[Sixth Age] Excellent Session Report

Well, the report isn't going to be quite so excellent, rather, short and sweet, while the session itself was indeed most excellent. At least, it was from the viewpoint of the Orc-Ripper Goblin tribe and the Castle Keeper, not so much from the view of the characters...

I've lost track of sessions at this point; this was the fourth, fifth, maybe sixth? I haven't really kept up on that much, as the sparsity of posts indicates... but at some point in the past, during their adventures in the Maul fo Mindor the Magnificent, the party contracted with the Dwarf-Stomper Goblins as bounty hunters, being offered gold for Orc-Ripper heads and, rather than delve more or less willy-nilly, they've taken up hunting goblins.

This last session found them delving deeper into the old Apprentice Annex of the Maul, which the Dwarf-Stomper King said was on the verge of Orc-Ripper territory; they did not know where, exactly, the Orc-Ripper lair was, as it was a secret even the worst torture could not draw out of captured foes.

After encountering a pack of giant rats in the Hall of the Fire Statue (so called because it shot a burning ray at anyone who approached within 5'), the party encountered and slew six bugbears (as it turned out, hired mercenaries of the Orc-Rippers, who by now knew they were being hunted). They took some good treasure in this encounter and continued on...

After checking on several empty rooms, they discovered a wizard-locked door. They stumbled upon the opening phrase right away, "Open in the name of Mindor the Magnificent," a feat even the goblins had not performed, and thus entered the trophy room that had remained inviolate since the fall of the fortress above. There they discovered numerous preserved trophies, such as an owlbear, a chimera, a wyvern, and others (taxidermied, not in statis, fortunately). They also discovered a secret corridor behind the wyvern, though unfortunately it ended in a cave-in... as they had discovered in the previous session, the annex is rather rickety, having nearly caused a complete collapse in the Hall of the Fire Statue due to over-use of the soundburst spell...

It was as the party was leaving the trophy room that they made the fortuitous discovery of a secret door on the opposite wall, as six goblins were walking out at the same time. Both parties were surprised and stared at each other for a moment, then four of the goblins burst through the door, shouting "go for reinforcements!" to their companions, as the otehr two slammed and locked the secret door from the other side. The four were quickly felled by the warriors in the front row, then the hotter-headed twin, Salantra, rushed forth to the secret door crying "we found it, we found it!" Even as the thief, Stabytha, was shouting, "No, wait!" Salantra started pressing protrusions from the wall, seeking the secret button to open the secret door...

Of course, she pressed one of the trapped buttons instead, causing an explosion of Black Lotus Powder to blow forth into the corridor. She fell, as did Keela the Half-Orc; Niena ducked back into the room in time. Salyena, her telepathic link to her sister severed, rushed into the black cloud crying out her name, and that of her patron, Solnor Thelandira, beseeching him for blessings... but she too fell.

Wufu the Monk, the half-orc brother of Nesta the half-orc Wizard, rushed into the cloud to try and recover one of the sisters... and grabbed, by accident, one of the dead goblins. The wizard then used a cantrip to blow a puff of wind at the cloud, and it cleared enough space to see Salyena's foot, which Thurn the Dwarf grabbed, dragging her back into the clear room.

"This is what happens when you forget the point of bringing along a thief," said Stabytha the Thief.

Shortly thereafter the cloud dissipated, and they recovered their fallen friends. Salyena and Salantra were both ashen-faced and very nearly dead, while Keela slept as though caught in nightmares... and none of them woke up, regardless of the methods used to try.

Then the goblins came...

(to be continued)

[Sixth Age] More Complete Session 01 Plus Down-Time 01

SIXTH AGE CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

Session #01: June 9, 2012                                                                               

At the beginning of the adventure the party consisted of:

Keela (CG Female Half-Orc 1^st level Fighter, MLC, Dublin) [Jessi]

Nesta (CN Male Half-Orc 1^st level Wizard, ULC, Roadpigs) [Rob]

Niena (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Fighter, MUC, Dublin) [Julie]

Salantra (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Cleric of Solonor Thelandira/Wizard, MUC, Berklee) [Nathan]

Salyena (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Cleric of Solonor Thelandira/Wizard, MUC, Berklee) [Robbie]

Ëalor “Stabytha” Duskwind (CN Female High Elf 1^st level Thief, UMC, Berklee) [Zel]

Thurn (LN Male Dwarf 1^st level Fighter, MMC, Mount Diablo) [Bailey]

