Trade Goods and Artifacts

Trade Goods

If a treasure hoard includes trade goods, 1d6 types of goods are present. Roll 1d100 for each type. Values given are averages when sold to an interested buyer; actual prices will vary. The goods listed are those most likely to be valuable enough to interest relic hunters. More common goods, like grain and textiles, may also be present.

Values for most goods are given per item slot. A character normally has 5 item slots on their belt and 10 more in their pack. A pack with 6 or more slots filled is heavy and contributes to encumbrance. A small sack has 6 slots, can be carried in one hand when full, and adds to encumbrance. A large sack has 12 slots, takes both hands, and adds significant encumbrance. Dust, used by the upper classes of the Tower Lands as standard currency, can be carried 100 Đ to an item slot.

Roll	Item	Description	Price
1-2	Gold	-	1,000 Đ per slot
3-5	Silver	-	100 Đ per slot
6-9	Copper	-	10 Đ per slot
10-12	Tin	-	10 Đ per slot
13-16	Iron	Rusts.	10 Đ per slot
17-18	Gemstones	-	1d100*50 Đ per stone, 100 stones per slot
19-20	Silk	Ruined by moisture.	50 Đ per slot
21-23	Furs	-	1d10*10 Đ per pelt, 1 slot per 10 Đ
24-26	Leather	-	10 Đ per slot
27-28	Sparkskipper powder	Flammable, proscribed.	100 Đ per slot
29	Ivory	-	1,000 per slot
30-31	Incense	Pungent, perishable.	50 Đ per slot
32-33	Rare wood	-	50 Đ per slot
34-37	Salt	-	5 Đ per slot
38-39	Spice, powdered semmec	Earthy, savory. Perishable.	25 Đ per slot
40-41	Spice, ghel salt	Smoky flavor, mild stimulant effects.	100 Đ per slot
42-43	Spice, ground cazin	Hot and spicy. Perishable.	50 Đ per slot
44-46	Mellsap sugar	Made from the sap of the mellsap tree.	50 Đ per slot
47-49	Anath bark	A key ingredient in Halish medicines. Perishable.	15 Đ per slot
50-53	Wine	Fragile, perishable.	3 Đ per jar, 1 jar per slot
54-55	Spirits	Fragile.	10 Đ per jar, 1 jar per slot
56	Naphtha	Black oil that bubbles up from beneath the earth. Fragile, highly flammable if broken.	50 Đ per jar, 1 jar per slot
57-58	Hagga root	Cheap drug, dried and pressed for smoking or snorted as powder. Hallucinogenic, often causes bad trips, addictive. Proscribed, pungent, perishable.	10 Đ per dose, 10 doses per slot
59	Black lotus powder	Expensive foreign drug, traditionally smoked with long pipes. Induces euphoric hallucinations. Proscribed, perishable.	100 Đ per dose, 10 doses per slot
60-61	Makeup	Fragile, perishable.	50 Đ per slot
62-64	Perfume	Fragile, pungent if broken, perishable.	100 Đ per bottle, 1 bottle per slot
65-66	Musical instruments	Fragile.	100 Đ per instrument
67-68	Historical texts	Ruined by moisture.	100 Đ per book or scroll
69-70	Poetry	Ruined by moisture.	100 Đ per book or scroll
71-72	Heretical scriptures	Ruined by moisture, proscribed.	100 Đ per book or scroll
73	Seashells	Fragile.	10 Đ per slot
74	Preserved flowers	Fragile.	10 Đ per slot
75-77	Weapons	-	See equipment
78-80	Armor	-	See equipment
81-83	Ammunition	-	See equipment
84-87	Preserved meats	Pungent, perishable, attracts predators.	2 Đ per slot
88-91	Fine cheeses	Pungent, perishable, attracts predators.	2 Đ per slot
92-95	Preserved fruits and vegetables	Fragile, perishable.	2 Đ per slot
96-98	Ceramics	Fragile.	5 Đ per piece, 1 piece per slot
99-100	Dyes	Fragile.	20 Đ per jar, 1 jar per slot

Artifacts

If an artifact is indicated in a hoard, roll 1d20, or 1d10+10 for divine-type hoards.

