The Imperial Wizards

This writeup of the Schola Imperium is for Steve, who wants to play a bureaucrat mage.

Steve's illustration

Kit: Imperial Wizard

Description: At the end of the First Empire, a number of extremely powerful wizards of the Nine Schools pledged their support directly to the emperor. They abandoned their respective Scholae (members of the Golden Path, the Occulted Order, and the Star and Hammer made up the majority of this new school) and founded the Schola Imperium which would grow to become the most powerful of the Schools and outlast every one of its contemporaries. The Imperial Schola still exists, upon Wizard's Hill, and still lodges in their ancient quarters, doing their utmost to serve the empire and emperor.

Imperial wizards, like all wizardly claves, are forbidden from teaching the spells unique to their school to anyone else. Unlike many elvish circles, they may sell their services as teachers of commonly known magic.

The school is refreshed by the magistri scholistici, who ride through the heartland and investigate the talents and wisdoms of young children, no older than eight. These masters pay a sum that is generally 200ƒ to the parents of such children, returning them to the schola. Those trained there begin with a foundation of philosophy, history, and religion.

At age twelve they become official apprentices, capable of comprehending (but not casting) basic spells. At age fourteen they are promoted to the rank of invocate and must perform a philosophical defense before two masters. At age sixteen they are granted the rank of invarch and expected to perform a spell of their own creation to add to the library.

Other ranks follow:

The Senior Schola
Exarch - granted upon achieving the power of lesser sorcereries, the wizard is granted his purple and golden robes.

Hierarch - granted upon achieving the power of greater sorcery, the wizard is permitted to take pupils of his own.

Magearch - granted at last upon achieving what we normally call "name rank." Magearchs form the governing body of the School.

Magister - Master. Ranking wizards of power. There are never more than five or six Masters at any given time.

Esteemed Master - the leader of the Imperial School. The Esteemed Master has never appeared in public within living memory and his name is unknown.

Preferred Schools: Imperial Wizards may specialize in any school, though many are drawn (through its sheer destructive force) to the school of invocation/evocation.

Barred Schools: No school is barred to wizards of the Imperial Schola.

Role: Imperial wizards have their names recorded in the Codex from the time they enter the school so the imperial administration can keep track of them, the same as any wizard who reaches level 5 within the borders of the empire. They serve as spies, the eyes and ears of the emperor, permanent figures on the imperial payroll, and even as clerks in some cases. They are given appointments and assignments, sent to lead imperial armies, and essentially used as a final resort by their emperor.

Secondary Skills: We don't use these~

Weapon Proficiencies: Imperial wizards must start with either the staff or dagger proficiency.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Wizards of the schola must purchase the reading/writing proficiency for High Varan. They must also purchase the Religion (imperial) proficiency. They learn to speak/read/write Archaic Varan for free, as well as receiving the Spellcraft proficiency for free. Their Language of Power is Maidic.

Equipment: Imperial wizards are provided with fancy robes, sandals, a cloak, a weapon, and an extra traveling spellbook from the vast treasury of the Schola.

Starting Spells: As a tower-trained wizard.

Special Benefits: The Imperial Wizards receive the following benefits:

1. Free room and board at the schola. They never need to pay for a place to stay or food to eat as long as they are in the imperial city. All other imperial wizards will generally go out of their way to assist a fellow (unless they have compelling reasons not to).

2. Free access to the imperial library, dating back to the foundation of the Second Empire. This library grants a +5% research bonus.

3. Free access to the masters of the school, for use of learning new spells (if they have time).

4. Access to the otherwise forbidden Imperial spell list.

Special Hinderances:

1. May not teach other wizards Imperial spells.

2. Must obey senior members of the Schola. May be sent on missions without recompense. Tool of the emperor.

3. Considered, until they reach the rank of Magearch, to be the personal property of their own master, the Magearch who trained them. This means they are required to support their master in all things.

Wealth Options: Normal starting wealth.

Races: No elf or gnome would willingly submit themselves to the rules of the Schola, leaving it comprised entirely of humans.

