TEXT: Credits and Contents
  1
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  RALIOS
  RALIOS
  Contents
  Credits & Contents 
   
  1
  Ralios  
   
   
  2
  The Eastern Wilds 
   
  3
    Saug & Delela  
   
  3
    Keanos 
   
   
  6
    Halikiv 
   
   
  8
    Corolaland 
   
   
  10
  Vesmonstran 
   
   
  12
    Lankst 
   
   
  12
    Telmoria 
   
   
  25
    Ormsland 
   
   
  27
    Karia  
   
   
  31
    Ballid  
   
   
  34
    Guhan 
   
   
  35
    Nida  
   
   
  38
  Index  
   
   
  41 
  Author 
  Robin D Laws
  Editor
  Ian Belcher
  Cover Art 
  Tony Parker
  Cover Design 
  Bob Cram, Dan Howard &
  Jeff Koch
  RuneQuest Logo
  Anne Stokes
  Maps 
  Keith Curtis
  Interior Illustrations 
  Craig Brasco, Bob Cram, Jeff Cram, Mike 
  Hamlett, Rick Hershey, Tim Hibbetts, 
  Dan Howard, Jeffrey Koch, Tom Scholes, 
  Joe Slucher & Colin Throm
  Publications Manager
  Ian Belcher
  Production Director
  Alexander Fennell
  Proofreading 
  Brian Leech
  Special Thanks
  Greg Stafford
  Credits
  
  2
  Ralios
   RALIOS
  O
  nce home to the grim and mysterious Stygian 
  Empire, Ralios is now a possession of the God 
  Learner Empire. For many years it was ruled by 
  dukes who, as vassals of the Emperor, owed revenues 
  and soldiers to the imperial treasury. The region still reels 
  from a war waged by the Emperor against his dukes and 
  viscounts, who he accused of rebellion. Now imperial 
  functionaries administer the area directly, fuelling local 
  resentment.
  Though the God Learners lay claim to all of Ralios, 
  large portions of it remain ungovernable. Outlaws and 
  troublemakers able to defend their own rights of person 
  and property can always make a life for themselves in 
  these places, no matter how out of favour they might be 
  with the putative authorities.
  Apart from the city-states of  Safelster, detailed in 
  Glorantha – The Second Age, Ralios contains a 
  tremendous variety of nations, wildlands and conﬂ icts.  
  This product expands the core campaign setting beyond 
  Safelster and into the remainder of Ralios’ lands, notably 
  the Eastern Wilds (including Saug, Delela and Corolaland) 
  and Vesmonstran (including Ballid, Telmoria, Guhan and 
  Ormsland).
  
  The Eastern Wilds
  3
  THE  EASTERN WILDS
  T
  he eastern region of Ralios is less hospitable 
  than Vesmonstran or Safelster. Orlanthi clans 
  predominate here but are less comfortable than 
  those of Lankst. Difﬁ cult soils make cultivation an 
  unreliable enterprise. Cattle are hard to feed here; free-
  ranging sheep take their place, along with penned pigs 
  and poultry. Tulas are larger than in comparatively fertile 
  places like Lankst, yet at the same time less densely 
  populated. Incursions from Dorastor, via Karia, infest 
  their hills with Chaos creatures. The cult of the anti-Chaos 
  god, Urox the Storm Bull, remains strong here. In some 
  remote clans, Urox is treated as the main god, husband to 
  an only partially willing Ernalda. The bullying inﬂ uence 
  of his devotees has had a coarsening effect on clan culture. 
  Rules of hospitality are remembered in myth but ﬂ outed 
  in reality. With resources in short supply, generosity is 
  considered more folly than virtue.
  Saug and Delela 
  The lands of Saug and Delela differ little. Both are rough, 
  sparsely populated lands inhabited by desperate Orlanthi 
  barbarian clans. They vary chieﬂ y in their relationship to 
  the great Empires. Delela bears the inﬂ uence of the EWF, 
  while the clans of Saug forge ties to the God Learners.
  Other cultural differences, invisible to outsiders, mean a 
  great deal to the Orlanthi of the East Wilds. Saug clans are 
  patrilineal; brides move to their husband’s clans. Delelan 
  clans are matrilineal; grooms join the clans of their 
  wives. In Saug, a man may ignore an insult to his honour 
  by laughing at it. In Delela, this option is forbidden, with 
  blood or silver required to regain one’s good name.
  Saug
  The clans of Saug disdain tribes, associating them with 
  the weakness and blasphemy of the Lizard Lover Empire. 
  They consider fears of the God Learners overblown 
  and view the EWF as the greater threat to Orlanthi 
  independence. Perhaps this is because the scholar-
  warriors of the Safelstran universities leave them alone. 
  The God Learners eschew studies into Chaos, and are 
  conversely uninterested in Storm Bull and his anti-Chaos 
  powers. Most contacts between Saug clan dwellers and 
  representatives of the Middle Sea Empire take place in 
  the arenas of trade and military alliance. Saug’s rough-
  hewn Issaries traders welcome Safelstran peddlers and 
  merchants. To the Safelsteri these are desperate bottom 
  feeders, unable to control markets in any but the most 
  benighted backwoods of Ralios. To the rag-picking 
  Saugites, they are bringers of splendid riches.
  With food and basic goods in short supply but spears and 
  swords plentiful, Saugites ﬁ nd it easier to raid merchant 
  caravans than to peacefully trade with them. Hard-pressed 
  merchants pay the strongest clans for protection, giving 
  them a percentage of their wares to fend off banditry 
  from others.
  Banditry is rife here. Safelstran outlaws, along with a 
  smattering of troublemakers from far-ﬂ ung lands, gather 
  into roving gangs who raid the eastern cities, Delela and 
  even Halikiv. Some ride around the Mislari Mountains 
  to strike in Maniria. Bandits operate out of clan lands. 
  About two thirds of them seek the protection of a strong 
  chieftain, paying a portion of their swag in exchange 
  for shelter. The rest forcibly occupy the poorest lands 
  of weaker clans. Saugite tulas are so spread out that not 
  even the best-defended clan can patrol all of its territory. 
  By recent custom, trails along tula boundaries have 
  become common roadways, where bandits may travel 
  unmolested. If not for these, honour would force the clans 
  to defend themselves against the incidental incursions of 
  passing brigands. Caravan captains avoid these roads, 
  preferring to make their own routes through the lands of 
  friendly clans.
  In merchant circles, when we wish to euphemistically 
  suggest a colleague’s financial distress, we say: ‘So 
  and so is presently investigating promising new 
  opportunities in the Saug territories’.
  — Suidos, Burgher of Kustria
  Militias funded by trading organisations have established 
  friendly relations with several clans, paying them tribute 
  in exchange for basing rights. They use these to launch 
  attacks against bandits, including those holed up in the 
  
  4
  The Eastern Wilds
  adjoining territory of Keanos. Saugite clans occasionally 
  conspire to whip up hostilities between bandits and 
  militias, then happily strip the battleﬁ eld of useful items 
  after both sides have torn the other to shreds.
  Notables
  Saug’s greatest Uroxi hero is  Jarn Sharpﬁ nger, so 
  named because he once killed a jack o’bear with only 
  his gloved hands. Jarn serves as chieftain of the Gori 
  clan, which kills outlaws and bandits by forcing them to 
  drink the Universal Nostrum. This potion, of which they 
  have an endless supply thanks to a stolen mostali device, 
  supposedly spares the lives of true and honest men. So 
  far no one to whom it has been administered has passed 
  the test. Jarn himself is known to be infamously trusting 
  and is therefore accompanied at all times by his cynical 
  cousin, Pera Crimson-Tress. Her opinion of mankind is 
  even lower than that of the Universal Nostrum.
  The Safelstran trader  Heliern the Shiverer has made a 
  thriving business in Saug, where so many else have failed. 
  He succeeds on the basis of his winning manner, genuine 
  The  Walker’s Curse
  The clansfolk of the East Wilds suffer 
  under an ancient curse laid upon them 
  by St. Kus, after they rode through the 
  countryside surrounding Kustria and 
  engaged in indiscriminate slaughter. Now 
  they cannot ride horses. Any attempt 
  to place a saddle on a horse or to ride it 
  bareback results in the immediate throwing 
  of the rider. The curse ties to the sufferer’s 
  bloodline. 
  Orlanthi 
  from 
  elsewhere, 
  including Lankst, can still ride here.
  The inability to ride restricts the effective 
  range of travel, whether for raiding or 
  trading. Consequently the tribes of the 
  East Wilds seem isolated from the rest 
  of the world. They display an ignorance 
  of Empires and faraway culture which, 
  whether sincere or feigned, remains 
  unshakeable.
  Foreigners on horseback are assumed 
  to be an imminent and severe threat. 
  They are attacked and driven off, their 
  horses butchered for the feasting hall. 
  Though brutal, the custom is not unwise; 
  riding cultures enjoy a huge advantage in 
  warfare against ground-bound opponents. 
  Travellers familiar with the region walk 
  alongside their horses, as a gesture of non-
  aggression.
  Asbor, chieftain of the Lanksti Roldoling clan, has offered to show the Orlanthi of the East Wilds how to 
  increase their travel speed by hooking horses up to chariots. His warlike reputation and the exorbitant reward 
  he wants for demonstrating the secrets of his god, Mastakos, have so far deterred the East Wilds Orlanthi 
  from pursuing his plan.
  
  The Eastern Wilds
  5
   Merein
  Any bandit or militia group with the ill manners to show up on horseback 
  arouses the murderous unity of all Saugites against them. The village 
  of Merein, on the edge of Saugite territory, specialises in livery stables, 
  housing the horses of bandits and bandit-hunters alike. They can leave 
  their mounts here and travel into Saug proper on foot. 
  Village-spanning magics supplied by the village’s temple of Elmal, the 
  Orlanthi god of sun and horse, burns to a crisp any malefactor attempting 
  to steal or harm a steed within its boundaries.
  Merein’s village headman is also its Elmal priest, Ingarro. He was 
  outlawed from a Saugite clan, the Crackling Twigs, for endlessly 
  inveighing against its Uroxi orientation. After years of dealing with 
  Malkioni, Ingarro has inherited their concept of heresy. He believes that 
  Uroxi clans are heretical and must reform themselves back into proper 
  ‘Orlanth and Ernalda’ worshippers. If approached in a subtle way, he 
  will provide underhanded assistance to adventurers acting against Uroxi 
  clans.
  By peculiar tradition, visitors in Merein are not permitted accommodations 
  better than they would grant to their horses. Adventurers must be 
  prepared to sleep in stables or to invite their horses into their barn-sized 
  hotel rooms with them.
  interest in the affairs of others and studious refusal to be 
  drawn into conﬂ icts. Many of his caravan guards have 
  gone on to good careers as traders themselves. He must 
  frequently hire on new warriors to replace those who go off 
  to found their own caravans. Heliern conducts interviews 
  at his warehouse in Merein. For a suitable fee, he may 
  detail a reliable guard to act as guide and intermediary to 
  an adventuring band travelling through Saug.
  The Orlanthi Runelord  Harngar Aircarver travels 
  tirelessly between the clans whenever the prospect of 
  tribal uniﬁ cation rears its head. He views this as the ﬁ rst 
  step toward wyrmfriendiﬁ cation and argues staunchly 
  against it. When not engaged in rearguard political action, 
  he leads raiding parties into Delela and Ormsland. His 
  sallies exact a high casualty rate and he is always looking 
  for a few good adventurers to round out his attack force.
   Svalgos Catchboot typiﬁ es the area’s Safelstran bandits. 
  He and his ever-changing force of no-gooders prey 
  chieﬂ y on the caravans of his countrymen. Svalgos’ 
  gang is a mixed bag of heretics, foreigners and renegade 
  hsunchen. For a tidy 1,000 silvers a year, merchants can 
  buy protection from him. Heliern pays him off, allegedly 
  at a discount.
  Saug’s strangest bandit chieftain must 
  be  Chikrikmik, an arachan timinit 
  leading a raider band mostly consisting 
  of his fellow insect men. Infamous 
  for his ferocity, he slaughters all who 
  resist him. He directs his attacks only 
  against EWF targets, suggesting that 
  he is subsidised by some Middle Sea 
  organisation or another. 
   Delela 
  The Delelan clans unite into tribes 
  and provide hospitality to EWF 
  missionaries. 
  Outsiders 
  consider 
  them wyrmfriends in all but name, 
  yet the reality is more complicated. 
  Delela’s tribes are constantly splitting 
  up, amalgamating, dissolving and 
  going to war with one another. 
  They make outlandish demands of 
  visiting Hunting and Waltzing Bands, 
  requesting draconic powers to use 
  against their tribal rivals or militating 
  for direct intervention by wyrmfriend 
  forces.
  Some Delelan tribes consist of only a handful of clans. At 
  last count, there were eighteen of them in all. No doubt 
  that number will change by the time your adventurers 
  arrive there. The largest and most inﬂ uential tribes are 
  as follows.
  The territorially discontinuous  Anzarti tribe binds 
  together the region’s most militant Uroxi fanatics. They 
  disdain regional bickering to concentrate on their holy 
  battle against Chaos. To this end they ally themselves 
  with Uroxi clans from Saug and welcome any Storm Bull 
  followers from anywhere else. Their king is Orl the Flat, 
  known for his curious ability to burrow into the earth. 
  The  Hillhad, who style themselves the Pure Orlanth 
  People, have always hated the Anzarti. They will attack 
  their war parties whenever advantage permits, including 
  when the Anzarti return wounded from a sally against 
  Chaos. The Hillhad’s enemies call them the Chaos tribe 
  and spread rumours that their king, Henst, suffers from a 
  variety of unspeciﬁ ed mutations. 
  The  Orlundi, led by the glib King Randere Buttermouth, 
  advocate Delelan unity. They claim that the region’s 
  
  6
  The Eastern Wilds
  Heroes of Delela
   Angheng the Winnower is a renegade missionary who learned just enough 
  from the wyrmfriends to be dangerous both to his supposed masters and to 
  his converts. He proclaims the worship of Urox the Dragon, whose hot ﬁ ery 
  breath unites the world and cleanses it of Chaos. Initiates into his cult cede 
  their worship energy to him; he uses it to boost his anti-Chaos powers. He 
  chooses his enemies by a simple tenet: anyone who opposes him must surely 
  be of Chaos. Both EWF and anti-EWF forces want him dead but his surprising 
  powers have allowed him to triumph in the face of multiple ambushes.
   Fedartha Ever-Die is a heroine of the Hillhad tribe. Some people call her 
  a demigoddess. At the beginning of every Darkness Season, she dies and is 
  placed in an earthen crypt beneath the Ernalda temple kept by her home clan, 
  the Rani. On the ﬁ rst day of Sea Season, her priestesses open up the earthen 
  mound and ﬁ nd her, breathing calmly and looking younger. She refuses to 
  divulge her age but God Learner scholars have found references to her in a 
  chronicle of the 3rd Century. God Learner spirit raiders have tried to kidnap her 
  on three separate occasions, only to meet various grisly fates. The last time, 
  they all died of instant starvation.
  From a private stead granted him by King Kenstor of the Tarth tribe,  Gerado 
  Arnadée, a Malkioni convert to wyrmfriendism, plots the ascendance of his 
  new cult among the people of Safelster. He claims to have discovered the God 
  Learner’s Secret, which is embodied in a ﬁ st-sized egg covered in reptilian 
  scales. He keeps this safely buried somewhere in Tarth territory, protected by a 
  crushing earthshaker spirit. Several dozen fellow Malkioni converts attend and 
  protect him. Gerado can look into a person’s soul and immediately grasp the 
  subject’s greatest weakness, worst memory and object of profoundest love.
  King Kenstor of the  Tarth 
  tribe is the estranged brother of 
  King Randere and works night 
  and day to thwart his sibling’s 
  ambitions. He has invited 
  Hunting and Waltzing Bands 
  to conduct worship of his 
  tribe’s lesser clans. Notably, 
  he has so far forbidden them 
  to proselytise his own home 
  clan, the Brown Deer. He 
  says that if the Orlundi tribe 
  breaks up within two years, 
  he will swear allegiance to 
  the Inhuman King. They say 
  that Kenstor has the evil eye 
  and that any man he insults 
  becomes doubly susceptible 
  to spirits of disease. The 
  continuing good health of 
  his brother cuts against the 
  veracity of this rumour.
  The  Vanahar tribe controls 
  the 
  Doskior 
  river 
  as 
  it 
  approaches 
  the 
  Safelstran 
  cities of Marost. As such 
  it has enriched itself by 
  imposing tolls on merchants 
  travelling upriver and is the 
  most prosperous clan of impoverished Delela. It fears 
  Delelan unity, on the grounds that a true nation would 
  drain its coffers, redistributing its wealth to the hungry 
  hill clans. Its Queen, Asulanta, pursues a ‘divide and 
  conquer’ policy. She gives money to other tribes when 
  they war against each other and foments trouble when 
  peace seems imminent.
   Keanos, Land of Hunters
  The region of Keanos acts as a buffer between Safelster 
  and the East Wilds. The Orlanthi of the East Wilds believe 
  that it was once a fertile land but that it was cursed 
  during the First Age, when Orlanthi missionaries from 
  Theyala met up with their Hrestoli Malkioni counterparts 
  at a fateful crook in the Doskior River. The two groups 
  promised each other protection and hospitality but 
  something bad happened and a massacre resulted. The 
  broken peacebond poisoned the land and now nothing 
  cultivated will grow here at all. The Delelans believe that 
  Both Kenstor and Randere started out in different 
  clans and entered the tribes they lead through 
  marriage. This is entirely right and proper, and 
  would never happen among the stickpicking 
  Saugite sons of dogs.
  — Enlirath Gasting, God Talker of the Brown Deer 
  Clan
  fertility could be made to ﬂ ower if all tribes put away 
  their differences to engage in a great sacriﬁ ce to Ernalda. 
  Seeing the unity offered by the EWF as a rival to his own, 
  Randere denies hospitality to missionaries and preaches 
  against their soul-sapping magic. A recent attempt on his 
  life by ﬂ ying lizards led him to offer a bounty for any 
  Hunting and Waltzing Band members apprehended on 
  Delelan soil.
  
