I'm not sure what this does. I'm reluctant to mess with it.
[img[oracle.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1182/1435745346_f03cfdb1c4_o.jpg]]
One of the [[Ob-lob]] people's most marketable commodities is information about the future, garnered through visions discerned in pooled water. A versatile style, Ob-lob oracles can foresee years into the future or (when necessarily) only a few moments. Along with its utility at discovery is a secondary ability to confuse and confound magical visions of all styles. It's described at greater deal in the supplement [[Owners of the Seas|http://www.gregstolze.com/reign/Owners_of_the_Seas.zip]].
[img[upunzine.jpg|http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2101485726_bc70a82725.jpg?v=0]]
[img[queen serene.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1127/1460434477_2cb5369004.jpg?v=0]][img[goatskull.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1204/1434875113_e1fea14d4b.jpg?v=0]]
[img[seduction.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1050/1271290189_09751db43a.jpg?v=0]]
[img[oracle.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1182/1435745346_f03cfdb1c4_o.jpg]]
[img[noeble.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/noeble.jpg]]
[img[Ibearx.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/Ibearx.jpg]]
[img[colorpeasano.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/colorpeasano.jpg]]
[img[not all attunement.tiff|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1435/533995849_180500f24f.jpg?v=0]]
[img[imperialrat.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/imperialrat.jpg]]
[img[stormtongue.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/stormtongue.jpg]]
[img[Culong.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1187/543184255_d5cf4df5f9_o.jpg]]
[img[flamedance.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/flamedance.jpg]]
[img[Dunim.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/Dunim.jpg]]
[img[lizardandbones.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/lizardandbones.jpg]]
[img[antlerboy.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/antlerboy.jpg]]
[img[waxlighter.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/waxlighter.jpg]]
[img[black thirst.tiff|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1332/533995833_e7b4aac430.jpg?v=0]]
[img[startledqueen.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/startledqueen.jpg]]
Art from Chris Cooper
[img[EXPLODED-HELUSO-3.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/EXPLODED-HELUSO-3.jpg]]
[img[PIT-SPEAR-FIGHTER-1.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/PIT-SPEAR-FIGHTER-1.jpg]]
[img[HELUSO-EASTSIDE-2.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/HELUSO-EASTSIDE-2.jpg]]
[img[OTAMITANDEK.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/OTAMITANDEK.jpg]]
[img[WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg]]
[img[hulgue.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/HULGUE.jpg]]
Art from Martin Nerurkar.
[img[helusoandmilondas2.jpg|http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/696/helusoandmilondasi2.jpg]]
An Asset is something specific to a Company that helps it out, but only in certain narrow circumstances. A high [[Influence]] score means that the company is generally gifted in acquiring information and passing it on (usually in a favorably altered light). An Influence Asset might be something like a mole inside a foreign court. That spy is very helpful in learning about that particular country, but he's no good for finding the word on the street with your own citizens.
Assets are in explained in depth in Supplement #1, which [[you can download here|http://www.gregstolze.com/REIGN_Supplement_1.zip]].
Wider than the Anvil of Heaven, taller than Skytusk, Black Mountain rises above the plains and forests of eastern [[Heluso]] in solitary majesty. Remarkable for more than its size and uniqueness, Black Mountain soil is rich and fertile. On its lighted face it produces abundant wheat and rice, while its shadow is thick with the fungi, mosses and vines that thrive away from the sun's regard.
Black Mountain isn't a traditional nation or city, but an amalgam of both. The entire mountain is settled, but only in certain areas -- the government district, the marketplace, the soldiers' quarter -- is the population dense enough to meet the expectations of 'city'. It's spread out and sprawled with terraces and waterfalls and irrigation canals crisscrossing the mountain's gentle slopes. Even where it's most chokingly populated, one only has to walk for an hour or ninety minutes to reach a farmer's field. Indeed, one can walk through the soldiers' quarter and, in the middle of it, find the descendants of a stubborn farmer who refused to sell his land. The one-acre farm is walled in on all sides by tall buildings, but it has simply switched to crops that thrive in darkness.
At the summit are the the pastures where the fabled Black Mountain sheep are grazed and tended and carefully watched. Black Mountain can feed itself, but is surprisingly bereft of mineral wealth. For trade, they offer instead their woven goods. The looms on the lower slopes work white wool brought in from the area around, but the black sheep at the summit... their wool is reserved for the sorcerers who tend them and need them to produce fateskeins.
Fateskeins can only be hand-woven from the wool of a Black Mountain sheep, and they have the eagerly sought quality of drawing things to them. Like destiny's driftnets, a properly-woven fateskein can draw wind into a ship's sails, or lure animals to a hunter's snare, or draw the blows of weapons away from the body and towards a shield.
They export fateskeins at fabulous prices, and every aggressor has been met with the threat of killing the mystic sheep, halving the province's value in a single stroke. Holding their sheep ransom, as well as being a defensible position hat has sprouted many fortifications over the years, dissuades invasion of the fiercely proud mountain people.
Black Mountain is a member of the [[Heluso Confederacy]], but far more protective of their national identity than the other three Confederate nations. The Free State is too small to support many noble houses, but it does possess two royal bloodlines. There is the line of the King and the line of the Queen, which are forbidden by law to ever mix. Every generation, rule is divided between the King, the Queen, and their spouses (who are expected to govern with the same wisdom and authority as the rulers by blood). As one might imagine, an unmarried King or Queen is regarded with intense interest by anyone of marriageable age and appropriate gender. The rewards for making such a match are tremendous, and with no second-tier nobility, the Queen could theoretically marry a beggar and give him the power of Queen's Consort in one stroke. (This has never happened.) The King and Queen have incentive to stay unmarried in order to keep their authority undiluted. At the same time, the healthy and affectionate rivalry between the two royal families pushes them to ensure legitimate heirs as soon and safely as possible.
The bloodcutters were a school of sorcery developed in, and employed by, [[The Empire]] during its era of conquest. They concerned themselves with family relations and the connections of blood, and their signature spell was one that let them stab a person and have the injury appear on one of their victim's relatives, no matter how far away that sister or cousin or father might be. Once The Empire captured one member of a royal family, they could threaten all the others at will. There was one demonstration of their ability and willingness to erase entire families, and the unfortunate victims were the royal line of [[Uldholm]].
In time, the bloodcutters tired of being the means of enforcing Imperial authority, and they began taking a more direct role in the control of The Empire's client states. The Empire had no tolerance for such a thing, and even appeared as the lesser evil when it sought its vassal nations' aid in destroying the treacherous mages. The implement of the bloodcutters' doom was called The Orphan Army, composed entirely of those without family, and it succeeded in killing the renegade enchanters. Or, at least, driving the survivors deep into hiding.
In every civilized nation, practice of bloodcutting is punishable by death, maiming or exile.
[img[lizardandbones.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/lizardandbones.jpg]]
This tribe of [[Truil]]s has suffered most from the incursions of the [[Uld]]s, since their tradition calls for meeting challenges with direct, [[kratig]]-fueled aggression. Since that hasn't worked well for them, some are adopting Uldish ways and settling down, others are displaced into [[Mountain Rider]] and [[Night Hunter]] migratory paths, and still others have switched tactics and mount stealth raids against the newcomers.
Broadcutter's Path is laid out nicely in [[Supplement #2|http://www.gregstolze.com/Reign_Supplement_2.zip]], and there's [[a podcast story about it too|http://www.gregstolze.com/reign/doom_of_swords.mp3.zip]]. The text is reproduced below.
The Magistrate of Old Riverrun is the current holder of Broadcutter, a family relic from ancient times. It’s not the most impressive of blades by modern standards: It’s old iron, man-tall and weighty. It has no fancy decorations, no powerful enchantments. A jeweled scabbard was produced for it as a wedding present three generations ago, but it actually looks a little effete next to the plain, worn hilt.
Broadcutter isn’t an exceptional weapon, but it is an exceptional symbol. When Danifa was taken, its Riyan asked to be decapitated by Broadcutter. When the Western Marches mobilized against the Pahar uprising, Broadcutter was carried at the front of the column to show their seriousness. But perhaps its greatest fame is its prominent place in the story of Rook and the Fadao twins Shai and Guai.
These techniques are used with Coordination + Sword, and unless otherwise noted must be used with a greatsword. None of them can be part of any multiple action, unless otherwise stated.
Batter the Blade (1 point): Rook was known for attacking the enemy’s weapon, rather than defending himself from it. This technique can be part of a multiple action. If the attack hits, the target takes no damage but all his remaining attack or parry sets lose a die. Batter the Blade can only be used against one opponent per round. The Height of the blow does not matter.
Iron Breaking Blow (2 points): This is a curious twisting strike intended to auger into flesh while prying off armor. The target of an Iron Breaking Blow takes only Width Shock at the location, but that location loses a point of Armor permanently. This technique can be used with any type of sword and works against any type of permanent armor attached to a location.
Shield Riving (3 points): Rook felt that striking to cut through metal or wood was different than striking flesh, and that one who understood the difference could crack shields and breastplates more efficiently. Shield Riving is the fruit of his studies. When used, the target takes no damage, but that location permanently loses Armor equal to the Width of the set.
The Doom of Swords (4 points): This is an improved version of Batter the Blade and works the same way, except that that the attacker must make a called shot to a location that’s gripping the weapon, and the weapon’s damage bonus is permanently reduced by the Width of the hit. (For the purposes of this, “Width” in the weapon’s damage rating is considered to be two. Width is removed from a weapon last.) This attack doesn’t take the usual –1d called shot penalty. If the damage bonus hits zero, the weapon breaks. (Any weapon of Milondese steel breaks automatically if hit with the Doom of Swords.)
