A Small Update to a Long-Neglected Soapbox.

And so we once more attempt to maintain a floundering blog...

There has been an attempt at running several games since our last posting. Longest running being a Space:1889/Castle Falkenstein cross pitching the PCs against the nefarious time-meddling Morlocks (currently looking for a new night as one of our players has started school), a First Edition D&D game (using a heavily revised version of the Ravenloft setting, domains have been axed willy-nilly and other have been added with the goal of trying to make it all seem like a coherent world, not just a haunted mish-mash) - which is still going, but we have very few players, and, most recently, I have started running a BECMI game at the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch for their D&D night (running every other Tuesday from October to December, the link just goes to the upcoming session) and the turn-out was very positive.

I am hoping that more people arrive next time and maybe we can get a few more DMs (for whatever games they'd like) as the Olympia Room that we are using is rather large.

Random Creative Thoughts, Section III

Good evening. It has been some little time since our last venture into the background and legendry of Xarathique, but that shall not hold me back from once more leaping, with gazelle-like agility, into the myriad implausibilities of said world.

As I intimated in Section II, there is more to the background of this continuum-tossed globe than the perpetual ascendancies and defeats of varied and scullionly dark lords. For, it must be said, persons of that ilk have never come to any great power in the world. Xarathique, whilst torn between good and evil, law and chaos, is fundamentally impure.

The world was brought to life when the crippled astro-vessel, Emperor Norton I, crashed - in several pieces - upon the main landmass. The vessel had been sent out through the night sky by artisans and magicians of vanished 'Urath', a land few modern men know of and only the Eternal Emperor remembers, to tame uninhabitalble worlds and render them fit homes for the slumbering cargo of humanity that the vessel contained.

In short, the Emperor Norton I was a terra-forming space ship, with a crew of sentient AI, uploaded human mentalities, and androids. It's 'passengers' were banks of sperm and ova dedicated to the restoration of humankind on a world far away from the shattered remains of Earth.

Unfortunately, due to the shifting nature of the space-time continuum in this sector of space, the ship collided with a group of meteors that quite simply hadn't been there a micro-second before. This collision broke the ship and caused such plentiful damage that the legacy of the crash, though its existance is near forgotten, lives on to the modern day. For though the uploaded human mentality that served as the ship's captian survived and, to his credit, succeeded in his mission, the damage distorted and drove mad many lesser intellects and programmes. Manifesting now as the Eternal Emperor, the one-time captain attempts to maintain peace and increase the knowledge and civilisation of the world.

Sadly, he faces two major problems. The first is the hordes of the orcish races, genetically engineered from human stock by damaged, or possibly possessed, AIs and set loose to remake the world in the "proper" image. The second is that, quite frankly, he's not very good at it. Were there anyone that His August Magnificence could speak to as an equal, they would find that he had a keen knowledge and love of science, boundless curiousity, a restless nature, and the politic talent of a fig tree. Only the fact that none presently know how to slay him keeps him on the Throne of Ages, a fact he well knows, even given his impotence to solve his realm's problems.

Even in his own capital city, the unparalleled and glorious Ascharion, is there a seed of corruption that, through the many aeons, has resisted his power to destroy... The hidden and rumoured Pit of Dis, a terrible, twisted realm claimed by stories to lie beneath the great city, populated by devils, doppelgangers, and animate statues. Though the citizens of the Imperial City deny it, the terrible place, once known as Delta sector, does exist, and its android masters have made many, so far thwarted, plans for the world.

Outside of the central regions, the remnants of Alpha sector, broken into pieces during its collapse, began to produce what its shattered and broken control programmes thought were 'pure strain humans'. Amongst these were the clone race of dwarvenkind, the elves, halflings, and other, not nearly so numerous, species of demi-humans. Whilst nearly all of these races have moved on, or lost, the ancient equipment that generated them, some still hold on to bits and pieces as sacred relics (or in the case of the dwarves, the Great Furnaces of the Life-Priests...).

Gamma sector, damaged and hatefully aware of its rejection, deliberately scattered itself in secret places before the salvage could begin. From its twisted fires of creation came the orcish hordes. New, improved, humans that would wipe away the inferior ones and respect their creators' sacrifice and pain... At least, that's what Gamma sector's deranged AIs tell themselves in the dark places they have chosen.

Thus it was for many a year, until Xarathique slipped, unnoticed by almost all, into a different cosm. This slippage, accompanied by earthquake, storm, and strange new creatures determined to make a place for themselves, has happened several times since the first. Civilisation has been raised up, only to suffer under the attacks of orcs, or be levelled by earthquake, or parasitical disease, or fratricidal slaughter brought about by the changing of the stars, and then, from scattered remnants, brought to flower again.

