My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

I like Thomas Sowell's concise videos on complex economic and sociological concepts but I didn't think he would make something that applies to Scarterra so well. I have been mostly developing the Border Baronies, but surprisingly my current RPG campaign seems to be veering into the Border Baronies so I'm developing some of the lands in more details and this video recently came out that applies.



Some of this I think I understood already. I wanted the Border Baronies to be fiercely independent and a little backward resisting cultural change from bigger powers and that is exactly what real world mountain folk tend to be like.

A lot of this applies to dwarfs too. Especially the bit about being naturally good miners and warriors that are often exported to other lands.

Now in the real world, mountains have rain shadows where one side of the mountain gets lots of rain and the other has very little rain. Scarterra has rain shadows too but it doesn't apply to the Borderlands which is far from the ocean. But the Borderlands region has a lot of mystical connections to the elemental plane bringing the primal essence of air and water creating a lot of rain storms and feeding a lot of underground aquifers and wells.

 

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Borderlander National Industry

"The Borderlanders are an unruly and backwards lot, but the one thing that can do well is craft beautiful things. Perhaps they do this to compensate for their haggard and ugly countenances."

-Duchess Isabella, Kantoca noblewoman

"The Borderlander humans may lack manners and discipline but only fools focus on the surface. Beneath their lewd dialect and behavior, they have their own code of honor, and this is includes a strong work ethic. This work ethnic clearly shows in their handicraft. It's almost dwarven in it's quality."

Nuldrun Dragonbane, dwarf freelance castle engineer

It is not uncommon for Scarterrans of every race, nature, culture, and social class to create handicrafts, it's almost as standard as eating and sleeping.

But Borderlander crafts define their culture more than most other societies define their culture.

Most cultures that live in an area with harsh winters are less active during the winter, but live really comes to a stand still for most living in the Borderlands unless. Borderlanders can still tend to livestock, hunt, go ice fishing, and gather winter reagents, but they are more homebound in the winter than most other Scarterrans.

Long and medium distance travel is never easy in the Border Baronies region but during the winter months, travel is outright dangerous. Besides the risk of avalanches and freezing or starving to death, there is the issue that when everything is covered with snow, land marks are obscured and it's very easy to become lost (thus increasing one's odds of freezing or starving to death). There are also monsters that come out in the winter and hibernate during the warm periods of the year. So on average, a Borderlander spends more time cooped up in the winter than most other Scarterrans.

Also, the Border Baronies region is a bit poorer and more backward than the rest of West Colassia, partially because the Border Baronies are difficult to get to and trade with.

Difficult to trade with does not mean impossible to trade with. Because of the difficulty in entering and exiting the mountains, it is easier to make a profit trading in small portable items of great value rather than trying to transport low value goods in bulk.

Also, given that most Borderlanders are struggling to make ends meet and have extra time on their hand, men and women alike are highly motivated to perfect their handcrafts.

History

The residents of the Borderlands are fiercely independent and are mostly self reliant. This has always been the case at least as long as humans have dwelled in the region.

During the Red Era, the Borderlands were less far behind the rest of West Colassia in terms of culture, technology, and wealth, but in the Feudal Era, the cultural differences are more pronounced. In some ways, this has benefitted the Borderlanders. Paradoxically, demand for Borderlander handicrafts has gone up hand in hand as cultural prejudice has increased against the Borderlanders themselves.

As large scale feudal systems arose putting some economy of scale and predictability among civilized farmers, many peasant farmers found themselves with less unused time to perfect their handicrafts and the Borderlanders surpassed their civilized neighbors in this regard.

Also, as a growing noble and burgher class arises in the so called "civilized world", there is greater demand for crafts that are attractive and not just functional.

Observance
Cottage industry handicrafts of all sorts can be found among the Border Baronies Region, but certain crafts are especially common.Wood carving is very common. Borderlanders make decorative hilts for weapons and tools, decorations for door frames. Most Borderlanders themselve carry etched weapons and tools in their daily life with various designs and patterns of personal signfiicance to them.Wood Cut art is sometimes made to hang on the walls and is more popular than paintings here. Some Borderlanders like to make large carvings on whole tree trunks. These aren't portable enough for export, but some use these as sign posts and land marks along trail or simply to show off civic pride. It's a huge cultural insult for an invader to destroy or deface these large markers.Borderlander weavers are renown for their high quality and many Borderlanders create any sorts of woven goods, but tapestries are the most common item exported and many temples and castles around West Colassia are adorned with Borderlander made tapestries.Borderlanders are pretty laid back about most things but they can be very perfectionist about their handicrafts. Generally only the best handicrafts are sent for export and a lot of Borderlander homes are adorned with "almost good enough" crafts.

(Sidebar)

This was inspired in large part by this educational Youtube video on cultural commonalities among mountain dwelling peoples.

Primary Related Location
Border Baronies Region
Important Locations

• Barony of Bats
• Barony of Bees
• Barony of Crystal Fields
• Barony of Demos
• Barony of Tollmore
• Merchant Principality of Centrum
• Principality of Red Streams
• Principality of Silfûrhëim
• Prophet's Pass
• Wooly Slopes Province

Related Ethnicities

• Borderlander humans

 

I just developed another developed another Border Barony. The lovely map @pendrake made me has 20 spots. Now 19 of those spots are claimed. The new Barony is in spot 3 by the way.


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Dragon Springs Barony

The Dragon Springs Barony is famous for abundant natural hot springs from which it draws the Barony's name.

Sometimes locals will bathe in pools for recreation. Other times homes are built around hot springs for natural heating.

This also has affected the character of the realm. Most of the locals born here have strong fiery traits, a relative rarity in West Colassia making the people here physically stand out.

Their economy and culture is also influenced by the underground forces in more ways than just having lots of available hot water.

Currently they are protected and governed by the Paladins.

Government
Officially the realm is ruled by a Baron and he is assisted by four quadrant managers each have limited jurisdiction over about quarter of the inhabited areas, but all these leaders are essentially mouth pieces for the Paladins who make all the rules and major decisions.

The Paladins are fairly strict, setting curfews for the residents and controlling most of the food supply directly giving out daily meal rations.
Industry & Trade
There main trade is not goods but people. Residents here are more transient than most Border Baronies.

The population swells in the winter and declines in the summer. Travelers in and out normally have plenty of goods and livestock in tow.
History
Like most of the Border Baronies, the Barony of Dragon Springs has changed governments and owners several times over the centuries.Currently the Baron is a figurehead installed by the Paladins who are the true rulers and have been so for roughly ten years.Before the Paladins came in, the locals were devastated by attacks of subterranean monsters, the exact nature of these monsters will be expanded on later as I eventually develop Scarnoctis in greater detail.While the Paladins are a controversial group that are not always viewed in a favorable light, they are favorably viewed by a majority of the Springers. Since their time of woe is still in living memory, the Paladins are still viewed as heroic liberators and most of locals are willing to tolerate their strict rules though transient visitors find the Paladin's rules irksome.Since Borderlanders in general are anti-authoritarian by their very nature, and the locals are especially fiery in nature, it is likely that the Paladins will wear out their welcome in a few decades.

Historically most of the Barony's past regimes were republics or laissez-faire benevolent autocrats. It is not clear how the Paladins will react when (not if) the old patterns return.
Tourism
A lot of travelers make it a point to visit the hot springs, but it's not just for pure tourism. A lot of Borderlanders choose to spend their winters here. Transients are welcome to stay for the winter as long as they bring their own provisions and pay a small fee (which is more often paid in trade good or handicraft than coin.

In the summer months, the Barony is uncomfortably hot for many people and some of the locals will become transient visitors to other Border Baronies.
Architecture
Stone buildings are the norm. The oldest and most well kept buildings are the ones built over natural hot springs.

There is an extensive tunnel network below the surface and this is inhabited. About a quarter of the residents work underground and about half the residents sleep underground (at least during the autumn and winter months) giving the Barony the nickname the Barony of Moles.
Geography
Lots of rugged mountain side with isolated valleys and warm and hot pools of various sizes bubbling up to the surface.

Underground the water gets hotter, to the point where it's unsafe to bathe. This actually helps serve as a natural barrier to invaders coming up from Scarnoctis but there are limited passages deeper underground where someone can travel between Scarterra and Scarnoctis without being boiled alive.

Threats from below are rare overall, but there was a recent spike in subterranean monster attacks relatively recently which led to their recent government change.
Natural Resources
There is some conventional farmland but the majority of their farmland is unconventional based on life stones, a major crop is brodesopp.

Most humans (and many nonhumans) do not care for brodesopp much and do not generally choose to eat it if they can afford alternatives. Pigs are less picky eaters and no problem eating brodesopp as a staple, and they are generally okay being cooped up in small pens as long as they are warm.

Goats and sheep are the predominant livestock in most of the Border Baronies region but the Dragon Springs Barony relies on pork as their staple meat and can even export salted pork to other Border Baronies.

In addition to springs of hot water, they also have molten ore with a few small but steady sources of nonprecious metals. They also have a few small stalks of haber crystals.

