WEISSMACH LETTER #7
Village of Nav-Bodu, Principality of Trevodich, Kingdom of Nevskia
To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,
With all necessary pleasantries done in Weissmach, we have begun our travels with the Cleric Celeste to find the trail of the infernal Talanth Blackash and his associates. We have arrived in the Kingdom of Nevskia unmolested. Apparently our badges as Freigraffs within Weissmach hold the same sway in Nevskia.
I never realized how far east we had traveled into Weissmach to reach Sandomir, so as we crossed the border into Nevskia we were shocked to discover we were mere miles from the uncivilized plains of Galmar, a few measly leagues from our possible destruction by the barbarian horsemen.
With the last known location of Blackash's crew located in Regan along the Mer Bal, we headed northwest, with one eye over our right shoulder. Needless to say, we never saw one "uncivilized" barbarian, much less the pressing horde alluded to in the tales to scare children to sleep at night.
Nevskia is a surprising melting pot of cultures over the course of hundreds of years. In the early days of the First Ferasean Empire, this area was the domain of the Lentvar Horde of orcs. The early Emperors alternated between making war and making peace with the orcs, and ultimately they fell in with the human overlords. "Civilzation" allowed the culture to make great advances, and intermarriages between humans and orcs created a unique and thoroughly mixed ancestry that is labelled as Purvmone or Purvmo. Some of the brilliant minds of the country are quite orcish, and some uncommon beauties of both sexes have an unbecoming tusk jutting out of their lower lip.
...still much more becoming than the general disdain elvinkind gives to those not cursed with eternal life.
It appeared that the threat of orcish blood among its citizenry dissuaded the Galmar chieftains from attacking the territory. This created two waves of new overlords to rule over the people.
First were the cowards who dared bare the heraldry of the Knights of Feraso. While many brave knights defended the Empire, a few craven groups headed east into the Purvmo territory. There, they conquered the chieftains, shamans, and half-civilized nobility and set up their own personal fiefdoms under the false banner of Feraso and the Church of Akana.
As the barbarians warriors returned to their desolate plain with the spoils of society, their camp followers, tradesmen, laborers, and families, retreated at a slower pace. Many ended up lost and wandered into the land of the Purvmone. They were taken advantage of and abused by the Lord Commanders of the Knights, but the local adopted many of them as their own, and the Purvmone bloodline had barbarian blood added to the half-orc lines.
The leaders of the rogue knights consolidated their power far north in their territory, building castles in the land of the Talmark. The southernmost lands of the Purvmo were fleeced for taxes to support the knights, but were left to their own devices. As more actual knights left for the decadent (and barbarian-free) lifestyle of Talmark, the remaining Lord Commanders consolidated their power.
The most famous Lord Commander is, of course, Adomas Nevsky. The Lord Commander of Kalvaria was a fair ruler by most standards, and nearly divine by that of the Knights of Talmark. He united the Purvmo people of Kalvaria and expanded his control, expelling fellow knights one week, and wiping out native villages refusing to swear loyalty to him the next.
Ultimately, the vast majority of the people fell under the rule of Nevsky's descendants, the current Kings and Queens of Nevskia.
The weather is poor, the food is bland, and mud covers everything, regardless of a drought or a deluge. But the folk of Nevskia are no pale visage of their stereotype. They are a strong and fierce race onto themselves. Men and women were actively recruited by the 2nd Ferasean Empire and the Church of Akana in a mixture of martial roles, and the thought of a strong paladin of "half-orc" blood is reassuring to even the far reaches of the old empire's borders.
Yours in Service
Elsderth Greyhawk
Sage of the Order of Merit, Former Sellsword - Extraordinaire,
Freigraff of the Totenlinden of Amberstoll
Village of Nav-Bodu, Principality of Trevodich, Kingdom of Nevskia
To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,
With all necessary pleasantries done in Weissmach, we have begun our travels with the Cleric Celeste to find the trail of the infernal Talanth Blackash and his associates. We have arrived in the Kingdom of Nevskia unmolested. Apparently our badges as Freigraffs within Weissmach hold the same sway in Nevskia.