  The Eastern Wilds
  7
  the westerners broke the peacebond and slaughtered the 
  Theyalans as they slept. Saugites say that it was drunken 
  servants of the Orlanthi trickster god, Eurmal, who set 
  both parties against each other. For their part, the people 
  of Safelster care so little about this dusty, rocky patch of 
  hill country that none of their records refer to any such 
  incident.
  The  Odayla People
  Proper Orlanthi clans are absent here. Keanos’ indigenous 
  population consists of a few thousand nomadic hunters. 
  They worship the Orlanthi hunting god, Odayla, but 
  otherwise depart culturally from their clan-bound 
  cousins. They travel in extended family units, led by 
  the best hunter, who is usually but not invariably a man. 
  Orlanth and a few other of the Storm Tribe, like Yinkin 
  the Cat and Humakt Deathdealer, show up in their stories, 
  but do not receive signiﬁ cant worship. Kolat, the spirit 
  talker, is the second most important god and is considered 
  a wise older brother to Odayla. He helps the Keanosites 
  negotiate with animal spirits. These spirits designate the 
  sick and weak beasts to be culled. People of Keanos treat 
  spirits with a deference verging on prostration and do not 
  dominate or entrap them.
  War between families is always bad news, wasting 
  valuable time and energy that could be used gathering 
  food. To steal the catch of another Odaylan is a despicable 
  offence against the gods. 
  It is, however, perfectly acceptable to take food from 
  foreigners. Odayla teaches that sneaking is better 
  than attacking, though attacking is allowed when the 
  alternative is hunger.
  Killing other people, including non-humans, is permissible 
  only to those who have submitted to the rites of Humakt 
  Deathdealer. The penitent journeys to an isolated spot, 
  fasts and engages in selective self-mutilation. If Humakt 
  comes and marks the worshipper on the forehead with his 
  symbol, he gains permission to kill. Deathdealers often 
  leave their families for other lands, where they slake their 
  lust for killing. Then they return and rejoin their people. 
  The permission to deal death remains but the necessity 
  of the impulse diminishes. Keanosite deathdealers are in 
  high demand as scouts and wilderness assassins. Armed 
  units of both Empires employ their grim services.
  Deliberately bringing about the death of another Odaylan 
  is always murder, no matter whose family he belongs 
  to. He who commits it must indenture himself for three 
  years and a season to the family of the slain. Self-defence 
  mitigates the crime. If the accused can prove it to the 
  satisfaction of a wandering priest or shaman, the penalty 
  need not be paid.
  Each family includes a priest or initiate of Odayla, who 
  grants Divine Magic for community use. Most hunters 
  are shamans. Powerful priests of Odayla and shamans 
  of Kolat separate from their families to serve the entire 
  culture, as do the very rare servants of the healing goddess, 
  Chalana Arroy. They roam from one family to the next, 
  as needed. When a wandering priest arrives, one must 
  have food to give her or suffer three years and a season 
  of shame and bad luck. No matter how malnourished a 
  family might be, no priest is cruel enough to shame a 
  family by turning down its offered food.
  Bandits
  The Odaylan lack of territoriality and disinclination to 
  attack makes their hilly land an ideal haven for bandits 
  and fugitives. Many of its hills, particularly those nearest 
  the Mislari Mountains, are pitted with ﬁ ssures in which 
  small gangs can camp and hide. As long as they bring 
  in their own food and put little pressure on the local 
  wildlife, outlaws can coexist peacefully with the locals. 
  Smart fugitives leave out food, so the Odaylans feel no 
  need to creep into their camps.
  It is never wise to contemplate too closely one’s use 
  of a Keanosite deathdealer, to question the nature of 
  his faith or to look too intently into his eyes.
  — Helin D’tiskos, Captain of the Rightness Army
  Our god tells us never to steal food from the same 
  foreigner three days running. Elsewise, we lose 
  the will to hunt and his nourishing food becomes 
  a trap.
  — Garorlamas, Head Hunter of the Argradu 
  Bloodline, Keanos
  
  8
  The Eastern Wilds
  The Odaylans give bandits little trouble but are just as 
  tolerant of war parties who come to kill or capture them. 
  The bandits who hide here can raid as far as Ormsland, 
  Safelster, Lankst, Delela or Saug, so those who hunt them 
  come from any of these places. Bandit hunters may be 
  less aware of Odaylan culture and more prone to cause 
  unnecessary trouble with them.
  Notorious bandits known to hole up in Keanos include:
  D  Koleng, a former king of the Delelan Hillhad tribe, 
  who got caught trying to dig up Fedartha Ever-Die 
  before her ritual re-emergence. He claims he was 
  possessed by an evil ghost at the time and harbours 
  an unquenchable bitterness against his tribe for 
  dethroning him. His gang is also Delelan. He raids 
  Hillhad lands in preference to others, but will 
  opportunistically attack any poorly defended trade 
  caravan.
  D  Bozh Bojat, a trollkin, formerly of Halikiv. His all-
  trollkin gang specialises in attacks against other uz. 
  He has sworn an oath never to harm a fellow enlo, 
  unless that enlo harms him or another of his band.
  D  Auguel the Wrong, former steward to the deposed 
  Duke of Col – and also his illegitimate son. His 
  attacks on compilers of the Emperor’s tax rolls are so 
  savage that even the exiled nobles have condemned 
  him and offered a reward for his capture, dead or 
  alive. Now Auguel claims to be ﬁ ghting for the 
  restoration of the Autarchy, attracting the assistance 
  of several banished members of the Guhan Guard.
   Halikiv, Land of Trolls
  Tucked in the jagged, stony crook where the Mislari 
  Mountains meet the Western Rockwood range is the 
  ancient uz stronghold of Halikiv. A vast, blackened ediﬁ ce 
  rises from the centre of the territory, its height rivalling 
  the nearby peaks. This is one of the fabled Castles of 
  Lead, a nearly unassailable tower raised by the uz in the 
  glory days of the Great Darkness. Its windowless reaches 
  allow not an glimmer of light inside, allowing its troll 
  inhabitants to remain active during brightest daylight. 
  Coruscating clouds of darkness wreathe its lower reaches. 
  When attackers approach, these coalesce into reaching, 
  wormlike tentacles, which pierce or strangle those who 
  would deﬁ le this holy uz redoubt.
  The Castle of Lead leads deep down into the earth, 
  connecting to a twisting, centipedal network of 
  passageways, where uz of lesser status toil, spar and eat 
  all they can. Included among their number is a writhing 
  legion of wretched trollkin.
   Slaves Pens of Halikiv
  A forest of chains, fences and cages criss-crosses Halikiv’s 
  rocky surface. Blackened, deteriorating bunkhouses 
  house tens of thousands of human slaves. During the 
  day, they sleep, dosed by a will-sapping potion called 
  The Castle of Lead is a kygerlith. That means it’s 
  an incarnation of our goddess, Kyger Litor. So if 
  you mess with it, you are a fool. And soon you be 
  a dead fool.
  — Gor Kargor, Matriarch of Guhan
   Bozh Bojat, Keanos Bandit Leader
  
  The Eastern Wilds
  9
  Relations with  Guhan
  Although the two uz communities of Ralios arguably 
  have interests in common, contacts between them 
  are minimal. A few uz of Halikiv fought alongside 
  Arkat and were rewarded by him with land in the 
  kingdom of Guhan. Most, however, came from the 
  Shadowlands.
  The matriarchs of Halikiv have always viewed 
  Guhan as a preposterous human institution staffed 
  by idiotic males, who have never been able to 
  manage their own affairs. Also, Halikiv blames the 
  Guhan Guard for inﬂ aming local human animus 
  against the uz during the heyday of the Stygian 
  Empire. That the Guhanites are generally better fed 
  than the Haliviki does little to quell their spite. The 
  Guhanites, feeling the sting of their undisguised 
  contempt, hate to interact with them. 
  pluh, a main ingredient of their rancid porridge. At night, 
  they work as foragers and harvesters, picking clean the 
  surrounding scrubland of all plant and animal life they 
  can grasp in their bleeding, twitching ﬁ ngers. They ﬁ ll 
  their heavy baskets with gorse, moss, grubs, mice, eggs, 
  switchgrass and other meagre delicacies. In Halikiv’s 
  few scraps of genuinely arable land, they tend quick-
  growing crops, overseen by uz warriors mounted on giant 
  insects. The combination of depressant intake and back-
  breaking labour keeps most of them dully compliant and 
  incapable of worship – and thus, unable to gain spells to 
  rebel against their masters. Those few who display the 
  wherewithal to rebel are fed to the giant praying mantises 
  who act as outrider guardians for the settlement during 
  the daytime. Halikiv’s uz adore the taste of free-ranging 
  human but will eat slaves only in a pinch, as the build-up 
  of pluh in their systems can render a diner indolent for 
  days.
  Leadership
  Halikiv, in contrast to Guhan, stands a bastion to uz 
  traditionalism. Its rulers are grand matriarchs, a troika 
  of Mistress Race trolls born during the early decades 
  of the First Age. Sometimes called the Three Queens or 
  individually titled as Princesses, they are:
  D  Sorenteli, who was burned by the evil sun when it 
  blasted back into the sky and is hairless and bitter.
  D  Toolani, who is always at least somewhat pregnant 
  and bears fewer trollkin per litter than any other uz.
  D  Dachargro, who is famous even outside of Halikiv 
  for her long list of lovers. Legend has it that she 
  dallied with Arkat and maybe even Talor the 
  Laughing Warrior (Malkioni who revere Talor as a 
  saint ﬁ ercely deny this calumny). Sometimes she 
  ventures out of Halikiv to seek a new, strange partner 
  to tryst with. Survivors of her embrace acquire weird 
  darkness powers.
  Only the clan matriarchs, the senior females of Halikiv’s 
  many clans, ever meet the Three Queens snout-to-snout. 
  On those rare occasions when the grand matriarchs feel 
  the need to intervene in the kingdom’s administrative 
  affairs, they convey their orders to the clan matriarchs, 
  who transmit them to the soldiers, ofﬁ cials and dogsbodies 
  who run their extended families.
  Warriors of Halikiv
  Adventurers are more likely to encounter Halikiv’s 
  champions than its leaders. The roster of its most feared 
  warriors reads as follows.
   Arganga Xok, the Moth Rider, derives her powers 
  from the insect goddess, Gorakikki. She rides a giant 
  moth into battle, at the head of a platoon of ferocious 
  warrior-women, also all moth-mounted. She can spew a 
  sticky web-like substance from her mouth and hands. It 
  envelops her enemies and quickly hardens to the strength 
  of bronze. 
   Volanergg is an indomitable devotee of the death god 
  Zorak Zoran. He animates dead human slaves into a 
  zombie and skeleton army that defends the borderlands 
  of Halikiv during daylight hours, when uz ﬁ nd it hard 
  to ﬁ ght. Volanergg upholds his faith by prosecuting a 
  bloodthirsty hatred for all sun worshippers. He ﬁ nds them 
  aplenty among the solar worshippers of Corolaland’s 
  Enlightenment Alliance.
  A lifelong lust for inedible riches afﬂ icts the stealthy 
   Thongimus Silver-Stealer, who sneaks into adventurer’s 
  encampments along with his personal retinue of shadow 
  spirits. He always pilfers their purses before attacking 
  – assuming that combat appears on his agenda at all. The 
  Three Queens often use him to execute reconnaissance 
  missions.
  
  10
  The Eastern Wilds
  The wide, dark eyes and infantile features of the enlo 
  called  Dichen the Liar exert a powerful subconscious 
  inﬂ uence on any humans who encounter him. They 
  instinctively treat him as a cute, helpless creature in 
  need of their nurturing protection. Dichen pretends to 
  be a mistreated trollkin rebel escaped from Halikiv’s 
  sadistic slave masters. He promises to act as a scout for 
  adventurers intent on penetrating the troll kingdom. In 
  truth, he always leads them to the slaughter. A child of 
  Princess Toolani, Dichen enjoys the highest status of any 
  enlo in Halikiv.
  The human witch  Drimentos heads a small cadre of 
  free humans granted asylum in Halikiv. She is a Spolite 
  darkness sorcerer, a member of a secret society that 
  dominated Peloria before the EWF took over. She hopes 
  to use Halikiv as a base to launch a Spolite resurgence as 
  soon as the wyrmfriends falter. Her entry to Halikiv came 
  when the Zorak Zorani Runelord Volanergg caught her in 
  the act of skinning a Yelmalio warrior alive. On the spot, 
  Volanergg declared her his honorary sister, a connection 
  they sealed with a subsequent blood ceremony. She later 
  won the maternal affections of Princess Sorenteli, which 
  are not often given, especially to a human. No uz attacks 
  the sun worshippers of the Enlightenment Alliance as 
  enthusiastically as Drimentos.
   Corolaland
  Wedged uncomfortably between the barren hills of Saug 
  and the troll country of Halikiv is a sliver of land known 
  as Corolaland. This unwanted patch of scoured earth 
  serves as the headquarters of the Enlightenment Alliance, 
  an ad hoc organisation of disparate factions who ﬁ nd 
  common cause in their war against the trolls.
  The Enlightenment Alliance was founded 20 years ago, 
  by the Dara Happan noble  Luvarharmos. He created it 
  as an outlet for young Dara Happan men who wanted 
  to ﬁ ght for their god without taking a stand on the 
  legitimacy of the Dragon Emperor. By ﬁ ghting the trolls 
  of faraway Halikiv, they neither challenge nor support 
  the Golden Dragon. Neither threatened or thrilled by its 
  agenda, the EWF council allows the Alliance to exist, as 
  a useful safety valve. It draws Dara Happans who might 
  otherwise rise in rebellion against them to disperse their 
  energies in a distant and useless cause.
  Luvaraharmos’ force includes adherents of the best-
  known solar war cult, Yelmalio, as well as obscurer 
  supporting sun deities, such as Polaris and Antirius. His 
  men are noted for their youth, unbending deference to 
  authority, bravery and lack of imagination. Their leader 
  is a kindly, cautious fellow who takes pains to project 
  a fatherly demeanour. He is easily ﬂ attered by requests 
  for advice, to which he responds with a ready supply of 
  platitudes.
  Luvarharmos has since built his organisation across 
  cross-cultural lines, uniting solar adherents of various 
  faiths. Other members include: 
  If Luvarharmos tried an invasion of the 
  Shadowlands, a trollish territory under the 
  wyrmfriend wing, he would see our tolerance for 
  his folly instantly evaporate.
  — Ervaling Scalemaker, Wyrmfriend Priest
   Arganga Xok, Moth Rider 
  
  The Eastern Wilds
  11
  D The  Elmal peoples of the East Wilds. Before 
  Luvarharmos came, Corolaland was occupied 
  only by a few eccentric Orlanthi-style clans who 
  followed Elmal as their main male god and husband 
  to Ernalda. The Elmali, unaffected by the Walker’s 
  Curse, are among the best riders of Ralios. Like 
  anyone else, they travel on foot through Saug and 
  Delela. As ancestral foes of the trolls, they easily 
  found common cause with the Enlightenment 
  Alliance. The chieftain of the Elmal tribe is  Elus 
  the Listener, a calm and mediating ﬁ gure among the 
  various glowing hotheads of the Alliance.
  D An extended clan of Pentan nomads, displaced after 
  the EWF conquest of their territories, slashed their 
  way through the continent until they wound up 
  here. As their khan,  Gika Perekasya, approached 
  Luvarharmos, killing hatchet in hand, he experienced 
  a blinding vision sent by the great sun spirit, Kargzant, 
  who ordered him to remain here and lay waste to 
  the trolls. Commanded by his god, he bowed down 
  before Luvarharmos, declaring him an elder brother 
  in matters of war.
  D The  Qa-Ying, or eagle hsunchen, from the Shanshan 
  mountains in Kralorela. Brought here by God Learner 
  scholars intent on ﬁ nding mythic commonalities 
  between them and the various hsunchen of Ralios, 
  they grew quickly bored and lit off in search of a 
  suitable nesting site. After ﬁ nding one in the Mislari 
  Mountains, they were raided by uz. The survivors 
  threw in with the Enlightenment Alliance, seeking 
  vengeance. Their current leader is  Rui Qin the Night 
  Eagle, who in his eagle form shines a blinding light 
  from his wing feathers.
  D The  Institute For Darkness Studies, a God Learner 
  front organisation created solely for the purpose 
  of attracting the partnership of the Enlightenment 
  Alliance. Its purported mission is the penetration and 
  exposure of darkness cults everywhere, including 
  the uz. Really it wants to steal uz myths and secrets 
  for its own use. Its dean is the crane-thin, pernickety 
  sorcerer  Milmarn. His students, more interested in 
  a pulse-pounding scrap than dry mythic studies, 
  enthusiastically lend their Sorcery to the Alliance’s 
  sallies against Halikiv.
  Adventure Hooks
  The default Corolaland adventure is a raid against the 
  trolls, conducted either in concert with, or under the 
  sponsorship of, the Enlightenment Alliance. Other 
  adventures might include:
   A Drunkard’s Vow: Loup Milharo, wastrel son of a 
  wealthy family of Safelster, got drunk in a tavern and 
  signed on as a volunteer for the Enlightenment Alliance. 
  He showed no particular animus toward uz before striking 
  up this sudden barroom friendship with his new buddy, 
  the charismatic Dara Happan exile Bramardharim. The 
  Milharo family hires the adventurers to intercept Loup 
  and bring him back, kidnapping him if necessary. They 
  require the party to sign a secrecy agreement, punishable 
  by an onslaught of madness spirits. Once the documents 
  are signed, they reveal the secret they want kept from the 
  world. If Loup is not returned before Wildday, he will turn 
  into a wolf, revealing the entire family as descendants of 
  cursed Telmori.
   Bright Delivery: The adventurers hire on as couriers 
  for a Dara Happan noble, who wants them to convey a 
  family heirloom, the Solar Staff, to his son, a ﬁ ghter for 
  the Enlightenment Alliance in Corolaland.
   Under Cover of Brightness: Huddux Urgug, patron of 
  Kustria hires the adventurers to take part in a hazardous 
  hoax in Corolaland. They are to escort Trietoia, a Spolite 
  darkness witch, to that territory. Once there, she will arm 
  them with temporary darkness magic, which they will 
  use to chase her into an Enlightenment Alliance camp. 
  She can then pose as a Spolite defector, gaining asylum 
  behind their lines. Then she can act as double agent. Once 
  the adventurers deliver her, the rest of their task is simple 
  – all they have to do is evade pursuit by the Alliance’s 
  best trackers, through their home turf.
  As fusty as he may seem, Luvarharmos is scarcely 
  an idiot. He knows to trust his God Learner 
  partners only insofar as their magics prove useful 
  to the cause.
  — Bramardharim, Lieutenant-at-Arms of the 
  Enlightenment Alliance
  