Spell List: Absorption, Acid Bolt, Alamanthar's Return, Alustriel's Mantle and Greater Mantle, Analyze Dweomer, Army, Arrow of Bone, Barrier, Battering Ram, Bewilder, Chastise, Chromatic Blade


SPELLS
Level One
Arcanin's Reply
(Abjuration)
Range: 0
Duration: 5 rds./level
Area of Effect: Caster
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1
Saving Throw: None

Arcanin's reply is a simple abjuration that serves one purpose: to reflect magic missiles. The spell protects the caster from magic missile spells, causing any cast at him during the duration to be reflected back onto whoever flung it originally.

Kits and Things: The Knights of Miles

Knight of Miles (fighter kit)

Description: This character is a second or subsequent son of the Heartland nobility of the Empire. Knights of Miles swear allegiance directly to the Emperor and are in turn knighted by him. They are generally given residences in the city of Miles as well as access to rents provided by tenancies in the countryside. Knights of Miles are always addressed as Sieur. In order to become such a knight, a character must have a strength and constitution of at least 14—there are no weaklings amongst the emperor’s chosen.

Role: In a campaign, Knights of Miles serve as a distinctive arm of the emperor; they are, along with the imperial tagmata, his personal and private army that he relies on no feudal lords to raise. They are a boisterous fraternity of men and women who practice the martial art together and often enact the emperor’s personal will on the battlefield and off.

They are well-heeled and educated, the children that might otherwise go on to cause a baronial succession crisis in their home baronies. Characters starting out with this kit are likely to begin as squires aspirant in the Knightly Order, assigned to a more important knight who will show them the ropes, give them tasks, and accompany them.

While most Knights of Miles are generally upright and at least moderately honorable men (after all, they are knights), not all are. The DM will secretly roll for the level and alignment of the PCs patron on the following table:

1-4. Lawful Good

5-7. Neutral Good

8-9. Chaotic Good

10-13. Lawful Neutral

14-16. Lawful Evil

17-19. Neutral Evil

20. Chaotic Evil

Level: 1d4+1

Secondary Skills: We don’t use these

Weapon Proficiencies: All knights of Miles must take the following WPs: arming sword, lance, horseman’s flail or horseman’s mace or hand axe. While Knights of Miles may train in bows, they will only use them as a last resort.

NWPs: Bonus: (Miles) Etiquette, Heraldry, Riding (Land-based). Recommended: Dancing, Gaming, Hunting, Tracking, Local History, Musical Instrument

Equipment: Pages begin the game with a free shirt of chain armor and a weapon of their choice.

Special Benefits: +2 reaction bonus to anyone who is pro-imperial. The possibility for intimidation of others exists. Pages are automatically knighted when they reach level 3 and may be knighted earlier for valor. Upon receiving a knighthood, they are granted a townhouse in Miles and a farm-rent as well as a host of minor functionaries to deal with it. Income can be calculated here, with most knights receiving 1-2 households of rent upon promotion and more as they serve their emperor.

Special Hinderances: Pages must go where their masters go. Knights must adhere to the chain of command. Those who stand against the imperial expansion of power (particularly local Dynasren/Dukes) resent the Knights and are much less likely to help them and indeed may attempt to detain or hinder them.

The Order

The Grandmaster

The Chapter Houses (of which there are 3)—Sword, Lance, Axe

Chapter Captain

Lance Captains

Conrois

Pages

Pantheon Monday: Raya, the Rose-knight

RAYA

(the Rose-knight, the Fair)

Intermediate Goddess, CG

Portfolio: Beauty, art, freedom, love

Aliases: Arina (halfling)

Domain Name: The Palace of Song, Valingas

Superior: None

Allies: Heimir

Foes: Any evil, particularly Hasht

Symbol: A lute twined with roses

Worshipper Alignment: Any

Raya (RIE-uh) is the goddess of beauty and artwork. She is perceived by some to be flighty and fickle; however, those with a true understanding of the dictates of Raya know that she can be as stately and mighty and is as important as the other gods. Her worshipers and temples are sparsely spread across the north, but those that do worship her tend to lead somewhat charmed lives. She is known to take an eye to interfering in the affairs of mortals.

