My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

So anyway, a week from tomorrow I'm going to run another solo session for Kormatin.

Kormatin was tasked with finding and catching or killing Swynfaredian spies that have been casing Fumaya for an imminent invasion.

Kormatin's player is now created the long-term plan to topple Swynfaredia's puppet states (Uwcharedia and New Uwcharedia) in the Border Baronies. He believes that if a war between Fumaya and Swynfaredia is inevitable, that this way they can start the war on Fumaya's terms.

For a lot of different reasons, taking out Swynfaredia's puppet states would provide a lot of tactical and political advantages. And since Uwcharedia is not popular within the Border Baronies, Kormatin's player is hoping to talk some of the other Border Baronies into providing soldiers and supplies, so Fumaya doesn't have to dilute their forces too much.

Kormatin's plan is to use mutual interests to persuade the Border Baronies to join his plan, but he thinks it would help if Kormatin had some money to grease the wheels, so he wants to look for a lost treasure.

Prophet's Pass is a Border Barony that has a very unstable ever changing government because a hidden vampire puppet master likes it that way. Right now Prophet's Pass has a famous oracle residing there and the oracle knows or at least suspects the vampire's presence.

Note Kormatin does not know about the vampire puppet master, but Kormatin's player knows about the vampire because it's in the public article.

So the player suggested. "I'd like Kormatin to tour the Border Baronies soliciting Border Barons who dislike the Swynfaredians for aid and also keeping an eye and ear open for lost treasure. What if I visited the oracle of Prophet's Pass and asked about hidden treasure and the Oracle pointed me in the general direction of the hidden vampire, who probably has been hoarding wealth embezzled from the Border Barony over her long tenure as puppet master."

It's metagaming, but in tabletop RPGs not all metagaming is bad. The player wants treasure and the player researched my wiki to come up with a plan to get it which saves me legwork. And it's not a giveaway for free treasure because the vampire is a formidable opponent.

I want to make Emmerande difficult but not impossible to defeat. I haven't play tested any of my rules for vampires yet.

I made a private article in World Anvil, a feature I rarely use, but you guys can read the core parts here.

Spoiler: Emerande's background and stats

For simplicity, Emerande is not a spell caster. She is a warrior. I've been pondering whether or not vampires can exceed human attribute and ability limits of 5. The answer is "probably" but Emerande's case, she does not exceed human capabilities other than superhuman damage resistance, but she has many traits at 5.

She can spend blood points to gain bonus actions or heal wounds. Up to two blood points a combat round, and she probably have 10 blood points when Kormatin finds her, but if Kormatin does not catch her by surprise, she'll find a victim and drank him/her dry and start out with 15 blood points.

My plan is the oracle points Kormatin in the direction of an abandoned mine where Emerande hides her corpses. Kormatin's healer sidekick has the medical knowledge to know what a vampire's blood drained corpse look like tipping them off to what they are up against.

I figure she sends a mesmerized thrall to dispose of her bodies. If Kormatin and his NPC sidekicks stake out the corpse mine, they can find a thrall ditching a body there.

The vampire's thrall has been mind controlled so many times that he is brain damaged. It would be very easy to trick him into revealing where Emerande's lair is.

Emerande is too paranoid to sleep deeply. She has too thrall guards during the day. One will attack intruders immediately, the other will activate a bunch of bells and clappers to wake her up, so Kormatin will probably be able to catch her sleeping in her coffin.

Her lair is underground. I pondered whether Emerande would approach boldly or try hit and run from the shadows. I figure it would be more fun me as Game Master if she approached openly and talked to them first. And it kind of makes sense because Emerande is a bit lonely and doesn't have many people to talk to, she is also good at sizing up enemies' strengths and weaknesses by talking to them.

Besides her combat skills, she can mind whammy people but only the weak willed, and she will immediately sense that Kormatin and his allies all have strong wills.

She has limited animal powers but dislikes using and will only use them to escape if defeated.

She relies primarily on her combat skills and secondarily on her social skills.

Emerande
Willpower 6

Dexterity 5, Strength 5, Stamina 5, Appearance 5, Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Wits 3

Abilities: Alertness 5 (+1 paranoia), Animal Ken 2, Archery 5, Athletics 3 (+1 running), Brawl 5 (+1 grapples), Dodge 5, Empathy 5 (+1 sizing up), Enigmas 2, Etiquette 2 (+1 flirting), Hearth Wisdom 5, History 3 (+1 Border Baronies), Intimidation 3 (+1 conditioning), Investigation 1, Leadership 2 (+1 thralls), Melee 5, Performance 2 (+1 helpless damsel), Politics 2 (+1 Border Baronies), Stealth 3, Subterfuge 3 (+1 elaborate schemes), Survival 2 (+1 Border Baronies)
Theology 1 (+1 vampire hunters)

Rare Abilities: Lip Reading 2

Flaws: Animal Powers at +2 difficulty, paranoia and sadistic tendencies

Emerande

Emerande is a vampire of Vladimir's lineage.

She was turned into a vampire for little reason other than her great beauty. In life she was a vapid air head using her beauty to get everything she wanted, but becoming an undead predatory changed her. She took her development of pratical skills very seriously hence forth.

One night, she and her sire were attacked by a pair of Lorshellis' lineage, and she barely escaped. At which point she began obsessively drilling her combat skills.Besides tons of exercises, she would sometimes pretend to be a helpless maiden lost on a road as a lure for brigands just to use the brigands for combat practice.

She realized that, no matter how formidable she is in battle, she is still one vampire. The best defense is not being seen.

She hid in the Border Baronies for a while and in between honing her combat skills she started working on her social skills. Vladimir's lineage of vampires can only use their mind powers on the weak willed and it usually only works for a short period of time, but Emerande found she could seduce thralls and gradually break them over time in order to compel long term obedience.

She used her thralls to set up a puppet government in one of the Border Baronies. Eventually her thralls outlived their usefulness, so she had to cut them loose and set up a new puppet government. Roughly a score of coups later, her puppet state is now called Prophet's Pass.Like most undead of advanced age, she is rife with mental illness. In her case moderate obsessive compulsive perfectionism and extreme paranoia.

Her obsessive drilling of combat and mental skills has certainly paid dividends, but she has neglected her animal powers. Her ability to summon beasts or transform is weaker than most other vampires of her lineage.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
She is a hundred pound petite and feminine woman appearing to be in her late teens.

She has seen several centuries go by and she has physical strength on par with greatest human warriors of legend and resilience beyond human limits.

Kormatin's organization The Order of the Lantern is mage hunting organization, but they are the spiritual descendants of a now defunct vampire hunting organization called the Order of the Torch.

 

You know I meant impossible. I had to type fast to get this up before going to work. Read what I meant to write not what I actually wrote.

A beholder would usually have a lair in a very deep underground cavern and it would hard to get to the lair if you cannot fly with perfect maneuverability.

I figured I would give her an underground lair with plenty of space to keep her treasure and sleep in, but not a sprawling dungeon that dives into Scarnoctis. I figure Emerande is a little too paranoid to have a lair easily acceptable to Scarnoctis. She realizes that as tough as she is, there are tougher monsters than her in the world.

She doesn't want scary things from Scarnoctis to attack her from below. But I suppose not having an access point to Scarnoctis means she has fewer means of escape.

I figure she only two underground hidey holes, rather than a vast underground complex. One hide hole for disposing corpses and one for sleeping and storing loot.

I thought about her domesticating some mimics to guard her loot hoard because an mimic is not going to try to eat an undead creatures BUT if she has mimics, she doesn't need to go through effort to hide dead bodies. And if she doesn't have to dispose of dead bodies, it doesn't give Kormatin and his sidekicks an investigative trail to find her real lair.

Given that Emerande's lair has her life savings and all her pile of journals of notes to keep track of her conspiracy webs.

She'll probably fight to the death to protect her lair because effectively the lair is her life.

She is smart and has lots of time on her hands, but she has no magical ability and is not trained in engineering or alchemy so she cannot make complicated traps. I suppose she could enthrall someone and order them to build her traps and then kill them, but experts in these fields are hard to find, they might not be weak willed enough to fall for her mind whammy and people will notice them missing.

The video was awesome, but I'm sure how much of it translates.

I built my game system off of White Wolf's d10 system because it is the system I know best.

