T is for Threshold

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for this year's #AtoZchallenge? Revamping the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a way that doesn't disregard its B/X roots. I got behind by a couple days because of the Easter weekend, but I'm trying to catch up as quickly as possible]

T is for Threshold, the "sample home town" found in Mentzer's 1983 (BECMI) Expert set. I'll be including Patriarch Sherlane (Baron Halaran) and his niece Aleena in the discussion.

Before I start "getting into it" I'd like to clear up something that may be less than clear. I've got quite a bit of positive feedback on this series (which is good, thanks) but I know some folks may have a very different view of what I'm doing. I know there's a LOT of love for the BECMI game and the Mystara campaign setting as written...and not just because of the "nostalgia of youth;" plenty of folks still keep BECMI (and the RC) as their edition of choice and continue to use Mystara as their home campaign. I understand that my critique and criticism (often expressed in a harsh or inflammatory way) can seem like a rather personal attack on something certain people hold dear and valuable. Hell, Aaron Alston is dead...I can see how criticizing his work now can be viewed as unkind (to say the least).

So, although I believe I've said this in the past, allow me to once again reiterate that I have great respect for the sheer amount of work and care that went into the creation of this material by Allston, Mentzer, and others (Jeff Grubb did a lot with the later Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure). More than that I have admiration for both the authors and their work, and not a little bit of love and nostalgia of my own. The fact of the matter is, if I didn't care about Karameikos, I would not put in the time and effort to do a series like this. I don't write about things I don't care about (and I generally refuse to write about things I want to leave dead and buried...there's no such thing as "bad publicity," after all). The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, as presented in the B/X Expert set, had very little to it...hardly enough to inspire much admiration, respect, or thought. It's the later works: Mentzer's BECMI, Allston's Gazetteers, modules like B6 and B10-12 (by Cook, Sargent, and others) that have contributed to the lore of the setting material, providing the grist that fires up my "think-box."

No matter how harsh I may appear, I write about this stuff because I care. I could write about other things that are important to me: my daughter starting piano lessons last week, my boy getting three hits on four swings of the bat (don't know where he gets it), or my 18th wedding anniversary with my wife. But my readers are coming here for the "game stuff." And what's more, I like writing about the game stuff...this is my place to do so. I can throw all that other stuff on Facebook, if I want.

SO...Threshold. Threshold first appears as a sample home town in Mentzer's Expert set, a replacement of the dirty, lawless town of Luln that is much more conducive to the "family friendly" style of fantasy that TSR began to produce in the mid-80s (Mentzer's Basic set contains no "inspirational reading list" packed with Thieves World authors and pulp sword & sorcery). And let me here and for the permanent record admit I really like the Expert set, AND Threshold...despite its BECMI-isms (like godless Clerics) it's my favorite book of the BECMI series, and I find it pretty darn good. Yes, a good part of this is Larry Elmore's illustrations which, I feel, really conveys what "expert level" characters should look like (I'm less fond of his monsters illos). But the layout and information conveyed is a great rehash of the Cook/Marsh books, and the setting building material is quite a bit better...and I LIKE the Threshold write-up immensely; it is space much-better-used than the terse gnome warren write-up in the original (B/X) Expert book.

Mentzer describes Threshold as "a thriving frontier village of 400 permanent residents plus over 100 other regular visitors. The main business of Threshold is to supply timber to the Capital." Later, he adds that the town contains about 50 demihumans in addition to the 500 human residents, the whole being ruled from nearby Tarnskeep by the Baron Sherlane Halaran. Patriarch Sherlane is a Lawful cleric, and a no-nonsense, incorruptible good guy leader-type, who looks over his barony as close as a priest would care for his "flock," yet still finds the time to go on serious and secret missions for the Duke (see adventures like B12: Queen's Harvest as an example). Per GAZ1 he is helped in his administration (really just running errands and messages to the town master, guard houses) is his niece/adopted daughter Aleena Halaran...the same cleric slain by Bargle with a magic missile back in the BECMI solo adventure of the 1983 Basic set. Apparently, her uncle brought her back to life (not surprising given that he's 14th level) and she has since managed to thrive, achieving 12th (!!) level and becoming part of the Order of the Griffon despite being only 22 years old and not seeming all that interested in adventuring (per the GAZ1 description). WTF.

Allston increases the size of Threshold to 5000 and paints an idyllic picture of the waterfront logging town:

"...it's not a tight-packed, dirty, squalid town; by Baron Halaran's decree, no house may be built within 50 feet of another, and so Threshold is spread over a large area, filled with nice homes usually surrounded by vegetable gardens and livestock pens." (GAZ1, page 39)

Where's my baguette?

Considering Threshold in light of its description, and the rather quaint/pastoral adventure scenarios presented in Mentzer's Expert set (stuff with rafting, gardeners, damsels in distress, gold dragons in disguise, etc.) one might gather this is a nice little fairytale town...something like the "poor provincial town" depicted in Disney's (animated) film, Beauty and the Beast. That is, in fact, the kind of thing I tend to picture.

However, looking at the map Mentzer has drawn for Threshold, one sees a set-up more typical of the medieval town, complete with a double wall (probably guarding the inner "old town" and later "new town"), one of the main reasons for the rather cramped and squalid nature of such places. When walls offer the main protection for a community of people, SPACE for building is at a premium...no one wants to live outside the wall (unprotected!) and buildings are by necessity built so close as to be right on top of each other, leading to all the usual unpleasantness: filth, disease, and fire hazard.  Interestingly, this is exactly how Threshold is portrayed in the (British written) adventure module B10: Night's Dark Terror. Published a year before  Allston's GAZ1, B10 has a substantial section on Threshold and describes it as:

"...a typical town: crowded, smelly and dirty. Except for the buildings by the river, all waste is emptied into the streets, and pigs and dogs can often be seen scavenging through it."