Example: Mark and Tud are fighting. Mark has a greatsword and knows the Doom of Swords. Tud is using a massive big club, which does Width+4 Shock damage. Mark uses the Doom of Swords on it, setting one of his dice to 4 and rolling. He doesn’t get a match for the four, but he does get a 2x9, which he can use as a normal attack to Tud’s stomach. The next round, he tries again, setting the dice for location 6 this time. He doesn’t roll a second six, but he does get a 3x4 match. (Luck is funny stuff.) Since that’s a location that holds the club, he does no damage to Tud, but the club is now manifestly less dangerous. Mark’s 3x hit reduces its damage bonus from Width+4 to Width+1. The next round he does it again, gets a match for his 6 and with a 2x6, damages the club further. Since reducing the damage by two doesn’t really work when it’s Width+1, the club is reduced to doing only a single point of Shock damage when it hits. Tud’s better off using his fists.
Buried in the Canyon (5 points): Just as Shield Riving teaches how best to cleave the inanimate, Buried in the Canyon demonstrates the lessons on bone and sinew. The target permanently loses a wound box at the hit location. That location permanently loses two points of Armor. All adjoining locations take a point of Killing damage and permanently lose a point of Armor. Typically, the person who got hit then cries. Exceptionally strong willed individuals have been known to remain composed, however.
Broadland is one of the four nations in the [[Heluso Confederacy]] and among them is physically central, with [[Green River]] to the south, [[North Hold]] to the north, and the ocean coast to the east. This situates them nicely as an importer of Milondese goods. In fact, Broadland has allowed the [[Ob-lob]]s to establish a free and independent city on its coast to facilitate trade with far [[Milonda]]. It was something of a bitter pill to swallow, admitting that their own ships couldn't compete equally with the white tribes of the ocean, but the concession was worth it to match [[The Empire]] as a switching point for goods between the two continents.
Like North Hold, Broadland has both forests and fields, but unlike North Hold, much of their land lies in eternal shadow. The Empire literally stands between the dark parts of Broadland and the sun, eclipsing it permanently. All the forests of Broadland have their dangers, but the dark forests are particularly perilous and ill omened. As for the plains of the dark, they're sparsely populated and desolate. There are farmers scratching a living out of the unlit soil, but the land there scratches back.
Broadland is the most liberal of the Confederate nations. There's a noble class and a king, but they all govern much more easily when blessed by the [[Faceless Clergy]]. The Clergy, worshippers of the [[Secret Gods]], are influential but deliberately mysterious. They intercede against tyranny and earn the love of the people, but also demand cryptic sacrifices and utter threats that, were they not phrased in religious terms, would sound an awful lot like a protection racket. Broadland functions because, while the peasantry have no formal power, both the lords and the priests claim to be protecting them from each other. Secretly, both the clergy and the gentry hope the peasants protect them as well.
Burai province is one of the five that comprise [[Dindavara]]. The westernmost part of the nation, the [[Meiren]] family lies to the east and the [[Xuedei]] to the south. To the west of Burai lies a bleak and forbidding chain of mountains, which Burai province has relied on since time immemorial to provide coal, iron, silver and gold. It is an appalling irony to them that they share the mountains with the small nation of Pluta, which adheres to the faith of the [[Ironbone Theocracy]]. Every Shu Riyan who has ruled form Gaozhang Burai has dreamed of invading Pluta, but it's a tactical challenge to give pause even to Dindavaran courage. In olden times, fear of their own brethren kept the Burai from striking Pluta. Now, they're bound by the oath that ended the war with [[The Empire]]. But when and if the terms of that oath are ever completed, Pluta will be a very worried nation.
Burai's other neighbors are the [[Truil]]s on the far side of the mountains. There is some trade in Truilish moonstones and starstones, some herbs, rarely one of the legendary hornbows, even more rarely a dose of the sacred drug [[kratig]]. In return, the Dindavarans offer medicinal products of their own, superior steel tools, or weapons (though never, of course, their fine [[dinda]] blades). Occasionally Burai has a good crop year and can sell some wheat or grain to the Truils, but Burai isn't known for rich farms and the problems of hauling loads of perishables through the mountains make it a risky business venture at best.
The other families tend to look down on Burai as a backwards, even bumpkinish province. They acknowledge that the mountain-raised Burai fighters are tough in a scrap, especially when it takes place in their native hills, but no national treasure of song or dance has ever come from Burai. Given the prejudice that has formed, it's unlikely one ever will.
The Burai family colors are black and red.
Center is, as the name might suggest, the core nation of [[The Empire]], embraced by the [[Western Marches]] to the west, [[Deerwood]] to the east, and having small borders with the [[Sunless Plains]] and the [[Nation of Pahar]] as well. A land of fertile fields surrounding a great hills, Center has mineral wealth, but its own resources are dwarfed by the commerce that travels through it as the crossroads of the world. Just the trade of the five Imperial nations would suffice to make a barren land rich, but Center also holds the most direct land route between [[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]]. Though war with the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]] has seriously reduced the caravans and trading expeditions, it's likely that no force in the world could halt them permanently.
At the middle of Center is Center City, the Imperial capitol. It covers the largest hill like a blanket, and at the peak is the palace of the Empress.
A 'Company' is any group that has a goal and some way of working its will on other groups. In REIGN, Companies are modeled with five [[Qualities]] -- [[Might]], [[Influence]], [[Treasure]], [[Sovereignty]] and [[Territory]]. Finer details are provided by [[Assets]], which give situational bonuses in narrow circumstances. Qualities and Assets determine whether the organization is big or small, mighty or puny, rich or poor, and whether its members are loyal and devoted or grumbling and shifty. Companies can combine their Qualities in various ways to improve themselves, harm their neighbors, or combine both activities into a single roll.
The actions of individual characters in REIGN can have a huge impact on Company-scale actions. On the level of the rules, this impact takes the form of dice penalties and dice bonuses. Qualities tend to run out quickly, and a small Company may have minimal chances of success unless the main characters have set them up to succeed. For example, let's suppose your characters are pirates and your Company is a pirate ship. When trying to get smuggled goods into port, you're going to apply your Influence and some other Quality, depending on what exactly your methods and intentions are. If the [[PCs]] go to town ahead of time and figure out which guards are stupid, and they then run a clever con game on the stupid guards so that they're actually HELPING haul in the goods -- clearly that's worth a big bonus. On the other hand, if the characters go to town, get drunk, brag about their piratical wealth in order to impress the governor's daughter and leave an ugly scar on the chief magistrate's face... mm, they've probably earned themselves a penalty by tipping everyone wise and motivating their main enemy.
A Company can be a church, a conspiracy, a gang of bandits, a troop of soldiers, a school of enchantment, a small village or a mighty empire.
Congma, the Hearth Mother, is the goddess most commonly worshiped in [[Dindavara]]. A soft-hearted figure credited with creating animals and most of the human race, she is fond of her children and is believed to answer prayers when appeased with sacrifices and devotions. She is married to [[Dindakuan]].
A [[Pahar]] sect, the followers of this minor goddess of fertility and creation study disproportionately powerful magic. In their sacred groves, they are able to bind pairs of creatures together, creating new prodigies that have traits of both sources. Rumors insist that a debased offshoot practices human sacrifice, but the mainstream faith condemns such abhorrent devotions.
They are also colloquially known as "monster binders."
[img[Ibearx.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/Ibearx.jpg]]
The Crimson Guard are few in number but large in reputation. [[The Empire]] boasts these elite soldiers as the personal guard of its leader and ruler. To even be considered for admission to the Guard, one must be an expert with both blade and sorcery. The Crimson Guard are also loyal to the Empress, to the point of giving her the right and power to extinguish the life of a guard at any time. Furthermore, the process of initiation involves hideous personal disfigurement.
Why do it? Beyond the pride of being the best, the Guard are lavishly rewarded. Rather than a salary, they are simply granted whatever they want that's within the considerable power of The Empire to grant. The most beautiful, charming and accomplished men and women of The Empire are encouraged to apply to become companions to the Guard. Being a companion earns one the same lavish rewards, and in return all one must do is marry a Guard, translate their language of gesture into speech, and sometimes chew their food for them.
Crimson Guard magic evokes blood spirits and is cast by waving bloody swords around.
(Culongs were introduced in Supplement #3, which is available [[as a free download|http://www.gregstolze.com/REIGN_Supplement_3.zip]]. The description and image are reproduced below.)
[img[Culong.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1187/543184255_d5cf4df5f9_o.jpg]]
Culong are native to the Wuhra plains, so people native to the eastern side of The Empire have probably heard an accurate description of them, most people in the Maemeck Matriarchy have at least seen one, most people west of Center in The Empire have heard strange tales about them, and they’re unknown in Dindavara, Uldholm and most of the Confederacy. The number of people who have seen a culong and one of the Truils’ Walking Mountains is exactly zero, so no one has noticed the remarkable similarities – tusks, trunk, body shape, proportions, four knees, floppy ears, tail, behavior and so on. Anyone who’d seen both would think they were of a type, in the same way that a giant condor and a tiny finch are alike.
The differences are important, of course. Culong are hairless and thrive in a warm climate, but most importantly they’re only the size of a small mountain lion or a very large wolf.
Culong are domesticated from the Wuhra tribes to Upunzi, though outside their native habitat they can be expensive to own and maintain. They can pull small loads and fetch things with their trunks, but they’re rare as work animals outside the Wuhra nation. Their intelligence and ability to manipulate objects make them prized pets everywhere they’re available, but only in Wuhra lands are they plentiful enough to be herded for meat, ivory and hides.
In [[Opetka]] the most common religion holds that the universe was created out of Greed, literally. The god Greed ('Sahonst' in Opetkan) created all wonderful things in order to hoard them, and only made humanity and other gods that he might be envied. (All the bad things in the world emerge from either Greed or one of the other gods spoiling things in order to spite one another.) Through various tricks, Greed's three children -- Past, Present and Future -- steal most of the universe from him and then beat him into submission. As he surrenders, Greed spitefully curses his three children that, should they ever all meet together again, he will arise and consume all that had ever been his.
