Writing

Characters of Cimmeria: The First Orc Chief

Mister Ed Classics, Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , ,

This post deals with a little splash of syncretism. There are many races in Cimmeria and it’s natural for them all to view the gods as physically similar to themselves. And who can say that they aren’t?

When the Orcs left the Conclave to conquer the Goblins they were a single unit led by a council of elders known as the Maglibarjil. Once they subjugated the Goblins the Maglibarjil elders split apart to lead different communities. These communities developed their own cultures and became the many tribes of the Orclands today.

All the separated Orc tribes soon learned of a threat the Goblins had kept secret, Bugbears. The Bugbears raided Orc settlements relentlessly. The Maglibarjil attempted to organize the tribes, but each tribe wished to protect only themselves and not the Orcs as a whole. Cannibalistic attacks continued until a powerful Orc rose up and drove away the Bugbears around their tribe. No one knows for sure which tribe this Orc came from or what the Orc’s name was. Each of the oldest tribes claims the hero as their own.

Continue reading →

Cimmerian Timeline Part 24

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 23

947BCE: Queen Shortrastor used Prince Albirnon’s disappearance as an excuse to conscript soldiers within her kingdom and invade the Underdark. Thousands of Dwarves were organized and sent into the deep in groups of various sizes “looking for the prince.” In reality these groups were raiding and pillaging the other Underdark races and species.

946BCE: The groups of Dominarie Dwarves invading the Underdark discovered evidence of Prince Albirnon’s survival in the deepest reaches of the tunnels. King Cogard arrived in the Dominarie Kingdom to lead the rescue effort personally.

945BCE: A group of Cogard’s scouts found Albirnon. A cabal of Drow witches led by a demon held the prince captive. The Dwarven soldiers killed the prince’s captors and freed Albirnon, but he was not the same young man who had gone to Shortrastor’s court. No hair grew on his head and the glint of demonic possession glowed behind Albirnon’s eyes and soon the same could be said of his rescuers as the possession passed to them. The first of a new race of Dwarves were created, the Duergar. Prince Albirnon stayed in the deep and began turning more and more of Cogard and Shortrastor’s fortune seekers to his will.

944BCE: Rumors of a new band of bald dwarves with red eyes led by a male who resembled Prince Albirnon reached the Dominarie court. Desperate to find his son, King Cogard himself went into the deep. Down in the dark Cogard met his son and recognized the corruption within him. The king and the demon fought for control of the prince. Cogard achieved a half victory. The demon was not cast out of his son, but the contagion could no longer spread. Cogard sealed the hellish presence within Albirnon and all the other afflicted, but the demon would live on in their descendants.

943BCE: Cogard brought Albirnon back to Shortrastor’s court. The Queen was informed of Albirnon’s new passenger. Not wishing to welcome a viper into her home, the Queen commanded King Cogard to remove Prince Albirnon and the other duergar from the Dominarie Mountains. The King did so, moving the duergar people to the wild regions of the western Underdark.

-GoCorral

Cimmerian Timeline Part 23

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 22

982BCE: King Cogard elected to build a new capital for his kingdom at a site he had seen while traveling. He and most of the Dwarves of Dalleer left, heading north by northwest.

981BCE: The Dwarves reached the new site of their capital, Jord. They began building fantastic structures both above and below the ground in the great hills of Jord.

974BCE: The bulk of construction on Jord was declared completed. Cogard invited Dwarves from all across Cimmeria to come to a ceremony declaring the new capital as the center of his kingdom.

973BCE: A grand party was held in Jord. Dwarves from Zeus’s Canvas, Dalleer, the Terror Mountains, and the Underdark arrived to pay homage to their king. A delegation arrived from the Dominarie Mountains bearing gifts for the new king. The Dominarie delegates clarified that they were only congratulating King Cogard on his achievement and they were not declaring fealty by any means. Cogard responded by announcing his engagement to Pristanon, the daughter of a clan leader in the Terror Mountains. The priest in the Dominarie delegation smiled and said a blessing to grant King Cogard many children.

