The Lay of Maris and Ezradan

When you spend too much time world building from blocks of your own bad fiction and gaming, sometimes a little poetry seeps through.

This is an excerpt of Vara poem, the kind of thing any school kid in that country would know. And as you guessed its violent and kind of morbid.


The Lay of Maris and Ezradan


And they met at the place of battles
on the last days
and Maris looked out upon the iron sea and asked of Ezradan "why have you come"
Ezradan passed his hand out over the forment and answered "We are following the will of the one"
"What is the will of the one?" asked Maris curious
"Death." said Ezradam
Maris said nothing
Ezradan saw the grim men around Maris and before him and asked "Why have you come?"
and Maris passed his hand over the forment and answered "We are seeking."
"What are you seeking?" asked Ezradan
"Death." said Maris
and Ezradan smiled and said "Then let us then go into death as brothers."

Some Exotic Weapons in Midrea

There are quite a few odd weapons in Midrea. Most of the Asian ones can be found in Hajasa since it is a polyglot of Asian cultures pressed together by Shaper intervention.

Other include

Bladestaff -- the two bladed sword from the PHB. The only difference is that any staff specific feats work fine with it
Moonsword -- think Bat'leth. Uses the double axe stats but is also a trip weapon
Starblade -- Shuriken
Fighting Chain -- Spiked Chain only blunt. It can also be used as a double weapon as well
Weighted Scarf-- a Gypsy weapon useful for entangling, tripping and throttling as well as strikes
Shang -- This is a three bladed throwing iron
Greatbow --6 Foot Yew Bow with a 120 lb pull
Warsword (as Bastard Sword) There is also a wood version like a Bokken. All feats apply
Waraxe (as Dwarven Waraxe)
Net
Bolas
Three Part Staff (as Dire Flail)
Hook Hammer (as Gnome Hookhammer)
Battle Claw (a Shortsword that can't be disarmed and may power attack)
Whip
Chainwhip (uses Whip stats and feats does 1d6 lethal. May be bladed)
Blowgun
Spearthrower (adds 10 to the increment of any Javelin or Dart, increases die by 1 type. Allows missile weapon increments)
Mancatcher

I moved a few weapons about as well.

. First, Monk weapons aren't exotic and Monks in my game can flurry with anything they are proficient in

Sai becomes Swordbreaker which is a martial weapon.
Nunchaku is called Chain Sticks. Its a light martial weapon.
Kama and Sickle are a single weapon Hand Scythe -- its martial
Repeating Crossbow is Martial but there is no heavy repeater.
Hand Crossbow does 1d4 and is a simple weapon

Sex on Midrea

I almost called this Sex in my D&D but that would not have been fair, no bait and switch from 5 Stone ;)

Unlike most D&D games I have thought about sex issues in the game but for the record in actual play its all PG and happens "off screen"

Now as for the sexual preferences of various races-- I worked them out for my game--just in case anyone asks . I know they will probably never come up but they do interest me from a world building POV


Human -- same as real world -- varies by culture
. Vara stock don't seem to care much for sex but everyone else is pretty much as slutty or chaste as Earth people are. Note that Shan-folks and Human are 100% inter-fertile. Other than oddities in hair and eyes and a bit more magic, there really is no difference

Elves -- Mostly Bi -- with a few single sex preferred types -- usually Hetero with a fair amount of polyamory too. Sex =/= reproduction with these guys

Dwarfs -- 60% Neuter (all the unmarried ones) the rest Hetero -- none are Gay. Dwarfs aren't really into the whole sex drive thing and can off the sex drive when they are not in a relationship. Dwarfs pair only with Dwarfs except for Faerie Dwarfs where they sometimes pair with human females. The result is always a male Dwarf.

Gnomes -- Gnomes curiously have no concept of adultery and never cheat on a partner. Other than that they marry and reproduce in a manner much like humans. Gnomes too are never gay for some reason

Half Elves -- same as Humans often with a bit more of a wild streak

Halfling -- Always heterosexual and monogamous like Swans. They bond for life. if a partner dies they rebond (sometimes) but thats it

Half Orcs -- same as Human with a marked tendency to violence
. They occasionally pair with humans, by force or choice as with elves they are basically the same species.

Half Ogre . Always Male and Always Neuter. These were from parings between a human male and an ogress -- females became Ogres , Males could be (1 time in 10) Half Ogres. Ogre males aren't interested in human females -- except as food. The exception might be a shapechanged Ogre Magi -- Children would be human with a High Strength, a weird bloodline and levels in the Sorcerer class

Half Troll -- Faerie trolls IMC are intelligent and interact with humans quite often. Humans and Trollwives sometimes pair off and with all the magic offspring sometimes results. Trollborn look and act mostly human though they tend to be tall, have magic and sometimes horns or rough skin.

Dragons and other stuff? Well I dunno ....

A last note on sex and gender rolls. Because of magic and cheap ubiquitous herbal birth control in most places the status of women is much higher than it is on Earth. After all are you goingt o tell a woemn who can call God-Fire or kil with a thought, she is a chattel?