Greed's children, fearful of this promise, gave up much of their godliness in order to hide among the souls of mankind. Periodically, they are reincarnated, and recognized by the following signs.
Past always appears as a woman who is old before her time and never ages.
Present is always a man who is two men.
Future is always an unexpected man who is his own father.
People have been identified as these deities reborn numerous times throughout Opetkan history. They justify claims of authority through varying interpretations of the prophecy -- one man who had taken his father's name and reclaimed his father's priestly appointment claimed to be Future reborn, while the current [[Kuklach]] Prime of the city Muhulc is adored as Present because he has two heads, four arms and three legs fused together at the trunk. Although favor is believed to follow the gods reborn, the Opetkans aren't sentimental about killing them, as in the case of the Elder of [[Upunzi]] who claimed to be Past. The destruction of the universe is just too great a risk, so whenever two reborn deities are identified, one gets killed -- often both.
This task typically falls to (or is claimed by) the Cult of Greed, a small sect with a hereditary priesthood and few worshippers. There is a tie between the Cult of Greed and the [[Opetkan War Givers]], who seem to believe the Cult can absolve them of war crimes in exchange for respect for their waiting, envious master.
Danifa is one of the five provinces of [[Dindavara]], and the only one to border [[The Empire]]. The frontier is mountainous and difficult, but it's long, and the history of warfare between Danifa and The Empire's [[Western Marches]] precedes both The Empire's formation, and the unification of the five Dindavaran clans under one rule. The rivalry between the Marches and Danifa found its fullest expression during The Empire's wars of expansion, when the capital of Danifa was captured -- the only Dindavaran capital to ever fall to an invader. Eventually the Danifa Riyans recovered their city, but some of them feel they've never recovered their honor.
Danifa province has a narrow border with [[Uldholm]] to the south, [[Xingshao]] province to the north, and [[Meiren]] to the west. The family colors of Danifa are blue and black.
[[Dindavara]]'s most lauded sorcerers really only practice one trick, though it is a very versatile one. These master smiths cool fresh-forged blades in living creatures, thereby stealing part of that creature's power. They can infuse a sword with the quickness of the cat or alerness of the hawk. They can also capture skills from slain humans, or even entire personalities. There are legal limits, however, on how many humans a Riyan may condemn to the forges in a year.
Deerwood is one of the five nations of [[The Empire]], bordering allied [[Center]] to the west, the friendly [[Nation of Pahar]] to the north and south, and the contentious mountains of the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]] (decidedly unfriendly) to the east. Heavily forested, Deerwood is known for the woodcraft of its specialist forest soldiers, as well as [[The Way of the Wood]], sorcerers adept with the properties of plants.
Deerwood exports lumber, the fundamental ingredient of a drink called barkwater, and is also a major source of the drug [[joude]]. The people there have no cultural taboo against nudity.
Dindakuan, the Sword Father, is the prime god of [[Dindavara]]. An austere figure that eschews worship, Dindakuan crafted the world in his forge and was quite content to leave it in unpopulated perfection. It was only the meddling of his wife [[Congma]] that created the first men, whom she crafted from clay. Seeing how haphazard and destructive humanity was, the two of them created a superior race with souls of shining steel, to subdue the mud-men and bring the blessings of order to the world. Those people founded the five noble families of Dindavara.
Dindakuan's most fervent worshippers are an order of sorcerer-monks called the [[Stoneheart Guardians]].
Dindavara lies north of [[Uldholm]], west of the [[Western Marches]] in [[The Empire]] and to the northwest of the [[Heluso Confederacy]], all of whom it has attacked at one time or another. It's a nation governed by an elite warrior class, and they take their obligations very seriously. According to their religion, (which is administered by sorcerer/priests called the [[Stoneheart Guardians]]) their primary obligation is to conquer the rest of the world in order to bring the enlightenment of Dindavaran rule. Fortunately, their religion also holds that their god, [[Dindakuan]] has no need of human worship, and there's no apocalypse story in their holy writ, so there's no sense of fanatical urgency to their plans for conquest. They're taking their time.
A "[[dinda]]" is a sword, "[[Dindakuan]]" means "sword father" and "Dindavara" means "the land of the people of the sword." They are an unrepentant military culture, but not an unreconstructed one. Culture flourishes in Dindavara, taking the form of music, painting, embroidery, sculpture and dance. All these arts are yoked to serve and glorify the ruling class and their martial values, but that's taken as a matter of course.
Dindavara has five provinces, each with their own ruling family. These are: [[Xingshao]], [[Meiren]], [[Burai]], [[Danifa]] and [[Xuedei]]. Above them is a single ruler, the Hai Riyan. Currently, the Hai Riyan is from the Xingshao family, which causes no small resentment and plotting among the publicly loyal other families.
Underneath the noble crust is a second culture of peasants and commoners, who typically revere the goddess [[Congma]], the wife of [[Dindakuan]]. Unlike her aloof husband, Congma is believed to give her favor, in the form of good fortune, to those who are devout and pious in their praise of her. Dindakuan, it is largely believed, cares nothing for worship. Those who follow him, do so out of conviction that his plan for the world is right, not out of hope for any divine favor.
The Dindavaran language possesses its own alphabet, in which every symbol stands for a syllable in the word. The central framework of the symbol is triangular, and indicates the vowel sound. Above the vowel is a 'crown' symbol that, if present, shows what sound the syllable begins with. In the middle of the triangular vowel is the 'core' symbol that, if present, shows what sound concludes the syllable. Thus, if the syllable 'Din' was drawn, the D crown would be on top of the 'IH' symbol, with the core N symbol.
[img[DinPage_1|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/DinPage_1.jpg]]
[img[DinPage_2|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/DinPage_2.jpg]]
Dindavaran words that have already been defined include...
Bo, 'small, lesser'
Caiba, a combined mouth/nose flute
Cong, 'hearth'
Dinda, 'sword'
Geguo, 'banner chief'
Guo, 'chief'
Hai, 'great, exalted'
Kuan, 'father'
Libei, 'ripping, tearing'
Ma, 'mother'
Nong, a five-stringed musical instrument
Riyan, 'leader' or 'commander'
Shijinghui, a musical instrument composed of hammered chimes
Shu, 'clan' OR 'province'
Zu, 'bird'
(Dunim were introduced in Supplement #3, which is available [[as a free download|http://www.gregstolze.com/REIGN_Supplement_3.zip]]. The description and image are reproduced below.)
[img[Dunim.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/Dunim.jpg]]
Dunim were the Wuhra steed of choice before the horse was imported from Heluso. A minority of Wuhra, perhaps a third, still prefer dunim mounts, and that proportion rises steadily as one gets closer to the desert. A few have been taken to Heluso, but unlike horses they have not thrived abroad. Dunimu are not constituted to survive cold winters.
In appearance, a dunim is akin to the turtle, the lobster, and the cricket. Its dome body rests six feet above the ground on six gangly legs, while two small, weak claw-arms project in front to scoop food into its mouth. It has antennae and eyes the size of dinner plates, eyes that look like rainbows woven into screens. They are voiceless except for the clicking of their mandibles.
The body of the beast is an oblong the width of a man’s arm span, with a length equal to his height. Staying balanced on the curve without a saddle is difficult, unless one splays flat on it, belly-down. Their riders typically kneel on a heavy pad, except when their mount is going to jump. When a leap impends, they flop forward and grab a bar positioned for exactly that purpose. Most dunimu are trained not to jump until they feel their rider go flat. Dunimu are guided by leather traces that hook into the joints of their legs. Pulling the line causes discomfort, like a horse’s reins, and the dunim moves away from it. Some riders rig their traces across the top, so that pulling right causes the beast to move right. Others thread them under its thorax, so that pulling right causes it to move left. The really old-fashioned riders eschew reins altogether and control their mounts with hooks on poles, which they deftly insert in the leg joints from on top.
Unlike horses, which have various gaits at different speeds, the dunimu have only two ways of moving. Usually, they walk. They can walk about as fast as a human walks, and no faster. When provoked to run away (or trained to do it as part of an attack) a dunim jumps.
The dunim’s jump is a Slow 1 action, meaning they spend one round gathering themselves, and jump the next. They have to go a minimum of ten feet in the air. They can jump in place. (In fact, they can jump up, spin, and come down in the same place facing a different direction.) The longest distance ever leaped by a dunim is thirty horizontal feet in one bound. They can’t get much higher than twenty vertical feet.
Earthquake Drummers are highly sought by generals far and wide for their ability to bring a wall crashing down simply by tapping a rhythm on it with sticks. Of course, the larger the structure they would destroy (or construct) the longer the drummer has to play, so the fantasy of bringing down a fortress in seconds is still only a commander's pipe dream. Even with that limitation, they're useful, and just as much so to architects and city planners. They can create from stone just as easily as they can destroy.
The cavalry of the [[Heluso Confederacy]] are already rightly feared for their skill and dedication. Some horsewomen take their pursuit to the next step by pursuing mystic unity with the equine principle. In this way, they gain powers of strength, endurance and easy travel. Some of them go so far as to transform their bodies into half-horse forms.
The Faceless Clergy of [[Broadland]] worship the [[Secret Gods]] and intercede on behalf of all mortals. They are never seen in public without their featureless masks. They all answer to "Priest" or "Priestess," having forsaken their names, possessions and titles once anointed by the deity they chose (or that chose them).
Most Faceless seem educated, at least to some degree. Many study the practical arts of medicine, and most seem learned in a set of ethical precepts that, while unexplained, tend to yield decent and just decisions when the priests are consulted for advice. At the very least, they can make their wisdom palatable.
There are whispers that the Faceless practice some form of sorcery, and the name is more than an honorific. There are those who claim that beneath their masks, they're charlatans no different from anyone else, others who say they have no features whatsoever, some who say they're impossibly beautiful and some who claim they're hideously scarred. The truth is ambiguous.