Roll	Item	Description	Value
1	Skull of a hero	Broken by the wound that ended them in legend.	1d4*100 Đ as an antiquity,1d10*100 Đ to descendants or worshipers.
2	Thunder beast horn	Touching it makes one's hair stand on end.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
3	Gilded war prosthesis	Awarded to one who gave of their own flesh for their liege.	1d6*100 Đ as an antiquity, 1d4*100 Đ for materials.
4	Jasper bull idol	A legendary beast symbolizing strength and virility.	1d6*100 Đ as an antiquity, 200 Đ for material.
5	Divine Beast mask	Elders of barbarian raun tribes are said to treasure these masks above all.	1d4*100 Đ as an antiquity, 1d6*1,000 Đ to raun traditionalists.
6	Iron Circle collar	When Sariel led her rebellion, she sought to shatter every one of these shackles. This one survived.	1d4*100 Đ as an antiquity, 3,000 Đ to the Beast Court.
7	Gravestone	Glows with the blue phosphorescence of the Dark Moon.	1d6*1,000 Đ to Grave cultists.
8	Petrified egg	A promise of new life, never to be fulfilled.	1d6*50 Đ as an antiquity.
9	Dessicated Kindred	Eyeless, insectlike, the size of a spread hand. Said to be sacred to the Zoah and their Black Blades.	1d4*100 Đ as an antiquity, 1d10*100 Đ to Zoah sympathizers.
10	Treason bell	A brass hand bell, cracked down the middle and bereft of tongue. All that remains of an ill-fated plot.	1d10×100 Đ as an antiquity, double to heretics.
11	Sentry top	Small black top. Always stands upright.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
12	Prattlemouths	Pair of green funnels. Noise in either one will be emitted from the other if within 100’.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
13	Maiden's friend	Silky pink ovoid. When squeezed, vibrates steadily until squeezed again.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
14	Meditation stone	Smooth, pale blue disc. Induces calm when rubbed.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
15	Divine songbird	Small metal songbird sculpture, incredibly lifelike. When shaken, flies in circles singing sweet melodies.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
16	Rainbow tablet	Dark palm-sized mirror. Swiping on the surface draws colorful shapes, cleared by shaking.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
17	Lover stones	Pair of stone orbs, one red, one blue. When clicked together twice, attract one another strongly within 50’ until clicked twice again.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
18	King's riddle	Pyramidal golden puzzle box. Each time it is solved, it reconfigures, somehow never the same way twice.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
19	Cloudbreather	Jade-green bowl. Produces sweet-smelling steam when water is poured in.	1d10*100 Đ as an antiquity.
20	Archon Heart	Though made of no natural flesh, it is warm to the touch, and seems to beat.	1d10×100 Đ as an antiquity. Priceless to Archon Aspirants—they will kill to take it.

Equipment for the Tower Lands

A lot of people have said a setting's equipment list is one of its most important worldbuilding tools. It instantly communicates a lot to players about the world while being one of the parts of the game they interact with most directly. I thought I'd share my setting's current equipment list (not including magic items, though I posted some stuff about that a while back). It's mostly pretty standard D&D fare--the Tower Lands are meant to be as approachable as possible for players at first blush, with the unique stuff only becoming apparent further in--but there are a few standouts.

Trade and Prices

Common folk trade with their neighbors on barter and credit. Travelers and the wealthy measure value in Dust. This shimmering powder, found in ruins of the old world or refined from rare minerals at the holiest of shrines, is recognizable by its soft blue-green glow and the way it gathers and moves on its own when undisturbed. The smallest amount of Dust that will gather is called a Mote, noted as Đ. A free wage laborer typically earns about 5 Đ per day.