Her powers have expanded in recent centuries with the spread of the Libernian Festival, a summer religious event dedicated to her, during which her clerics are required to offer their bodies to any man or woman who pays the goddess for their sexual services.

She is also the goddess of love and is known as the Changing. Hermaphrodites are considered particularly blessed by her hand. Her clerics are a pleasant lot, given to laughter and travel and are fairly likely to wind up adventuring. In appearance she is a full-hipped and buxom woman of blinding beauty who wears a simple roughspun dress and walks barefoot over the grass.

The Church

Clergy: Specialty priests, bards, thieves, fighters, Knights of the Rose

Clergy’s Alignment: Any good

Turn Undead: No

Command Undead: No

Raya’s temple is poorly organized, without a central authority. As one of the mystery cults, most of the temple’s traditions are oral (though the extensive poetry cycle known as the Rayanad serves nominally as a holy book). As for most decentralized cults, her priesthood is controlled by a number of regional hierophants.

The region under each hierophant’s sway is variable, but generally amounts to no more than 100 square rods. Each temple in this region has a number of Freesingers that tend to the necessary activities of the pastoral priesthood as well as a number of clergy known as Dedicants who are sedentary and find their place within the temples proper.

The hierarchy of individual temples is simple: the Dedicants at large (and all Freesingers) serve a number of Dedicant-Masters who form a ruling body. These are the Harpist (purser), Lutist (quartermaster), Flutist (grounds and acolytes), and Scribe (dogma and day-to-day operations of the temple). Each of these individual temple-councils reports directly to their Hierophant.

Dogma: Do not harm that which is beautiful. Work hard to make a thing’s interior match its exterior.

Day-to-Day Activities: Rayans serve a number of functions in the community. The first and most obvious is the consecration of wolfsdens and the maintenance of high-quality whorehouses. These are often staffed by prostitute-priests, though they can only be found in large cities.

Rayan priests also play counselor to couples with familial issues, serve as patrons of the arts, and themselves produce artwork. They see it as their mission to foster love and joy in every circle they can. To this end, they have a natural affinity with Heimirans. Rayans are also purveyors of abortifacients as well as medicines to reduce or increase fertility.

As a goddess who dabbles in fertility, Rayans sometimes bless fields and orchards as well. Her worship, however, is generally restricted to the upper classes who can afford the alleviating influences of art—save for the public festivals, which are for all.

Major Centers of Worship: None.

Major Festivals: The Libernian Festival, celebrating individual freedom, is one of the most widely celebrated religious festivals in the North. During this one night of excess, Rayan temples spare no expense (nor do the nobility or merchant classes, often responsible for many of the donations) to create an atmosphere of saturnalia. All Rayan priests are sacred prostitutes during this night, and it is a stricture that any amount of money offered by any person is enough to buy their services.

Libernia is on the 3rd of Furrow.

Affiliated Orders: Knights of the Rose (see below).

Priestly Vestments: Rayans wear roughspun vestments and frequently wear sandals. The more senior of their members may wear orange or white robes embroidered and filigreed with red cloth.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring Rayans frequently stick to robes over their armor, usually in undyed wool, roughspun, white with red, or orange.

Freesinger

(Specialty Priest)

REQUIREMENTS: Cha 11

PRIME REQ: Cha

ALIGNMENT: CG

WEAPONS: Short bow, quarterstaff

MAJOR SPHERES: All, charm, creation, guardian, healing

MINOR SPHERES: Animal, protection, sun

MAGICAL ITEMS: Any priestly

REQ. PROFS: None

BONUS PROFS: Any perform or art prof

Freesingers gain 15% to spend on thief abilities every second level as though they were thieves. They can never spend points in find/remove traps. All thief abilities (save that) start at a base of 5% when they reach level 2, which is also when they receive their first 15%.

At level five, Freesingers cannot be held by any bonds. Once per day the singer may cause ropes or shackles that are physically in contact with them to come undone at will.

At level seven, Freesingers have access to an ability that works in the same way as the wizard spell knock and can use this spell three times per day. It is only effective if the Freesinger is trying to get out of an area or to release someone, it can never be used to break in.

At level twelve, the Freesinger’s Charisma increases by 1 point permanently. The Freesinger may increase his charisma as though affected by a friends spell once per day.

