🧙‍♂️(Georic Gazetteer) The Dark Kingdoms of Vlachia

Bargle the Infamous' Alleged Castle

Dark Kingdoms of Vlachia

Pantheon: Ferasean

Ruler: King Satu Cagares (former dominion in the Thacarian Mountains).
Capital: Amatay (Formerly Fort Doom/Formerly Shelley Harbor)

Other cities: Halag, Richemulot, Borca, Kartakkass
Language: Vlach

Flag/Emblem:  Black Bat on a Field of Gold

Coinage:  Vlachian, although surrounding currencies are accepted 1:1.

Persons of Note: Durbar of Clan Steel Mountains, the Dukes of Keening, Darkon, Vechor

Intrigues: Multiple ongoing
Alliances: Miolsic, Hermetus
Hostilities: Marakeikos, Stronghome
Demi-Humans: Half-Orcs and Half Ogres.  A scattering of dwarves in the Thacarian Mountains
Magic Items: The Prism of Eight Rays, The Seeking Dart are known royal treasures. Each of the separate lords are known to have quite substantial collections.

Thumbnail Sketch: The worst kept secret for all but the most naive travelers is Vlachia's ruling class being predominantly Vampires, with an odd werewolf or other entity beyond the natural.  Traveling alone or without a sizable entourage is widely discourage, mostly foolhardy.  And if the threat of vampire lords descending upon your weary traveling bones isn't discouraging enough.  Their fervent human supporters make up the "Cult of Ghouls" to support the vampire lords in any capacity they can. 

For years a human was elected King of all the dominions, most recently "King" Ludwig von Hendricks, the Black Eagle. Von Hendricks and his court wizard, Bargle the Infamous, gave wide berth to the Vamprie Lords, and focused on a campaign of terror against the halflings of Stronghome. King Ludwig was kidnapped by Halflings in 1134, but escaped and has been rumored to be residing in Milosic ever since. Bargle the Infamous had been working for the Baron of Vadevicszy through the civil war. His whereabouts are currently unknown, although he does have the entire Duchy’s treasury in his  possession. The Lords of the Realm chose one of their own, Satu Cagares as King in 1139 who promptly used his magic and followers to destroyed the Halfling fleet blockading the former Shelley Harbor.

Vlachia has always been in open conflict with Marakeikos, and it wasn't until the the kidnapping of King Valens and the subsequent civil war that Marakeikan forces made inroads into the vampire kingdoms, seizing and permanently annexing territory adjacent to Vadevicsny.  Travel in this particular region is not for the faint of heart, but for an entirely different and more mundane reason.

Points of Interest:

The Crowned Beast of Stone - In the depths of a boreal forest west of the immortal city of Richemulot and north of the Marakeikan Barony of Teleorman can be found a statue of some great beast crowned with a rusting iron band whose spiked ends, now snapped off into jagged spears, suggested gems or valuable crystals once ran astride the crown. The weed-choked creature now stares forlornly into the stream which begins life as spring whose waters pour from its open mouth and which rushes by its front paws before disappearing in the thick forest and eventually emptying into the great swamp and mire to the north of Richemulot. 

The wizards and alchemists of the region have set traps and guards within the forest, paid druids to charm creatures and enchant plants, illusionists to hide the spring, necromancers to set guards that neither sleep nor rest nor tell tales, as well as magicians and witches cast dire spells to protect this source of so many of their potions, solutions and balms.

Mentions of Vlachia in the Blogs:

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #40:  Mentions the the western border of Vlachia borders the Duchy of Vrianos in Ras-Prythax.

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #51: The Tower of Enerk and Vlachian human adventurer named Viesbustus

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #54:  Safe travel across Vlachia in a large group.

Burning Trogs Rule! #5: Cecelia Darkspruce travels through Vlachia to arrive in Marakeikos.

Burning Trogs Rule #17  Mentions of troubles along the border with Marakeikos

Burning Trogs Rule #18: The Trogs spend a day in Amatay before getting waylayed by the Slavers of Roark.

Burning Trogs Rule! #22: The Redrock Cohort clears out some dungeons along the border.

Burning Trogs Rule! #33: Mentions of the conflict between Stronghome and Vlachia in 1135.  The kidnapping of King Ludwig.

Burning Trogs Rule! #37:  Cecelia Darkspruce travels across Vlachia, only moving during the day.  

Burning Trogs Rule! #38:  Descriptions of the dark woods, Lawlessness along the border.

Burning Trogs Rule! #45:  The start of the Marakeikan Civil War. Bargle's attempted communiques with the kidnapped King Ludwig.