Weapons

Type	Properties	Price
Axe	Throwable	18 Đ
Battleaxe	Two-handed	120 Đ
Bow	Range 150'	60 Đ
Club	Small	7 Đ
Crossbow	Range 180', slow to load	150 Đ
Dagger	Small, throwable	7 Đ
Javelins (2)	Range 120'	80 Đ
Mace	-	30 Đ
Maul	Two-handed	120 Đ
Polearm	Two-handed, reach	150 Đ
Sling	Small, range 300'	5 Đ
Spear	Throwable, reach	30 Đ
Staff	-	12 Đ
Sword	-	60 Đ
War sword	Two-handed	150 Đ

Ammunition

Type	Price
Arrows, quiver of 20	30 Đ
Bullets, pouch of 20	10 Đ
Quarrels, case of 20	30 Đ

Armor

Type	Price
Light	150 Đ
Medium	600 Đ
Heavy	2,000 Đ
Shield	120 Đ

Tools and Provisions

Item	Description	Price
Alembic, portable	Enough for basic apothecary work in the field.	375 Đ
Backpack	The mark of soldiers and relic hunters.	40 Đ
Bottle, pint	-	2 Đ
Caltrops, bag	Sharp metal spikes used to deter pursuers. Restricted by law in most places.	50 Đ
Candles (4)	-	2 Đ
Case, map or scroll	-	12 Đ
Clothing, common	Linen or woolen tunic, belt, sandals, cloak.	40 Đ
Clothing, warm	Thick woolen shirt and tunic, gloves, leggings, fur boots, heavy cloak.	120 Đ
Clothing, extravagant	Fine embroidered tunic or gown, expensive furs and silks, jewelry.	400+ Đ
Compass	-	250 Đ
Cosmetics set	A box containing makeup, brushes, perfumes, tweezers, etc. Common among the wealthy, often lavishly decorated.	100+ Đ
Costume	Suitable for a theatrical performance (or a disguise).	120 Đ
Crowbar	-	12 Đ
Dust phial	A reinforced bottle with a dropper built into the lid for measuring out Dust by the mote. Often ornate. Holds up to 100 Đ.	20+ Đ
Flint and steel	-	1 Đ
Gaming set	A board game and pieces, set of dice, or deck of cards.	30 Đ
Grappling hook	-	25 Đ
Inhaler mask	Has a socket for a Dust phial, allowing quick inhalation by a Tuner. Each is a unique likeness, embodying its user’s reputation. Restricted by law in most places.	500+ Đ
Lantern	-	18 Đ
Lockpicks	Also includes a set of skeleton keys. Restricted by law in most places.	100 Đ
Map	Regional, provincial, or realm-wide.	80 Đ
Medical supplies	-	25 Đ
Mirror, hand	-	30 Đ
Naphtha, jar	Highly flammable	50 Đ
Net	-	25 Đ
Oad	Five-stringed musical instrument, plucked with the fingers.	100 Đ
Oil, flask, 1 pint	Macca or other vegetable oil. Not flammable without a wick.	12 Đ
Pickaxe	-	12 Đ
Rations, fresh, 1 day	Spoil in 1 week.	2 Đ
Rations, preserved, 1 day	-	4 Đ
		Đ
Rope, 50'	-	12 Đ
Sack, small	-	1 Đ
Sack, large	-	2 Đ
Shovel	-	12 Đ
Spikes, iron (10)	-	10 Đ
Tinderbox	-	2 Đ
Torch	-	1 Đ
Water or wineskin	Holds 3 days' worth.	10 Đ