What is not ambiguous is their political power. A lord who is condemned by the local clergy is going to encounter resistance from his people in ways subtle or overt, or both. In the past, they've incited nationwide work stoppages, riots, and armed uprisings. Every Broadland King takes the threat seriously when the Faceless tell him, 'We fear you are in danger of losing the favor of Heaven.'
What does a fan do? It makes stuff cool. So when you see this imprint on an entry...
[img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]]
...it means one of REIGN's fans has made something cool.
[img[flamedance.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/flamedance.jpg]]
Through vigorous, sinuous full-body dancing, these enchanters can control and conjure forth light, heat and flame. They're native to [[Uldholm]] and are one reason that aggressive neighbors think twice before launching an invasion.
Fodandutikanitandu is the language of the Obotilobitanolonikututano, more commonly known as the [[Ob-lob]]s. It is a strangue tongue, different from any other known on the two continents, and speculated to be entirely artificial -- perhaps a religious secret language that came to supplant its predecessor.
Whatever its source -- the Ob-lobs claim it was given to them by their god, for what that's worth -- Fodandutikanitandu has the curious property of assigning words importance by length. The most important word in Fodandutikanitandu is the name of God, and it's sixteen syllables long. The thirteen syllables in Obotilobitanolonikututano show that the concept of the race is more important than the language of the race, since the name of the language boasts only nine syllables. That's still pretty impressive, since one can make it comfortably through a day of Ob-lob conversation without ever uttering a word of more than eight syllables.
It also means that when an Ob-lob wants to emphasize the importance of something, she can simply repeat some of its syllables. For instance, 'kotanitutami' is the seven-syllable word for 'sailor.' If an Ob-lob was talking about a sailor who was, for some reason, very important, she might say 'kotanitututami' or 'kotantanitutami'. Deciding which syllable to duplicate raises a string of implied meanings, from sarcasm to fear to awe. Similarly, many words are shortened into informal terms, and the choice of which syllable to elide can indicate the hurried speech of an emergency ('kotan' is what you call a sailor when you're shouting him a warning during a storm), casual familiarity ('tanituma' is the word for sailor used among close friends) or scorn and disrespect ('kotami,' if you're curious). Raising any word to sixteen syllables is blasphemy.
Fodandutikanitandu (which, when used for informal and common communication is 'fodantukan') has its own alphabet which, like the spoken language, is both cumbersome but curiously consistent. Every word is represented by a line (for mundane texts) or a spiral (for spiritual writing), with marks on the spiral for each syllable. The more marks, the bigger the spiral or longer the line, and the more important the word.
Futai is the language spoken in the Seven Cities of the Great [[Milonda]] Desert. It is rare to hear it spoken elsewhere.
It means 'game master' or 'game moderator,' depending on your proclivities. In a typical roleplaying game, the GM is in a position of great authority. While the other players each control one of the most important characters, and determine the course of the story, the GM adjudicates the rules and plays the reactions of the setting and its people. I've got a whole big [[article about it|http://www.gregstolze.com/HowtoRun.zip]] for the curious.
[[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]], two continents shaped like reclining lovers, can be hard to picture, but this might help. It's a picture donated by the brilliant Martin Nerurkar.
[img[helusoandmilondas2.jpg|http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/696/helusoandmilondasi2.jpg]]
Chris Cooper's drawings are also highly instructive.[img[HELUSO-EASTSIDE-2.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/HELUSO-EASTSIDE-2.jpg]]
[img[WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg]]
[img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]]
Green River is one of the four nations in the [[Heluso Confederacy]]. A nation of broad sweeping plains, amply watered by the river that gives the nation its name, Green River is known for its horsewomen. Their cavalry evolved from the mounted tactics applied by cowgirls herding Green River's plentiful cattle. It's a rare Green River citizen who can't ride, and a rare Green River woman who can't ride well. The school of enchantment called Equine Unity is centered in Green River. The nation is known for its fine steeds and cattle, both of which it exports from time to time.
It is ruled by a rowdy collection of horse-lords, with eight 'great families' and eleven 'subordinate families'. There is a single ruler, the Horse Queen (or King), who serves for three years before being sacrificed to ensure the fertility of the herds. When one ruler dies, the crown passes to another family. The great families take turns, serving six out of every nine years. Every third term, the crown goes to one of the subordinate families.
To clarify: If we number the great families 1-8 and give the subordinates letters from A-K, the succession pattern looks something like this: 1,2,A,3,4,B,5,6,C,7,8,D,1,2,E,3,4,F,5,6,G,7,8,H,1,2,I,3,4,J,5,6,K,7,8,A and so on. This means that each major family gets to rule once in every thirty-six years, while each subordinate gets the crown every ninety-six years. It is possible to refuse the crown if there's no one who wants to die for three years of power, but in Green River's entire history, that's only happened once.
I wrote REIGN. Also this wiki. I'm also the big brain behind [[GregStolze.com|http://www.gregstolze.com]]. Hi.
This is one of two sets of [[Martial Techniques]] introduced in [[Supplement #2|http://www.gregstolze.com/Reign_Supplement_2.zip]]. It's also referenced in [[a podcast story|http://www.gregstolze.com/reign/doom_of_swords.mp3.zip]]. The text is reproduced below.
The Dindavarans have ambiguous feelings about Guai Fadao, a famed warrior predating the first Hai Riyan. On one hand, he was indisputably a fine and focussed student of the blade. He reinvented [[Dindavara]]n dueling tactics against weapons of superior reach. On the other hand, he lied, violated hospitality and soiled his family name over a woman, and a foreign woman at that. His legacy persists as a cautionary tale and a set of bladework techniques.
Used with Coordination + Weapon: Sword, these techniques only work if the warrior is holding a short sword (typically a bo[[dinda]]) in each hand.
Cling Like a Lover (1 point): Guai’s Path emphasizes getting close to an opponent and remaining inches away, where the mobility of the short weapon is a great benefit and reach is irrelevant. When using Cling Like a Lover, attack sets reduced to x1 Width still hit.
Long Running Strike (2 points): This technique uses more of the blade in a strike, whether cut or thrust. When using Long Running Strike, the short sword does damage like a long sword. If it’s used with a Milondese short sword, it hits like a Milondese long sword. Used with a bodinda, that weapon hits like a dinda.
Share the Corpse’s Breath (3 points): Like the first technique, this emphasizes closeness – so near, in fact, that the warrior is supposed to feel his enemy’s breath upon his face. Where Cling Like a Lover enhances attack, Share the Corpse’s Breath combines defense and attack.
Share the Corpse’s Breath is used with a combined Parry/Attack. First off, there is no multiple action penalty for combining one Parry and one strike. If the Parry goes off first and the blow is against the person parried, the attack ignores 1AR.
Desperate Sacrifice (4 points): When the swordsman states that he’s using Desperate Sacrifice during the Declare phase of combat, it immediately starts an extra round outside the normal order of combat. No one else acts during this round, not even to defend. The round does not count towards preparation time for weapons, spells or other activities that have Slow ratings. The swordsman cannot move or do anything other than throw one of his swords at one target. This throw cannot be part of a multiple action. Then the rest of the round occurs, during which the swordsman cannot attack. He can take other actions, however (such as drawing a backup sword so that he can use Guai’s Path again).
There Is No (5 points): Outsiders find the name of this technique puzzling, if they ever hear it. Those educated in the system know it stands for “There is no defense, there is no attack.” There Is No eradicates the difference between striking and parrying. There Is No must be used as a combined Parry/Attack with the short swords. There is no multiple action penalty for taking these two actions, though additional actions accrue penalties as usual. Any Gobble Die from parrying applied with There Is No also does a point of Killing damage to the location indicated by the Gobble Die’s Height. This damage ignores up to three points of Armor.
Hell's Hooks were originally described in [[Supplement #4|http://www.gregstolze.com/reign/Owners_of_the_Seas.zip]], and the text there is reproduced here.
A cargo hook (or “tuk” in Ob-lob language) is a simple tool, in common use for hauling and lifting loads too small to bother with a crane but too big to simply tuck under an arm. A handle, metal or wood, forms the grip. From the middle of the handle comes a finger-length metal strut, terminating in a hook about the radius of a fist. Threaded between the first and second fingers, the hook can stick in bales of hay or straw, catch under belts or rope bindings, and give a solid grip where otherwise fingers would need to go.
The first use of a cargo hook as a weapon is lost in the ancient mists of history, but surely it followed its use as a tool by less than a year. When a typical hook is used as a weapon, it does WS+1K and can be used with the Fight Skill.
Over the years, however, sailors refined their techniques for scratching, grabbing and piercing people with the hooks, and as they did they modified the tool to make it increasingly deadly. Christened a “tukuywuyuk” in their native tongue, the weaponized tools are also known as hell hooks. A typical hell hook is forearm-length, heavier (even though they’re made from steel instead of iron) and has a hook double the diameter of the tool.
Furthermore, this hook boasts sharpened edges along its interior and along thefirst ninety degrees of its exterior, starting from the tip. Now it doesn’t just hook, it can catch and cut. These weapons are likely to damage any cargo lifted with them or cut any bindings they catch, but they do WK+1S when used for their intended purpose.
The fighting techniques called “Hell’s Hooks” can be used with either a cargo hook or a hell hook. Either way, the attacks enhanced must be made with Coordination+Weapon: Hook, and they must be used with a hook in each hand.
Hell Fishing (1 point): One of the most common moves arose from the accustomed gesture of hooking and lifting or pulling. When it’s a sharp point going into someone’s calf or bicep, the pain can be dazzling.
If a hook is used as part of a successful Trip or Disarm, the target takes weapon damage in addition to the normal effects of the maneuver.
Cruel Cartage (2 points): If getting a hook in the arm or leg sounds bad, it’s nothing compared to getting one in the ribs or thighs, and then being lifted and dropped.
The hooks can be used with the Slam maneuver. The attacker can choose, during the Declare phase, to either use this technique to ignore the Slam’s Difficulty and weight restriction, or to try and beat them, doing the hooks’ weapon damage in addition to the Slam’s effects.