[two of the three designers of B10...Jim Bambra and Phil Gallagher...have credits with the gritty Warhammer Fantasy game and that particular aesthetic is on display in several parts of the module]

And B10 was still working with an assumed population of 500. Imagine increasing it by ten fold...more crowd, more smell, more filth. And that's not even counting the attached Fogor Island, which is "unofficially" under the control of the local thieves' guild, and shunned by law-abiding citizens (per B10). While Allston took Mentzer's work and ran with it in one direction, Gallagher and company did the complete opposite as far as tone, theme, and color. It ends up being a weird and strange mixture...a place less of a hometown, and (perhaps) not even one you'd like to visit. Sherlane's edict forbidding magic-user magic seems somewhat silly in Mentzer (though understandable considering an "expert level" spell-caster will have access to destructive spells like fireball)...in B10, the designers provide a Clerical Court of five clerics (appointed by Sherlane) who put convicted spell-casters on trial and bestow curses like insomnia (no ability to regain spells) and dumbness (no ability to cast spells without words), effectively crippling wizards completely. It's vicious and mean and says quite a bit about how the Patriarch runs his town. There's no shortage of inns (most streets having "at least one") serving wine, and no prohibition on characters carrying swords (unlike Specularum where any weapon larger than a dagger must be tied/bound), so I can see a lot of back alley duels being fought and general bloodletting (while B10 states townsfolk attempt to avoid combat, they're also quick to defend themselves with daggers, chairs, bottles, etc.).

It's an "interesting" place for the Duke to choose as a place for a secret coin mint, especially considering Kelvin is closer to both Specularum and High Forge, and is likewise located on the river. Perhaps the Duke has more trust in the good Patriarch Sherlane whom he knew from his days in Thyatis (Halaran was originally a priest of the Church of Thyatis). Or perhaps it's just that Kelvin was never established as anything more than a name on a map, prior to GAZ1.

All right it's late, and I'm still two days behind on this thing; best get to my thoughts on how I'd alter this thing. First off, I'd probably ignore the quaint little English village thing going on in GAZ1, and stick to the squalid medieval town found in B10, while still upping the population. While Luln is a fairly nasty little hole of a town to come from, I'd like players visiting Threshold to come away with a greater appreciation for their home of origin...far better to grow up there than under the rigid, religious patriarchy of Baron Halaran.

"Bow down,
ye of little faith!"

Halaran, to me, sounds like a fanatic with a bit of a god complex. I mean, he can raise the dead, cure the sick, etc...why shouldn't he have an ego the size of Texas? He has the power to keep the cholera epidemics under control! His people love him! Or they fear him...but better to live inside his walls (no doubt decorated with holy texts and religious screeds and sermons) than in the wilds of Karameikos where one might be attacked by goblin slavers or a vengeful chevall!

Allston writes (in GAZ1) that "the idea of the clerical stronghold is a strange one to most Karameikans. In the Grand Duchy, clerics don't generally band together and build mighty fortresses just so they can be jolly armed clerics together." However, that is just what Hallaran has done! In making Threshold "more B/X" I would certainly have be Tarnskeep a typical cleric castle, garrisoned with a small army of fanatically loyal troops, just as any Name level cleric would have.  These "faithful" militants would not only patrol the barony (keeping the peasants in line, repelling marauding humanoids) but would reinforce the town militia, ensuring all clerical edicts were obeyed without question, and enforcing "justice" as necessary.

"I have a message
to deliver."

Hallaran's niece, the lovely Aleena, would be the patriarch's personal protege, equivalent to a loyal retainer, and probably no higher than 3rd or 4th level. Being young and inexperienced, Hallaran would certainly encourage her to adventure in the wilds, albeit always with a small cadre of bodyguard zealots to ensure her safety. I'd probably keep the Cleric Council, making them a group of 6th and 7th level clerics, each dedicated to a particular god/goddess of the Imperial pantheon, all bent on converting the indigenous Traladarans to a more "civilized," pliable people. Sherlane himself I'd drop to 12th level or so, making him powerful but still beholden to his superior counterpart in the capital.

I'd probably ignore the entire "secret mint" subplot, moving the thing to Kelvin instead (and giving another reason for that city's importance). Threshold's strategic value as a loyal (if fanatical/crazy) military stronghold on the Duchy's northern border offers reason enough to allow the Patriarch the autonomy he craves to form a minor theocracy on the edge of the wilds.

Oh, yeah...and I'd axe Cardia's Carpet Service completely.

I is for Indigenous People

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for this year's #AtoZchallenge? Revamping the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a way that doesn't disregard its B/X roots]

I is for Indigenous People; the aboriginal natives of Karameikos.

We all know what a "native" is, right? A person born of a place. I'm both a "native Seattleite," and a "native Washingtonian." Technically, I'm a "native American," though the term is usually reserved for people who lived on this continent prior to European arrival, and the descendants of those people.

There is a human "monster type" (similar to the bandit, noble, merchant, etc.) found in the classic adventure module X1: The Isle of Dread titled "native." The description for the entry states:

"Natives are primitive people who live in jungles, wilderness, or on tropical islands. The warriors of the more warlike tribes (including cannibals) will all be 1st level fighters, but the natives of peaceful tribes are mostly normal humans with fewer high level leaders. Most natives wear no armor (AC 9), but some will wear the equivalent of leather armor (AC 7), and the tribal chiefs may wear special armor of hardened bone or lacquered wood that is the equivalent of AC 5 or 6. Natives may also carry shields."