Animals and Vehicles

Item	Description	Price
Barding	-	300 Đ
Cart, beast-drawn	-	80 Đ
Cart, hand		35 Đ
Dog, hunting	-	50 Đ
Feed grain, common, 1 day	-	2 Đ
Feed grain, fine, 1 day	Suitable for feeding a warhorse.	4 Đ
Gyne	Small flying hunters, cousins to the wild valit. Kept by the rich for small game.	60 Đ
Horse, riding	-	150 Đ
Horse, war	Must be fed fine grain to remain in fighting shape	375 Đ
Kelbi	Small, hopping herd grazers with curling horns. Kept for wool, meat, and milk.	12 Đ
Mol	Furry, waist-high burrowers sometimes raised for meat. Easy to feed, but foul-tempered and sharp of tooth.	10 Đ
Mule	-	120 Đ
Nog	Knee-high, round-bodied scavengers with dark blue skin and short trunks. Kept for meat and food waste disposal.	20 Đ
Phen	Small, flightless winged beasts. Poor eating themselves, but lay tasty soft-shelled eggs.	1 Đ
Rox	Powerful, shoulder-high grazers with plated heads. Kept as dairy and draft beasts, slaughtered for leather and expensive meat.	80 Đ
Saddle, riding	-	120 Đ
Saddle, war	-	250 Đ
Saddlebags	-	20 Đ

Services

Item	Price
Carriage, local, per trip	2 Đ
Carriage, long-distance, per day	15 Đ
Meal, cheap	2 Đ
Meal, excellent	5 Đ
Drink, cheap	1 Đ
Drink, excellent	3 Đ
Freight, per barrel, per day	2 Đ
Inn, common room, per night	2 Đ
Inn, private room, per night	5 Đ
Messenger, local	1 Đ
Messenger, long-distance	20 Đ
Rent, cheap apartments, per month	100 Đ
Rent, luxurious apartments, per month	500 Đ
Ship's passage, per person, per day	18 Đ
Ship's charter, per day	100 Đ
Stabling, common animal, per day	1 Đ
Stabling and grooming, warhorse, per day	3 Đ
Wage, common laborer, per day	5 Đ
Wage, expert retainer, per day	15 Đ
Wage, mercenary, per day*	20 Đ

*: Base wage per fighting member of the company. For leaders, multiply by renown. Expenses must also be paid, and plunder will be expected when engaging in battle.

A Note on Slavery

Slavery is a ubiquitous and essential part of the Tower Lands’ economy. Halish slavery is not the chattel slavery of Earth’s Atlantic slave trade, but it is nevertheless a deeply cruel and inhumane practice. Slaves are routinely forced to work in brutal conditions and abused in countless ways.

It is assumed that players won’t want to play as slave owners or slave traders. However, they may want to do things like buying the freedom of slaves. For such cases, a typical commoner in decent health without any specialized skills can usually be bought out of slavery for about 300 Đ. People with specialized skills may cost as much as double, and those of formerly high birth, triple or more.

Some Gods

These are but a few of the innumerable gods worshiped in the Tower Lands--some of the most important, invoked by various names throughout the realm by common folk and high lords alike.

Toth

The sun, one of the higher beings. One of the most important gods, worshiped throughout the realm. Involved in harvest rites, husband to Rohesia.

Caina

The bright moon, known more commonly as Cradle in this age--the relation between the two names is unclear. A maiden sacrificed to Leviathan who Toth pitied and placed in the heavens to spare her. Leviathan reaches for her still, causing the tides.

Mal Maial

God of night, stars, and sleep, one of the higher beings. Husband of Caina, who married her to keep her safe from Leviathan and give her comfort in her grief. His embrace causes her phases.

Rohesia

Goddess of rain, fertility, and plants, one of the higher beings, wife of Toth. The main harvest god, probably the most popular in the realm.

Arai

Dour, secretive god of stone and metal, one of the higher beings. Invoked with libations and blood offerings for blessings of wealth.

Leviathan

God of the sea and bringer of ocean storms, parent of the countless sea beasts who bear its name. One of the higher beings, fierce and destructive, placated by sailors with offerings before voyages.

Ragahur

God of beasts, one of the higher beings. Placated by herders with offerings from the flock; invoked by hunters and haruspices, who seek omens in the wounds of savaged prey animals. One of the gods most likely to have been absorbed from old raun religion, to the point that even most Halish priests will admit it.

Rune

Goddess of knowledge, one of the higher beings. Said to know everything that has ever happened, but content to observe the world rather than rule. Mostly invoked by scholars and sorcerers.

Scarlet Vash

Dual-aspected god, said to change freely between masculine and feminine. Sometimes said to be a higher being, other times a revered ancestor. Capricious god of sex and bloodshed, bringer of passion to mortals, whether lustful desire or murderous rage.

