Midgard Icons presents some of the Midgard Campaign Setting’s major NPCs as icons for use in 13th Age, the new fantasy roleplaying game from Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet. Bring them into your 13th Age campaign; run 13th Age in the world of Midgard; or port the icon relationship rules into your system of choice.

In our sixth installment, we journey to the greatest empire in Midgard, where we walk past unimaginable opulence — and heavily armed dragonkin — toward an audience with…

The Dragon Sultana

The Dragon Sultana’s rule is new and fragile, but she has the confidence and the ruthlessness needed to command the mighty draconic Mharoti Empire.

Quote

“I rule in the name of the Scaled Lords, in the name of Mharot and Veles. To stand in my presence is to stand with the coils of the World Serpent about you.”

Usual Location

In the Golden City of Harkesh, at the Imperial Palace of the Eight Elements.

Common Knowledge

The vastly powerful Mharoti Empire was founded by dragons and is run by dragons for their enrichment. It is one of the few places where humans and their kin are distinctly second-class citizens, though there is one notable exception: The dragons choose not to appoint one of their own to rule the empire. Their vanity was such that they could never agree on a dragon ruler, so they gave the job to a clearly inferior species instead. The Empire is ruled by a human sultan or sultana, who loosely holds the reins of power.

The charismatic, 26-year-old Dragon Sultana Casmara Azrabahir stands a mere 5 feet tall but radiates the aura of command that one would expect from the ruler of the world’s mightiest empire, whose position is backed by dragons. She is a skilled sorcerer whose color-streaked black hair confirms her Chromatic Destroyer Heritage — and she has been known to exhibit the creature’s foul temperament, as well. The Dragon Sultana can also fascinate dragons and dragon-kin with her voice.

Adventurers and the Icon

Most adventures that involve the Dragon Sultana also involve the affairs of dragonkind, from kobolds to dragonkin to drakes. Those that involve the Great Dragon Lords themselves are the most dangerous and most lucrative. Adventurers may be recruited by the Dragon Sultana or her organization to help resolve issues of nesting rituals, peculiar forms of status or insult, or assassination of seemingly inconsequential personages — or they may become embroiled at the highest levels in court intrigue or even a naked power grab.

Allies

The Glittering King pays loyal tribute to the Dragon Sultana, and she has given private audiences to Baba Yaga of late — though none know what they might be planning.

Enemies

The Dragon Sultana’s plans for imperial expansion include control of the seas, and First Duke-Admiral Cadua of Triolo is determined to see that she doesn’t get it.

History

Two years ago the young Sultana Casmara Azrabahir murdered her weak, dragon-bloodless uncle Sultan Abdrazin Azrabahir and assumed control of the Empire. The sultan’s elite palace guards—the Order of the Wyvern—fell quickly in line, not questioning her usurpation, but some dragons, drakes, and emirs are still squabbling about whether to stand for or against the new order. The sultana has powerful allies within their ranks, and so has turned her attention away from possible coups and toward expansion.

If the Dragon Sultana didn’t exist, the Mharoti Empire would not be an empire—it would more closely resemble eight draconic kingdoms at war. The young Sultana Casmara has a great deal of power, but only because the governors don’t trust any of their own number with that much authority. And yet, she plans effectively and commands the imperial legions and the morza (a draconic term that translates roughly as “prince” or “dragon governor” or “great lord”). The threat of swift, silent death at the hands of the Dragon Sultana’s harem assassins is usually enough to keep dragonkin and human satraps in line.

The Dragon Sultana has had little time to enjoy the privileges that come with her role, but rumors swirl that the Royal Harem might soon see a swath of handsome male consorts.

The True Danger

Everything will be all right as long as the Dragon Sultana cannot achieve her goal of conquering Nuria Natal and plundering its ancient secrets.

Further reading:

• Midgard Campaign Setting
• Midgard: Player’s Guide to the Dragon Empire

 Illustration by Mark Smylie

Midgard Icons presents some of the Midgard Campaign Setting’s major NPCs as icons for use in 13th Age, the new fantasy roleplaying game from Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet. Bring them into your 13th Age campaign; run 13th Age in the world of Midgard; or port the icon relationship rules into your system of choice.

