[IKRPG] Land of the Orgoth: The Soulless
Nov. 2nd, 2017 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jordangreywolfMore stuff I left out, critical to Thale:
One subplot involved the Retribution of Scyrah, and the point at which they decided that Thale was a threat. At one point in their adventures, the PCs were being hunted down by a Greylord of Khador -- the "Greylords" being sort of like the "magical KGB" focused on tracking down morally-questionable magicks and using them secretly for the glory of Queen Ayn Vanar of Khador (or destroying them if they're of no use), and eliminating magical threats to the throne. Embedded with the Greylord was a "Soulless" taken from the Iosans. Although the Khadorans thought they had control of her, she was secretly a "sleeper agent," and when she learned of Thale and his quest to find the goddess Ayisla (and hints that this was more than mere wishful thinking -- that he actually had some sort of LEAD), she assassinated her handler, and then shifted over to the /Rusalka/ to stalk Thale, listen in, and watch for opportunities to steal his notes.
Normally, a "soulless" is like the legendary Changeling -- an infant simulacrum swapped for the real (abducted) child, who just lies there, without motivation, eventually wasting away.
Enter the Retribution of Scyrah:
Retribution of Scyrah
In desperation, various of the elves turned to once-forbidden magicks in order to try to find solutions to their situation. Many elves believed that the gods were dead and/or dying, and that no afterlife would therefore await them. Their goddess, Scyrah, was present with them in the flesh, but she slumbered upon a stone slab in a tomb-like temple, utterly unresponsive, guarded by an elite cadre of knights, and it was unknown if or when she would ever wake up to explain things to her people.
Some priests of Nyrro, the God of Day, partook in horrible rituals, sacrificing hundreds of their kin in secret, to grant themselves the gift of "immortality" that they had somehow lost when the gods weakened. However, this "immortality" wasn't all it was cracked up to be: They became the first "Eldritch" -- or, essentially, elven vampires. Lord Gyrrshyld became the most infamous of Eldritch abominations -- known as "Goreshade" during his time that he allied himself with the undead Cryx empire. Despite this and his apparent treachery of the Iosan people, he was still largely responsible for the birth of the "Retribution" -- a faction of Iosans who refused to just sit idly by and wait for Scyrah to awaken, or to delve into tomes for secrets that might not be there. He decided that ACTION must be taken -- particularly against "those responsible." The logic was a bit shaky, to say the least, but the Retribution devoted itself to stamping out "impure" arcane magic (i.e., that practiced by humans) that they convinced themselves was stealing away Scyrah's life force.
The Retribution of Scyrah was officially branded illegal by the leadership of the Iosans, but in secret several lords of houses provided funds and other means of support.
The Soulless
Among one of these secret means of support was the supply of Soulless to the Retribution. Officially, the proper way to deal with the Soulless was to euthanize them as quickly and quietly as possible. However, the Retribution developed methods (part magical, part alchemical, part mental) to impart upon the Soulless a sort of "artificial intellect," training them to express some basic motivation.
Those Soulless who have undertaken this process are still seen as expendable -- almost like fleshy robots -- and are abhorred as abominations by many of the soldiers who have joined the Retribution but are nonetheless none too keen on some aspects of its delving into "forbidden" arts. They have a peculiar relationship with magic -- they aren't immune to magic, per se, but something about their unnatural state of life tends to disrupt magic. This is exploited by having a Soulless Escort join a troop of Retribution soldiers, as his mere presence will weaken the use of offensive spells against the unit, and he can dispel any enemy "debuffs" that might be placed upon them.
Other Soulless are trained to act as assassins, or to undertake suicide missions, usually against human spellcaster targets (all the more ideal, given their natural resistance to magic).
Ostensibly, the Soulless are incomplete husks who were destined to be the bodies for reincarnated Iosan spirits -- spirits who were not yet ready to pass on to Urcaen and hence were sent back to Caen for another round. If a Soulless is given motivation through artificial means, then presumably if there were some way to restore a soul to it, that would just be overwritten, as the intended personality would take over. But such a thing has never happened, so there's no way to know for sure.