At first I thought White Wolf was just being gimmicky using unorthodox terms. They say they are "Storytelling Games" not "Role Playing Games." Sometimes they use the term "Mind's Eye Theater." The person running the game is called the "Storyteller" not the "Dungeon Master" or "Game Master." Technically "Non Player Characters (NPCs)" are called "Storyteller Characters" but the widespread of MMO videogames has made "NPC" stick.

The more videos I watch on D&D 5th edition, the more I realize there is a difference between storytelling games and role playing games.

The difference is there is less map, no need for miniatures and grid maps. Things are more abstract.

You know like when different people trade off telling a story around a campfire, but in this case the game master or big "S" Storyteller has some moderator power over what the other players or small "s" storyteller's can do.

If you are just going to say "I attack with my sword" over and over again, it will become a boring slog pretty fast and you might as well play D&D. Admittedly D&D is more efficient at a by the numbers battles and the grids and movement provide positioning rules and attack of opportunities and reactions and whatnot. It's a lot to learn, but once you learn it, combat is pretty smooth.

But during my last group session, the player characters were riding a flotilla of cargo rafts down an underground river with a bunch of Red Shirts. I never bothered to figure out how the rafts were positioned when I had goblin ghost walk out of a wall and order a bunch of goblin zombies to attack the boats.

I just winged it. The players were traveling for days with no event. I had the players roll Perception + Alertness to see how alert they were when an actual attack came.

Svetlanna got two successes. She got to ready her weapons to act at the start. Aranil got four successes. He got a bonus free shot. Neshik botched his roll (a botch is actually worse than rolling zero successes). He was fast asleep when the attack came. No one attacking his raft, but he couldn't act until a Red Shirt slapped him awake.

Svetlana's the half orc's player said "I want to grab a goblin from the water and hit another goblin with it."

I didn't check a grid map or rulebook. I just said. "That sounds fun" "Roll Strength + Brawl difficulty 6 to grapple the goblin nearest you" then had her roll "Dex + Brawl to swing goblin at another goblin." Svetlana hopped from boat to boat fighting goblins.

The other two players focused on ranged attack. Aranil the elf looked for Red Shirts about to be overwhelmed and sniped arrows at goblins attack them.

Neshik (eventually) took on the goblin ghost with spells. He was actually the only person in the group who could harm an incorporeal target. Once the ghost was dead all the zombies went inert, but Neshik was so late to the battle that most of the zombies were already destroyed by that point.

A few named NPC heroes did stuff too.

The goblins zombies and Red Shirts were where ever they needed to be for a good action scene, I didn't bother with the semantics.

If a player asks if there's cover to hide behind or a barrel or rock to throw, I will usually say "sure why not." Svetlana's player especially likes to interact with scenery. Likewise, I sometimes will wing props or terrain items that help the bad guys if they need a leg up. Basically the "map of the battle field" is in everyone's head, player and GM alike and it has whatever the storyteller needs.

A player asks for something and I'm not sure if it's there or not, I roll a random die and make a call by if it's a high number or low number.
My players jokingly say this is consulting the bones. Really this is just an excuse to give me another 30-60 seconds to ponder my answer rather than going off the cuff.

Sometimes the vagueness causes problems, but usually this is a feature, not a bug of D&D10.

While this approach to role playing is less exact than D&D it requires less set up (and at least in theory) should be ideally suited to playing D&D10 via web camera chats.

Given to how widely my friends are spread out now, that is the only feasible way to get an RPG session going more than four times a year.

There was some cool stuff in the video, but I don't think it will apply to the Emerande fight.

There are a few other differences between D&D and D&D10. The guy in the video mentioned going full nova.

D&D 3.5 and D&D 5th edition both assume that the PCs will fight four level appropriate encounters so they have to martial their resources.

D&D10 is different. It is very rare to fight four battles in one day and it is fairly rare to fight two. Also, in D&D the party is pretty much at full strength after a night's rest. If hypothetically, a group of PCs really goes all out fighting a tough opponent and they barely survived it, it will take 3-5 days to recover full strength.

A spell caster recovers 10-15 mana/quintessence points a day on average. Most of the PCs have a mana/quintessence pool of 40-80. (Mana is divine magic, quintessence is arcane btw). Wounds and attribute drains are slow to heal without magic. Max Willpower scores range from 1-10. For PCs it usually ranges 5-10. You recover one Willpower a day, every day. That's it. In a high stakes fight to the death, a PC is probably going to spend most of their Willpower because Willpower point expenditures make everything easier.

Think of like a detective show on drama on TV. The main characters talk to people and look at evidence for days, they have a run-in chase or fight with the killer (or a red herring) that is inconclusive, then they do more detective work a few days and the episode ends with a fight.

In d10 system, both White Wolf and D&D10 most fights between the PCs and bad guys fall into two categories. Due to the player's careful planning, the PCs overwhelm the bad guys and beat them easily or the PCs fight a desperate struggle for their very lives where they have to give it their all.

There are very few battles in between. At least the way I run games, this is what usually happens.

And in this case, Emerande the vampire is not fighting four PCs. Emerande is fighting Kormatin and three named NPCs: Brigid the double dabbler, Tihalt the archer/swordsmen, and Ragani the summoner/healer.

After the last big fight, we agreed that it is boring for Kormatin's player to have two actions a round while waiting for me to control his allies and the bad guys. And I'd just as soon have fewer characters to control, so from here on out, Kormatin gets to control Brigid, Tihalt, and Ragani in combat.

Kormatin's sidekicks are far from useless but they aren't near as badass as Kormatin is. Maybe you throw the three of them together and they are effective as a second PC would be. Tihalt is young, so he has fewer dots of abilities. Ragani and Brigid have the same ability level as Kormatin but they did not set out to be adventurers and were kind of drafted into it so they have lots of dots assigned to things that aren't that great in combat.

That's fine, Ragani is mainly there in roleplaying situations to be the "good cop" to Kormatin's "bad cop" and Brigid is a lore dispenser and human lie detector. Brigid is also me experimenting, to see if a "jack of all trades master of none", works in D&D10.

The answer to the question is "Yes, barely."

Playtesting suggests that PCs are most effective if they are designed do three useful things. As the PCs gains experience points, you can develop a fourth or fifth skillset or hone your first three skillsets to insane levels.

Aranil shoots arrows and invocations, hits things with a sword, and casts abjuration spells.

Kormatin does detective work, fights with a sword, and casts potent buff spells.

Neshik is a talker, a healer, and a master craftsmen/alchemist.

Svetlana hits things causing them to fall down and she can do survival/animal stuff. That is only two things. Her player really loaded up combat attributes. In hindsight, I'm sure that was a good thing. Svetlana is the MVP of every fight, but her player is often bored between fights. Hopefully the introduction of an animal companion makes things better as we can have some fun "What's that, Lassie?" moments.


Anyway, I'm getting a much newer, much nicer computer in two days. A vast improvement on the ten year old relic I use now. I'm going to try a few web chat RPG sessions with my oldest friends.

Assuming that works, I'm going to try to start a second RPG campaign via webcam. I'd love to introduce some L-O buddies to the wonders of D&D10 and Scarterra (and you can see my face!)

D&D10 seems to work well, but 3/4 of my current players are long veterans of White Wolf d10 RPGs and one of them is a mild veteran of White Wolf.

I would love to test the game system I've made to see how user-friendly the system is for newbies.

The only barrier to entry is that potential players must have a working web camera and own at least ten d10 dice.

 

I'm retooling my Necromancy


I don't plan to throw hordes of undead at Kormatin or the other PCs yet but I'd rather have it ready ahead of time.

I like variety, but I also like simplicity.

So looking through various D&D sourcebooks, most corporeal undead of CR 8 or less are some variation of "skeleton" or "zombie." I'm going to run with something similar to a combo menu at restaurant or a Build-A-Bear approach.

Here is my basic plan. The more dots of Necromancy a spell-caster has, the stronger undead they can create.

●● Create tier zero undead
●●● Create tier one undead or add temporary attributes to undead or heal undead of lethal damage
●●●● Create tier two undead.
●●●●● Create tier three undead

What do the tiers mean? Here is a tier zero zombie. It shambles and it tries to punch or grapple enemies barehanded. The only thing it's moderately good at is taking hits. Making them good arrow catchers.