Clicking Swift (3 points): Now the hook fighter has gotten confident and experienced enough to use both hands in a complimentary way, either simultaneous or alternating, prepping one to strike while the other is swinging, or hitting high and low with both at the same time.
When the hook fighter makes two attacks, instead of the usual -1d Multiple Action penalty, he gets a +1d bonus. This cannot be combined with movement, a third attack, Dodge or Parry.
The Pull (4 points): If a strike misses going out, the Ob-lob using The Pull is adept at catching his target as he re-chambers his weapon for another try. If he misses lashing out, he turns the hook and tries to hit something coming back.
Any miss is treated as a 2x5 Feint maneuver.
Entangled to Shreds (5 points): The ultimate expression of this style is receptiveness to all opportunities. To one using Entangled to Shreds, there is no mistake that can’t be turned into an opportunity, and many successes that can be modified into a greater success.
In addition to all the advantages of Hell Fishing, an Ob-lob using Entangled to Shreds can, to a limited extent, change the effects of her strike after seeing her result. This happens at the end of the Roll phase. Specifically, if she gets a set of x1-2 Height, she may make it a Trip. If it’s of x3-6 Height, she can make it a Disarm. If it’s a x10 Height set, she can do a Disfiguring Strike instead of normal damage.
Heluso is the westernmost of the two charted continents. It is generally colder than Milonda, with greater seasonal variation. Politically, historically (and in some cases literally) it is overshadowed by [[The Empire]] but hosts many lively and developing nations, including warlike [[Dindavara]], industrious [[Uldholm]], the [[Ironbone Theocracy]] and the states of the [[Heluso Confederacy]]. In its far, cold western regions lies the [[Truil]] Wastes, home to the peculiar tribes that give those desolate lands their name. It also boasts the [[Lightless Jungle]], a dense morass of violence, barbarism and brightly-colored birds.
[img[EXPLODED-HELUSO-3.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/EXPLODED-HELUSO-3.jpg]]
Artwork by Chris Cooper [img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]]
Long ago, when [[The Empire]] was at its peak, it conquered a string of medium-sized nations in [[Heluso]], and its grip on them lasted for generations. With the rebellion of the [[Bloodcutters]], Imperial control fragmented. For a generation or so, The Empire maintained an illusion of control by steadily conceding power to the surviving nobles, but in the long run that policy just acted as the first steps of a transfer of power. The four nations rebelled, subverted as many politicians and soldiers as they could, then killed or drove out the rest.
The four nations -- [[North Hold]], [[Green River]], [[Broadland]] and the [[Black Mountain Free State]] -- almost fell back into the pattern of constant warfare that had previously characterized their relations, but the renegade Imperial scholars and bureaucrats who'd abandoned the Empress succeeded at bringing the kings and leaders of the lands to a summit at the last minute. Meeting free for the first time, they found that much of what The Empire had forced upon them -- a new language, adherence to the Imperial calendar, a couple generations of forced religious tolerance -- had inextricably glued itself to their native cultures. They were no longer alien to one another. They were different, still, but different like brother and sister instead of like sworn enemies.
At that famous meeting, the four nations bound themselves by oath to aid one another in the face of renewed Imperial aggression. They founded a new city, called [[Meetpoint]], to commemorate their decision and Confederate business has been run out of Meetpoint ever since.
In time, the countries broadened their pact to include any outside attack. While the four nations govern themselves separately, travel between them is open, tariffs are low and they often negotiate with foreigners as a single entity in order to increase their leverage. The Confederacy isn't an Empire and will never use that hated name for itself. But with every generation, the differences between three of the four nations become increasingly picayune, meaningless and petty.
[img[hulgue.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/HULGUE.jpg]]
[img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]]
Art by Chris Cooper
The mighty hulgue is a creature of such vast and terrible size that it is more easily considered on the scale of a force of nature -- like a plague, a hurricane or a volcano. Like those cruel features of the natural world, it's destructive to much that humans hold dear. Unlike them, it can work its destruction over the course of decades.
In appearance, it resembles nothing so much as a large hill or small mountain. But it is a living creature that sucks vitality and sustenance out of the land for miles around. When it is sated, it jumps to a new location.
The impact of a such a creature landing can be heard for hundreds of miles around.
Imperial, once the language of [[The Empire]], spread across both continents, first on the lips of Imperial conquerors and later as a trade language between Imperial citizens, former client-states, and anyone else who didn't want to get left out. It's not complicated to develop a pidgin command of Imperial, and its phonetic alphabet is the simplest and most efficient of the writing systems known on [[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]].
Influence is a score representing how [[Companies]] get things done on the plane of discussion and belief and information. It is one of the five [[Qualities]] that measure relative strength. High Influence Companies have spies, diplomats, clever analysts and devious propagandists. On the body of the Company, Influence is both the ears and the mouth.
[img[seduction.jpg|http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1050/1271290189_09751db43a.jpg?v=0]]
The Inuan Islands are a string of four islands lying between [[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]]. One of them is ruled by the [[Ob-lob]]s, one is uninhabited and the remaining two are the property of natives who have been there since time immemorial. The natives believe their land is an extension of Milonda under the water.
The Ironbone Theocracy is a mid-sized nation on the continent of [[Heluso]], governed by priests and priestesses who worship Heluso itself. (Or, to hear them say it, 'himself'.) They believe they live on the body of a resting god, from whose very flesh humanity arose (well -- dark skinned humanity, so [[Truil]]s and [[Ob-lob]]s don't count).
The [[Ironbones]] (as the priests and priestesses of this faith are called) hold a near-total monopoly on a rune-based system of spells that can give ordinary materials the qualities of metal. An ordinary human arm can be infused with the strength of a coiled steel spring, or a piece of paper made as durable as steel. These spells are essential, since the most noteworthy element of Ironbone theology is an absolute and inflexible abhorrence of mining.
Since the ground is the body of their god, digging deep within it is profound sacrilege. Blacksmithing is punishable by death in the Theocracy, and given the infrastructure needed for high-quality work, it's rarely practiced there. Woodworking skill is highly refined there, but for arts and applications that require the strength or edge of metalwork, what are the citizens to do?
Apply to a priest, of course.
With their magic, the priests can give a wooden knife an edge sharp as a fresh-honed Milondese razor. They can weave run armor as hard as iron but light as linen. In addition, they can bless the land with fertility, and do so willingly... for those who adhere to their faith and don't make trouble.
The Theocracy is peaceful, prosperous, and utterly at the mercy of its ruling caste of sorcerers. They monopolize the economic niches occupied by metalworkers of less devout lands. They manifestly aid the nation's food production (and farmers who sin are quickly used as examples of what spurning their advice gets you). They are the arbiters of religious law, and it is the only law.
Unsurprisingly, the religious route has always been the career path of choice for the ambitious in the Theocracy. Since their Holy Writ is explicit about accepting for training any who wish to devote themselves to Heluso, many study at their seminaries. To preserve their power and authority, the established priests are utterly unforgiving of their novitiates: Discipline is harsh and any failure whatsoever is likely to result in the candidate being unceremoniously ejected. Despite the strictness, there is still a preponderance of priests, which let to the tradition of evangelism.
Most religions on Heluso and Milonda are not aggressive about traveling and seeking converts. Only the [[Ironbones]] and the [[Cult of the Spider King]] do so in any organized fashion. Every newly-attuned priest and priestess is required to spend at least a year in heathen lands, preaching the unpopular doctrine of the Evils of Metal. (Naturally, those from prestigious families or with powerful patrons get their travel requirement 'delayed,' if not canceled outright.) In some ages past, this took the form of "conversion by the sword." Their religious war was fortunate enough (or 'destined' if you prefer) to coincide with the height of Imperial aggression. In a less spiritual culture, this might have been interpreted as an opportunistic seizure of land from the back while their neighbors were occupied on another front. Indeed, many of their neighbors are still resentful and claim they are the 'rightful' owners of several stretches of borderland.
With their swelling population and advanced abilities with light weaponry, the idea of another doctrinal invasion is gaining favor with some factions high up in the hierarchy. This same faction is behind a recent, controversial and unpopular reading of religious law claiming that those who attune to Ironbone magic imperfectly are unfit for the blessings of the Perfect Land and should, therefore, be sent on indefinite journeys of evangelism: That they should, effectively, be exiled. Since imperfectly attuned [[Ironbones]] are at least as common as the perfect variety, this has caused a great uproar in the magic academies that have accepted the ruling. An exodus of dissatisfied enchanters at the same time as a possible theocratic invasion makes the Ironbone Theocracy an interesting place to be indeed.
The most distant, insular and provincial of the Seven Cities in the Great [[Milonda]] Desert. It lies on the banks of the Nguzi River and has enough farmland to support a small population. In addition to subsistence farming, Kininguvu is the sole supplier of several rare spices and desert plants considered great delicacies to refined palates as distant as [[Uldholm]]. Getting cargo to and from Kininguvu isn't easy, however.
One options is to sail up the Nguzi, which is an unpredictable rocky torrent during the brief flood and rain season. The rest of the year, it's a treacherous swamp full of alligators, foot-long leeches, razor swallows that live by stripping chunks off live animals and flying away to eat, and poisonous toads. The most dangerous residents of the swamp, however, are doubtless the pirates, exiles and renegades that live there, many of whom consider a merchant barge a rare treat.
The other option is to travel overland through [[Punga]], which means blistering heat, few sources of water, no sources of GOOD water, and more bandits. No alligators though.
No one can quite explain why Kininguvu is home to not one, but two schools of magic, including the world-famous [[Earthquake Drummers.]]