Anya Morikova
A small elfin girl with snowy-white ringlets of hair spilling out from underneath a ushanka cap, bundled up in an over-sized coat, and thick boots -- charming like a little doll, until you see those lifeless onyx eyes. That's the first visual impression of Anya.
The Greylord woman who took her in as a protege wasn't particularly kind to her, but not exactly unkind, either, and seemed amused to let the elfin child read storybooks, and she answered all sorts of naive questions about the world and the way of things. Nonetheless, when Anya's orders were clear, she assassinated the woman without hesitation -- but did so in as efficient and painless a way as possible; she harbored no cruelty.
Anya had been instilled with the imperative to follow orders from the Retribution, but she had also been taught of the Retribution's ultimate goals (or ostensible goals): that of the restoration of the Iosan gods, and thus the salvation of the Iosan people. It was this little addition to her priorities, rather than a simple blind expectation to obey anyone identified as her superior, that complicated things. Thale was not a member of the Retribution, nor was he particularly loyal to any Iosan authority, but he had acquired knowledge about a Seeker who had delved into the reasons behind the Orgoth invasion of Western Immoren, and discovered clues that might hint that Ayisla -- Goddess of Night and of the Judgement of the Dead -- might still exist, but as a captive of the infernal masters of the Orgoth.
When Anya made herself known to Thale, she rather matter-of-factly told her about her orders. More or less, her superiors (she did not reveal how she'd kept in contact with them) had communicated interest in Thale's findings, but saw him as insufficiently dedicated to the cause, and therefore a potential threat. So, she was instructed to retrieve Thale's notes and the tablets he'd recovered, and then to kill him. But she also confessed that her analysis of his statements suggested that his course of action might be fruitful, and within the interests of the stated purpose of the Retribution of Scyrah, so he might have to kill her in order to succeed in that goal.
By doing this, more or less, she was sabotaging herself, but she had not been told specifically NOT to tell him these things, nor was there any instruction of "When you're going to kill someone, never tell him that you're going to do so." So of course he naturally took extra care NOT to lead her to the location of his notes. He did not, however, take an opportunity to kill her while she was vulnerable.
Despite the nervous prospect of having a trained assassin with some sort of arcane ability to be especially hard to see when she was so inclined, Thale tried to show some small kindness to Anya. At one point, when the ship had been attacked by an Iosan submarine (a magi-tech innovation none of them had encountered before), and they'd acquired a small "skiff" from the vessel to tow behind the ship, Thale discovered evidence that Anya had been hiding out in the skiff -- and that she had a small anatomical doll (marked with notes on the best place to stab someone for a quick kill, etc.) that she'd been sewing together makeshift clothes for, from scavenged scraps of cloth from the ship. Thale ended up leaving food and scraps of cloth and other items in the skiff on occasion.
A particularly decisive point was when the Rusalka finally reached the Phantom Island in the middle of the ocean -- the elusive midpoint that would provide the essential stopping point to make a cross-oceanic journey feasible. The place was home to outposts of both the Convergence of Cyriss and the Circle Orboros (more about them later), and the Circle in particular was hostile to interlopers. In the ensuing battle, Anya, who had been following Thale, ran afoul of some warpwolves, and made short work of one of them on her own, but fell in battle when the others pounced her. (Being an assassin doesn't mean you're a combat-tank. It presumably means you're really good at killing your target when you have the element of surprise. It's hard to keep the element of surprise, however, against MULTIPLE warpwolves.)
There was also a strange aura bathing the island that caused mortals to behave irrationally, to be prone to bouts of rage. Thale, who had been subjected to an experimental procedure that was intended to allow him to control steamjacks in the same way as a warcaster -- but which really was more akin to how warlocks control warbeasts, as it turned out -- was particularly sensitive to this. He could sense that the island itself was alive, and full of fury. ("Fury" is the stat that warlocks harness and channel into magical effects when they have a bond with a warbeast. Apparently when an animal becomes a warbeast, it spends a lot of time being very, very angry.)
In the course of things, the group went to the main encampment of the Circle Orboros on the island to confront them and to petition, more or less, for them to LEAVE THEM ALONE. The elder of the Circle at this point saw some potential in Thale (a side-effect of his various adventures and misadventures) in that he might be able to form a "bond" with the island itself, which was actually a giant wold (hence why the Phantom Island kept MOVING, and maps were useless to find it). The elder would be happy to show Thale how to exploit this, if only he would show his seriousness ... by executing this artificial abomination that they had caught (Anya).