Exceptions include Nordanfel which treats all women as chattel (its a polemic counterpart to the queens domain which does that for Men) and to an extent the scattered kingdoms which are semi feudal and tend to see women as inferior, with exceptions

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Booze in Midrea

Booze is a curious thing in Midrea. Its less important than in medieval Europe for a lot of reasons.

1st, Water is easily purified with a very minor spell that most villages have access to in the form of a well charm.

2nd, There is tea as a substitute on the rare occasion water is chancy.

3rd, Humans of Shan extraction have no real cultural tradition of alcohol or drug consumption (other than Blackroot the other drugs were brought by the shapers) . Also most Shan-folk carry a gene that makes alcohol quite nauseating and ineffective to boot. This is not a dominant gene but at least 1/3 of the populace carry it in one form or another. Interestingly Vara-Stock (Vinyari and Gallitep) both carry the resistance portion of the gene, though not the nausea component . Neither culture uses drugs or has a tradition of ecstatic activities of any kind. Since they posses an innate ability to null pain and to be calm, this never came about

4th Also many of the central cultures are abstemious , and prefer tea or coffee . The Lawbringer faith harshly punishes public drunkenness as well and it is spreading too.

Now this being a world with humans in it, there is alcohol , beer and ale, wine and even distillation. Gin is popular enough among Dwarfs that it is often called Dwarven Spirits. Halfling folk like good beer and the Brin are game for anything.

However there is no such thing as Celana, Elf wine, probably.

Travel Food in Midrea

Midrea has some nutrition science and a wide range of foodstuffs and so while the tech is low eating is good.

Travel food items include a potato analog (brought from Earth actually) hard tack, pickled vegetables and eggs, honey, nuts , dried fruit and dried salted meat. Rice, tea and, coffee, and herbal "tea" are carried when they can be had

For deep delves there something like pemmican "waybread" or "Iron Rations" -- light, easy to carry, keeps years -- its fat, meat, druid fruit, certain high vitamin berries (a kind of rose hip), sometimes a bit of honey wrapped in leaves or hide. You can live in this a very long time.

Rich people also have alchemical items, akin to energy shots that are used to treat deficiency diseases. These are cheaper than healing potions and very handy on long trips.

There are also preservation charms used whenever possible and a larger version called a cargo spindle ."Create food" items exist but as the Gods disapprove of such things on various grounds those these can be hard to come by.

Many important people also have rings of sustenance. However since eating is enjoyable and a great way to show status, these are less used than you might think except in time of war.

Speaking of war, several nations have an elite "long march squad" with magic boots, magic cloak, sustenance rings and other items . These units can appear and operate anywhere in the world in relative comfort without resupply and make for great PC bands.

The only place they are common is out in the islands near the Five Lands and Dragon Empire there is a nation called colloquially "The Ring Folk" . Upon maturity everyone is given a ring of sustenance and as such they never need eat or sleep more than 2 hours again.

As a person dies his or her ring is returned to the city and reissued -- in a long life time this is cheaper than food (eating is about 5sp per day I'd guess, call it 200GP per year with wastes and feasts and such) -- 12 and a half years pay for it and as a nice thick ring can last several lifetimes -- its a very good deal.

In that culture food is only equated with childhood and reproduction , as while the ring gave "life-sustaining nourishment. and refreshes the body and mind," it is not enough for childhood growth or a pregnancy.

When a family wanted a child they start eating . They do have gardens and fisheries and pig farms for this purpose but mostly as they have no industry (they live in shaped stone houses, have continual flame lamps and inherited magic items for comfort and such ) they traded crafts, have priests conjure food and occasionally treasure dive.


And a last note to readers, a ring of sustenance won't work on a child and it renders the user sterile while worn. Handle with care.

Dwarf Clan Names

Regardless of being city, hill or mountain stock all Dwarf Clan names follow a pattern and are always made up of combinations of the following word elements

Axe

Hammer

Shield

Forge

Beard

Vein

Measure

Hand



Red

Gold

Silver

Black

Iron

Stone

White

Steel

First names very a bit, Hill Dwarves have "Scots" sounding names, Mountain Dwarves have "Germanic" or "Eastern European" sounding names and City Dwarves have kind of "Jewish" sometimes with a bit of "Vietnamese" flavor.

Faerie Dwarves do not have clans, having traded away their identity for a sort of immortality. They keep real names secret for magical reasons and instead have strange titles (Steel-Spinner, Moon Bender, that sort of thing)

Dwarven Faith

Some missing fluff from my previous Dwarf themed post.

Dwarves by nature are not especially religious, at least not to the degree humans are however they do have a religion, a kind of ancestor worship/animism . Occasionally they follow The Way or in areas "under the law" the Orthodox form of the Lawbringer faith. These Orthodox Dwarves are fully respected members of the Lawbringer Faith as are there counterparts in the way.