Most ordinary warriors need to hit a zombie two or three times to take it down. A heroic warrior might be able to one-shot zombies most of the time.

Tier Zero Zombie

Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 5, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0, Perception 1, Intelligence 1, Wits 1

Abilities: Brawl 2, Dodge 1

6 Health Levels
OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, -3, Destroyed

/\That means a zombie with one, two, three, four, five or levels lost, it still fights at full effectiveness. A zombie with six health levels lost fights at a three dice penalty. A zombie with seven health levels is destroyed./\

But I have six possible zombie upgrades (it's likely I will come up with additional zombie upgrades later). A tier one has one zombie upgrade, a tier three zombies has three zombie upgrade. I'm thinking MAYBE, a necromancer can punch about his weight class and create an undead of an advanced tier one level up from his normal maximum if he expends a hefty amount of magical reagents with his spell.

Zombie Upgrades

Mobility Upgrade: Zombies don't just shamble, they run. They can also clamber up walls and trees. Sometimes nicknamed "Crawlers" because they are all fours when they are moving at top speed.

Dexterity +1, Wits +1, Athletics +4


Might Upgrade: +3 Strength, +1 Brawl. Can inflict lethal damage with bare handed attacks instead of the usual bashing damage (which is easier to resist and heal).


Agility Upgrade: +2 Dexterity, +1 Brawl, +1 Dodge, no penalties for fighting armed opponents bare handed


Toughness Upgrade: Soaks lethal and aggravated damage with full Stamina (as opposed to not soaking at all which normal zombies have), one extra health level.


Miasmic Breath: Can forgo normal attack to breath miasma which is usually resisted by healthy human but if you have a hoard of zombies belching this stuff, eventually most soldiers will succumb.

Miasma inflicts a point of physical attribute damage to mortals standing right in front of them. It never misses but can resisted with a difficulty 6 Stamina saving throw. A botch inflicts two levels of physical attribute damage.


Ghost Rider: The zombie can speak, but normally it can only recite lines given to it by a necromancer. Necromancers often like to use this as expendable messengers.

More interesting ghosts can now possess the zombie and control the zombie. The ghost can use his/her attributes and abilities or the zombie's, whichever is higher, except Appearance which is stuck at zero.

A ghost riding a zombie is a bit awkward, and all social and physical actions are +1 difficulty, but the zombie is now technically free willed and can do most things a living person can do, including using weapons and employing sophisticated tactics.

In most cases the necromancer will bind a ghost beforehand or if they won’t or can’t bind a ghost, the necromancer will often try to negotiate with the ghost beforehand. Most ghosts are thrilled with the idea of controlling a body and are not hard to convince unless the necromancer wants them to attack their former friends or betray their core ideals (assuming they still care about their friends and ideals).

A necromancer without a specific plan could just create a bunch of ghost rider zombies in an area with lots of ghosts, just to sow chaos.

It is rare for a ghost riding a zombie to attack the necromancer that created the zombie, but it is common for these ghost riders to split off and do their own thing abandoning his "master's" plans.

A necromancer can undo any zombie he created if it's in line of sight. If it's not in line of sight, the necromancer can only cut off the zombie from his magic. A "free" ghost zombie rider cut off it's necromancer is essentially holding the zombie host together with sheer willpower which cast last anywhere between three weeks and three months depending on the ghost's strength of will.


If by dumb luck, a ghost is near its own original body and that body is turned into a zombie, the ghost in question can seize control of the zombie even if the necromancer didn’t enchant the zombie to be a “ghost rider.” A ghost riding his or her own corpse is going to be able to resist the necromancer easier and longer than a ghost riding a stranger’s corpse.

After having this happen to them once, or hearing their mentors talk about it, most necromancers not pressed for time will check an area for loose ghosts before raiding a burial site for zombie fodder.


Besides advanced magical tiers, a zombie can be improved with mundane enhancements.

You can make a stronger zombie if you find a stronger corpse. A bear corpse will automatically make a stronger zombie than a human corpse. Even if it's tier zero.

Another option, is you can add hooks and spikes to a corpse and then animate it. This means a zombie will inflict more damage when it tries to maul someone. These modifications must be done before the corpse is reanimated. Most necromancers are lazy and impatient won't do this unless they have minions okay with this kind of gross grunt work.

Another option is to slap armor on a zombie. Even light armor is moderately expensive so this is normally only used on high tier zombies.

 

Glad you liked it. Cause I got more.



Almost any corpse can be made into a zombie, but skeletons cannot be made from just any corpse. Skeletons can wield weapons and tools, but only if the skeletons could wield those weapons and tools in their former lives.

It’s not hard to make a skeleton that can use a shovel, but in order to create a skeleton warrior, the corpse had to be a former warrior (though they needn't have been a great warrior).

Also an animated skeleton requires a mostly intact skeleton. A corpse missing an arm can still make a serviceable zombie, but it won’t make a very effective skeleton.

Skeletons don’t weigh nearly as much as a being with flesh, so even if they can block or soak an attack, they are usually knocked back or knocked down when struck. There is nothing to stop them from getting up again, but it does slow them down a fair bit. And it's a consolation prize if you fail to destroy a skeleton with your attack, at least you can impede it's next counterattack.


Tier Zero Skeleton

Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 0, Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 2

Abilities: Alertness 1, Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 1, Stealth 1, Melee 1

Merits: Proficient in shields

Health Levels 1

OK, Destroyed

Skeletons can use their Stamina to soak all damage with three bonus dice against piercing and slashing attacks.


Tier Zero skeletons fight a lot better than tier zero zombies but they can easily be destroyed with one solid blow, so few necromancers bother sending Tier Zero skeletons into battle, but Tier Zero skeletons are good for simple grunt labor.


Resilient Upgrade: +1 Stamina, 4 extra health levels. By far this is the most popular upgrade for skeletons.

What about Second Upgrade?: +3 health levels



Clever Upgrade: The skeleton has +1 Intelligence, +1 Crafts and +2 Archery, and +1 Melee

What about Second Upgrade?: The skeleton has +1 Crafts, +1 Archery, +1 Melee


Nimble: +1 Dexterity, +1 Wits, +2 athletics

What about Second Upgrade?: +1 Dexterity


Might Upgrade: +2 Strength, +1 Melee


Violation of the Laws of Physics Upgrade, Water: In Scaraqua, there are no tier Zero skeletons. It takes an upgrade just to let a skeleton swim…somehow, roughly as well as they could while alive.

Scarterran skeletons rarely bother with this because a human skeleton cannot swim very well while carrying weapons, but a few enterprising pirates have used them for sneak attacks, skeletons don't have to breathe and they don't tire so they will get to their target...eventually.


Violation of the laws of Physics Upgrade, Mass and Inertia: +1 Stamina. Somehow the skeleton resists knockdown and knockback just like a living person would.


Bone Blade Upgrade: One or both of the skeletons arms are transformed into Strength + 3 blades that are hard as steel. Also +2 Brawl.


Cavalry Upgrade: +3 Ride. The skeleton can ride skeleton horses, zombie horses, or spirit horses. Regular horses won’t tolerate an undead rider. This requires that the skeleton used to be able to fight from horseback while alive.


1929 Disney Upgrade: +2 Performance
What about Second Upgrade?: +2 Performance, also called the Tim Burton upgrade.


Skeletons cannot make miasma like zombies because they don't have lungs. Skeletons cannot accept ghost riders because a corpse needs a least a piece of the heart and brain left intact to do this.


Naturally petrified bones are pretty tough. it's rare to find an intact skeleton of petrified bones but necromancers love these because they let them apply the Resilience upgrade for free.

You can also boost a skeleton without upgrading the tier if you give them better weapons and armor.

Giant monsters make pretty formidable skeleton warriors, but the bigger a creature is, the harder it is to find a mostly intact skeleton of it.

 

Spoiler: Crazy RPG plot idea

So Kormatin's is plotting to eventually overthrow liberate Uwcharedia.

Duchess Nia, the ruler of Uwcharedia is a major scroll head. She is very smart but has very little real world experience. Intelligent people with little real world experience often come up with overly complicated plans.

And she is a prodigy alchemist. When you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Nia is obviously going to think that "I'll use alchemy to defend the realm, no one will see it coming!"