  12
  Vesmonstran
   VESMONSTRAN
  V
  esmonstran is Ralios’ northern region. In contrast 
  to the urbanised, densely populated Safelster 
  area, it is a sparsely inhabited territory where 
  humans jockey for survival with dwarfs, elfs, trolls, 
  werewolves, dragonewts and Chaos creatures.
    Lankst, Stronghold of Orlanth
  The hilly land of Lankst stands as one of two places 
  where the traditional Orlanthi ways still reign supreme. 
  The other is Hendrikiland, which only recently threw off 
  the yoke of wyrmfriend rule.
   Clans and Empires
  Lankst has been an independent Orlanthi stronghold since 
  the fall of the Stygian Empire in 740. The Autarchy’s 
  destroyers, the God Learner Empire, ofﬁ cially declare 
  hegemony over the area. The situation on the ground 
  contradicts their imperious claims. The Empire sends 
  exploratory delegations into the area and occasionally 
  makes noises about making a census. However, it does 
  not impose its laws, exact taxation or maintain order. 
  Military outposts erected in the late eighth and early 
  ninth centuries now languish, abandoned.
  The Empire’s lack of control over Lankst is a cause of 
  controversy in the capital. God Learners want to leave 
  it as a sort of theist preserve, where they can go to learn 
  undiscovered myths. They feel they get better information 
  from contacts in Lankst than from urbanised Orlanthi in 
  Safelster.
  Opposing them is the Rightness Army, which seeks either 
  the conversion or eradication of the Orlanthi peoples, 
  depending on which brand of fanaticism holds sway in 
  the organisation at any given moment. Rightness Army 
  raiding parties stage occasional forays into Lankst. These 
  tend to be the ﬁ ercest of the army’s hotheads.
  To bolster their intentions toward Lankst, God Learner 
  leaders engage in a long-term plan to use the Orlanthi as 
  a catspaw against the EWF. Their agents foment conﬂ ict 
  between the Lanksti Orlanthi and their draconised 
  counterparts of Ormsland. With Lanskti harrying tactics 
  pinning down the wyrmfriends, the God Learners can 
  convincingly argue that they should be left alone to 
  unwittingly serve the Empire’s strategic aims.
  The Lanskti require little prodding to regard the followers 
  of Orlanth the Dragon as worse threats than the God 
  Learners. Draconised Orlanthi, ever more anxious to fuel 
  their own magics with fresh recruits, continue to send 
  missionary parties into Lanskti clan lands. So desperate 
  are they that they violate Orlanthi rules of hospitality, 
  crossing tula boundaries with impunity. When their 
  people are held for ransom, they send all manner of 
  foreign menaces to retrieve them, from dragonewts and 
  earthshaking dinosaurs to Pelorian hoplite brigades.
  A Haven for Exiles 
  Fiesive has recently earned a reputation for uniting 
  adventuring parties of absurdly disparate backgrounds. 
  Lankst has become a haven for various foreigners with 
  a grudge against the EWF. Exile communities cluster 
  in the growing town of Fiesive, whose chief export is 
  rebellion. Groups represented include Dara Happan 
  nobles, Carmanian dualists and Spolite darkness witches. 
  Under other circumstances, these groups would have 
  their ﬁ ngers clamped around each others’ throats. Mutual 
  hatred of the wyrmfriends have made strange bedfellows 
  of them. 
  Local Orlanthi attitudes toward the exiles vary, according 
  to each clan’s tradition of innovation and tolerance. 
  Militantly isolationist clans prey on them as they would 
  any other crazy outsider. More accepting communities 
  trade with them and even coordinate raiding activities. 
  Luckily for the exiles, the former tend to be clustered in 
  the northern hills, with the friendlier clans arranged on 
  the banks of the Upper Tanier River.
  The high leaders of the Rightness Army have bigger 
  fish to fry than the Lanksti wind worshippers. They 
  pretend to be fixing for a war on the EWF but their 
  true goal is the overthrow of the heathen-loving 
  God Learners.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  Vesmonstran
  13
   Tribes and Kings
  The biggest current conﬂ ict within the Orlanthi 
  communities of Lankst revolves around 
  the issue of tribal unity. Whenever the 
  Lanksti have been powerful relative to 
  their neighbours, it has been as a handful 
  of uniﬁ ed tribes, as opposed to a scattering 
  of disparate clans. During the Dawn Age, 
  Arkat conquered the Lanksti after internal 
  conﬂ ict split apart the tribes.
  The Autarchy kept the Lanskti from 
  forming tribes, suppressing them ruthlessly 
  whenever they opted for political unity. 
  After the fall of the Stygians, tribes formed 
  brieﬂ y, then fell apart again.
  This happened when EWF missionaries 
  ﬁ rst trickled into what had previously been 
  closed territory. In their own territory, 
  they organise clans into large tribes. Their 
  composition is decreed from without. 
  Priests are put in charge of the tribes, 
  leaving the traditional warrior-kings out in 
  the cold.
  In the minds of a large faction of Lankst’s 
  Orlanthi, the very concept of the tribe 
  is inextricably linked with draconic 
  blasphemy. Advocates of tribal unity argue 
  that this attitude dooms them forever to 
  defeat. If the enemies have tribes, they 
  need them, too.
  Individual 
  ambition 
  complicates 
  the 
  equation. The foremost proponents of a 
  return to tribalism unsurprisingly envision 
  themselves as the founding kings of these 
  new tribes. Unfortunately, they all lack the 
  popularity and charisma necessary to win themselves the 
  thrones they seek. 
   Clans of Lanskt
  The  Arnisi earn fame as Lankst’s most competitive game 
  players. They always win at kite contests, arm-wrestling 
  and foot races. They maintain a shrine to Mastakos, 
  the running god. The Arnisi chieftain, Dori Enalos, has 
  six sons by six different lovers. Each expertly wields a 
  different weapon and sports a different hair colour. When 
  they raid together, they are mightier than any single hero 
  of the Upper Tanier Valley.
  The tribes split because of Arkat! Some thought 
  he was still a trustworthy Orlanthi at heart, while 
  others knew he was an accursed troll-friend. So 
  they fought each other, instead of him.
  — Kenna Harthstaling, Talking Woman of the Blue 
  Bull Clan
  
  14
  Vesmonstran
  The  Blue Bulls are known for the righteous viciousness 
  of their women who, in adherence with their ancestral 
  ways, insist that feuds be carried on even when the men 
  have grown wounded and weary. They have a bigger pig 
  herd than anyone else and keep a shrine to Mralota, the 
  obscure goddess of that animal. Their chieftain is Leik 
  Push-Between, who has never seen an argument between 
  third parties he did not wish to intervene in. The greatest 
  magician among them is Kenna Harthstaling, a Lhankor 
  Mhy priestess who wears a false beard of thorny wicker.
  The  Badnali clan campaigns tirelessly for tribal 
  formation. Their chieftain, Kag the Gloomy, is an oddly 
  dour follower of the Talking God, Issaries. His main 
  argument for tribes is that the Lanskti will be utterly and 
  horribly destroyed if they don’t adopt a robust defensive 
  posture immediately. He fully intends to be King of 
  Lankst but lacks the bold conﬁ dence necessary to an 
  Orlanthi ruler. Kag spent much of his youth in the city of 
  Kustria. His comrade from those days, a Malkioni warrior 
  named Gerdret, is a frequent visitor to the Badnali tula. 
  Kag’s opponents point to his friend’s inﬂ uence as proof 
  that he is in the pay of the Seshnegi myth-stealers.
  Ever since the founding of the clan, the  Brockroling 
  have been staunchly independent. Celebrated for their 
  hospitality and penchant for feasting, they welcome the 
  exiles of Fiesive to their tula to swap stories and hatch 
  plans against the EWF. Don’t mistake them for friends 
  of the God Learners, though. They oppose the southern 
  Empire with equal fervour. They favour the formation of 
  a tribe, although their chieftain, Orl Wax-Skin, disclaims 
  all interest in thrones or regalia. The Brockroling are a 
  peace clan and as such are dependent on the goodwill of 
  their more warlike neighbours.
  their ceremonies. At the ritual’s climax, they release him, 
  mimicking Orlanth’s Lightbringer Quest. The people of 
  Fiesive, Dara Happan or otherwise, are understandably 
  unhappy about being invaded on an annual basis. They 
  not only vehemently defend themselves when the time 
  comes but launch pre-emptive reprisal raids against 
  Brolforoli lands throughout the year. Tensions between 
  clan and town have ratcheted even further since their 
  chieftain and thundering hero, Korlmar, slew the town’s 
  mayor during last year’s sally. 
  The  Clacking Coins are a trading clan whose primary 
  rivals are the Badnali. Because the Badnali support tribal 
  unity, they oppose it. Unlike their rivals, the Clacking 
  Coins trade avidly with delegations from the EWF. Thanks 
  to this connection, they conduct a brisk trade in exotic 
  goods from Maniria and Peloria. They say they are only 
  interested in trade and do not listen to the wyrmfriend 
  godtalkers. Their chieftain, Robar the Younger, has 
  however recently been seen with a serpentine necklace 
  dangling between his ruddy chest hairs.
  Now that there are Dara Happan sun worshippers in 
  the nearby town of Fiesive, the Brolforoli make an 
  annual raid on the town, just before Sacred Time. Their 
  objective is to take prisoner a high-ranking Yelmite priest 
  or warrior. After a successful raid, they drag the captive 
  back to their clan hall and force him to participate in 
  Orl Wax-Skin has some terrible disease that will 
  take years to kill him. If you accidentally brush up 
  against his bare flesh, you will feel its chilly touch.
  — Kentakos, Champion of the Elkeri Clan
   Kenna Harthstaling 
  
  Vesmonstran
  15
  The  Elffriends occupy lands on the border with the 
  aldryami forest of Ballid. As their name suggests, 
  they maintain good relations with the plant folk. They 
  keep an unusually large portion of their lands forested, 
  supplementing their food supply through hunting. They 
  negotiate with the elfs before cutting trees and act as 
  mediators in dealings between them and other clans. 
  Their chieftain, Faryth Close-Counsel, hopes to enlist the 
  aldryami in the inevitable clash with the EWF. 
  Gartos Goldhand, chieftain of the  Elkeri clan, has sworn 
  to split the skull of the next person who mentions the 
  word ‘tribe’ to him. The Elkeri, famed for their healthy 
  cattle herds, are widely reckoned to be the richest 
  clan in Lankst. He and his close-mouthed people will 
  boast about any achievement other than their wealth. 
  Their clan champion is the fresh-faced, lantern-jawed 
  spearman Kentakos. In a gesture atypical of freedom-
  loving Orlanthi, he has vowed to remain celibate until his 
  wedding. He says he has yet to ﬁ nd a woman beautiful 
  enough to marry.
  Famed for their openness, the  Herrindinni have allowed 
  a troop of Rinliddi bird people to inhabit an undeveloped 
  portion of their territory. They now participate in raids 
  alongside their Orlanthi hosts, frightening neighbouring 
  clans with their giant, carnivorous avians. The Rinliddi 
  leader, Sarsarm Redfeather, seems to be sweet on the 
  chieftain’s daughter. Other clans ﬁ nd it scandalous that he 
  does not object to the dalliance but Markor Brownbeard 
  has always gone his own way.
  Hundreds of years ago, the ambitious  Hersling clan 
  allied itself with the Stygian conquerors and aided them 
  in ruling over their fellow Orlanthi. The other clans of 
  Lankst have never forgiven them for it. Perhaps to make 
  up for their permanently sullied reputation, Hersling 
  warriors have led the resistance against God Learners and 
  EWF alike. Their hero and chieftain, Robangor Purple 
  Coat, once led an EWF earthshaker platoon into the 
  path of a Rightness Army invasion force, then stood on 
  a hill to sing and stomp throughout the ensuing carnage. 
  If Robangor were anything other than a Hersling, his 
  tireless advocacy of tribal unity might take him all the 
  way to a throne.
  The  Hiordari have always hated the Hersling. It is a rare 
  year when they do not prosecute a feud against them. 
  For a while they were against the idea of a tribe, because 
  the Hersling were for it. Then their chieftain, Mandan 
  Squaresail, decided it would be more satisfying to argue 
  for a tribe, then take the crown Robangor Purple Coat so 
  thirstily covets. Mandan’s neighbours admit Squaresail is 
  a great hero, especially with his ability to ﬂ y around on 
  a man-sized kite he brought back from the Other Side. 
  However, they have no wish to make him king just to 
  spite one of his enemies.
  The  Horing always do things differently than everyone 
  else. Their clan ring is made up of ﬁ ve elders only. 
  Also, a worshipper of Orlanth and one of Ernalda serve 
  as co-chieftains. Currently the mild-mannered Harnd 
  the Glutton and the sour-tempered Minga Haranvaling 
  ﬁ ll these positions. Strangest of all, they keep dogs, an 
  animal generally loathed in Orlanthi culture, and kill any 
  alynx they ﬁ nd on their lands. So it should come as no 
  surprise that they have welcomed the wyrmfriend priests 
  into their midst. Minga Haranvaling has allowed one 
  bloodline of her clan to worship Orlanth the dragon, to 
  see what happens. In return for this boon, the dragonewts 
  gifted the Horing with a three-horned earthshaker beast, 
  which they use to plough their ﬁ elds.
  Farkalda the Red, crafty chieftain of the  Horn Blowers, 
  uses the tribal uniﬁ cation issue to enrich her struggling 
  clan. She accepts lavish gifts from leaders on both sides of 
  the issue, carefully modulating her reactions so that each 
  thinks she will swing their way if only they demonstrate 
  a touch more generosity. The Horn Blower tula is home 
  to the Harosord bloodline, a family that produces a great 
  hero every generation. Its current champion is Ortag 
  Scrollreader, a Runelord of the sun god Elmal who is 
  literate in every language except his own.
  Foremost among the opponents of tribal rule are the arch-
  conservative  Lysandorling clan, who despise the EWF 
  with a passion and fear rule by priests. Its own god talkers 
  are permitted to speak only when spoken to. They may 
  never question the leadership of its intimidating chieftain, 
  Sarran. He is nicknamed the Ear, because he can hear 
  everything that is said about him, even miles away. This 
  We have a saying in our clan: ‘Trust a Hersling 
  once, you are good at heart. Trust him twice, you 
  are an idiot’.
  — Kenna Harthstaling, Talking Woman of the Blue 
  Bull Clan
  
  16
  Vesmonstran
  wealthy war clan fattens itself by exacting tribute from its 
  neighbours. It maintains its inﬂ uence with generous gift-
  giving. Sarran regularly visits his neighbours to shore up 
  support for his anti-tribal stance.
  The warlike  Roldoling reckon that the promise of tribal 
  unity offers Lankst’s only hope against wyrmfriend 
  encroachment. Their chieftain, Asbor, has revived an 
  ancient vehicle, the chariot, as a symbol of Orlanthi 
  traditionalism. The Roldoling dye their close-cropped 
  hair a rusty shade of red and stiffen it with an egg 
  mixture so that it sticks straight up on their heads. Their 
  goldsmiths are second to none, producing weapon hilts 
  and other implements inscribed with a distinctively 
  intricate whorling pattern.
  The  Slow Eagles allow a champion of Orlanth the 
  King and one of Orlanth the Dragon to engage in ritual 
  combat outside their clan hall every Sacred Time. If the 
  traditionalist wins, they remain staunchly anti-draconic 
  until the next year’s ritual rolls around. If the dragon 
  comes out on top, they adopt draconic symbols and grant 
  their worship energy to the wyrmfriends. They maintain 
  the region’s largest temple to Orlanth. This year it is 
  decked out in serpent icons. These are all placed on hooks 
  for easy removal. The Slow Eagle chieftain is Bartand the 
  Snorer, whose bloodline exiled him to sleep in a hut far 
  from their stead. He hates to be mocked on this point, 
  especially by outsiders.
  Although their neighbours dispute it, the  Stangari claim 
  that the town of Fiesive sits on their territory. Their young 
  folk enjoy the strangeness and variety of the people there 
  and spend much of their free time learning of the ways of 
  civilisation from its motley inhabitants. Their affection 
  does not stop their elders from demanding yearly tribute 
  from the townsfolk. The Fiesivites either pay up or ﬁ ght 
  back, often with the help of the Brockrolings. Ganorlev 
  the Argumentative, the hair-splitting Stangari chieftain, 
  fancies himself a skilled debater. He opposes tribal unity 
  on the grounds that Fiesive would surely be made a tribal 
  capital and deﬁ nitively made the property of all. 
  The unyielding battlers of the  Teren clan keep a small 
  temple to Humakt, the god of war. They hate both 
  Empires with equal fervour. Whenever a Teren child is 
  orphaned, he or she is dedicated to Humakt, forswearing 
  love and family in exchange for terrible death magics. 
  The Tereni hire out as mercenaries and willingly train 
  outsiders in the ways of their forbidding god. To qualify, 
  once must complete a rite of severance from one’s clan 
  and family. Applicants of other cultures can join the 
  death cult, too, provided they also sever themselves from 
  their old traditions. To the discomfort of other Lanksti, 
  The name of the  Moot Talkers clan hearkens back to 
  the most recent tribal period, when a collection of lowly 
  stickpickers distinguished themselves as great legal 
  minds. They hired themselves out as advocates to speak 
  for other clans at tribal legal proceedings or moots. When 
  they successfully argued to spare the life of a trickster, 
  he arranged to gift a large section of another clan’s land 
  to the stickpickers. Over the generations the other clan 
  dwindled and the Moot Talkers expanded. The Moot 
  Talkers, who still hire themselves out as heralds and 
  negotiators, believe in tribes but are not convinced that 
  the conditions are right for one just yet. ‘A failed tribe 
  would be worse than none at all’, says their chieftain, the 
  melliﬂ uous speaker Orlkalo. He hopes to broker a peace 
  arrangement between the EWF and God Learners which 
  will leave Lankst as a neutral territory neither power is 
  permitted to dominate. He regularly receives legations 
  from both sides. Each is more interested in making a ﬁ rm 
  ally of him than in signing on to his pet project.
  To the  Pelue, the Orlanthi virtue of generosity has always 
  been better honoured in the abstract. They control the 
  Lanksti side of the High Llama Pass, earning a cut of 
  all caravan goods travelling into Ralios from the land of 
  Fronela which is on the other side of the Nidan Mountains. 
  They also trade extensively with the mostali, extending 
  protection to the town of Bad Deal. On the subject of 
  tribes, they remain studiously neutral. To control a tribe, 
  they would have to share their wealth with lesser clans. 
  Before they agree to such an arrangement, they would 
  have to be convinced that it would be good for trade. 
  Their chieftain, Dandril, always drinks himself into a 
  near stupor before going off to raid his Telmori werewolf 
  neighbours, and invariably comes back with at least one 
  wolf pelt hanging from his belt. 
  Sarran’s best argument against tribes is Sarran 
  himself, because if we did have one, he would 
  surely wind up as its king.
  — Kenna Harthstaling, Talking Woman of the Blue 
  Bull Clan
  
  Vesmonstran
  17
   Bad Deal
  The mostali and their Pelue clan allies regularly try to change the name of the town to something more 
  encouraging but everyone who comes to trade her persists in using its traditional appellation. The mostali, 
  who gather in a large cement-covered plaza in the middle of this small, snow-swept community, cannot help 
  but drive hard bargains. They tantalise traders with offers of strange technologies but never quite deliver the 
  latest model or most potent alchemical concoction.
  Bad Deal’s permanent residents include a coterie of mostali, various service providers and an outer circle of 
  rejects and outcasts.
  The town’s mostali are vaguely discreditable examples of their hard-working race. Though not overtly 
  rebellious, they suffer from character ﬂ aws that cause more straight-laced mostali to look down on them. 
  They are drunkards, lackwits, layabouts and questioners of authority. Their merchant compatriots spend as 
  little time in their company as possible.
  Service providers include tavern keepers, a blacksmith, a healer, several livery operations and a family of 
  shamans for hire.
  The outcast population supports itself with odd jobs or the occasional foray into mercenary work. It includes 
  Orlanthi outlaws, Telmori pariahs, Fronelan émigrés and the last remnants of the forgotten Cult of the Shuttered 
  Eye. This sect, dedicated to the lost secrets of Nysalor, maintains a lonely shrine to their dismembered god.
  The town headman is Korl Kand. Local Orlanthi assume he is Safelsteri, while visitors from Safelster take 
  him for an Orlanthi. Glum and perpetually soused, he reacts to all complaints with a weary, fatalistic shrug, 
  as if to say that one can expect nothing but disappointment in a town called Bad Deal.
  