Burning Trogs Rule! #50:  Marakeikan troops disappearing en mase in Vlachia.

Burning Trogs Rule! #51: The death of Count Vlad'Neer of Morosvia by the Terval Sit and the Burning Trogs

Burning Trogs Rule #52:  Chaos traveling Vlachia in the aftermath of the Master's surrender. 

Burning Trogs Redux #0.3:  Cecelia Darkspruce named Baroness of Teleorman in 1148. 

Burning Trogs Redux #2:  Clarkos Metropoulos, veteran of the Black Eagle War.  

Georic Gazetteer: The Almond Coast: Mention of Prince Morteos Woszlany, formerly of Vlachia, now a lesser Prince of Emron.

(Gnome Wars) The Great Snail

This past Historicon, my Saturday night Gnome Wars game had an unexpected visitor: a D&D flail snail that a player had purchased at the flea market and I could find no good reason not to allow it on the table.  I made up some rules on the fly, and, as I planned, it proved more of a distraction to players than a game breaker.

Going through some ancient Gnome Wars correspondence with friend of the blog, Award-Winning-GM Mike Lung, I discovered he proposed giant snail rules way back in 2011!  

Great Snail (Wild or Unmanned)

• Moves Slow:  6" 
• Moves Randomly unless guided by gnome, guide gnome can also encourage the snail to use its acid spitting attack.
• Moves over any obstacle without penalty, except salt or fire.
• Hard to Kill: Only legal 6's with light arms wound the creature.  Heavier weaponry, treat as a tank.
• Wounds: 4 (Tank results supersede wounds)
• Weapon:  Acid Spitting  12" artillery, 3" diameter template
• Leaves a slime trail behind, effect lasts 3 turns.  Roll d8 for each gnome crossing, on a 1-3, the gnome slips and falls. Each roll to get up, the difficulty goes up by 1 (1-4 fails on first attempt, 1-5 on second, and so on.)  Gnomes that can't mathematically succeed are removed from the table. 

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #52 - The Stone Pavilion, Part Three

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  are exploring outside the KIA Academy, and have uncovered a new race, a weapon of alchemical destruction, and a certain Stone Horse of Destruction that's back to flesh.

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.  No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human.  Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.  He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!  Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists.

================= 

With the aid of the Toard Jakey Children's Alchemical Laser, the great Stone Horse of Destruction had been transformed back to.. Charlie, half-man, half-horse.  Similar to Lathar, he was in a state of confusion, but the current state where even his human torso was covered in horse-hide, He was regaining his faculties. 

Pete tried to run over to calm the transformed mutant, perhaps to use his telepathic powers to calm him, but No Name had come running around a tree and stunted at the man-horse.  It took Pete all his telepathic power just to chase No-Name away far enough so Charlie wouldn't bolt.  

A concerned No-Name

Pete tried to calm the man-horse, but the moment he spoke again, he was aware of a speech impediment that he apparently did not have previously.  "What happened?  Why do I talk funny?  What happened? What's wrong with my mouth?"

Pete tried to calm him, "Hey friend, we're friendly, but you've been through an awful lot, We're going to help you!

"Why can't I speak? What's wrong with me?

"We're going to explain to you, but you've been through something terrible to your body, and we're going to get you back to your friend and friends.  You're Charlie right?"

"Yeth, but do I have the same issues as those two over there.  One is a green man and the other's a talking flower."

Pete realized Charlie was pointing to Lathar and Sonny,  "The green man still suffers like you did."

"What about the furry worm?  That's an abomination!"

"Can argue with that, Charlie..."

Sonny walked around the e-cart that had been transformed to terracotta clay towards Lathar to see what had become to his friend.  Lathar had transformed into some shiny green mineral, or precious stone.  Squiggles had questions, "Are you like that inside and out. Do you need to eat?  Do you poop?"

Sonny attempted to allay Green Lathar's fears.  He was still greatly confused but recognized the happy flower.   With his task completed, he planted into the ground and attempted to decipher the instruction manual for the Children's Alchemical Laser.  

Pete searched the remaining blue men bodies that hadn't been vaporized in the blast.  The had a few rare and random coins on them, and some hardy longbows.  Pete did detach a number and clasps, emblems, and insignias.   He then went back to the pavilion to investigate that shimmering lines that looked like obvious traps.  He climbed over the pavilion side to find himself inside the stone structure to see the the supports for the roof.    Pete did detect each line had holes drilled into the rock, and the shimmering abated the closer you got.    Pete called Squiggles over to have a look...

"Just watch out for the booby traps."

"What booby traaaaaa......."

The furry worm stumbled towards the steps.     Pete pulled him away until he was out of harm's way.  Squiggles' right leg, below where his knee would be, sat on the steps, completely cut out clean and cauterized. 