Thale could have taken the easy route. After all, Anya was in a sense a sort of ticking time bomb, and it was impossible to really discern her motivation or her twisted rules of conduct, and when she might simply run out of time or options and assassinate Thale due to some clear order given without any wiggle room. But Thale instead pulled out the stops and launched a risky rescue.
Aftermath
It's unclear what's going to happen with Anya next. She was slow to recover from the travails of the island. I suppose I'll have to make up a player-friendly sheet for her (I've just been using stats from the Scyrah army book for a "Soulless" -- but the wargame leaves a lot of gaps when it comes to RPG skills and such) for Thale/Goober_Chris to keep track of.
Ultimately, her fate is probably tied with whatever falls out with Ayisla. Presumably, there is some soul that was supposed to end up in her body. It has likely been divided into tenths and turned into a number of hideous monsters. I suppose if nothing else, if Thale wanted to restore Anya's soul, some infernals could bargain with him for it, and then send him on a quest to track down and slay the 10 conscriptus to free up those soul-pieces to weave together back into the one Anya was supposed to have.
However, would placing that soul in Anya's body really be the RIGHT thing to do? Anya has a strange personality and her emotions are unnatural, but she has arguably made decisions and has shown some degree of motivation. To some degree it could be said that she's her own person. Might she already HAVE a soul now -- albeit one that some Cryxian harvester wouldn't be able to recognize and throw into a soul-furnace to power some unholy abomination? (I mean, what measure of a soul is THAT, anyway?)
Anyway, I think it'd be only appropriate if some question like that were to come up. Thale might choose to go one way or the other, but ultimately it'd be his choice.
Tying Things In
Odd thought: Perhaps Thale's sparing of Anya's life could play a crucial part in making his quest possible without requiring him to become indebted to infernals.
I imagine the journey the PCs will take across the Lands of the Orgoth will be divided into certain zones.
1) The Remnants: These coastal areas have ruins dating from the times when the remaining Orgoth who hadn't "ascended to godhood" moved to outpace the spread of the wastelands, and began building the massive Blackships that would ferry them eastward across the ocean to new lands to conquer and despoil. The Orgoth themselves ventured eastward, none desiring to stay behind and be caught up by the eventual spread of the Wasting. (It hasn't spread as quickly as they feared, but its chaotic nature left open that possibility.)
As such, the ruins to be found would be relatively temporary fortresses, sacrificial altars (because Orgoths still need all that ritual bloodletting to keep their warwitch powers working), workshops (for making the boats and such), and domains for their various expendable underlings. I was envisioning that the "dungeon" the PCs explore in connection with the Farrow could be a sort of laboratory/ritual complex where horrible acts were committed to create the Farrow race to serve as labor/food for the Orgoth during their ocean voyage.
2) The Blight: These domains have been overtaken by an effect much like dragonblight, as the vegetation is diseased and wildlife is mutated. Remaining here and living off the land is not a good idea. Monsters abound here. This is the forward edge of the spreading Waste caused by the damage that the Orgoth did to the world's ley lines, ruining the environment not merely physically, but on a supernatural level.
3) The Waste: These are the sacrificed lands. It's basically a grey, colorless desert, but cold rather than hot. There are no clouds, yet neither sun nor star shines through to this place as the sky is lost in a grey haze that seems to blur in with the sands, leaving no visible horizon. Now and again can be found ruined monuments of conquest, proclaiming Orgoth dominion over these lands -- formal declarations used as the seal upon deals with the Orgosion Order in order to sacrifice the souls not only of the living creatures, but of the land itself. Magic of all sorts is weakened here, and purely magical creatures more so than others. Ryssa (the rusalka) would be unable to make this journey without falling into torpor. There are no undead/ghosts to be found here.
The only encounters to be found are those things that wander in from the neighboring zones, and they won't last for long.
