculature of a hulking humanoid,but with the cloven hooves, a bovine tail, and,their most distinctive feature of all, a bull’s head. Fur covers their upper bodies, coarse and thick on their heads and necks, and it gradually thins around their shoulders until it becomes normal hair over their arms and upper torso. The thick hair turns shaggy once more at the waist and thickens around their loins and legs, with tufts at the end of their tails and around their powerful hooves. Minotaurs take pride in their horns, and sharpness, size, and color speak to the minotaur’s power and place within its society. Fur and skin coloring runs from albino white to coal black, and everything between, though most have red or brown
fur and hair, with lighter tones underneath.
Labyrinthine patterns are important to minotaurs and such decoration appears on minotaur clothing,
armor, weapons, and sometimes, on their hides. Each pattern is particular to a clan, and its size and complexity helps minotaurs identify family allegiance and caste.
The patterns evolve through the generations, growing more expansive based on its members’ deeds and the clan’s history, each knot remarking on a signature event.
Minotaurs live as long as humans do.
Playing a Minotaur
The minotaurs’ preference for labyrinths is legendary,but their connection to mazes is more than a
quirk. It is central to their beliefs and how they see the world around them. The labyrinth is the physical
representation of the spiritual and psychological journey each minotaur must undertake to make
peace with its conflicted nature.
Each minotaur must navigate the perils of the self to transcend bestial impulses. One minotaur
might achieve this easily. Another might wander the corridors of his or her mind and soul for an entire
lifetime, trapped within the circuitous passages of self-deception and monstrous desires. Those who fail
might descend into depravity, becoming the thralls of the Horned King, whose presence darkens every
minotaur community like a looming specter.
Minotaur society is similarly complex, stratified into discrete, merit-based castes. A minotaur
can move in social rank through aptitude, as well as great deeds or terrible crimes. Among civilized
minotaurs, duty and traditions reinforce the caste structure. Social class is a restriction and a weapon
among corrupted minotaurs.
Priests occupy the highest caste. Minotaurs look to holy ones for leadership, so priests command the
respect and accord of all the people. They define laws, pass judgment, and keep histories and traditions.
The caste can include a variety of mystics, shamans, holy warriors, and clerics. Minotaurs who
have escaped Baphomet’s depravity look to priests professing faith in Erathis, Moradin, Pelor, and
Bahamut, or some subset of these. Cabalists spread Baphomet’s wickedness among the minotaur settlements under their control. Although the priest caste holds the greatest power
and influence, the warrior caste is very powerful.
Battle prowess a high ideal, and many minotaurs strive to master combat training and join the warrior
caste. To wield a weapon with skill is important,but to know when to use a weapon is of far greater
value. Minotaurs who revere the gods also admire discipline and the judicious use of battle prowess.
For Baphomet’s minotaurs, weapon skill is a tool for acquiring power and defiling the world.
Artisans, scholars, hedge mages, and other skilled workers form the commoner caste of minotaur
society. Beneath these are the slaves. In civilized communities, the slave caste consists the corrupted
and the criminal. Evil minotaur societies enslave any whom they conquer, and any slave can be
sacrificed to Baphomet at any moment. Magicians, such as wizards, defy the norm in
minotaur culture. One wizard might have only enough skill to be considered a commoner, while
another mage is considered a warrior for her great destructive power. A highly educated and pious
mage could even be considered a priest. Station informs a minotaur’s outlook. Even those
who leave their secluded communities find it hard to escape caste expectations. A minotaur adventurer
might show deference to a priest. Similarly, minotaur rogues and other ne’er-do-wells might affect meekness around those whom they see as their betters.
Though many minotaurs are civilized, they suffer suspicion and hatred from other races. Animosity
stems not only from monstrous appearance, but also from infamy. Wicked minotaurs are remorseless
raiders and killers, and these are often the only minotaurs known in a given area.
MINOTAUR ORIGIN
Civilization’s wreckage litters the world, and in these ruins, one can divine the secrets of fallen empires that even time has forgotten. The empire of Ruul is one of these lost civilizations, brought low through moral corruption. Minotaurs once tamed themselves and Ruul's lands. Evil shattered all they created.
The demon lord Baphomet was once a great primordial with strong ties to the natural world. He can
rightly claim minotaurs, for it is he who raised them as soldiers to claim nature for him in place of Melora, his most hated deific foe. In the Dawn War, minotaurs fought against the gods on the side of Baphomet. But Baphomet was defeated. One myth says the Horned King hurled himself into the Abyss ratherthan face the final judgment of the gods.
In defeat, minotaurs were without direction in the world. Acting quicker than Melora, Erathis claimed
the minotaurs for herself, teaching them language and law. She called on Moradin to instruct them in
crafts. In the name of their new guardians, minotaurs founded the city of Ruul on a southern archipelago.
