Andalish Magic

During the War of Giants, the gawds sat in council and viewed the battlefield.

Their weapons of stone were weak against the iron and spells of their foes and only through force of will had they prevailed thus far but every day the Giants got closer to victory.

Something must be down, the four concluded, they would have to steal the Riddle of Iron from their enemies. So they turned to cunning Cassandra, who was as willy as she was beautiful.

Cassandra went out and came to the giant smith Hastigi robed in wild winter. She seduced him and learned his secrets, learned the secrets of metal.

The Lady lead Hastigi back to Indavoll where he was bound with imprisoned with his own iron and magic to serve as their smith and servant till the end of time. 

But Cassandra has a secret for from the union came a child, who bears no name. She head him on Andalis where he took his father's trade and taught it to the first Druids.

Andalish magic is forever linked with the outcast, the mule, and the half-breed. As such, the wild lands of the Young Kingdoms is dotted with hedge-mages living away from society but desperately needed by it, a love-hate relationship that has endured for ages.

While it has become divorced some from metal-working, the link between the two has never really disappeared in the minds of most of the Young Kingdoms and many Druids still practice ancient blacksmithing techniques to enchant blades with runes and secret blessing.

The process to become a Druid is a dangerous one and most don't make it. Children born under a certain moon and star position are taken to the local Druid to be put through the Trail of Marks, a horrible ritual in which the child receives his first tattoo: the Eye of the Chained One, two concentric circles on the forehead.

Most don't survive and die screaming, choking on their own blood.

Unwanted children, children born out of wedlock and bastards, as well as half-breeds, are also put through this ritual. Andalish custom puts more weight on the magical ability of such mules and it is a good way to get rid of the inconvenient child.

If the child lives through the Trail of Marks, he is apprenticed to the Druid, where his life becomes devoted to the study of Spearmetal. Most Druids are men.

Druids are the only Andals to worship the Chained One, the giant Hastigi, who taught them their trade. He is feared by the common Andal, being an enemy to their gawds since time immortal. His rites and rituals known only to his followers.

The Honored Dead

It should be unsurprising when you consider the sheer amount of excess necromatic energy on the
Shield that undead are a problem that crosses cultural and clan lines. Non-intelligent undead seem to pop up at random but, luckily, intelligent undead seem to be uncommon to rare.

Or at least in some cases they are.

A tribe's honor is a palpable thing that effects not only the here-and-now of its member's but also their afterlives. This can be a problem for those enjoying a paradisaical retirement in the Underworld when they're booted from their gawd's good graces because their children have become dishonorable brigands.

 This has lead to the not uncommon occurrence of the return of these Honor Dead to the Shield to try and protest their decedents' actions. While it never leads to bloodshed (after all, they are kin) this can lead to a heavy curse lead upon the member's of the tribe until its dealt with, though that only happens in the most extreme causes.

No, in most cases, the Honored Dead, angered at not only having their afterlife altered but also that they had to return to the land of the living to do something about it, will make a general nuisance of themselves. They'll break things, spend all night at the foot of your bed screaming, or bad mouth you to your visitors. Little things that will make the tribe member's lives a living hell.

Continue to ignore their warnings and they'll up their game, changing luck to be against you, making the livestock sick and cursing the harvest yields to be weak.

Generally, they don't want to hurt their kin but it's not unknown.

It should be warned that the Honored Dead are very traditional in their view of the world and many times their presence is because of something that may seem extremely petty, like the dropping of the tradition of not eating beans at Midwinter.

Or they could wish you to back down on a new alliance with an age old enemy. Something that would be beneficial to the tribe but is still not how it was done in their day. You cannot reason with the Honored Dead because their not reasonable unpersons.

As hinted at before though, the only time the Honored Dead really stir themselves in when the tribe takes a huge hit its Honor, falling one or more Honor categories for a single action and even then it is only fairly likely.

Still, a tribe must be aware at all times how their actions will effect those that have gone beyond and so if they're making a decision that will probably attract their dead's attention, they'll commonly make sacrifices to try and placate them. It doesn't always work but it's worth the risk.

Build your own Barbarian

Build Your Own Barbarian

     This is an article I came across on the KenzerCo forums about ideas how to not only customize your barbarian character but also flesh out their culture and tribe.

     Since the vast majority of the world are from tribes and would be considered barbarians, I thought this would be a handy tool to help you, though their is a note or two.