At level fifteen, the Freesinger permanently gains 2d4 points of charisma to a maximum of 19. Any good-aligned creature or character attempting to attack the Freesinger must first make a save vs. paralyzation in order to do so. Failure means they cannot bring themselves to harm the priest.

Affiliated Orders:

The Knights of the Rose (NG). The Knights of the Rose are a knightly order whose power stems from local Rayan institutions. Since the Rayans lack a centralized form of worship or even a hierophant or head of faith, each chapter of Roseknights is completely independent. Not all Rayan temples maintain a chapter, as it requires a fairly large excess of funds to support them.

Knights of the Rose serve as a militant arm of the Rayan temple; they are often dispatched to protect prostitutes and wolfsdens. Each chapter has a loose hierarchy that is essentially organized along the following lines:

The Acolytes: These knights are not yet full priests in the Rayan temple. They must obey their superiors and are frequently sent to help bolster the temple’s reputation in larger social circles (ie, adventurers for hire).

The Knights: These knights are free to do whatever they believe will be pleasing to Raya. They are expected to report to their superiors every so often, but otherwise they run their own affairs. They are full priests of Raya.

The Captains: Particularly large chapters may have between two and five captains in command of various groupings or conrois of knights.

The Chapter Master: The highest authority in the order, the Master does not have absolute power over his knights, but they are expected to respect his wishes, particularly in terms of politics.

Knight of the Rose

(Warrior kit)

Requirements: 12 Str, 10 Con, 15 Cha

WPs, Required: None

WPs, Recommended: Arming sword

NWPs: Bonus profs: any craft or art proficiency. Recommended: etiquette, heraldry

Equipment: Knights of the Rose receive 500gp to spend at character creation. However, all weapons and armor cost an additional +50%, as they are works not only of battle but of art. Any gold left over at the end of creation is returned as a priest.

Benefits: Knights of the Rose are favored with a +1 reaction bonus in all social situations where Raya is recognized. They are automatically knighted at level 1, granting them social status. Furthermore, good hirelings are much less likely to betray a Knight of the Rose for any reason.

Knights of the Rose may prepare and cast spells from the Charm, Sun, and Healing spheres as though they were rangers.

Special Hinderances: Knights are attached to a specific Rayan temple and there commanded by the head of their individual order. Knights of the Rose are also prohibited from buying normal “functional” weapons and armor, and must always purchase something that is at least +20% of its original cost. This is because the dictates of the order state that all martial extensions of the Knight must be pleasing to Raya.

Races: Most often human, though any acculturated race group may join the Knights. Most commonly this would extend towards halflings and gnomes, rarely elves, and almost never dwarves.

Alexis Bloviates

I've gotten very busy with FG&G stuff, writing other things, working on the boxed set, &etc. which is why there have been few posts this week. However, I felt I needed to address something:

Alexis Smolensk (no I will not link his blog here, he doesn't deserve the traffic) has just made a rambling post about a shitty film musical. In it, he uses a snippet of dialog to illustrate how he is one of those few people in the world who simply knows things—knows that they are correct and that their "thesis" (his word, not mine) is correct. I had, at one point, a grudging respect for Alexis' antisocial tomfoolery as basically harmless and sometimes containing gems of wisdom. After today, I realized I can shorten every single one of his arguments—his carefully crafted arguments, mind you, in which not one word has been placed without due consideration (his words, not mine)—to a single sentence.

"I'm right and you are wrong if you disagree, there is nothing to be said on the topic beyond that."

While he may prance around in a silly grumpy jester's costume and claim to be an intellectual, there really is nothing more toxic to intellectual pursuit than an attitude incapable of doubt.

Behold, thy Matron

Behold thy Matron earth,

from whence your body came;

behold thy place of birth

where walk the damned and lame.

Rest thee not thy head

and bend thee not thy limbs

until thou art full dead,

I shall sing thee not thy hymns.

Thy matron, earth, is a cancerous thing. She seeks ever after her own dissolution, twisting and gyring, forming in her deep womb the feverish chambers of nightmare flesh that man calls "dungeon." You are her spawn, as are all things that weep and moan and drag their misshapen flesh upon the world. We are the children of the ineffable mother who yearns not for life, but for decay.