In our fifth installment we hoist anchor and set sail for Triolo, where we’ll find a mighty lord of the high seas and one of Midgard’s most colorful heroes…

First Duke-Admiral Cadua

The first minotaur to serve as First Duke-Admiral of Triolo, Cadua is a polarizing figure. Some consider the “Golden Horn” a promising sign of Kyprion’s and Triolo’s joint destiny. Others feel sure that he steers the Maritime Republic to ruin.

Quote

“My lord, I will accept your surrender or send you and your fleet to the hell of your choosing. I suggest you decide quickly.”

Usual Location

In Triolo, at the Ducal Manor or in the Forum of the Golden Council.

Common Knowledge

The Golden Council of merchant families governs Triolo, but much of its policy is in the hands of the commanders of its fleet. They are led by the First Duke-Admiral, whom the Council elects to serve for life or until he or she abdicates the position.

First Duke-Admiral Cadua inspires loyalty in his followers, fear in his foes, and respect in all. His appearance alone astonishes those who are not prepared for it: a minotaur dressed in an admiral’s finery, with one horn replaced by a horn of gold, one hand replaced by a seaman’s hook, and one eye covered by an embroidered patch.

Failure, injury and even death hold no terror for the First Duke-Admiral: he has been through the fire and emerged victorious. Now he leads his people and his fleet with sharp intelligence, courage and hard-won wisdom.  Cadua faces adversity in all its forms with a wry humor and fierce determination.

Adventurers & the Icon

There are plenty of opportunities for adventure, fortune and glory with Triolo’s legendary corsairs. The First Duke-Admiral doesn’t shy away from piracy, but he will not tolerate cowardice, treachery or needless cruelty in those who serve with him. Success in a mission sponsored by the First Duke-Admiral will earn you a free drink in many a seaside tavern. It will also make you extremely unpopular with those who’ve lost ships to the corsairs.

Allies

The “Golden Horn” and the Bear King share a great mutual respect and affection. The First Duke-Admiral and Zobeck’s Free City Council are sometimes rivals in trade, and sometimes allies against those who would halt or oppress the hard-working merchant-pirate classes.

Enemies

The Sultana’s Mharoti Empire is the only sea power formidable enough to contest Triolo’s dominance of the waves; and the Oracle of Kammae and the First Duke-Admiral maintain a long-standing feud over the enslavement of the sea god Nethus. The hatred between the First Duke-Admiral and the Glittering King goes well beyond the rivalry between their nations: their final duel, whether it’s ship to ship or blade versus blade, will be legendary.

History

As an impetuous youth, Captain Cadua led several Triolan ships into a Mharoti trap and barely escaped with his scars. Shamed, he was told he would never command a ship again, since he lacked the wisdom to lead.

Cadua left Triolo to find that wisdom, and he did, for a terrible price. He visited each oracle across the length and breadth of the land. To the Clockwork Oracle, he lost a horn; to the God-Slavers of Kammae, he gave an eye; and to the Spider Oracle of the Southlands, he sacrificed a hand in exchange for insight.

A scant five years later, Cadua returned to Triolo, burning with the faith of Mavros and leading a score of ships. The people of Triolo, even his detractors, acclaim him as the first and greatest of the minotaurs, and they acknowledge his potential to lead his people into the highest ranks of Triolo’s navy and society.

The True Danger

Everything will be all right as long as the First Duke-Admiral’s wisdom does not desert him, leading the Maritime Republic to disaster and giving the Mharoti Empire command of the seas.

Further reading:

• Midgard Campaign Setting
• Midgard: Player’s Guide to the Seven Cities
• Sunken Empires
• Midgard Adventures: To The Edge of the World
• Journeys to the West

In this fourth installment, we take the Niflheim Road to the Winter Court of the shadow fey to meet its cold and beautiful Queen…

The Queen of Night and Magic

The Queen of Night and Magic rules the Shadow Realm, where she dreams of conquest, blood, and loss. She remembers too many worlds that once were hers.