Uwcharedia has one powerful necromancer on it's payroll. Not exactly enough to raise an undead army. I'm not sure how I'll set the math but every necromancer to how many undead he can control at any one time. I'm thinking the best necromancers in the world can maybe direct 150. Though necromancers can create more undead than they can control and leave them inert. Sort of like a robot that is turned off. A hypothetical master necromancer with lots of time and resources can send endless waves of 150 undead soldiers.

Uwcharedia is haunted by one ghost that is still loyal to Uwcharedia and another ghost or two unwilling enslaved to the resident necromancer.

I'm thinking of having a ghost rider zombie with the mobility upgrade that is carrying Greek fire (or I as I call it in Scarterra, alchemist fire). Runs at the enemy, lights the fuse when it's almost there and goes boom.

Then the ghost flies back to base to possess another zombie bomber.

Once the enemy the enemy wises up to this, "shoot the zombie before it gets to us." Or better yet "shoot the zombie with a flaming arrow and it blows up behind enemy lines."

For the second wave, the suicide bomber zombie will be accompanied by half a dozen normal zombies with the mobility upgrade as decoys.

This might backfire in the long run because the Uwcharedians promised the commoners they wouldn't use undead troops, so this could fracture the peasants already questionable loyalty.

They actually have a stock pile of zombies in reserve. They'll start with orc and goblin zombies figuring their human subjects will be less offended by that. If they run out of non-humans, they have some human zombies in reserve if pressed.

Even then the human zombies are not their own subject's corpses, they are bandits killed over the years, but that is not immediately obvious to onlookers.

 

I have deleted my original species template article on zombies and created a new condition template article on zombies incorporating the best of all the stuff I've developed for zombies over the years.

It goes into detail on how they are made, how they are enhanced, what the history of zombies in Scarterra was, what the cultural implications of zombies are, and how zombie use differs in Scaraqua, and I added some in-character commentary from assorted Scarterrans.

I quickly realized ghost rider zombies were too complicated to include in a mere sidebar or subsection so I gave ghost rider zombies a separate article of their own.

I cannot promise the articles are typo free and unfortunately I couldn't come up with a good way to pay homage to the Cranberries in either of the articles.

 

I went to a small Renaissance Fair yesterday. No brainwaves on Scarterra but I had a lot of fun.

I am pondering waring a cool costume next time, but there are so many options it's hard to narrow it down.

I saw a satyr costume that was pretty cool and it would work for an event where it isn't super hot, but it did make me ponder that foot wear is important. Hooves are proportionally smaller than feet, but satyr costumes work if the legs are made proportionally wider than real human legs thus allowing human feet to hide inside fake hooves.

A costume
-Needs to look cool
-It needs to have footwear appropriate for 4+ hours
-It needs to be appropriate for relatively warm and relatively cool days.
-It should not degrade in light rain
-It should be relatively easy to clean, though dry clean only is not a huge problem

EDIT: Probably want a sun protective hat too. Despite my sun screen application, I got a little sunburned around the edge of my scalp.

I'm not sure I can make a Scarterra costume. For starters no one would recognize it, but I might commission a necklace or pendant of the Symbol of the Nine. To most that would look a generic fantasy symbol.

 

Go to Scarterra Homepage
bugbears

Bug bears are goblins who acquire Cannibal Sickness.

"Given that goblins tend to bury their dead somewhat respectfully, goblins don't seem to be willing to eat the flesh of their own dead, at least if'n they aren't starving to death. But goblins have no moral quandaries eating the flesh of dwarves, elves, orcs, or humans.

If a goblin in a battle feels emboldened enough to toss boasts, he will promise to eat you later.

I have personally seen the gnawed upon bones of dwarves, humans and orcs in old goblin camps with my own eyes and by the Nine it is revolting.

But it does makes a dwarf wonder. If the goblins have no problem eating mortal flesh, why is Scarterra not overrun with bugbears?

First off, goblins usually lose direct fights with dwarves, humans, orcs, and elves.Second off, goblins may be okay with murder and cannibalism but they are not cannibals or murderers at their core. At their core. goblins are thieves.

Assuming a uncannily lucky pack of goblins manages to take down a pack of rangers, they are not doing this to eat the rangers or out of simple malice. They want the livestock or the loot of caravan that the rangers were guarding.

After they have taken all the loot, if they have time permitting, they will grab the corpses of the men guarding the loot. The thing is, most adult goblins weight about two stones. A dead dwarf, even stripped of all possessions probably weighs well over seven stone.

It's difficult to haul away dwarf bodies quickly, same goes if they bushwhack some humans or orcs. Remember the goblins are also carrying a bunch of stolen loot. Also note that the goblins are guerilla fighters favoring hit-and-run tactics, heavy emphasis on the run.

Victorious goblins need to flee the site of their crime before their enemies know they are there and retaliate, so they don't take more spoils than they can carry at good pace, and this often means leaving the bodies of fallen foes behind.

Assuming the goblins do bring a bit of 'two legged goat meat' to the dinner table after a successful raid, it's a good bet they are going to share their food with the whole tribe. If every goblin only gets a tiny piece of two legged goat, it probably won't be enough to turn anyone into a bugbear."
-Dulgrom, dwarf ranger

"Our good ranger is correct, mostly.

Goblins may try to eat the flesh of their enemies but they rarely succeed. Rarely does not mean never.

A goblin tribe that is very strong and very cunning might actually be able to catch enough manflesh consistently that one could eventually create an entire clan of bug bears. There were at least three such tribes bending the knee to the nine times cursed orc-mule, Mordock the Destroyer.

Goblins may live in clans superficially similar to dwarf clans, but they do not have the same sense of clan duty or kinship that we have. They rarely share all their loot or their food equally.

Most goblin kings take the dragon's share of the loot their underlings bring in and they have first right of refusal on all food. If a goblin king decides he likes manflesh a lot, he probably won't share it with his subjects. In which case you end up with a bug bear chieftain ruling a clan of ordinary goblins.

This is a very common occurrance actually. Most documented cases of bug bears involve a single bugbear a much larger troupe of ordinary goblins. If the leader is cunning, the clan as a whole might prosper and it might gather enough manflesh that his lieutenants can also become bugbears, but this is rare.

Most bugbear-led goblin tribes gutter out quickly. A bugbear chieftain's reach more than often than not exceeds his grasp and his unholy hunger pushes him to drive the tribe into taking unwise risks causing the tribe to suffer great losses.

Elsetimes, the chieftain's unholy hunger drives him to eat his own kin. Sometimes the unfortunate goblins have to deal with disastrous losses followed by their chieftain eating the flesh of these fallen goblins.

Once this happens, the remaining goblins will usually either try to knife their chieftain or they will try to desert the clan and flee though there are isolated accounts of degenerate lone Bug Bears literally eating their whole clans down to the last man, woman, and child."

Harren Greystone, royal historian of Meckelorn

Transmission & Vectors
Bugbears are goblins who develop an addiction to mortal flesh. Like a human ogre, a goblin bugbear can pass his curse onto his or her offspring.

If a bugbear becomes a goblin king (or queen) of a clan, he is probably going to take several mates and have lots of children.

Ordinary goblin women often die in childbirth giving birth to bugbear children. Bugbear women have little problem giving birth to bugbear children. Female bugbears have a shorter pregnancy gestations and a quicker recovery time than normal goblin pregnancies.

"Sometimes, sometimes, one bugbear can lead a clan to greatness. But more than sometimes, more than sometimes, several bug bears will lead a clan to ruin.

Not all goblin babies survive to their name day. Bugbear kings often have many children but they rarely watch their babies carefully. Understand?

-Onk, goblin wise woman

Second and third generation bugbears that survive their infancy mature very fast and grow very large, presuming they are well-fed and get at least a little bit of mortal flesh.

Most adult goblins are a little taller than three feet in the rare instances they stand up straight. First generation bugbears routinely reach heights of six feet and occasionally make it to seven feet tall, often weighing four to five times the mass of an ordinary goblin. Second and subsequent generation bugbears can routinely reach heights of eight feet tall and can weigh six or seven times the mass of an ordinary goblin. That seems to be the maximum size, even for a bug bear from a very long line of bugbears.

Symptoms
"Bugbears don't breath ice like wendigo and they don't grow claws and teeth like wendigo. They rarely develop enhanced senses like ojangers and skopen. They do not read heart's or develop camoflage powers like ollums.

