Tag: caheb

Marcheval Dufien “The Beheader”

2016-08-13

Name: Marcheval Dufien
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam

The city of Udynaesses located in the border region of Groam and Caheb has been a lawless pit ever since the area was ravaged by a devastating plague and while the region in general has more or less recovered, the city of Udynaesses unfortunately has not. With a long and glorious history as the once capital city of Caheb, Udynaesses was seized by Groam during the period of plague some 80 years ago and is the southernmost population center of Groam. Groam hasn’t had an interest in keeping the place in line though and mostly this is because it’s hard to reach from Groam – one would have to travel through dense jungles, cross snow peaked mountains or risk dehydration if reaching by desert.

The de facto ruler of Udynaesses is now Marcheval Dufien who is known and feared in the region less affectionately as “The Beheader” because beheading his enemies is his signature gesture of power. Marcheval lives in a small fortified desert castle (Villa Hargassah – in reality not a castle but a well fortified villa) just a few kilometers south of Udynaesses. His power in the region is partially backed up by groups of Caheb origin wishing to see the city revert back to Caheb and this goal can possibly be achieved by disrupting the nominal leader of the city – commander Remnor Galant. Galant is appointed and backed up Groam but in truth has little say in the day-to-day affairs of the city.

Marcheval is of mixed descendence himself having a father from Groam and mother from Caheb and he himself initially had no political motivation – he didn’t care which country called the city as it’s own – but things have changed since the day when he saw a possibility,  grabbed it and became the feared ruler of the city by joining a few of the bigger outlaw groups and creating a unified force with him in the lead. Formerly he had made a name for himself by running various small-time crime operations in the region and gradually becoming a prominent crime ring leader. Since effectively taking over the city he has had ample opportunities to further line his pockets with coin and strengthen his presence in the region. He has no official intention of competing with the mighty countries Groam and Caheb – both of which countries haven’t shown much interest in returning rule of law to the city – but lately he has been contemplating with the possibility of forming an independent city-state and also seizing control of the harbor towns of Tash and Calemnor located in the south coast of Dhaira Bay. His plans are known only to a select handful of his most trusted men. Common people see him only as a violent opportunistic brute whose aim in life is to cause misery and pain.

As a man Marcheval is cunning and brutal. He believes that maintaining and attaining political and military power as well as coin actually requires the use of violence and that the brutality of the violence used must exceed that of the opposition – whoever it happens to be. Mercy and forgiveness are not words in his vocabulary. In a relaxed state he is actually quite jovial and friendly even but he rarely shows that side of himself in public; it’s strictly reserved to close friends and manifested within closed quarters.

It has been rumored that Marcheval is somehow linked to the so called Dhaira Cult and one of it’s leaders – the High Priestess Chya. The nature and intimacy of their relationship is subject to speculation, however, but apparently Chya has been spotted at Marcheval’s villa on several occasions when wild (and some witnesses would use the word vile as well) festivities have taken place. Whatever their relationship actually is, some of Marcheval’s backers are less than thrilled about it since Chya’s activities directly threaten many prominent families and the coastal city of Tash in particular. And since the city of Tash is firmly under Caheb control, groups that are friendly with Marcheval against the invading Groam are very wary not to undermine their own country’s power in nearby Caheb -controlled cities.

 

Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult

2010-10-09

Name: Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult
Race: human
Location: North-Eastern Caheb (somewhere near Dhaira Bay in a secret nest)

One of the young prodigees of Hight Priest Dry’zan, Chya has mastered the secret black art of Nero Arachnitis – one of Syth’s magical spheres. High Priests of Syth generally master 4-5 of the black arts controlled by Syth and their most prominent apprentices learn directly from their High Priest or Priestess. Chya is one of three Syth’s priests and priestessess that Dry’zan has appointed to lead the new cult of Syth in the region of Dhaira Bay, Caheb. The other two are masters of two different disciplines. In this way Dry’zan can establish a formidable power block – each member of which control one important aspect of what it means to be a cult leader of Syth.