Hirelings and Henchmen included:

Stefan the Bastard [Torch Bearer]

Party Connections:

Salantra and Salyena are twin sisters;

Salantra and Salyena know Niena through upper-class social circles, often hanging out together at the Shield and Grail, a high-class club in Berklee;

Salantra and Salyena met Stabytha through the local bureaucracy, her father being a mid-level official connected to the Wizards Guild;

Salantra and Salyena met Keela through Keela’s half-sister, a student at the Imperial College of Wizardry;

Salantra and Salyena met Nesta when he tried to apply to the Imperial College of Wizardry;

Keela and Nesta knew each other as they both hung out at the same lower-class dive bar and flop-house, the Jolly Outlaw;

Thurn overheard the group talking about their impending delve into the dungeon and introduced himself, “Pardon me, ladies, but you aren’t thinking of going into a dungeon without a dwarf, are you?”

The party initially met at the Tipsy Apprentice, a middle-class tavern in Berklee, to discuss the possible targets for their first endeavor. They decided to tackle the Maul of Mindor the Magnificent, a recently re-discovered ruin in the Debatable Lands of Fremon, south of the Shadow Wall that guards the Ten Towns from the things out of the Hell Pit of Sanjo. A maul is a vast underground labyrinthine structure, buried by the detritus of centuries, and occupied by many different species and races; essentially, it is an underground city, town, or village occupied by a wide variety of creatures inimical to the “goodly races.” Wizards and clerics especially are known to use these as recruiting grounds, thus many towers and temples, and the ruins thereof, stand atop these mauls.

Thursday, June 9^th, 900 AC

The adventurers set out from Berklee. They took the daily coach from Berklee to Haywar, and stayed that night at the Crowing Cock Inn, a less savory locale on the south side frequented by adventurers of various stripes. There they spent an otherwise unremarkable evening in revel with others of their type in the common room.

Friday, June 10^th

The party set out to the south, again on the Old Coastal Road, this time afoot, as there was no coach service between Haywar and Castle Nihmits. Around noon they passed through the gates of that pile of stone, the lynchpin in the Shadow Wall. They took the opportunity offered by the guard to scale the tall tower and view the Debatable Lands from a high vantage point. From the top of the tall tower they could see well into Fremon, and could espy the Ardenwood Keep and the great mound of the Maul amidst the swampy forest and bracken. Further to the south, though, the land was covered by the Shadow of the Hell Pit, that coruscating inky bank of cloud and mist that obscured the land for miles around the Hell Pit, protecting many of its denizens from the pure light of the sun.

At this point the guards pointed out that, once they’d had their view of the Shadow, many others had turned back north, deciding that a long if boring life as a clerk or farmer would be better than facing the things under that Shadow. Though they all thought for long moments, none of the party members faltered in their decision to seek out gold and glory under the veil of the Shadow. As they walked down the stairs of the tall tower, they heard behind them guards grunting and chuckling, as some handed to others bits of copper and silver to satisfy bets… many especially over the fateful decision made by the twins Salantra and Salyena, whom the guards fancied were better off in a convent or mayhap some seedy saloon as serving wenches…

And so they continued south. Past Castle Nihmits, the Old Coastal Road turned more into a trail or path, though here and there they could see where there had been recent work to fix a hole or shore up the pavement stones. Still, though it were but short miles from the castle to the keep, the sun was well toward evening when they arrived at the keep… already, it seemed, the Shadow played tricks on them. They decided that discretion were the better part of valor, and secured lodgings at the only inn in the keep, the Balrog’s Head Roadhouse.

There they filled their bellies with a fine fish stew, a bit of roast joint, an orange pilaf, Haywar cheeses and sausages, and topped off their meal with the local Amber Mead, brewed from the honey made from the local eucalyptus trees.

Keela met a pair of adventurers returning from an excursion to the Maul; they had an unpleasant encounter with other adventurers, mercenaries really, who had hired on with one of the resident goblin tribes, the Dwarf Stompers, who were at war with another goblin tribe, the Orc Rippers.

Stabytha met another group of adventurers who were giving up on the Maul; they had lost a companion to a terrible many-tentacled monster that had dropped down from the ceiling and ripped off their companion’s face. They fled, and eventually had to put their friend out of his misery. They had decided that adventuring was just not worthwhile, as all they had to show from their adventure was a dead friend and many small wounds.