Here we see the term "native" used in the pejorative sense of the term. "The natives are restless," likely had its origin in referring to the indigenous (native) people of an area and, over time, came to represent any "primitive" non-Western race that a European (i.e. British) conqueror might currently be in the process of re-making in his own image.

To the point where I asked my eight year old the other day, "when I say native person, what do I mean?" and he replied "Someone who lives in a hut or doesn't have a lot of food or stuff like we do." Oh my. We had to have a loooong conversation.

"Primitive" isn't a very good term for a non-industrial or "technologically advanced" society. I'm not a trained (or even amateur!) sociologist or anthropologist, but even a dummy like me can see that ANY people organized into a society has some sort of culture and cultural tradition...concepts and behaviors that have evolved and been passed down over generations...and any such organized society is going to be as culturally developed as another.  The pre-European contact peoples of the Americas (and Africa and the Pacific Islands, etc.) already had a developed, advanced culture adapted for their lifestyles...nothing "primitive" about it.  We equate a lack of specific technology (steel, firearms, ship-building, etc.) with a lack of intelligence and development...they're a step up from cavemen!...when really the only thing they lacked was the necessity and easy cross-pollination that occurred in other parts of the globe.

[you can kill someone with a stick or rock just fine, but when the guy on the other side of the mountain range is wearing metal armor, you better develop a weapon that will penetrate it...and figure out a way to get some armor of your own!]

Post-contact aboriginals of every landmass had no problems picking up, learning, and using advanced technology, even to the detriment of their would be "colonizers" (in parts of the U.S. it was a capital crime...i.e. punishable by death...to sell firearms to "indians" up through the 19th century). Even learning the language and customs of European was no big deal.  What these indigenous people had a much harder time with (and were oh so stubborn about) was abandoning their own culture...their own language, customs, religion, and mindset...that had developed over the course of centuries, in order to adopt wholesale the culture of these invading people.

"Surely they must be primitive...look at them following these superstitious practices!" As if the Christian religion looks O So Grounded in scientific fact, yeah? Where'd I put that machine that measures grace?

Anyway, humans of all stripes have treated strange peoples as "barbarians" since at least the time of ancient Greece (I know this because the word barbarian comes from an ancient Greek word). Age of Sail Europeans were not the first folks to conquer, enslave, and impose their culture on "others," but developments in technology allowed them to have lasting impact on huge swaths of the globe. It is what it is...but let's not continue to judge different cultures by the standards of 500 years ago, okay?

SO...Karameikos. Going by the B/X description of the duchy, there's no mention of any native (i.e. indigenous or aboriginal) humans. There are peoples residing in the land: gnomes, elves, goblins, orcs, and frost giants...but no fellow humans to be "colonized" by a conquering adventurer. GAZ1 is the first place we're introduced to the idea of an "indigenous people" of Karameikos.

Yes, I realize the concept of Traldar is first introduced in B10: Night's Dark Terror. Here's the thing: the Traldar of B10 have no relation to the people of Karameikos; they are some kind of post-neanderthal slave race who've never been "outside the valley" of the Hutaaka. In the ancient history told by B10, there are no "humans left behind to fight the gnolls." There is no King Halav & Co. -- that part of the story is all spun by Allston in GAZ1. In B10, the Hutaaka simply take their proto-humans and leave the scene...centuries later, all one finds in the region is an unblemished (by human) wilderness ripe for conquest by Stefan Karameikos and other adventurers.

All that jazz about Nithia and a "Dark Age" following Halav's battle and whatnot? That's all ADDED to the mix beginning with the Gazetteer. The "Traladara" with their "shared national identity" is all spun from whole cloth by Allston. And while it's interesting to have the political and social ramifications of an on-site conquered people in one's adventuring region, I find the history problematic, and not just because of the pseudo-Gypsy nature of the indigenous natives.

For one thing, I just can't buy into the whole "high-culture-devolves-to-hunter-gatherer-stone-age-in-five-generations" thing. We're talking a single century that the original Traldar clan (from the pseudo-ancient-Egypt Nithian culture) is in Karameikos before losing their shit. Just wouldn't happen. They're not marooned on some desert island or extrasolar planet (like the MZB Darkover setting)...they're on the other side of the mountains for goodness sake! If times got too tough, they'd head back! And in the fantasy world of D&D wouldn't they have clerics, magic-users, etc. with them? And if they didn't (or if these adventuring types were all killed), isn't it a pretty safe bet that the colony would have all perished to a man? We're talking about a D&D wilderness here: one with dragons and trolls and frost giants! It's a tad more hostile than what Lewis & Clark faced on the Oregon Trail, people.

From Egyptian to Gypsy
in 1000 years.

If the Nithian colony survived at all, it wouldn't have degenerated to a state that some dog-headed artist-types could ply them with "whatever" (see the prior blog post) in exchange for turning them into their labor force. I mean a COLONY expedition would have the people they need to...duh...start a colony, "harsh winters" or not. And if they couldn't hack it, they would have returned to Nithia...or died trying.

Yes, yes...I am a dude with no imagination just pissing in the cornflakes of everyone who LOVES "Mystara" as conceived and published. Here's the thing about fictional histories and backstory, people: for most players of tabletop RPGs this stuff matters very, very little. It matters MAINLY in what it provides as adventure hooks and/or clues to solving current dilemmas (like "how do we defeat this menace" or "where do I find this particular McGuffin").