971BCE: Queen Pristanon gave birth to quadruplets, all sons.

961BCE: King Cogard sent his four sons to different parts of the kingdom. One to the Terror Mountains, one to the Underdark, and one to Dalleer. His final son was sent to the Dominarie Mountains to be raised in Queen Shortrastor’s court. In exchange Queen Shortrastor sent her daughter to be raised by King Cogard.

948BCE: Albirnon, the son of King Cogard sent to the Dominarie Mountains, went missing. Queen Shortrastor apologized profusely. The boy had been rambunctious and constantly wandered into the unsafe tunnels beneath the Queen’s capital city. King Cogard demanded that his son be found. Shortrastor’s daughter became a hostage. The Queen of Dominarie began a kingdom wide search for the missing prince.

-GoCorral

Cimmerian Timeline Part 22

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 21

995BCE: King Cogard swiftly realized that the royal courtiers were cutting him out of decision making to enrich themselves and their clans. Not wishing to play the dance of politics, Cogard went on a tour of the far-flung Dwarven communities.

994BCE: King Cogard met with the disparate Dwarven settlements in Zeus’s Canvas. He listened to the concerns about resource distribution among the clans and promised to resolve it. He organized trade deals between the different villages and granted titles of nobility to those who cooperated. The Dwarves of Zeus’s Canvas became enamored with their king.

993BCE: The inept Dwarven Council realized King Cogard’s tour was an attempt to circumvent their control and go directly to the people for support. As Cogard continued on his journey to the Dominarie Mountains, the Dwarven Council sent emissaries ahead to spread rumors that would upset Cogard’s diplomatic visit to that country. When the Dwarven King arrived he proposed a united kingdom through his marriage to Queen Shortrastor. The deceitful warnings of the Council spoiled Cogard’s plans. Shortrastor rebuffed his advances. Cogard left with nothing gained for his trip to the south.

991BCE: King Cogard continued his journey northward and met with the clans of the Terror Mountains. He offered human slaves as sacrifices to the dragons, ingratiating himself into the favor of the clan leaders by following their local customs.

989BCE: Cogard went deep into the Terror Mountains and eventually he reached the Underdark. His entourage had grown considerably since the start of his tour. In the Underdark where the dragons couldn’t reach they grew into an army. The Deep Dwarves were in conflict with the other Underdark races. King Cogard organized his citizens and went on campaign for the first time.

984BCE: King Cogard’s campaigns in the Underdark went well. His talented command earned him the loyalty of the Deep Dwarves. He began the return journey to the Dalleer refugee camp.

983BCE: King Cogard arrived back in Dalleer. The Dwarven Regency Council knew they were beat. They surrendered control to their king.

-GoCorral

Cimmerian Timeline Part 21

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 20

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was the necessity of a separate Dwarven kingdom in the Dominarie Mountains. This kingdom will be wiped out by a Hobgoblin invasion later on in my campaign world’s history. I forgot about it because the kingdom doesn’t exist in the “present” (~400BCE).

1046BCE: A red dragon named Kenderax attacked Fangaroot along with thousands of Kobold soldiers. Kenderax incinerated Karnafaust and most of the royal family in the initial attack. Without leadership the Dwarves were unable to organize an effective defense against the draconic invasion. Fangaroot was abandoned and the Dwarven population fled to the south along the Black River.
While going downriver on a raft, Karnafaust’s sister-in-law gave birth to a son named Cogard. Cogard was the nephew of Karnafaust and heir to the throne.

1045BCE: The Dwarven refugees established a camp on the location that would eventually be Dalleer. Cogard was obviously too young to rule so a group of Dwarven elders formed a council to govern the dispossessed.

1044BCE: The Dwarven people quickly realized the ineffectual leadership of the Dwarven Council would not save them or revive their culture. Thousands of Dwarves left the refugee camp to settle in smaller communities across Cimmeria.