Bugbears simply grow large. They are even less likely than human ogres to develop strange exotic powers.

But their size is enough. Despite their size, they retain the nimbleness and agility of a tiny goblin. They may look like lumbering oaths, but they do not fight like lumbering oaths. They are very fast runners and have excellent reflexes in combat.

They are almost impossibly light on their feet and barely make a sound when they move. They also retain a smaller goblin's instinct for stealth. If a bug bear does develop a so called 'exotic power', the bugbear in question is probably a contortionist. Many bugbears can squeeze through passages you wouldn't expect a creature that large to be able to pass through.

I've seen it, it's disgusting.

Bugbears have a weakness in that they are not very hardy. Is a bugbear tougher and more resilient than an ordinary goblin? Yes very much so. Is a bugbear as tough as other cannibal mutants of similar size? No, not at all.

The same pliant bones that make bug bears so nimble and flexible means that bug bears are prone to getting broken bones and bugbears rarely have the accelerated healing factors of other cannibal mutants.

Goblins are a cowardly lot, and bugbears for all their size are still goblins. Bugbears are fairly hard to hit, but if you get a solid blow on one, they will probably try to flee. But remember, like any goblin, bugbears love to fight dirty."

-Daana of Meraland, Defender of the Hearth

Treatment
"Mother Mera commands us to try to show mercy bring cannibals back into the fold if they show genuine remorse and desire redemption. I do not believe a bugbear has ever sought redemption and I do not believe one ever will.

Most goblins, whether they admit it or not, want to be bugbears.

All goblins have a persecution complex, perhaps not unjustified. goblins relish the opportunity to turn the tables on their tormentors and what better way to do so than than eat their flesh and in the process become strong?

-Beslyfle the gnome, matron of Fumaya's Tenders

In theory, Purification magic can temporarily suppress an bugbear's unholy appetite but to cure Cannibal Sickness an afflicted needs to have genuine remorse, be subjected to Purification ●●●●●, and then go on a lengthy and dangerous quest while resisting the urge to eat mortal flesh the whole time. According to the stories, ogres and other cannibals have been cured of their conditions minutes or seconds before their deaths after dying in a poetic and noble sacrifice but this has never happened with a bugbear.

Affected Groups
"Bugbears, like regular goblins, have been around since ancient times.

That raises the question, what about the so-called new goblins? No, you don't get to cut me off, the new goblins are real. I've seen jumping goblins with my own two eyes. I cannot personally attest the other new goblins, but I suspect they are real as well.

I've seen bugbears and I've seen jumping goblins, but I've never seen a jumping bugbear. I hope I never do. Jumping goblins are rare, so jumping bugbears would be rarer still, iff'n they exist at all. More so, jumping goblins, compared to common goblins are even more cowardly and they are even better thieves.

Jumping goblins will steal anything that isn't nailed down, then jump away with whatever they just nabbed. Since the jumping goblins don't kill a lot of mortals, they cannot eat a lot of mortal flesh, even if they wanted to."

-Dulgrom, dwarf ranger

"The filthy amphibious invaders known as the 'frog goblins' are a pestilence that must be wiped out, but I do not believe they feast on mortal flesh, at least not often.

They don't seem to eat the flesh of Scaraquans, because they don't need to. Like most filthy scavengers they are opportunistic and prefer to eat things that don't bite back. Their sticky fingers are good at snatching fish and water fowl. Any area that has frog goblins passing through will notice a sharp decline in the wild fish populations.

Of course they also like to raid our grain silos and poach our livestock at every opportunity. Vermin..."

-Cherith, mermaid centurion

Prevention
The best way to not get Cannibal Sickness is to not engage in cannibalism. The same goes for bug bear transformation. A goblin that doesn't eat mortal flesh will never turn into an bugbear. The more mortal flesh a goblin eats, the more likely his or her transformation is, especially if they are eating the flesh of other goblins.

Most goblins if they are lucky enough to live long enough to die of old age, probably tasted mortal flesh at least once, but even the strongest and most cunning goblins seldom eat enough mortal flesh to trigger a transformation into a bug bear.

When a goblin cannibal begins growing in size but has not at full bugbear size, he or she is very vulnerable.

Ordinary goblins fear the budding bugbear and are likely to plot against them. If the tribe in question is led by a bugbear, then the bugbear chief likely fears being replaced and will put down a younger bugbear at the slightest sign of disloyalty.

This, among other factors, keeps the total bugbear population down.

History
"During the Second Age when most goblins were enslaved, even the cruelest and most sadistic slave masters didn't want to feed their slaves mortal flesh.

There was a practical reason too. No one wanted to see goblins grow larger, stronger and more aggressive. Though there are unconfirmed rumors of bugbear slaves bred for combat in the arena. I'm not even sure the ancient Disterrians would have done that.

Many Second Age goblins fled bondage and some tribes of free goblins managed to eke out a living in the remote wild areas of Scarterra. The ancient elf kingdoms might have tolerated free goblin tribes dwelling near their borders if they weren't doing any significant damage, but the mere rumor of a bugbear in a free goblin tribe was enough to inspire an organized response from elven knights.

Just as the number of skopen and jormangers swelled during the Second Unmaking, it is believed that the number of bugbears also increased substantially.

Supposedly the goblin known as "the Great One" was not a bugbear and actually led his people on crusades against bugbears. Goblin storytellers claim that most bugbears became Infernalists and the Great One heroically led his untainted brethren against these race traitors.

Whether or not the Great One really existed, more accurate historical accounts suggest that during the Second Unmaking, untainted goblins and bugbears did not cooperate very often. There were mostly tribes of all goblins or small bands of all bugbears but rarely integrated groups.

Embarassingly enough, at the dawn of the Third Age, bugbears largely disappeared very quickly while it was many centuries before our ancestors were able to purge the skopen from the face of Scarterra.

Bugbears have resurged in numbers in modern times while skopen remain a blight on our distant history."
-Saelihn Craroris, grey elf historian

Cultural Reception
"It's a waste to kill a human and eat him. Take a human alive, make him do a bunch of funny stuff THEN eat him once your toy is too broken to play with.

Bugbears? Just a story, never seen one. They not real. I've eaten HUNDREDS of humans and I ain't grow none."

-Kleekz, goblin warrior

Any warrior who regularly fights goblins has at least heard of bugbears.

Goblins are widely viewed as annoying but not especially threatening. Bugbears, whether they are leading ordinary goblins or acting on their own, are viewed as a serious threat and thus are worthy of a serious response.

While there is little evidence to support this, confirmation bias helps push that the narrative that bugbears love to steal and eat children, even more than other cannibals which of course means feudal lords and barbarian tribal leaders will reward any warrior who slays a bugbear greatly.

Bugbears are strong and goblins value strength. But goblins also value being left alone. Goblins themselves are not sure whether they should support bugbears or avoid them but if a bugbear is already in the clan, in many cases the ordinary goblins have two choices, they can serve their new bugbear leader or they can die.

 

I mentioned mimics a while ago. I realized I started a draft article and never finished it. So now I finished it.


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Mimics

Mimics are a fairly common type of sprite found in a lot of unclaimed wild areas of the realm of Fae Home. They do not travel to the mortal plane easily, but once they get into the mortal plane, they rarely leave.

Mimics are shapeshifting Sprites that have limited intelligence and great patience. They will take the form of whatever they think will draw prey near them, fruit bearing shrubs, treasure chests, comfortable benches, and more.
Basic Information
Anatomy
In their true form, if you call it that, they are an amorphous greyish blob, or a bluish blob, or brownish blob or a greenish blob depending on what minerals it has been eating recently.

Mimics rarely take on their true form unless forced by magic though they take on their true form briefly when reproducing.

Unlike most shapeshifters, Mimics are not negatively impacted by the light of the full moon, not even a little bit.

Mimics do not like to move more than they have to. They can move by forming tentacle-like appendages of their true form to drag themselves along or they can turn their bottom sides into a vaguely slug-like form and slither and ooze forward like a snail. Either way, long distance travel is not fast and Mimics are not very effective at mimicking things while moving.

Mimics are slow but they are sticky and they can crawl on walls and ceilings with approximately the same speed they can move on the ground.
Genetics And Reproduction
Mimicks reproduce asexually. As they get older and feed, Mimics gradually grow bigger. If it grows to a certain point, Mimics split into two Mimics of equal size.