Quote

“We will tolerate many things, child of the day. Poor manners are not among them.”

Usual Location

Within her palace of glass and dreams in the Shadow Realm, attended by 1,000 fey lords and ladies with alabaster skin and hearts of ice.

Common Knowledge

Her Celestial and Royal Majesty Sarastra Aestruum, Queen of Night and Magic, rules the Shadow Realm, the source of darkness and arcane energies. Her Moonlit King is rarely seen but is feared even among the shadow fey.

The Queen weaves her plots out of boredom and malice; her mastery of the arcane and her control of deceptions and misdirection make her highly dangerous. She has a perfect memory for the slightest insult, and some of her revenges take centuries to complete.

Adventurers and the Icon

The Queen’s attention is dangerous, but can bring great reward to those who please her—a difficult prospect given her mercurial moods. Some of her missions resemble quests out of an old fairy tale: retrieve a magic wand from a bottomless pool, find a transformed prince or awaken a sleeping fey beauty. Others are capricious and cruel. For example, a party may be tasked with ruining the life of someone whose ancestor failed to address her by her full title 300 years ago.

If the Queen finds an adventurer attractive she may take him or her as a lover, until she grows bored and discards her quickly-forgotten toy.

Unless they magically travel to the Winter Court, adventurers will deal with royal ambassadors such as Thelamandrine, the Hidden Ambassador to Zobeck. They might meet the queen’s relatives, such as the Black Prince of the Scàthsidhe in the Empire of the Ghouls. Lord Fandorin of Morgau and Doresh is believed to follow the Goddess of Night and Magic.

Allies

Sarastra counts Baba Yaga as a friend and ally, and subtly influences the Ghoul Emperor through her representative the Black Prince.

Enemies

The Free Council of Zobeck permits trade with the Shadow Realm, but will never forget that Sarastra granted House Stross its mastery of shadow magic. (After the events in Courts of the Shadow Fey, the Free Council is extremely unhappy about the Queen’s designs on their city.) Linked through Hecate, the Oracle of Kammae and the Queen are rivals for the love and adoration of those who revere night and magic.

History

No one knows for certain when Sarastra, the daughter of High Queen Lelliana Thorntree Endiamon of the elves, was exiled to Shadow or why. But since that long-ago day, she has ruled from her dark throne of gold-flecked lapis lazuli as the Queen and Goddess of Night and Magic, attended by goblins, sprites, talking animals, demons, and her cold and malevolent children, the shadow fey.

1,400 years ago, the Holly King and his fey followers sacrificed a young woman on Rosehaven Hill in the Margreve forest, and planted a black oak on the site. This ritual, meant to steal Sarastra’s power, was a trap set by the Shadow Princess herself. A powerful curse transported them all into the Plane of Shadow, where Sarastra forced them into servitude. The Heartwood Pact also connected the black oak, the hill, and the castle Shadowcrag that would later stand upon it, with the Shadow Plane.

To protect the oak, the Queen allied herself with the ambitious human Stross family. In exchange for fostering their eldest daughters and eldest sons in the courts of the shadow fey, the Stross learned shadow magic and gained the right to rule the Rosehaven lands—as the fey called the small walled city of Zobeck and the kobold mines around it.

Sarastra next enters history during the Black Sorceress’ Revolt against the elves, nearly 800 years ago. When the fey roads became corrupted, the Queen and her shadow fey foresaw the end of elven rule in Midgard and allied themselves with the dark powers summoned by the mages of Caelmarath.

When House Stross fell in Zobeck’s Great Revolt, the Queen and her people faded from mortal memory for nearly 80 years. Then two merchants of Zobeck, inspired by bards’ tales of the fey and aided by an Arcane Collegium linguist, succeeded in establishing trade with the Shadow Realm. Since that time the Chartered Merchants of Scáthesidhe have conveyed moonlight steel and mirrors to Zobeck direct from the fey lands . Other caravans now brave the shadow road each year, returning with riches and wonders never before seen.