Thurn sat with some local folk discussing the old legends concerning Mindor’s magical weapons. For it was said that Mindor recruited a clan of dwarven rune smiths to join him at his Maul. There they built a great business in the production of magical blades, of lesser and greater sort, some of which were still held as heirlooms by noble and gentry families.

That night after even the locals had stumbled off home to sleep, the three shared what they had learned with the party; what the others had learned, if ought, was known but to them.

Saturday, June 11^th

After a good nights sleep, the party paid for a personal room three days in advance and there stored their travel bags and such items as were superfluous to the immediate expedition. They then set off to the south to tackle the Maul of Mindor the Magnificent…

8am to 10am

Walk from Ardenwood to the Maul

10am to 12noon

Check Ruins Above

12noon

Enter Dungeon via Southeastern Entrance

12noon to 1pm

Dragon Lair

Fledgling Fang Dragon (Dissected)

10 Lizard Men

1pm to 2pm

Dragon Toilet

Store Room

Smashed Lab

2pm to 3pm

Crossbow Trap Room

Trap Room

            Thurn in Gas Trap

Lizard Men Lair

            Salyena Rot Grub

            Treasure

Secret Door

3pm to 4pm

Pit Room

            Slimy Green Stuff or Green Slime?

Grand Hall

Nest Room

Grand Hall

            Norkers

4pm to 5pm

Gas Trap Room II

Strange Cache Room

            Piercer (bagged by Nesta)

Giant Spider Room

            2 Giant Spiders Slain, 2 Giant Spiders Burnt

Grand Hall Pit

14 Giant Rats

Dragon Nursery!!!

            Doors slammed and shut

5pm to 7pm

Walk from Maul to Ardenwood

End Session 01, Begin Down-Time 01                                            

Sunday, June 12^th

Return to Haywar, Rest at Crowing Cock Inn

Monday, June 13^th

Keela: Rest & Heal

Nesta: Rest & Heal

Niena: Rest & Sell Treasure

Salantra: Rest & Sell Treasure

Salyena: Rest & Sell Treasure

Stabytha: Rest & Heal

Thurn: Rest & Sell Treasure

Tuesday, June 14^th

Keela: Rest & Heal

Nesta: Spell Training

Niena: Return to Berklee via Coach

Salantra: Spell Training

Salyena: Spell Training

Stabytha: Rest & Heal

Thurn: Research, Meet Hwil Haywar

Wednesday, June 15^th

Keela: Rest & Heal

Nesta: Spell Training

Niena (Berklee): Shop

Salantra: Spell Training

Salyena: Spell Training

Stabytha: Rest & Heal

Thurn: Research, Make Enemy of Hwil Haywar

Thursday, June 16^th

Keela: Rest & Heal

Nesta: Spell Training

Niena (Berklee): ____________

Salantra: Spell Training

Salyena: Spell Training

Stabytha: Carouse

Thurn: Find out how much trouble you are in

Friday, June 17^th

Keela: Rest & Heal

Nesta: Spell Training

Niena (Berklee): ____________

Salantra: Spell Training

Salyena: Spell Training

Stabytha: Carouse

Thurn: Flee to Berklee via Coach

Saturday, June 18^th

Keela: Return to Berklee via Coach

Nesta: Spell Training

Niena (Berklee): ____________

Salantra: Spell Training

Salyena: Spell Training

Stabytha: Carouse (Invest 233 gp in bad deal)