If a Mimic is growing slowly and goes for a very long time without splitting in half, it might split a smaller Mimic off of itself.

These little Mimics are less skilled at shapeshifting complex colors and textures but not for a lack of trying. Fair Folk often find this cute and might keep them as pets or living decorations, cutting them loose into the wild when and if they get too big and skilled at mimicry to no longer be cute.
Ecology And Habitats
Mimics can live almost anywhere but they prefer to live in elementally balanced areas generally avoiding areas of Fae Home with an over saturation of fire, water, air, or earth energies. Either Mimics find these areas uncomfortable or they have noticed that their disguises are less effective in these areas.

Because of this love of elemental balance, any Mimic that finds its way into the material plane is unlikely to ever want to leave despite the fact that Mimics seem to have trouble breeding in the material plane.

It is also been noted that most Fair Folk can easily spot a Mimic in disguise, sensing that they are off with their metaphysical senses. Most mortals have trouble spotting Mimics because they rely on their eyes which many Fair Folk find hilarious.
Dietary Needs And Habits
Mimics put the "omni" in "omnivore". They can eat animal or plant matter, but they clearly prefer meat.

They can eat rocks, sea water, wood, and dirt and other inanimate materials. They cannot digest these things, but Mimics can only mimic a limited variety of colors and textures at any given time. A Mimic that moves into a new area needs to ingest the local materials in order to recalibrate itself to mimic the local colors and textures.

They are also thaumnivore that can passively feed off of ambient magical energy. They can survive on less food in magic heavy areas. They are also believed to feed on psychic energies having a clear preference to feeding off of intelligent creatures.

When potential prey draws near, Mimics quickly grow sharp teeth to bite at their prey while simultaneously trying to constrain their prey with sticky grasping tentacles.

Mimics rarely eat rotten carrion and they never attack undead though they will defend themselves from undead if attacked first. They also avoid living creatures that kind of smell like the dead. They will not attack an undertaker, necromancer, or spirit loa unless truly desperate.

Some necromancers and free-willed undead choose to keep mimics around their lairs to guard their treasure hordes. Mimics seem okay with this arrangement as long as they are fed some fresh meat periodically. This is especially handy for vampires. They can drain a victim of his/her blood and toss the remainder to a mimic to dispose of.
Biological Cycle
In the realm of Fae Home, Mimics grow as they mature till they are roughly 2000 pounds in mass then they split into two or three smaller Mimics.

Mimics, usually but not always grow smarter as they grow bigger and they tend to regress mentally after splitting into smaller entities.

In the mortal plane, Mimics never stop growing. Sometimes Mimics grow so big that they cannot move and they may ironically become so fat that they starve to death. Though some larger mimics can still catch prey from a stationary position, especially if they can mimic a house or building though generally a carnivorous house will eventually be discovered by mortals and put to torch.

Some Fair Folk will help/force larger Mimics in the mortal plane to re-enter Fae Home so they can properly bud into smaller Mimics. More often than not, they do not bother helping Mimics in the mortal plane, especially since Mimics will actively resist being moved out of the mortal plane.
Additional Information
Perception And Sensory Capabilities
Mimics do not need visible eyes to see, ears to hear with, or nostrils to smell with. Their whole skin acts as a sensory membrane giving them the ability to see in three hundred sixty degrees and make a full auditory/olfactory maps of their surroundings.

They are somewhat farsighted and their senses are not especially precise towards objects or creatures very close to them. Often, before attacking they will grow temporary eyes to increase their accuracy.

 

Making an article for Mimicks shows me that Scarterra has one and only Sprite species. I probably need more. I was thinking kappas. I did some research, per usually Mythology Explained is one of the detailed and succinct.



I think kappas straddle the line between fairly intelligent Sprite and somewhat fairly Fair Folk, but I'm leaning towards Fair Folk.

Kappa stories vary a lot from cute G rated tricksters to rapacious R rated cannibals. Sometimes kappas are even helpful. But two things are consistent, one kappas like fresh waters and two, kappas are weird.

Because kappas are weird, that means (by the internal logic of my fantasy world) kappa must be from Fae Home or the Aetherial Realm rather than the material plane. And because I cannot align them neatly with one of the Nine, and I'm not sure if the Aetherial Realm has rivers, the Aetherial Realm is an awkward fit at best.

I'm going to ponder a Scarterran revamp of Kappas during my worktime daydreaming.

Given that kappas have such a wide mythological porftolio, I think I'm going to have different kappa subspecies and different tribes each striving for different things.

So I'm going to try to figure out, what are these groups and why and how did they form? Also, what traits are endemic to all kappas, which traits are associated with certain tribes, and which traits are the province of individuals.

I suppose I should figure out how widespread kappas. Are they only found in parts of Scarterra that resemble ancient Japan (aka the nation of Nishi)? Only in parts of Scarterra that resemble ancient East Asia (aka the continent of Umera)? Are they only in places that vaguely resemble Asia (Umera and Penarchia), the whole southern hemisphere or perhaps all of Scarterra.

 

Maybe a few individual kappa can be tricked into dumping their bowl heads, but most would not fall for that and would protect their water fiercely.

In the mean time, here is some SCIENCE! that has nothing to do with kappas.

This is something I've been pondering a long time but hadn't put into writing until now. The Predator homage is a new idea I came up with today. I really like the idea of Conan covered with mud turning the tables on a Void demon.

lifesight

Lifesight, sometimes called deathsight, is literally a different way of looking at the world as opposed to what most normal mortals and animals see with their eyes, aka normal sight.

Manifestation
Lifesight resembles normal sight but living things are easier to see and non-living things are difficult to see. Beings with lifesight are likely to stumble and trip over rocks and the ground and otherwise miss non-living things that normal sight can catch easily. Reading from a page is almost impossible unless something is written in blood, even then it's not easy.

For non-living things, colors and textures are extremely muted, practically monochromatic and somewhat dark.

Living things, plants, animals, and mortals seem to glow. Animals tend to glow more vibrantly than plants and mortals tend to glow more vibrantly than animals.

Recently dead things have a faint rapidly diminishing glow. Mortals also leave a faint glowing trail behind them when they move. Someone with lifesight can track a mortal with this residual glow. It's relatively easy to follow a trail through an icy wasteland but it is almost impossible to follow such a trail through lush vibrant jungle.

Also, a mortal's trail looks pretty much like every other mortal's trail. If someone is being tracked by their life aura, they can hide their trail by running through a crowded market place and getting their trail mixed with other mortals' trails.

Undead creatures and restless dead have their own glow. Living creatures tend to glow with white light, undead with reddish light and restless dead with something resembling a modern black light. Fae and spirits glow with a refracted rainbow light. It is impossible to tell the difference between a Fae creature and spirit creature from their lifesight alone though more more powerful spirits brighter than weaker ones, and Fair Folk always outshine Sprites.

Under greater scrutiny, living things under life sight have their health or lack of health displayed. Beings with lifesight can easily gage how badly a subject is injured and see obvious visible manifestations of illnesses and curses. Training and experience is often needed to differentiate between "he's very sick" and "he has cancer." Curses are even harder to differentiate.

Under greater scrutiny, someone with lifesight can gage one of the restless dead's strength of will, both their overall strength of will and their current reserve of temporary will.

Under greater scrutiny, someone with lifesight can determine if an undead is under tight magical control, loose magical control, is free-willed, or rogue. If the undead has a fluctuating power reserve (like a vampire who has a variable blood pool), life sight can gage approximately how full their "fuel tank" is.

Localization
Void demons have lifesight as their primary sight. Only the most powerful demons are capable of accessing what mortals consider to be "normal" sight.

Restless Dead, aka ghosts can switch between normal sight and lifesight at will. As ghosts linger in their restless state longer their lifesight gradually becomes primary and normal sight becomes more difficult to access.

Many undead creatures can access both normal sight and lifesight. A few are stuck with lifesight alone. Undead that feed on the living find they have trouble using normal sight when they are hungry.

Most free-willed undead can switch between normal sight and lifesight at will. Some older undead with mental instability have trouble transitioning between the two versions of seeing.