At one time, the Kuklach of [[Opetka]] were a typical noble class. They claimed possession of the land and a divine mandate to rule, they adjudicated court cases, resolved conflicts and dispensed justice to lawbreakers. The primary difference between a Kuklach Prime and a Duke or Earl is that Kuklach were forbidden by their holy writ from marrying anyone other than a peasant. (In this case, that excludes all other Kuklach, [[Opetkan War Givers]] and members of the priesthood.) Only the Kuklach spouse was elevated to high status -- siblings and parents and cousins remained in their old station. Nevertheless, there were often material benefits to having a child or brother (or parent) catch the eye of one of the nobles. Moreover, the Kuklach often were popular among the governed class because they moved among them (at least when unmarried) and were in any event only one generation removed from commonality themselves.
The system of Kuklach/peasant marriages may have worked too well. The common people expected, practically insisted, that those married into high station lead lives of opulent luxury. The rising demands of sumptuousness, coupled with natural human competitiveness on one hand and natural human laziness on the other, led to a nobility more and more concerned with spectacle, pleasure and ostentatious display of leisure.
As the generations rolled on, the nobles became increasingly feckless, foppish, and self-indulgent. The priests took to organizing the tedious details of governance, initially in order to help the Kuklach, but eventually to supplant them. The military became involved as well, relieving the noble class of the 'burden' of maintaining social order and squabbling with the priests over who would take over the courts. (Currently, there's a smoldering stalemate on that front. In practice, the military usually claims the right to try anyone they arrest for a crime, while the priests insist that anyone can come to them for justice and redress. The priests get many voluntary requests for mediation, but asking a priest to come in and wrench you out of military jail is a much less certain endeavor.)
Eventually, the Kuklach descended to the level they currently occupy: A wealthy, pampered, coddled class with practically no real authority. The military and the priesthood keep them sedated with rich food, fine wines, and staggering entertainments. In exchange, the Kuklach don't complain to the peasants, who would certainly rise up in their defense. In the past, such uprisings have occurred, mostly expressed through work stoppages but sometimes with violence.
The Lightless Jungle borders the [[Sunless Plains]], [[Uldholm]] and the [[Heluso Confederacy]], all of whom regard it with unease and trepidation, for very good reasons.
First off, it's dark in there. Not merely the dim of the Plains, which have at least the wanly reflected light off the ocean during the day. No, in the Jungle trees that can be as large as a hundred paces across soar unimaginably high, tangled in thick and bewildering profusion. The ground, if you can even reach it, hasn't seen natural light in generations.
Secondly, the animals are strange and dangerous. Of the nine most poisonous creatures known to Imperial scholars, all nine hail from the Lightless Jungle. There are blind albino gorillas in there that find their way with a mysterious darksense, like bats. There are two headed snakes twenty feet long and blood drinking dragonflies the size of eagles.
Worst of all? The so-called 'people.' There are humans in the Lightless Jungle, or at least entities that started out human. Living in warring, primitive tribes, the Jungle tribesmen revere plant or animal totems and practice schools of magic based around their patrons and gods. This magic is universal to everyone born there. To become a full-fledged adult, a tribesman or tribeswoman must attempt an attunement ritual, many of them fatal if performed incorrectly. The survivors are divided into two classes. Those who attune perfectly are favored by the gods and rule. Those who attune imperfectly are fit only to serve. Refusing to attempt an attunement is typically punished with exile, which is usually a death sentence.
[img[antlerboy.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/antlerboy.jpg]]
Lightless tribe culture has no concept of 'natural death'. From their perspective, the only ways to die are (1) by violence, (2) by your own bungled magic, (3) by someone else's successful magic or (4) killed by an accident or natural creature. They don't see sickness as anything other than bad enchantment, from one of the other tribes (because who else could?), only curable by war. Dying of old age happens rarely, and when it is, it's a particularly bad spell. Obviously, anything that could fell a powerful tribal elder without even being felt must be bad indeed.
This isn't to say that the Ulds and Imperials and Confederates don't occasionally mount expeditions. There's good stuff in there. For one thing, those nine known poisons fetch a pretty penny from assassins of any class and nation. There are monkeys whose brains are prized delicacies in [[Uldholm]], glowing giant butterflies to delight the children of nobles, rare medicinal plants, birds with brilliant plumage and, inevitably, rumors about dead [[Hulgue]], ancient mines full of gold, [[demons]] of great power, surviving members of the old royal Uldish lineage and similar wonders. Certainly there is a dizzying array of magic systems in use by the inbred, barbaric and excessively violent tribes -- enough to make the fortunes of anyone who could learn them without incurring the wrath of their keepers.
[img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]] by Chris Cooper
The Long Wasp Technique is a series of techniques from around the Empire which ended up in the Western Marches with small groups of guerrilla archers teaching villagers to use traditional hunting or short bows and arrows, in an attempt bolster defences against hostile Dindavara. Trained to spread out and camp rough, the Marches peasants sniped at Dindavarans who had wandered too far from home with arrows or Long Wasps.
The Long Wasp Technique uses the Coordination + Short Bow pool but requires a Sight score of one for every two ranks of the Long Wasp Technique. All the Long Wasp Techniques all stack unless it is impossible (like getting the short range shooting rate with the long range bonus).
The Archers Slow Eye (1 Point)
The short bow gains long range with a Slow 1 firing rate (this replaces one +1 aim die).
The Needles Biting Grip (2 Points)
The short bows damage still causes damage if the sets Width is reduced to 1.
The Fast and Fletched Fang (3 Points)
The short bows arrow damage converts to W-1K+1S.
The Rain of Hasty Arrows (4 Points)
You can use every set you get as an attack, but it doesn't include any of the previous effects.
The Iron Tears from the Sky Devils (5 Points)
The archer can squish one set up or down by two.
The Maemeck Matriarchy is a mountainous nation that joins [[Milonda]] to [[The Empire]] and therefore to [[Heluso]]. It's a position that was greatly advantageous for trade in the past, but in recent decades Imperial aggression has reduced much of the trade travel to smuggling. Some merchants can get permission from one nation to cross, some from the other, but very few can get papers from both, and most of those are immediately suspected of being spies. Quite often, there's substance to the suspicions.
The Matriarchy has held off the mightiest army on two continents by virtue of three powerful defensive factors: Terrain, countermagic, and birds. The terrain is mountainous, treacherous, and highly defensible. Matriarchy 'quellers' are capable of blocking, negating, breaking or simply preventing most other forms of magic, which makes battles far more predictable for them. Finally, the Matriarchy is the only nation that has the secret of taming the Biachri (singular: Biauchrus), giant birds of prey that can carry one human rider while picking up another human victim to be dropped on jagged rocks (or on his fellow soldiers). Biauchri are native to the mountains of the Matriarchy and are extremely rare anywhere else. The only other nation with as much control of the skies is [[Uldholm]] with its [[Wings of Words]].
The Matriarchy is a rigidly caste-based society. It divides and subdivides its citizens, classifying them by the nature of their job (a class into which they're either born or must marry), by their qualifications for their job (rigorously tested, with requirements for certain tasks rigidly enforced), and by gender (with women considered the more wise, stable and insightful gender). The interactions of these myriad factions can be puzzling, and it's difficult for an outsider to know at a glance if a female Fourth Degree laborer is more or less worth of respect than a First Degree judge who happens to be a man. But the citizens know, and defer, and any who question the system are punished -- not just legally penalized, but often ostracized.
All the divisions, tests and qualifications are set down in the Book of Maemeck. It started out as a religious text, but so much civil and legal material has been added to it over the decades that the religious part is now less than a fifth of the whole.
Magic is widely used in both [[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]], but there's a sharp decrease in use as the complexity and difficulty of spells rises. In short, many people know an easy, useful, everyday spell or two. Fewer people have put in the study needed to understand and harness greater power. World-shaking enchantment is as rare as command of a world-shaking army.
There is no consensus, even among the learned, about what the force of magic actually IS. But it is observed to flow through the world, influenced by the shapes and elements of the physical realm, and exerting power over them in turn. To cast a spell, an enchanter draws in this power, shapes it in some fashion, and then releases it back into the world to make the desired change. To cast a more powerful spell, the caster must draw in more energy.
All humans and some animals have the ability to naturally sense the flow of magic through the world. In most people, this sense is stunted and undeveloped, but just as some are born with naturally keen eyesight, there are some who are natural prodigies at perceiving the silent sounds and unseen shapes of the arcane. Using this eerie sense, it is possible even for the untrained to know when a sorcerer is drawing power. Some spells harness so much energy that, for miles around, any but the most ignorant can feel it.
REIGN contains the following styles of magic:
The earth-magic that underlies the entire [[Ironbone Theocracy]]
[[Wings of Words]], a practice native to [[Uldholm]] that uses speech to control the elements of the air
[[Flame Dancers]], another school from [[Uldholm]], this one uses dance to evoke and master flame
The [[Death Forgers]] of [[Dindavara]] who capture the spirits of sacrificed animals (and humans) in expertly-made blades.
[[Equine Unity]], a set of spells practiced throughout the [[Heluso Confederacy]] that harness the speed and strength of horses
The [[Night Hunter's Art]], a [[Truil]] system based around their moon-goddess [[Raungmüt]] and her totem animal, the wolf
The [[Way of the Wood]], an Imperial practice that attunes casters to the strength and abilities of plants
Canonically released supplement styles include:
[[Shadowbinders]], methods for trafficking with spirits of darkness, taught and practiced mainly in the [[Sunless Plains]]
The practice of [[Aqueous Divination]], by which the [[Ob-lob]]s pull hints about the future from nothing but a bowl of water.
[[Stoneheart Guardians]], a Dindavaran religious order that pursues their goal of dispassionate religious devotion to the point of sorcery.
[[Smoke Sculptors]], a style hailing from the [[Western Marches]] who can build walls and wage war with the most fragile of tools.
Styles referred to but not covered include:
[[Bloodcutters]], a supposedly-extinct Imperial school devoted to detecting and exploiting family connections
The [[Crimson Guard]], Imperial soldiers who practice a combined discipline of magic and swordplay in dedicated defense of the Empress
[[What is REIGN?]]