Squiggles cried out, "That's supposed to be attached!!!"   

Sonny went through the inventory of drugs and such on RHA-9.   He ordered RHA to apply anesthesia, which knocked  the worm out.  Sonny then applied a med-kit to Squiggles.  It didn't reattached a leg, but it did make him get out of shock.

RHA-9 with the anesthesia,

Pete, "Doesn't he regenerate his limbs?"

Sonny, "I've never seen him do it in all our years."

Between Squiggles' accident and two confused individuals, Sonny wanted everyone out of the clearing and heading back to KIA Academy proper ASAP.  They strapped Squiggles (and his leg) securely on top of No Name and headed out.    Pete searched for traps and ambushes, while Sonny tried to fill in Charlie on what happened.

"I got hit by children's ray gun?  I've been destroying parts of town for no reason?  Are my wife and kids okay?"

Sonny, "Yes,  that's our best guess.  And we talked to your family, they're physically fine, just worried."

"Do I still have my job?"

"I don't know...."

Going over a small ridge, the source of some smoke became quite prominent... the RUINS of the Toard Jakey!  

RIP Toard Jakey

Pete was much more concerned about the set of giant tracks moving around the now-ruins, akin to RHA-9's treads but much much larger.   Even more concerning was the tracks coming and going came KIA Academy lands.  The group walked along the edges of the road to be less conspicuous.  

Charlie was certainly coming to his senses, even if everything was calibrated.  He identified the tracks for a construction vehicle,  uses for digging, building and destroying.

Sonny actually asked for directions from local homesteaders to exactly where the White Hand was located in, and the locals surprisingly complied.  

At the White, there was great interest to the group as they walked up  They did have enough domars to afford to reattach Squiggles' leg.  This procedure took many hours, and the rest managed to get some much needed sleep.  Both Lathar and Charlie began acting more "normal" than they had before.   The White Hand attendants, did do a complimentary once over for the two transformed creatures.  Charlie seemed to be reconstituted into flesh, but even the human parts were covered with horse hide... including his tongue!

Without further testing, they believed Lathar was all mineral, with working organs made of a malleable version of the material.   They diagnosed both as suffering from cases of "Izagone." or "unwilling transformation" 

With all the extra-time, Sonny found a plot of land outside, sunk in his roots, and continued to work on the instruction manual for CAL (Children's Alchemical Laser).   Sonny realized there were significant issues between the instructions and the physical equipment.  The CAL in the book had eight basic settings, with a white pull-string randomizer.  A keyboard was used to for color codes.

The physical CAL Sonny was looking at had a dial with over 200 settings, along with a much more complicated keyboard.  Everything sample instruction in the book focuses on a button for "bubble gum" that does not exist on their device.

The surgery was a success, although Squiggles took hours longer than normal to recover from the anesthesia.  Outside of a large shaven band below with knee with a straight line scar around his leg.

Charlie:  "Can I go home finally?"

GM Notes: During an aside, we calculated that semi-precious Lathar would be worth $32,000,000 domars.  They will not be selling him off for parts... for now.

The description of  fancier White Hand facility at KIA was interpreted as a Post-Apocalyptic Apple Store.  They weren't far off.

Next: #53 - 

Game Day!

The Kansas State University Game Lab

 I had the good fortune of having a gentleman simply lurk off to the side of my Friday Gnome Wars game at Historicon this past July.  Despite repeated offerings to grab him a unit, he simply enjoyed watching the chaos.  

That gentleman was  Brad Burenheide, Associate Professor at Kansas State University and the co-creator of the  K-State Game Lab.   The Game Lab is a creation out of the College of Education, a research and play organization that allows students, faculty, staff and members of the community to play a variety of games to look at their potential impact in learning and education.  A variety of card, board, role-playing, and miniature games are played with the purpose using them in ways to augment teaching, and learning in general.

It also helps that they can have a blast in doing so... which really is the underlying reason for the project in general.  

The actual website for the Game Lab can be found here.

(Painting) Independent Gnomish Dreadnought for Death Planet Iota

 Paint continues to be applied to stuff, although it's more stuff I'm not quite sure how I'm going to store. 

Different 40k Dreadnoughts run anywhere from $50-$75 online.

A Gnomish Space Marine Dreadnought?   $1.25.    $2.50 if you include the accessory pack for the missiles.

Automated Drone P-131 from the Final Faction toy line distributed by Dollar Tree

The recent Final Faction line doesn't have the same wargaming appeal, which makes the two P-131 Automated Drone far more special to convert into one-gnome mecha.  