For these isolated and dangerous fey, trade with the mortal world presents the greatest opportunity in many bleak years. The Shadow Realm is stirring, and the Queen of Night and Magic’s power grows.

The True Danger

Everything will be all right provided that the Queen cannot seal the bargain she wants most: one that will give her dominion over her old lands in the Margreve, and—who knows?—perhaps eventually, all of Midgard.

Further reading:

• Midgard Campaign Setting
• Zobeck Gazetteer for Pathfinder
• Courts of the Shadow Fey for Pathfinder/4th Edition D&D
• Imperial Gazetteer for Pathfinder/4th Edition D&D

Midgard Icons

In this third installment, we journey to the bright, burning center of magic in Midgard to meet its greatest practitioner…

Exarch Vermes II

Exarch Vermes II is one of the most influential and mysterious figures in Bemmea, a city riddled with mysteries. The inhuman wizard who leads its Ninemage Council has molded his city for centuries into the place it is today.

Quote

“Mastery of magic is mastery of the world.”

Usual Location

In Bemmea’s Spire Perilous, presiding over the Council that rules the Magocracy of Allain in the Wasted West.

Common Knowledge

The spire that houses the Council of Caelmarath rises from atop the highlands of the Bemmean peninsula, at the terminus of the long Mage Road. From here, nine archmages of unfathomable power rule the magocracy of Allain.

Over them all looms Vermes II, the Exarch of Bemmea. Rumors swirl around this ancient wizard. Some claim he is the last pureblooded Ankeshelian. Others call him a half-demon bred from Caelmarath royalty. Old stories hold that beneath his face-shrouding robes is a writhing inhuman form.

Within the Spire Perilous the members of the Ninemage Council scheme and plot in an ancient dance of unusual rules, obscure transgressions, and bizarre rituals. The Exarch subtly manipulates this collection of egos and eccentricities to ensure that things don’t get out of hand. His influence keeps simmering rivalries from boiling over into all-out magical war—though he turns a blind eye to the occasional duel that occurs as a way of relieving pressure.

Adventurers and the Icon

The Exarch’s missions often involve the weird and horrific, pitting adventurers against forgotten cults and mind-shattering alien horrors.  But the Exarch plays a deep and complicated game. Adventurers working for him rarely discover the true effect their quests have on the world until years later, if at all. If they’re lucky, the Exarch’s true opponents never learn their names.

The Gathering of Thoth-Hermes, a midwinter fair of arcanists and bookbinders, draws Midgard’s sorcerers, wizards, and occultists (with a smattering of clerics) to Bemmea each year. The Exarch will sometimes take advantage of this gathering to hire adventurers for tasks he cannot entrust to local mages.

Allies

The Exarch sometimes visits the Master of Demon Mountain and the Courts of the Shadow Fey on matters magical and political, and calls upon Baba Yaga at her hut every New Year’s Dawn. (A bawdy Bemmean tavern song speculates at length on the nature of this annual meeting, though we will not offend our readership’s refined sensibilities by reproducing it here.)

He and the Ghoul Emperor have come to a mutual understanding, and their official representatives are granted safe passage through their respective realms.

Enemies

Although the Exarch visits the Imperatrix of Dornig each year to pay his respects on her birthday, relations between the two are strained at best. The Exarch and Bloodmother Margase have a well-practiced loathing of one another; and the Mharoti Dragons and the Sultana have their own designs, often at odds with the Exarch, and rarely appreciate his meddling in their affairs.

History

The Exarch has ruled Bemmea since the days of the Mage War, and was vital in preserving and rebuilding the Magocracy. Indeed, the Wasted West would be even more horrific were it not for the Exarch’s efforts. He is no stranger to the dark paths of magic—but there are much worse out there, and the Exarch’s magic keeps them (mostly) in check.

Eighty years ago, the Exarch destroyed the conspiracy responsible for the Hakren Affair, in which a cabal of demon-influenced scribes assassinated their master by creating enchanted ink and words that turned against the mage and strangled him. More than half of the Council was killed by glyph magic before the Exarch’s divinations exposed the perpetrators. They burned in arcane fire.