[[The One Roll Engine]]
[[Heluso]]
[[Milonda]]
[[Companies]]
[[New Stuff!]]
[[Art]]
Martial Techniques are sets of specialized maneuvers that allow a trained fighter to get more out of his weapon (or his body) than is possible for someone relying on brawn, weight and a nasty disposition. Martial Techniques listed in the main book include the following:
The Path of Twin Fury -- An acrobatic hand-to-hand combat style that always requires a partner.
The Yielding Way -- Wrestling, slamming, and foot-sweeping, all done with a minimum of fuss.
The School of the Insouciant Monkey -- Dodging like crazy. Literally.
Thunder Fist Techniques -- How to hit like a sledgehammer in five not-very-easy lessons.
Eye of Death -- Archery secrets practiced by a murder cult, among others.
Iron Tortoise Technique -- How to parry like you mean it. A path from the [[Western Marches]].
Path of the Serpent's Fangs -- Nasty dagger fighting for nasty people.
Path of the Razor Heart -- Drawing and cutting, [[Dindavara]] style.
The Horsewoman's Course -- Mounted combat from the [[Heluso Confederacy]]
The Winnowing Axe -- This is how the [[Truil]]s deal with poor fighters when they're foolish enough to bunch up.
Canonical Martial Techniques include:
[[The Black Thirst]], a style of berserk polearm-fighting hailing from the [[Sunless Plains]].
[[Broadcutter's Path]], greatsword fighting from the [[Western Marches]].
[[Guai's Path]], fighting with a short [[dinda]] in either hand.
[[Hell's Hooks]], by which a commonplace work tool is murderously repurposed.
[[Roloneepo]], a curious [[Ob-lob]] method of artfully putting boot to groin.
Fan written Martial Techniques include:
[[Pit-Spear Fighting]], specialized maneuvers for gladiator fights
[[The Imperial Duelists]], formalized viciousness for young people of good breeding
[[The Peasant Staff]], ordinary people whaling away with walking sticks
[[The Noble Fan]], another means by which the upper crust express disgruntlement
[[Long Wasps]], an archery style that tries to make sure you die from something with an evocative name
Meetpoint is the capital of the [[Heluso Confederacy]], held in common by [[North Hold]], [[Green River]] and [[Broadland]]. The [[Black Mountain Free State]] saw no reason to invest its time, treasure and people in building a city to add more governance when they can already take care of themselves just fine. Their refusal to invest in Meetpoint, beyond a few desultory gifts, has been a sore point since.
Meetpoint is actually located in Broadland, but the roads to it from North Hold and Green River are 'open,' meaning that Broadland has no legal tariffs on them and wields no formal authority to eject travelers from its allied nations. On the other hand, North Hold and Green River aren't going to make a fuss if the Broadland army gives trouble to people of no consequence.
Though not the biggest city in the Confederacy -- not even in the top three -- Meetpoint is an epicenter for government, diplomacy and business enterprises that involve all the allied nations.
The Meiren family is the river family, and their colors are green and yellow. In [[Dindavara]] their productive fields are rivaled only by their neighbors to the southwest, the [[Xuedei]], and even the Xuedei rarely surpass them. Meiren province feeds the nation, and is the location of the Anvil of Heaven. The priests of [[Dindakuan]] say that it was at that very spot that their god forged the five families of Dindavara, setting them above the lesser races to guide and rule them. The capital of the nation is built on its slopes, and the Meiren never let anyone forget that the city on the hill is theirs.
Their reputation is an odd mix of the stodgy and the fanciful. The arts have always flourished under Meiren Hai Riyans, and they are the most avid consumers of culture both foreign and domestic. But in matters of politics and warfare, they are hard-headed realists. Some of the more ambitious families say they are more cautious than is seemly for people of the sword.
Might is one of the five [[Qualities]] that measure the strength of [[Companies]]. It's the military Quality, representing armed soldiers, stern sergeants, brilliant generals and powerful sorcerers and tough fortifications. If someone attacks you, you need Might. If you want to attack someone, you also need Might.
One of the two known continents in REIGN, Milonda lies to the east. Closest to the sun, it's a warmer, drier continent. Nations there include the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]] and [[Opetka]]. One group of disparate tribes, the [[Wuhra]], have united and call themselves an Empire. A great desert stretches through Milonda, broken up only by rare oases and a single fertile river, dotted with cities along its length like pearls on a string. These cities include [[Upunzi]], [[Mwa]], and [[Kininguvu]]. The only other city in the desert is [[Punga]].
Chris Cooper has contributed this fine map.
[img[WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/WESTERN-MILONDA-1.jpg]]
[img[fanmadestamp.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/fanmadestamp.jpg]]
One of the [[Truil]] tribes, the Mountain Riders are regarded as mere myths by many in [[Uldholm]], but the western provinces of [[Dindavara]] know the truth of it. They know the Mountain Riders are real, and that their mounts dwarf the greatest horse or dunim. In a cruel irony, most of the Dindavarans who've gained enough trust from the Mountain Riders to see their steeds are common folk, merchants who wouldn't appreciate the military potential of such beasts. The nobles who have seen living mountains are rarely believed.
(Murgwarks were introduced in Supplement #3, which is available [[as a free download|http://www.gregstolze.com/REIGN_Supplement_3.zip]]. The description and image are reproduced below.)
[img[imperialrat.jpg|http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/GregStolze/imperialrat.jpg]]
“Wark” is Truilish for “rat” but lacking a word for “master” they had to make do with the Uldish “murg” which roughly means “masterful” and is what the Ulds use for “Imperial” when they don’t want to use the Imperial word for “Imperial.”
Ahem. A murgwark, then, is an imperial rat. The Truils don’t mean ‘imperial’ in the sense of terribly dangerous or impressive, as murkwarks are neither. They’re big as typical rats, and fatter, and have heavier, softer fur. If you ignore the wormlike tail and snouty face with black beady eyes, they’re kind of pretty. Their fur comes in patterns of yellow, white, black and red, much like Truil hair, and murgwarks are found banded and mottled and spotted, as well as a few that are all one color. (The Blue Faces believe that solid-color Murgwarks are good luck.)
Murgwarks are very slow. In fact, they can’t run. In the wild, they trundle along chewing grass, eating carrion, digging insects out of trees and anthills and being ignored by predators because their flesh is poisonous. It won’t kill a grown man or even a large eagle, but it’s a surefire ticket to cramps, vomiting, dizziness and general misery.
Unlike most rats, murgwarks are communal, like bees or ants. They live in colonies of 8-12, led by a dominant female. The female stays in the den all the time and the others bring her food. (In fact, they chew it for her. Upon becoming ‘Empress’ the rat’s teeth fall out.)
Many Truils keep murgwark colonies in a position somewhere between a pet and a work animal. They produce nothing but fur and body heat, but in the Truil Waste any source of warmth is welcome. If you find a murgwark den and toss the Empress in a sack, come nightfall the rest of the colony sniffs her out and crawls into the sack to sleep. If you keep your blanket in there, it’s pre-warmed at bedtime and you can put the sack under your feet to keep them warm. Some Truils get familiar enough to their murgwarks that they become imbued with that rat family’s distinctive scent and are accepted as part of the colony. When that happens, the murgwarks will groom the human, patiently pulling ticks and fleas out of his hair and off his skin. More fastidious Truils find this habit repugnant.
Murgwarks have no Threat. If eaten, their flesh is a Potency 4 poison. The minor effect is the aforementioned puking, disorientation and distress. This gives a –1d penalty to all actions for about an hour. The major effect is to painfully lock the throat, jaw and stomach muscles for about three hours. During that time, the victim can breathe and kind of moan, but can’t move his mouth or tongue to form words. Nor can he eat or drink.
Mwa is one of the Seven Cities of the Great [[Milonda]] Desert. Lying midway between sophisticated [[Upunzi]] and far [[Kininguvu]], Mwa is a crossroads and a city of contradictions. It lies along the Nguzi river, it is blessed with fairly manageable farmland in a river valley, and it has a reputation as both the most moralistic and most dissolute of the Seven. It's moralistic by day, and the Concordance of All Faiths unites most of its churches in opposition to drinking, gambling, drugs, prostitution, suggestive dance and other vices. (The churches that wouldn't join the Concordance were driven out, which should suggest just how politically powerful the Concordance has become.) But by night, the criminal gangs that have gotten rich providing the forbidden delights at outrageous prices war with each other, with Concordance churches, with citizen militias, with bandit gangs trying to muscle in to the city and, on rare occasions, with the guards of the actual civil authorities.
A member of [[The Empire]], Pahar is culturally, racially and linguistically distinct from the other four Imperial nations. The Pahar people show a far greater proportion of Milondese blood than is otherwise common. They have their own religion, with few external converts and little ambition to gain them. And while almost all Pahar speak the [[Imperial language]], many also speak their own [[Pahar language]].
Perhaps what sets the Pahar most apart from their fellow Imperials is a history of elected representation, somewhat like [[Uldholm]] but older. In its pre-Imperial past, the Kings of Pahar were served by wise counselors selected by the people. This tradition continued when the nation joined The Empire, but after a failed Pahar rebellion the Kings were dethroned. The Empress then ruling decided to allow the Pahar to keep their 'rulers by acclaim,' perhaps seeing them as a nonthreatening affectation. In the years since, the Pahar Elector has often proven to be anything but ineffective.
Pahar borders the [[Sunless Plains]] which lie to the west, and [[Deerwood]] to the north and south. There are two small provinces bordering [[Center]], and to the east is a desolate section of the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]]. Though The Empire has long struggled with the Matriarchy and is now at open war, the mountains between Maemeck territory and Pahar are so brutal, desolate, dark, forbidding and storm-wracked that no one has ever succeeded in taking an army through them, or even settling them.
Supplement #3 is the latest, available [[as a free download|http://www.gregstolze.com/REIGN_Supplement_3.zip]]. It contains lots of creatures, along with information on how to build your own magic styles, as exemplified by the [[Conjoining Priests of Setekesh]].