As such, certain facts are known: dungeons are cankers in the matronly form, temporary but awful sores that form and drill down into her depths. From them spill forth our brothers and sisters in pain, the mocking beasts and howling myriad horrors. This is a metaphysical process, one engendered both by the misuses of man as well as the Matron's own desire to open her veins and die by the hand of her own creations. These dungeons, these emptinesses, embody the very rot of the world. Delving into them is never easy or simple, never devoid of encountering the abyss at the heart of things that sane people seek, wisely, to avoid.

Adventurers, those who dare penetrate these wombs of still-birth, these unhallowed hollows, are generally thought of as madmen. Continued exposure to the madness of the world will eventually degrade them, cripple them, and reduce them to gibbering semi-men incapable of thought or reason. Indeed, there are scholars even now who are attempting to prove that many of the most hideous denizens of the self-forming dungeons within the Matron's skin are not in fact born of her but are changed men who have been exposed to the vacuous knowledge of the meaningless and malign universe.

Magic is the power granted to certain scholars who brave the night-whispers or the darkest of tomes, a clave of hideous old men and cackling ancient women who have traded much of what makes them human for power. Only in the stillness of the deepest dungeon rooms can the whispers reach them, telling them the dark secrets of magecraft; thus, it is said that the first wizards were monstrous men who sloughed their way to the most remote chambers of the earth, rested there for months or years or centuries, and then climbed out to share their blighted vision with those still living.

RULES

• Roll for hp at first level. Fighters get two rolls and may take the better of the two.
• Priests may either be general clerics (local wisefolk of the Mother) or Priests of the Matron (described below)
• Wizards begin play with 2d4 spells; they do not need to know read and detect magic if they don't want. They can gain new spells through all the regular means (if they know read magic) OR as an alienist from the Spells and Magic supplement.
• Wizards learn one spell every time they level up, on the grounds that it is a UNIQUE SPELL invented by the PC.
• Monsters of all kinds are *formed* by dungeons. While they may eventually spread and reproduce, they are in all ways the children of the Matron.
• Dwarves and Priests of the Matron may permanently seal dungeons only once the entire place is free of the corruption of monsters and the throbbing heart of the place has been cleared out. This room, also known as the crux or keystone room, generally serves as the center of the dungeon and the budding-place for new corridors.
• All characters have a new trait: Stability. This is equal to a character's Wisdom x5. Stability represents both physical and mental stability. Whenever a character spends a night in a dungeon, they lose 1d4 stability. Whenever they are exposed to terrifying sights, they lose 1 stability (the same sight will not, over the course of a single adventure, cost more than 1 point). Each time they lose 10 full stability points, they gain a physical or mental mutation (50% chance). If they ever reach 0 stability they are permanently insane or mutated. Every time they gain a level, a character may chose to receive either: 1d6+level stability, .25 points in any stat, 1 spell (wizards only, as above rules), or 1d4+level extra hp.

MUTATIONS

Physical

1. Roll 2d6. Swap those two stats.

2. Lose 1d6 hp permanently as your flesh begins to ooze and becomes pliable.

3. One eye turns completely white and is no good for seeing out of anymore. All attacks now made with a -1 penalty.

4. Your dominant arm is corded with pulsing muscle. +1 damage with anything wielded in that hand.

5. Your legs bend backwards, forever. -4 effective charisma (minimum of 1), +2 move speed.

6. Your head swells with tumors. +1 intelligence, -3 charisma (minimum of 1).

7. You are cursed with incurable gout. -2 move speed (minimum of 1), -1 max hit point, everything hurts.

8. You can no longer digest normal food and must subsist on a steady diet of thickened blood. How you do so is up to you.

9. Your eyes develop slits and you become intensely susceptible to bright lights, like the sun. -1 attack penalty when you are in sunlight or viewing it.

10. Your stature diminishes (if you are a dwarf or a smallfolk, you sprout a thin layer of brown fuzz).

11. Your gut swells and distends immensely. You need to eat as much as 4 people to be nourished.

12. Horn-buds appear on your forehead. If you roll this twice, you grow a full set of horns and may make a charging headbutt attack (1d8 damage, d12 knockdown). -2 char for visible buds, -4 for horns.