The True Danger

Everything will be all right as long as the Exarch is able to prevent ambitious wizards from reawakening the Great Old Ones.

Midgard Icons

In this second installment of Midgard Icons we take the risky step of knocking on the door of Baba Yaga’s hut…

Baba Yaga
A hunched crone with iron teeth and a ferocious gaze, Baba Yaga has existed for as long as anyone remembers; she may be as old as the world. “Grandmother” is a hoarder of secrets and a powerful fey who makes it her business to know everything. She flies through the air in a mortar, wielding a pestle, and has aided or destroyed some of history’s greatest heroes and villains.

Quote

“Very well: if you take good care of my mares, I’ll give you a heroic steed. But if you don’t, then you mustn’t be annoyed at finding your head stuck on top of that pole there.”

Usual Location
Baba Yaga lives in a hut that wanders throughout Midgard on enormous chicken legs, though it most often frequents the Central Heart of the Old Margreve forest and the wide reaches of the Rothenian Plain. It permits entry only to those who address it politely.

Common Knowledge
There are many tales of Baba Yaga; most contradict each other. It’s hard to get a sense of Old Boney Legs, and one suspects that’s exactly what she wants.

All the mortal lands, the lords of heaven and hell, and the very gods themselves leave the Fell Crone to herself out of fear. The knowledge she possesses could easily destroy the most powerful of entities. She is content with simply knowing, but she will gladly demolish those foolish enough to test her: Many have been erased from history for their wasted efforts to best her.

Baba Yaga is the consummate schemer, always a hundred steps ahead of the opposition with contingencies in place for even the most outlandish of possibilities. The wise let her be.

Adventurers and the Icon
Baba Yaga is a trader of secrets. The brave, the desperate, and the stupid often make pilgrimages to seek her wisdom, though she inevitably tries to force them into her service—often transformed into a beast of burden or common tool—or simply eats them.

She parts with her knowledge only for a price: perhaps a first kiss, a final breath, or a forgotten artifact. For those capable of tricking her, anything in the multiverse is within reach.

Those very few who possess knowledge that she wants have a rare sway over her, for she will offer much to own it—though it’s still best not to push her too far. She never forgets a slight, as the gnomes of Midgard learned to their dismay.

Allies
The Glittering King owes his success to Baba Yaga, and her veela daughter Eldara is one of his favorites. The Feywitch is always welcome in the Queen of Night’s court, and the Oracle of Kammae has a mystical connection to Baba Yaga through the mysteries of Hecate.

Enemies

The Gnome King is Baba Yaga’s principal enemy in Midgard: She would like nothing better than to see all of his subjects in her stewpot. Baba Yaga’s dealings with the deposed Stross family of Zobeck make her a foe of the Free City Consul, and the Bear King of the North holds a long-standing grudge against her that he angrily refuses to discuss.

History
No one knows where Baba Yaga came from or how old she is; but her name appears throughout the annals of Midgard, in every corner of the world.

She gave the Black Sorceress the incantations and True Names used in the Great Revolt to shatter and corrupt Midgard’s fey roads.

She warned the vampire prince Lucan about the good cleric Kjord, prompting him to crush his foe and cement his dark rule over Morgau.

Midgard’s gnomes became slaves of the arch-devils of the Eleven Hells to escape Baba Yaga’s wrath.

Ancient tales say the Kalder, the Black Gypsies who serve Chernovog, were born from Baba Yaga’s cauldron.

She taught Veltrin the Glittering King the art of commanding demons, making his demon ship Golden Bird the flagship of a mighty slaver fleet.

The grand duchess of Illyria used brass shackles enchanted by Baba Yaga to bind the captured dragon Zrandres.

Grandmother appears in many places at once, as if there were more than one crone of the same name. She often mentions her sisters; perhaps they are identical twins who respond to the same name. It might also be that her “sisters” are echoes of Baba Yaga in time.

Baba Yaga is sometimes found with her daughters, the beautiful fey known as veela. They do her bidding, but they sometimes take pity on her victims and help them.