The person who will find it MOST USEFUL and (hopefully) interesting is the Dungeon Master running the campaign. The DM uses this stuff to understand how and why the setting operates; the DM uses the material to generate adventure ideas and scenarios. The DM uses it as a "setting Bible," a reference to explain to players the answers to questions (about the setting) that might arise in play. "Why do the dwarves hate our characters when we haven't done anything to them?" "Why does this particular village insist on wearing green for the entire month of July?" All that kind of "stuff and fluff" gets answered by the background material AS NEEDED.

[DMs who insist on burdening players with a bunch of extraneous setting detail run the risk of simply BORING their players. D&D is a game of active participation, not a book club]

SO...If I am the Dungeon Master that's running the campaign set in Karameikos, the damn setting better make sense TO ME. If it doesn't, I'm not going to be able to make the best use of it with regard to my players, no matter how cool some people might find a peaceful, advanced tribe of dog-people living in a hidden valley. Sorry.

Having got that all out of the way (and after, once again, deluging readers with a wall of text), let's get some possible ideas for spinning the indigenous folks of Karameikos in a way that doesn't suck too bad (from my perspective):

Option #1: No indigenous humans. This is the easiest, and most "B/X" option. Adventurers seeking to build strongholds or castles are required to clear the area of all monsters and monster lairs before building. As a monster is defined as "any creature or character not controlled by a player," I don't think it's unfair to consider the duchy to have been "cleared" of any pre-existing communities and societies. One might still find hermits, "mountain men" (and "women") or the occasional brave settler family living in the wilds, but most of these (if not all) should be recent arrivals to the region. Any ancient ruins or whatnot found should be from mysterious, long-since-vanished (or exterminated) peoples...and not necessarily human ones.

Andals versus First Men

Option #2: Iron Age rivals. Do any of you folks watch that Game of Thrones show? So, the history/backstory of that setting goes like this: the First Men crossed into Westeross through a (no longer existing) land bridge and conquered "the Forest Children" (elves) using their Bronze Age armor and weapons. These First Men were then (mostly) conquered by the Andals who invaded with Iron Age technology, including plate armored cavalry (knights)...the lone hold-outs were the "Kings in the North" who retained their old culture and religion rather than convert to the Andals' Seven Gods. Finally, a handful of Tagaryan refugees (fleeing the destruction of their ancient island home) showed up with some dragons and used their air superiority to unite the entire continent under the rulership of one Iron Throne. Riffing off Martin's world would probably put Stefan and the Thyatians in the role of the Andals, perhaps with the Black Eagle Barony being the lone "First Men" hold-out (i.e. the Starks of Winterfell). Without drago-riding Targaryans, the land becomes one of constant squabbling between various "kingdoms" (i.e. rival warlords) of which only Stefan has the best foothold of all the Thyatian/Andal adventurers in the region. By the start of the campaign history, the indigenous Bronze Age culture has already acquired and adapted steel technology, putting them on a fairly equal footing with their would-be conquerors (or "equal enough" that negotiation and political strategy will be necessary to uniting the region, not simple military conquest). The elven tribes (in the role of "Forest Children") are a wild card force that doesn't like EITHER human side (seeing as how they chop down their trees for firewood and timber), as are the goblins ("snarks"), orcs ("grumpkins") and frost giants ("giants").

"Gath of Baal"

Option #3: Conquered dissidents. So maybe there WAS a large population of indigenous humans that the Thyatians/Romans overran with their armored legions...think the opening scene from Ridley Scott's Gladiator (or Tacitus's text Germania). Even better, let's look at fantasy equivalents like James Silke's "Death Dealer" series (based on the Frazetta character) with Thyatians in place of the steel-clad, slave-taking "Kizzak Horde" and the tribal ("barbarian") villages of the region being the stand-in for the Iron Age communities of the Forest Basin. Of course, without Gath of Baal to pull the villagers' fat out of the fire, conquest would likely be a walk-in touchdown for the Kizzak/Thyatians. Enslaved and oppressed by a ruthless, technologically superior (and magically formidable) force, the player characters would probably end up fighting a guerrilla war...either as members of the indigenous community or "sympathizers" among the Thyatian conquerors. Maybe. In such a setting, I think it'd be important to start the "invasion history" with Stefan's arrival on the scene (i.e. thirty years prior) rather than GAZ1's published timeline in order to give the PCs a fighting chance of upending the Horde's decimation of the native peoples and deforestation of the region's resources. This is a pretty grim campaign setting, filled with atrocity...but so is any story of conquest, really.

Black Eagle Barony?

Option #4: Conquered decadents. As a slight alternative to Option #3, make the indigenous people an ancient powerful and "advanced" society, overthrown by their own people as much as by the invaders. This is the enslaved tribes of Mesoamerica joining forces with Cortes to overthrow their Aztec overlords...or perhaps some sort of weird and decadent Atlantean/Egyptian society that is in no position to defend themselves from an ambitious, violent invader (they're too busy indulging in hallucinatory drugs and sorcery for entertainment to control the slave uprising that accompanies the Thyatian advance). Plenty of pyramids and thousand-year old strongholds (complete with exotic treasure and still functional booby-traps) are left behind after the conquest of the region, and Stefan is only too glad to allow youthful adventurers the chance to pillage such structures (he knows his coffers will receive a healthy tax on any loot recovered). Perhaps these ancient-but-still-standing fortresses can become castles for Name level adventurers...maybe Fort Doom is the equivalent of Castle Grayskull and Baron Ludwig is just the latest person to "claim" it as a residence.