Thurn (Berklee): Shop, get fitted for Plate Mail

Sunday, June 19^th

Keela (Berklee): Rest

Nesta: Rest

Niena (Berklee): Rest

Salantra: Rest

Salyena: Rest

Stabytha: Rest

Thurn (Berklee): Rest

Monday, June 20^th

Keela (Berklee): Shop

Nesta: Return to Berklee via Coach

Niena (Berklee): ____________

Salantra: Return to Berklee via Coach

Salyena: Return to Berklee via Coach

Stabytha: Return to Berklee via Coach

Thurn (Berklee): ____________

Tuesday, June 21^st

Keela (Berklee): ____________

Nesta: Rest

Niena (Berklee): ____________

Salantra: Rest

Salyena: Rest

Stabytha: Rest

Thurn (Berklee): Pick up your plate mail

Wednesday, June 22^nd

All are in Berklee

Keela: ____________

Nesta: Cast Summon Familiar

Niena: ____________

Salantra: Research

Salyena: Research

Stabytha: Visit Father

Thurn: ____________

Thursday, June 23^rd

All are in Berklee

Keela: ____________

Nesta: Research

Niena: ____________

Salantra: Research

Salyena: Research

Stabytha: Visit Father

Thurn: ____________

Friday, June 24^th

All are in Berklee

Keela: Meet @ Tipsy Apprentice, Speak with Thurn

Nesta: Research

Niena: Meet @ Tipsy Apprentice, Speak with Thurn

Salantra: Research

Salyena: Research

Stabytha: Meet @ Tipsy Apprentice, Speak with Thurn

Thurn: Meet @ Tipsy Apprentice, Speak with Thurn

Saturday, June 25^th

Keela: Go to Haywar via Coach

Nesta: Poof! You’re a woman! D’oh!

Niena: Go to Haywar via Coach

Salantra: Finish Research

Salyena: Finish Research

Stabytha: Ask Around Upper Class Contacts

Thurn: Go to Haywar via Coach

Sunday, June 26^th

Keela (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Nesta: Meet to discuss your problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Niena (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Salantra: Meet to discuss Nesta’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Salyena: Meet to discuss Nesta’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Stabytha: Ask Around Lower Class Contacts, bump into trio

Thurn (Haywar): Yup, still persona non-grata!

Monday, June 17^th

Keela (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Nesta: Meet to discuss Thurn’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Niena (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Salantra: Meet to discuss Thurn’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Salyena: Meet to discuss Thurn’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Stabytha: Meet to discuss Thurn’s problem @ Tipsy Apprentice

Thurn (Haywar): Hide in room

Tuesday, June 28^th 

Keela (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Nesta: Go to Haywar via Coach

Niena (Haywar): Check out Hwil Haywar

Salantra: Go to Haywar via Coach

Salyena: Go to Haywar via Coach

Stabytha: Go to Haywar via Coach

Thurn (Haywar): Hide in room

Wednesday, June 29^th

All are in Haywar

Keela: Check out Hwil Haywar

Nesta: Check out Hwil Haywar

Niena: Check out Hwil Haywar

Salantra: Check out Hwil Haywar

Salyena: Check out Hwil Haywar

Stabytha: Check out Hwil Haywar

Thurn: Hide in room

End Down-Time 01, Begin Session 02                                            

Thursday, June 30^th

The session begins with the whole party having breakfast at the Crowing Cock Inn in Haywar…

[Sixth Age] Session 01, June 9, 2012

Session 01, June 9, 2012

At the beginning of the adventure the party consisted of:

Keela (CG Female Half-Orc 1^st level Fighter, MLC, Dublin) [Jessi]

Nesta (CN Male Half-Orc 1^st level Wizard, ULC, Roadpigs) [Rob]

Niena (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Fighter, MUC, Dublin) [Julie]

Salantra (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Cleric of Solonor Thelandira/Wizard, MUC, Berklee) [Nathan]

Salyena (CG Female High Elf 1^st level Cleric of Solonor Thelandira/Wizard, MUC, Berklee) [Robbie]

Ëalor “Stabytha” Duskwind (CN Female High Elf 1^st level Thief, UMC, Berklee) [Zel]

Thurn (LN Male Dwarf 1^st level Fighter, MMC, Mount Diablo) [Bailey]

Hirelings and Henchmen included:

Stefan the Bastard [Torch Bearer]

Party Connections:

Salantra and Salyena are twin sisters;

Salantra and Salyena know Niena through upper-class social circles, often hanging out together at the Shield and Grail, a high-class club in Berklee;

Salantra and Salyena met Stabytha through the local bureaucracy, her father being a mid-level official connected to the Wizards Guild;

Salantra and Salyena met Keela through Keela’s half-sister, a student at the Imperial College of Wizardry;

Salantra and Salyena met Nesta when he tried to apply to the Imperial College of Wizardry;

Keel and Nesta knew each other as they both hung out at the same lower-class dive bar and flop-house, the Jolly Outlaw;

Thurn overheard the group talking about their impending delve into the dungeon and introduced himself, “Pardon me, ladies, but you aren’t thinking of going into a dungeon without a dwarf, are you?”