Strange arts and alien sciences are now freely practised throughout the whole of the empire and beyond. Temples are built to gods, demons, philosophies, and, much to his distaste, the Eternal Emperor himself. Wizards, thieves, ancient mechanisms, priests, dragons, and disembodied intellects roam the land, searching for power, wealth and forgotten memories.

So this, such as it is, concludes our overview and most general reveal of Xarathique. Much lies open to be detailed, and, should the mood take me, I may well detail more. But as it stands, you could crack open the old rulebooks, draw a vague map, name a few NPCs, stock a dungeon (lost city, ruined alien starbase, some broken fraction of Alpha sector, what have you...) and run a game.

It wouldn't be the same as anyone else's version, not really, but isn't that something of the point?

Random Creative Thoughts, Section II

And so my friends, once more we launch ourselves into the vast and unsuspecting waste of niche hobbies...

As threatened last time, I plan on burbling forth in regards to the orcish races of Xarathique. (I have succumbed to using the Empire's name for the world, partially out of laziness, partially due to not thinking of a pleasing alternative.)

Sages rank the orcish hordes in a bewildering array of castes, orders, tribes, and attendant organisations, however for our purposes there are but five distinct species of orc. These being, in a whimsical and in no sense purposeful arrangement, goblins, orcs, bugbears, ogres, and hobgoblins. Our more in depth view shall begin with the weakest and thrash about until all are described.

Goblins are small, weak, treacherous, foul-tempered, ravenous, pack-oriented, vicious and thoroughly nasty little vermin. Shot through with all manner of disease, debilitation, and disability, it is to be wondered at that they survive at all. Sadly, they do, with grit, determination, and anthropophagian habits. Their gear is usually filthy, as are they, and usually composed of badly tanned leather, bone, and wood. Leader types may have a hammered copper (or even bronze) knife or, if powerful and lucky, sword. Only their relentless breeding and willful stubbornness keep them not only alive, but a credible threat to other creatures. Many scholars suppose that the original goblin clans were formed by runt orcs chased away from their original tribes by their stronger kin.

Orcs are viewed as a demented caricature of humans, who they closely resemble... albeit with the additions of fangs, near snout-like jaws, pointed ears, and green-grey skin. Seemingly rabid and plagued by constant hunger, orcs destroy, eat, and pollute virtually everything in their path. As such, it is fairly easy to spot an orc encampment from a good distance away. The typical orc is armed with cheap iron weapons, usually polearms of scattered sort and wears studded leather armour. They form themselves into crude military bands and attempt to dominate their surroundings. Whilst they are led by the strongest and toughest of the orcish soldiery, orcish priests have high status in their dismal society. Communing directly, so it is claimed, with the orcish gods (a confusing and erratic band of possibly demonic spirits), the priests urge the orcs to kill and destroy all that is not orc.

Ogres, or orc giants, are thankfully rare. Though they display the common orcish anthropophagian tendencies, only the ogre has developed this taste into the flair of the true connoisseur. Favouring elf above all other meats, the typical ogre can be easily bribed with these oft-frozen delicacies. Standing about ten feet tall, ogres are cruel, vicious, hungry, and at times disturbingly crafty. Their usual weapons are of stone, wood, or bone, as they claim that metals "bend too fast" and their thick hides are well capable of standing in for the sorts of armours usually worn by smaller folk. Occasionally ogres are found living in small family bands, but most often they are found serving with the various orc militia.

Bugbears are demented, hairy, and over-sized goblins. It is not known how such a thing came to be, but the world is sadly blighted with their presence nonetheless. Combining the treachery, pack-driven, and stealthy nature of the goblin with the strength and endurance of its eight foot frame has made the bugbear one of the most feared of the orcish races. An ogre, after all, will kill you, but you'll see it and may be able to run away. Few, if any, see the bugbear before the tortures begin... Bugbears eschew armour and favour small, light weapons, mainly garrottes, daggers, and chains wrapped around their fists. Most bugbears travel in small packs, preying on nearby peoples to sate their hunger, bloodlust, and need for "sport", but some come to dominate goblin clans, directing their lesser kin in fiendish ways.

Hobgoblins, as many suspect from the name, are closely related to goblins. Chief differences are their size, hobgoblins standing as tall as an average human, and their civilisation. Hobgoblins are the only orcish race that looks to do more than slaughter and devour. They also want to enslave, control, and 'organise' the world to better suit them. So, really, they aren't much better than the rest in the eyes of the average farmer... Typical hobgoblin soldiers are outfitted with chain mail and wickedly styled axes, of fairly decent steel. Hobgoblin officers do, of course, requisition increasingly better gear as they ascend in rank. Fortunately, hobgoblins breed far more slowly than the other orcish races and this, along with the hatred that eveyone seems to show for them, keeps them from ruling more than small areas.