13. One arm (50/50) degenerates into an empty sack of flesh and muscles. All bones are absorbed. The arm is useless. -4 charisma.

14. Your skin becomes hard and calloused, like armor plating. -1 AC permanently, -2 charisma.

15. Your lower canines develop into tusks. You may make a goring attack (1d4 points of damage) even when wrestling. -2 charisma.

16. Your nose sinks into your face, deforming like putty. You gain the tracking NWP for free and have -4 effective charisma.

17. Your eyes swell until they are bulging out of your head. You have amazing vision, though now you are weirdly bugeyed. -1 charisma.

18. Both of your eyes recede into your skull. You're blind.

19. Your stomach is covered in disgusting boils but you may now vomit blood on command once per day. This bloody vomit is a contact poison (consult your DM as to type).

20. The bones in one leg fuse. Your movement rate is halved and you have a permanent limp.

Mental

1. You have trouble telling friends from foes during combat. There is a cumulative 5% chance per combat round that you will target an ally with your attack or spell. This roll is made after you declare your action.

2. You begin to mutter to yourself under your breath at all times.

3. You develop a prominent facial tic.

4. You cannot sleep. This seems great, except you cannot memorize or pray for spells without a proper night's sleep and you begin to take cumulative combat penalties applied to EVERYTHING (saves, attacks, dex bonus for AC, etc.) You will finally sleep on the third day of this nightmare.

5. You cringe and shriek when addressed by your true name.

6. You develop hydrophobia.

7. You can only get a good night's rest in a dungeon (as #4, but you may sleep in a dungeon any time of day or night. This does not negate the stability cost for resting in a dungeon).

8. Your mind is bent. You may only speak in whispers.

9. You mind is emptied out. Lose 1d4 int and 1d4 wis.

10. You see visions all the time. They tell you things. True things. Gain 1d4 wis and lose 1d4 cha.

11. Your voice turns into a hideous croak. Is it physiological? Doesn't appear so.

12. You occasionally shriek for no reason. The DM will determine when, at a rate of 1d4-1 times per day.

13. You can never find anything in your bag. It takes 1d4 rounds for you to get ANY ITEM from your backpack.

14. You are petrified by the idea of nightfall. If you are ever out or in a dungeon after dark, you receive a -1 penalty to all actions.

15. Whenever the moon is full your find yourself in fighting shape. +1 bonus to all rolls on that day.

16. You are terrified by the absence of the kindly moon. -1 bonus to all rolls on new moon nights.

17. You develop an unnatural fear of a party member. You try to stay as far away from them as possible at all times, though not to an obviously suicidal degree.

18. Your temper shortens and you become unnaturally curt. -3 charisma.

19. You smile creepily all the time and no one knows why. If you roll this twice, people begin to find out; you attempt to murder any hireling or henchman you dislike each time the party rests.

20. Nothing changes. Or... does it?

Priest or Priestess of the Matron
Requirements: Wisdom 14
Prime Req: Wisdom
Alignment: Any
Weapons: Blunt weapons only; drawing of blood is considered to be egregiously offensive to the Matron, as all things are her children and one should not water the earth, thy mother, with the offerings of her own offspring.
Armor: Any
Major Spheres: All, Astral, Chaos, Creation, Elemental Air, Elemental Fire, Healing, Numbers, Sun
Minor Spheres: Combat, Guardian
Magical Items: Any that a priest may normally wield
Req Profs: Astrology
Bonus Profs: Engineering

Priests of the Matron may serve any of her myriad aspects. Most orders are semi-independent, relying on the nearest local authority (most likely a Hierarch in a nearby city) if any conflicts should arise. Those orders that are good generally feel the dire need to send out adventuring priests to clear out the hideous wounds in the Matron's body that dungeons represent.

At first level, a Priest of the Matron may SANCTIFY a dungeon that has had its crux or keystone chamber cleansed. This will prevent it from spawning new monsters for a period of 1d4 months.

