Shield of Aldamar

2008-10-11

An illustration to show a typical shield of Aldamar for my Cresia fantasy gaming setting.

Aldamar is the god of Justice and Redemption and his followers (called clerics, healers or arbitrators depending on where in Cresia you happen to be) are usually devoted to either helping people out in general or specifically on matters of justice. The sphere of influence of the god is limited to to kingdoms of Akron, Groam and Calishem with pockets of influence in Caheb and a few travelling healers in southern Gruenroth. The clerics of Aldamar are in grave danger in countries such as Horna (where matters are resolved solely via physical strength) and Zarovna (where justice is merely a distant joke).

Origins of Aldamar are not known but the deity has been known to exist before year 0 and his mission then was to spread the wisdom of rule of law to all people. While the details of his story are vague at best, he still gathered a stout following and attained the status of a demi-god around year 0. His followers today have access to some special magical abilities only available to them and granted only to devout followers. Aldamar has a following of around 300 priests, healers and arbitrators around Cresia and a base of believers in the region of over 80 thousand people (most of which subscribe to many other deities as well).

Followers of Aldamar have no special places of worship and they do not follow any strict doctrines or rituals in their daily life although most have abandoned the pursue of riches and creature comforts. Many of the priests are not at all liked in upper crusts of society since Aldamar does not rank people based on their merits, wealth or bloodline – the lowliest servants are as important as the mightiest of kings even if the powerful people try to pass on laws to secure differential treatment to them. But some benevolent rulers appreciate the followers of Aldamar and treat them in respect because they can provide valuable insight into the mindset of the common folk.

Milja Markovec

2010-11-13

Name: Milja Markovec
Race: Human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Kingdom of Akron

All the inns and taverns in all the countries around the continent have one thing in common. They need skilled workers to serve the tables, do the dishes, help the intoxicated to their beds, offer an ear to weary patrons or join in the merry singing. And keep a smiling face through all this to secure a tip.

Milja works in the biggest tavern in Port Magalie. The place, The Wyvern’s Nest, is located in an ideal spot pretty much at the dead centre of the bustling port city and has a constant stream of patrons no matter the day or hour. She has served tables there for three years and is a highly popular figure in the tavern. Well liked, open, chatty, witty and with a hearty laughter she has charmed both the local busy bees stopping for a drink after the day’s work and travelling merchants just spending this one night in the city.

Her position is such that she hears things. Many things. And while not a tell-tale by any means, she has been known to line her pockets by dropping an essential piece of information to needy adventurers who treat her good and respect her hard work.

Milja is an excellent singer and was the founding singer in the events now known as Wyvern’s Tuesdays – evenings filled with laughter, singing, poetry, musical acts and such. The events are free for all to attend but since the place is usually packed on those nights, the performers receive a small fee from the tavern’s owner as well as nice tips from good performances. Milja sings on her own, as part of a choir and with percussionists and string-instrument players. She performs mostly local folk songs but also has been known to surprise the audiences by singing songs originating from far away lands. Calculated as it may be from Milja’s part, patrons such as Calishem merchant sailor crews easily tip much more when they hear a common tune so far away from their homes and when one has a boat load of sailors doing the same … anyone can do the math.

Telos Malkumar

2015-09-09

Name: Telos Malkumar
Race: human
Location: Callistra, Calishem

Leader of caravan guards for one of the most important trade princes in Calishem: Hal B’gohd. It is Telos’ duty to keep trade caravans out of robbers’ hands. He regularly accompanies the most dangerous desert routes (or the caravans with highly valuable cargo). A trusted man of the trade prince, Telos defines the word “loyal” and does not give in to ultimatums, bribery or blackmail. He also expects the same from those under his command and ruthlessly executes any and all who violate their loyalty to the caravan owner – no matter if the target is a child, woman or elderly. He reckons that this is vital to staying alive during dangerous journeys across the desert.

Malkumar was born in the city of Callistra and holds that city in a position of reverence. He clearly despises living in anywhere else and often wonders aloud why anyone chooses to not live in Callistra. He entered the trade prince’s duty on his 14th birthday and has remained there for 20 years climbing slowly to his current position – which is indeed one of the most important positions in the entire operation. He has also invested in the operation setting aside hefty sums and letting Hal do his magic trading and thus increasing his wealth on the side. Although this practice has given him sizable monetary assets, he keeps continuing his work out of sheer love for what he’s doing.

