Gnoll Cultist

Gnoll cultists have little patience for rituals, viewing torture and slaughter as ritual enough. Often, their devotion belongs to their assumed creator, the demon Mordiggian (also known as Vardesain), patron god of the ghouls. Other cultists revere Anu-Akma, Aten, Bastet, Horus, Ninkash, and Thoth-Hermes, and they seek out converts, prey, and slaves. Cultists wear symbols of piety, such as the eye of Mordiggian, the sistrum of Bastet, or the wedjat eye of Horus, and they use appropriate weapons, such as the flail for followers of Mordiggian and daggers for others, with many of the cult’s warriors having affinities for axes.

Playing a Gnoll Cultist

If you choose to play a gnoll Cultist, modify your character as follows:

• Add 1 to your Cunning. Cultists are intelligent and knowledgeable by gnoll standards.
• Choose your deity.
• Pick one of the following focuses: Cunning (Arcane Lore) or Cunning (Healing).
• You can speak Infernal.
• Choose a class. You can play either a mage or warrior.

Roll twice on the accompanying table for additional benefits. Roll 2d6 and add the dice together. If you get the same result twice, re-roll until you get something different.

GNOLL CULTIST

Gnoll Guardian

Interbreeding with hyenas, gnoll guardians have a frightening cackle and are stronger than most gnolls. Concentrated at the Step Pyramids of Faizal, guardians also engage in adventure and expeditions. Such adventures are usually goal-driven, such as for banishment of a particular enemy or retrieval of a coveted artifact. In the service of the priests of Anu-Akma, these gnolls ferociously protect them and the holy sites, and, when off-duty, like to drink. Due to this pastime, guardians are often found in the company of dwarves, with many developing shared deep loyalties with the little ones. Guardians have an affinity for grenades (acid flasks) and two-handed swords.

Playing a Gnoll Guardian

If you choose to play a gnoll guardian, modify your character as follows:

• Add 1 to your Strength. Guardians are brutes, even by gnoll standards.
• Pick one of the following focuses: Constitution (Drinking) or Strength (Intimidation).
• You can speak Dwarvish.
• Choose a class. You can play either a warrior or a rogue.

Roll twice on the accompanying table for additional benefits. Roll 2d6 and add the dice together. If you get the same result twice, re-roll until you get something different.

GNOLL GUARDIAN

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

The first scenario I ran was The Forgotten King’s Tomb by Mike Franke adapted to Green Ronin’s excellent AGE system. The premise of the adventure is that the adventurers are members of an elite cadre of kobold irregulars sent to seek a tomb with supposedly enchanted writing that their Akinji (dragonkin lord) Shard had discovered during an expedition into the Sands of Sorrows many years prior.

The mix of kobolds covered the standard archetypes of an adventuring party, but with the added benefit of some infighting politics centered around who really led the group, despite what the Akinji decreed. The kobold irregulars selected by the players were Char (pyromaniac mage and leader), Night Shade (thrill-seeking sniper), Klikjack (warrior enforcer for Char), Ghost (opportunistic albino rogue), and Dractus (elementalist mage and Char’s rival).

I started the irregulars off already trekking through the Sands of Sorrows looking for their Akinji’s lost tomb. The players received the information from the adventure background and roleplayed their meeting with their dragonkin lord in a flashback before we resumed play in the present. The players really seemed to enjoy the Arabian feel of the Dragon Empire as well as the high magic vibe of the setting with the idea of ley lines, magical travel, and magic used to transform oneself and station.

The players all said that they had a fun time playing as the kobolds, and I fielded several questions concerning the Midgard setting and the AGE system. As the session came to a final close the consensus seemed to be that Midgard offered a solid variety in terms of the types of games one could run with the setting and that the AGE system really brought the cinematic aspects to the fore with the stunt mechanics. Overall the first scenario and game set in Midgard was a very positive experience.

The second Midgard scenario I ran at MACE 2012 was Beyond the Ghostlight Reef by Christina Stiles. For this game I adapted the scenario to Savage Worlds to help facilitate the adventure fitting into the four-hour slot I had to run it in. Savage Worlds is a great system for a variety of reasons, but one of my favorite aspects of the system is its combat resolution that facilitates fast play at the table, a real bonus when running games at conventions.

I really liked the premise of the Seven Cities backdrop that the adventure was set in. The Seven Cities are a collection of nation-states made up of a variety of races in a near-constant state of warfare and political infighting set against the backdrop of the ruins of a once mighty empire. The area seemed, upon reading, to be very dynamic and a place where enterprising adventurers could forge their own fortunes.