Legends state that the demons of the pit first unleashed their creations, the orcs, against the First Paradise that the Eternal Emperor had created for humanity. Goblins, it is said, arose from the orcs due to curses and maladictions hurled at the monsters. The demons then fortified their champions, producing ogres. Unhelpfully, legends remain quite silent on the origin of bugbears and hobgoblins, though scholars have been able to prove their relationship to the goblins.

And so we come to the end of our discourse regarding the orcish races, a snapshot into depravity and monstrous cruelty, but no more than a snapshot.

Next time: What is going on here and where did these peoples really come from?

Random Creative Thoughts, Section I

Random thoughts being what they are take this all with a grain of salt... My purpose in this is imprecise, borne more out of a desire to set down some things and link, mayhaps, to beings who have said all that I am going to say with a bit more clarity and sense, than a rich intention to educate and awe the masses. That being the case, this may well be abandoned shortly.

Nonetheless...

I continue.

My focus, however erratic, is the rich field of the tabletop role-playing game. Specifically D&D ( at present limited to the first edition of AD&D and earlier), though others will no doubt be mentioned in passing.

That much being said, I continue with my blatherings.

The BECMI sets generally detail a fairly specific type of campaign world, elves, dwarves, halfings, et al are fairly well worked out and a number of underlying assumptions are, as they say, assumed...

For today's exercise, I feel like hitting that sort of thing with a hammer. Not, perhaps, very hard, as I do still fancy such a game, but I will be trying to work out a suitable new world, were the BECMI rules still work, but has somewhat different assumptions. Along the way, I shall be passing various points from the ridiculous to the stereotypical. Such is life.

Starting in the grandiose, the world I will be expounding on exisits on a fractured weave of the space-time continuum. It, it's sun and other such planets circling said body, staggers back and forth through conflicted and dubious cosms. This plays little part in the everyday life of the sentients that bob about on it's surface, but allows us to chuck in whatever we might wish in terms of alien oddities and provides a rationale for the occasional disasters that shall be hucked at the poor globe.

Dominant upon this world is the Empire of Xarathique, whose Eternal Emperor struggles to reign in the competing thrones of its seven kingdoms. This is the homeland of humanity, ancient, proud, and beloved of the gods. Humans were the first race to walk upon the world, a fact that many of them refuse to let anyone forget, and most myths claim that the world was fashioned for them by the Eternal Emperor and his Paladins. The myths go on to state that the sight of this paradise enraged the demons of the pit and they plotted schemed, and eventually unleashed their creations: The orcs, a perverted mockery of humankind, designed with but one goal - destruction. This has, so far, not been achieved, but much knowledge and treasure has been lost, and cities lie in ruin scattered across the world. Humans are nearly as varied as they are on earth, though they tend more towards the darker skin tones, with olive being about the palest seen.

Three races, the 'demi-humans' are allied with and generally friendly with humanity, these being the dwarves, elves, and halflings.

Dwarves are forged in the Great Furnaces of the Life Priests in the bustling Republic of Almizotl. Prone to greed and seek to differentiate themselves from one another via accomplishments or body modification, as dwarves have a disturbing tendency towards similarity in build and feature. Skilled warriors, thanks to the persistance of the goblins, dwarves show a terrific lack of ability with magic apart from one small caste known as 'gnomes'. Gnomish magical talent remains restricted to illusions and the like, nonetheless, they are valued (and envied) in dwarf communities. The typical dwarf is of Neutral alignment, but extreme examples exist. Dwarven society is rich and boisterous, full of competition and contests.

Hailing from the Frozen Lands, the elves are tall, slender, beautiful humanoids who are equally adept with blade and spell. Living in fantasic cities carved from glaciers, the typical elf is stern and aloof to those outside their war-group or family, but tender and generous to their fellow members. Elves are most often Lawful in alignment (those that are not are typically criminals, outcasts, traitors, or simply supremely self-centred bastards). Due to their martial bent and sorcerous talents, elves are extremely successful at war, but their low birth rate combined with their affinity for the cold, slows their spread.

Exisiting on the fringes of human society, halfings are freeholders and frontiersmen. Small, quick, and with good aim, they live in small family groups that often squabble and break up. Most halflings are Chaotic in nature, though they are typically more benevolent than other chaotic types. Halflings are skilled in war, in a stealthy, ambushing sort of way. Guerrilla tactics are their bread and butter and 'fighting fair' is not something they consider.

Next time: The orcs and their kin.