He is a man who takes any and all duties to heart although he does know how to relax and goof around provided all the work has been done. A talented singer, Telos has also memorized a number of old legends that used to be sung in the olden days but more commonly recited as poems nowadays. It’s not uncommon for Telos to charm his fellow travelers with his singing on cold desert nights just prior to when it would be time to retire after a hard day’s work.

Telos is strategically quite competent and has a cunning mind when it comes to carrying out his duties as the chief of guards. He thinks ahead and is usually prepared to even unexpected events in the desert. A quiet and stealthy combatant he has a special ability to join the sands like a scorpion waiting for prey.

Barracus Inctal, a boatswain

2015-08-24

Name: Barracus Inctal
Race: Human
Location: Cuervo Garrac, Ferria

Barracus is a trusted crew member (boatswain in charge of the cargo room) of the merchant ship Raimelho. He has been a crew member in the ship for a few years now and has gained the trust of the ship’s captain and owner Jorge Gel.

Barracus is a typical person of southern Ferrian descent. His upbringing has taught him modesty, respect of life and harmony. As a man he is quiet and his demeanor is modest. He is erroneously considered to be extremely shy by those who do not know him. He just keeps his opinions to himself and works hard instead. He is the kind of person who makes things happen instead of constant bitching.

Barracus is an orphan and has no siblings that he is aware. He moved to Cuervo Garrac with his uncle ten years ago but after his uncle perished from a terminal illness he has been living alone near the dock area of the city. He met his future employer Jorge Gel by accident and Gel was at the time looking for a few able men to man his next voyage. A deal was struck to see how Barracus would fare at sea and he’s been a regular member of Gel’s crew since that day.

As a boatswain it is Barracus’ responsibility to not only make sure that the cargo is loaded and unloaded properly but also to make sure that the goods are secure during the voyage and that the goods arrive as promised to whatever destination they’re heading. When it comes to the space below main deck (ie. the cargo hold), Barracus gives the orders. He has not been able to gather much with respect to personal assets as he commonly gambles and drinks his salary as soon as he gets it. Being a boatswain is a life that suits him just fine making him content and thankful – even happy with how things have turned out.

Sir Welyk Paize

2015-08-22

Name: Sir Welyk Paize
Race: Human
Location: border regions of Groam and Zarnova

Formerly a leader of the mercenary group called The Eighteen Griffons, Sir Welyk Paize rose into fame after heroically saving the life of Lady Angelusia Wermander – the daughter to Lord Mortimer Wermander who is the high ambassador of Gruenroth to Groam and one of the chief counselors and a personal friend of the king of Groam. After that incident – which took place about 9 years ago – Sir Paize was recruited to the king’s guard but soon felt this new life was dull and uneventful and that life in the city with it’s comforts was for sissies and wimps. 8 years ago he was relieved of his guard duties and appointed to lead a newly formed military unit called The Emerald Unit. The unit is a first response group of stout warriors sent to deal with marauding undead creatures from the country of Zarnova. The unit operates in the border region of the two countries.

Sir Paize is a true warrior who lives and breathes action, adrenaline and combat. He does have a softer side to him in that he has a beautiful singing voice which he employs on still, cold nights after the duties of the day are over. Sir Paize leads his unit with a fervor and relentlessness but his men are hand picked by him and each and every man has had to prove their worth prior to being baptized in the unit. He enjoys the utmost respect among his men and his unit is well funded and supplied by the king himself who understands that all-out war with Zarnova is not in the best interests of the country but that still brutal force is required to send a message to the controllers of the intruding undead hordes.

Sir Paize is a skilled tactician and a logistical genius apart from being one of the best swordsmen in Groam to ever have existed. Little is known of his past and childhood but it’s needless to say his tough exterior started to grow at a young age.

He has an imposing figure of 190 cm and a rugged, weathered look in his face. His long reddish aubergine hair is a trademark of his and he usually wears his hair free-flowing.

Castle Roskov

2015-08-09 castle roskov

An illustration of a castle for a fantasy role-playing game setting.

Overview

Castle Roskov currently maintains the seat of power in the country of Zarnova. The castle is situated 15 kilometers directly inland from the city of Wila which is the capital city of Zarnova. The castle is home to the current ruler of Zarnova – the vampire queen Lady Anya Voorish herself.

Surroundings

Castle Roskov is situated in an extremely hard to reach place deep within unnaturally dense forest of spruces. The forest goes on for kilometers in every direction around the castle. A number of the spruces tower to heights of 120 meters shadowing the highest spires of the castle quite easily. Thus the castle is not visible from above the canopy of the forest lest one is close enough to the clearing that houses the castle.