 

1. Tollmore, mercantile state known for ridiculous amount of tolls and fees.

2. Mallocaballo, Barony run by a crime lord that focuses on attending to Kantoc's less honorable needs.

3. Dragon Springs, area with lots of hot springs run by militant Mera worshipers.

4. Mateoreino, land ruled by an ironfisted warlord.

5. _____

6. Alturedia, microcosm of Swynfardian, run by Swynfaredian exiles.

7. Freistadt, republic founded by ex-slaves now allied with Meckelorn.

8. Demos, town hall style independent republic

9. Crystal Fields, matriarchal feudal system with economy based on haber crystal

10. Platinum Peak, mining town run in the style of a 19th century company town.

11. Barony of Bats, autonomous barony run by kalazotz.

12. Iron Hills, group of magic hating outcasts led by a benevolent fusion of a republic leader/autocrat.

13. Barony of the Dead, site of ancient evil under constant guard by militant priests

14. Silfûrhëim, autonomous community of semi-outcast elves

15. Barony of Bees, mercantile heavy feudal realm with bee-based economy.

16. Red Streams, honorable feudal state beleaguered by exterior problems

17. Prophets Pass, realm with very high rate of government turnover due to mentally unstable vampire puppet master.

18. Old Uwcharedia, puppet state set up by Swynfaredia so they can give their favorite squibs a sand box to play in.

19. Centrum, mercantile state with a somewhat incompetent leader at the helm.

20. Wooly Slopes (New Uwcharedia), steep grazing land under hostile occupation of Uwcharedia.


Very Religious: Barony of the Dead, Dragon Springs
Moderately Religious: Crystal Fields, Prophet’s Pass


Very Mercantile: Platinum Peak, Tollmore, Centrum
Moderately Mercantile: Iron Hills, Baron of the Bees, Centrum, Mallocaballo


Very Nonhuman: Silfûrhëim, Barony of Bats
Moderately Nonhuman: Platinum Peak


Very Feudal: Red Streams, Uwcharedia, Wooly Slopes
Moderately Feudal: Crystal Fields, Barony of the Bees, Silfûrhëim


Very republican: Freistadt, Demos,
Moderately republican: Prophet’s Pass, Iron Hills


Very Defined by Corruption: Mallocabbalo, Mateoreino
Moderately Defined by Corruption: Tollmore


Strong Hedgemony: Uwcharedia (Swynfaredia), Wooly Slopes (Swynfaredia), Barony of the Bats (Meckelorn and Stahlheim)
Weak Hedgemony: Centrum (Fumayan), Freistadt (Meckelorn), Mallocaballo (Kantoc)


Lots of Fae Interference: Red Streams, Bees
Moderate Fae Interference: Demos, Silfûrhëim, Crystal Fields
Fae Avoid the Realm like the Plague: Barony of the Dead, Iron Hills

Spot 5 remains blank. If I want 21 Border Baronies I have to either redraw the map, or stage a coup. It just so happens that my RPG campaign is heading towards a Border Barony coup, so that's good.

It has been pointed out that 20 equally spaced realms harms ones suspension. The map above is an abstraction, not what the landscape looks like.

I have a decent map making software program, but I'm still not very good at it and for me, making maps is tedious while writing articles and planning RPG sessions is fun, so guess what I do more of?

But at some point I need to make a more organic realistic Border Baronies map and when this happens I don't have to be beholden to maintaining exactly 20 Baronies.

Also, not all 20 Baronies are of approximately the same size of course, either in land or people. I imagine Iron Hills, Platinum Peak, Freistadt are relatively low population centers while Mallocaballo, Bees, Red Streams, and Old Uwcharedia are relatively large population centers. Of course the Barony of the Dead has very few people living there.

I put outlined the details here to see if anything seems missing from the Border Barony. As in what kind of fantasy society is really awesome to have in a setting but is not here.

 

So I had two articles referring to the oracle of Prophet's Pass. One said it was a Korus oracle and the other said it was a Nami oracle. Did Scalenex make a mistake? Of course not.






Because I am not that clever, the two oracles are named Katya and Teresa.

Katya is a 42 year old Nami oracle, and Teresa is a 10 year old Korus oracle.

Katya is an oracle that tells people what they want to know and Teresa is an oracle that tells people what they need to know. Katya gets visions often and they are usually about small things. Theresa gets visions infrequently, and they are usually about huge events.

I might make this this normal, that as oracles get older, they have better control but the things they See are of a smaller scale whereas very young oracles have very poor control over their power but the things they See are big.

Also, Nami is more casual of a deity than Korus is, so Nami makes lots of sense for Nami to give lots of little visions and for Korus to be a Big Picture god.

Katya, the Prophet of Prophet's Pass

Katya was adopted by the Rovers and/or cut loose by her parents when she was a young girl and her Sight manifested.

Originally socially awkward and scared of her powers, but grew to accept them over time. Now she views her oracle condition as just another job. When out of the temple, she visits pubs, has dinner with friends and otherwise tries to live a normal regular life, though she is celibate.

Current Location
Prophet's Pass
Species
humans
Conditions

• oracles

Ethnicity
Borderlander humans
Year of Birth
1795 CE 42 Years Old
Circumstances of Birth
Nami's Zodiac Year
Presented Sex
female
Aligned Organization
Sedentary Rovers
Other Affiliations

• Prophet's Pass Government
• Rovers

Teresa

Teresa is a young Oracle of Korus with almost negligible ability to regulate her own power, so she is terrified of her own abilities. The visions she gets are often dark, so she is also afraid of the world in general.

Unlike her counterpart, Kassandra, Teresa is kept away from the general public. Some think she is too cloistered.

Current Location
Prophet's Pass
Species
humans
Conditions

• oracles

Ethnicity
Borderlander humans
Year of Birth
1827 CE 10 Years Old
Presented Sex
female
Aligned Organization
Stewards
Other Affiliations

• Prophet's Pass Government
• Stewards of the Gift

 

So way early on, in my RPG campaign and this thread, one of the major story aspects was that a shapeshifting crime lord named Etch was strangling the city of King's Lake, the capital city of the nation of Fumaya.

For a recap, the shapeshifter Etch actually impersonated two crime lords and pretended the two crime lords were at war. This was an obfuscation measure to get law enforcement to leave him alone "until the criminal turf war is settled".

The PCs, Aranil, Svetlana, and Neshik exposed and crushed Etch's little criminal empire. They captured Etch (who was executed by the king). The PCs killed Etch's main enforcer. The PCs seized about two thirds of Etch's ill gotten wealth. Etch's wizard advisor escaped with the remaining third of Etch's wealth.

Now the game is focusing more on the gradually heating up cold war between Fumaya and Swynfaredia. So the PCs are all Fumayans or allied to Fumayans.

Just a recap, Swynfaredia is a larger nation picking on the smaller nation of Fumaya. It's a little more complicated. Swynfaredia has a lot of feuding noble families. The Queen of Swynfaredia is hoping that by directing the nation at an external enemy, this will ease up internal tension. Also, there was an assassination attempt on the queen herself so of course she is personally motivated to try to distract the byzantine vipers she is surrounded with.

Also, Swynfaredia is very close to it's 900th anniversary of it's initial royal charter. Both 100 and 9 and are auspicious numbers so the queen wants to solidify her place in the history books by having a military victory on or near the nation's 900th birthday.

So Swynfaredian has a about ten dragon blood houses I detailed and a couple noble houses that I have detailed yet. There are also about 20 lineages which are essentially lesser noble families that are below dragon bloods but above everyone else commonly serving in the ranks of knights and low level government functionaries. In theory if one of the lineages distinguishes them well, they can become a new dragon blood house. Most lineages desperately want this.

Essentially, there social class symbol is that sorcerers are superior to all non-sorcerers. Sorcerers with "proven" draconic" heritage are superior to sorcerers of random heritage. Sorcerers of draconic heritage with blood ties to the dragons who founded Swynfaredia are considered superior to other draconic sorcerers.

But it gets fuzzier because more powerful sorcerers have more status than weaker sorcerers but it can confusing when a sorcerer of "inferior" blood happens to be far better at magic than a proper dragon blood.

For simply I'm lumping all the myriad groups into three major factions: Pro-War Numaness faction, Pro-War Goirsonad faction, and the anti-war faction.

The two biggest noble houses are House Numaness and House Goirsonad. For most of Swynfaredia's history, the crown has bounced back and forth between Numaness and Goirsonad. Both the Numaness and Goirsonad want to conquer Fumaya but they both want to maximize spoils of war for themselves and minimize spoils of war for their political rivals. At the same time, both factions are quietly rooting for the other faction to take disproportionately high losses during the future Fumayan war.

The third faction is various Swynfaredian dragon bloods that think war with Fumaya is bad idea. Some of them are cowards who just don't like risk. Some of them are peaceniks who don't like violence. Some of them want to sort out Swynfaredian's internal issues before expanding.

Some of them think Fumaya is a waste of time and Swynfaredia should expand south. South of Swynfaredia is the ocean. They want to "expand" by turning Swynfaredia into a mercantile trading empire. Not too surprisingly the head of the anti-war faction is the noble house that owns most of the nations ships and controls most of Swynfaredia's ship building resources.



I'm thinking a Swynfaredian criminal cartel would try to move into Fumaya to fill the criminal power vacuum left by Etch.

Beyond this, I handwaved it as a minor thing when the PC Kormatin wanted to buy some rainbow vellum from the Swynfaredian black market, I just said okay "Your friend Ragani can find it at a 30% markup."

But now that game is getting more political, I'm wondering if I should put more detail into Swynfaredian's organized crime. Some of these organized criminals can be an asset to Swynfaredia's war ambitions, but they can also be a weapon that can be turned against Swynfaredia.

Most criminals, organized or otherwise, don't care a lot of about politics. Most criminals don't care which noble house has the Swynfaredian crown or whether Fumaya is annexed or not. They want to make money.

Given that Swynfaredian is a byzantine nest of vipers, it's likely that the dragon blood nobles both love and hate their local criminals.

I'm not sure whether I want to give Swynfaredia one large very powerful crime syndicate (with a couple minor crime syndicates fighting over scraps), two or three large competing powerful crime syndicates, or dozens of small local syndicates.

Also a crime syndicate could be loosely allied to one of the major noble factions (which might suggest the other noble faction is backing a competing crime family) or it be generally anti-authoritarian against all the nobles. Or the organized criminals can be completely apolitical and perfectly mercenary.

So murder is illegal. There certainly is assassination for hire. Perhaps even of dragon bloods.

Theft is illegal, so there would be commissioned theft and fences.

I don't see why Swynfaredia would make gambling illegal, but they probably tax it, so there are probably duty free illegal gambling dens.

I don't see why Swynfaredian dragon bloods would care if prostitution is practiced among the common folk BUT they would want to restrict among the dragon blood because they want to be careful about how many unaccounted for bastard sorcerers they create. Though a few sorcerers WANT to create lots of sorcerer bastards.