From its first founding, Ruul was destined for greatness. Erathis blessed Ruul’s people, and they
benefited from a close kinship with the lord of artisans. Legends hold that Erathis’s servants walked
among the minotaurs of Ruul, advising them and giving them the tools they needed to spread across the islands and beyond.
Baphomet, however, endured in the Abyss. Numerous minotaurs, in Ruul and elsewhere, still revered
the Horned King and could feel his influence on their souls. Eventually, Baphomet responded to their rites. He offered unbridled freedom and conquest. Corruption wormed its way into Erathis’s grand experiment.
Cultists of Baphomet secretly influenced Ruul’s policies. What began as Ruul’s peaceful expansion
became an adventure of subjugation. The folk of Ruul became cruel. They spread their beliefs by fire and sword, slaughtering those who stood against them and enslaving the rest.
Although some minotaurs clung to the ways of the gods, wealth and conquest blinded most of Ruul’s
folk to their traditions. As Ruul swelled in size, it also swelled in corruption. Decadent nobles committed
unholy acts in the darkness of their homes. False priests spread through the land, inviting others
into mysteries best left alone or put to the sword. Baphomet’s blood cults rose, poisoning the civilization with their wickedness. Eventually, the Horned King became the spiritual master of Ruul, his followers bold enough to show themselves in the streets.
Conquest quickly turned to desecration.
Its fall complete, Ruul's wickedness was something the gods could no longer abide. With Erathis’s allowance, Melora visited volcanic devastation on Ruul.
Kord aided her with storms the likes of which the southern seas have not again seen. In the end, Ruul
was no more. Its center destroyed, the empire's remnant fell into civil war and eventual dissolution. Its
survivors—some of whom, for their loyalty to the gods, received warning—scattered across the world.
Minotaurs developed an abiding fear of divine reprisals and a passionate attitude—love or hate—
toward the world’s deities. Although the destruction drove countless minotaurs to serve Baphomet more fervently, it made others repent or continue to serve the gods with more zeal. In the early days after Ruul’s fall, even good-hearted minotaurs held the empire’s
destruction against Melora and Kord. They revered the old gods of their people, Erathis and Moradin, and took up allegiance with Pelor and Bahamut to guard them against the reemergence of iniquity. In time,these preferences became traditions.
Minotaurs are products of a tragic history. Ruul’s bones are scattered on a volcanic archipelago in the
southern seas, and across the world. Baphomet’s blood lust and butchery run in minotaurs’ veins, a
tainted birthright. But a similar yet righteous ardor allows some to hold to civilization and better ways.
Friday 3 October 2014
4TH Edition World Building
The Races of Kyrnn,
Mountain Dwarves
The mountain dwarves exist largely apart from the rest of the world, they have not been scene since the cataclysm. They come from the clans of Hylar (The oldest and most noble of the clans.), Daewar (Highly respected clan known for fighting skill.), Neidar (craftsmen and adaptable) and Klar (introverted but very well respected for reasoning).
Hill Dwarves
The hill dwarves are dwarves that have been ignore and left to die from the underground dwarven lands to live in and trade with the world at large. They are described as more accepting of the other races. They all belong to the same clans at the original Mountain Dwarves Neidar, Hylar, Daewar and Klar , and have a feud with the mountain dwarves, whom they accuse of having blocked them from entering the mountain kingdom after the Cataclysm.
Qualinesti elves
The Qualinesti elves are ones who decided to follow Kith-Kanan, the younger of Silvanos' grandsons, to a new land with the promise of social equality and more interaction with the outer world. The turning point for this event came with the Kinslayer Wars, where elves of Silvanesti fought humans and elves in service of the Emperor of Ergoth, to expel Ergothian forces from Silvanesti's western border lands. After the war, Kith-Kanan decided to leave for the western lands, followed by his closest friends.
Kith-Kanan founded the Qualinesti realm based on the premise of freedom and equality, naming himself the Speaker of the Suns, founding a Tower of the Sun in the capital city of Qualinesti, Qualinost.
The Qualinesti elves prefer not modifying the trees in which they live. Instead, they construct buildings based on the form of the trees, giving their cities a slightly twisted look. The qualinesti have a broader contact with other races, including trading agreement with the hill dwarves of the plains, humans of Ergoth, Tarsis and Istar (before the Cataclysm).
Kagonesti elves
Also known as wild elves; elves that are attuned to nature, and considered barbarians by the Qualinesti and Silvanesti. They sport tattoos in different parts of the body, including the face, usually symbolizing their close relationship with nature.
Contrary to the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti elves, the Kagonesti prefer living in the natural caves and trees, and never build unless the situation forces them to. In addition, they dismantle anything that is unused, in an attempt leaving the land as they had found.
The Kagonesti are considered slaves by the Qualinesti elves. However, the Silvanesti consider them belonging to House Servitor, the lowest class of social status.