Ya. More tomorrow.

H is for Halav and Hutaaka (History)

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for this year's #AtoZchallenge? Revamping the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a way that doesn't disregard its B/X roots]

H is for Halav and Hutaaka, both important parts of Karameikan history.

Or are they?

[maybe H should be for "Heck of a baseball game last night!" How 'bout those Mariners, huh? 10 and 2? In what is (supposed to be) Year 1 of The Rebuild? Crazy. Still, I've lived in Seattle long enough to see every brand of Ms failure you can find...they had a hot start last year, too. I shall curb my enthusiasm for the time being; the Sounders, on the other hand, are a whole different story...]

I realize these posts have been running waaaay long. It's rather obvious that I have a lot of thoughts flying around my head (at least regarding Karameikos) and no one with whom to discuss them...other than you, dear readers. But day-after-day walls of text can be a slog to wade through, especially when my posts run the gamut of meandering blah-blah-blah. SO, hear's the skinny on today's topic:

Halav: thumbs up. Hutaaka: thumbs down. Apologies to folks who love B10: Night's Dark Terror.

Neither of these topics are "especially B/X" by the way; the history of the region (other than Duke Stefan's recent arrival) is all documented in later (BECMI+) publications, mainly Allston's GAZ1. As such, the pre-Stefan history could be revamped any way you want it...an ancient pre-Glantrian colony of wizards (with ruined towers dotting the wilderness)? Sure. A dinosaur/reptile person infested jungle only wiped out by the recent Ice Age (but leaving ruined cities behind)? Fine. An advanced empire of tech-savvy faerie folk, now decimated and devolved into their pocket regions (i.e. the places marked "elves" and "goblins" on the B/X map)? Why not? And don't laugh at the idea of
hi-tech elves...check out the info on Evergrun and Grunland in the Alfheim gazetteer.

In other words, there are LOTS of possibilities for the "ancient history" of the region now known as the Grand Duchy of Karameikos...if you're happy to stick solely to the description given in the Expert rulebook and willing to cut the rest from whole cloth. But if you're NOT or (like me) you're lazy, pressed for time, and/or often stuck for new ideas, then you might as well adapt the history as given in GAZ1. Or parts of it anyway.

Most of this history is written by Allston, though he adapts from earlier sources (like Night's Dark Terror) for some of it. And it's not terrible. I'm sorry I even have to write that phrase, but I feel like so often in these posts I'm decrying how boring and awful and vanilla the ideas are...I could stand to be a bit more complimentary towards much of the work that's gone into this setting over the years. If a lot of it is a little bland or cheesy, a large part of the blame has to be given to the standards and cultural mandates of The Company (TSR) back in the period when these books were being published.

So anyway: not terrible. Before I get to my specific "likes and gripes," it's probably best to give a BRIEF ("Brief, JB, brief!") overview of the region's ancient history, as told in GAZ1. Please be aware that dates in Mystara ("the Known World") are based on the first crowning of an Emperor in Thyatia (i.e. "fantasy Rome"); all Gazeteers assume play begins in the year 1000 A.C. ("after crowning"). Got it? Okay.

[brief!]

The Nithian people ("fantasy ancient Egyptian") first sent a small colony to the-region-that-would-be-known-as-Karameikos circa 1500 B.C. ("before crowning;" i.e. 2500 years before start of the campaign). Within five generations (about a century) hard winters, monster attacks, and disease have drastically reduced the population and these "Traldar" people (the clan name of their Nithian tribe) have devolved to a "pre-agricultural" (hunter-gatherer) lifestyle.

[I have a lot of comments on this, but they'll have to wait for a later post]

What now occurs is something first described in the (British) module B10: Night's Dark Terror. An advanced civilization of jack-headed humanoids (the Hutaaka) conquers the Traldar, not through military might, but through "economic and cultural superiority," The humans end up working as laborer/slaves to these more effete/spiritual non-humans in a mutually beneficial symbiosis, until a giant horde of gnolls invade the region circa 1000 B.C. Devastated by the warlike humanoids, the Hutaaka decide to pull up stakes and retreat to their hidden valley in northern mountains with a handful of human followers. The Traldar left behind get organized under a trio of war-leaders, of whom King Halav is chief (the other two are Petra and Zirchev). Armed with bronze age gear, Halav slays the gnoll king in single combat but is himself slain, and the humanoids are routed back into the mountains.

The Hutaaka do not return and, bereft of a unifying force, the region descends into a Dark Age. By 500 B.C. the Traladara (as they call themselves) are widely dispersed across the region and share little common besides a common root language and "The Song of King Halav," their national epic. Their actual history is forgotten with legends of Hutaakan masters and gnollish invaders being mixed together to form a hodgepodge mythology explaining their past. This Dark Age continues until roughly 0 A.C. when the arrival of other peoples to the region (the Callarii elves and Highforge gnomes) help usher in a new cycle of peaceable trade relations and unity against humanoid (goblins, orcs, etc.) tribes. By 400 A.C. the Traladara have established trade with outside nations and by 900 A.C. they've grown large enough that Thyatis decides to "annex" the region before a rival (like Darokin) can do so. Stefan Karameikos III takes over in 970 A.C.

OKAY (*whew*). Now onto likes (and not likes).