A big part of Swyfaredian organizied crime would be about defrauding the Arcane Registry.

Technially, every sorcerer regardless of whether they are dragon blood or not needs to register with the Arcane Registry with a piece of rainbow vellum every five years, so the Arcane Registry knows who can cast what magic. A lot of Swyfnaredian sorcerers want to overstate their spell casting power for social clout. Others want to understate their spell casting power so to trick their enemies. Either way this requires forging documents. Others want to poach the Arcane Registry's files.

The Arcane Registry also keeps track of family trees has influence on how arranged marriages are set up. Again, this is rife for espionage and fraud. Most sorcerers would love to puff up their bloodline's draconic credentials and smear their rivals.

The Arcane Registry monopolizes banking needs. Again this is rife for espionage and fraud.

The Arcane Registry regulates the reagent trade. Some criminals may want to bypass the Arcane Registry so they can deal in illegal reagents from questionably sources such as those distilled from murdered humans or dragon body parts. Others just want to buy normal reagents without paying the surtax.

Reagents are turned into magical items, and the Arcane Registry tries to register all magical item trade. Black market potions and magical items is a very high end criminal enterprise.

Wizards and warlocks are considered inferior mages to sorcerers. They are allowed in Swynfaredia but they have to register with the Arcane Registry and pay an expensive yearly fee to legally practice magic. Again, some might work with criminals to bypass these taxes via hiding their magic altogether or by impersonating sorcerers. Training new wizards and warlocks is even more restricted than already existing mages emigrating in. There's another place for criminals to get involved.

Human slavery is outlawed in Swynfaredia and goblin slavery is very restricted (basically one of the noble houses condones in and many others are trying to undercut them).

Beyond slaves, the Swynfaredians don't agree on what the legal status of non-human sorcerers. They are not enslaved (because they are still sorcerers) but their immigration and rights are second class, so there is room for criminals to get involved there.

Cannibalism is illegal (duh), but remember that human cannibals become ogres and ogres are very potent soldiers, so they ogres are likely to either be major members of criminal syndicates or at least make frequent dealings with them. An ogre that has sorcery or wizardry is a skin changer witch, that is extremely illegal but skin changers are powerful enough they might be able to bribe or threaten people into looking the other way.

As for restricted magic. The higher a mage's social status, the fewer restrictions on magic use they face. Necromancy is the most restricted. Only criminals and animals can be legally reanimated and spells that affect ghosts need permission from a high ranking noble.

Charms or mental domination are illegal in most cases unless a noble is using it on his/her own subjects in which case it's considered a faux passe but not illegal.

Illusion spells are illegal within noble households unless they are cast for entertainment or with the permission of the local lord.

There are also restrictions on using divination magic to steal secrets, at least from the nobility. No one really cares if divination magic is used to violate the privacy of commoners.

I'm sure a 897 year old nation of sorcerers has all sorts of laws and regulations for where and how magic can be cast and I'm sure criminal operations try to circumvent them.

I'm not sure if Swynfaredia is going to have a narcotics issue. In fact I'm not sure if I want narcotics to be a major thing in Scarterra stories at all. Hypothetically, I create a fantasy drug that temporarily increases spell casting power at the expense of long term health. If such a thing exists, it would certainly be illegal in most places. Also, I suppose Swynfaredian nobles would be against narcotics in general because mental discipline is an important trait for sorcerers so they would be against things that addle the mind.



Even if a man or woman is born of nobility, they he or she can inherit titles or land if they are non-sorcerers, ie squibs. Squibs often become low level government bureaucrats or soldiers. Some might gravitate towards organized crime. A lot of criminals might be Maylar worshipers since Maylar worship is restricted in Swynfaredia. Outside of Maylar, worship of the Nine is not illegal, but a lot of the priests and priestesses are informally marginalized so many might make up for this with criminal contacts.

Some might be wizards or warlocks or sorcerers from humble lineage may opt to become criminals. Of course a lot of criminals are simple commoners with no special powers.


Because I like variety, I think I prefer the idea of two or three competing criminal enterprises as opposed to one huge criminal empire. And two or three enterprises is easier to keep track of than 12+. But nothing is off the table yet, but I'm open to suggestions.

Regardless of what form Swynfaredia's organized crime takes, I like the idea of the new syndicate forming in Fumaya to have ogre enforcers a skin changer witch at the helm.

I'm not 100% sure what the new Swynfaredian criminals immigrating to Fumaya will do exactly but I'm sure they'll try some general purpose war profiteering. Given the number of spies floating around, they will probably try to set themselves up as information brokers. I figure their opening salvo will be to move in and offer a lot of goods to fences at unusually good prices for the local fences. That's how they plan to get their foot in the door.

 

I ran a quick two and a half hour session for Kormatin's player.

Last session he was chasing after assassins who made a hamfisted attempt to killed Baron Fyodor Deorac IV, four warriors and a teenaged squire.

Long story short, Kormatin and his allies capture them all fairly easily and the Baron executed his would-be assassins.

I awarded some experience points as this was a story arc. Kormatin ended up taking a small amount of money and two horses from the assassins. Two other horses were given to some newly met local Rovers who helped in his investigation.

New storyline, Kormatin's player is hatching a long-term complex political plot, but Kormatin barely has two gold pieces to rub together. Complex political plots take money.

Kormatin's player knows that the Border Barony of Prophet's Pass has had a secret vampire puppet master for the better part of 200 years. Kormatin the character does not know this.

We worked out a scheme. Kormatin visited the oracle of Prophet's Pass and asked where he can find treasure to help him defend Fumaya.

The oracle told him that if he investigates a nearby abandoned tin mine, he would eventually find clues towards treasure.

Hidden behind an illusionary wall, Kormatin and company found hundreds of shallow graves. They heard someone coming so Kormatin and company killed their lamps and they found someone pushing a hand cart with a fresh corpse.

They tried to arrest him but they quickly found out that he (name Kostya) was mentally handicapped and had no idea that hiding a corpse in an abandoned mine was unusual or suspicious.

They then volunteered to help him bury the body and tidy up the mine. Ragani (who is a gifted magical and mundane healer) examined the freshest corpse carefully and deduced that it was drained by a vampire. Based on this, Kormatin deduced that Kostya has been mesmerized by a vampire's hypnotic power so many times that it damaged his brain.

Kormatin and company tried to tail him, but Kostya spotted them. Kormatin explained "we aren't following, we are just heading the same direction."

They figured out where he lives but deduced that he doesn't live with his vampire master. They of course walked past Kostya's to back up their cover story.

Then we ran out of time.

Kormatin now knows that he is after a vampire but he doesn't who or where said vampire is. His best bet is to trick her brain damaged servant into revealing her location but no amount of interrogation will cause Kostya to willingly betray his mistress. Essentially anything he is ordered to do or not do, he will unfailingly obey, but he was never explicitly ordered to not let strangers follow him while he's hiding a corpse.

Course there is other investigative options rather than tricking Kostya. They can try to investigate unexplained disappearance or they can canvass the area for good places for sun proof lairs or they can look for more pawns apart from poor Kostya.

But the important thing is I very quickly made sure that Kormatin and Kormatin's player are now equally informed that there is a vampire puppet master in Prophet's Pass. We can do it, but it's really annoying to role play a character not knowing something that the player know. The only thing Kormatin's player knows now that Kormatin does know not is the vampires name and sex.

I have no idea how long this story arc will take to resolve, but after this I will spring the story arc of Swynfaredian criminals trying to infiltrate the capital.

 

I feel it is time for a new goblin subspecies. This is still a work in progress, so nothing is set in stone yet. They are loosely inspired by the goblins of the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.

Storywise, in an RPG or literature I see red goblins serving two functions.

First, if the story is getting boring, I can have the heroes attacked by a pack or red goblins as a random encounter. Second, red goblins can serve as the crude muscle for a much smarter subterranean villain.

I'm not sure what their RPG stats should be. I don't know how many dice of damage their fire breath inflicts, how far they can fire it, how easy their fire is to dodge, or how often the red goblins can call upon this power.

It should be pretty effective because the red goblins are one trick ponies. Breathing fire is the only thing they can do well.

red goblins

Red goblins are an evolutionary offshoot of goblins that are famous for their ability to breathe fire.

"Red goblins" call themselves "dragon goblins," but few want to give a stupid goblin a grandiose title. "Red goblins" is a term coined by dwarves and it is catching on with humans and passing into the Common vernacular, so some academic types prefer to refer to them as "fire goblins." The same academics like to call jumping goblins "air goblins" and frog goblins "water goblins."

Basic Information
Anatomy
Red goblins differ from common goblins noticeably in color. Most goblins are green, grey, or greyish green. Red goblins are nearly always red, oraange or reddish orange. Hence their name.

Red goblins are also a bit longer of limb than other goblins and they have visibly distended stomachs. When a red goblin is about to breathe fire, his/her stomach will swell up and when the goblin exhales flame his/her stomach will contract. This is visually similar to a set of furnace bellows.
Growth Rate & Stages
Red goblins grow and mature pretty much identically to common goblins except they require more food.

Red goblin pregnancies averages about 145 days. Twins are fairly commonly occurring about 10% of pregnancies.

Red goblin women are a little less fertile than other goblin variants, If a pregnant red goblin female is malnourished at any point during the pregnancy, she will always miscarry whereas other goblins only have a modest risk of miscarriages when underfed.

Red goblins, like other goblins reach the age of majority around thirteen years old after hitting adolescence around age ten.

Red goblins, even less than other goblins are not likely to keep track of birthdays or know their own exact age. Red goblins go by how big a goblin is to treat them like an adult.
Ecology And Habitats
Red goblins can survive almost anywhere. They have a preference for hotter areas, but they have spread out into almost every corner of Scarnoctis.
Dietary Needs And Habits
Red goblins run hot and despite their small size, require roughly the same caloric intake of a human, or in other words, twice as much as a common goblin. Because they don't live in an especially food rich environment and their limited sense of taste, red goblins are not picky eaters.