Architecture

The castle is built from local stone excavated from the mountains to the west. The quarries are no longer active but still have a hefty supply of cut stone slabs that can be worked when replacement stones are needed in the castle. The workmanship of the castle is extraordinary – the castle was built to last. The general architectural style follows that of established Groam -influenced style that has been prevalent for hundreds of years and that is followed by many of even the newly built castles.

2015-08-12_03

Court yards and gate houses

The castle has an outer court yard which is secluded from the inner court yard by a secondary gate house which makes attacking the actual castle buildings extremely hard. Both gate houses have portcullises and heavy oaken doors. No other apparent entrances to the inner yard exists. The gate house complexes both house only defensive paraphernalia and positions but under the current rule are mostly empty spaces since the undead defenders of the castle can’t boil oil,operate ballistae etc.

Towers and walls

The corner towers are vast and each house living quarters and storage areas as well as defensive positions. The battlements of the castle walls are not covered and the bailey of the castle is part of the castle walls making the walkways on top of the walls harder to operate as there’s no way to walk around the castle perimeters via walkways only. The battlements protrude outwards slightly making it easier to counter attack any climbers. The walls contain rooms and corridors inside of them and defensive slits allow the defenders to fire heavier anti-siege weapons from within but the current castle house no such items – the rooms are now mainly storage areas for arrows, halberds, swords and such items that the undead defenders are able to use.

Bailey and keep

The keep is a 5-story structure with a roof designed for several catapults. None exists currently. The lower floors of the keep are the vampire queen’s main living quarters and the top levels are off-limits to all except the vampire queen. The entrance to underground sections is through the keep only. The bailey is truly a remarkably spacey and even luxurious: the lower floor houses a kitchen and main hall and grand stairs to all the other floors – 3 of them and the attic. The hall is open in the middle for all stories and each story has an impressive walkway circling the entire space – and has yet enough room to house several dozens of rooms that are living quarters. Servants and workers live in the two floors that form the attic and have there quite spacious and comfortable living quarters. Bailey has it’s own small underground section accessible from kitchen and contains the food supplies of the castle. Another bigger underground section was built for excrement and it’s accessible from the inner courtyard (the compost can be removed and used as fertilizer).

2015-08-15 castle roskov

Church

The original builders of the castle had need for a church. The church has separate inner temples for each deity of the old Phylar pantheon and a central hall. The church is now used as storage space and in a state of sad disrepair and neglect. The vampire queen has never been seen entering the church and many say that the ancient sanctum still repels the undead from ever entering the church without burning to ashes. The church has a tiny underground section of it’s own and contains merely crypts of various ages. Entrances to the various crypts and corridors are cemented and sealed shut by the order of the vampire queen and nothing much is known as to who were buried there centuries ago. The church still contains vast treasures of the Theocracy of Phylar period but while the maintenance crew see them daily, none have yet had the courage to steal any of the artifacts. The items seem irrelevant to the vampire queen while she does understand their monetary value.

Other buildings

The inner court yard contains but a few other buildings. The stables can house a few dozen horses, three piggeries and two chicken yards have been built next to the stables under makeshift lean-to structures facing the wall. There are a few dozen chickens, goats, lambs and pigs roaming freely in the inner courtyard. Their well being is under the care of the maintenance crew.

Residents

Maintenance crew, cooks and healers

There are only a handful of (living, that is!) permanent residents in the castle. The castle grounds and environs are maintained by a crew of 12 humans hand picked by the vampire queen and well-rewarded for their creepy duty among the undead creatures lurking in the castle. The crew are on the castle grounds 12 hours a day from dawn and return to Wila via horse drawn carts come dusk. While not a coveted position by any means, the crew do get so amply rewarded that each month they bring home a salary surpassing a farmer family’s annual income. Cooks and doctors are part of the maintenance crew and their job is to prepare meals to the blood supply -members (see below) and see that they are physically well.

The Roskov Ring

Castle Roskov has a large meeting hall in it’s heart. This hall is the closest to government of Zarnova. The vampire queen keeps a retinue of powerful individuals as her aides to control and rule the country. This retinue comprises of 7 members and have regular meetings in the castle regarding matters of state. Some of them occasionally stay for longer periods of time and many bring aides, cooks, drivers, slaves or servants of their own easily surpassing a hundred persons combined when The Roskov Ring convenes. More about The Roskov Ring.

The vampire queen Lady Anya Voorish

The main resident is of course the vampire queen herself. She lives in the castle and only rarely ventures outside. She takes maybe a tour or two around Zarnova annually conducting state matters, requisitioning blood supplies and making her power known to the land lords and commoners alike. Those tours take perhaps a month or two in total but are never scheduled beforehand or timed with any other precision than the vampire queen’s whim. She lives the entire castle and has no preferred dungeon, hall, tower or room. It is therefore impossible to predict where within the castle premises she is located at any given time – excepting the church which she shuns.