  18
  Vesmonstran
  they allow these adoptees full rights within the clan. 
  Astonishingly, their chieftain is not even human. Dan-
  Lor-Jar is a humanoid being with a cruelly porcine face 
  who rides a gigantic boar into battle. His lance has been 
  known to impale two foes at once.
  they always think fulﬁ lment of the prophecy is right 
  around the corner. Their chieftain is Aski the Ragged, 
  named for his threadbare robes. The Unlucky People 
  are disproportionately represented among the Orlanthi 
  émigrés of Safelster; they leave hoping to ﬁ nd a better 
  life in the cities.
  With Chaos in retreat through most of the world, many 
  Orlanthi have forgotten Orlanth’s unruly brother, Urox 
  the Storm Bull, who beat Wakboth the Devil and bestows 
  anti-Chaos powers on his worshippers. Among the 
   Treyling clan, Urox is still accorded full respect. The 
  bullying warriors of his temple get drunk and cause 
  trouble in Big Deal and Fiesive when they are not 
  staging hair-raising expeditions into Karia, where the 
  evil of ruined Dorastor still oozes. Their chieftain and 
  war leader, Jarnbor the Yawler, speaks inarticulately at 
  the best of times and is reduced to grunts and hisses at 
  times of special excitement. The Treyling are not alone 
  among the Lanskti in keeping slaves but no clan is more 
  dependent on captive labour for the tilling of ﬁ elds and 
  harvesting of ﬁ elds. Notorious for the mistreatment of 
  their thralls, they shrug callously when one drops dead 
  of overwork. When their labour supply runs low, they 
  simply send a war party out to capture wayward traders 
  or unwary wyrmfriend missionaries. 
  The aptly-named  Unlucky People eke out a desperate 
  existence on an infertile plain. Its inviting ﬂ atness in 
  an otherwise hilly country makes it a welcome mat for 
  invasions. Raiding parties from Ormsland, Telmoria and 
  even chaotic Karia frequently overrun it on their way 
  to more lucrative raiding targets. Whenever a storm or 
  ﬂ ood hits Lankst, the Unlucky People are the worst hit. 
  Its barren reaches are haunted by angry ghosts and weird 
  spirits. However, a prophecy made on the day of Arkat’s 
  apotheosis has it that the eventual survival of the Lanskti 
  Orlanthi depends on the continuance of the Unlucky 
  People. One day, a great hero will arise from among their 
  humble ranks to deliver them from destruction. Many of 
  the clan believe that the EWF is this enemy – but then 
  I know what kind of being Dan-Lor-Jar is; I seen 
  his kind back home, in Dragon Pass. He’s a Tusk 
  Rider! If that don’t scare you, obviously you ain’t 
  from Dragon Pass.
  — Perik Toadstool, Refugee from the EWF
  The people of the  Yellow Apple are friends with the 
  trolls and foes of the elfs. Their bond with the trolls dates 
  back to the Great Darkness. When the Stygian Empire 
  came, this connection won them protection from harsh 
  measures. Yellow Apple people are quick to explain that 
  they accepted privileges without betraying their fellow 
  Orlanthi, unlike the stinking Hersling. Their enmity 
  with the elfs was also earned in ancient times, when 
  they raided the trees that grew intelligent fruit and baked 
  them into pies. To this day the Yellow Apple raid the wild 
  orchards of nearby Ballid Forest. This puts them at odds 
  with the Elffriends. Often they and the trolls of Guhan 
  team to ﬁ ght the aldryami and Elffriends. Their chieftain 
  is the witty, sharp-tongued Ernaldan priestess Orlgartha, 
  who says: ‘The Earth Mother made fruit for us to eat. 
  What the elfs have is ours’. The Yellow Apple oppose 
  tribal formation because they would probably be forced 
  to co-exist with the accursed Elffriends. Their main 
  hero is Saranth Nightsounder, who wields a ﬂ aming axe 
  given to him by the uz. This weapon, Sapdrinker, proves 
  particularly potent against elfs and their kin.
  Clan Attitudes
  The Clan Attitudes table encapsulates the general attitudes 
  of each clan toward the political movements and entities 
  of the day. Like the wind, Orlanthi are ever-changeable. 
  Although their magic remains strongest when they hew 
  to the attitudes of their ancestors, they can nonetheless 
  change allegiances quickly. Player Character activities 
  could easily harden or loosen a particular attitude. The 
  Clan Attitudes table demonstrates the general attitudes a 
  clan has to tribes, foreign exiles, the EWF and the God 
  Learners.
  The first time I heard that Gordangara Rockstaff, the 
  favourite priestess of Kustria’s backwoods Orlanthi, 
  was an unlucky person, I didn’t understand that 
  was the name of her clan, back home.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  Vesmonstran
  19
   Travelling through Lankst
  Aside from its rivers and the towns of Fiesive and Bad 
  Deal, Lankst lacks public thoroughfares. Roadways 
  scarcely exist. travel through Lankst requires the 
  sojourner to move from one clan tula to the next. If, say, 
  you want to get from Fiesive to the Yellow Apple clan 
  lands, you must move through either the Moot Talkers, 
  Stangari or Teren tula to get there.
  The reception one gets when travelling through clan 
  territory depends on one’s grasp of Orlanthi etiquette 
  and on the disposition of the clan members toward you. 
  Simply being an Orlanthi is no guarantee of a friendly 
  reception: many clans hate their own neighbours much 
  more than they do their long list of other enemies.
  Clan boundaries are marked, sometimes with fences, 
  walls or other fortiﬁ cations but most often with an 
  arrangement of painted stones or wooden posts. These 
  are typically marked with clan-speciﬁ c runes. Unless 
  you enjoy a strong, positive relationship with the clan, 
  etiquette dictates that you stop and wait to be hailed by 
  patrolling warriors. Peaceful clans may not thoroughly 
  patrol their boundaries. It helps to blow a long, lowing 
  note on a horn of salutation. If no one shows up to be 
  hailed, you may proceed with weapons sheathed until 
  you encounter a clan member.
  When spotted, the visitor performs a perfunctory version 
  of the Orlanthi greeting. This indicates that your intentions 
  are friendly and that you understand, and intend to abide 
  by, the laws of hospitality.
  Recipients of the informal greeting may accept it, 
  granting you permission to travel through the tula to 
  present yourself to the chieftain. Or they might refuse it, 
  in which case you must back off, leaving clan lands in 
  a calm and expeditious manner. They might even attack 
  you, if they do not like or trust you.
  Assuming you pass this ﬁ rst muster, you are taken to 
  meet up with the chieftain. Should he be unavailable, an 
  elder, usually a ring member, stands in for him. You then 
   Clan Attitudes Table
  Clan
  Tribes
  Foreign Exiles
  EWF
  God Learners
  Arnisi
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Blue Bulls
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Badnali
  Favourable
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Brockroling
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Brolforoli
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Clacking Coins
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Neutral
  Elffriends
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Elkeri
  Neutral
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Herrindinni
  Neutral
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Hersling
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Hiordari
  Favourable
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Horing 
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Favourable
  Neutral
  Horn Blowers
  Neutral
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Lysandorling
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Moot Talkers
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Pelue 
  Neutral
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Roldoling
  Favourable
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Slow Eagles
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Stangari
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Teren 
  Neutral
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Treyling
  Neutral
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Neutral
  Unlucky People
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Animosity
  Animosity
  Yellow Apple
  Animosity
  Favourable
  Favourable
  Favourable
  
  20
  Vesmonstran
  perform the longer form of the Orlanthi greeting. This is 
  a simple combination of words and gestures in which you 
  identify yourself, boast of your achievements, state the 
  nature of your business in the area, and request hospitality. 
  The chieftain reciprocates, identifying himself and his 
  people, and boasting of his own accomplishments or his 
  clan’s historical deeds. He may then opt to quiz you more 
  closely on your intentions. When he ﬁ nishes speaking, 
  you speak admiringly of his boastworthy acts. 
  The chieftain must now choose whether to extend 
  hospitality or have you escorted to the clan boundary. 
  Even if he rejects you, you will be allowed to depart 
  unmolested, unless you’ve somehow revealed yourself as 
  a deadly enemy.
  Freebooting serves as the town’s secondary industry. 
  Adventuring parties bivouac here, collecting runes and 
  treasures throughout Vesmonstran and the East Wilds. 
  When war breaks out between Lanksti clans, adventurers 
  are occasionally hired as mercenary reinforcements. 
  Losing clans may even recruit elite warriors from Fiesive’s 
  inns and ale halls, fully adopting them into lofty positions 
  in their clans. One day’s bedraggled outcast might be the 
  next day’s thane (warrior noble).
   Shops
  Though barges laden with trade goods ﬂ oat past Fiesive 
  every day, little of their cargo stops here. Adventurers 
  eagerly await the arrival of meagre weapon shipments 
  at the town’s sole armoury shop. Its proprietor, the 
  garrulous, half-crazy Gerdret, charges anywhere from 
  20 to 30% more than usual for common items. Rare or 
  hard-to-ﬁ nd items fetch anywhere from half again to 
  double the price you would pay in Safelster. Gerdret 
  conducts a brisk trade in used weapons, armour and 
  adventuring equipment. He maintains a strict indifference 
  to the origins of any items that might cross his counter, 
  even if slightly notched or bloodstained. If confronted by 
  an angry owner, he blandly deploys his standard catch 
  phrase: ‘If I thought you were still alive, friend, I would 
  never have bought your gear’. Fiesive’s warriors tolerate 
  Gerdet’s eccentricities because, without him, there would 
  be no source of supplies in town at all. Every few years an 
  enterprising adventurer decides to compete with Gerdret. 
  Each of them fell prey to a seemingly unrelated accident, 
  which either killed them or forced them to leave Fiesive.
  When a chieftain grants hospitality, he is honour-bound 
  to provide food and shelter, and most importantly to 
  guarantee the guest’s safety from attack by members of 
  his clan (and their servants and intermediaries, if any). To 
  enhance their reputations, most clan leaders go beyond 
  these minimal requirements, treating their guests to lavish 
  meals, entertainment and copious quantities of drink.
  By asking for hospitality, you undertake a solemn vow 
  to act peacefully toward your hosts. Guests known for 
  violating hospitality will be driven away from any tula 
  they approach. This principle is so central to Orlanthi 
  life that clan members will refuse you entry even if the 
  hospitality you violated was that of their worst enemies.
   Fiesive 
  The ramshackle, improvised town of Fiesive is claimed by 
  four neighbouring clans (the Moot Talkers, Brockroling, 
  Horn Blowers and Stangari) but controlled by none. 
  Its people sustain themselves by providing services to 
  merchants travelling up or down the Upper Tanier River. 
  Traders come from Fronela, through the High Llama 
  Pass, or from Safelster, to the south. 
  The Orlanthi greeting ceremony offended me 
  when I was first expected to perform it. I was taught 
  that a superior man’s qualities are inherent to him 
  and go without saying. In Lankst, I learned that a 
  man is only as good as his last great deed.
  — Marbarazham, Refugee of Dara Happa
   Lodgings
  Fiesive’s so-called inns fully live up to their reputation 
  for wretchedness. 
  The Big Bowl is a mostali dome of unknown purpose 
  converted for use as a sleeping hall. It is an inverted 
  copper bowl about 30 metres in diameter, with a an 
  apex seven metres in height. The Big Bowl’s completely 
  Gerdret says he’s a shaman but never offers any 
  evidence to back it up. Supposedly he draws power 
  from Kest, the local spirit of purse strings and 
  treasure holes.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  Vesmonstran
  21
   How To Offend A Chieftain
  An adventurer with a knack for annoying clan chieftains soon ﬁ nds travel 
  through Lankst to be nearly impossible. Those who hope to be run off like 
  dogs whenever they hail a Lanksti patrol should undertake the following 
  simple steps:
  D 
  Insult your host, his patron gods and heroes, his ancestors and his 
  clan.
  D 
  Display humility. Pride is an Orlanthi virtue. People who will not boast 
  of their accomplishments are trying to hide something.
  D 
  Refuse your host’s offer of food, drink or gifts. Generosity is an Orlanthi 
  virtue. By turning down his largesse, you might as well be telling him 
  that he is poor and pitiful.
  D 
  Instantly reciprocate your host’s generosity. The only bad time to give 
  an Orlanthi a gift is right after he gives you one. That again looks like 
  you think he is poor and cannot afford what he has given you. Wait for 
  another occasion, then give the gift.
  D 
  Indicate allegiance with an enemy. Expect to be refused if your intention 
  is to cross a tula to do business with a hostile clan. On a similar note, 
  most clans cherish their ancestral enmities toward one or more foreign 
  or inhuman cultures. If a clan hates trolls and you are an uz, they have 
  little choice but to drive you off or try to kill you. To do otherwise 
  weakens their wyter, the clan spirit that ensures their survival.
  To avoid giving offence, learn in advance about the clan you are encountering. 
  If they dislike foreigners or regard you as an ancestral enemy, you would be 
  well advised to plot an alternate route.
  leak-proof 
  dome 
  provides 
  an absolute protection from 
  precipitation. 
  Rough, 
  bare 
  cement 
  covers 
  its 
  ﬂ oor. 
  Graciously, the proprietress 
  raises no objections if patrons 
  bring in their own bedding 
  material. She is a haggard ex-
  Kustrian named Urfesa, who 
  keeps a wooden shrine to St. 
  Xemela by her own bed near 
  the door. On cold nights, Urfesa 
  lights ﬁ res to warm the place up, 
  dousing them after the smoke 
  becomes chokingly thick. Her 
  charges vary by the prospective 
  guest’s apparent ability to pay, 
  always a somewhat arbitrary 
  determination.
   Jarnkipe’s Place is a sprawling 
  network 
  of 
  musty, 
  rotting 
  cottages. Their roofs are infested 
  with either pigeons or rats. 
  Muddy water seeps up through 
  the ﬂ oorboards of the cottages 
  near the river. Jarnkipe himself 
  is an Eurmali, a worshipper of 
  the unreliable Orlanthi trickster 
  god. He may tootle tunelessly on a homemade ﬂ ute in the 
  middle of the night or slip a human waste into your boots 
  while you sleep. To stay here, one must pay one silver 
  per night and agree to a no-complaints policy. Jarnkipe 
  insists that any who violate this rule will be cursed by the 
  Trickster. Anyone who knows anything understands that 
  this is not a threat to be triﬂ ed with.
   Benadéo, a noble of Col banished from Safelster for the 
  murder of his sister, runs the most pleasant lodgings in 
  Fiesive. It is an old warehouse divided up into cubicles, 
  divided by slats of junk wood salvaged from wrecked 
  boats. It hardly leaks at all, shelters no vermin worse 
  than ants or ﬁ eld mice and offers modest meal service 
  in the morning. It costs 5 silvers a night. Adventurers 
  with something to hide learn to avoid its comparative 
  splendour. Benadéo, a compulsive informant, tells anyone 
  about any of his guests for a handful of copper.
   Healing
  Fiesive’s wounded enjoy a choice of two competing 
  healers.  Abera, a sallow, sweating, trembling sister 
  of St. Xemela, sits weeping in a windy shrine to her 
  virtuous saint, waiting for customers. She can perform a 
  Magnitude 4 Heal spell, for which she charges 80 silvers. 
  Why does she weep? For the sadness of the world, of 
  course.
  The Chalana Arroy healer  Orestana severed herself 
  from the Treyling clan when they would not censure their 
  chieftain, Jambor the Yawler, for entering a ceremonial 
  hut where women’s magic was performed. People who 
  deal with her for any length of time may conclude that 
  Some say Benadéo killed his sister because she 
  shamed the family by dallying with a commoner. 
  Others say it was Benadéo himself who wanted to 
  share her bed.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  22
  Vesmonstran
  her abrasive personality played a pivotal role in her clan’s 
  failure to back her up. Orestana is grouchy, easily insulted 
  and a shameless dispenser of unwanted advice. She 
  makes no attempt whatsoever to conceal her contempt 
  for adventurers, even as she reattaches their severed 
  limbs. She can perform a Magnitude 8 Heal spell and 
  charges 18 silvers per point of Magnitude used. Orestana 
  applies a surcharge to adventurers who have offended her 
  in the past, adding 1 silver per point of Magnitude per 
  incident.
  Wandering war bands momentarily resident in Fiesive 
  often include healers, though their availability to tend to 
  others for pay may be limited.
   Law, Justice and Authority
  Claimed by rival clans and populated by exiles and 
  outlaws, Fiesive is a place where the bonds of authority 
  are loose to nonexistent. In times of crisis, the town’s 
  various war bands gather in tense colloquy to appoint a 
  mayor. This ofﬁ cial’s authority is typically limited only 
  to the immediate problem, dissolving entirely when it is 
  dealt with. No one has occupied the position since the last 
  mayor was slain in a Broforoli raid. Disputes between 
  residents are resolved frontier-style, through violence. 
  Feuding war bands occasionally resolve disputes by 
  submitting to the mediation of an Issaries worshipper, if 
  one happens to be travelling through town.
   Communities
  The typical exile community consists of a few dozen 
  people. The Dara Happan and Carmanian contingents are 
  larger than the others, numbering around a score apiece.
  The longwinded  Iskanst Snakeslayer heads a woebegone 
  community of Orlanthi refugees from Dragon Pass. They 
  are the beaten-down vestiges of an already obscure 
  cult, that of Orlanth Dragonbreaker. This cult takes as 
  its central myth a battle between Orlanth and a dragon 
  called Aroka, which had swallowed the rain god, Heler. 
  As soon as it discovered the existence of anti-draconic 
  Orlanthi cult, the wyrmfriends set out to exterminate all 
  of its followers. A prophecy motivated Iskanst’s great 
  grandfather to come to Ralios, where the Dragonbreaker 
  cult would be reborn, at the time of most pressing need. 
  The verses instructed worshippers to remain distinct 
  unto themselves, remaining clanless until the new 
  Dragonbreaker came. Over the intervening years, many 
  descendants of the original refugees have drifted away, 
  joining clans through marriage or as recruited thanes and 
  farmers. Iskanst makes a poor showing as high priest, 
  pawning his silver regalia when he loses at dice. His 
  followers are likewise a pack of dispirited layabouts. 
  They hide their shrine in a sinkhole whenever suspected 
  EWF agents come to town.
  Six nobles comprise the nucleus of the town’s Dara 
  Happan group. They are attended by junior family 
  members, servants and hangers-on. Their leader is 
   Marbarazham, whose grandfather was Chief Falconer 
  to the last rightful Emperor of Dara Happa before the 
  Golden Dragon took over. A ramrod-straight young man 
  of palpable rectitude, he ﬂ ed his homeland three years 
  ago, when EWF priests told him to order his servants to 
  convert to their wyrmfriend religion. He ﬁ nds Fiesive 
  a trying place, where a good man’s virtue and patience 
  are continually tested. Marbarazham wants to unite with 
  the local Orlanthi against their common EWF enemies 
  but ﬁ nds this hard to do when the Brolforoli clan tries to 
  kidnap him once per year to enact one of their drooling 
  barbarian rituals. He and his warriors could serve as 
  valuable allies to anyone capable of dissuading the 
  Brolforoli from further sallies against them.
  In nearly any other circumstance, the town’s Spolite 
  witches would be at the throats of the Dara Happans and 
  vice versa. They belong to a darkness cult that overran 
  much of Peloria prior to the EWF years. The wyrmfriends, 
  invited into Peloria to help drive them out, then took over 
  themselves. The Spolites of Fiesive are third generation 
  wanderers who have never seen their homeland. 
  They settled here about a dozen years ago, supporting 
  themselves with sporadic mercenary work. The Orlanthi 
  clans treat them as pariahs, assuming that their unfamiliar 
  magic is Chaotic. Their leader,  Hebdoloriam, is a smoky-
  eyed provoker of trouble whose physical allure regularly 
  reduces hard-bitten male mercenaries to stuttering 
  awkwardness. Where the Dara Happans still dream of a 
  return to home and power, the Spolites have been born 
  and bred on defeat. They want merely to make a life for 
  themselves and feel at home somewhere. Fiesive is not 
  One of the Dragonbreaker cultists once offered to 
  show me the whereabouts of their hidden shrine 
  for ten silver. He thought I was EWF. I forget his 
  name, now…
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  Vesmonstran
  23
  much, but it is all they have got. To this end, Hebdoloriam 
  argues to give the place the attributes of a proper town, 
  including a charter, regular authorities and a system of 
  laws. For this reason the nearby clans consider her an 
  enemy. She maintains contacts in distant clans with an 
  open attitude toward foreigners.
  and were hounded from their homes. Others exiled 
  themselves pre-emptively, to plot their return and the 
  reinstitution of their faith. The ﬁ rst group have put down 
  roots in Fiesive, operating a river navigation ﬁ rm that 
  constructs, rents and pilots barges.  Ulifentor, a comfort-
  loving patrician spurred by boundless optimism, leads 
  this group. His second son,  Hadalbarun, leads the rival 
  faction, a cluster of hot-headed young bravos intent on 
  mastering Indovanic war Sorcery and returning to the 
  homeland to scourge it of reptiles and their friends. The 
  father and son argue bitterly whenever they encounter 
  one another. Hadalbarun and company are always up for 
  a raid on Ormsland. Any enemy of the EWF is a friend 
  of theirs – they will help Player Characters go up against 
  the wyrmfriends by supplying intelligence, maps and war 
  stories. They might even coordinate raids, hitting EWF 
  forces in one place while the adventuring party takes 
  them on in another.
  The newest exiles in town are a gang of about a dozen 
  Pentan horse nomads. These worshippers of the ﬁ erce sun 
  god Kargzant quickly proved their bravery and brutality, 
  rescuing a God Learner myth-gathering expedition from 
  bandits. They slew every bandit and brought their heads 
  back to town on the ends of long iron poles. None of 
  them, including their stony-visaged leader,  Bularin 
  Amalar, has bothered to master more than a few words 
  of the local language. Negotiations with them must take 
  place in mime. They make the most of their fearsome 
  reputation, keeping other residents at bay with feints and 
  snarls. If they have any plans beyond making a living 
  with their blades and bows, they have yet to show any 
  signs of them.
  Fiesive’s equally small and rugged Praxian community 
  stays on the other side of town from the Pentans. They 
  are Bison People, the last remnants of a clan that 
  waged ill-advised war on the puppet authorities ruling 
  their homeland for the EWF. Their kahn,  Naptwal the 
  Drummer, is named after the magic instrument slung 
  over his back. Its head is covered in the hide of the White 
  Bison Hachwaluna, who rode the plains of Prax when 
  the Dawn came. This mighty spirit speaks in booming 
  percussion notes whenever the clan faces danger. While 
  in the presence of his people, Naptwal is a conﬁ dent, 
  commanding ﬁ gure. When he thinks he is unobserved, 
  his posture slumps and a haunted expression creeps 
  stealthily across his sun-worn face.
  Fiesive’s Carmanian exiles ﬂ ed the EWF when the 
  wyrmfriends introduced serpentine imagery to the 
  worship of Idovanus, the single god of virtue in their 
  dualistic religion. Some struck back at the dragonfriends 
  People fear the Spolites but I like them better than 
  most in Fiesive. My buddies tell me it’s my desire 
  for Hebdoloriam talking. No, I tell them, it’s on 
  account of my soft spot for underdogs.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
   Hebdoloriam
  