Red goblins can eat almost any plant or animal matter that they can chew with their teeth.

They don't usually bother cooking their food as their stomachs cook their food, but red goblins rarely care if their food is raw, cooked, or charcoal burned. Their fiery stomachs means red goblins are hard to poison via their food. They can eat rotting carrion with no ill effects, and they have fantastic alcohol tolerance.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin And Distribution
Fire goblins are present throughout most of Scarnoctis. They rarely venture onto the surface of Scarterra, but this is mostly out of preference and not necessity. Red goblins are not harmed by sunlight or any other aspect of the surface world though they do stick out more.
Average Intelligence
Red goblins are widely known for being less intelligent and cunning than other goblins. They are smarter than outsiders realize.

While they have a tendency to pick needless fights with other mortals they have good instincts for avoiding natural hazards and they have good instincts with animals, both in avoiding dangerous animals and in hunting edible animals.

They also have a good memory for landmarks and directions and almost never get lost underground barring magical interference.
Perception And Sensory Capabilities
Red goblins have the same basic visual and auditory sensory abilities of common goblins.

Red goblins have a bit weaker sense of smell indirectly because their own smoky odor masks foreign smells near them and they have a much weaker sense of taste having more or less burn scarred the insides their mouths.

Red goblins can choose to see in the dark with something they call "the glowy eye trick."

When they do this their eyes glow very bright giving away their position with a pair of large glowing eyes. After an hour or two of "glowy eyes" red goblins start to get headaches. Another couple of hours after that, the goblins they start to painfully bleed from their eyes, so most red goblins overly push their "glowy eye trick" too far.

When traveling in familiar tunnels in the dark, red goblins will often go five minutes on, five minutes off with their glowy eyes. They can maintain this almost indefinitely.
Civilization And Culture
Courtship Ideals
"A Rover once claimed to witness a red goblin mating ritual. I am not inclined to believe the tall tales of Rovers, but her story matches with the information my gathered.

The Rover claimed that the male goblins with the best fire breathing prowess got first mating rights over all the others, so it seems the red goblins have selectively bred out any non-fire breathers from their gene pool."
-Beznak, Dwarf Deep Ranger
Major Language Groups And Dialects
Red goblins speak a pidgin of Elven with a scattering of Grauen, Common, and Dwarven tossed in just to be confusing. Also lots of grunting and belching.
Common Dress Code
Goblins are never pleasant to look at. Naked goblins are even less pleasant to look at.

Unfortunately, red goblins are almost always naked. Their bodies are warm enough that they never seem to need to wear clothes for warm and they are not clever enough to make functional armor.

-Beznak, Dwarf Deep Ranger

History
"I come from a long line of deep rangers and made it a point to keep tabs on the red goblins for personal reasons.

Note that my family discovered red goblins four dwarf generations ago. For goblins, that is somewhere between sixteen or twenty generations. That is unfortunately a lot of time to mutate.

My great grandfather Halgrick was the very first dwarf to document the existence of red goblins. The red goblins of his day were much less offensive than what red goblins have become.

These red goblins of yesteryear were seemingly immune to fire and to extreme heat, but they did not breathe fire. They were much less aggressive. They rarely robbed or attacked outsiders unless their territory was threatened. Since they lived near volcanos, lava pits and other very hot areas in Scarnoctis that other mortals could not survive, few had any reason to threaten their territory because they chose to dwell in a region no one wanted to compete with them for. The red goblins only left their fire pits to hunt or forage and these areas were still very dangerously hot for most other mortals to survive, at least long term.

The red goblins of my great grandfathers day were also decent metal smiths, at least by goblin standards. They were greatly aided by the fact that they could handle molten or superheated metal with their bare hands though this would not last.

A generation later, my grandfather Sareck witnessed one of these creatures breathing fire. Few believed his words, and this besmirched our family's honor. But then over time our family was vindicated as more witnesses confirmed that yes indeed, some red goblins could breathe fire.

When my father was a young man, it seemed about half of red goblins could breathe fire. Now as my own sons are nearly old enough to begin their apprenticeship as deep rangers, as far as I can tell all red goblins can breathe fire, and their fire breath is gradually getting stronger.

Four generation of my family's lore has convinced me that the stronger the red goblins' fire powers become, the weaker the minds become.

Goblins of any color are not known for their brains. Sure they have some cunning but not much intelligence. I am confident in saying that red goblins are the dumbest goblins in all of Scarterra, both under the sun and under the earth.

There is a joke that when you have a hammer all problems look like a nail. Well, red goblins now try to solve every problem with fire.

Whatever crafting abilities their ancestors had are now lost. Any and all weapons and tools they use are stolen, they cannot even seem to make a sharp stick.

Goblinkind is known for its cowardice but this has given them cunning to make up for this lack. Red goblins had all their cowardice entirely burned out of them. I wouldn't call what red goblins have "bravery" though, more like "bravado" or "foolhardiness." They are certainly the most aggressive goblins I have ever encountered.

With their mighty breath weapons and ability to shape hot metal with their bare hands, they should be the strongest goblin group in all of Scarnoctis, able to destroy or dominate all other goblins but they lack even basic cunning. For all their might, they are easily tricked and misled by their weaker cousins.

I also noticed that red goblins are gradually growing larger. Maybe my future grandchildren will see red goblins so mentally degenerate that they are little more than fiery beasts or more hopefully, the goblins' own stupidity will drive them into extinction before my descendants have to deal with them."
-Beznak, Dwarf Deep Ranger

(sidebar)
Genetic Ancestor(s)

• goblins

Lifespan
55 years is their approximate natural life span, though few live this long
Average Height
Most adults are a little bit over three feet tall.
Average Weight
Most adults weight around 60 to 70 pounds.
Geographic Distribution

• Scarnoctis

 

World Anvil's second biggest contest, the Summer Camp contest has begun for 2022.

I am planning to hit all 31 prompts, so I'm going to end up writing a lot of articles I probably wouldn't bother with. The first batch of prompts are based on deserts, oceans, and expanses. That means I'm probably going to develop some random aspects of Scaraqua since Scarterra has less virgin territory to write about. I could also write more articles for Westhammer

Location
An ocean, desert, plain, pocket dimension, or other large expanse

Probably going to write the Badlands area of Westhammer

Organization
Α religion or organisation connected to a natural phenomenon

Species
Α species that survives in an unlikely place

I have a lot of these already, it's going to be tough to come up with another one. If I waited a few days to start my article on red goblins, I could have used them, but I don't think the red goblins are especially clever since I based them on Artemis Fowl.

Vehicle
Α vehicle or type of vehicle used for long journeys

I'm not big on vehicles for Scaraqua, maybe I'll detail a famous train in Westhammer.

Settlement
Α settlement beside or in a great expanse

Technically any port city would qualify because an ocean is an expanse but I have a more out of the box Scaraquan idea I'll probably use instead.

Material
Α material only harvestable from nature

Scaraqua needs an equivalent to Silverwood.

Ethnicity
Α culture who lives by, near or within an ocean, desert or other expanse

Any Scaraquan ethnicity would qualify, but I'm probably going to detail nomadic Merfolk in the Long Sea.

Ritual
Α food that marks a rite of passage for a culture in your world

 

I have completed my first writing prompt answering: "An ocean, desert, plain, pocket dimension, or other large expanse"

I am planning to write several other article prompts based on this location, so while I always appreciate constructive criticism, it would be especially useful here.

Long Sea V Mountains

East of East Colassia's eastern shores there is an undersea mountain range that is roughly parallel to the coastline. West of West Colassia's western shores there is mountain there is an undersea mountain that is roughly parallel to the coastline. These two mountain ranges come together in a V. The mountains bulge and bunch a bit at the point of the V.

The Long Sea is the second least most most populated sea besting only the Dark Sea which is both much smaller and much colder.

The Long Sea is long, but it's also quite deep, most of the ocean floor receives no sunlight at all, and the Long Sea has very few life giving chemical at the bottom of the sea. This means very few advanced lifeforms can survive on the sea floor, usually but the V mountains bring the sea floor much closer to the surface along its full range.

The Long Sea is mostly populated by nomadic tribes of Merfolk and Karakhai with few supposedly civilized Scaraquans. Almost all non-nomadic or semi-nomadic sea peoples that live in the Long Sea dwell on or near the V Mountains.

The Scaraquans of the Long Sea have access to resources on the V mountains that they don't have elsewhere: mineral resources, a higher variety of sea plants, and fish and other aquatic beasts attracted to these sea plants. They can also build (relatively modest) permanent structures here.

The V-dwellers are generally wealthier and better equipped than most other Scaraquans in the Long Sea, but compared to the underwater civilizations of the Inner Ocean and even the Sea of Taedi, the V dwellers are both noticeably resource poor and more than a little technologically backwards.

The V dwellers are not an especially unified group. They have some group identity with each other, and they often cooperate and trade with each other, but they also are almost as likely to quarrel and fight with each other.

Also, some the V dwellers have peaceful trade agreements with nomadic swimmers from the rest of the Long Sea, and sometimes the V dwellers are fending off raids from these nomads.

The Oshamni Empire has probed the V for a potential conquest, but they have suffered some embarrassing military defeats here.

This has convinced most Oshamni that expanding into the Long Sea, either outside or inside the V is a waste of time and resources, so a lot of groups on the outs with the Oshamni Empire have migrated to the V Mountains though a few especially bold or desperate Oshamni merchants swim these waters.

(sidebar)

What Do Scarterrans Know About The V Mountains?

Not much.

If a ship with a deep bottom is sailing across the Big V they might scrape the top of a mountain during low tide but this is unlikely and they are even less likely to get stuck or damaged. More likely, a sailor near the deck might look into the water and notice a relatively shallow spot in the Long Sea, known for generally being very deep but they won't deduce that there is a giant mountain underneath them.