I have not idea when I picked up this shade of Army Painter Hydra Turquoise, but it might be the first and last time I use it, to represent a captured, repurposed and repainted mercenary mecha.  Like Ignate Peritius, it's just another rogue individual trying to survive on Death Planet Iota for Planet 28. 

In the Queue:   GSM and related terrain and Gnome Wars.

Project 350:  510 (323/187)  from  512 (322/190).  We'll see what extra projects I can get done to fill the mid-month, as the week of Halloween is quite full, and as the scheduled posts drop, I at least need to finish up some long-term projects to even the numbers out. 

(Gnome Wars) The Rise of Gnomish Horology and the Red Cap Cults by Mike Lung

Gnome society is an enigma. They generally live a simple bucolic or woodland lifestyle, yet they also are great tinkers and inventors.

 

Depictions of a traditional simple gnomish lifestyle

 

Tinker gnome riding his invention

Gnomes usually live and dress in very traditional ways. The are often very slow to adopt new ideas or material items. Yet at the same time, they can be very progressive as far as accepting other creatures with different backgrounds and ideas. They generally are willing agents in helping and teaching other species and therefore promoting change within those animal societies. In fact, gnomes are often given credit for teaching the animals how to talk and act in a civilized manner.

 

Traditional gnome dress

 

 Gnome teaching animals how to read

The Great Gnome War and the rampant outbreak of the znombie plague decimated the gnome population creating a vacuum for civilized animals to fill. As the war progressed, many animals were called on to serve in the wars. At home, they were also used to support the war effort. This presented an opportunity for animals to take leadership roles in society. Animal doctors, lawyers, clergy, and politicians (positions once held almost exclusively by gnomes) all became much more common in the years proceeding the dual catastrophes. Recently, an animal, Hedgerow Wilson, was elected President.

 

Animal classroom taught be a cat teacher instead of a gnome.

Most gnomes were accepting of this change feeling this was the natural fruition of their own progressive ideas. However, some gnomes rejected this view and still held fast to their insular traditional beliefs. Many of these gnomes believed the world had gone completely crazy, and there was a general feeling that they felt lost with no role in the future. They yearned for a return to the good old prewar days. Others philosophized that the world was like a clock. Like a tooth of a cog, each member of society whether a gnome or an animal had a specific role to play. When everyone did what they were supposed to do, the clock runs smoothly to perfections. However, when the teeth of the cogs are reshaped or changed, or whole cogs are changed, the function of the clock is disrupted. It will no longer function too perfection, or worse yet, if there are too many changes or the changes are too significant, the clock will cease to function at all! It therefore was the duty of all gnomes to make sure that all the teeth and cogs did what they were intended to do. Order and structure hierarchy had to be restored. Those who wish to make or allow these changes to society were an enemy that had to be stopped for the good of all.

 

Animal run society gotten out of hand.  Order had to be restored under Gnomish leadership

Advocates of the philosophy of the world clock were collectively known as Horologists. This philosophy was highly debated by the citizens. Some openly embracing it, others denouncing it, while most paid not real attention to it as they went about their normal lives. While most of this discussion was theoretically, some secret societies of gnomes did start to form to carry out the mission of restoring the clock. While by mostly lawful means, these secret societies did at times cross the line. Likewise, some animals formed their own secret groups in reaction to advocate their own beliefs. While the government fought to suppress the growth of all of these movements, it was not always successful, and the actions of these groups furthered the cracks in society.

 

  

Imaginative depiction of Horologist fixing the World Clock

There were, however, some extreme members of the Horology movement that came to the conclusion that too much change had already occurred. It was impossible to repair the broken cogs of society by normal political or social means. The old clock needed to be discarded, and a new clock needed to be made with a completely new, unbreakable cog system. In other words, these cult-like groups advocated a creation of a new world order. Those members were collectively known as “Red Caps” and would stop at nothing to achieve their purposes. To build their new clock, the consulted long lost or hidden tomes of knowledge. There efforts to obtain these tomes and to advance their goals have no bounds. No animal or progressive gnome was safe from their depredations and their other terrible, deeds.

 

Sample of symbols used various horologist groups. The last two are variations used by Red Cap cultists.

(Notes from the Editor:  Gnomish Historiography is complex, even amongst the keepers of Gnome Lore, The Stout Gnomes.  Much of this article covers the post-Gnome Wars world, which Mike is excellent at with his "Gnömerdammerung" or "Twilight of the Gnomes."  Hist fantastic modelling and conversions have brought many a smile to the Gnome Wars table, but he's also brought about the znombies, the Cult of Urinitas, and has a lot of material for a far darker gnome world.)