  24
  Vesmonstran
  Notables
  Amid the exiles and passers-through, a handful of 
  solitary individuals make permanent lives for themselves 
  in Fiesive.
   Thestigor Blue-Helm was outlawed from the Yellow 
  Apples for raiding the neighbouring Horing after a peace 
  settlement was established between the two clans. He is 
  always recruiting for his adventuring party, Kestigor’s 
  Delvers, which specialises in ﬁ nding buried artefacts for 
  God Learner patrons and then ﬁ ghting his way through 
  whoever owns the land he and his comrades are digging 
  in. The Delvers post an astonishingly high mortality 
  rate but Kestigor always escapes without a scratch. His 
  recruits are invariably new to Lankst and have never 
  heard of him before.
   Askia Whitestreet was born in the city, the daughter 
  of an urbanised Orlanthi woman and a Malkioni priest. 
  Unrecognised by her father and ill-treated by her mother, 
  she ﬂ ed to Lankst at a young age. Out in the woods, she 
  encountered wind spirits sent to her by Orlanth’s brother, 
  Kolat. As a shaman, she exists both inside and outside 
  local traditions. Thus she remains torn in two directions, 
  as always. She makes her living by performing auguries 
  and exorcisms, both for town residents and for the clans 
  of Lankst. She is brusque and dismissive when dealing 
  with strangers but anyone making a sustained effort to 
  win her respect gains a loyal friend.
   Pen Pendoka is an Agimori tribesman captured by the 
  God Learners and taken to the Arkat Archive in Tiskos to 
  act as a guide into the Pamaltelan parts of the God Plane. 
  Hoodwinked by a cruel trickster, he ﬂ ed in the wrong 
  direction, winding up in Lankst. He wishes to depart for 
  his homeland but the spirits he keeps in the fetishes around 
  his belt tell him to stay, to fulﬁ l an important destiny. As 
  he waits for the deﬁ ning moment to arrive, he kills time 
  by joining adventuring groups on a one-off basis.
  The God Learner defector  Triabel Duileau supports 
  himself as a sorcerer-for-hire and hopes that his enemies 
  from the Pythos University faculty never ﬁ nd him here. 
  Thanks to a carefully maintained lattice of regenerative 
  spells, he looks middle-aged, even though he is well 
  over a hundred years old. He participated in the Goddess 
  Switch experiment of 848. Decades later he suffered 
  a bout of second thoughts and wrote an anonymous 
  pamphlet warning of dire repercussions from the project. 
  Unfortunately for him, his colleagues immediately 
  recognised his ﬂ orid writing style and summoned 
  intelligent bolts of lightning to hunt him down. Duileau 
  fended these off, faked his own demise and made haste 
  for the worst backwater he could afford to transport 
  himself to. Duileau is an assumed name.
  Defeat has etched itself on poor Naptwal’s hide 
  like a tattoo. When drunk, he howls at the stars, 
  cursing them for what they allowed to happen to 
  his people.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  Adventure Hooks
  Player Character groups new to Lankst might participate 
  in adventures like these:
  D Bejand Renier, a callow would-be adventurer from 
  a wealthy Safelstran trading family, got himself 
  captured by the notorious Treyling clan on his very 
  ﬁ rst outing (his friends did worse: they were all 
  killed). Bejand has been turned into a lowly thrall 
  and will soon die from overwork and maltreatment if 
  the adventurers, hired by the Reniers, do not get him 
  back.
  D Legend has it that there is a spring in the middle of 
  the wretched wastelands where the Unlucky People 
  live. If you go there and say the magic word of 
  power, OUROBOUROS, it will spurt forth a geyser 
  of gold coins. To keep them, one must kill any of 
  the clan members you see on your way out of their 
  tula. This rumour has resulted in the deaths of many 
  Unlucky People over the years. One of their number, 
  the feeble old peddler Fanth, found out that some 
  idiot, possibly that accursed innkeeper, Jarnkiipe, 
  A God Learner name of Milharo told me to meet 
  him in Fiesive, where he’d tell me about a lucrative 
  assignment. When I got there, he’d been and 
  gone. The last anyone saw of him, he was greeting 
  Triabel Duileau like some kind of old friend.
  — Gurek Runespear, Mercenary of Safelster
  
  Vesmonstran
  25
  told Fiesive’s Pentan exiles this false legend. His 
  people are too weak to ﬁ ght for themselves, so Fanth 
  will give them a valuable treasure map if they go to 
  intercept the murderous Pentans before they arrive at 
  his home.
  D Naimer the Leper, a foe to EWF and God Learners 
  alike, has been spotted in Lankst, near Bad Deal. 
  He started out as a God Learner, then converted to 
  wyrmfriendism, bringing an awful curse on himself 
  in the process. He suffers from regenerative leprosy. 
  His outer extremities rot and fall off, then grow back, 
  only to again become corrupt. Unlike normal lepers, 
  Naimer is hideously contagious. The adventurers are 
  hired by either Empire to ﬁ nd and kill him – or by an 
  enemy of either, anxious to capture him and discover 
  what he knows about them.
  D The God Learner botanist Huontos has just won 
  funding approval for an expedition to the Ballid Forest 
  to gather specimens of a particularly interesting 
  plant. The vegetable snake is a creeping vine that 
  slithers rootlessly across the forest ﬂ oor. The elfs do 
  not like God Learners studying their weird plants, 
  so the adventurers he hires should anticipate strong 
  resistance. Huontos has arranged for them to enter 
  the forest through Yellow Apple lands. He provides 
  a silver ingot to present to their chieftain as payment 
  for the privilege.
  D The Kustrian merchant Adrios Eus was once 
  captured by Telmori wolf men and held for ransom. 
  Incarcerated with him was the ill-tempered death 
  worshipper Sardal, of the Teren clan. Babbling in 
  terror, Adrios repeatedly and accidentally insulted 
  the Humakti warrior. To shut him up, Sardal told him 
  this: every year, on his birthday, he seeks out and 
  kills someone who insulted him. He strongly hinted 
  that he was adding Adrios to his list. Knowing that 
  Sardal’s birthday is fast approaching, Adrios hires 
  the adventurers to ﬁ nd him before he leaves his clan 
  lands and launch a fatal pre-emptive assault on him
  D Two years ago, adventurers working for the God 
  Learners stole one of the sacred chariots of the 
  Roldoling clan. They have been searching for it ever 
  since. From a passing trader, they have just learned 
  that it may be in Marvelmaze, in Kustria. None of 
  the Roldolings know cities all that well and they are 
  looking for a group including an urbanised but loyal 
  Orlanthi to spearhead the recovery effort.
   Telmoria, Land of Werewolves
  The densely forested hill country of Telmoria lies 
  wedged between Lankst and the dragonewt territories 
  of Ormsland. Its inhabitants are the Telmori, commonly 
  known to outsiders as werewolves. This term originates 
  in the widespread misconception that all Telmori are 
  cursed to turn into wolves every Wildday. They are falsely 
  thought to be tainted with Chaos and even to transmit 
  lycanthropy like a disease.
  The inhabitants of Telmor are hsunchen animal people. 
  Aided by shamanic magic, they can change forms 
  between wolf and man. They run in packs with actual 
  wolves, who they communicate with and treat as their 
  brothers. These creatures are larger and smarter than 
  those found elsewhere. To the Telmori, some wolves have 
  two legs and others have four but this is a distinction of 
  only minor relevance. None of them are human; all of 
  them are wolves. Children grow up playing with cubs. 
  At their coming of age ceremonies, each is paired with 
  four-legged wolf, their wolf brother (or sister, as the case 
  may be). Your four-legged brother is as irreplaceable as 
  any literal kin; if he dies, you cannot just replace him, as 
  a city child would a pet dog.
  Like other hsunchen, the Telmori hew steadfastly to a 
  stone age hunter-gatherer way of life. They raid their 
  neighbours in Lankst and Ormsland, stealing sheep and 
  cattle. They do not keep these animals; they slaughter 
  them on the spot and haul the meat back. For this reason 
  the Orlanthi consider them wasteful and cruel, though 
  in fact they strip the entire carcass in minutes, taking all 
  useful meat and hide.
  ‘Hsunchen’ is a Kralori term for the animal people. 
  As these cultures bear the same traits throughout 
  Glorantha, we apply it to all of them, whether they 
  be the Basmoli lion men of the Wasteland, the 
  Rathori bear people of Fronela, the eagle people 
  of the Shanshan mountains or any of the other 
  major and minor man/animal hybrids. Of these, 
  none is more loathed and feared than the accursed 
  Telmori.
  — Vanstigos Evermead, Tutor of Umathela
  
  26
  Vesmonstran
   Myths of Telmor
  In the Green Age, everyone could change shape. Most lost this ability during the Golden Age but the Animal 
  Tribes did not. Instead they retained ﬂ uidity between man and animal forms.
  There were many different kinds of animal folk but the Telmori were the strongest, because they travelled 
  in packs and possessed a natural method of arranging themselves from mightiest to lowliest. Also they were 
  hungrier than anyone else, which made them ﬁ erce. Telmor, their god, was leader of this hungry pack. He 
  hunted freely on other folk, especially the contemptible Dog People of Balazar.
  He bit off more than he could chew when he swallowed the sun. This brought snow and dark skies. This time 
  was bad, because food grew scarce, but liveable. Then monsters came, who could change their shapes too, 
  but never to anything good or wholesome. You could tell they were evil because they kept on attacking even 
  after we submitted. 
  Finally Telmor realised that he would have to cough up the big meal that burned his stomach. The sun came 
  back out of his gullet and lit the sky. He retreated to a lair he could not return from, leaving behind spirits to 
  communicate with us.
  We lived and died for many incarnations after the sun’s return. A new god who was not a wolf came to us 
  and promised to relieve us of our hunger to commune directly with Telmor again, while we were still alive. 
  Many of us sided with him, especially those closest to his lair in Dorastor. When enemies warred against 
  him, we harried them. One of their cruellest warriors, Laughing Tanor, who they call a saint, scalded many 
  of us with an annoying curse. Those struck by it turn into four-legged wolves all day long every Wildday, 
  whether they like it or not.
  If the outside world despises the Telmori, they 
  wholeheartedly return the sentiment. People who live in 
  cities or towns and who use metal implements are soft 
  and weak. They exist only to be preyed upon. Like any 
  wolf pack, Telmori culture employs a hierarchy based 
  on courage and physical dominance. When faced with 
  a challenge, whether from inside or outside the pack, 
  an individual must either show superior strength and 
  resolve, or shamefully submit. Telmori interactions with 
  outsiders begin with threat displays, from bared teeth to 
  haughty insults. Telmori may not involve themselves in 
  liaisons with non-Telmori, treating such acts as instances 
  of bestiality. Other taboos include murder, eating a 
  human or wolf, and using foreign magic. Rune Magic is 
  not considered foreign.
  All Telmori are members of the cult of Telmor by 
  birthright. Their shamans communicate with their wolf 
  god through spirits. On death, they leave their loved ones 
  exposed to the elements, so their spirits can reincarnate 
  into new bodies. These may be either two- or four-legged, 
  as chance dictates. It does not matter.
  Since the Arkat-Gbaji war, some Telmori became Impure. 
  They involuntarily adopt wolf form every Wildday. 
  This curse provides the basis for the werewolf myths 
  surrounding the people of Telmoria. Actually, only about 
  15% of Telmoria’s wolf folk are cursed; the remainder 
  are Pure. Cursed Telmori are found in greater numbers 
  over the mountains, in Dorastor. 
  Telmoria stoutly resists invasion by either nearby Empire. 
  EWF missionaries ﬁ nd them unlikely and inhospitable 
  converts. God Learner expeditions to the region rarely 
  return with a full complement of survivors.
  With Empires baying at the borders of its territory, 
  Telmoria’s lack of a centralised political structure works 
  in its favour. There is no single authority to conquer or 
  subvert.
  Notables
  The packs of Telmoria acknowledge a king but his 
  position is essentially ceremonial. He is the winner of 
  an annual tournament of ritual combat carried on every 
  