     First is that you'll probably have two things already picked out when you're drawing up your barbarian. First is his Clan, whether he's Free Andal, Arpadian, Ikeni, Stone, or what have you, this will effect a lot about their culture. You should read over their page first and any other page you deem relevant.

     Below this there could be a larger tribe structure. Arpadians have their seven families and there are the major tribes listed in the GoogleShield. Now you can side step this by being from a small tribe, but there cultural influences. Also, at the time of me writing this, none of the major tribes are fleshed out so you might jump on that and write flavor to your favor.


     Now onto the notes on the article:

     Step 4: Political Organization
     Barbarians are chaotic but barbarians do not make up the whole society. Even then, Chaotic society may emphasize individual freedoms but you have to remember that tribes tend to live on the edge. They are constantly in fear of dying out for any number of reasons. For that reason, tribes tend to have the mentality that if you're not interested in helping the group survive, you are out.
     "Leaders are chosen... not by dogmatic succession practices" is completely false as a tribe's main concern is stability and the cost of stability is dogmatic succession practices but these are labeled as tradition.

     Step 8: Barbarian STP Mix
     When you think of the stereotypical barbarian you probably think of a viking. So, the idea that "they will have similar focuses on light armor and shields" is also false because the viking's favorite armor was chain mail, a very heavy armor.
     Also, the idea that barbarians use mobility to win is fine but that's literally every non-empire culture. Vikings (as well as most European cultures) employed the shield wall, a notoriously immobile fighting formations for thousands of years. Iron discipline was needed to hold the shield wall intact.
     It is a mistake to think of barbarians use lighter armor because that's how they fight. They used lighter armor because it was the only thing they could make. On a personal level, your barbarian may prefer to use lighter armor because that's what they're used to and they don't care to get used to a new set, but generally (and I say this because I know of no exceptions but I'm sure there is at least one) that a culture will upgrade to heavy armor as soon as they possibly can, not because they lack the skill or because of their lifeway. If a tribe is not adopting heavy armor it is because they don't have consistent access to the tools to make it or couldn't afford it

     Hand axes shouldn't be used for wood working. That's all I'll say.

     Again, I have no idea why boating is considered a universal skill. It should be botany.

     Step 9: Getting GM Approval

     I'll say this: the player that comes to me with a well thought out tribe with a culture that fits within his clan but at the same time, adds something new to its outlook on the world will find that I will be extremely lenient with what they can get away with. You may find that I'll pass on an imbalanced skill list or that they'll have a major draw back of their class eased. Food for thought.

     If you'd like inspiration, you can check out the Young Kingdoms and the Free Peoples post under the Andals section in the Social Atlas and then further you can read the post on Mertagia, which is all about the different tribes of Free Peoples in one section of the Young Kingdoms.

     On a side note, I know the above picture didn't really fit but I find that pictures in general break up the post visually and that makes it easier to read. Also, I like the banner at the begins of post and I wish I could do it more often.

More Knightly Orders

Order of the Swan
     Like the vengeful avians they take their name from, you can usually spot these knights by the wide berth that others give them. That's because this order is known for one thing: their total recklessness in combat. It's even rumored that these warriors will take psychedelic drugs to increase their pain tolerance.
     The Order of the Swan is very selective about who they recruit. It is rumored that their entrance test is knights of the Order beating the initiate with clubs. Those that don't pass out after an hour pass are in.
     These knights favor hard-hitting weapons and heavy armors. Their specialty is wading into the thickest part of the melee and hitting anything that moves.

Order of the Cat
     The best way to beat your enemy is to defeat him before you engage him physically. That's the philosophy of the Order of the Cat, a group of knights that believes that if you are not certain of victory before you draw your weapon, you've already lost.
     It is perhaps because of this that this Order focuses on skills and lateral thinking. This shifty attitude has earned them the ire of other knights because, for some reason, knights don't like being caught in snares and then beaten with a stick like a metal pinata.
     Knights of the Order of the Cat don't really have a favored weapon though they prefer light armors, often sticking with chain mail, though they discard this at the nearest chance. Unsurprisingly, they're probably the least honorable Order with members trading honor for effectiveness.

Order of the Lance
     Masters of the horse, these mounted combatants have gained some prestige on the plains of Wesswern. There the horse is king. They take their role as fighters very serious, or at least, they take mounted fighting very serious. They tend to be rather helpless once you pull them from the saddle, or so the rumor goes.
     Lancers have rule that, after anointing, they can bear their Order's crest until they are unhorsed, at which point they must swap the sigil of the lance for a broken lance. Understandable, it is a common misconception that the Order's actual crest is the broken lance.
     Knights of the Lance are the tanks of the ancient world, wearing the heaviest armor available and commonly wearing the great two-handed swords if not wielding the their namesake weapon.