Eladrin or Silvanesti elves
In the beginning of time the original elves, fearing the mountains where the evil ogres lived and the plains where the short tempered humans were settling, decided to adopt the woods as home. After battling the evil dragons with the help of the gods of magic, the realm of Silvanesti was founded and named for Silvanos, the first leader of the elves.
As time developed, the Silvanesti elves became more secluded, stopping contact with the other races. Their society divided into different castes, creating a social discrimination that ultimately led to the division of their realm into the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti elves. By the leaving this realm ages ago and learned to live in harmony in the Feywild. They have never been scene since, till 300 years ago.
After the Cataclysm Eladrin could enter are realm, some stayed others left. By the time the Qualinesti Elves were about to wipe out hundres of thousadns of humans,Dwarves,Halflings,gnomes the Eladrin used the opportunity to bring trade from the Feywild in food and seeds to stop the Age of Strife
The main building is the Tower of the Stars where the king of the Silvanesti, known as the Speaker of the Stars, lives. It is settled in Silvanost, the capital of Silvanesti.
The Silvanesti elves believe themselves the Firstborn of the gods. Using their magical powers, they twist the trees in the region to shape them into structures of marble and silver.
Other races,
-Minotaurs
-Warforged
-Humans
-Halfling
-Gnome
-Goliath
Mountain Dwarves
The mountain dwarves exist largely apart from the rest of the world, they have not been scene since the cataclysm. They come from the clans of Hylar (The oldest and most noble of the clans.), Daewar (Highly respected clan known for fighting skill.), Neidar (craftsmen and adaptable) and Klar (introverted but very well respected for reasoning).
Hill Dwarves
The hill dwarves are dwarves that have been ignore and left to die from the underground dwarven lands to live in and trade with the world at large. They are described as more accepting of the other races. They all belong to the same clans at the original Mountain Dwarves Neidar, Hylar, Daewar and Klar , and have a feud with the mountain dwarves, whom they accuse of having blocked them from entering the mountain kingdom after the Cataclysm.
Qualinesti elves
The Qualinesti elves are ones who decided to follow Kith-Kanan, the younger of Silvanos' grandsons, to a new land with the promise of social equality and more interaction with the outer world. The turning point for this event came with the Kinslayer Wars, where elves of Silvanesti fought humans and elves in service of the Emperor of Ergoth, to expel Ergothian forces from Silvanesti's western border lands. After the war, Kith-Kanan decided to leave for the western lands, followed by his closest friends.
Kith-Kanan founded the Qualinesti realm based on the premise of freedom and equality, naming himself the Speaker of the Suns, founding a Tower of the Sun in the capital city of Qualinesti, Qualinost.
The Qualinesti elves prefer not modifying the trees in which they live. Instead, they construct buildings based on the form of the trees, giving their cities a slightly twisted look. The qualinesti have a broader contact with other races, including trading agreement with the hill dwarves of the plains, humans of Ergoth, Tarsis and Istar (before the Cataclysm).
Kagonesti elves
Also known as wild elves; elves that are attuned to nature, and considered barbarians by the Qualinesti and Silvanesti. They sport tattoos in different parts of the body, including the face, usually symbolizing their close relationship with nature.
Contrary to the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti elves, the Kagonesti prefer living in the natural caves and trees, and never build unless the situation forces them to. In addition, they dismantle anything that is unused, in an attempt leaving the land as they had found.
The Kagonesti are considered slaves by the Qualinesti elves. However, the Silvanesti consider them belonging to House Servitor, the lowest class of social status.
Eladrin or Silvanesti elves
In the beginning of time the original elves, fearing the mountains where the evil ogres lived and the plains where the short tempered humans were settling, decided to adopt the woods as home. After battling the evil dragons with the help of the gods of magic, the realm of Silvanesti was founded and named for Silvanos, the first leader of the elves.
As time developed, the Silvanesti elves became more secluded, stopping contact with the other races. Their society divided into different castes, creating a social discrimination that ultimately led to the division of their realm into the Silvanesti and the Qualinesti elves. By the leaving this realm ages ago and learned to live in harmony in the Feywild. They have never been scene since, till 300 years ago.
After the Cataclysm Eladrin could enter are realm, some stayed others left. By the time the Qualinesti Elves were about to wipe out hundres of thousadns of humans,Dwarves,Halflings,gnomes the Eladrin used the opportunity to bring trade from the Feywild in food and seeds to stop the Age of Strife
The main building is the Tower of the Stars where the king of the Silvanesti, known as the Speaker of the Stars, lives. It is settled in Silvanost, the capital of Silvanesti.
The Silvanesti elves believe themselves the Firstborn of the gods. Using their magical powers, they twist the trees in the region to shape them into structures of marble and silver.
Other races,
-Minotaurs
-Warforged
-Humans
-Halfling
-Gnome
-Goliath
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)