  Vesmonstran
  27
  year at Sacred Time. The packs gather in Red Glade, a 
  shallow valley about a hundred kilometres east of Bad 
  Deal. Outsiders, if discovered, are leapt upon and torn 
  to shreds. The alphas of each participating pack ﬁ ght 
  for supremacy, with each winner advancing to the 
  next round. The winner is declared King of Telmoria. 
  Unusually, the current king, and champion for three years 
  running, is a four-legged wolf,  Agnagar. He is about the 
  size of a lion and bears a lightning-shaped scar on his left 
  ﬂ ank. Outsiders attempting to negotiate with him must 
  speak through a two-legged interpreter, unless they are 
  somehow capable of wolf speech. Agnagar acts as an 
  exemplar of Telmori strength and ferocity but neither 
  issues commands nor settles disputes. Neither he nor his 
  packmates feel any obligation to explain this to foreigners 
  who come to lobby him. They are happy to accept any 
  gifts of food they may lay at his feet, even if they can 
  deliver little in return for them.
  The foremost shaman of Telmoria is Ehrarmarg, who 
  wears a boarskin loincloth and is scarred from head to 
  toe. His ﬂ owing grey beard is spotted with burrs and 
  nettles. He belongs to no pack but dwells in a mossy cave 
  inset into the side of the Nidan Mountains. After several 
  incursions from parties of God Learner scholar-warriors 
  he has learned to send out his devouring spirits ﬁ rst and 
  ask questions later. Ehrarmarg’s only interests are to 
  provide spiritual guidance to pack leaders who seek it 
  and to be left alone to subsist on his diet of voles and 
  owl eggs.
  Adventure Hooks
  D Gartos Goldhand, of the Elkeri clan of Lankst, has 
  offered a reward of 1,000 silvers to the mercenary 
  band that avenges the death of his prize bull, 
  Blackstorm. This 
  magniﬁ cent 
  specimen 
  was 
  summarily butchered by a pack of Telmori raiders. 
  Oddly, the leader of the pack seemed to be a young 
  girl. Gartos wants the girl brought before him alive, 
  at which point he will hear her out and decide what 
  form his vengeance should take.
  D The God Learner sorcerer Jouquel’s ear is missing, 
  though he knows where it is: hanging around the neck 
  of the great wolf shaman Ehrarmarg. The shaman 
  leapt on him and cut it off when Jouquel approached 
  him to ask a simple question about the myths of his 
  people. Jouquel fears that the shaman can use the ear 
  in dread lupine magics and wants it back. He does 
  not want Ehrarmarg harmed, in case he later changes 
  his mind about answering those questions.
  D While skirting the borders of Telmoria, the party is 
  approached by a Telmori who haltingly speaks their 
  language. A clan of dragon Orlanthi from Ormsland 
  have captured his four-legged brother, possibly in 
  retaliation for a raid on their sheep pens. He fears 
  their magic but reckons the adventurers do not. If 
  they get his brother back, he can show them a spot in 
  his hunting territory where a big cache of useless and 
  inedible gold coins lies buried.
   Ormsland, Vanguard of the EWF
  Ormsland consists of a bowl of grassland surrounded 
  by craggy hills, some of which rise up into full-ﬂ edged 
  mountains. Its rock formations mimic the ﬁ gures and 
  faces of dragons, dragonewts and reptilian creatures. The 
  twisted spires of weird draconic cities rise like coral from 
   Telmoria
  
  28
  Vesmonstran
  the vale, their walls exterior covered in gleaming scales. 
  Ormsland’s weather is peculiarly mild. In wintertime, its 
  borders with Telmoria to the north, Lankst to the west 
  and Karia to the south are visible as a sudden break in 
  the snowline, with green grass growing on the Ormsland 
  side. 
  Its mild temperatures make it an ideal haven for a 
  community of dragonewts. This is an entirely separate 
  dragonewt nation from the one at the heart of the EWF, 
  with its own Inhuman King.
  wyrmfriends. For over two centuries Ormsland remained 
  an embarrassing holdout to the EWF, a dragonewt 
  territory where their missionaries were not permitted. 
  It was not until 875 when the draconised Orlanthi got 
  back in, when the God Learners launched an ill-advised 
  military sally against Ormsland.
  The Guiding Council dispatched a legion of soldiers, 
  including Orlanthi windriders, Dara Happan hoplites 
  and saurian earthshaker units, to repel the invasion. They 
  remain in place to deter further incursions.
  The politics between the two inhuman kings are 
  impenetrable to morals, even those well-connected 
  within the EWF. Is the Ormsland King pleased that forces 
  associated with the Dragon’s Eye King now occupy his 
  territory? Do both of them disclaim responsibility for the 
  actions the humans undertake in their name? Any number 
  of Jrusteli nobles would pay handsomely to know this.
  Whatever reptilian manoeuvrings occur behind the scene, 
  Ormsland has become a vanguard for EWF penetration 
  into Ralios. Hunting and Waltzing bands, hungry for 
  converts, travel regularly to Lankst and Corolaland. They 
  move covertly in Safelstran cities like Lustria, holding 
  underground ceremonies beneath the very noses of the 
  Malkioni authorities.
   Settlements
  In Ormsland itself, the reinvited wyrmfriends swiftly 
  erected a series of urban communities. Using esoteric 
  magic to radically increase the crop yields of a previously 
  infertile and rocky soil, they presently support tens of 
  thousands of people. Its major centres include Ophid, 
  Greenshadow, Lortarn and Korl. Each is much like the 
  other, a densely populated labyrinth of housing and 
  worship centres, modelled on draconic architectural forms 
  but constructed on the cheap, with mundane materials. 
  Devotees of the wyrmfriend path easily navigate their 
  twists and turns. Outsiders quickly give themselves away 
  by becoming lost in their circuitous laneways.
  The laneways of  Ophid crawl with snakes. Locals have 
  become adept at sidestepping them and are never bitten. 
  Constrictors, vipers and other deadly specimens are far 
  outnumbered by harmless species. The killer snakes act 
  as an urban defence system, instinctively striking out at 
  individuals hostile to the EWF cause.
  From Holdout to Dependent
  The Ormsland king has always been more resistant 
  to the EWF project than his Dragon Pass counterpart. 
  Wyrmfriend missionaries did not arrive in Ormsland 
  until the mid-7th Century. By then Ormsland dragonewts 
  had already perceived a spiritual danger in allying 
  themselves with the grasping humans. Only after 
  extended negotiations between the two kings, who had 
  never before had any reason to dispute with one another, 
  were wyrmfriends admitted into Ormsland, as they had 
  been to Dragon’s Eye. Around 640, migrant Orlanthi 
  from Dragon Pass began to ﬂ ow into Ormsland, hoping to 
  use it as a base to proselytise the Stygian Empire. When 
  the Stygians responded to their Hunting and Waltzing 
  bands by dispatching troops to conduct punitive raids 
  on Ormsland, the so-called Second King expelled the 
  Neither the Inhuman King of Dragon Pass or that 
  of Ormsland seem to possess given names, aside 
  from ‘Inhuman King’. To alleviate this confusion, 
  we wyrmfriends refer to the Ormsland King as the 
  ‘Second King’.
  — Ervaling Scalemaker, Wyrmfriend Priest
  The EWF invaded Ralios on a trumped-up pretext. 
  We sent only a few parties of peaceful scribes to 
  humbly petition Ormsland’s Inhuman King for 
  answers to a few simple scholarly queries.
  — Spolorfal the Arranger, Dean of Pythos 
  University
  
  Vesmonstran
  29
  Ophid, ﬁ rst-built of the four major cities, boasts the 
  fanciest and sturdiest architectural ﬂ ourishes. The local 
  EWF leadership gathers here, treating the city as its 
  unofﬁ cial capital.
  On either the third or fourth Wildday of Sea Season, 
  depending on the weather, the snakes of Ophid gather 
  together by species, to engage in frenzied mating in 
  enormous pulsing heaps. Not long after noting the 
  annual incidence of the phenomenon, city residents 
  began to celebrate it with a week of feasts and fetes. 
  To the consternation of religious authorities, these have 
  become wildly orgiastic, in a matter similar to the heron 
  worshippers of the Pelorian city of Darjin. Worship energy 
  that would normally be directed to the EWF leadership is 
  either dissipated during this informal festival, or, more 
  disturbingly, diverted to some other entity. Wyrmfriend 
  priests have quietly posted a reward to any trusted servitor 
  who can get to the bottom of this troubling mystery.
   Greenshadow gets its name from the verdant undertone 
  detectable in any shadow cast within its city limits. For 
  this reason it has been adopted as a new home by the Kyger 
  Reptile Clan, a renegade collection of uz, and humans 
  who wish to be uz. Originally from the Shadowlands, 
  they believe in the compatibility of wyrmfriend and uz 
  worship. Wyrmfriend priests attempt to discourage them 
  from attending public ceremonies, ﬁ nding something 
  dank, uncomfortable and polluting in the worship energies 
  they provide. Their delegations to the uz strongholds of 
  Halikiv and Guhan have been violently rebuffed.
  Movement leaders are also troubled by the popularity 
  of a breakaway wyrmfriend priest named Barlken. He 
  claims to be the recipient of the Revelation of Personal 
  Connection. According to his variant faith, it is possible 
  to achieve a one-on-one mystical relationship with the 
  high draconic consciousness without imparting one’s 
  worship energy to the priesthood. Barlken, an alternately 
  withdrawn and blazingly deﬁ ant ﬁ gure, narrowly escaped 
  a succession of suspiciously coincidental accidents last 
  year. To the further consternation of local leaders, he 
  then petitioned the Second King for protection. Now he 
  spends more time in private chamber with the Lord High 
  Dragonewt than do the EWF’s ofﬁ cial representatives.
   Korl has blossomed as a centre for trade and industry. 
  Caravans travel overland from Lanskt, bearing goods 
  from Safelster to the south and Fronela to the north. 
  The inﬂ uence of money on affairs in Korl is such that 
  its leading merchant, a follower of Issaries Doubletongue 
  called Verosta, enjoys greater inﬂ uence than Korl’s 
  guiding council. She is famous for her statement that: 
  ‘We owe the dragon on Godday and owe ourselves the 
  rest of the week’. Verosta spreads her wealth generously 
  to retard priestly inﬂ uence on commerce.
  Recent investigative efforts by priestly enforcers have 
  found Old Ways traditionalists sneaking into Korl in the 
  guise of caravan guards. Hiosson the Clutcher, a hard-
  hearted representative of the War Dragons, just arrived 
  Mark my words. Barlken is a bigger threat to us 
  than all the nosy Malkioni scholars in the world. 
  A wedge must be driven between him and the 
  Second King.
   
  — Ervaling Scalemaker, Wyrmfriend Priest
   Ophid
  
  30
  Vesmonstran
   The Wall
  Shortly after the cooling of hostilities with the God Learners, 
  Ormsgone’s new EWF contingent faced a new threat. The Chaos 
  creatures of Karia began to encroach on Ormsgone, which they 
  had never done before. Apparently they found humans a more 
  enticing prey than dragonewts. EWF engineers got to work 
  erecting a wall spanning the entire Ormsland-Karia borderland. 
  The wall itself became a target of Chaos attacks, slowing progress 
  to a crawl. At present it is two-thirds ﬁ nished.
  The plodding, methodical Orlms Vandant serves as the project’s 
  chief engineer. Recently he received authorisation to divert funds 
  from construction to the payment of bounties. These are payable 
  for Chaos creatures encountered within thirty miles of the wall. 
  the job of veriﬁ cation ofﬁ cer, who must physically examine Chaos 
  corpses and determine fees payable, is the least coveted among 
  Orlms’ engineers. Adventurers, not all of them wyrmfriends, have 
  ﬂ ocked to the area to ﬁ ght Chaos and claim the bounties. Orlms 
  suspects that some of the beasts are killed further away but has not 
  given up hope that the bounty will eventually speed completion of 
  his life’s great work.
  in the city to root out their presence before it grows into 
  a full-ﬂ edged insurgency, as the Empire now faces in 
  Dragon Pass. Verosta fears that his crackdown will be bad 
  for business. Onlookers whisper that in this diminutive, 
  uncompromising enforcer, she may have ﬁ nally met her 
  match.
   Lortarn houses a spanking new temple to Telmor 
  Dragonwolf, a newly discovered divine aspect of the 
  werewolf god. Its patron, the high priestess Rangalla, 
  invites all Telmori to visit it and join the EWF way. She 
  hopes to make inroads among the Telmor where other 
  Hunting and Waltzing bands have failed. So far the temple 
  has attracted only a smattering of sincere worshippers, 
  most of them half-mad Telmori outcasts. Instead, outraged 
  wolf people have targeted it for sustained raiding, on one 
  occasion burning its outer façade. Their incursions have 
  sparked a debate between the Lortarn priesthood and local 
  residents, who have borne the brunt of these violent raids. 
  Protesters demanding the relocation of the temple have 
  been branded as Old Ways traditionalists and subjected 
  to imprisonment and interrogation.
  Mud pits outside Lortarn yield a coveted luxury product, a 
  mud that retards the visible effects of aging when applied 
  to the skin. A bottling syndicate led by the vehemently 
  self-protective Tonanda Jos employs 
  thousands 
  of 
  diggers, 
  glassblowers, 
  merchants and overseers. A few months 
  ago she offered a bounty for the scalps 
  of Kustrian merchants who sneaked into 
  the mud pits to take a sample home for 
  alchemical analysis.
  Notables
  The Guiding Council has decreed the 
  Clanking City of the Zistorites, in God 
  Forgot, as the focus of their efforts. They 
  have made Ormsland a comparatively 
  sleepy second front. As a consequence, a 
  combination of second-raters and unproven 
  up-and-comers man its contingent in 
  Ormsland.
   Lorsan the Seeker serves as the Guiding 
  Council’s chief envoy in Ormsland. 
  Technically he rules nothing and is merely 
  ﬁ rst among equals as a guest of the 
  Second King. For all practical purposes 
  he is the provincial governor of the area’s wyrmfriend 
  communities. A sincere believer in the draconic path, 
  Lorsan spends as much of his time as possible in 
  meditation, neglecting his mundane duties. As a result 
  a general air of administrative incompetence permeates 
  EWF operations here. A genial and welcoming fellow, he 
  cannot understand why anyone would refuse to join the 
  wyrmfriend faith.
  His eerie older brother,  Estivos the Predictor, manages 
  the area’s Hunting and Waltzing Bands. He concentrates 
  his proselytising efforts on the clans of Lankst. Estivos 
  covertly arranges for ill fortune to befall anti-EWF clans. 
  He has seen his own future and is terriﬁ ed that he might 
  make a mistake and deviate from the path laid out for 
  him by destiny. Under certain lighting conditions you can 
  look into the irises of his eyes and see through them to 
  whatever he is standing in front of.
  The young wyrmfriend priest  Ervaling Scalemaker 
  has been assigned as steward to both brothers. He sees 
  himself as a future member of the Guiding Council and 
  aims to capitalise thoroughly on whatever opportunities 
  arise for him in Ormsland. He wants to organise a quick 
  and dramatic raid against a vulnerable target – any target 
  – winning glory and a transfer to where the action is, at 
  the Clanking City.
  
  Vesmonstran
  31
   Endti Narrow-Hip serves as Ormsland’s ranking EWF 
  general. She is a devotee of Maran Gor, the ﬁ ghting 
  earth goddess who is Ernalda’s elder sister. Even before 
  her worship was draconised, Maran Gor possessed an 
  afﬁ nity with earthshaker beasts (dinosaurs). The moody, 
  impolitic Endti likes brontosaurs and triceratops more 
  than she does people. In her ofﬁ ce stands a large model 
  of Ralios made out of painted ﬂ our and water, on which 
  she plans her battles, moving about tiny wooden ﬁ gures 
  of her saurian shock troops. She possesses an instinctive 
  rapport with the dragonewts, which is more than some 
  of her civilian superiors can say. Endti is embarrassed 
  by her willowy frame; no matter how much she eats, she 
  cannot put on the massive rolls of fat expected of a Maran 
  Gor priestess.
  The unpredictable warrior hero  Heornar Wolfhound 
  is an indifferent follower of the wyrmfriend faith. He 
  came to Ormsland for one reason only – to kill Telmori, 
  the ancestral enemies of his clan. He recruits foreign 
  mercenaries for his frequent slaying sallies into Telmoria. 
  The severed heads of wolves and wolf-men decorate the 
  private sanctum of his living quarters in Ophid.
  Adventure Hooks
  D An enemy of the EWF hires the adventurers to deliver 
  an object to Darytha Fant, a resident of Greenshadow. 
  She is a subversive, posing as a wyrmfriend priestess 
  while cooperating with the group’s patron. The 
  object is fragile and must arrive intact. It is a portion 
  of a very large broken eggshell. Supposedly it is a 
  communication between the two Inhuman Kings, 
  even though no runes or characters are visible on it. 
  Only Darytha can decipher its meaning. But when 
  the adventurers arrive in Greenshadow, they ﬁ nd 
  that she has been taken away by the authorities on 
  suspicion of treason.
  D EWF ofﬁ cials suspect that one of the engineers 
  charged with constructing the wall between Ormsland 
  and Karia has been diverting supplies to building 
  projects in Lortarn. The adventurers are hired to 
  spy on him and follow any peculiar shipments away 
  from the site. Unfortunately for them, just when they 
  are accumulating the evidence they seek, a wave of 
  Chaos creatures makes a mad assault on the wall.
  D The party runs across rumours of an old mostali tunnel 
  under the Nidan Mountains, near the borderland 
  between Telmoria and Ormsland. If it exists and 
  is passable, it would provide a route from Peloria 
  to Vesmonstran circumventing the Kartolin Pass. 
  This alternate route is desirable because it avoids a 
  dangerous overland trek through the Chaos-haunted 
  danger zone of Dorastor. Information leading to its 
  location would fetch an impressive price.
  D Robangor Purple Coat of the Lanksti Hersling 
  clan hires the adventurers to conduct the eccentric, 
  scrofulous priest Gustako to the Telmori-Ormsland 
  border. Gustako follows an obscure god, Valind the 
  Glacier-Maker. He says he can reverse the magic 
  that keeps Ormsland balmy during Sea Season, by 
  cursing a series of draconic beacons hidden in the 
  wilderness. Gustako must physical interfere with 
  each beacon, which may eventually arouse the 
  attention of EWF patrols.
  D Elsewhere in the wilds of Ralios, the adventurers 
  encounter a young woman ﬂ eeing a velociraptor 
  and its wyrmfriend keepers. If they save her from 
  her assailants, they ﬁ nd that her pursuers were 
  trying to capture her and ransom her to her brother, 
  a prominent member of the Old Ways traditionalists 
  responsible for several successful raids on the 
  outskirts of Ormsland. Knowing his vow to care 
  for her, Ervaling Scalemaker ﬁ gures he will turn 
  himself in to win his sister’s freedom. She tells the 
  adventurers they will be rewarded if they can spirit 
  her safely to an anti-EWF clan in Lanskt or even a 
  Safelstran city. Her name is Orendri; her brother is 
  Hengmar.
   Karia (The Scourged Land)
  As the war against Gbaji drew to a climax, Arkat and 
  his allies battled their way through the region of Karia 
  on their way to the climactic confrontation in Dorastor. 
  Here, outnumbered by the legions of Nysalor’s Golden 
  Empire, Arkat unleashed terrible gifts discovered in 
  the Hero Plane. He released the Unbinding Plague, the 
  Corroding Righteousness and the Eating Everything 
  Thing. These forces slew platoons of enemy warriors, 
  along with thousands of Arkat’s own men. They also 
  devastated the surrounding landscape for miles around. 
  Karia’s rolling emerald hills, dotted with pastures and 
  The word ‘ambitious’ is the favourite insult of the 
  lazy and complacent. There is no accusation I am 
  prouder to admit to.
  —Ervaling Scalemaker, Wyrmfriend Priest
  