Order of Gold
     Held in derision by their follow knights for being soft, Golden Knights knows that this is only the mocking of lesser men, for you are not accepted into the Order, you are born into it. The Order of Gold are composed of noble sons. These knights tend to make up officers, with the tendency to serve under or with or in competition Knights of the Broken Sword.
     While they may never be the greatest fighters on the field, Knights of Gold tend to not only have the best equipment, the best range of training, and, most importantly, the best opportunities. A knight of Gold has contacts and they always seem to know a guy. They can also get in places and get away with things that no other knightly order can.
     The Order of Gold prefers the long sword as a symbol of the nobility.

Order of the Ferret
     Wily and spray like their name-sake, the Knights of the Ferret are exemplars of speed and defense married for one purpose: fighting more then one opponent at a time. This specialization has hurt them somewhat but their ability and tactics serve as valuable insights for others. This has caused many to form short term truces with them, just long enough to get the basics, and then drop they drop the Ferret Knights. This can make your average Ferret Knight rather wary of others, after all, it doesn't feel great to have others trivialize what you've dedicated your life to mastering.
     The Order trains its members to be fleet of foot, speedy with the blade, and to never let your guard down. Generally, these knights either specialize in a smaller weapon for the speed or go for a weapon with longer reach to keep their enemies at bay.

Order of the Horse
     To be an effective knight, the warrior has to become one with his horse. They must not just communicate through words but through spirit as well. This is the idea behind the Knights of the Horse, though not necessarily applicable to the horse and rider. No, this Order focuses on fighting as a unit, together either in tandem with other or in a larger group. Generally well liked because they know how to follow orders, Knights of the Horse are highly sought after body guards.
     The Knights of the Horse don't favor any weapon, armor, or shield as their training is more about mixed unit tactics. This had led to some non-traditional training techniques, like staring into each other's eyes or going on long walks together. Not really but it's not far from the truth and these training regiments are effective and come with a very special bonus. Knights of the Horse can spend their own personal Honor on those they share this special bond with as long as their within threat range of each other (5+ their weapon's reach). Ideally, two bonded Horse Knights will spend their Honor on each other but they can bond with someone whose not a member of the Order but those that're not members can't spend Honor on their bonded knight.

Order of the Sparrow
     While other knights earn their fame for triumphs on the battle-field, Sparrow Knights tend to earn their fame from being chased out of noble women's bedrooms. That's because while others sharpen blades, they sharpen their quills. Practicing the 'courtly skills' of persuasion, diplomacy, poetry, music, and, of course, slow speed seduction and high speed running and climbing.
     The Order of the Sparrow is about the romantic vision of the knight. That a warrior should be not only be a fighter but also a gentlemen, rough when needed and soft when not. Sadly, this is often forgotten by its members as they are widely mocked as spineless pansy who put flowers in their hair and powder their noses, but those smiles turn to frowns when they have to chase the wayward Sparrow away from their wives.
     Knights of the Sparrow tend towards the short sword and buckler, side-arms that are unobtrusive and are usually allowed in any court or place.

The Cambrian Order
     Hailing from the Camber Peaks, a spur of the Mountains of Mourne, this Order is the descendant of an ancient brotherhood of Sigmar, the Wartooths. While the Faithful of Sigmar are clerics, Wartooths are warriors that have sworn themselves to the way of war, often pledging themselves to a certain cause, most commonly revenge.
     To this end, the Cambrian Order shapes its members for one purpose: prepping them for their own personal conflict. This has sometimes labelled them as the 'revenge society' as the only way to gain entrance to their Order is dependent on the supplicant having a personal war. Many are even turned away at that the proverbial door if their inner fire isn't bright enough.
     A word to the wise, if you see a Cambrian Knight coming down the road, cross to the other side, as he is on a mission and will not hesitate to shed blood to accomplish it.

Magic Items and Runes

     Metal is magic but it is so much more then that. In a world where wizards receive their arcane power through tattooing bits of special metal into their skin, metal represents the holy meeting of the immortal and mortal. The earthy incantations connecting with divine invocations.

     Because of this, magic items, how they are acquired and how they are treated, will be different then your average fantasy game.