When it comes to undead lacking free will, they are usually equally good at both means of vision, or more accurately, equally bad. Most simple undead are not known for great visual acuity. Many rely on smell and hearing above their sight, both types of sight.

Mortal arcane necromancers can access a simple spell called "Lifesight" that perfectly mimics lifesight. It is often one of the first spell an necromancer learns. Many mages who do not focus on necromancy will dabble in just enough to necromancy to learn this spell and a few other utilitarian first circle necromancy spells.

Divine necromancers cannot access lifesight. The Nine either can't or won't let their agents copy a power of the Void.

Despite it's dark associations, lifesight can easily be a tool to help the living. Lifesight is useful for those hunting undead, and it can help doctors and healers diagnose complex problems. It can also reveal a ghost or undead impersonating the living though there are other ways to reveal this.

For unknown reasons, a spirit or a Fair Folk impersonating a mortal or beast has a normal living aura, not a rainbow aura.

Fooling Lifesight
Anything that causes blindness in normal sight will blind lifesight be they mundane things such as covering eyes with a blindfold or magical effects such as invisibilty.

Lifesight is supernatural in nature so any magical abjuration that will at least partially block or obscure a mortal's life aura.

Areas rich in life, such a crowded city or a lush jungle create something akin to sensory overload and makes it harder to fixate on a single target with lifesight.

Thick clothes will diminish a living person's glow a little bit, but a more effective precaution is to cake on lots of mud to block a lot of a living person's natural aura. Combined with a life rich area such as a jungle, a muddy mortal is practically invisible.

 

Me: Perhaps I should do some of the chores I've been neglecting.

My inner Muse: No, write about knights!

Me: We are about due for the next Poetry Contest...

My inner Muse: No, write about knights!

Me: Or I could flesh out my next RPG session...

My inner Muse: I said knights!

Me: Or I could write a short story or work on kappas like I said I would.

My inner Muse: Knights!


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The five types of knights

As told by Sir Casmir, champion of the King of Fumaya.Many lands require their knights to be able to fight from horseback with a lance and sword, but this is not universal. Elven nations often prefer their knights to be crack shots rather than expert riders. Swynfaredia of course prefers their knights to be sorcerers. Most knights are elite fighters, but they they are not all lance toting cavaliers. Some knights aren't really warriors at all, but they are skilled ministers given an honorary as a knighthood in recognition of their service (though honorary knights rarely get any land to go with their title).

Essentially, if a lord or a high priest thinks someone would be useful as a knight and that person takes the knightly vows, they are knights, no questions asked. Every prince or potentate is free to set whatever knightly requirements they want.


Most nobleman want to have an heir and a spare. They will usually train both the heir and the spare to be able to take over their lordship as a true successor. Few lords bother to train third and fourth sons thusly because the odds of them inheriting are low and they don’t want to breed resentment. Extra sons are often sent to the Nonagon or they are trained as knights (or both if the local Nonagon has holy knightly orders). Sometimes the presumptive heirs also receive knightly and ecclesiastical training but they rarely stay there long.


Most knights are sons of knights. This makes sense. Most farmers are sons of farmers. Most blacksmiths are sons of blacksmiths. A son of a knight that seeks a different vocation than being a knight is likely to face reduced wealth and status relative to his father, but a son of a knight who becomes a knight and then becomes a knight of renown, his wealth and prestige might exceed that of his father.

First born sons of knights tend to get preferential treatment (first born sons seem to get preferential treatment at every social class) but second, third, and seventh sons can still become knights. Among knights, birthright is valued, but merit is valued greater still.


Speaking of merit, some knights are not born to be knights, they are made to be knights. Men-at-arms, militia men and adventurers who distinguish themselves in battle are often given knighthood as a reward. Some highborn knights look down on these ennobled commoners, but only if they are fools.

Smart lords want strong warriors and don’t care if they are highborn or lowborn. Given the high bar of entry for a commoner becoming a knight, it’s a safe bet that common born knights are likely among the best warriors of any knightly retinue even if they are somewhat lacking in courtly manners.


How a man becomes a knight is not as important as what a knight does after becoming a knight. I name five categories, Knights of Honor, Knights of Valor, Knights of Loyalty, Knights of Ambition, and Knights of Patriotism.

Knights Of Honor
Most knights pretend to follow chivalric honor codes when it suits their needs, but some knights follow these codes with their whole hearts and souls. Knights of Honor eat, drink, and breathe honor. They believe their unfailing sense of honor will lead them to win in battle and they derive their sense of self-worth from their honor.

Some of these knights believe in chivalry in an abstract sense, but some follow an honor code on behalf of one of the Nine. The latter of which often manifest a bit of theurgist ability. The most pious knights often find their way into holy knightly orders.

Just and pious lords like to promote just and pious knights to positions of authority because they know these knights won’t abuse their position and will represent them well. Sometimes Knights of Honor can be a little bit naïve. In times of war, it is not always best to have a Knight of Honor making tough decisions as they may forgo tactical advantages in the name of honor.

Less honorable lords have a love-hate relationship with these sorts of knights. They can be problematic at times, but an evil lord can still put his Knights of Honor to good use with careful handling. Assuming a despotic lord is a little bit concerned with their public face, he will try to avoid demonstrating the power of his iron fist in front of his Knights of Honor. A tyrannical lord will usually keep his Knights of Honor away from the front lines and use them for public relations: honor guards at festivals, envoys to the Nonagon, anywhere where peaceful diplomacy requires putting a respectable face forward.

A Knight of Honor might turn on a lord that they view utterly lacks honor, but even then turning on one’s lord is a great dishonor. When this happens, the knight in question will usually renounce their lands and titles which is never easy. As long as lord maintains an aura of plausible deniability about his corruption, a Knight of Honor can be placated and kept in line.

Honorable knights have façade of false modesty, but they love accolades and praise. As long as their lords give them these things regularly they will endure any hardship and take on any challenge.

Knights Of Valor
"Knights of Valor" is a polite euphemism for "Knights of Violence". Some are brave and violent; others are cowardly and violent, but at the end of the day, some knights just like to hurt people. They may or may not revel in great challenges but most of these knights just relish picking on people weaker than they are. The less evil Knights of Valor crave glory. These are the sorts that boast of felling the most foes or taking on the largest and most frightening monsters.

Just and pious lords often don’t trust their Knights of Valor, for good reason. No honorable lord wants his sworn vassals to rape and steal in his name. Unfortunately, a lot of knights fit this mold. Perhaps more than any other category. If a lord discharges all of his most violent knights, he will find he has very few knights left, and the knights he has left might not be the best fighters. I believe the formal codes of chivalry were codified centuries ago specifically to try to keep these knights in line.

Also, it is not always easy to spot a violence loving knight. Most Knights of Valor wear a mask of honor at courtly events and most other knights still maintain an air of bravado that makes them look like Knights of Valor.

Of course tyrannical and corrupt lords rarely have any problem with Knights of Valor. Such knights are good at destroying their lords’ enemies and a lord can be reasonably sure of their loyalty by turning a blind eye to their excesses. As long are allowed to indulge in their excesses regularly, most Knights of Valor will obey their lords’ calls for restraint when the situation calls for it.

A Knight of Valor will turn on his lord when he gets bored or feels he is not being paid enough. A Knight of Valor that betrays his oath is very dangerous. A lot of the most dangerous brigands and cut-throat mercenaries were former Knights of Valor. This is why a lord needs to try to keep their Knights of Valor in line, even if they would prefer to wash their hands of them completely.

The best way to keep a Knight of Valor in line is to always have a powerful enemy to point them at. Preferably an enemy that is far away. If they win, shower them with accolades. If they lose, well the lord doesn’t have to worry about his knight's lack of restraint now does he?


Knights Of Loyalty
A Knight of Loyalty will go through the motions of following a code of honor, but really he is loyal to his lord, not to some abstract code of chivalry. A Knight of Loyalty’s identity is enmeshed in his lords. When the lord does well, he does well and vice versa. A Knight of Loyalty loves his lord as he would a father, a brother, or a son. Sometimes there’s a leafer relationship going on behind the scenes or a one-sided infatuation.