The party initially met at the Tipsy Apprentice, a middle-class tavern in Berklee, to discuss the possible targets for their first endeavor. They decided to tackle the Maul of Mindor the Magnificent, a recently re-discovered ruin in the Debatable Lands of Fremon, south of the Shadow Wall that guards the Ten Towns from the things out of the Hell Pit of Sanjo. A maul is a vast underground labyrinthine structure, buried by the detritus of centuries, and occupied by many different species and races; essentially, it is an underground city, town, or village occupied by a wide variety of creatures inimical to the “goodly races.” Wizards and clerics especially are known to use these as recruiting grounds, thus many towers and temples, and the ruins thereof, stand atop these mauls.

Thus on Thursday, the 9^th of June 900 AC the adventurers set out from Berklee. They took the daily coach from Berklee to Haywar, and stayed that night at the Crowing Cock Inn, a less savory locale on the south side frequented by adventurers of various stripes. There they spent un otherwise unremarkable evening in revel with others of their type in the common room.

The next morning, June 10^th, the party set out to the south, again on the Old Coastal Road, this time afoot, as there was no coach service between Haywar and Castle Nihmits. Around noon they passed through the gates of that pile of stone, the lynchpin in the Shadow Wall. They took the opportunity offered by the guard to scale the tall tower and view the Debatable Lands from a high vantage point. From the top of the tall tower they could see well into Fremon, and could espy the Ardenwood Keep and the great mound of the Maul amidst the swampy forest and bracken. Further to the south, though, the land was covered by the Shadow of the Hell Pit, that coruscating inky bank of cloud and mist that obscured the land for miles around the Hell Pit, protecting many of its denizens from the pure light of the sun.

At this point the guards pointed out that, once they’d had their view of the Shadow, many others had turned back north, deciding that a long if boring life as a clerk or farmer would be better than facing the things under that Shadow. Though they all thought for long moments, none of the party members faltered in their decision to seek out gold and glory under the veil of the Shadow. As they walked down the stairs of the tall tower, they heard behind them guards grunting and chuckling, as some handed to others bits of copper and silver to satisfy bets… many especially over the fateful decision made by the twins Salantra and Salyena, whom the guards fancied were better off in a convent or mayhap some seedy saloon as serving wenches…

And so they continued south. Past Castle Nihmits, the Old Coastal Road turned more into a trail or path, though here and there they could see where there had been recent work to fix a hole or shore up the pavement stones. Still, though it were but short miles from the castle to the keep, the sun was well toward evening when they arrived at the keep… already, it seemed, the Shadow played tricks on them. They decided that discretion were the better part of valor, and secured lodgings at the only inn in the keep, the Balrog’s Head Roadhouse.

There they filled their bellies with a fine fish stew, a bit of roast joint, an orange pilaf, Haywar cheeses and sausages, and topped off their meal with the local Amber Mead, brewed from the honey made from the local eucalyptus trees.

Keela met a pair of adventurers returning from an excursion to the Maul; they had an unpleasant encounter with other adventurers, mercenaries really, who had hired on with one of the resident goblin tribes, the Dwarf Stompers, who were at war with another goblin tribe, the Orc Rippers.

Stabytha met another group of adventurers who were giving up on the Maul; they had lost a companion to a terrible many-tentacled monster that had dropped down from the ceiling and ripped off their companion’s face. They fled, and eventually had to put their friend out of his misery. They had decided that adventuring was just not worthwhile, as all they had to show from their adventure was a dead friend and many small wounds.

Thurn sat with some local folk discussing the old legends concerning Mindor’s magical weapons. For it was said that Mindor recruited a clan of dwarven rune smiths to join him at his Maul. There they built a great business in the production of magical blades, of lesser and greater sort, some of which were still held as heirlooms by noble and gentry families.

That night after even the locals had stumbled off home to sleep, the three shared what they had learned with the party; what the others had learned, if ought, was known but to them. After a good nights sleep, the party paid for a personal room three days in advance and there stored their travel bags and such items as were superfluous to the immediate expedition. They then set off to the south to tackle the Maul of Mindor the Magnificent...

Also of note, the party hired on a likely local youth, Stefan the Bastard, as their lantern-bearer.

 

To be continued...

[Sixth Age] Anunnaki Temple

#8: ANUNNAKI TEMPLE. The Anunnaki Temple is the State Religion of the Kingdom of Stockton and the duchies of Merced, Fresno, and Vizaylia. It is also found in the Ten Towns, Bispo, and of course, among the enslaved and oppressed populace of the territories of the Sanwakeen occupied by the Outlaw Orcs. It is a primarily Lawful Neutral faith, focusing on societal order and continuation of tradition above all other things. The Temple has its origins in the Dark Age, when Modesto farmer Sahmyool Badahl, since known as the Holy Prophet Gilmar, first heard the whispers of Bel-Marduk, the Lord of 50 Names. The Holy Prophet was descended from an ancient line of Assyrians who had settled in the region generations ago. Due to their unified cultural heritage and survival traits learned in the generation before the Change, the Assyrians of Modesto, Ceres, Turlock, and neighboring towns had thrived, and were one of the few cultures not completely assimilated and/or dominated by the Anglos.