I LIKE the whole Song of Halav idea. Despite the Czech-ish name (Vaclav Havel portmanteau?) this is just the Arthur myth retold with gnolls in place of invading Saxons and Hutaakans in place of the priestesses of Avalon. Sure, it's not super-original, but it's still a classic concept, and like the Arthur myth it is so far back in the pre-written history of the people that it's easy to embellish it (and, as a DM, determine what parts are fact and what parts are myth). It's the kind of thing you can hang big campaign ideas off of...can we find King Halav's tomb or sword (Excalibur?) or whatever. Likewise the shared identity that comes from this national hero-legend is cool. While I still ask the question why there isn't more revolt/resistance against the Thyatians (the second coming of the gnolls!), Allston offers the idea of a Halav mystery cult, whose priests/prophets are longing for Arthur-Halav's return...and who are preaching that Archduke Stefan may, in fact, be the reincarnation of their ancient hero king. Whether or not it's true (or a well-orchestrated bit of political opportunism) is left for individual campaigns to figure out. Regardless, it's a nice bit of fluff to work into the setting.

King Halav's last battle.

Also: gnolls are badass. For folks into Warhammer, they can be perfectly re-skinned as beast men, but I tend to like them as is. Even Yeenoghu is pretty awesome, at least in his first appearance (Ye Old Monster Manual).

That being said, I am rather "iffy" on the whole Halav & Co. as actual Immortal patrons of the region. I'm just not the fan of the Immortal rules that I once was...neither Mentzer's original BECMI set (the "I" in BECMI) or Allston's later Wrath of the Immortals, both of which I've owned for years (and used in the past). I just don't like the idea of codifying the gods and immortality...or maybe I just don't like BECMI/RC's particular formulaic approach to doing the same. The gods (or "higher powers" or whatever) should break the normal rules...or, at least, give DMs the leeway to do so. Same holds true for "artifacts" and relics...but now I'm digressing (sorry).

The part of GAZ1's history that I really dislike is the whole bit about the Hutaaka. It's not that I don't dig the whole pre-history, human-servitor-race to nonhuman mythology/fiction thang...I'm a fan of Lovecraft, Karl Wagner, etc. But this particular brand of the trope feels messy to me, for a number of reasons.

But I don't feel like enumerating them all (and I said I wanted to cut down on the length of these posts). I suppose, DMs running Karameikos as their campaign setting might get a kick out of throwing Night's Dark Terror at their players and then getting a "big reveal" with the Lost Valley of the Hutaaka and the real history of the Traladaran people. But, jeez: B10 is designed for low level characters, so it's not like there'd be a "big build up," establishing the confused "mythic" history of the land prior to said reveal.

And, dammit, it's just not a very good reveal anyway. I'm sorry (I guess I am going to go into this a bit), dog-headed mystics? Really? Finding out humans were force-evolved by completely inhuman creatures (a la the Mountains of Madness) or star-traveling lizard folk (Warhammer) or some sort of weird fallen angels (Nephilim) is far more interesting than these pseudo-Egyptian dog-people. Damn it, Stargate was more interesting! Conquered by "cultural superiority?" Are you kidding me?

And there's just a lot of inconsistency here: why didn't the Hutaaka come back after the gnolls were driven off? If Petra had the ability to raise Halav (per the background) why didn't he unite the Traldar into a nation afterward? Why didn't Petra and Zirchev? If the Hutaaka were such pushovers, why did it take the traldar slaves in the Lost Valley another 900 years to revolt? If the Traldar had adapted so much of the Hutaaka culture, why didn't they have the ability to write down their own history? Why end up confusing the dog-people with the jackal-people? And why do we have these terrible Gypsy stereotypes?

Here's the other thing: the Alfheim gazetteer established that elf tribes (Callarii and Vyalia) settled in Karameikos circa 800 B.C. and that elves live about ten times the length of a human (expected lifespan is 600 to 800 years with some elves living to 1000). Since this is smack-dab in the middle of the Gnoll War, what part did the elves play? Why didn't they keep records? Why didn't they play a more important role in keeping the region civilized and "out" of the Dark Ages? Yes, I understand that Alfheim was published after GAZ1 and that Allston's history has the elves arriving nearly a millennia later (and thus not being witnesses to the early days of Traladara), but even that strikes me as weird: this advanced species of intelligent, magic-using humanoids arrives from a far-off land and the barbaric, iron age villagers are just like "whatever." Come on, man! At least if the elves were there FIRST (before the humans) they might be treated as "spirits of the forest" to be worshipped and/or feared...but then, would they put up with the Hutaaka? Even if the Hutaaka had exited 200 years before, I'd think a highly intelligent species (the elves) would have been curious enough to follow up on these creatures before the trail got any "colder." Two centuries is hardly "ancient history" to a species that lives three to five times that long.

But maybe it's just me. Maybe I just don't like 'em. Probably I just don't like anthropomorphic animals in my D&D game (I'm not a fan of X1's rakasta species, either). Anthropomorphic animals are fine in their own games (Mouse Guard and Albedo being prime examples), but mixing them in with humans just isn't something I tolerate very well.

All right, that's enough for today.

A is for Archduke Stefan III

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for this year's #AtoZchallenge? Revamping the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a way that doesn't disregard it's B/X roots]

A is for Archduke Stefan III. Yeah, that guy. Best to start at the top.