1042BCE: A group of Dwarves settled in Zeus’s Canvas in loosely linked communities structured around rigid social structure with theocratic leadership.

1039BCE: Dwarven settlements spring up all along the Terror Mountains. These Dwarves paid homage to their dragon leaders with Human sacrifices.

1035BCE: The loose theocratic organization of the Zeus’s Canvas Dwarves was not well-suited for everyone. A significant group of Dwarves led by a Dwarven woman named Shortrastor headed south. They formed a new kingdom in the Dominarie Mountains with Shortrastor as their queen.

1024BCE: Many Dwarves were upset by the sacrifice of sentient life in the Terror Mountain Dwarf communities. Unfortunately, their status as draconic subjects meant leaving could be a short and lethal endeavor. To escape the dragons a group of Dwarves went into the Underdark where the dragons could not follow. In the deep earth they made a life for themselves.

996BCE: King Cogard turned 50 and came of age. He was coronated, but the Dwarven council did not relinquish governmental control to their designated sovereign.

-GoCorral

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 22

Desires for Dwarven Schism

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Next up in my writing about Cimmeria is to describe what the Dwarves were up to and what led to the schism between the four Dwarven subraces.

First up, what have I already written about the Dwarves in Cimmeria?

King Karnafaust left the Conclave – 1102BCE
Founded Fangaroot – 1101BCE
War with Conclave – 1097BCE
War ended with single combat between Karnafaust and Drolofo. Drolofo won. – 1092BCE
Resurrection Pact with Hades made and Karnafaust returned to life – 1091BCE
Cooperation with the Conclave in war with Goblins- 1087BCE to 1084BCE
Karnafaust killed by Kinderax. Fangaroot abandoned. – 1046BCE

My plan was that after the Dragon War there would be a king named Cogard. I already wrote that part in with Toffoun’s After the Dragon War post.

Toffoun makes the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords for King Cogard, an item I copied over from the basic Greyhawk D&D setting to my campaign.

King Cogard’s death would lead to the loss of the Fierce Axe and a succession crisis between his four sons. This crisis would result in the Dwarven Schism.

But that’s after the Dragon War. I’ve got over 150 years of history inbetween that point. I need a bad king before Cogard takes the throne. Continue reading →

Cimmerian Timeline Part 20

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This should wrap up the dating of the After The Dragon War posts. Next up I’ll be plotting out what I want from the Dwarven Schism.

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 19

877BCE: Tentineh himself was responsible for constructing the defenses of five Dragon Orbs. He designed a floating superstructure to house the Orbs, but this massive construct would require more magical ability than Tentineh nor any of the other Heroes possessed. Tentineh began searching in the dark places of the world for the energy required to bring his vision to life.
Bigby retired to the woods of his childhood. He married and had children.

876BCE: Tentineh found a font of energy that he could use for his superstructure. He freed the Dahak from its ancient prison beneath the Greshen Volcano. In gratitude the Dahak promised to aid Tentineh in his endeavors. The two worked in concert to create a floating city. A gigantic edifice spanning for miles built on the upturned bottom of the Dahak’s volcano and four other lava-filled mountains.

875BCE: An enormous amount of power was required to keep Tentineh’s superstructure afloat. Tentineh began manufacturing over a dozen artifacts with untold powers. Upon completion he connected them to the volcano quintet. Additionally, the Dahak bound omnielementals to the volcanoes. A minor version of the elemental planes swirled and formed between the lava tubes.

863BCE: Tentineh placed the artifacts he’d created within his superstructure. He used the five Dragon Orbs entrusted to him to power the structure as well. Red, Green, Black, White, and Silver would power the city, one within each of the volcanoes.

862BCE: Still more power was needed for the superstructure so Tentineh ripped the raw life from the Greshen Valley and poured it into the floating city. This greedy act created Spheres of Annihilation throughout the Valley. These black holes roamed the land, erasing everything they touched.