There is not a lot of ship traffic over the Long Sea, so not enough sailors and cartographers from different ships and nations have compared notes to let them deduce that "these random shallow areas" are part of an inconceivably long V-shaped mountain range just barely out of their range of sight.

The overwhelming majority of commercial sea traffic occurs in the Inner Ocean because this is where sea traders can find the most demand for their services. the Long Sea is only slightly more dangerous to sail than the Inner Ocean but it is a lot less profitable, so you don't see many sailing routes traversing it.

There are some sailors that will traverse the Long Sea between the eastern shore of East Colassia (mostly controlled by the nation of Kahdisteria and the western shore of West Colassia (mostly controlled by nation of Kantoc, but there are not many sailors taking this route. Relations have improved in recent years, but relations between Kantoc and Kahdisteria are not especially warm, so they don't have much interest in trade, but there is some trade.

Sailors from Elven Empire and Colassian Confederacy can and occasionally sail the Long Sea as part of a long distance trade venture but both of these groups are fighting a sort of cold war with the dark elves of Kahdisteria so any trading ship has a small but real risk of running into a hostile dark elf warship or team of privateers. Likewise, an unarmed Kahdisterian vessel might bump into a rival warship or team of privateers sponsored by one of their enemies.

The danger of rival warships is exaggerated somewhat. Scaraquans living in the Long Sea V Mountains are on average, more xenophobic than Scarquans living in the Inner Ocean. Occasionally, Scaraquans here will sink a Scarterran ship crossing near their settlements either out of paranoia or to loot the sinking vessel. When a Scarterran ship is lost due to Scaraquan aggression, the loss is often blamed on enemy warships or bad weather.

Sometimes, Scarterran sailors have successfully fought off Scaraquan attacks and lived to tell about it, but this has not happened often enough for Scarterrans to deduce a pattern along the V. Ships on the Long Sea are still occasionally attacked by nomadic Scaraquans by outside the V, so any attack near the V just looks like random attacks from hostile Scaraquans endemic to the Long Sea.

Not all of these attacks are lethal and involve Scarterrans drowning. The seas above and near the V Mountains are teeming with fish and the locals don't want to share with surface dwellers. They will frequently sabotage the fishing nets of any Scarterran vessels near their territory. They are subtle enough that it usually looks like the net damage is from natural causes and not Merfolk saboteurs.

 

Next Prompt: Ethnicity
Α culture who lives by, near or within an ocean, desert or other expanse



Go to Scarterra Homepage
V mountain merfolk

The merfolk of the Long Sea V Mountains may not be very politically unified but they are culturally unified.The V mountain merfolk stand out physically from other Merfolk swimming in the Long Sea. Most of the V mountain merfolk have dark purple hair as opposed the blue hair green hair, and black hair of most other merfolk.

V mountain merfolk skin tones, like most merfolk skin tones, tends to vary a lot from individual to individual but V mountain merfolk tend to be noticeably darker than most with dark shades of orange, blue, green or brown skin tones being common as well as combinations of these with variations of brown (blueish brown, reddish brown, greenish brown, etc).V mountain merfolk have a huge variety in eye color. The tend to have vaguely tear drop shaped noses.

V mountain merfolk tend to be very emotionally expressive, brutally honest, fiercely loyal to their friends, and distrustful of strangers.
Culture
Major Language Groups And Dialects
V mountain merfolk speak their own dialect of Mermish, a lot of them learn Sharkspeak as a second language and several words and idioms from the Karakhai have made their way into their vernacular.
Common Dress Code
V mountain merfolk tend to dress pragmatically. Their clothes are generally simple and functional.

Near the surface, in warmer waters, they will usually wear the minimum clothing necessary to not be nude.

If they move towards the lower mountain slopes into deeper cooler waters they will add layers as necessary. If expecting combat, they will don armor if available.

One place they do allow for personal expression is in intricate hand crafted jewelry, ideally jewelry made by themselves or a close friend or family member.
Art & Architecture
V mountain merfolk combine earthy pragmatism with fiery artistic expression into a love crafts delighting in crafting weapons and tools that are both beautiful to look at and functional to use.

Given their home territory's relative scarcity of building materials, artificial structures in the mountains are limited in size and grandeur though they will try to spruce up their simple dwellings by putting simple decorative friezes into their walls.
Common Customs, Traditions And Rituals
Like most merfolk, V mountain merfolk value creative and sensual expression.

On average, V mountain merfolk are more outwardly pious than most other merfolk. Like other merfolk, most V mountain merfolk hold the Seeyirah, the daughters/sisters of the Sea as the center of their spiritual lives, especially Enosha.

Compared to other merfolk, V mountain merfolk tend to hold the Sons of the Sea Floor and the Sons of the Sky in greater reverence because they are more closely tied to the sea floor and sky in their daily lives.

The V mountain merfolk regularly deal with Karakhai more often than most other merfolk and t. They have assimilated a lot of values from the shark people, especially a strong warrior culture and an accompanying preference for tough love parenting and a tendency for general machismo and displays of bravado.

Like with Karkahai, storytelling is considered an integral part of their heritage and entertainment.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
V mountain merfolk rituals for infants differ relatively little from most other Merfolk. A merfry earns his or her name on his or her "Swim Day".

The main difference is that V mountain merfolk only give their merfry half half of their names on their Swim Day. The second half of their name is given on the second anniversary of his/her Swim Day.

This results in most V mountain merfolk having hyphenated names with their second given name preceding the name given to them on their swim day.

Family, lovers, and very close friends may address a merfolk by their swim day name alone. When pulling rank, teachers, military officers, religious and secular leaders will address subordinates by their second name alone.

Most of the time, the norm is for others to address a merfolk by both names.
Coming Of Age Rites
Boys and girls go through their rite of adulthood at age 15.

Alone or in small groups, adolescent merfolk swim down the slopes of the nearest mountain for a few weeks where they must hunt and forage in colder darker waters than they are used to as a test of wisdom and endurance.

While surviving, the young man or woman is expected to forage some materials to carve or weave a piece of jewelry of personal meaning to himself or herself.
Funerary And Memorial Customs
A typical funeral begins with a wake and meal shared by the bereaved as the mourners tell stories of the deceased.

Then the friends and family of the deceased have a somber procession where they take turns carrying the honored corpse deep into the open sea, cocooning them in a shroud with weights and letting the body sink to the bottom of the deep sea.

It is generally considered good luck to take the body inside the V rather than outside the V so the soul is cradled by the life giving V mountains.
Ideals
Gender Ideals
Like with most merfolk, V mountain merfolk are officially egalitarian but unofficially tilted towards a matriarchy with a about three fifths of leadership positions being held by merwomen.

V mountain merfolk value their men and women being well-rounded jack-of-all trades, but there are some gender norms. Mermen are more likely to focus on building and crafting and merwomen are more likely to focus on fishing/hunting.

Regardless of sex, all V mountain merfolk are expected to be able to proficiently know the basics of self-defense. Professional warriors are equally likely to be male or female.

 

Go to Scarterra Homepage
Sakidia

The Long Sea V Mountains have many small kingdoms and chiefdoms along its length but the kingdom of Sakidia is easily the strongest.Sakidia's center of power is based on the bottom of the V of the V mountains. With a fairly large population and a steady supply of Virdilut and other resources, Sakidia is far stronger than of their neighbors but they aren't strong enough to conquer the V Mountains with naked force. The V Mountain locals are a fiercely independent lot and are not apt to submit to outside conquerers easily.
Demographics
The demographics are predominantly merfolk though there is a large astalakians minority representing the largest concentration of astalakians within all of the The Long Sea where astalakians generally are unlikely to travel or settle here.

The army is supplemented by Isuran karakhai mercenaries but very few of them are permanent residents.


Government
Sakidia has a hereditary merfolk monarch. Upon the monarch's death, the title passes to previous monarch's eldest living child, regardless of sex. Currently the realm has a queen and she is middle aged. Her heir apparent is her son.

Every administrative, mercantile, and military position of authority is by the queen's direct appointment. She can fire and replace any subordinate at any point for any reason, but local custom is not to replace lieutenants lightly.
Industry & Trade
While Sakidia has decent natural resources, their true power is from their strategic location. Many trade routes between the Oshamni Empire and the Haiyang Empire, so this means that Sakidia get a percentage of all trade between these two powers, so Sakidia has a small but steady supply of exotic treasures and luxury goods
Guilds And Factions
Sakidia has a substantial standing army but it is supplemented by many Isuran karakhai mercenaries.

Sakidia has begun co-opting small auxiliary troops from certain especially loyal tributary states. With their increasing reliance on foreign troops, some of the queen's advisors fear that Sakidia is asking for trouble.
History
Sakidia has long been the most resource rich and most populous region in the Long Sea V Mountains, but they only become a true political power recently.

In generations past, Sakidia tried conquering other nations outright but this cost as resistance movements and rebels bled them dry and forced them to withdraw from their previous annexed territories in defeat.

The current queen of Sakidia and her father the previous king have changed tactics. Rather than trying to conquer and hold the territory of the V Mountains, they will instead stage quick raids. Once Sakidia had a reputation for effective raids, they would then extend the offer that "If you pay us tribute, we won't attack."Now, Sakidia gets tribute from most of the southern half of Long Sea V Mountains, and they can also dictate trade terms with their neighbors in the V while barely every fully committing their military, only mobilizing if someone tries to defy them which few do though whispers suggest that Sakidia's downfall will not come from external enemies but from divisions within.
Architecture
Despite having more building materials than any other group in the V Mountains, they still don't exactly have abundant building materials, so their buildings are fairly simple like most of those constructed by and for V mountain merfolk.
Natural Resources
Sakidia's most valuable natural resource is their steady supply of Virdilut.

Virdilut is made out of a combination of caerulut and flavalut and Sakidia is the only V Mountain power to control a major quarry of both these components. Most of the other V Mountain states have one of these components and have to trade for the other (if they are lucky enough to even have one) so the Sakidians can have adequate building and crafting materials without relying on outside trade.