Following their return to Earth upon the advent of the Change, Marduk, as King of Heaven and Earth of the Anunnaki (Mesopotamian Gods), sought to expand his pantheon’s influence beyond the Middle East. Preferring to seek out descendents of his old peoples, he found a willing prophet and needful people in the Sanwakeen Valley. As the Anglo peoples of the valley were hard pressed at that time by the advancing Aztlán Empire (see 30, below), the words of the new prophet fell on eager ears, while the application of his and his disciples mystical powers buoyed hungry souls.

From Modesto the Word of Marduk spread, and within a generation pretty much the entire Anglo population of the valley had been converted to the way of Marduk. It was fairly easy for most to make the jump from the fractured remnants of the Christian faiths that remained to the theology of Marduk; after all, they had much in common, both originating in the same Middle Eastern theological stew. Marduk and his fellow gods took advantage of this in adapting their own theologies to the beliefs already in place. The cultural anomie that existed at the time, which the Prophet rightfully compared to “undirected waters of Tiamat,” were reigned in by “old time religion,” complete with tent revivals.

Marduk, a stern warrior god, appealed to those whose ancestors had mostly followed the stern, conservative form of Old Testament Christianity that dominated the Anglo culture of the Sanwakeen. Many of the forms of the former faith were adopted, including the basic hierarchy, complete with names and trappings (adjusted to the favored colors and forms of the Anunnaki, with variations based on the old Orthodox faith of the Assyrians). At first the priesthood was kept only within the families of Assyrian descent, though as the faith spread this became impossible, and the only remnant of this today is the naming traditions of the priesthood (taking a traditional Assyrian name) and the use of Old Assyrian as a liturgical tongue, written in an artificial script developed from the old Cuneiform (taught only to the priests).

These are the Seven Commandments of the faith:

1)         Thou shalt honor thy Gods in word and in deed and keep holy the House of the Gods and their Idols;

2)         Thou shalt keep holy the Seventh Day;

3)         Thou shalt honor thy parents, thy elders, and thy ancestors;

4)         Thou shalt not murder;

5)         Thou shalt not commit adultery;

6)         Thou shalt not steal; and

7)         Thou shalt not lie.

In the new temple there were Seven Great Gods:

1)         Marduk, King of Heaven and Earth, Son of Enki and Ninhursag, Husband of Zarpanit, Father of Nabu [LN];

2)         Ishtar, Lady of Love and War, Granddaughter of Enlil, Daughter of Sin and Ningal, Sister of Irkalla and Shamash [N];

3)         Enki, Lord of Wisdom, Crafts, and Magic, Father of Marduk, Husband of Ninhursag [LN];

4)         Ninhursag, Lady of Milk, Honey, and Earth, Wife of Enki [N]

5)         Shamash, Lord of the Sun and Law, Son of Sin and Ningal, Brother of Irkalla and Ishtar [LN];

6)         Irkalla, Lady of Death and the Underworld, Daughter of Sin and Ningal, Sister of Ishtar and Shamash [N];

7)         Enlil, Lord of Wind, Waters, and Grains, Husband of Ninlil, Father of Sin and Nergal, Grandfather  of Irkalla, Ishtar, and Shamash [LN]

The god Nergal [NE], King of Hell, Lord of the Damned, son of Enlil and former husband/uncle of Irkalla, is the Great Enemy of the faith. He is served by Druaga the King of Devils. Where exactly the two fall in the ranks of the Nine Hells is unknown, but it is known that there is no love lost between Asmodeus and Nergal.

There is also especial enmity with the gods of the Aztlán, though with Nergal’s resurgence in Bakersfiel that more recent enmity has taken a back seat to all other considerations.