The blood supply

A group of 35 to 55 young(ish) adult males (of any race) call the castle their home now. They are all housed in the big bailey. These are the personal slaves of the vampire queen from which she takes her nourishment of fresh blood whenever she so desires and may even offer their blood to other vampires visiting the castle. The men are exclusively picked up by the vampire queen from around the country. They are not allowed to leave the castle – they are essentially prisoners. The alluring magic of the vampire queen further enhances the men’s subjugation but she also treats these men well since the quality of blood is of importance to her. The men are clothed well and attend to maintenance of the castle as much or little as they themselves desire. The men eat regular and well-balanced meals, they can engage in whatever activities they wish inside castle walls (such as healthy sports games in the spacious outer court yard) and the vampire queen has sex with the men to give them pleasure (even orgies with the vampire queen as a center piece are not uncommon) or arranges courtesan visits to the castle. Men that do not accept her rules she just sucks dry and tosses to a pile of corpses down below ground. When she bores with the taste of individual members of the blood supply, she usually releases them from her clutch and sends them back home with a monetary compensation ranging from meager to extravagant depending on how she felt about that individual. This is to encourage the people of the land to accept this strange and foul practice instead of resisting it. After all, should the men never return home, their families would most certainly rebel against her rule. Of the men who return home, most regard their time in the castle as “wonderful” and “well spent” but don’t actually seem to remember the presence of undead creatures and oddly have a greatly distorted memory of how the vampire queen looks and feels. As if they are still under some sort of charm or spell. The memories of the castle fade into oblivion entirely as time passes on.

Defenses

Apart from being in a location surrounded by nigh impenetrable forest, the castle is also well protected by way of combatants of the undead sort. The vampire queen maintains an army of rotting corpses and skeletons manning the gatehouse, towers and parapets. They require no sustenance and sleep, do not care for the omnipresent mosquitoes, never leave their post to take a pee and observe their surroundings with relentlessness and unnatural senses unhindered by foul weather. Half of these unholy warriors are armed with bows and half with melee weapons. They are not competent enough to maintain or work traditional defense methods such as hot oil, fire arrows, ballistae or tar and hence the castle has none of these implemented. Aerial defenses are non-existent but the castle grounds are well built and quite resilient to aerial bombarding by larger creatures dropping stones, caskets of burning oil etc. The number of undead defenders is impossible to guess since the vampire queen may have hundreds of corpses rotting in piles deep beneath the castle in special chambers. They are there just waiting to be animated into duty. A sort of reserve. The undead creatures do not care for any person they are instructed to ignore and will let all those go about their business unhindered – perhaps a turning of the skull, shifting of the pose or a rattling of the teeth making them know that they are indeed sensed but ordered to be ignored. It is uncertain whether or not the vampire queen can spy about using the senses of any undead creature she has animated. Such is the story anyway.

Weaknesses

There is no moat around the castle. The forest has grown quite close to the castle and the closest tree branches literally touch the castle walls. The proximity of big trees to the walls is giving possible attackers an easy vector in trying to climb the walls. Although the forest is extremely dense, the trees can be climbed and somewhat limited view from inside castle can be gained. Also the thick forests make for an excellent cover for attackers and observers alike. However, the local populace avoid the forest and say that it is somehow under the vampire queen’s control. This may just be superstition but the fact remains that the trees in the area are quite much older, bigger, twisted and denser than similar trees only some kilometers away.

King Werner Baerwyn

2015-08-03

Name: Werner Baerwyn
Race: Human
Location: Gruenwald, Gruenroth

King of Gruenroth, one of the biggest countries in Cresia, Werner is also a man of humble beginnings and retains his humility while serving his people as their leader. Gruenroth is a vast and sparsely populated country in a constant state of inner quarreling between city states claiming to be autonomous, tribal hordes seeking whatever retribution to whatever ancient and forgotten deed by their neighbors and between barbaric hordes of orcs, ogres and undead from Zarnova and ice elves from the north glaciers.

A competent combatant, Werner is also tempered with hardship throughout his life. His life has been a struggle since his parents were killed by marauding orcs when he was but 5 years of age. Since those times he has been determined to make a difference in the world. He truly believes that a single man can change the course of history.