I never realized how far east we had traveled into Weissmach to reach Sandomir, so as we crossed the border into Nevskia we were shocked to discover we were mere miles from the uncivilized plains of Galmar, a few measly leagues from our possible destruction by the barbarian horsemen.
With the last known location of Blackash's crew located in Regan along the Mer Bal, we headed northwest, with one eye over our right shoulder. Needless to say, we never saw one "uncivilized" barbarian, much less the pressing horde alluded to in the tales to scare children to sleep at night.
Nevskia is a surprising melting pot of cultures over the course of hundreds of years. In the early days of the First Ferasean Empire, this area was the domain of the Lentvar Horde of orcs. The early Emperors alternated between making war and making peace with the orcs, and ultimately they fell in with the human overlords. "Civilzation" allowed the culture to make great advances, and intermarriages between humans and orcs created a unique and thoroughly mixed ancestry that is labelled as Purvmone or Purvmo. Some of the brilliant minds of the country are quite orcish, and some uncommon beauties of both sexes have an unbecoming tusk jutting out of their lower lip.
It appeared that the threat of orcish blood among its citizenry dissuaded the Galmar chieftains from attacking the territory. This created two waves of new overlords to rule over the people.
First were the cowards who dared bare the heraldry of the Knights of Feraso. While many brave knights defended the Empire, a few craven groups headed east into the Purvmo territory. There, they conquered the chieftains, shamans, and half-civilized nobility and set up their own personal fiefdoms under the false banner of Feraso and the Church of Akana.
As the barbarians warriors returned to their desolate plain with the spoils of society, their camp followers, tradesmen, laborers, and families, retreated at a slower pace. Many ended up lost and wandered into the land of the Purvmone. They were taken advantage of and abused by the Lord Commanders of the Knights, but the local adopted many of them as their own, and the Purvmone bloodline had barbarian blood added to the half-orc lines.
The leaders of the rogue knights consolidated their power far north in their territory, building castles in the land of the Talmark. The southernmost lands of the Purvmo were fleeced for taxes to support the knights, but were left to their own devices. As more actual knights left for the decadent (and barbarian-free) lifestyle of Talmark, the remaining Lord Commanders consolidated their power.
The most famous Lord Commander is, of course, Adomas Nevsky. The Lord Commander of Kalvaria was a fair ruler by most standards, and nearly divine by that of the Knights of Talmark. He united the Purvmo people of Kalvaria and expanded his control, expelling fellow knights one week, and wiping out native villages refusing to swear loyalty to him the next.
The weather is poor, the food is bland, and mud covers everything, regardless of a drought or a deluge. But the folk of Nevskia are no pale visage of their stereotype. They are a strong and fierce race onto themselves. Men and women were actively recruited by the 2nd Ferasean Empire and the Church of Akana in a mixture of martial roles, and the thought of a strong paladin of "half-orc" blood is reassuring to even the far reaches of the old empire's borders.
Yours in Service
Elsderth Greyhawk
Sage of the Order of Merit, Former Sellsword - Extraordinaire,
Freigraff of the Totenlinden of Amberstoll
DM Notes: Since the first few hours of owning 1st edition AD&D, I felt sympathy for the half-orc. The ability score changes and level restrictions far outweighed the benefits, and even as a teenager, I found very few "socially acceptable" ways of justifying even a minor population without stressing certain subjects that I deemed taboo for the table.
Early on, I allowed half-orcs to have a larger range of character classes, albeit most of them still capped off before "Name" level. The idea of noble, virtuous half-orcs leading Akana's military and pastoral arms seemed plausible to me. Heck, the players didn't blink when I brought in Zabty of Halfwater, a half-orc paladin, in my 2nd Edition game just before the reigns were loosened by the free-wheeling days of d20.
But this is the first attempt to justify their prevalence in society, all the while fleshing out the stolen/adjusted history of Russia/Novgorod, the Teutonic Knights, and the tribes of Old Prussia into my World of Georic.
The general acceptance of latent orcish blood by most humans (except by the Galmar barbarians) and not for elves creates an interesting environment for all my players who came in looking to min-max some elf and kit from the Complete series.
Next: #29 - The Hauffen Farm
No comments:
Post a Comment