The much beloved archduke (later king in the 2nd Edition AD&D setting, following events in the Wrath of the Immortals box set), has his history described in detail beginning with Allston's setting Gazeteer for the Grand Duchy. In brief, Stefan was a Thyatian nobleman who traded his ancestral lands to the Emperor of Thyatis in exchange for independent rulership of the "undeveloped" Traladara territory (Traladara having been conquered and claimed by Thyatis some 70 years before). Taking its main city (Specularum) for his capitol, the 22 year old Stefan renames the land for himself (Karameikos) and puts down the armed insurrection that follows. Over the next 30 years, the now-Archduke parcels out land to his (Thyatian) followers, builds roads and a strong military, and works to establish his Grand Duchy as a maritime power and resource rich exporter, while uniting the mixed Thyatian and Traladaran people in a shared "Karameikan" identity. He does this by using his natural charisma, being an "exemplary leader," recognized throughout the region for his "fairness and honor" and while there is some resentment to his rule (and some outright plotting against him by certain nobles), he is generally considered an "even-handed," "stern but fair ruler" whose main flaw is being "baffled by raw evil" (like his cousin Ludwig von Hendriks). In game terms he is Lawful and good, caring most for his family, his people, and his legacy...in about that order.

Sheesh.

Let's talk a bit about conquered people, shall we? Historically, folks are pretty averse to being conquered and ruled by a foreign power, especially when there's any perceived social injustice like, for example, the invaders being in the nobility and the indigenous folks being stripped of their lands. It's not something that a people with any type of national identity (say, a shared language, religion, and/or cultural values) gets over easily. One might say, well it's been a hundred years since the Thyatian Empire first marched into Marilnev (the regions main community) and renamed it Specularum...that's four or five generations to get used to Thyatian (i.e. fantasy Roman) supremacy, yeah?  Sure...and I can see the Palestinians being okay with this whole Israeli state thing one day, too, huh?

You can see how well that kind of thinking worked in Latin America and Africa and Asia over the centuries. India was effectively ruled by the British from the 18th century until achieving independence in 1947....they never really "got used to it." I'd imagine there are still plenty of "north Irish" who would rather just be Irish, just as there are still Scottish folks who would prefer to be their own country. I have good friends in the Basque region of Spain who absolutely hate being associated in any way with Spain (who they see as attempting cultural genocide) and still hope someday...and work toward...having an independent Basque country. And the Basque region was annexed in the 15th century!

Are folks familiar with Maximillian I of Mexico? He was an Austrian nobleman who gave up his lands and titles in Europe to become Emperor of Mexico. This was with the help of the French (and Napoleon's army) in the 19th century.

["Cinco de Mayo" commemorates the Battle of Puebla (where all Volkswagons in North America are manufactured) when the Mexicans won a small victory against the French forces during this time period]

Historians write that Maximillian genuinely cared for the Mexican people, helped institute reforms to help the people, enacted institutions to help the poor, abolished child labor, broke monopolies held by the wealthy, and worked to make a strong, modern Mexico. He was fought tooth-and-nail by a people who had already thrown off the yoke of Spain in their war of independence, and after "reigning" for about three years, he was overthrown captured, and executed by firing squad. Mexico has only been ruled by Mexicans ever since.

Duke Stefan, per GAZ1, survived a single armed revolt and a single assassination attempt and then...nothing. For thirty years (forty, if you count the 2nd edition material). Just schemers working behind the scenes to undermine Stefan's authority.

Doesn't really wash for me. Even if Stefan was the "bestest ruler in the world" it's hard to see a conquered people (even one that's not particularly "oppressed" - though what constitutes "oppression" is probably a matter of opinion) celebrating Stefan's rule or simply content to go quietly into the night. The Traladarans are supposed to have a proud history, legends of being enslaved by "beast men" and of eventually throwing off that slavery to become free, independent people. And now they're just going to go about their business? With Thyatians in their castles, taking the bounty of the land? It's not like Stefan has been systematically exterminating them and pushing them onto tiny reservations...they should be taking advantage of his (written) naiveté to arm themselves and organize!

[maybe it's just that archduke has the indiginous demihumans on his side...but why? Were there centuries of antagonism between the demihumans and Traladarans before the coming of Thyatis?]

It's important to note that the character of Stefan Karameikos, his personality and background, changed substantially with the advent of 1987's GAZ1 (the Gazeteer detailing the Grand Duchy of Karameikos). Very little, in fact, was said of the archduke (even in B6, the adventure module detailing Specularum); until the publication of GAZ1, he seemed to be nothing more than a high level fighter who had carved out his own dominion. Even Aaron Allston's own adventure module X12: Skarda's Mirror (published just prior to GAZ1), paints a different portrait of the character:

"A distinguished military commander and adventurer by the age of 20, he was offered a baronial title if he settled in and developed the unclaimed wilderness west of Thyatis.

"Stefan Karameikos III built himself a seacoast town, a village which he named Specularum, and began settling his followers all through the region. Eventually the region became the Barony of Karameikos, then the County, and finally the Duchy. Now, 30 years after the initial landfall, the Duchy is flourishing, and the Duke is a powerful and well-liked ruler, the father of strong heirs."

See? That's a perfectly acceptable elaboration on the character's original portrayal in the Cook Expert rulebook. There's no conquered peoples, no political machinations, no Thyatian noble-class ruling over displaced Traladarans. At this point, "Traldarans" were only a primitive, degenerate human subspecies fighting endless battles against the Hutaakan beast-men (to be discussed later) in a lost valley (see B10: Night's Dark Terror). The earlier, pre-GAZ Stefan was just an adventurer made good...just one of us, you know?