Others of the old Babylonian/Sumerian/Chaldean/Assyrian pantheon are revered through the Temple; the oldest powers have mostly faded into the background, but there are still small shrines to placate the old ones. Hundreds of other, Lesser Gods are revered in the Temple; each possible craft, occupation, and activity has a patron deity. Each hamlet, village, town, and city has its own patron god or deities. Often major locations have a patron deity. Sometimes these patrons are also counted among the Great Gods; for example, Enlil is also a patron god of the city of Stockton, while Marduk is a patron of the city of Modesto, and Shamash and Ninhursag are counted as patrons of Fresno. Ancestor worship also features strongly in the faith.

Girru is a prominent minor deity of the pantheon. He is the patron of fire and metallurgy, a protector against sorcery, and also functions as the messenger of the gods, as he is not tied to any one place or even many places; he is and can be anywhere. He has become the special patron of the Order of the Burning Blade, a fraternity of paladins dedicated to rooting out chaos and evil. While the paladins of the order themselves are required by their faith to wander, each serves for a time upon the Great Northern Wall that guards against the things from the Hell Pit of Sacrament.

The clergy of the temple is divided into three groups: Priests/Priestesses, Monks/Nuns, and Presbyters. Priests are attached to a temple, monks are attached to a monastery, and presbyters are wandering preachers and protectors. Most PC clerics are of the presbyter branch. Each member of the clergy must choose one of the seven Great Gods as a patron god; only women may choose Ishtar, Ninhursag, and Irkalla as their patrons, while only men may choose Marduk, Enki, Shamash, or Enlil as their patrons.

There are seven Archpriests per diocese, one for each of the Great Gods, while there is a single Bishop ruling the diocese. A Hegumenos (Abbot) is the leader of a monastery; all the hegumons in a diocese answer to the Archimandrite, who himself answers to the bishop. There is also a Prelate in each diocese, a settled presbyter who acts on behalf of any presbyters who happen to be in the diocese at the time; the prelates also answer to the bishop of their diocese. Above all is the Patriarch, who resides in Modesto and is the Bishop of Modesto. The seven dioceses of the Temple, in descending order of precedence, are Modesto, Stockton, Mersed, Fresno, Vizaylia, Montray (in exile), and Bakersfiel (empty). All the major temples in the kingdom are served by all three branches of the clergy.

Clergy within the kingdom can only be tried by the hierarchy; any crimes committed by a member of the clergy are tried by the seven Archpriests of the diocese in which the crime was supposed to have been committed. The archpriest of the accused must recuse him or herself from the proceedings, with the bishop taking the place of the archpriest in the jury. The prelate must act as the prosecutor, while the archimandrite must act as the defender; both may turn these duties over to trusted subordinates with the approval of a majority of the jury.

Outside of the seven dioceses the various temples of the Anunnaki Temple are considered autocephalous, with each Archpriest managing the affairs of his or her own temple, answerable only to the Patriarch in matters theological and temporal. Often these temples are founded by a presbyter who, after converting a new group of the faithful, sends letters to the Prelate of Modesto asking to have priest and monks sent to tend to the daily needs of the new flock. The presbyter is then promoted to the rank of Protopresbyter, and is expected to remain with his new temple until such time as the gods call him to again begin his wanderings, at which point the foremost of the archpriests of the temple becomes the High Priest.

Clergy may use the following weapons based on their patron deity:

Marduk: Mace, short bow, net, dagger.

Ishtar: Mace, staff, sling.

Enki: Mace, staff, sling.

Ninhursag: Mace, short bow.

Shamash: Mace, staff, dagger, sling.

Irkalla: Scythe, chakram.

Enlil: Mace, footman’s pick, sling.

Animal, symbol, colors, and gems of the Great Gods are:

Marduk: Wingless gold dragon, five-pointed star, gold, diamond.

Ishtar: Lion, eight-pointed star, blue, sapphire.

Enki: Ibex, seven-pointed star, green, emerald.

Ninhursag: Cow, omega, brown, amber.

Shamash: Falcon, four-pointed star, red, ruby.

Irkalla: Owl, eclipsed sun, black, jet.

Enlil: Seagull, mattock (footman’s pick), white, pearl.

Clergy normally wear a long white wraparound kilt, the hem line covered in prayers written in cuneiform in the color of their patron deity; the kilt is cinched with a girdle, also of the color of their patron deity. Presbyters usually wear a white tabard over their armor, the hem covered as above.

The actually physical temples of the Anunnaki Temple are great ziggurats, where the public temple is found atop the ziggurat, the inner sanctums and treasuries of the temple are found within and below the ziggurat, and the living and working spaces of the clergy are found in the compound around the ziggurat. Many temple complexes are built as solidly as castles, and have been used as such in the past.