At third level, a Priest of the Matron may CALCIFY a dungeon given the same caveat. This will cause monsters to cease their spawning for 1d4 years as well as prevent the cancerous dungeon chambers from growing or budding new sections for the same time.

At fifth level, a Priest of the Matron may SEAL a dungeon given the same caveat. The earth will swallow the dungeon back up, and its evil scar will remain upon the land in the form of its filled-in entryway. Priests of the Matron receive 200xp for every dungeon they seal in addition to any other treasure or xp.

The Vale of Camn

Pronounced "calm," the Vale is a remote location where players may begin in Behold, thy Matron.  The little towns of Vars and Calvar are good starting points, as is Whitby or Sorrow's Anchor, hard on the North Moor. Hanse is a large city, stuffed to the gills with alchemists, sages, and other such creeps. Elves may come from the Nearwood or Farwood (though Farwood elves are more likely to be strange, twisted, and unpleasant) while dwarves may come from the Woodcrook Mine or Vars. Smallfolk settle in all the towns around Camn.

Vars 
Pop: 1,250

The village of Vars sits on the edge of the northern marshes and shares a local council with Calvar. Nearwood, one of the more pleasant regions of the vale, was long ago tamed by the Northfolk (as those who live on the northern side of the Woodcrook Mountains call themselves), and has never shown signs of that particular cancer that infests the rest of the world. Vars is a pleasant halmet, surrounded by fields and farms and a few orchards as well. A colony of Grimmir Dwarves lives just outside of town and are partial owners of the Woodcrook Mine.

Amenities and Sites:
The Black Boar
An inn, tavern, and waystation, the Black Boar is a favorite of both the elves of Nearwood and the dwarves from Grimmirtown just south of Vars. Adventurers gather here frequently and it serves as something of a launching point for those journeying to the Halls of the Poisoned Heart in the Woodcrook Mountains, looking to reduce the number of fiends spilling from its lips.

Rooms at the Boar are 4 silver a night for private accommodations and 6 copper for the common room. All manner of drinks are served, as is food, and the proprietor, Old Vans Lammrick, is said to have been a wizard in his prime.

The Stones of Og
These strange, phallic standing stones are to be found just north of the village overlookign the swamps. They once marked the entrance to the Womb of Horror, a dungeon that was sealed up nearly half a century ago by the priests of the nearby Matron's Shrine. Of course, the Grimmir clan says that they did a half-arsed job and if you press your ears to the ground there you can still hear THINGS moving under the earth. Grimmir dwarves might be willing to break open the seal... for a price.

Calvar
Pop: 800

Sister-village to Vars, Calvar is even further from the Heart of Woodcrook, the gaping labyrinth just south of Woodcrook Mine. However, it is closer by far to the Matron's Shrine on the Hamlet Track, leading to the great city of Hanse. Priests of the Matron in their scarlet robes and deep hoods are often to be found in Calvar soliciting donations or offering to take in children to raise as new members of the shrine servants.

Hanse
Pop: 15,000

The biggest city in the vale, and a center of trade between the vale-folk and the rest of the world, Hanse is the gateway to the south. Most trade is done off of the South River and Lake Camnas. Hanse is a densely populated place, crammed with people and crazed alleyways sometimes give rise to the hideous gates of dungeons right within the very walls. For the most part, however, its cadre of alchemists and wizards manages to keep the lands around Hanse free of the Matron's insanity.

Hanse is ruled by the Guild Council, on which the Sages', Alchemists', and Mages' Guilds all have substantial sway. All wizards within Hanse must register with their respective delegate of the Mages' Guild and liberal use of magic within the city walls is frowned upon for fear it will bring the stars into alignment and threaten Hanse herself with the Matron's wrath.

Organizations
The Guild Council
Composed of representatives from each of the Guilds of Hanse, the Council holds seats for:
The Esteemed Guild of Sages, the Esoteric Order of the Alchemists, the Occulted Fraternity of the Magi, the Shipmans' Guild, the Hierarch of Hanse, the Teamsters' Guild, the Worshipful Brotherhood of Builders, the Confraternity of Metalworkers, and the Order of the Pilgrim. The Occulted Fraternity of the Magi alone receives three seats and thus three votes on the Council.