Which is how I prefer it, mainly because it's "more B/X." Still, things are not all rosy in Karameikos. There are still ravening hordes of humanoids (goblins, gnolls, frost giants(!), etc.) to contend with throughout the area. And then there's that darn Black Eagle Barony over on the western border about which the Duke seems wholly unconcerned. What's up with that exactly?

Welp, as with the good Baron Ludwig, I can think of a number of different ways to "re-skin" Duke Stefan explaining his lack of progress after a couple-three decades sitting on the throne. Here's a few of them for your enjoyment:

Couldn't find a good
pic of Duke Avan.

Archduke as Absentee Adventurer: Duke Avan Astran of old Hrolmyr is a good example of an adventuring noble of the most doomed sort; of course, most (all) folks who travel with Elric of Melnibone are doomed to a horrible end eventually.

Archduke Stefan as Duke Avan is a fairly easy re-skin: the explorer/adventurer who just can't settle down, even after a life of achievement. He keeps getting on that damn boat and setting sail, looking for lost cities, legendary shorelines. and forbidden knowledge...all when he should be back minding his duchy. Instead, he is gone more often than not on a life of perilous adventure, leaving his dominion to be ruled by henchmen and underlings while his noble wife tries to raise/shape children grown restless with an absentee father. Perhaps, the player characters will end up accompanying him on some random quest or other; more likely he'll disappear and they'll be tasked with finding his remains. Lots of possible adventures in a land left un-ruled by a glory hound and thrill seeker.

"More wine! And where's
my armor stretcher?!"

Archduke as the Life of the Party: who doesn't like a little wining, wenching, and feasting? Robert Baratheon is a great possibility as an archduke resting on his (ever expanding) laurels.

Once a formidable warrior, years of the good life has allowed those muscles to atrophy and those jowls to drop. But it's not a bad life. Who needs to worry when you've got that Black Eagle fellow shoring up your western border? And the elves and gnomes to your north? And that...well, there is a haunted and mysterious forest to the east, but there are hardly ever any monsters popping their ugly mugs out of it. Besides, young adventurers are always happy to go on a quest, and knighthoods are cheap to grant. Maybe they'll take some of my (illegitimate) kids with 'em...show 'em the ropes.

Sure wish the duchy wasn't in so much debt...

"What of it?"

Archduke as the Scheming Legacy Builder: or maybe your debt is just a means to an end. Tywin Lannister is a different kind of warlord: one who is ambitious, ruthless, and utterly dedicated to furthering the fortunes of his family and ensuring its legacy.

Stefan as Tywin would be perfectly happy to allow an equally ruthless warlord to rule the western marches...so long as the tool could be sufficiently controlled. Of more importance would be growing his own family, ensuring his own estates were secure, and building political alliances with other, rival nations. The infrastructure of the interior? Low priority compared to keeping up appearance in duchy's capital. A powerful naval force. Plate armored cavalry and perfectly drilled infantry. Evidence of pacified natives. And an open invitation to extra-nationals seeking to exploit the rich resources of the territory's interior.

No petty baron would do as a marriage partner for the ducal offspring; the archduke's children would be yet another resource to exploit and sell and help build the family's dominion and legacy.

"My followers were chosen as carefully
as the disciples of Christ."

Archduke as Bloody Handed Conquistador: But perhaps we'd like to use the native Traladarans...or some sort of indigenous prior inhabitants. Duke Stefan as Hernan Cortes could still be a B/X style adventurer...just one not conflicted about carving an empire out of an existing civilization.

This could be an archduke motivate by religion (slaying or converting the heathen pagans), riches (harvesting timber, mining precious metals), glory (etching his name on history), or bloody savagery (an excuse to kill). Truth is Cortes was a little bit of all those things, and while I've never met or read anything that ever praised the man or his actions, the fact remains that he made an indelible impression on the history of Mexico...and his descendants survive (comfortably) to this day.

Archduke as Chaos Cultist: AKA "Something Rotten in Specularum." Last one, and then I'll get this posted (man, I'm hopeful the next post in this series will be shorter!). Here's a quote direct from the 1st edition of Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness...though with some [words] replaced:

"[Stefan] was regarded as the finest military commander that the [Empire of Thyatis] had produced. His abilities were faultless, and eventually the Emperor granted him the title of [Archduke]. This was a high honor...

"Before [Stefan] could travel to [the Thyatian capital] to receive [additional reward] he fell ill [in] the [primitive territory] of [Traldara]. This was his undoing. During his convalescence [in Specularum] he was inducted into a secret warrior's lodge, which proved to be little more than a coven. A change of character became evident in the [archduke] - he had been possessed by a Daemon. [Stefan's] membership of the secret lodge was not unusual; Imperial soldiers were often encouraged to join warrior societies of this type..."

Late stage cultist Stefan.

Stefan Karameikos as Warmaster Horus may seem a bit of a stretch, but individuals in the Warhammer Fantasy setting fall prey to Chaos worship for all sorts of reasons (though, sure, it's usually tied to some sort of lust for power). Here's the great thing about it though: Chaos cultists usually strive with all their might to keep their allegiance secret. No one's going to pay taxes or follow the laws of a mutant scion of evil! And in a feudal society with a rigorously enforced social caste system, it's actually fairly easy to hide such worship...at least until your arm turns into a tentacle (then out will come the witch-hunters and the torches). See Shadows over Bogenhafen, etc. Anyway, the point is, an archduke that's fallen to Chaos has a lot more things to worry about then whether or not the roads are getting built...

All right, that's enough. More tomorrow!

[EDIT: I promise I'll come back and polish this post at a future date...when I have more time!]