The Crow

Collector of the dead, who guides souls to their final destinations and conducts offerings by the living to their revered ancestors. One of the higher beings, said to appear in the shape of a legendary winged beast with black feathers.

Old Beleg

A revered ancestor who watches over travelers. He is said to have walked every path in every realm and been to the very edge of the world. His symbol is a knotted cord, representing the links between all places and the bonds between all people.

Fevered Lodra

A revered ancestor, said to be the first inheritor of medicine among the Halish and patron of all doctors. Invoked to banish impurity with fire, strong liquor, and the bark of the anath tree, which serves as her talisman.

Demara the Compassionate

A revered ancestor, a highborn lady who gave up everything to comfort and care for the outcast and the cursed. Patron of those unfortunate souls, and goddess of mercy and charity, which makes her an unsavory figure to the nobility.

Joda the Burnt

A revered ancestor, credited as the first inheritor of the smithing arts. She stole the secret of iron from Arai, and was punished with fire. Ever since, those who seek to master smithing must suffer the heat of the flames as recompense.

Starchaser Rendil

A revered ancestor, believed to have first inherited the art of shipbuilding. As a child, he fell in love with a star and sought to build a vessel to carry him to where the night sky met the distant water. None know whether he ever reached his distant love, for he never returned from his final voyage. Even now, he is invoked both by shipwrights and those who long to be with someone far away.

Aigon, the First Master

A revered ancestor, founder of the earliest traditions that would become the basis of the High Arts of war, and still honored as patron of them all. While Joda is usually invoked as the bringer of smithing to mortals, some credit Aigon with first obtaining the art of swordmaking, which he bargained for from a higher being whose name is now lost.

Foes of the Tower Lands: Weapons

Cauldronborn

Gather the dead. Render them down until body mixes with body. Pour and press the mixture into shape; armor and bone help provide structure.

The proper spells render them pliable. They make for an obedient and utterly fearless fighting force, though limited in application by their lack of intellect. They will march tirelessly, day and night. Supply is little concern while they have fresh meat within reach. Putting them onto ships is ill-advised; they cannot sail, and crews transporting them are liable to become food.

Kalis the Afflictor is famous for using them as a backbone of his armies. Beneath the Weeping Cities, the vats of the Unseen Tower churn ceaselessly. After battles, his Charnel Maidens stalk the bloody fields, choosing from among the slain. In lands beyond, his black-shrouded corpse merchants are known by their carts pulled by night steeds. Selling to them is forbidden, but they offer prices to tempt the desperate.

Strength d8 [HD 2], speed 30', AC 2 [as chain], spear or blade, morale 12.

Chimera

No two are alike. Claw, fang, beak, tail, wing, stinger--flesh is as clay to shape with the power of the gods.

Sariel breeds them with loving care, deep in the untouched places of Elys, her favored children. Others are less lucky, their makers not so kind.

Start with: horse-sized quadruped, strength d8 [HD 4], speed 40', unarmored, slam [as mace], morale 7.

Roll 1d4 exploding. Roll 1d20 that many times. Unless otherwise noted, duplicates stack.

1. Small. -1 step strength [-2 HD], +10' speed.

2. Large. +1 step strength [+2 HD].

3. Sharp teeth in 1 mouth. Bite [as sword].

4. Claws on 1 limb [as sword].

5. Thick hide. +1 AC. Doesn't stack.

6. Scales. +2 AC. Doesn't stack.

7. Extra leg. +5' speed.

8. Arm with grasping hand. For each arm after the second, 1 extra melee attack action per round.

9. One less leg. -5' speed.

10. Slithering tail. Can't be knocked off-balance.

11. Prehensile tail.

12. Stinging tail. As dagger, poisoned on 5-in-6 [save vs. poison], dead in 1 round.

13. Gills.

14. Fins. Swim speed twice movement speed.

15. Vestigial wings. Jump up to twice movement speed.

16. Functional wings. -1 step strength, fly speed twice movement speed.

17. Chameleonic. Can turn invisible while motionless.

18. Breath weapon, poison gas. As Cloudkill once per day.

19. Extra head. 1 extra action per round.

20. Intelligent, speaks.

Hekatonkhier

Among the Storm Knights who partake of the gift of Interface, few dare to tread beyond the Path of Vitra, to attempt the most radical departures from the human form. Most cannot bear the burden of existing in a body so reshaped, their minds breaking under the strain. Hungering for more, they prey on their own, tearing their brethren limb from limb for new steel to add to their hulking forms.