861BCE: Tentineh’s superstructure was completed. He bequeathed the construction to the people of Greshen Valley. It would be a new home for them. A floating city that would protect, feed, and shelter Tentineh’s people for all time. In time this city would be known as Greshendale.
The grand wizard gave the leadership of this city to a council composed of his children and his apprentices. Tentineh would not rule the city. He prepared to enter eternal slumber.

-GoCorral

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 21

Cimmerian Timeline Part 19

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 18

876BCE: Shratalanda traveled to the Shacklack Desert and began building a psionically charged castle in the sand.
Danar returned to Sheerzen and resumed his duties as king. He married multiple women to solidify his position within the aristocracy of Sheerzen. He ruled well and established a just society for his people.

873BCE: Shratalanda completed her castle in the Shacklack Desert. She sent out a telepathic call to all the psions of Cimmeria telling them to come to her castle for training in the craft of psionic magic.

872BCE: Psions from across Cimmeria arrived at Shratalanda’s school for instruction. She taught them all the disciplines of psionic magic. The school was a success. More and more students continued to arrive.

870BCE: Shratalanda’s school grew beyond her ability to manage. To ensure the continuance of her school, Shratalanda trained her first class of students to pass on their learning to others. Over the years a heirarchy based on talent and public acclaim decided who were the teachers of the school and who were the students.

855BCE: Danar left Sheerzen to sleep and await the breaking of the Red Orb. He left the same system of succession that guided his ascension for his progeny. There could be only one heir. All others must be sterilized or executed.

834BCE: Satisfied with her work on her school, Shratalanda retired to her slumber. She slept, only to be awakened by the breaking of the Brass Orb of Dragonkind.

-GoCorral

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 20

After the Dragon War: Bigby

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When the Dragon War ended, Bigby was 103, still young for an elf. He helped the other Heroes to design defenses for the Dragon Orbs. After twenty years most of them had moved on into the stasis. All the other Heroes could only be awakened by the destruction of the Orbs of Dragonkind. Bigby and Toffoun were all that was left.

Bigby was happy to retire to the forest that grew to bear his name. He lived for dozens of years supporting himself by teaching his magic to the Elves of his homeland and any others who wished to learn. Romantic relationships came and went, lasting for years or decades and then dissolving amicably as is the way of the Elves. Bigby had three children and played an active role in their upbringing. The outside world was not without conflict, but Bigby stayed apart. He had seen and done enough during the Dragon War.

When Toffoun retired, the dwarf took one last trip to see Bigby. The two reminisced about their times together. The visit was what Bigby needed to say goodbye to the world. He made his farewells to his family, his friends, his children, and the places he knew. After all was finished Bigby was the last to enter the Dragon Orb slumber.

-GoCorral

Next up I’ll be turning each of these After the Dragon War articles into timelines. After that I’d like to explore the Dwarven Kingdom a bit more. I’ve laid the foundations with Toffoun, Cogard, and the Fierce Axe. Just gotta hammer out the specifics.

After the Dragon War: Danar and Tentineh

Mister Ed Dungeons and Dragons, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Danar lived on after the end of the Dragon War, doing many good deeds. He was 63 but as a draconic descendant he had not aged. He assisted with the construction of the defenses for the Orbs of Dragonkind before returning to Sheerzen to rule his reclaimed kingdom. Danar married more than once, becoming a polygamous king. He ruled well for twenty years, establishing a just society for his people as he had before in the swamp that bears his name. The same system of succession for his progeny. There could be only one heir. All others must be sterilized or executed.

After twenty years of rule, Tentineh came to Danar. The old wizard was entering his slumber and asked Danar to join him. Danar got his affairs in order then entered suspended animation with the other Heroes of the Dragon War. He would only be reawakened by the destruction of the Red Dragon Orb. Continue reading →