  32
  Vesmonstran
  We God Learners are sometimes accused of 
  madness but we have never tried to harness the 
  power of Chaos. Now that would be mad.
  — Spolorfal the Arranger, Dean of Pythos 
  University
  Imagine how much worse the effects of the 
  Goddess Switch would have been if the Myth 
  Stealers had tried it in Karia! One shudders at the 
  mere thought of it!
  — Brother Aran, Monk of Pombric 
   Hazards
  Adventurers in Karia face malign, impersonal forces left over from the Arkat-
  Gbaji war:
   Ghosts: The restless spirits of the soldiers slaughtered here still moan, groan 
  and occasionally manifest themselves to appalled onlookers. Though few of 
  the tormented spectres harm travellers physically, the sight of them can cause 
  debilitating distress or permanent madness. Formidable shamans can ward 
  them off or force them to do their bidding.
  The  Unbinding Plague: Inanimate objects can catch diseases in Karia, which 
  slowly eat away at them until they fall apart. The land itself is infected with 
  this plague. In a few places, its contagion still lingers and be carried off to 
  other lands. It is not potent enough to scour the landscape but it can destroy 
  weapons, armour and other equipment.
  The  Corroding Righteousness: Lingering energies of this Arkati magic 
  cause physical harm, like that of a Disruption spell, to heathens and heretics. 
  The effect deﬁ nes these in the harsh terms of the strict pre-Hrestoli form of 
  Malkionism.
  The  Eating Everything Thing: Occasionally explorers in Karia will simply 
  vanish in a cloud of blood and bone, devoured by this trollish spirit from the 
  Underworld. Its approach can be seen from miles away, as a gory red plume, 
  not unlike a crimson sandstorm. You cannot ﬁ ght the Eating Everything 
  Thing. You can try to run away.
  croplands, transformed into to scourged and barren crags. 
  Its rich soil turned to ashes and blew away. The wide and 
  gentle Boratran River evaporated in an instant; its winding 
  streambed folded in on itself and was swallowed by the 
  gasping earth. Even the sky above Karia was discoloured 
  and appears to bear a dripping, putrid stain.
  After the war was over, Arkat, now founding Emperor 
  of the Autarchy, attempted to undo the damage he had 
  wrought. At the same time, he instructed his cultists 
  to weave vast, intricate spells to seal the Kartolin Pass 
  between Karia and Dorastor. These ensured that the 
  remaining nest of Chaos beings in that accursed land 
  could not pass into Ralios. These twin objectives turned 
  out to be mutually exclusive; the magic that maintained 
  the seal prevented the land’s regeneration. Arkat accepted 
  the loss of Karia as the price of continued protection 
  against Chaos. Legend has it that he visited the place 
  once a year, marking the terrible price of his victory with 
  solemn ceremony and pained reﬂ ection.
  Karia remained both uninhabited and free from Chaos for 
  nearly two and a half centuries. 
  Its 
  situation 
  gradually 
  changed after 740, when 
  the invading God Learners 
  overthrew the Autarchy and 
  extirpated the cult of Arkat. 
  The sealing spells that kept 
  Chaos from crossing through 
  the Kartolin faded away. The 
  Seshnegi king, Annmak the 
  Peacemaker, divided Karia 
  up into duchies, granting it 
  to favoured nobles. Their 
  attempts to resettle the land 
  ended in catastrophe. Farmers 
  starved. Children went mad. 
  Knights were violated by 
  broo and died spawning their 
  offspring.
  Karia was abandoned. Every 
  generation or so, a new 
  cocky school of God Learner 
  sorcerers arises to try to undo 
  Arkat’s scourging. They never 
  succeed. The Goddess Switch 
  was originally conceived as 
  a way of returning fertility 
  to Karia. This plan was abandoned on sober second 
  thought.
  Although Karia is now thought of as a Chaos haven, 
  second only to Dorastor in danger and corruption, even 
  those creatures ﬁ nd it hard to exist here for long. They 
  
  Vesmonstran
  33
  Sheánn, the Black Saint
  travel from Dorastor in search of prey. When their raids 
  are complete, they retreat back to the safe environs of 
  their haunted land.
  Creatures encountered here include broo, walktapi, jack 
  o’bears, scorpion men, gorp, charnjibbers and bestial 
  humans blistering with Chaos features. Unique Chaos 
  beings of bizarre aspect also commonly crawl, ﬂ op and 
  wriggle across its eerie barrens.
   Raider Gangs
  Although none of Karia’s monsters and villains are 
  permanent residents, a few intelligent Chaos warriors do 
  make it the object of regular forays. The most infamous 
  of these are as follows.
   Sheánn the Black Saint fought in the Arkat-Gbaji 
  war, ﬁ rst on Arkat’s side, then against him. Once a 
  devout Malkioni, Sheánn turned on his mentor when he 
  renounced the Invisible God to take on trollish qualities. 
  A cancer grew upon his righteous outrage, 
  turning it to spite. He gathered a platoon of 
  similarly disaffected Arkati and attacked 
  his former leader during his march through 
  Karia. As he engaged Arkat in personal 
  combat, gruesome Chaos features erupted 
  from his body. He fell to his knees and 
  begged Arkat for forgiveness and a quick 
  demise. Grim Arkat denied him both. 
  Sheánn now wanders Dorastor and Karia 
  as a tormented immortal, attended by 
  other 
  Chaotic 
  humans. 
  Razor-tipped 
  tentacles sprout from his back and 
  shoulders. His blackened metal armour 
  has merged with his body, pulsing with 
  translucent veins. It regenerates him and 
  spews corrosive, disease-laden blood onto 
  anyone unfortunate enough to injure him 
  in close combat. He also continues to 
  wield a wide range of war-oriented Rune 
  Magic and Sorcery spells. Although still 
  woefully alive, other Malkioni apostates 
  are able to pray to him as if he is a saint, 
  receiving potent but soul-corroding magic. 
  His professions of hatred for his present 
  existence do not stop him from seeking 
  plunder or slaying any stranger who 
  crosses his path.
   Darengeng is a titanic broo, over three metres in height. 
  He breathes backwards and can suck the air out of an 
  opponent’s lungs, causing asphyxiation. He nurtures a 
  surpassing hatred for cities and has launched repeated 
  assaults on the Ormsland settlement of Ophid. Attempts 
  to destroy the Ormsland wall now occupy the bulk of his 
  efforts in Karia.
  The deluded, Chaos-corrupted ex-wyrmfriend priest 
   Lordros Neverwant still thinks he heads a Hunting 
  and Waltzing Band. He travels through Karia, eager 
  to minister to the unwashed. His conversion ceremony 
  involves a laying on of hands, which establishes a 
  seed of malign physical change in the victim’s body. 
  Unbeknownst to him, Lordros’ fevered brain has been 
  colonised by tiny, monstrous minions of Pocharngo, 
  the Chaos god of mutation. A retinue of equally crazed 
  mutants attends him, mopping his brow when beads of 
  sweat appear upon it and cradling him in a faeces-caked 
  cloak when he shivers from the cold. 
  
  34
  Vesmonstran
  Adventures in Karia
  This is not a place of intrigue, mystery or complicated 
  plot hooks. Adventurers in Karia ﬁ nd horrible monsters, 
  ﬁ ght them, kill them and escape – if they are not killed 
  themselves.
   Ballid, Elf Forest
  Scholars know the forest of Ballid as one of the six great 
  elf forests of the west. Somewhere in its leafy depths lies 
  one of the Great Trees, grown from the seeds of the First 
  Tree, way back in the Green Age.
  Its inhabitants pursue no great agendas; they wish simply 
  to be left alone in the peace and harmony of their arcadian 
  wilds. Alas, they are surrounded by prying neighbours 
  who wish to rob them, probe into their secrets – or, in the 
  case of the uz, eat them.
  The aldryami of Ballid sided with Arkat during the wars 
  that ushered in the end of the First Age, sending their 
  legions to battle Gbaji. To this day they revere Arkat as a 
  liberator who protected their forest against a corrupting 
  force. 
   Enemies All Around
  Uz: The Autarchy rewarded the allegiance of the aldryami 
  by brokering a non-aggression agreement between them 
  and the devouring uz of nearby Guhan. This was tested 
  during the decadence of the Stygian Empire and ﬁ nally 
  broken entirely when the Middle Sea Empire destroyed 
  the Arkat cult in 740. Now they must defend themselves 
  against the depredations of ravenous trolls, as they had to 
  do during the Darkness and early First Age.
  trees. The aldryami ﬁ ght back vigorously when invaded 
  but are reluctant to venture into the Nidan tunnels to 
  take the ﬁ ght to the dwarfs. Instead, using the Elffriend 
  clan of Lankst as intermediaries, they hire mercenaries 
  to exact retribution on the mostali. They pay for these 
  incursions by selling medicinal herbs to traders and with 
  gear looted from the corpses of invading meat people. 
  Because Nidan is the mostali stronghold of strongholds, 
  they rarely expect their hirelings to invade it head-on. 
  Instead their hirelings harry mostali convoys or sneak 
  in for stealthy sabotage runs through tunnel entrances 
  beneath the reaching roots of Ballid.
  God Learners: As far as the elfs of Ballid are concerned, 
  any foe of Arkat is a friend of Gbaji. They view God 
  Learner attempts to dissect their myths as a corrupting 
  force similar to Gbaji.
  Their chief God Learner antagonist is the sorcerer 
  Pranton, who maintains the New School of Botanical 
  Inquiry in Valantia. A determined fellow from a wealthy 
  Jrusteli family, he has sunk much of his personal fortune 
  into his researches. He hires the best mercenaries in the 
  west to conduct spirit raids into Ballid. Although mildly 
  interested in botanical specimens, what he really wants 
  is a map of the tangled aldryami portions of the Other 
  Side. To this end, he targets aldryami spiritual leaders 
  for kidnapping and interrogation. After he is done asking 
  questions, he offers to ransom surviving prisoners back 
  to their people – in exchange asking for mythic secrets, 
  instead of money.
  Orlanthi: Like any aldryami enclave, only the fringes 
  of Ballid are penetrable by outsiders. They can travel 
  through its fringes but any trip of more than a day or 
  so into its interior is invariably intercepted by an armed 
  aldryami force or by the vegetation itself. An exception 
  pertains in the case of the Elffriend clan. Their long-
  standing alliance with Ballid allows them to freely travel 
  through the forest. However, the Elffriends obey their 
  own Orlanthi rules of hospitality and would not dream 
  of making their way through another’s tula without 
  approaching them to exchange greetings.
  Their rival clan, the Yellow Apples, possess ancestral 
  theistic spells allowing them to counter detection by 
  elfs and plants. Whenever the aldryami catch them in 
  Ballid, they fall on them, slaying without mercy. With 
  disrespectful enemies like these, they neither expect nor 
  grant ransom.
  Mostali: The mostali of the Nidan Mountain Decamony 
  have posed an intermittent threat to the survival of Ballid. 
  The dwarfs resent the nasty green growth on the side of 
  their mountain. Every few years they launch a mass-
  scale effort to repair this blemish. They may assault the 
  forest with axes swinging or send a cascade of noxious 
  chemicals sluicing down the mountainside to poison the 
  Elfs are bitter and angry. They say we hate them 
  but we do not. Elfs should not blame us for our 
  hunger. Plants grow back, don’t they?
  — Gor Kargor, Matriarch of Guhan
  
  Vesmonstran
  35
  Neither the Elffriends or the Yellow Apples have ever 
  beheld the Great Tree, though both sides have boasted 
  about it to the other.
  Notables
  The aldryami see to it that alarming meat people never 
  lay eyes on their high leaders. They maintain a core of 
  false leadership, who outsiders have identiﬁ ed as the 
  forest’s rulers. These masquerading representatives 
  listen carefully to the false assumptions made by 
  visitors, especially invading God Learners, and carefully 
  perpetuate them. Entire bookshelves of God Learner 
  reference texts now refer to the King and Queen Elf of 
  Ballid forest, who only exist in their imaginations. The 
  elfs posing as these ﬁ ctional entities can, through their 
  connection to the song of the woods, communicate to the 
  true elders of the forest, receiving instructions from them 
  as necessary.
  Posing as Queen Elf these days is a willow-haired entity 
  named  Nidaya. Distant and abstracted, she sways in the 
  wind like a tree and takes long pauses between phrases, 
  to listen to the woodsong. Though acting is an alien 
  skill to her, she continually reminds herself to match 
  the image of the imperious faerie queen promulgated by 
  human legends.
  do not recognise the permanence of the soul, such as the 
  mostali, are immune to its effects.
   Guhan, Uz Hills
  The territory of Guhan in western Ralios centres on 
  the Uzgor Hills. It consists of a bare and rocky terrain, 
  surmounted by two small mountain ranges. Guhan is 
  not a natural home to the uz but one granted to them at 
  the end of the First Age. It has taken them a long time 
  to bind ancestral spirits to its jagged cliffs and inedible 
  rocks. The spirits native to Guhan were hostile to the uz 
  for many years but ﬁ nally came around after decades of 
  drum-banging entreaties. The insect herds were slow in 
  developing, too: it took much breeding to create the hardy 
  giant bugs capable of surviving on its meagre vegetation. 
  Now the uz call it home and would never give it up.
  Trolls and Empires
  After his war with Gbaji, Arkat ceded the territory of 
  Guhan to his trollish allies, most of whom hailed the 
  Shadowlands, a troll enclave of central Genertela. They 
  settled its wind-swept hills, maintaining their unity and 
  King Elf, as currently played by the thorny, briar-like 
  Ifelon, has the easier role. He merely sits scowling 
  on his overgrown throne (a chair purchased from the 
  Elffriends and covered with cooperative vines) and 
  issues the occasional grunt or nod. He carries the Pod 
  Staff, a piece of autonomous living wood from which 
  dozens of round, ﬁ st-sized seeds dangle, ﬁ xed to it by 
  so many precarious, dried tendrils. When Ifelon kills 
  an non-elf enemy, the victim’s soul travels into one of 
  the seeds. It remains trapped there until planted, when it 
  becomes a twisted, leaﬂ ess bush. The aldryami ransom 
  these souls in exchange for promises of protection or aid. 
  When the bush is burned, the soul is freed, going on to 
  whatever afterlife its culture decrees for it. Groups who 
  I will consider your entreaties but the pathways 
  from them are tangled as if by thick brush. You will 
  stand and wait, mortals, as I consult the woodsong 
  for its answer.
  — Nidaya, Elf Queen of Ballid
   Ifelon, King Elf of Ballid
  
  36
  Vesmonstran
  their mutually beneﬁ cial relationship with the Stygian 
  Empire. Uz lived in Guhan, but were allowed to travel 
  throughout Arkat’s lands. When he had trouble, uz 
  warriors fought to put down the rebels. They even made 
  peace with the elfs of Ballid, taking them off their menus 
  entirely, because Arkat asked them to.
  The uz did not feel for Arkat’s successors as they did 
  for him. They were only humans, while Arkat was part 
  human, part troll. Still, the uz of Guhan found their job 
  as the Empire’s enforcers fruitful. It ﬁ lled their bellies. 
  Also, the Stygian kings funded good sorcerers, who tried 
  to help them lift Gbaji’s curse. As the decades wore on, 
  the human kings of the Autarchy expected more from 
  the uz while giving less in return. Trolls consulted their 
  spirits of augury and saw that something bright, bad and 
  blinding was coming their way.
  The conquest of Ralios in 740 brought danger to their 
  borders. To fatten themselves for the coming lean years, 
  the uz relinquished their peace bond with the elfs. They 
  returned to eating the aldryami but had forgotten how 
  nasty the plant men could be in a ﬁ ght. They raided the 
  wind-worshippers of the north and hit the small human 
  settlements along the southern shores of the Nidan river. 
  Uz even raided as far as the city of Col.
  Hunger did come, because the new Empire, the God 
  Learners, despite their claims of friendly intentions, 
  wanted to change uz religion. This would have meant 
  changing uz hearts, so the tribes of Guhan could not do it 
  even if they wanted. They retreated to their borders and 
  kept the sorcerers out as best they could. The Guhanites 
  redirected their raids to the Orlanthi of Lankst, who were 
  ﬁ erce ﬁ ghters but easier nuts to crack than the city armies 
  of the south. They also went up into the mountains to eat 
  mostali canned food and the dwarfs that made it.
   Leadership and Organisation
  When they settled Guhan, Arkat’s favourite trolls broke 
  with tradition to set up an apparently male-dominated 
  leadership (an example of typical uz social organisation 
  can be found on the other side of Ralios, in Halikiv). Arkat 
  granted the land to the warriors who’d fought bravely 
  by his side, sidestepping the matriarchs who would 
  usually rule a troll enclave. They formed themselves 
  into the Guhan Guard, a military caste responsible for 
  maintaining unity inside the new nation and providing 
  support to the Autarchy when needed. Its ultimate leader, 
  the Bruznu, or High General, would be chosen by high-
  ranking ofﬁ cers of the guard, subject to the approval of 
  the Autarchic Emperor. 
  During its glory days as an elite guard to the Stygian 
  Empire, the Guhan Guard consolidated its inﬂ uence over 
  the region’s uz. The carts of plunder they brought back 
  from their various exploits were converted into food and 
  used to reward coteries of loyal followers.
  In the Autarchy’s losing war against the God Learners, 
  the Guard fought at the forefront, suffering severe losses. 
  Its leading heroes were slain. Several Bruznu were, in 
  short succession, elevated to high command only to be 
  killed shortly thereafter. When the God Learners took 
  the cities of Safelster, the Guard’s surviving remnants, 
  sensing the inevitability of defeat, withdrew to Guhan.
  Our life here is hard. We are surrounded by 
  enemies and monsters. There are the plant 
  monsters of Ballid and the stone monsters of Nidan. 
  You humans can be monsters, too, whether from 
  the stormy north or the noisy, smoky south. Worst 
  of all are the enemies of Karia, because you have to 
  fight Chaos things but you do not get to eat them 
  afterwards.
  — Gor Kargor, Matriarch of Guhan
  For a time the matriarchy reasserted itself. Then the 
  God Learners appeared in Guhan, declaring the uz their 
  subjects. Their spirit raiders demanded access to uz mythic 
  secrets by right of conquest. The matriarchs, unused to 
  rule, vacillated. A new generation of the Guhan Guard 
  stepped forward to ﬁ ght back. Their name still evoked 
  fear in the hearts of the Seshnegi, who remembered the 
  Guard’s ferocity from when they were the vassals of the 
  Stygians. Now the Guard fought by stealth, launching 
  If the humans of the Autarchy had stayed as tough 
  and ready as us, the God Learners never would 
  have beaten them. Our allies got soft, so we lost.
  — Shadowbreather, Warrior of Guhan
  