4) The Madness: This is what has become of the Orgoth "paradise." It's a land that defies laws of physics, with floating castles and rocks above an endless void. There is a rift in reality here -- this domain does not reach into Urcaen (which is the very specific spirit realm of Caen), but rather into a sort of "artificial" spirit realm created by a series of what amount to wishes granted by the Orgosion Order in exchange for sacrifice after sacrifice.
Normally, magic follows very specific RULES in the world of Caen (and the Iron Kingdoms). If you run into something bizarre and supernatural that seems to violate those laws (e.g., a house bigger on the inside than the outside, which no arcane spell would allow you to do), it usually boils down to a few possible instigators:
1) Divine intervention. The gods may grant MIRACLES. But of course if such a thing is going to happen, the god in question is going to have his or her or its "branding" all over the place, making it clear which deity is to thank/blame.
2) Grymkins. Grymkins are from Urcaen, entering into the world through "holes" created when a recently-departed soul passes from Caen into Urcaen to reach the afterlife. Grymkins, being spirit beings, don't necessarily follow the normal "rules," and can be responsible for various phenomena, including the creation of portals that lead into a nightmarish domain that's neither in Caen nor Urcaen.
3) Infernals. Infernals are extraplanar beings who are interlopers in this reality and not particularly beholden to its rules. The rules they follow are by-and-large only there because of agreement between infernals with EACH OTHER -- i.e., designed so that an infernal doesn't just greedily sweep into the world, slaughter everyone, then gobble up all the souls, leaving nothing further to be harvested. Their complex laws are a product of pragmatism, so they can stretch out Caen as a potential source of souls for as long as possible. As such, Infernals are not keen on obliterating the world, per se -- at least, not YET. Also, they tend to divide into camps or Orders, each of whom has dominion over some part of Caen, and limited rules for engagement to interfere in the others. The Orgoth Invasion was the product of an exploitation of a loophole in those rules, after the Orgosion Order had gone a little bit too far and allowed for the despoiling of too much of their domain too quickly, and got greedy for others' areas. They only retreated when they got the better part of a deal worked out with the Nonokrion Order and Thamar. (And in my interpretation, that would be their acquisition of Ayisla, and getting a corner on the market for Iosan souls intercepted on their way to the afterlife.)
Now, back to Madness: This is a trippy reality, full of mad Orgoth "gods" -- despots who hold court in a self-fashioned "afterlife." The vast majority of them turned on each other, as soon as they started to realize that if they could all wish for whatever they desired, the only threat posed to each of them was EACH OTHER, as one could snuff out another with but a thought, and it was a matter of who struck first. And the thing is, the Orgosion Order doesn't mind this outcome at all, and was complicit in planting such thoughts in the heads of the Orgoth leaders, because it frees them of any further obligation to maintain this "paradise," save as a place to imprison Ayisla and continue to harvest "free" Iosan souls, until the Iosan race dies out. After the carnage that followed such thinking, the only ones who remained have established a fragile sort of detente.
But how does one navigate such a realm of madness? That's where Anya might come in. She, being Soulless, might have some sort of connection to Ayisla -- a sort of spiritual umbilical cord (I'm hurting for metaphors here) that would normally only remain until the soul had been properly transplanted. Back in Caen, this would be inconsequential. Here, in this odd circumstance, it might translate into a sense of direction.
Either THAT, or Anya might have some sort of connection to the hideous monsters that her intended soul had been partitioned into. In the Madness, she might sense a connection to those distant points, and thus could give some sort of direction to Thale on how to proceed, to hunt them down and gather them together. (But then, how does this get him any closer to Ayisla? It would be amazing COINCIDENCE that one of those soul portions would just happen to be where Ayisla is being held.)
Well, either that, or her soul could have been fashioned into an Umbral. Umbrals are technically "infernals," but they're created servants who are very low in the hierarchy, and ultimately expendable. They aren't suicidal per se, but they haven't a fully-formed sense of self-preservation, and hence will quite readily sacrifice themselves if it furthers the goals of a higher-up infernal, or in order to fulfill a contract. Some are dispatched to serve mortals in exchange for deals for souls, as supernatural bodyguards or advisors or performing some other role. Traditionally, they tend to look vaguely like chalk-white-skinned humanoid females with elongated proportions and elfin features, dressed in black ... but the fluff indicates that this is by no means their "natural" form, and is pretty much just a "traditional" appearance they maintain because it's calculated to be appealing to the largest number of mortals of influence in this particular era. The artwork at times gives an impression of a fluid black vaguely humanoid form wearing a chalky white MASK for a face.