Other servants include Koschei the Deathless, a gaunt, pallid sorcerer who rides a black mare and is the incarnation of death itself; and her three horsemen, Bright Day, Red Sun, and Black Night, who act as her emissaries, scouts, and warriors. Her hut is filled with former petitioners she’s transformed into talking animals and household tools. They serve her, but might betray her if a guest treats them kindly.

The True Danger
Everything will be all right provided that nobody provokes Baba Yaga to a revenge so terrible that it unravels reality itself.

Long have the hallowed halls of the clergy and the research libraries of arcane lore seen spells both divine and arcane in design shimmer with power and might. But are all the spells known?

We think not.

In fact, we believe many more await discovery, and that’s where you come in. Yes, you.

Lost Magic is a contest brought to you by Kobold Press, and it promises to enrich campaigns with more magic—magic designed by some of those who choose to enter. If you wish to show the world your mighty arcane or divine spellcrafting abilities by using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or 13th Age system, write and submit a spell that has no more than 500 words.

A panel of industry professionals will pick five finalists from these submissions, and the voting public will choose the winner from among those five. That person will receive a prize designated beyond the jump.

Who can enter?

This contest is an open call contest! The two rules systems we will take pitches for are 13th Age and Pathfinder RPG. You can flavor your spell to suit the Midgard Campaign Setting if you wish, but it’s not required.

Now, you have the basics, right? What do you need to do next? First, read all the stuff below, then start writing your spell!

Here’s how it works:

To enter the contest, your submission MUST…

• Be 500 words or less. All longer submissions are automatically disqualified.
• Be sent to the Lost Magic Contest at miranda(at)koboldquarterly(dot)com no later than March 29, 2013, by noon PST.
• Be submitted as a doc, docx, or rtf attachment.
• Have Lost Magic Submission [insert spell name] in the email’s subject line.
• Include your full name and contact information in the body of the email (not in your attachment!).
• Is a spell—no incantations or runes or other spell-like game mechanic.
• Be designed for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or the 13th Age system.
• NOT include any references to Golarion, Thedas, or other settings not published by Kobold Press. Any such entries will be immediately disqualified. You may refer to elements from the Midgard Campaign Setting.

So, are you ready to reveal lost magic to the waiting world?

Judging

All submissions that meet the criteria will be entered in the contest and be judged by us, the Kobolds, and our guest judges on originality, effective writing, and fun. The five best submissions will be published on koboldquarterly.com in April and will be voted on by the public. Of those five submissions, the one with the winning votes will earn bragging rights for having brought to the world a powerful, interesting, or useful piece of lost magic. The winner will be announced in April.

So who’s judging? As ever, we have a trio of extremely talented and terrific judges: Wolfgang Baur, Amanda Hamon, and Wade Rockett. Please take a moment to learn more about those who will judge whether your spells are puissant enough to make the cut!

Wolfgang Baur is the founder of Kobold Press, its publisher, and general go-to kobold. He enjoys the Gothic style in architecture, the Venetian style of rampant mercantilism, and the Dutch style in gardens and hydroengineering. For adventures, he’s an omnivore. Wolfgang is the author of the Midgard Campaign Setting, the Dark*Matter setting, the Kobold Guides to Game Design, and a smattering of other RPG titles dating from the days when TSR walked the earth. He has served as a judge for the RPG Superstar contest run by Paizo Publishing (three times), but doesn’t seem to have learned his lesson yet! Wolfgang lives in an impenetrable set of warrens near Kirkland, Washington.

Amanda Hamon is a freelance game designer for Paizo Publishing and a freelance designer, developer, and editor for Kobold Press. Her work has appeared in several Adventure Path installments, the Pathfinder Society scenario Fortress of the Nail, Animal Archive, Midgard Legends, and New Paths 3: The Expanded Elven Archer, among other publications. Her upcoming work includes contributions to Dungeoneer’s Handbook, Fey Revisited, Dragons Unleashed, Quests & Campaigns, and several others. She spends her days as a writer/editor for a Big Ten university and her nights immersed in worlds that are both weird and wonderful. Amanda lives in Indiana with her husband and their many (nonmagical) pets.