Sakidia has ample territory for growing cereal crops, feeding livestock, and they have territory where they can fish/hunt wild seafood so Sakidia does not have to worry about food supplies, though this hardly unusual for any of the regional powers in the V Mountains.

 

I have long considered implementing some kind of benign version of skaven for my world of Scarterra. What makes a ratman a ratman? Are they still rats if they are not megalomaniac villains. Perhaps @Y'ttar Scaletail might weigh in on this. Or anyone else. I appreciate comments and constructive criticism.

Originally I was going to call these guys Nezumi and run with an Eastern influence. I thought there was a deep mythological folklore about "the NezumuI", but it turns out Nezumi is just the Japanese rat for "rat" and "the Nezumi" have only been a fantasy race in RPGs and videogames since the 1990s.

I did pull up an online dictionary and call up many different language word for "rat" and decided the Zulu word "igundane" was intriguing although my rat people are not especially Zulu like.

igundans


The igundans are a subteranean rat-like humanoid race, created by the god Korus, so he could have agents in Scarnoctis, and so he could hedge his bets for mortal kind against a hypothetical Third Unmaking.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Adult igundans typically stand about feet tall (though they often slouch). They have roughly three foot long tails.

Their heads and faces are a combination of humanoid and rat, leaning heavily towards rat.

Males and females average the same size, agility, and strength as each other.

Igundans are equally comfortable standing upright or taking a quadruped stance. They have greater speed on all fours than when walking upright, but their front paws have the full dexterity of most mortals so allows full tool use and all the other advantages of bipedalism.

While not especially mighty in battle, igundans are noticeably resistant to extreme cold, extreme heat, hostile spells, external mind control, passive magical mutation effects, disease, and poison.

They are not immune to any of these things, but they have above average resistance to all of these things. They can also hold their breath a fairly long time and they can go longer without food or water than most other mortals but they do have to gorge themselves after fasting or die painfully.
Genetics And Reproduction
Igundans reproduce sexually in the matter of most mortals. Pregnancy tends to last about 170 to 180 days. Roughly half of births are singular and roughly half are twins. Twin pregnancies take a bit longer to gestate, so they rarely are a surprise for the parents.

Igundan ratlings are typically weaned after about two years and grow into full adults by age ten. Their typical natural life span averages around 57 years.
Ecology And Habitats
Igundans prefer to live underground but they don't have to stay underground. They aren't harmed by sunlight or any other aspect of the surface of Scarterra.

Korus created igundans to survive. As such, they can survive almost anywhere. That said, Korus did not create the igundans to be survivors, not conquerors or invaders. Most of the surface of Scarterra is already claimed and Scarnoctis has far greater empty territories to claim.

Igundans are naturally skilled swimmers and can hold their breath longer than most other mortals of comparable size, but they aren't fish and they cannot survive underwater though they can and do thrive in wetland areas.
Dietary Needs And Habits
Igundans are omnivores, able to eat a wide variety of animal and plant matter. They have strong perpetually growing teeth, so they can chew and swallow foodstuff than humans and demihumans cannot handle.

Igundans on average have stronger constitutions against illnesses, poisons, and toxins than most other mortals, though they still prefer to cook their meat, and they can still get intoxicated from alcoholic beverages.
Additional Information
Average Intelligence
Igundans have human equivalent intelligence in reasoning capacity, maybe even a bit better because igundans, especially young igundans, are fast learners.

Igundans pick up new languages and new skills easily but they rarely reach the heights of specialization and rarified knowledge of the greatest human subject experts and sages.
Perception And Sensory Capabilities
Igundans have visual acuity slightly below that of humans but their smelling and hearing is far superior. On the whole, Igundans have great sensory abilities and the intelligence to gather information from the "noise" around them.

Igundans have a phenomenal innate sense of direction, even if an Igundan knocked unconscious and dragged a long distance away into unfamiliar territory, he or she can instinctively know which direction to go to find familiar territory.
Civilization And Culture
Average Technological Level
They have assimilated the basic technological practices of most other races in Scarnoctis though the ratfolk usually take a jack-of-all trades approach leaning many skills and practices but rarely rising to the level of true experts.
Major Language Groups And Dialects
The igundans have their own language. Which is difficult for outsiders to learn because it involves very high and very low pitched sounds beyond the hearing range of most other mortals.

Igundans can and do learn the languages of other mortal races fairly easily.
Common Dress Code
Igundans can handle fairly hot and fairly cold climates naturally, so they rarely require clothes, so they normally let it all hang out.

Igundans recognize that other mortals often have nudity taboos, so If they are trying to approach outsiders, they will often cover up their naughty bits.

They also will wear simple armor if the situation calls for it, but they dislike heavy armors that constrict their movement.
Common Customs, Traditions And Rituals
Nearly all igundans view Korus as their main divine patron and protector though they tend to at least give lip service to the rest of the Nine.

It is generally believed but not proven that Korus did not make the igundans alone since almost all theologians agree that mortals with multiple creators are stronger than those with one creator and if Korus clearly wanted the igundans to be survivors so he probably brought in help.

Korus is on fairly friendly terms with most of the Nine and is speculated to be romantically on and off with every goddess among the Nine so it is widely believed that Khemra, Nami, Greymoria, and/or Mera were involved with the creation of the ratfolk.Whether or not these deities had a hand in their creation, igundans are more likely to worship Phidas, Greymoria, Mera, and Nami comparably more often than the rest of the non-Korus members of the Nine.

As the igundan races grows and disperses, new cultural groups are emerging from among the ratfolk, and this means each new group is developing it's own cultural and religious practices.
History
The Nine are very powerful, but their power has limits.

In Scarterra, it is argued whether or not the Nine are truly equal to each other, but when theologians speculate that the Nine are not fully equal, it is common to assume Korus (full name Korus Mubete) is one of the most powerful if not the most powerful among the Nine.In Scaraqua, Mubete is one of the Seeyirah, the daughters/sisters of the Sea, the most important goddesses of the sea. At worst, Mubete is equal to her sisters. At best, Mubete is actually the strongest of the Seeyirah.

The point of this is that because Korus/Mubete is a big dog/big fish in Scarterra/Scaraqua, his/her power is being stretched thin. In Scarnoctis, Korus is easily the least influential deity underground. For a long time, Korus barely lifted a finger to address Scarnoctis at all.

After not one one, but two cataclysmic Unmakings, Korus wanted to hedge his bets against a potential Third Unmaking.

He noticed that a lot of subterranean races weathered the storms better than surface dwellers and that eons of evolution and disaster was reshaping Scarnoctis in unforeseen ways as the Nine's collective rejects were often sent underground.

The igundans were created to be Korus' eyes and ears underground. Also, they are Korus' contingency plan, so he can have still have servants to carry out his wishes if all of his older followers are lost.

Igundans' influence on greater historical events is relatively low so far. They are younger than humans(species:3500e1e3-3c3f-4e32-87d9-8c53faa2dd1d) and not especially numerous.

Generally when they move to the surface world in numbers, they are met with hostility "EEEK giant rat!"

Their numbers are growing and expanding, and the igundans are already one of the most numerous races underground.
Interspecies Relations And Assumptions
Most igundans try to work peacefully with other races or avoid them but as the igundans grow and factionalize, more individual rats and groups of rats are considering adopting more aggressive stances towards outsiders.

But for now igundans were created to survive anything and more often than not, their drive for survival leads them to conflict avoidance.


(sidebar)
Lifespan
57 years
Average Height
5 feet even.
Average Weight
110 pounds
Average Length
8 feet nose to tail.
Geographic Distribution

• Scarnoctis

 

World Anvil Summer Camp has 31 writing prompts this month. 8 are posted thus far, and here is my sixth entry.

Entry For Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2022
Answering: "Α material only harvestable from nature"


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lesser Sky Fire

Lesser Sky fire is an organic oil derived from two types of special sea weed, Heekma's Grass which sparkles in sunlight and Dalgari's Moss which glows in moonlight.

When the essence of these two plants is distilled via alchemy and then the two essences are mixed, it creates an effect called lesser Sky Fire.

More secular Scaraquans believe this is a simple alchemical reaction while more spiritually minded Scaraquans believe this substance channels the very essence of the sun, moon, and stars, in other words a tiny piece of the primal Sky Fire.

Unlike true Sky Fire, lesser Sky Fire generates no heat, but it does generate copious amounts of light. Scaraquan deep divers use sky fire for exploring dark waters. It is also sometimes used to light homes.
History & Usage
History
Low grade lesser Sky Fire has been in use among Scaraquans for many centuries, so far back that it's exact genesis is long forgotten.

High grade lesser Sky Fire was one of the first discoveries once formalized alchemy was established in the Inner Ocean.
Everyday Use
Low grade lesser Sky Fire is commonly used by all social classes through Scaraqua for people that need to act at night or wish to explore deeper darker waters. When exploring dark waters, there is the risk that lighting lesser Sky Fire can potentially expose the user to hostile deep water predators by literally lighting up their location.

High grade lesser Sky Fire flares can stun or frighten various deep water beasts but low grade lesser Sky Fire tends to attract or enthrall such beasts.

High grade lesser Sky Fire is mostly seen as a luxury for the rich or a tool for very successful adventurers. Some undersea militaries use light flares as a means of long range signaling.
Refinement
Low grade Sky Fire can be manufactured by almost any Scaraquan peasant with lots of patience. One must simply squeeze the pulp from the requisite Heekma's Grass and Dalgari's Moss plants and seal them in a ceramic container.

Mid and high grade Sky Fire requires liquid essence of Heekma's Grass and Dalgari's Moss, not simply pulp. It requires alchemist's training and specialized equipped to dispel liquid essence like this without getting it diffused in the sea, or a Scaraquan needs to be able to breath air, surface briefly and squeeze the pulp above the surface of the water.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Heekma's Grass and Dalgari Moss are very commonly available wild growing plants. These plants are not edible but they are not poisonous.