Although an Umbral is made from a single mortal soul, it DOES NOT possess the feelings, motivations, memories, personality, etc. of the original soul. Whatever individuality might have been in there has been squashed and stamped out, and if there's some fragment of consciousness in there, it's just a silently whimpering presence that's vaguely aware of what's going on, and utterly powerless to do a thing about it -- and might just as well have been reborn as a ROCK. Not that mortals know this. If advantage could be taken by insinuating that a spent soul had been transformed into an umbral and that "somewhere inside" is the original individual, the infernals wouldn't mind said mortal being misinformed about the particulars, if it could serve as some sort of bargaining chip. (E.g., the individual bargaining to get the soul of his long-lost love back, the umbral pretending to BE that long-lost love, and TECHNICALLY the bargain has been fulfilled, but the umbral has her own agenda, and that is to steer the individual into being some sort of agent to further the infernals' desire to get more souls.)
Another thought: Anya has a bond to her soul (or fragments thereof) and hence can sense the MOTIVATION of the creature that has been created from that soul. So, her soul might have been fashioned into an Umbral Curator, who might, upon being found by Thale, seek to bargain with him ... but Anya can let him know if the Umbral is lying (or being "not entirely truthful" or whatever variation thereof). Anya would be unwise to let Thale know in a way that would tip off the Umbral: If the Umbral can discover the connection, it could simply recuse itself and let another Umbral take its place -- one Anya wouldn't have any particular insights into. But if Thale just seems somehow to be remarkably insightful, it could be seen as Thale just being remarkably insightful, and the natural response wouldn't necessarily be to tag-team in another infernal representative to deal with him.
...
Further Complications: Gyrrshyld the Redeemed
Recent developments in the "fluff" of the Iron Kingdoms universe have been ... problematic. There are novels and there are supplements for the miniatures wargame that have story vignettes in them, but it's been almost 2 years since we've gotten any book updates for the RPG -- and longer than that for anything concerning the Iron Kingdoms proper.
In the stories, we know only of two of the original eight elven deities who are still alive in any sense, and they've been unable to return to the spirit realm of Urcaen. One would be Scyrah, the Maiden of Summer, who has long now been the defacto last remaining goddess of Ios, whereas once before the Iosans were divided into clans devoted to each of the 8 gods.
The other would be Nyssor, the nearly-forgotten God of Winter. He directed those elves devoted to him to head off to the northern and frigid lands. Eventually, the Nyss became a distinctly separate sub-race separate from the "elves" or Iosans. Less long-lived, less pretty, less superior, generally a lot more mortal and human in many ways, but with a particular affinity for the cold. The Iosans basically wrote them off as a "lost tribe," and didn't even consider the Nyss as "true elves" anymore.
As it turned out, Nyssor was still alive and present in the world, but he had encased himself in a magical block of ice that slowed the degenerative effects he suffered from prolonged existence in the material world. There is no record of the Nyss suffering from instances of the "Soulless." Nyssor, as a god of winter, was also seen as a god associated with death, and therefore priests of Nyssor have held the idea that Nyss involved himself in personally shepherding the spirits of the Nyss off to their intended afterlife. (Pure speculation on my part, but if the Nyss were no longer "Iosans," perhaps somehow this became a loophole to free the fate of their souls from being tied to Ayisla.)
This doesn't mean the Nyss flourished, however. They were more than decimated by predations by the dragon Ethrunbal (Everblight), who sought to transform them into his blighted vassals. The Nyss had to flee their homeland, transporting Nyssor's frozen form in a sealed ark, and for a time they sought shelter in Khador, working there as mercenaries for Queen Ayn Vanar in exchange for a safe place for their families and their holy ark.
Eventually, however, Goreshade arrived, intending to slay Nyssor, under the theory that once the Iosans were freed of all gods, they could be masters of their own souls, and become immortal (in a manner of speaking) like himself. Goreshade was thwarted, but not without wounding Nyssor and stealing his sword.
