Arendil

Arendil was a wise, old man who led the Second Alliance during the Second Alliance War. He was the head of the First Family of Jipangu as well. During the war, Arendil pursued conservative strategies that risked as little life as possible. This philosophy extended to his morals as well when Arendil led the effort to remove Amalius from the Alliance War Council due to the psion’s familial relationship with Amalgami the Betrayer. The animosity between the two continued for the remainder of Arendil’s life. The old man turned in his grave when Amalius succeeded him as leader of the Second Alliance and as head of the new First Family of Jipangu.

In his youth Arendil was a member of the prominent Sizuki family of Jipangu. He was born the fourth son with little expectation that he would succeed his father as the family head. Without responsibilities, Arendil was able to enjoy an aristocratic lifestyle. He studied magic and dueling to became quite proficient at both. He sat in on trade deals with his family to learn the art of negotiation as well.

Tragedy struck Arendil’s family over and over again in his adulthood. All three of his brothers passed before their prime followed by his father. Arendil had thought he had no chance of being the family head, but it was thrust upon him. He dove into the responsibility. Arendil’s life turned into an endless stream of backroom deals, forecourt duels, and obeisance to the gods. He ruthlessly improved the Suzuki family’s position until they sat at the top as the First Family of Jipangu.

When Amalganus formed the Second Alliance Arendil saw an opportunity in linking the visionary youth to his family. He arranged a marriage between his grandson, Yukaro, and Amalganus’s daughter, Amelia. Arendil cultivated an appearance as the paternal mentor for Amalganus although in reality the young man needed no assistance from Arendil. Arendil used this exaggerated relationship to replace Amalganus as the leader of the Second Alliance when the latter disappeared.

Arendil led the Second Alliance well for many years prior to the Second Alliance War. He extended the allied cities to include many communities across Eastern Cimmeria. When the war began, Arendil continued to be a guiding hand, but often yielded to those with more military experience such as Astyanax and Gradorian. He advocated conservative strategies when appropriate, but was willing to listen to others as well.

Amalius, son of Amalganus, returned to Eastern Cimmeria which would initiate a conflict with Arendil. At first Arendil was happy to have the son of the Second Alliance’s founder present. That feeling left Arendil when it was revealed that Amalius’s grandfather was Amalgami the Betrayer. Arendil led an effort on the Alliance War Council to expel Amalius and his friend, Tagenadi, from the Alliance. This proved successful. In addition, Arendil demanded that Yukaro divorce Amalia. Amalius’s extended family was left practically destitute due to Arendil’s actions.

Amalius had his revenge on Arendil. He antagonized the old man for the rest of the Second Alliance War. When Amalius revived the dead of Bradel Fields he was welcomed back into the Alliance. He used this as an opportunity to magically dominate Arendil. The once great leader of Jipangu was forced to do whatever Amalius commanded until he expired from old age a year later. Amalius replaced Arendil as head of the Second Alliance, the Halkias family replaced the Suzuki as the First Family of Jipangu, and Amalius became the leader of Jipangu as well. The psion quietly destroyed Arendil’s legacy as revenge for ostracizing him and his family.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Michael tells us about a D&D horseback riding experience at SaddleSnaps! The Chicago-based stable hosted a weekend camping, horseback riding, and D&D event. About 50 players came from across the country for this new experience. During the event, the players were split up into three groups. Each of the groups engaged in the "Exploration" and "Social Interaction" pillars of RPGs as a LARP. They used horses to go out on rides around the area to find clues to a developing mystery. After returning to their base camp they'd set up around tables for the D&D "Combat" pillar. Michael was the main DM of the adventure along with lots of support DMs and NPC actors helping him out.SaddleSnaps is planning to do more rides like this in the future, both single day rides as well as full weekend campouts like this first one. There are evening rides every Thursday for the rest of July 2026 with more to come in future months. You can check out everything about SaddleSnaps on their website.Michael has his own website for his RPG resources called Paragon Provisions that you can check out as well.Michael also runs his own Discord server that you connect with him on if you'd like to keep up with all the cool D&D stuff he's doing.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)
  2. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  3. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  4. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  5. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)