The essence of these plants is fairly easy to harvest but it is time consuming.
Storage
Heekma's Grass and Dalgari Moss lasts a couple weeks after being harvested before it is no longer usable.

The essence of these two plants lasts roughly four years in storage if kept separately in cool and dark containers. After about four years a high grade set of Sky Fire oils degrades to mid grade oils which will eventually degrade into low grade oils before becoming utterly useless.
Law & Regulation
There are different grades of lesser Sky Fire, depending on the purity of the plant essences mixed. The higher the purity of the plant essences used, the brighter the light created.

The lowest grade makes a weak but very long lasting glow while the highest grade makes a very bright but fairly short-lived glow.

No laws limit who may manufacture or possess Sky Fire, but the high grade lesser Sky Fire variants are labor intensive to make and therefore expensive. In the Oshamni Empire, there are four officially recognized grades of purity and it is considered a serious crime for a merchant to fraudulently misrepresent the quality of lesser Sky Fire sold or traded.

(sidebar)
Type
Biomaterial
Rarity
Low grade lesser Sky Fire is quite common, higher grades are less common.
Related Locations

• Scaraqua

Related Species

• merfolk
• Karakhai
• Astalakians

Related Technologies

• alchemy

 

My seventh writing prompt, answering: "Α religion or organisation connected to a natural phenomenon"


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Iron Hills government

Even though only a relatively small portion of the land is inhabited, the Iron Hills Barony claims dominion over all land touched by the magical dampening effect the region is famous for.

Outsiders debate whether the Iron Hills Barony counts as a republic or lordship. Either way Baron Fergus is in charge, blurring the line between a militant republic and a benevolent dictatorship. Fergus is loved and feared by most of the Iron Hill folk.

Essentially, the locals are expected to manage their own affairs and they usually do, but Fergus mediates disputes. If there is a crime or threat and the locals don't respond quick enough, Fergus will either personally intervene or else order one of his lieutenants to intervene and forcibly make the problem go away.

If there is a larger more complex issue affecting the Iron Hills Barony, Fergus will call a meeting and invite public discussion though his word is more or less law. Even a vote is called, once Fergus' opinion is clear, he is virtually guaranteed to have a majority of the Barony vote with him.
Structure
Other than a modest tax which supports the limited mining infrastructures, pays the few permanent soldiers, and other limited government expenses. There are few formal rules, but many informal norms.

Vigilante frontier justice is the norm. Locals who are causing problems or aren't pulling their weight are ostracized and shunned for minor offenses, beaten up or tarred and feathered for middling offenses or killed for serious offense. It is actually fairly rare for outright force to be needed and this more often than not involves transients passing through or newly arriving immigrants who don't understand the rules.
History
The Iron Hills Barony, like most of the Borderlands has seen a wide array of government turnover in the past few centuries.

Before the current administration, the Iron Hills Barony was ruled by a Baron with a iron fist who ruled with naked forced and treated the local farmers and miners as slaves in all but name. He even had some goblin subjects were slaves in name.

The current ruler, Baron Fergus helped topple the old Baron about twenty-five years ago and became the new Baron by almost unanimous demand.

Fergus freed all the goblin slaves and allowed them to stay as paid workers about two thirds of the goblins took him up on this offer. Fergus does not tolerate the locals abusing the goblin minority and punishes those who violate his edict here greatly.

This is about the only time Fergus has made a controversial ruling that a large portion of the populace disagrees with, but the status quo remains for now. It's not clear whether Fergus' eventual successor will be so even handed with the goblins.
Demography And Population
The total population of the area is just under 40,000 mortals,69% humans, 9% dwarves, 9% goblins, 4% gnomes, 3% satyrs, 2% tengku, 4% OtherThe Borderlands region in general attracts a lot off outcasts and cast-offs from the rest of West Colassia and the Iron Hills has a disproportionally high share of riff-raff among their population, especially among the non-human minorities. Almost every dwarf and gnome here was disowned by the clan of their birth.

Less than honorable people are tolerated here, but less than honorable behavior is not. There is a strong culture of vigilante justice here. Murderers, rapists, and thieves are punished very harshly and magical healing is hard to come by here.
Military
The Iron Hills Barony only has about 200 full time soldiers (all elite class) but the overall populace is very well armed. Pretty much every young man has a martial weapon and knows how to use it and the women here are pretty scrappy too.

About a quarter of the total population, or about 10,000 able bodied adults form what you could call an informal militia but many of them outclass what other nations consider "militia" with many of them having the skill level and equipment quality of men at arms or even elites.

While they are tough and scrappy, they are also willful and anti-authoritarian. Getting the populace to fight in a coordinated fashion of follow complex battle plans is like herding cats.

The Iron Hills Barony has a magical dampening affect around the entire area. Since most major miliary offensives rely heavily on magic in some form or the other, this has given the locals an unjustified sense of being untouchable.
Religion
Some of the locals are very impious and some are very pious. No religion is banned but there is generally biased against organized religion and given the overall anti-magic sentiment here, theurgists are viewed with some suspicion but not as much as suspicion as arcane mages.
Foreign Relations
The Iron Hills Barony is disliked by both nearby dwarf kingdoms Meckelorn and Stahlheim. Respectable dwarves do not trade with the Iron Hillfolk and the Order of the Stone's pilgrimage routes all swing around the Iron Hills.

On the down low, many respectable dwarves view the Iron Hills is a convenient place to offload their least favorite citizens here and more than a few honorable dwarves have skeletons in their closet involve under the table deals involving the Iron Hills Barony.

Given their anti-authoritarian bent, The Iron Hillfolk's relationships with the human nations of West Colassia aren't much better than they are with the dwarves. They are also in almost dead center of the Border Baronies Region meaning it is difficult to trade with major West Colassian powers even if they wanted to.

Almost all of their trade is with Border Baronies, and they usually have good relations with their neighbors though they distrust the ruler of of Altudaredia and every other Border Barony that relies on magic to stay in power.
Agriculture & Industry
About 30% of the locals are miners or have craft or service jobs primarily to and for miners. Iron and salt is generally what is mined for but they have a small coal mine and a occasionally run into veins of other metal.

About 50% of the locals work out of small family farms, often with a crafting job on the side. More than a few people float between mining and farm work as need taking whatever work they can get.

The remainder of the population live on the edge of the Barony hunting and foraging.

 

I have not gotten much feedback on this thread lately, so I will keep my update short.

As of this posting, the Summer Camp challenge currently has recently 16 prompts. I have written 12 of them and currently working on lucky 13 which is detailing the Scaraquan realm that was formerly called "Water China", now called the Haiyang Empire based on the Mandarin word for "ocean."

Eventually, World Anvil will reveal 31 prompts and I intend to finish them all.

You can see all my Summer Camp articles here. I am especially proud of the "Barony of the Bats government" and "Lesser Sky Fire"

Just a few hours ago, I ran a solo session via Discord video chat for my buddy. Short version is Kormatin and his allies cornered a vampire named Emerande in her lair, killed her and took her vast hoard of treasure. Now they have to deal with the political repercussions because Emerande was propping a puppet government in the Border Barony of Prophet's Pass. Prophet's Pass is technically liberated but in the short term it's going to face much instability. Also one of the two local oracles made an ominous prophecy. "The puppet master is dead, beware the hungry dragon instead."

Note the younger oracle's prophecies always rhyme and tend to be cryptic. The older oracle's visions are usually in plain English but they cover events on a much smaller scale.

Both Kormatin's player and many of the locals assume this is a metaphorical dragon, not a literal dragon, referring to the government of Swynfaredia which uses dragons on all their heraldry.

Kormatin's player is not likely to stay very long in Prophet's Pass, he is probably going to abscond with his loot and soon as he calls in enough reinforcements to safely haul his loot away. His plan is to use this loot as a war chest for his wartime ambitions to topple Swynfaredia's puppet state of Uwcharedia believing this will make it much for difficult for Sywnfaredia to invade Kormatin's home nation of Fumaya.

 

I sensed a lukewarm reception for my updates on my entries and efforts for the World Anvil Summer Camp 2022 plots, so I'm just going to put everything in one post here.

The event ends later, but I'm about to go camping (and I'm going to try to go without the internet for the duration ). Here's what I ended up writing for the 31 prompts, I underlined the articles I am most proud of or had the most fun writing.

I ended up writing a lot fewer Scaraquan articles than I thought.

An ocean, desert, plain, pocket dimension, or other large expanse
Long Sea V Mountains (Scarqua)

Α religion or organisation connected to a natural phenomenon
Iron Hills Government (Scarterra)

Α species that survives in an unlikely place
Igundans (Scarnoctis)

Α vehicle or type of vehicle used for long journeys
The Steel Clydesdale (Westhammer)

Α settlement beside or in a great expanse
Sakidia (Scaraqua)

Α material only harvestable from nature
Lesser Skyfire (Scaraqua)

Α culture who lives by, near or within an ocean, desert or other expanse
V Mountain Merfolk (Scaraqua)

Α food that marks a rite of passage for a culture in your world
Bonecracker eggs served at wedding feasts (Scarterra)

A settlement that leads the known world in something
Haiyang Empire (Scaraqua)

A military conflict resolved through excellent leadership
The Conquest of the Green Shell astalakians (Scaraqua)

A building associated with governance, leadership or change
The Midtown Alehouse (Scarterra)

An organization associated with governance, leadership or change
Barony of the Bats government (Scarterra)

A profession associated with leaders in your world
Seneschals (Scarterra)

A title that commands respect from those in the know
Torch Bearer (Scarterra)

A great leader of their people
Baron Fergus (Scarterra)

A tradition or ceremony which confers an honor on someone
Royal Imbolc Tournament of Kantoc (Scarterra)

A settlement that was lost or discovered.
Old Ulthuan (Westhammer)

An astonishing natural wonder.
The Great Stone of Meckelorn (Scarterra/Scarnoctis)

A recently discovered, or rediscovered, species.
Khnumar (Scarterra)

A lost or discovered artifact of significance or power.
Shield of the Sun's Splendor (Scarterra)

A technology lost, forgotten or shrouded in mystery.
Underwater Paper Making (Scaraqua)

A lost or discovered monument.
Dungeon of Guldur (Scarterra)

An explorer, researcher or other character motivated by discovery.
Randolph Koehler (Westhammer)

A travel log or other document associated with discovery.
Queen Ameria Ravaka' Atlas of the Known World (Scarterra)

A species considered monstrous by some
Jackalopes (Westhammer)

A myth or urban legend about a "monster"
The Boogeymen of the Void (Scarterra)

A tradition which keeps monsters or bad luck away
Greymoria's Second Goat (Scarterra)

A condition considered monstrous or "unlucky" by some
Man Eater's Madness (Scarterra)

An organization considered cruel or monstrous by some
Griffin Bats (Scarterra)

A person considered villainous or monstrous
Qalupalika (Scarterra/Scaraqua/Fae Home)

An artifact that embodies a hideous or monstrous idea
Soultaker Blade (Scarterra)

 

I have noticed a steep drop off in likes and replies this summer. I'm still writing articles on my World Anvil account, but if you don't want updates, I don't to put them here. Or I can just focus on things you guys are interested in.