Wade Rockett is a writer, editor, and public relations professional in the game and technology industries. If you’re reading this you have definitely seen his work: for more than four years he’s written and edited countless Kobold Press ads, flyers, blog posts, store copy, announcements, back cover copy, news releases, Courier articles, and more. His writing has also appeared under his byline in Kobold Quarterly, Tales of the Old Margreve, and Midgard Preview. Wade is an occasional freelance editor for Dungeons & Dragons and does promotional work for Pelgrane Press and Fire Opal Media’s new game 13th Age. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his wife and 2.75 cats and is currently working on Secret of Warlock Mountain, a campaign setting for Robin D. Laws’ Hillfolk DramaSystem game.

Prizes for the Lost Magic contest

The winning spell designer will receive a copy of the Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design and a $20 gift certificate to the Kobold Store, and the winning spell will be printed in an upcoming Kobold Press release. All five finalists will receive a copy of the Player’s Guide to the Wasted West (loaded with magic and the lost notes of mages who dared too much!).

Additional Rules

1. The contest is open to all.

2. One entry per person. The entry must be your own work, which has not been published previously, is not being considered for publication by any other publisher, and is original and does not infringe upon any copyrighted material.

3. All entries become property of Open Design LLC.

4. By entering this contest, you authorize the use of your name and likeness without additional compensation for promotion and advertising purposes in all media.

5. This contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws where applicable.

6. Open Design reserves the right to withdraw or terminate this contest at any time without prior notice.

7. All decisions of Open Design LLC and the contest judges are final.

So, now you have all the relevant information to enter this contest. What lost magic will you bring into this world of ours?

In 13th Age, player characters are grounded in the setting through connections to powerful nonplayer characters known as icons: heroic, villainous and ambiguous figures whose schemes and rivalries shape the course of history.

Midgard Icons is a new series that presents some of the Midgard Campaign Setting’s most influential NPCs as 13th Age compatible icons. You can bring Baba Yaga, the Queen of the Shadow Fey, and others into the game’s default setting; run a 13th Age campaign set in the world of Midgard; or just port the icon relationship rules into whatever system you use to run your Midgard games.

To kick things off, let’s meet one of Midgard’s most terrifying villains:  Nicoforus, the Emperor of the Ghouls.

Emperor of the Ghouls

Nicoforus the Pale is the undisputed ruler of the Dread and Endless Imperium of the Darakhul, a civilization of ghouls deep within the realms subterranean. Through cunning and relentless cruelty he’s led his legions to repeated victories over the other races in the underworld. Drow, dwarves, kobolds, gnomes – all are slaves or food for the darakhul. Only the ghouls’ aversion to the sun keeps the Imperium from invading the surface world.

Quote

“Rejoice, meat: you will have the honor of feeding our royal person.”

Usual Location

In the White City of Darakhan, or in his pleasure palace at Vandekhul on the shore of the Sulphur Sea.

Common Knowledge

The Imperium is an undead civilization fueled by inhuman hunger and animal fury. It works tirelessly to extend its power, fighting an eternal war against all that lives and breathes. Well-hidden, it has bided its time for a century, growing in strength, in knowledge, and in numbers.

Nicoforus the Pale is the emperor of this grim, charnel realm. The few living creatures who have seen him and survived report that he appears as a man of middle years, his hair black and his flesh as white as ivory, wearing purple and black clothes and a silvery crown set with emeralds. He never goes anywhere without his two bodyguards and four personal servants, and is usually accompanied by a retinue of scribes, priests, powerful merchants, council members, and an honor guard of 20 Iron Ghouls. All ghouls revere their emperor as almost godlike, and they will protect him fanatically.

Adventurers and the Icon

Nicoforus trusts the arcane powers more than the divine ones of the various high priests, and under his rule the masters of necromancy known as the necrophagi prosper. Despite a constant risk that their hosts may forget their manners and eat them, necromancers leap at any opportunity to study death magic at the fane of the necrophagi in Darakhan.