[Sixth Age] Free City of Sanrafayl, Home of the Corsairs

#7: FREE CITY OF SANRAFAYL. The “Free City” actually consists of a number of small settlements on the north-western shore of Frisko Bay and into the lower vales of the Tamahleepahs Hills: Sanrafayl, Fairfax, Hross, Greenbray, Larkspur, Milvale, Marin City, and Tiburon, with all but the “Free City” itself being modest villages or hamlets. The Free City was originally part of the Elven Reserve of Sanrosa, a special domain formed by the Empire as a home for the Elves who wished to live separately from Humans and other races. As Sanrosa and most of the surrounds were held by the Elves anyway, it was already a fait accompli, with the Empire merely recognizing a simple reality that would be difficult to change. However, when the Empire formed the Reserve, the Marin Peninsula had already long been home to mixed families of Humans and Half-Elves; the Elves, being their relatives, graciously allowed them to remain. Sanrafayl itself was one of the few “open towns” of the Reserve, where non-Elves could come to trade and meet with the Elves, so its already very Human side eventually grew such that few Elves, and not even many Half-Elves, lived there. As the Elves also ruled the town with a light hand, not caring much what the foreigners did to each other as long as they respected the Elves and their local allies, the port town came to gain an unsavory reputation as a meeting place for pirates, smugglers, thieves, and others who wanted to do business out from under the eyes of the Imperial Police.

Thus, when one of the factions of the Last Civil War sought to use the peoples of Sanrafayl to their advantage, they offered them some interesting terms: letters of marque and reprisal, transforming the local scruffy bunch of buccaneers and pirates into “legal” privateers. While the faction that offered them the letters was destroyed along with the rest of the Imperial court, the residents of Sanrafayl held onto their new-found “respectability,” and to this day there remains an “Imperial Legate” in the town who grants these letters to the official “Corsairs” of the town; fees required for the letters go to the city of course, as do the fees imposed on various and sundry cities and towns for recognition by Sanrafayl of their vessels as holding the protection of the “Official Imperial Registry of Ships.” Ten Towns, the Duchy of Bispo, and the Imperial Chartered Merchants Guild of Mazatlan are the only three states that are known have paid this fee regularly, and thus pretty much any and all other shipping is open to the “privateers.” The Grey Havens and the various vessels of Sanrosa and Reyez are held sacrosanct; they are not necessarily allies, but the corsairs do come to the aid of the Elves if they have troubles. The ships of Stockton are a favored prey, usually left to sail on their way after a payment of a tax based on the goods carried; it’s a goose that lays a silver egg usually, but the privateers are not foolish enough to kill it. The Outlaw Orc ships of Montray, the Viking ships of Sohlvang, the devil ships of Lost Angels, and the slaving vessels of Aztlán and Crescent City are shown no mercy;  their men are slaughtered and the ships taken as prizes, if possible. Between official city ships and the ships of the chartered corsairs Sanrafayl has twice as many ships as any other seafaring power north of Mazatlan.

Politically, Sanrafayl is sovereign from the Republic of Reyez; when Reyez broke away from Sanrosa, Sanrafayl broke away from Reyez. Sanrafayl City is a large town, with all the amenities expected for a piratical form of life; thus it is mostly made up of taverns, casinos, flop houses, and brothels. Just about anything can be found in the port except for slaves; it is said that the Elves required that slavery be forbidden as the cost of the sovereignty of the city. Most ships are built in the hamlet ports, especially Tiburon and Marin City, from the fine wood traded by the Elves. Angel Island is held by the corsairs as a redoubt; it is said that there are tunnels and vast caverns within the island that are home to allied submarine creatures, including a dragon turtle. The chartered Corsairs fly red sails with the white Sea Dawg badge; official city ships fly checked blue and gold sails with an alternating Trojan head.

The city is ruled by the Council of Captains; these are all retired corsairs who own property in the city and still own at least one ship. The Council of Corsairs, that is, ship captains who have letters of marque, acts as an advisory board. The Council of Captains appoints a mayor (rarely a former captain himself, usually a respected businessman) to run the town on a day-to-day basis. In times of war, they elect one of their own or one of the corsairs as Admiral, effectively a general-and-dictator for the duration of the war. Naturally, the bulk of the pay of the civil servants of Sanrafayl is through bribes, which are perfectly legal and expected.