For future World Anvil contests and events, I will keep my updates on here short and sweet.

I've been running many solo sessions for my friend. After Kormatin caught some assassins targeting his friend Baron Fyodor. Kormatin did a bunch of plotting and scheming for his future Borderlands region coup, visited an oracle for a hint on finding treasure, used the hint plus detective work to track down and kill a vampire, got a bunch of treasure, did some more scheming, and ended up catching wind of a criminal cartel dominated by ogres and led by a skin changer witch which he took down today, but sadly lost a sidekick in the battle. Tihalt at least got a cinematic heroic death. After winning his portion of the fight he ran to help his friends in their portion of the fight and he interceded to defend his badly wounded ally who was being double teamed and saved her life. Then he got a badass state funeral.

I don't need to go blow-by-blow, my Scarterra wiki has all the details under the tab RPG Campaign Notes.

I'm still open to trying to open a second Scarterra RPG campaign over Discord and would invite my L-O buddies if there is interest in it.

 

I decided Scarterra needs more nonhumanoid monsters.

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Death Goats

Death Goats are very large mutant mountain goats. They are predatory but they are very territorial and will attack anything they perceive as being a threat to their grazing lands.

While ordinary mountain goats are sure footed on steep slopes and rocky terrain, Death Goats are supernaturally sure footed. They can scale up walls and cling to surfaces upside like a spider.

They can also jump immense distances with incredible precision, capable of jumping onto or off of airborne or falling targets with uncanny accuracy.Death goats are immune to falling damage.

They can subconsciously and instinctually manipulate gravity. When they leap they are reducing gravity's effect on them to jump farther and higher. When they pounce on a foe they can intensify gravity's effect on them stomping them with greater force.

While they can headbutt and kick with great power and accuracy, their preferred tactic is to knock opponents off of ledges or cliffs. If they are really threatened or provoked they will take opponents off of ledges with them taking advantage of their immunity to fall damage.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Death goats are anatomically very similar to ordinary mountain goats except that they are much larger and their horns are proportionally larger. Their horns are sometimes twisted in unusual shapes and configuration that set them apart from ordinary mountain goats.

Their fur is commonly white or light grey but darker colors are known.

They also have a vague air of menace about them as they almost psychically broadcast "STAY OUT OF MY TERRITORY!"
Biological Traits
Typical mountain goats are roughly three feet three inches tall and roughly four feet to six feet long nose to tail. They between 100 and 300 pounds on the extreme ends, with typical males weighing about two hundred pounds and females being a fair bit lighter.

Death Goats are typically between six feet to eight feet tall and are roughly ten to fifteen feet long nose to tail. They weigh between 600 and 3000 pounds on the extreme ends, typically weighing in around 1000 pounds.
Genetics And Reproduction
It is generally believed that death goats are a mutation of normal mountain goats and that periodically normal mountain goats give birth to Death Goat kids.

Death goats are more likely to be male by a ratio of roughly 2:1 or it could be that female death goats are less aggressive towards outsiders or more wary of humanoids so they could be just as common as males, just less often witnessed.

While female Death Goats are known, no one has ever seen a female Death Goat with kids in tow and lived to tell about it. Either Death Goat females cannot bear healthy young or they never let outsiders see them and live.
Ecology And Habitats
Death Goats range in tall mountains, often with spare vegetation causing them to be very aggressive in defending their food supplies.

Their roaming grounds often coincide with elemental fonts of energy, especially those or earth and air and this is believed to have something to do with how ordinary mountain goats sometimes produce Death Goat kids.
Dietary Needs And Habits
Death Goats are herbivores eating more or less the same plants that normal mountain goats do, they just eat a lot more.

Death Goats have voracious appetites and they will vigorously protect their territory. Seeking to kill or drive off other grazers that are passing through their stomping grounds. They will leave normal mountain goats and small critters like rodents alone, but all other grazers are fair game. Death Goat territories are often conspicuously absent of large game.

Death Goats are not threatened by ordinary predators like bears and mountain lions and they are thus indifferent to them. On rare occasions, Death Goats can find themselves prey to supernatural predators such as dragons or chimera. When threatened by a serious predators, Death Goats will fight back vigorously, so much so that most predators large enough to take down a Death Goat will be so injured from their "victory" that they will avoid Death Goats for the rest of their lives, assuming they survive to heal from their wounds.

Typically Death Goats enter enter conflict with humans when the Death Goats attack their pack animals and livestock. Death Goats are intelligent enough to recognize humanoids as the masters and protectors of herbivores and are thus priority targets. They also occasionally attack humanoids without livestock or pack animals when they are foraging but this fairly rare.

While aggressive, a Death Goat that is clearly outmatched will flee.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Some sages speculate that Death Goats mate with ordinary mountain goats though this has never been witnessed.

Both male and female Death Goats will not attack or hinder ordinary mountain goats in their territory, but they have never been seen defending ordinary mountain goats from predators or any other external threat.
Domestication
No one has managed to domesticate a Death Goat, nor has any known magic allowed a domesticated goat to give birth to a Death Goat kid.

Some legendary barbarian warriors have managed to tame and ride Death Goats.

Some mages have managed to magically bind the minds of Death Goats temporarily.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Their wool has latent magical ability and qualifies as a durable reagents , useful as the base material for magical cloaks or any magical item that can feasibly be made from wool.

Few risk hunting a Death Goat for their wool, but like regular mountain goats, they molt their winter coats in the spring and this wool can be collected fairly safely and easily by those who know where to look.
Average Intelligence
They are clever beasts but not human level sentience.
Perception And Sensory Capabilities
Death Goats have keen vision able to see clearly over long distances.

Their nearsighted vision is excellent too, they can aim their kicks and leaps extremely precisely . They can instinctually calculate very precise jumps and can even jump on a target mid air and use that to gain extra altitude or to change direction.

They have a wide a 270 degree range of vision, so they are rarely taken by surprise.

Their sense of hearing and smell is comparable to normal mountain goats, good but not amazing.
Civilization And Culture
Interspecies Relations And Assumptions
Death goats famously try to kill or drive off large herbivores in their territory apart from mountain goats. Death Goats aren't even a little afraid of mountain lions or bears. More monstrous predators can threaten a Death Goat, but most beasts strong enough to take down a Death Goat are also smart enough to hunt softer prey. You aren't going to see many predators of any stripe in a Death Goats territory because there are so few prey animals, thus you have few predators.

Death Goats come into conflict with humans, orcs, or dwarves when they try to bring livestock through a Death Goats territory and this provokes a hostile response.

It is rumored that since they won't attack mountain goats, they won't attack satyrs because they view us as kindred spirits. This is simply true. This is immediately obvious after you seen a death goat attack a domesticated goat which are more closely related to us satyrs than mountain goats. If on of us appears to threaten a Death Goat's grazing land, it will kill us just as dead as a human or orc.We satyrs are simply better than other mortals at not provoking Death Goats. For one thing, we don't keep ride horses and we don't keep a lot of livestock. For another thing, we can recognize the borders of their territory. The first sign that a Death Goat is nearby is a conspicuous lack of wild game.Since Death Goats drive away most other beasts, a Death Goat's territory is actually one of the safest stretches of highland you will ever find, provided you are packing enough food. We Kionus generally stay out of Death Goat territory except around spring to quietly collect their molted wool, then we leave.

-Kuvyos, Kionus satyr

(Sidebar basic stats)
Lifespan
unknown
Average Height
6 feet, hooves to horns
Average Weight
200 pounds
Average Length
12 feet, nose to tail
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Fur colors are commonly brown, white, or light grey. Other colorations are not unknown.
Geographic Distribution

• East Colassian Mountains
• The World Seam Mountains

(Sidebar RPG game stats)
Typical Adult Death Goat
Willpower 7 Lethal Soak 9 dice

Dexterity 5, Strength 7, Stamina 6, Perception 3, Wits 3Abilities: Alertness 5, Animal Ken 2, Athletics 5, Brawl 6, Dodge 4, Intimidation 2, Stealth 2, Survival 3 (+1 foraging)

Head Butt: 11 dice bashing damage

Kick: 8 dice lethal damage

Immune to Falling Damage. It can add three dice to the falling damage of any opponent it knocks off a cliff and make all bashing damage falls lethal.

Death Goats can cling to sheer surfaces as they always had Spider Climb cast on them. While it mimics the spell, anti-magic counter measures do not stop this ability.

Death Goats can take two full B actions a round. They often use this to charge-in and attack, dodge against the immediate retribution, then withdraw by jumping or running where their enemies cannot follow while preparing for a second charge.

The RPG stats are likely going to get tinkered with and changed a lot.