     The first thing you must realize is the scarcity of metal in the world. Despite being in a period called the Bronze or Iron Age, metal is still relatively uncommon and the secrets of working the material is a sacred art, with blacksmiths being seen as closer to priests then tradesman.

     Because of this each weapon (and piece of armor) is seen as inherently magically. In fact, your character probably didn't purchase anything made out of metal. It was handed down to him from his father and his father before him, a blade or pendent that symbolized the bond of kin and family.

     Your weapon should be an extension of your character's history and unlike in other games where your first sword will be casually tossed to the wayside when you find a newer, better model, your equipment will grow with you.

     That means that the dinky sword you start out the game with could end up being a legendary +5 sword of ass-kicking by the time you retire your character. However, for this to happen, some investment has to be poured into it.

     To start to qualify for this bonus you must have 3 basic things:

     First, your weapon has to have a name.

     Second is that it needs to be dedicated to a gawd. Blades anointed to the divine change when a new wielder takes them so this is a choice your character must have personally taken when they took ownership of the heirloom.

     Third should be a backstory to the weapon. I recommend this being some event that will hint at the special properties of the weapon.

     After this point, the growth of the weapon is linked to your character. Heroic actions and traits will rub off special properties over the course of the adventure though there is two things you should note.

     Really heroic deeds beget heroic weapons. If you just sit back and let others take the risk, expect that not only will your equipment because more magical more slowly then your compatriots but that they won't gain additional cool bonuses besides simply getting a +1 to attack and damage.

     Crowley's longbow, for example, might start giving him increased range in addition to pluses to hit, or Damien's sword giving its wielder a greater chance to detect lies or see illusions.

     You should also be aware that these abilities will sometimes overlap with your character's abilities and not stack. For instance, I may decide to have Damien's sword's detect lie ability not augment his own.

     What this means is that when that character passes on his weapon or armor, his proteges will reap the benefit. While Damien will get some use out of the sword because it'll give him a plus to attack and damage, Marian, his apprentice, will gain the real benefit, netting both the pluses and the detect lies, which may not be her class feature. 

     Ultimately, you will not have the final say in how your items gain magical power but there are things you can do to influence them. So far we've talked about naming your weapon and its backstory, both things will contribute how your weapon shapes up, and obviously, what your character does will have a huge impact on it as well, but your weapon will also be shaped by the gawd its dedicated to, so choose carefully.

     There is one last thing you can do to direct your weapon's latent magical properties and that's through Runes. Runes are sacred symbols and letters that are scribed into an object. These tend to be one or two simply words, such as accuracy, defense, speed, and so on but they can also be complex, such as sight, or wisdom.

     You may choose to use Runes or not but they should be kept to one word per weapon, shield, or armor piece.

Gaining Other Magical Items

     One final note: while I have been pretty much exclusively talking about weapons gaining magical properties it is only because I didn't want to have to type out all the things that can gain powers as you gain legend.

     Anything with metal in it can gain magical properties, whether that's a set of lock picks, crampons, a shield, a brush, a mirror, or even a rope with metal strands threaded into it. Additionally, armor pieces can gain individual powers or they can come together as a set and give even better bonuses.

     You may also have a weapon that gains a magical property that doesn't benefit you in combat at all or a ring that gives you some heroic warrior ability.

     These items don't play by different rules and so don't feel like you've gotten the shaft because you're playing a rogue and don't need a magical dagger, though they don't necessarily need a name or a backstory, they do need metal and a gawd that they're dedicated to. That will give him a heads up on which items you want to gain special properties. 

Treating Magical Weapons and Armor

     There is a draw back to the way magical weapons and armor are treated. It is in extremely poor taste to loot a weapon from a fallen opponent. If he was an honorable warrior, it is expected that you return his weapon to his family if possible or bury it with him. If it wasn't, it's expected that you destroy the weapon and allow the metal to return to the Shield and be purified before being forged again.

     The exception to this is truly legendary equipment, like Stormcaller or Grudge, which have no family to own it and the last wielder has been dead for some time. Weapons with no owners are free game, which means that it's perfectly okay for your hero to raid ancient tombs in search of a +5 Holy Avenger and not be violating his alignment.

     Shields and armor are on a case by case basis but for the most part you'll be okay looting it. though anything marked with a clan or tribe insignia should be buried or destroyed.

Lithic and Obsidian Weapons

   While the Age of Bronze is giving way to the Age of Iron, some clans and cultures refuse these new ways of life in favor of more traditional and primitive means of crafting. That's not to say that weapons crafted of stone and wood are uncommon, even in these new ages. In fact, metal of any kind can be quiet scarce and expensive to repair and maintain. In these cases, the poor may find that a flint dagger is better then none.