Evil clerics of the death god Anu-Akma, the hunger god Vardesain (known to humans as Mordiggian), the war god Mavros, and the Goddess of Night and Magic may seek out the Ghoul Emperor, as do those diabolists whose rites include carrion and cannibalism.

Allies

Nicoforus and the vampire prince Lucan maintain a pact of mutual aid between the Empire of the Ghouls and the Principality of Morgau and Doresh. Neither wishes the other to dominate, but neither wishes his own lands to be threatened by paladins, priests, or other scourges of the undead.

The Queen of the Shadow Fey would receive Nicoforus as a guest if he cared to call, and she maintains an embassy in Darakhan. His slaughter of the drow marks him as her enemy, but the pragmatic queen prefers to manipulate the Ghoul Emperor rather than attempt to destroy him.

The Archwizard of Bemmea understands the Ghoul Emperor well, having magic and long life in common. The Glittering King of the Slavers of Reth-Saal does not much care where his wares end up and the Imperium’s need for slaves is never-ending.

Enemies

Ultimately all living, sane beings oppose the plans of the Ghoul Emperor.

History

Four great emperors have ruled the ghouls, giving homage to the Death God Anu-Akma and to Mordiggian, the Demon Lord of Ghouls, also called Vardesain.

For the past twenty years, Nicoforus the Pale has held the empire together through cunning and relentless cruelty. He took revenge on the drow for his predecessor’s death by assassinating the high priestess of their largest city and then destroying it utterly. His legions took all dark elves in the city prisoner, eating the weak and transforming the strongest into ghouls.

The True Danger

Everything will be all right provided that the Ghoul Emperor never finds a way to overcome his legions’ vulnerability to sunlight.

This issue is packed with Stygian foes, diabolical adventure, cannibal demon apes, soul-sundering artifacts and evil chocolatiers. Kobold Quarterly # 23 includes:

• The dark aristocratic glory of Dispater, First King of the Infernal City by Wes Schneider
• The Vile Black Book, a grimoire written by Asmodeus himself, with five new diabolical spells by Ed Greenwood
• Mechuiti, Midgard’s demon lord of apes and cannibals, with new spells, monsters and adventure hooks by Adam Roy
• “Devil’s Food”, an adventure among Midgard’s sinister gnomes by Michael Lane
• “The Urge to Evolve”, a new Pathfinder Society Quest by Adam Daigle
• GM tips from Steve Winter on creating an atmosphere of horror at the table

KQ # 23 also features inks and poisons from Midgard’s Seven Cities by Christina Stiles, worldbuilding with Monte Cook, Living Gods for 13th Age by Ash Law, a lamia PC race by Marc Radle, plus devil-smiting, soul-selling, and the ever-popular Ask the Kobold with Skip Williams.

The full table of contents for this issue is after the cut:

• Cover: Midgard’s Master of Demon Mountain by Emile Denis
• Dispater by Wes Schneider – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Slithering in Moonlight by Marc Radle – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Pages From Asmodeus by Ed Greenwood – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Mechuiti by Adam Roy – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Gauntlet Witch by Morgan Boehringer and Jim Wettstein – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Selling your Soul by Rodrigo García Carmona – AGE System
• A Few Suggestions by James Thomas – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, D&D 3.5, OSR
• The Devil Smiter by Peter von Bleichert – D&D 3.5
• Simplifying Sunder by Jeff Ibach – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• The Fruits of Friula by Christina Stiles – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Monk of the Glorious Endeavor by Matt Blackie – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Devil’s Food by Michael Lane – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Crossroads Crowned by Terry Maranda & Eric Hindley – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Pathfinder Society Quest: The Urge to Evolve by Adam Daigle – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Living Gods for 13th Age by Ash Law – 13^th Age
• Different Kinds of World Building by Monte Cook
• Real Scares by Steve Winter
• Ask the Kobold by Skip Williams
• Sign of the White Bat by Wolfgang Baur
• d20 Monkey by Brian Patterson
• Bolt & Quiver by Stan!
• 10′x 10′ Toon by Stan!

Pick up KQ 23 in Print+PDF or PDF-only today!