All lords value their Knights of Loyalty. Who doesn’t want a powerful warrior that is personally loyal to them? Whether a lord is a just lord or a tyrant lord, a Knight of Loyalty will usually mirror his values even if the lord's values change over time. Obviously, Knights of Loyalty are often the most likely to be promoted to positions of authority. This can be a problem if the lord in question values loyalty over competence. The best Knights of Loyalty will (privately) correct their lord when their lord is acting foolishly, but the worst knights are spineless yes-men who enable their lord’s worst excesses.

It is very difficult for a lord to alienate his knights of loyalty, but it has happened before and a former Knight of Loyalty is a very dangerous opponent. No one can hate you like someone who once loved you and a spurned Knight of Loyalty probably knows a lord’s darkest secrets and hidden weaknesses. There is also the issue that if a Lord has alienated his lord, than that lord has probably alienated all his other knights long before his most loyal bastions turn on him, so most lords are killed or deposed before his Knights of Loyalty turn on him.

Sometimes there are issues if a lord passes away and the old knight does not have the same loyalty to the new heir, especially if the lord in question did not have the best relationship with his heir. Sometimes the new heir might blame the old knight “If you are such a great knight, why did you let my father die?” Wise lords will try to foster good relations between their knights and heirs while they are still alive.

Knights Of Ambition
Knights of Ambition desire power and prestige and they view serving as a knight as their best or only way of advancing in station. Knights of ambition are difficult to spot as they are social chameleons. They will loudly crow about the tenets of honor when under public scrutiny, they will seek acts of great valor on the battlefield to gain acclaim (but only when someone is watching), and they will really lick their lord’s boots to appear loyal and trusting.

Knights of Ambition want land and titles, they want gold, they want positions of authority, and they want favorable arranged marriages for their sons and daughters.

Knights of Ambition are often among the least skilled at arms or if they are skilled, they are probably less courageous than most. On the plus side, they can make excellent seneschals and advisors, and diplomats. Whether a lord is a just lord or a tyrant lord, Knights of Ambition bear watching. A lord would be wise to channel these knights’ ambition towards valuable ends, but lords should be wary giving these knights too much autonomy lest they make backroom deals or embezzlements at their lord’s expense.

A wise lord gives these knights positions of authority and responsibility that also face a lot of public scrutiny. That way the lord can benefit from their ambition and political skill and be reasonably protected against betrayals.


Knights Of Patriotism
Knights of Patriotism love their homeland and their people. They are loyal to their individual lord and the code of honor as much as it serves the land, but we—I mean they hold no illusions that lords and codes of honor are infallible. They will pursue their ambition to advance themselves but not at the cost of the safety of the realm. Glory and titles only have value when they serve the greater good.

Knights of Patriotism are pragmatic. Honor has its place and a wise knight maintains his public honor but doesn’t boast too loudly about. Knights of Patriotism never besmirch their honor for petty ends but they realize that sometimes harsh actions are necessary, quietly and subtly. Do you want to talk about how well you did, all things considered? If only our opponents fought fairly, we would have won! Hah. Wise knights are honorable enough that don’t fall into cruelty and cowardice, but they realize that there is no honor in losing though retreating in order to fight another day is acceptable. Knights of Patriotism do whatever it takes to win, but they don’t go beyond this.

A just lord can let his love of honor prevent him from taking harsh but necessary actions for the greater good of his people. A selfish lord is even worse, and will bleed his land and people die for his own pleasure and paranoia. A dark lord will mask his selfishness under a thin veneer of “harsh but necessary” but he is lying. A wise lord avoids both failings and listens well to the counsel of his Knights of Patriotism.

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[h3]Knights Maid to Fit[/h3]

A male knight goes by "Sir" and a female knights goes by "Dame" though I hear a few lady knights prefer to go by "Sir".

Some lands forbid women from serving knights, some lands encourage it (especially Elven lands or those with Elven influence. @[Fumaya](settlement:64bae44a-a3fd-428e-a51f-5d885662783b), like many other lands in Scarterra, neither encourages or forbids it. Really, if a man or woman is capable of serving as a knight, there is lord somewhere who can put a knight to good use.


In Fumaya, we do not want our women to be helpless damsels if caught alone, so many are taught are taught at least the basics of handling blades and crossbows. A few women find they have real talent for martial affairs and they may or may not desire to become knights.

Unfortunately for the lady knights, even if they are accepted as knights, they are probably honorary knights, so they rarely receive a piece of land to go with their knighthood and rely entirely on their lord giving them a stipend.


Many highborn male knights are often spare sons. Many lady knights are often spare daughters. Usually first and second born daughters get the best marriage proposals and the best access to courtly positions such as @[steward, feudal](rank:09b1f1fb-8ff2-4ca0-b43b-a31340c284db) or chancellor. First born daughters tend to have bigger dowries than second and third born daughters too. No matter what a mortal has between their legs, birth order often matters a lot.

Whether it's fair or not, a third or later born can jump in line if she is exceptionally beautiful, but not all girls are born so blessed, especially if her older sisters also happen to be better looking.
Some highborn maidens with few offers of prestigious marriages and who are shut out of respectable administrative courtly position opt to make their fortunes with a set of knight's spurs rather than take a second tier position or marriage.


A lot of the best female warriors are the daughters of knights. In a lot of cases, all a knight knows is how to fight, so this is what he teaches his sons and his daughters. A lot of female knight's are daddy's girls who are following in their father's footsteps.


As hard as it is for a common man to be knighted, it is even more difficult for a common woman to be knighted. If you meet one, treat her with great respect. She had to overcome a lot of barriers to earn her title, so she probably fights like a warrior of legend.


Whatever their origins, a disproportionately high number of Dames end up serving holy orders rather than secular lords. Most holy knightly order require an oath of celibacy and a few Dames seek knighthood as a way of escaping an unwanted arranged marriage. Taking a holy vow is a way to stay a spinster this while still being considered respectable. A few men also choose this route to avoid unwanted marriages, but I digress.


Some lords prefer to have lady knights to guard their daughters and sisters. Rumors of leafer knights notwithstanding, more than a few knights are paranoid about illicit affairs between male knights and maiden ladies. These starstruck romances are pretty popular in troubadour tales, so they do occur in real life...or so I heard.


Other lords like to use their lady knights as ambassadors to foreign dignitaries or as mouthpieces to the common folk viewing their lady knights hoping their female knights will provide a softer face for missions of peace. This sometimes backfires. A lot of lady knights have to deal with being considered softer and weak by their male counterparts, so they compensate with extra bravado, so these Dames often put their foot in their mouth during courtly events.
A lot of ladies who rule a land outright instead of ruling in her husband's name choose a Dame as her personal champion and advisor preferring trust the greater sisterhood rather than trust a man's sense of honor.

In my opinion, a wise lord (or lady) should treat his Sirs and Ladies the same and look at their individual traits when assigning his knights duties.

A lady knight is just as likely to be a Knight of Honor, Knight of Valor, Knight of Loyalty, Knight of Ambition, or a Knight of Patriotism as a man is.

 

Here is a famous statue of kappas in Japan.


I'm not sure I caught all the typos and formatting errors yet, but I have to go to work soon, so here is my article on Scarterran kappas.

I couldn't make up my mind whether to make them G-rated or R-rated monsters so in true Scalenex fashion, I opted to try for both and create an elaborate backstory explaining the dichotomy.

 

So I was going to hang out with my good buddy and run a solo session for Kormatin but my buddy got strep throat and he only four hours free rather than five-and-a-half hours like we were planning.

For both of these reasons we decided to try a virtual session. We set up a video chat via Discord and it went very smoothly considering neither of us tried anything like this before. The technical hiccups were small and easily fixed.

Also, we realized this is easier to schedule. Usually we meet for five and half hours with a 45 minute lunch break, but we realized that rather than meeting for 5.5 hours once a month, we can meet for 2.5 hours once a week. and we don't have to coordinate food. Also my friend is 55 miles away both ways, so we save on gasoline too.

Here are the session notes, if anyone is curious. Short version, some Swynfardians tried a half-baked plan to assassinate Kormatin's friend Baron Fyodor, but they triggered Fyodor's magical booby trap which sent them running to regroup. Kormatin tracked them down, briefly getting sidetrack because unrelated brigands tried to jump him.

I am very happy with how my first virtual tabletop RPG session went. It won't be too much of a stretch to run sessions with more players. Then once I am more comfortable running the system with my oldest friends, I can start a second Scarterra campaign with my new friends. Perhaps you reading this article.