Though it drives them mad, they find the strength they seek. They are knights still, and so their brethren prefer to capture them alive, releasing them on the battlefield to find honorable deaths.

Strength d10 [HD 6], speed 40', AC 3 [as plate], large blade [as greatsword], morale 12. Attacks twice per round.

Jade Blight

No one remembers what mad sorcerer first unleashed it.

In shaded caves, damp ruins, and polluted battlefields, green mass spreads, feeding on rot. Those thinking themselves safely out of reach will find themselves pursued, grasping pseudopods reaching for every ounce of organic matter. What it cannot eat, it takes, filling discarded armor to walk with speed it cannot achieve on its own, taking up weapons to cripple its prey beyond fleeing.

They say if it touches you, your only hope is swift amputation.

Strength d4 [HD 1], speed 10', unarmored, touch attack, morale 12. Immune to normal weapons. Creatures touched must amputate or dissolve into more Jade Blight in 1 minute.

Blightwalker: Strength d6 [HD 2], speed 30', AC 1 [as leather], sword or touch attack, morale 12. On destruction, collapse back into Jade Blight.

Juggernaut

Engines of war from some long-forgotten past age, ramming heads formed in the likeness of great beasts atop crushing wheels. The secrets of their making are lost, but those that remain are prized. Led to battle in chains, they are turned toward the enemy and released. Their own caretakers offer prayer before them, throwing prisoners or, when desperate, their own comrades under the wheels to placate the wrathful gods within.

Under layers of iron plating, they are said to bleed.

Strength d10 [HD 6], speed 60', AC 3 [as plate], ram [as giant's weapon], morale 12.

Mimic

No one knows how they are born. They are weak at first. Small, fragile things of little intelligence, taking shape of inanimate objects for camouflage. They hunt opportunistically, snatching small animals that pass near and digesting them slowly.

As they eat, they grow, in size and in intellect. Camouflage among rocks and old pottery is abandoned to hunt in animal shape. Some, the oldest, are lucky enough to devour a human. Only then do they begin to reach their adult stage. When full grown, none can distinguish them from the real thing until they drop the mask.

The powerful will kill to acquire a young one alive, for it is said they can be made into perfectly obedient spies and assassins--provided one has enough truly loyal servants to offer as food.

Infant: Strength d4 [HD 1-1], speed 10', AC 1 [as leather], bite [as dagger], morale 4. Can assume the forms of inanimate objects. Anything that touches them becomes stuck fast and is slowly digested, 1 wound [1d6 damage] per turn.

Young: Strength d6 [HD 1], speed 30', AC 1 [as leather], bite [as dagger], morale 6. Can assume the forms of animals up to human size. Digesting prey leaves them motionless and vulnerable.

Adult: Strength d8 [HD 3], speed 30', AC 1 [as leather], weapon or unarmed strike, morale 7. Can assume any human or raun form. Digesting prey leaves them motionless and vulnerable.

Rust Beast

They have long escaped the cells of whatever laboratory first produced them, and now roam wild. Sages theorize that they were created from skrik stock. Where the bite of their ancestors paralyzed flesh, however, theirs dissolves metal, breaking it down into a form they can consume.

They are little threat to the living unless cornered. Nevertheless, armies live in fear of an infestation turned loose in their camps.

According to legend, those that manage to consume relic blades take on the ancient prowess and bloodlust of their food.