     These are the rules laid out in the GM about lithic weapons, or weapons crafted of stone:

     As said, lithic weapons are limited to the following weapons: arrows, hand axes, javelins, melee knives, short spears, slingstones, spears, throwing axes, and warhammers.

     Stone weapons are more likely to break then their metal cousin. They're also less effective against armor.

     When wielding a lithic weapon you receive a -1 penalty to damage when the defender is wielding medium armor and -3 against heavy armor.
     Additionally, on any attack roll that nets lower then 2 while using these types of weapons results in the weapon chipping. Again, this is a net roll. If you also roll a natural 1, you also gain any of the penalties for fumbling.
     This chipping gives the weapon a cumulative -1 penalty to Attack and Damage. 4 such chips result in the weapon becoming useless.

     On the flip side, lithic weapons tend to be chip because it takes very little to craft them and materials are plentiful. In fact, no skill is needed to make these weapons and Crafting (Lithic Weapons) is considered a universal skill. Not that your weapons will probably come out great unless you invest some BPs in the skill but in a pinch, it'll do.
     If you really feel the need to purchase lithic weapons, or if you wish to buy a fine quality stone warhammer, lithic weapons are a 10% of the price.

Obsidian Weapons

     Obsidian is a unique material. Unusually brittle and deadly sharp, obsidian is the weapon of choice for the Stone Clan Nimetu.
     These weapons tend to be a bit harder to work with and are less effective against armor.

     Obsidian weapons receive -2 damage against defenders in light armor, -4 against medium armor, and -6 against heavy armor.
     It chips about the same as other stone weapons, however, when it does, it takes a -2 penalty Attack and Damage. Again, 4 such chips result in the weapon breaking and becoming useless.

     Obsidian has 2 things to be said about it. The first is that against unarmored enemies, obsidian gains a bonus of +3 damage. That means a +5 Obsidian knife nets a +8 to damage when slicing through unprotected flesh.

     This has probably informed classical Nimetu fighting style of trying to attack your target when he's got his trousers around his ankles and only attacking people you absolutely have to. After all, it's a pain to keep replacing your weapon.

     Because of the skill required in crafting these weapons, these weapons cost only 30% of the weapon's price. If you wish you craft your own, you'll find it generally cheaper, as you only have to by the raw materials but these raw materials are fairly rare outside of volcanically active areas.
   

Stormcaller

     It's a one of the subtle ironies that the technique to forge the immaterial into the material was honed to perfection by man to fight the giants, the one's that taught them. In the age when giants warred with the gawds, the race of man often found themselves on the short end of the stick as collateral damage during the skirmishes. Man, who had been on one side and then the other, decided that it was time to do something about it.
     One man in particular, a druid by the name of Rostislav, took it as his personal calling to forge a blade that would keep the giants at bay. To this end, he took the sea breeze and created Stormcaller.

     Stormcaller is a two handed sword. Almost the length of a man, it's surprisingly light, probably because of a series of holes along the blade, which appears to be made of some sort of cold iron.
     While it can used in the traditional swordish manner, Stormcaller's main use is to, surprisingly, summon storms. By swinging the blade above your head, the weapon begins to let out a howl and soon the wielder becomes the center of a whirling maelstorm.

     The sword was surprisingly effective against the giants. While it wasn't lethal per se, the storms did act as a barrier to keep the giants at bay but as the war wound down and peace settled, Stormcaller fell into misuse. Well, for a time. After all, man are eternally creative when it comes to the destruction of their own kind.
     Stormcaller was used by the kings of Balmorn to forge their kingdoms, using its power to scatter enemy forces and flood enemy camps.
     It is perhaps because of this over use that caused the weapon's downfall. As the Queen of Fallkirk's madness began to destroy her mind, many at court became worried by the fact that she held such raw power in her hands. A troubled young priest of the Morrigan, Jahn Wytcliffe, took a terrible risk that no one else would take.
     Stealing the sword at night, the priest fled to the highlands. He spent 5 years in exile before being captured and dragged before the queen for treason. When told to recant and reveal the location of the druidic blade, Jahn was heard to whisper "I will fight the world, but I will not fight my conscience."

     Jahn Wytcliffe was burned at the stake in the Plaza of Broken Spears.

     Stormcaller remains lost to this day but hope still lasts that it might still be found.