First time with roleplaying games? First time with REIGN? There's no shame in it, we were all newbies at one time or another. Check the 'newbie' tagged entries to get a gentle entry to this brave new world.
Notorious for stealth and tracking, this [[Truil]] tribe is also the most reverent towards the race's patron goddess [[Raungmüt]]. The Night Hunters have been displaced from their normal nomadic routes by settlers from [[Uldholm]], though they haven't had as bad a time of it as the [[Blue Face]]s, who attempted a series of direct confrontations. It is the Night Hunters, or more specifically the [[Night Hunter's Art]], that most frighten the [[Uld]]s.
This [[Truil]] practice is not just magical, it's religious. By howling to their moon-mother [[Raungmüt]], Truilish enchanters gain insight, summon bloodlust and transform themselves (and others) into her patron creatures, the wolves.
North Hold is one of the member-states of the [[Heluso Confederacy]]. Bordering [[Dindavara]] to the northwest and [[Broadland]] to the southeast, North Hold is an incomplete feudal state. It has Lords and Ladies, who own all the land, it has serfs who work it, but there is no king at the top to whom the gentry swear fealty. Instead, the nobility meet in council once per season to pass laws, decide policy, and kill each other.
That last option doesn't happen every time, but it's a rare year when someone doesn't at least get maimed during discussions. Most points of contention are solved by argument, bribery, persuasion, blackmail, seduction, shaming, appeals to fear or honor, coercion and bargaining, but when two or more just cannot agree, they settle things through personal combat. These trials by combat are supposed to be fought to submission or unconsciousness but, well, sometimes a helmet cracks, and sometimes particularly oppositional fighters get the bits between their teeth and won't quit until there's only one.
In many North Hold fiefdoms, there's a yearly opportunity for commoners to challenge their masters to single combat if they feel particularly wronged by some ruling or action. This almost never ends well for the commoners, since the North Hold nobles are warriors first and foremost. With Dindavara on their doorstep, they need to be.
North Hold is a kingdom of forests and plains, with a short ridge of mountains extending from the Dindavaran ranges. The mountains hold coal and iron, the prairies have crops, and the forests provide copious timber. That last, lumber, is their most common export, sometimes in caravans reaching as far as the [[Ironbone Theocracy]] but more often selling to ship-building [[Ob-lob]]s.
The proper name for this race in [[Fodandutikanitandu]] (their language) is "Obotilobitanolonikututano," a thirteen-syllable mouthful that people of other races shortened to "Ob-lob," a contraction that has gained everyday use among the Obotilobitanolonikututano themselves, though given their language it is, by default, an unimportant designation, implying that the Obotilobitanolonikututano have no real regard for what foreigners call them. This is just as well, since 'Ob-lob' is often the least insulting phrase used for these seafaring nomads and merchant princes.
The Ob-lobs hold a few coastal towns and even cities, they hold one of the [[Inuan Islands]], but their real homes are their ships. And what ships they are! [[Opetka]] has built a few pursuit ships that are as fast, which is less impressive when one realizes that the Ob-lobs don't build for speed. The [[Heluso Confederacy]] has a few giant ships that carry more catapults, but they're unable to do anything beyond wallow along the coast. By and large, any real competition to the Ob-lobs would come from merchant vessels, and given the Ob-lob advantage in all things nautical, their mercantile rivals are either slower, hold less cargo, or are weakly defended in comparison. Typically, it's all three. If you're a seagoing merchant, the Ob-lobs will outrun you and if they don't, they'll undersell you, and if they can't do that, they're as likely as not to seize your ship or sink it trying.
To call them 'competitive' is putting it mildly. Their convoluted business/family/religious enterprises feud bitterly, until some outsider tries to take advantage, at which point they put their differences aside for exactly as long as it takes to deal with the outside threat.
Unlike the people of [[Milonda]] or [[Heluso]], the Ob-lobs have colored eyes and hair that comes in shades beyond black, gray and white. In this, they're clearly related to the [[Truil]]s, so much so that both races' myths make mention of the other. But at the same time, their language seems to have nothing in common with Truilish, they're shorter, stockier and far more swarthy of skin. Though of course, that last factor could be due to generations of greater exposure to the sun and/or far more opportunities for interbreeding with Helusans and Milondese.
They are the subject of the supplement [[Owners of the Seas|http://www.gregstolze.com/reign/Owners_of_the_Seas.zip]].
Opetka is a coastal nation on the continent of [[Milonda]], sharing a slight border with the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]] and a much larger one with the [[Wuhra]] Empire. Opetka has rich soil, a fairly large population, and a history of complete callousness in matters of war. These factors, along with that damn tricky Opetkan mirror magic, keep the country relatively secure against the Wuhra, though raiding across the border is common enough that it barely causes diplomatic incidents any more.
Opetkans are known for being melancholy and stoic, and for giving other people reasons to be melancholy and stoic. They are the world's most refined glassblowers, and are equally admired for the quality of their glass flutes and for the haunting melodies their composers have written for them.
[[Opetka]] is a nation with a reputation for ruthlessness in the espionage of peace, as much as in the violence of armed conflict. The deceptions of their mirror magi are so notorious (and feared) that many of Opetka's traditional targets for spying -- their [[Wuhra]] neighbors, the Seven Cities of the Ruhini Desert, the [[Maemeck Matriarchy]] and even [[The Empire]] -- have invested heavily in seers and sensitives who can feel the presence of enchantment, no matter how confusing. These perceivers are, of course, no better than anyone else at finding the mundane Opetkan infiltrators, especially those who have been schooled in vanishing.
Unlike many Esoteric Disciplines, which develop uses from a particular practice, Opetkan Vanishing picked the most useful techniques from a number of experts and refined them into a course that spies could learn through brute repetition. Of course, the very nature of espionage tends to attract some people who easily betray. It should therefore come as no surprise that some agents, mourned as dead in their homeland, have traveled far and earned much by teaching these secrets far, far from Opetka.
All techniques in Opetkan Vanishing are used with Coordination+Stealth.
A Stance Outside the Self (1 point)
The outsider's stance was taught by an apostate apostle of the Thief God. Initially, it was a form of meditation in which a robber monk sought to eliminate everything that made him unique, that his will and individualism might no longer wall him off from communion with his deity. As an ancillary benefit, intense scrutiny of everything that makes one memorable -- appearance, word choice and tone, body shape, posture and mannerism -- can teach one to offset and suppress those traits.
Using A Stance Outside the Self requires the spy to prepare for at least a few minutes unobserved, then roll his Stealth pool. If he gets at least one set, strangers who see him for the next hour or so are unable to remember him well enough to identify him by face, voice or action. Sometimes, this technique simply isn't feasible. It can't be done in the middle of hot pursuit, and a Truil in an Uldish city would be hard pressed to pass as an Uld without some way of obscuring his skin. But if the person chased can hide long enough to catch his breath, or that Truil can find a ragged hood and mud to daub on exposed flesh, the technique is possible.
Note that it doesn't help the person hide or alter any Stealth rolls to be spotted. It just means that if he does get away, those who saw him won't recognize him later as the person they chased. They remember only a vague, indistinct person, utterly ordinary and unremarkable.
A Series of Undifferentiated Occult Knacks (2 points)
Mechanical locks are rare in [[Heluso]] and [[Milonda]]. Only in [[Uldholm]] are they well known among wealthy citizens, and even there they're something of a curiosity. They're beginning to see use in the Confederacy and the [[Sunless Plains]], but almost universally, the art of closing something up to keep someone out relies on either enchantment, or guards, barred doors and heavy weights.
Opetkan enchanters worked long and hard to develop a process that isn't even really a spell as much as a painful and unhealthy way to force your own energies to mingle with those of a magically locked box, door or other enclosure. To use the Series, one must spill blood, enough to do a point of Shock damage, and smear it on the locked area. A successful Coordination+Stealth roll opens the lock, but must be made against a Difficulty equal to the sealing spell's Intensity.
Close to the Madding Crowd (3 points)
Another technique stolen from the Thief God (whose followers, to the great surprise of Opetka, don't seem terribly annoyed or vengeance-minded), this one builds on A Stance Outside the Self. Instead of just erasing the qualities that comprise easy identity, Close to the Madding Crowd lets you absorb those common to a group. If you're in a crowd and make a successful Coordination+Stealth roll, you fade into it like a snake into grass. Normal folks don't even get a chance to spot you unless you leave the group. There must be at least fifteen people around you to use this technique, however, and your clothes must be something that won't stand out.
Shadow Foot (4 points)
An intense awareness of every action is common to everyone trying to remain unseen, but Opetkan spies couple this with memory training. When they leave an area, they can take ten to twenty minutes and, with a successful Stealth roll, either remove or obscure identifying traces of their passage. What that really means depends on what they did. If they were trying to be hidden the whole time, they can usually remove any clue of their presence. If they got in a fight or dragged away a priceless statue, it means they create false trails and rework the genuine ones until they can't be followed.
Mist's Vantage (5 points)
The highest form of secrecy is to make it a part of everything you do, and make everything you do contribute to secrecy. Those who can take Mist's Vantage have achieved that. It cannot be used with any other Esoteric Discipline, but other than that, if a character using it rolls more than one set on a Stealth roll, he can apply that second set to a second action. It's as if he retroactively declared a multiple action and got his multiple sets. There is one restriction on use of the second set, however: It can only be applied to pools that are at least twice as large as the set's Width.
For example, Tulaq uses Mist's Vantage to position himself in a garden while waiting for his wife's lover to meet her. With an MD in Stealth and a big pool, he gets a 4x10 result. Splitting that into two 2x10 results, he can use one to remain hidden and the other to spring out and bludgeon the adulterer with a Body+Fight pool -- as long as his Body+Fight pool is at least 4d.
The Opetkan military class is a meritocracy. It is controlled, at each level, by those who either exc