  Vesmonstran
  37
  nocturnal lightning raids against invading God Learner 
  expeditions. After driving off the predatory humans, 
  the Guard retook power from the stumbling matriarchy. 
  Their rule continues to this day, as does their chilling 
  reputation.
  there from below. They are led by the matriarch Karo 
  Kalis, who mischievously toys with EWF Hunting and 
  Waltzing Bands by allowing them to demonstrate magic 
  to her people but never quite accepts their doctrine.
  The  Ondorp occupy the eastern banks of the Nidan 
  River. They break uz taboo by eating cooked food. They 
  do not handle the ﬁ re themselves but instead employ 
  human thralls purchased from the Treyling clan of 
  Lankst. They treat their slaves better than the Treyling 
  do but still devour them if the pie crusts are not ﬂ aky. 
  Their matriarch is Anja Bimor, a no-nonsense leader 
  who makes decisions quickly and never looks back. She 
  wears a necklace of faintly glowing green stones known 
  to cause fainting in importunate humans.
  The  Rastalux occupy the lowlands closest to Safelster. 
  Lodal Fanos, the imposing fortress of the Guhan Guard, 
  overshadows their territory. The Rastalux clan head, 
  Chos Varal, is the staunchest supporter of the Guard and 
  its agenda among the matriarchs of Guhan. A glutton for 
  ﬂ attery, she prefers non-uz visitors to address her as the 
  Queen of Rastalux and to bow down at her swollen feet. 
  She counts the Bruznu, Makt Vatharg, as her favourite 
  husband.
  Beneath the veneer of military rule one ﬁ nds a typical uz 
  clan structure. Each of its six extended clans is headed 
  by a matriarch. Male members of the clan answer to 
  her in domestic matters, and to their Guard superiors in 
  affairs of raiding, defence, and external politics. When in 
  conﬂ ict between these two masters, the male uz obeys his 
  guard superiors. Women answer only to the matriarchs.
   Clans of Guhan
  The clans of Guhan are as follows:
  The  Fungora clan lives on the border 
  of the Ballid forest, where its leafy trees 
  give way to a twilight world of giant 
  mushrooms, morels and other fungal 
  growths. They ferment an intoxicating 
  beverage from its noxious toadstools. 
  After drinking it, uz feel woozy in the 
  morning. In humans and other beings 
  of lesser fortitude, it may cause brain 
  liquefaction. The Fungora oscillate 
  between peaceful coexistence with 
  the elfs, who also revere the fungal 
  forest. Their matriarch is Aran Orlar, 
  whose head resembles a misshapen, 
  gigantic squash. She wears a special 
  platinum brace to prevent her neck 
  from breaking. 
  The  Mong occupy Guhan’s western 
  reaches, on the far side of the 
  Nidan River. They know where the 
  tributaries of that river go beneath the 
  Nidan mountains, allowing them to 
  raid up into the mostali strongholds 
  In Guhan we let the men debate and rule in public. 
  But first they come to us and ask us what we think 
  and we oh so gently explain to them what to do.
  — Gor Kargor, Matriarch of Guhan
  
  38
  Vesmonstran
  Heroes of the Guhan Guard
   Makt Vatharg, Bruznu of the Guhan Guard, dutifully stokes the fearsome 
  reputation of his organisation. At the beginning of every darkness season he 
  selects an enemy of the uz people among the cities of Safelster and sends a 
  raid deep into the heart of urban Ralios. The objective is always the same: to 
  kidnap that person and bring him back to Guhan for interrogation, deprivation 
  and torture. Then the enemy is released, so that he can go back and warn his 
  compatriots of the dangers entailed in crossing the uz of Guhan. Makt Vatharg 
  is humourless, unforgiving and perpetually annoyed. He basks in the honour 
  of his marriage to matriarch Chos Varal but spends as little time as possible in 
  her actual presence. He wears the Belt of Hheirrana, an artefact stolen from 
  the aldryami. It doubles his strength and allows him to leap over trees and 
  walls.
  The hero known only as  Shadowbreather executes his Bruznu’s most daring 
  raids. He moves in total silence and cannot be seen by ﬁ relight. His favoured 
  weapon is the garrotte. One bad habit mars his legendary stealth: as he draws 
  near to an enemy, he may forget himself and emit a throaty chuckle of cruel 
  anticipation.
  Known among humans as Blue Moon Pete, the warrior  Yolfol Karat labours 
  to show his people’s benign side. He wanders Ralios looking for Malkioni and 
  Orlanthi to dramatically rescue from danger. Then he travels with them for a 
  time, arguing for the need for better understanding between people and uz. 
  He is widely despised for his naïve softness but protected by his great-aunt, 
  Gor Kangor.
   Zarn clan lands encompass central Guhan. The 
  matriarch of this, the largest clan, is Gor Kangor. Of all 
  the matriarchs, the Zarn leader is the least tolerant of the 
  Guhan Guard and its delusions of male supremacy. She is 
  also the sole Mistress Race troll among the matriarchs, or 
  all of Guhan for that matter. Gor Kangor hails originally 
  from Halikiv, where people still blame her for leaving. 
  She never deigns to disguise her contempt for Chos 
  Varal. Her status as a Mistress Race uz from before the 
  Dawn protects her from open reprisal by the so-called 
  Queen of Rastalux or other local rivals. As a survivor 
  from pre-Time, she arouses considerable interest from 
  God Learners, many of whom would die for a meeting 
  with her. And many of them do.
   Nida, Home of the 
  Mostali Decamony
  Deep in the Nidan Mountains 
  sprawls 
  a 
  subterranean 
  complex of rigorous geometric 
  wonder. 
  Its 
  twisting, 
  straight-angled marble halls, 
  chambers, 
  barracks 
  and 
  factory ﬂ oors comprise Nida, 
  the headquarters of worldwide 
  mostali orthodoxy. The Nidan 
  Decamony claims to rule 
  over all dwarfs everywhere. 
  Its leaders make it their duty 
  to stamp our heresies and 
  malfunctions wherever they 
  occur. They were staunch 
  in 
  their 
  suppression 
  of 
  Openhandism in the First Age 
  and are now as dedicated in the 
  war against Individualism.
  Its leaders could not be less 
  interested in the affairs of 
  Ralios. Instead they focus 
  their 
  attention 
  on 
  intra-
  mostali conﬂ icts, especially 
  against the rebellious community of Greatway, in distant 
  Balazar. Of recent concern to them is the Clanking 
  City in God Forgot, where the mechanistic demigod 
  Zistor further damages the world machine with the 
  misapplication of their techniques. In uneasy alliance 
  with trolls and dragonfriends, they lead a siege against 
  him. Unfortunately those distant alliances do not seem 
  to transfer to trouble-ﬁ lled Ralios. With trolls coming to 
  eat them, elfs creeping their purulent fronds up the side 
  of their mountain home and both EWF and God Learner 
  magicians probing into their fabulous technological 
  secrets, they must continually defend themselves against 
  local enemies.
  
  Vesmonstran
  39
   Governance
  The term Decamony is used both to describe the entire 
  mostali community of the Nidan Mountains and also its 
  ruling council. The council consists of ten Diamondwarfs, 
  mostali who have reached physical and mental perfection 
  in harmony with the World Machine. It includes one 
  Diamondwarf of each mostali category.
   Alanerachanarg is a perfect Tin Dwarf. His model 
  makes animate beings from living rock. He says: ‘Let 
  us build warriors to smash our enemies’. Of the Twelve 
  Inefﬁ ciencies, he considers tardiness to be the worst 
  and has had underlings stomped to death for repeated 
  violations.
   Chenspenanppa represents the alchemy practitioners, 
  the Quicksilver Mostali. She says: ‘When there is a 
  deﬁ ciency in the world, it must be burned away with 
  acid. This ensures that it never comes back’. An advocate 
  of what passes for mercy among the high mostali, she 
  argues that broken dwarfs should be submitted for repair 
  and never extirpated entirely.
   Kraganatinkobbi exempliﬁ es the Iron Mostali, the 
  blacksmiths and soldiers. ‘Every problem is a nail’, he 
  says, ‘and we are a hammer’. Non-dwarf enemies hit 
  head-on with his massive mallet, Second Chance, regress 
  to infancy.
  The perfect Silver Mostali called  Kraskakostaka 
  represents sorcerers. ‘Our magic is the only good 
  magic’, she says. In her view each form of magic must 
  be eliminated from existence until the World Machine 
  is ﬁ xed, starting with the lowest and ﬁ nishing with the 
  highest, Mostali Sorcery. At this point it will no longer be 
  needed, because the machine will be working again. The 
  lowest form is spirit magic, so she lobbies for attacks on 
  shamanistic cultures. Not coincidentally, these include 
  the elfs and trolls, who are already the mostali’s worst 
  enemies.
   Nanelamskirbi is a paragon of Rock Mostali, the 
  diggers and tunnellers of mostali production. ‘Undermine 
  enemies’, he counsels, ‘dig from beneath them’. He wields 
  the Angry Shovel, which steams through troublesome 
  stone.
   Ninkotargiras serves as a model for Copper Mostali, who 
  make tools and certain weapons. ‘To solve the problem’, 
  he says, ‘we must identify the correct implement’. When 
  he stands in proﬁ le the side of his face seems as ﬂ at as 
  a shovel.
  Alloyists and metallurgists look up to  Rakdinalogots, 
  the best of Nida’s Brass Mostali. ‘The exact blend of 
  elements resolves any dilemma’, he argues. He reached 
  Diamondwarf status when he caught his predecessor 
  engaged in heretical speculation and without hesitation 
  struck the woeful impostor’s head from his shoulders. 
   Totsaskpatutith exempliﬁ es Lead Mostali, the plumbers 
  and glassblowers. ‘Failure’, he says, ‘comes from a 
  ﬂ awed vessel. Before proceeding, we must see that our 
  vessel – that is, our plan – is without ﬂ aws’. He became 
  a perfect lead mostali when he dove into a ﬁ re and came 
  out puriﬁ ed and immune from physical pain.
  Gold Mostali, the teachers and sages, are represented by 
   Witzatzolanur, who does not make proposals of his own 
  but carefully dissects those of others for fatal failures of 
  logic. He and Totsaskpatutith make common cause as 
  advocates for caution and further deliberation.
  Both human Empires retard the restoration of the 
  World Machine. When they are gone, we can 
  hoist a long-forgotten moon back into the sky and 
  commence the final eradication of all magic from 
  the world.
  — A dwarf of Nida, quoted on condition of 
  anonymity
  
  40
  Vesmonstran
   Barayalargogo is the original kind of Diamondwarf, 
  as forged before the mostali added a clock to the World 
  Machine. As such, he is not a Clay Mostali of apparent 
  ﬂ esh and blood but a literal being of solid diamond. He 
  never speaks and rarely moves, except to shufﬂ e from his 
  personal chamber to the council hall of the Decamony. 
  When his decision is needed to sway an argument among 
  the other Decamony members, he tilts his head at an 
  opportune moment, causing the light to sparkle across 
  his faceted surface. This immediately indicates either 
  his approval of, or opposition to, the measure currently 
  under debate. When Barayalargogo deigns to intervene, 
  the others defer to him as quickly as dignity allows.
  Orders from the Decamony are transmitted by gold dwarf 
  messengers to the relevant departmental overseer, who 
  may be a dwarf of any of the nine models. This ofﬁ cial 
  in turn instructs the Control Ofﬁ cers of the various work 
  units under his command, who will all be of his model. 
  The Control Ofﬁ cers disseminate the orders to their 
  crews, either directly or through ﬂ oor stewards. Iron 
  dwarf military units refer to departmental overseers as 
  generals, control ofﬁ cers as lieutenants and ﬂ oor stewards 
  as sergeants.
  Heroes of Nida
  Few adventurers personally meet the members of the 
  Decamony. They are more likely to interact with mostali 
  heroes, who risk malfunction and contamination by 
  thrusting themselves into the most broken portions of the 
  World Machine.
   Mabbanetaddi is the iron dwarf lieutenant authorised 
  to conduct warfare against the aldryami. He offers the 
  Yellow Apple clan of Lankst deals on trade goods to 
  encourage them to keep up their raids against the forest 
  of Ballid. He views his burning desire to enter personal 
  combat with the Elf King as a regrettable example of 
  Failure to Delegate, which is one of the dreaded Twelve 
  Inefﬁ ciencies.
   Noralebbachenso, master of multiple forms of Mostali 
  Sorcery, oversees actions against the trolls. The last time 
  he went into the mushroom forest of northern Guhan, 
  he was overcome by fear and revulsion, and failed to 
  activate his spells. He is determined to erase his shame by 
  levelling the fungal forest with a cleansing agent supplied 
  to him by quicksilver dwarfs.
   Vobibustajargalorm, an iron dwarf general, leads 
  operations against the God Learners. To this end he has 
  invented the directed bolt, a missile which can be ﬁ red 
  from a crossbow and can change direction in mid-course 
  to ﬁ nd its way into the ﬂ esh of any designated follower 
  of an incorrect Sorcery school. On impact, it ﬁ lls the 
  victim’s veins with a fast-acting poison paralysing the 
  outer extremities. Vobibustajargalorm is proud of this 
  invention and is sure that, as soon as he uses it to destroy 
  a God Learner of sufﬁ cient stature, that it will earn him 
  Diamondwarf status.
   Kavomamivobigub, an iron dwarf general responsible for 
  several dramatic sabotage attacks in the wyrmfriend cities 
  of Ormsland, has been withdrawn from the ﬁ eld pending 
  negotiations with the EWF. Although the mostali hate the 
  wyrmfriends as much as they do the God Learners, they 
  want the reptile lovers to continue to ﬁ ght with them at 
  the siege of the Clanking City. Kavomamvobigub waits 
  with increasing impatience for a reassignment allowing 
  him to pursue his ﬂ air for surprise explosive attacks.
   Barayalargogo
  
  Vesmonstran
  41
  INDEX
  Abera  21
  Agnagar  27
  Alanerachanarg  39
  Angheng the Winnower  6
  Anzarti  5
  Arganga Xok  9
  Arnisi  13
  Askia Whitestreet  24
  Auguel the Wrong  8
  A Drunkard’s Vow  11
  Badnali  14
  Bad Deal  17
  Ballid  34
  Ballid’s Enemies  34
  Barayalargogo  40
  Benadéo  21
  Blue Bulls  14
  Bozh Bojat  8
  Bright Delivery  11
  Brockroling  14
  Brolforoli  14
  Bularin Amalar  23
  Chenspenanppa  39
  Chikrikmik  5
  Clacking Coins  14
  Clans and Empires Of Lankst  12
  Clans of Guhan  37
  Clans of Lanskt  13
  Clan Attitudes  19
  Communities of Fiesive  22
  Corolaland  10
  Corroding Righteousness, The  32
  Dachargro  9
  Darengeng  33
  Delela  3, 5
  Dichen the Liar  10
  Drimentos  10
  Eastern WIlds  3
  Eating Everything Thing, The  32
  Elffriends  15
  Elkeri  15
  Elmal  11
  Elus the Listener  11
  Endti Narrow-Hip  31
  Ervaling Scalemaker  30
  Estivos the Predictor  30
  Fedartha Ever-Die  6
  Fiesive  20
  Fungora  37
  Gerado Arnadée  6
  Ghosts  32
  Gika Perekasya  11
  Governance of Nida  39
  Greenshadow  29
  Guhan  9, 35
  Hadalbarun  23
  Halikiv  8
  Harngar Aircarver  5
  Hazards of Karia  32
  Healing of Fiesive  21
  Hebdoloriam  22
  Heliern the Shiverer  4
  Heornar Wolfhound  31
  Herrindinni  15
  Hersling  15
  Hillhad  5
  Hiordari  15
  Horing  15
  Horn Blowers  15
  How To Offend A Chieftain  21
  Institute For Darkness Studies, The  
  11
  Iskanst Snakeslayer  22
  Jarnkipe’s Place  21
  Jarn Sharpﬁ nger  4
  Karia  31
  Kavomamivobigub  40
  Keanos  6
  Koleng  8
  Korl  29
  Kraganatinkobbi  39
  Kraskakostaka  39
  Lankst  12
  Law, Justice and Authority of Fiesive  
  22
  Leadership and Organisation of 
  Guhan  36
  Lodgings of Fiesive  20
  Lordros Neverwant  33
  Lorsan the Seeker  30
  Lortarn  30
  Luvarharmos  10
  Lysandorling  15
  Mabbanetaddi  40
  Makt Vatharg  38
  Marbarazham  22
  Merein  5
  Milmarn  11
  Mong  37
  Moot Talkers  16
  Myths of Telmor  26
  Nanelamskirbi  39
  Naptwal the Drummer  23
  Nida  38
  Nidaya  35
  Ninkotargiras  39
  Noralebbachenso  40
  Odayla  7
  Ondorp  37
  Ophid  28
  Orestana  21
  Orlundi  5
  Ormsland  27
  Pelue  16
  Pen Pendoka  24
  Qa-Ying  11
  Raider Gangs of Karia  33
  Rakdinalogots  39
  Ralios  2
  Rastalux  37
  Roldoling  16
  Rui Qin the Night Eagle  11
  Safelster  2
  Saug  3
  Settlements of Ormsland  28
  Shadowbreather  38
  Sheánn the Black Saint  33
  Shops of Fiesive  20
  Slaves Pens of Halikiv  8
  Slow Eagles  16
  Sorenteli  9
  Stangari  16
  Svalgos Catchboot  5
  Tarth  6
  Telmoria  25
  Teren  16
  Thestigor Blue-Helm  24
  Thongimus Silver-Stealer  9
  Toolani  9
  Totsaskpatutith  39
  Travelling through Lankst  19
  Treyling  18
  Triabel Duileau  24
  Tribes and Kings of Lankst  13
  Ulifentor  23
  Unbinding Plague, The  32
  Under Cover of Brightness  11
  Unlucky People  18
  Vanahar  6
  VesMONSTRAn  12
  Vobibustajargalorm  40
  Volanergg  9
  Walker’s Curse, The  4
  Wall, The  30
  Witzatzolanur  39
  Yellow Apple  18
  Yolfol Karat  38
  Zarn  38
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Glorantha The Second Age/Glorantha The Second Age Ralios.pdf