Fast-forward to the latest iteration of "fluff," and the Retribution of Scyrah has succeeded in overrunning the complex where the Nyss priests were keeping the ark, and they've brought the frozen form of Nyssor back to the Iosan homeland, to rest beside slumbering Scyrah.
Goreshade couldn't resist this opportunity to finish off both gods at once, so he gathered up a bunch of Eldritch and they teleported into the chamber, and slew the elven paladins protecting the slumbering gods.
And then Scyrah sort of woke up, turned one of the Eldritch to dust, then teleported the rest away -- except for Gyrrshyld/Goreshade. In him, she saw some sort of "potential to save her people," and therefore prepared to use the last of her life-force to work a miracle on him, transforming him back into a mortal. Nyssor intervened, feeding her enough of his own life-force that she wouldn't destroy herself in the process.
Whatever Scyrah's whole intent was (the story that describes this particular exchange is FRUSTRATINGLY VAGUE) the end result was that Gyrrshyld, initiator of the Retribution, then betrayer of the Iosan people by turning into an Eldritch and joining Cryx, suddenly emerged, "redeemed" by Scyrah. As far as anyone is concerned (since Scyrah and Nyssor lapsed again into unconsciousness) he has the blessing of the gods. Hey, he's even still carrying Nyssor's sword that he nicked off the Winter God.
And now "Gyrrshyld the Redeemed" is effectively the leader of the Retribution of Scyrah, no longer keen on killing the gods (they aren't going to last much longer anyway), but rather on wiping humans off the face of the planet. Oh yeah, and apparently now the Nyss have come home, because now Priests of Nyssor and Nyss Hunters and the like are all part of the Retribution of Scyrah army list. And, the Retribution is no longer some "loose cannon" sect, but effectively the army of all Ios. It's POLICY now.
This development is ... hmm ... rather problematic for any players who've been playing Seekers, who are devoted to finding some OTHER way to save the gods (other than, y'know, outright genocide of humans) have to deal with the implication that their own gods are fully backing Gyrrshyld. And never mind all those elves Gyrrshyld killed on his way in to meet Scyrah and Nyssor: all forgiven, apparently.
Anyway, this particular release of fluff happened midway through my campaign, and I played it as if the EVENT had happened partway through my campaign as well, considering how much it impacted. It was the primary impetus for Anya's change in orders from "observe and report" to "acquire notes, then eliminate" in regards to Thale. People like Thale would be seen as potential threats, for being too buddy-buddy with the humans and near-humans. (As far the Retribution is concerned, Satyxi like Ximena are humans with a bit of dragonblight. Best to wipe them out just to be sure.)
no subject
Date: 2017-11-02 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-03 01:00 pm (UTC)However, I find it useful to post things here to help me sort things out in my own head. It's been somewhere around 10 weeks -- wow -- since my last session, so already the details have gotten a bit fuzzy for me. That, and a lot of my thoughts about what we were going to DO in the lands of Orgoth got put on the back burner because I had more immediate objectives and things to "check off the list" in the journey to get there and places to visit on the way.
Even though you're not really "up to speed" on the particulars, your outside-the-box thoughts can still be inspirational. For instance, your thoughts re: having the Farrow inhabiting a "lived-in" dungeon remind me of what I was trying to attempt with my "All You Can Eat" Fallout scenario with my idea of an "open air dungeon." That is, I wanted to have all the action take place within a zone that I could represent on the table with an initial setup; my excuse for not describing all the locations at once was that the various places to explore were inside buildings represented on the tabletop. Going inside is what triggered my cue to describe the creepy interior and an encounter with whatever might be lurking there.
Similarly, with the Farrow, such an arrangement could be useful for helping me to keep the pace of the game going by doing all my physical setup of the table ahead of time. I think I will dig into my older Hirst Arts "jungle dungeon" terrain and set up a labyrinth that will represent the Orgoth-era ruins, and the Farrow simply inhabit a portion of it. If I want to have an element of discovery, I COULD cover up large sections of the layout with pieces of cloth or mat board, then lift them off as the PCs venture into an area. Sure, the presence of such obstructions would hint that there's something there to be discovered, but I don't think that minor "meta" element is going to spoil all the fun.