For the adventure, I created an assortment of characters for the players to select from that highlighted the variety of player races that the campaign setting offered and lent themselves to the idea of a freebooting adventuring company seeking their fortunes. The pregens that were selected by the players were an arrogant human blade master, an impulsive kobold alchemist, an honorable Northman warrior, a greedy minotaur ranger, a heroic dwarf cleric, and a curious gearforged wizard.

The adventure opened with the freebooters answering the summons of Balack Giolan, a wealthy noble of Fruila. The adventurers made some common knowledge rolls to get some background about the noble and the general state of affairs in Fruila. This gained them the information about the rivalries of The Bibliotori and their desire to constantly outdo one another with secrets and knowledge. After some aggressive negotiations, led by the greedy minotaur, the group accepted the noble’s commission to secure a set of recently recovered chests in possession of the red hags of the Ghostlight Reef.

As with the previous adventure, my players all said that they had a fun time playing in the world of Midgard. Several of the players enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t just the typical fantasy races that were available to play. In addition, the sheer variety in terms of the types of games one could run with the setting seemed to really stand out to everyone as we talked about Midgard. As before, the adventure and setting proved to be a very positive experience.

My third venture into the world of Midgard was this past April at MACE West 2013. Christina had contacted me about helping with the Midgard Mayhem event and for this convention I decided to come up with my own scenario rather than use either of the ones I had used at MACE 2012. I had really liked the Zobeck entry in the Midgard Campaign Setting so I ordered the Zobeck Gazetteer from DriveThruRPG to gain a deeper understanding of the free city. When I had finished reading through the gazetteer I had decided that the adventurers would all be characters of a decidedly gray morality.

Using Savage Worlds once more, the pregens that were selected by the players for Zobeck City Nights were an honorable darakhul (true ghoul) paladin of Marena (the death goddess), an elf-marked swashbuckling magus, a greedy gearforged warrior, a huginn (ravenfolk) assassin, an impulsive kobold pyromancer, and a curious gnoll archer. Each of the characters was of veteran rank with a few magic items for each that put them closer to heroic rank. I had developed a series of questions related to the group’s identity as The Six-Fingered Hand and their individual lives. This allowed for a faster immersion of the players into the free city while organically developing their bonds as members of a very mercenary adventuring company within Zobeck.

The adventure opened with the group finishing a commission for a mysterious patron that involved the capture of a would-be crime lord. The group successfully defeated the crime lord’s retainers and captured the man alive in a pitched battle in the Dock District.

In all, I was very pleased with how Zobeck worked in play and that the evocative nature of the setting allowed for the shades of gray play I was interested to see happen in the city-based game. The players all stated that they had a fun time and most of them really liked the variety and diversity of Zobeck specifically and Midgard as a whole.

I have enjoyed helping Christina with the Midgard Mayhem events at these last two conventions. I think the events help to showcase that the setting handles a wide variety of play styles as well as game systems. Looking at the various locales contained within Midgard, each with their own distinctive flavor and adventure potential helps to make the campaign guide a truly great resource. I look forward to running additional adventures set within the Midgard campaign setting and encourage anyone at a convention that is running a Midgard Mayhem event to find a game and have some fun.

If you are an existing Hero Lab user, you can pick up this package of more than 100 monsters for just $6.99.

If you want to get started with Hero Lab, you can buy a license for that software right away by visiting the Hero Lab site.

We hope you enjoy this latest venture, and we look forward to your comments!

The Midgard Campaign Setting fan community is growing faster than an ill-advised alchemy experiment in Maillon! It’s an active, vibrant community, full of people who want to take what we’ve created and run with it in exciting and fun directions. So we thought, why not make it easier for them?

To encourage fan sites and free fan-created projects using Midgard and other Kobold Press IP, we’ve just launched the Kobold Press Community Use Policy. This policy covers free, fan-created material only; if you want to do a commercial project, check out our Freelancer Guidelines.

Along with guidelines on what fans can use and how, we’re also offering the first Kobold Press Community Use Package of resources. This first package contains 10 of the Midgard setting’s most iconic characters — and we’ll be adding new packages over time.

Tell us what you think in the comments! And if you have a Midgard fan project underway, or if this inspires you to start one, please let us know. We’d love to see it.

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

Jonathan’s map style is compatible with the overland style he created for the Cartographer’s Annual Vol 5, but is also fully self-contained.

Kobold Worldbuilder’s Special: Visit the Midgard page at ProFantasy Software before May 15, 2013 and use the voucher code KOBOLDPRESS@CC3 to get 50% off CC3 when you buy it with any Cartographer’s Annual.

Already own CC3? Email help@profantasy.com and they’ll work out a voucher for another product! Such nice guys over there.

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.