He has four daughters with two wives – both of which are now deceased. His demeanor is that of a man determined to get his way and his attitude is the attitude of a can do -man. Gruenroth is seen to be in good hands by the common people although disgruntled voices from hot-headed tribal leaders need to be silenced on a regular basis. Gruenroth just might have the biggest army in Cresia but it is also widely dispersed around the country since there’s not a single neighbor that Gruenroth is quite comfortable with albeit actual wars are few and far between. And then there’s the intermittent feuds between warlords; should a military presence in any one area weaken, it will be filled by the forces of local warlords making it inherently difficult a task to keep the country under one rule instead of breaking into dozens of smaller tribal powers that alone would not be able to counter any of the country’s current neighbors.

Hargar Ber Marono, Ogre Tribal Leader

2014-03-25

Name: Hargar Ber Marono
Race: Ogre
Location: Wild mountain regions between Akron, Caheb and Groam.

The wild mountainous regions between Akron, Caheb and Groam are home to a wide variety of species. Many of which are brutish, violent and inherently dangerous and so the regions have never been claimed by any neighboring “civilized” country.

One of the species claiming the mountains their home is known simply as hill ogres – a misnomer really since many of their kin live in plains as well. Hargar Ber Marono leads a tribe of 80 hill ogres who dwell in areas south of Medon Pass. The tribe in question is semi-nomadic; they settle one area for some months at a time and then move to a different area returning to earlier locales doing cyclical moves between seven or eight camps. So when they abandon a camp, it usually takes at least a couple of years before they return to it. The camps are located roughly at the same elevation points (800-1500 meters from sea level), but span a rectangular region of at least 100 x 20 kilometers.

The ogres raid eagerly whatever they encounter and while their weapons may not be much more than stolen dull swords and broken axes, their fierce attitude and pack-hunting tactics make them quite deadly in deed. The entire tribe with even infants included take part in these raids and their females are not in any way considered lesser or inferior in any aspect of combat although the tribe is traditionally always led by a male ogre.

Trade routes between Akron and Groam using the Medon Pass are regularly targeted by Hargar’s tribe so any bigger convoys and caravans are discouraged to travel the pass without enough guards to be able to defend against the brutes.

Hargar doesn’t bow to anybody and is not a brute to be reasoned with. He considers humans as pesky annoyances but feels some sort of misplaced kinship with dwarves. If any dwarf should approach him with intentions to discuss trade-offs regarding free passage, it is less likely to end up in bloodshed. Although if he judges he has the upper hand, he makes demands completely ludicrous up to and including giving up females to be used as sex slaves by the brutes.

Lady Melia Sur-Romano, Countess of Wywold

2014-03-09

Name: Lady Melia Sur-Romano, Countess of Wywold
Race: Human
Location: Wywold, Akron

The wife of count Roberto Romano, current ruler of the small county of Wywold in Akron. Lady Melia is of Wywold origin herself and has been married to Roberto for 8 years. Lady Melia is originally from a small fishing village named Altenwold near the border of Akron and Ferria. She served as a cook for Roberto during Roberto’s initiation ritual when he was appointed the Count of Wywold by the king. Roberto was so taken with the excellent food prepared by Melia that he summoned the cooks in the dining hall and applauded them. She was soon selected as Roberto’s personal chef and they were married two years later.

She was already adept at using knifes, fishing hooks, tridents and such from her teen years. She wished to become as fearsome combatant as her mate and after some rather loud confrontations with her husband, they came to an agreement: she will get receive the best training available in Wywold in exchange for preparing meals for Roberto every three days. A deal was struck and years and years later Lady Melia still prepares her husband a meal every three days and has become one of the most adept combatants in the county. Their deal is well known in the county and oftentimes the people of Wywold make jokes about doing something every third day.

She is a balancing factor to Roberto as well. His harsh and stern style of ruling is mellowed down and smoothed by Lady Melia. While she is not an easy lady to deal with, she does understand that uncalled for or excessive harshness is counter productive. Lady Melia is currently herself teaching the art of swordmanship in the castle courtyard one day a week. While technically competent, agile and well-equipped, she severely lacks one of the basic training of true warriors – facing death during actual combat.

Armored Corpse

2015-04-26 skeleton copy

Cresia is ancient. The lands are dotted with abandoned cities, castles, ruins and temples. Some of them are loaded with forgotten untold riches that are only hinted about in tall tales and legends. Seekers of fame and fortune are bound to look for them but not many have the fortitude to withstand not only the search itself but also the dangerous traps and guardians the sites have.

Armored Corpse by Kimmo Mäkinen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Uninvisited Isle

Digital imagery of Kimmo Mäkinen

Category: Fantasy