Chya was only 10 when her parents were killed in a massive fire that burnt down most of the village where Chya grew up in the north in Zarnova. Dry’zan and 5 of his disciples were staying in a nearby forest clearing at the time and once they realized the village had pretty much burned to the ground, Chya – shocked, dirty, crying and trembling – pleaded the strangers to help her as she was one of the few survivors wandering through the remnants of the village. He was just about to dismiss the wimpering poor little girl when he spotted a black spider crawling upwards the girl’s long flowing raven-black hair. To Dry’zan that was clearly a sign from Syth himself and Chya soon became an integral part of Dry’zan’s group. Chya was not “in the loop” of Dry’zan’s activities until well into her early adulthood when she was officially appointed a title of Apprenticing Priestess by Dry’zan. Chya owes her life to Dry’zan and also everything she knows about magical arts is from her mentor as well. The young girl was easy to influence to accepting Syth as her deity and is thus now a devout follower of the dark deity. She relocated from Zarnova to Caheb at the brink of her ascension to a Priestess in her early twenties.

Chya is today 28 years old and is quite an attractive young woman – except when vomiting black spiders, of course! Her raven-black hair and sensuously soft voice combined with her beautiful shape and delicate face make her a real head turner. Chya also knows her beauty and uses her looks to seduce men in order to exploit the men’s natural weaknesses. A real femme fatale. She has almost no moral boundaries and is famous for organizing foul and depraved all-night long orgies of violence, sex and intoxicants in which the participants willingly get involved in activities best left to imagination … or nightmares. Such festivities usually entail potent herbal concoctions that enhance the feelings of pleasure, pain and ecstasy.

In Caheb Chya has now formed a spider sect. The sect has 20 members – 5 of whom are Chya’s disciples and the rest are mainly younger local men who have been enthralled by Chya and her wild parties. The sect members are not just any random peasants and instead are all carefully hand-picked from an array of potent families. As such, the members are more victims than they themselves realize. The sect has several immediate goals set by Dry’zan and the most important one is to gain total control of the two rivaling thieves’s guilds in the nearby city of Tash. A work already nearly finished. As for the next goals … only Dry’zan knows for certain.

 

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.

Dragon

2012-02-11

Dragons in Cresia are very rare. But far from nonexistent. They have long since learned to keep away from the lesser sentient races like humans and have adopted a policy of seclusion. The dragons have centuries ago withdrawn to remote areas where they can be at peace. Not that they couldn’t handle the lesser races – they just don’t need the extra excitement brought on by them.

Cresia has a dragon population of no less than 100 dragons. Most of them live in small groups of few individuals and they have huge territories spanning entire mountain ranges as hunting areas. Cresian dragons are highly intelligent and justly consider themselves superior to hominid creatures. Most of them hold within their heads vast libraries of legends, sagas, talltales and actual historical detail spanning thousands of years. Their memory is so superior that they have not developed – or have non need to develop – written language.

This red dragon lives in the extremely hard to get mountainous regions between Caheb and Akron. She is a mother of five and – soon – six. Her children all live in the same area as does their father as well. This family unit has had no contact with humans for many years and their last contact – a group of lost bandits – ended as snacks for the family.

2011-09-20

Name: Menar Thuyven
Race: human
Location: Groam

Menar Thuyven comes from the borderlands area between the lands of Groam and Caheb. The area is mostly savage, lawless and sparsely populated, but holds fabulous riches where the sand dunes start to give away for the towering mountains between Caheb and Akron. The old lands of the ancient Groam are rich with unexplored ruins and many forgotten cities have been buried beneath the ever-moving and omnipresent sand.

Menar was born in a small village named Tyrros – nowadays an important way-point for desert crossing caravans. At a young age of 14 Menar left the village bored of it’s isolation and size. In the heat of this youth he joined a small band of bandits who robbed wayfarers. Few years later he realized the life of a petty criminal is not what he wants and separated from the group. He then joined a local count’s mercenary army to fight off ogres and secure trade transports crossing the mountains between Akron and Groam using the Medon Pass. During this time he truly noticed the rich ruins of the ancient past and become obsessed with finding a treasure that would secure him for life.

Now at an age of 36, Menar is an experienced adventurer and has a deep knowledge of the geography of northern Caheb and southern Groam in regards to ancient ruins. He has found many ruins and expensive treasures but so far nothing has been “enough” for him. Perhaps nothing ever is.

He spends a few months each year with his family in Tyrros and occasionally accompanies treasure hunters heading off to the desert looking ancient temples, castles or abandoned dragon hoards. Most such daring adventurers vanish without a trace but hiring someone like Menar improves the odds of returning back many fold!