Strength d6 [HD 1], speed 30', AC 1 [as leather], bite [as dagger] or antenna, morale 5. On antenna hit, held and worn metal items dissolve into rust. Magical items resist on 5-in-6.

Singing Stone

Their name comes from the humming that surrounds them when awake, ringing ears and vibrating ribs.

There have been but a handful discovered, every one hoarded jealously by the Lords. One alone, when deployed, can turn the tide of a battle.

Strength d12 [HD 10], fly 60', AC 3 [as plate], starfire [as Fireball], morale 12. Attacks 3 times per round.

Two Cults

Harry Corr

Archon Aspirants

No one truly knows what god or daemon the great idols lying toppled across the landscape are meant to depict. They have the shapes of humans, but few can look upon their monstrous masks and be unafraid.

The few ancient texts which speak of them are sealed by Thronecult edicts so strict that none now remember the reason for them. They speak of a priesthood who once served the great Demiurges. Of the awesome power these gods of war once wielded. Of how, in a time of need, the Archons would wake the sleeping titans and call upon them to walk.

Those who dare to follow in the Archons' footsteps take their name, seeking the lost knowledge of how to wake the idols. Those discovered by the Lords are put to death. For it is said that those who walk the Archon's path shall be bound forever by the dark destiny of a cruel angel....

Abilities and equipment as relic hunters.

Black Blades

All are raun. None will share their secrets with one of the Skyborn, on pain of death.

They trace their origin to the Zoah. Those in the Tower Lands today have been long cut off from their forebears by the Stormwall, save for the few who make the journey by ship. They wage their war still, in secret. Traveling as solitary preachers, they move among raun communities on this side of the Wall, spreading the truth to those who will listen.

They alone remember what was lost--what the Skyborn took from them. How the world was broken. How the gods were butchered. They see how the Skyborn teem and multiply even now, a plague that walks and speaks. How the raun of the Tower Lands are deceived. How they forget.

The Black Blades will remind them. And when they remember, the gods shall be avenged.

Strength d6 [Fighter 4], speed 30', unarmored, staff or Black Blade kindred, morale 9. Master fighters. 3d6 Đ.

Often accompanied by raun disciples (as bandits).

Black Blade Kindred

A buglike creature about the size of a spread hand, with six spindly, three-jointed legs like grasping fingers, no visible head, and a thin tail ending in a foot-long black stinger. On the underside of the body, a slit opens into an orifice from which several thin nervous tendrils can extend. A raun skilled in kinbonding can connect with it by this means. Within the Tower Lands, only the Black Blades themselves still know of this technique.

When wielded by a kinbonder, the legs grasp the forearm and the tail rests in the wielder's hand. From there it can extend to a surprising 30' length, functioning like a whip, with the stinger as a blade. Any stung are poisoned, dead in 1 round on 5-in-6 [save vs. poison].

If not bonded to a wielder, dies in 1 week.

The Black Blades are sworn never to wield their kindred against another raun, nor use any edged or piercing weapon against one, even in self-defense. They will always seek to resolve conflicts with raun nonviolently. If pressed, they will resort to their staves, fighting to disable.

Warfare

Armies

There are no standing armies in the Tower Lands. Armies are assembled as gatherings of feudal retinues; each lord calls on their knights, who call on their friends among the peasantry and their slaves to accompany them, all with whatever wargear and provisions they can afford to bring from their homes. Each liege is responsible for paying their own retinue, usually from shares of whatever pay they receive from their own liege.

By longstanding tradition inherited from Old Kingdom law, every house in the realm is required to maintain, at minimum, a spear, helmet, and shield, and to provide one able conscript at their liege's request. While villagers still train with regular formation drills just in case, in practice, most lords will only conscript from among their serf farmers as a last resort, since that means fewer people to work the land and pay taxes. Most soldiers are drawn from the freefolk, with well-off town houses maintaining sometimes significant wargear and training their youth for service. These semi-professional fighters form the backbone of most Halish armies.

A single knight with their retinue is called a lance; this is the smallest level of organization in a Halish army. A lance is a logistical grouping, not a tactical one, used mainly when describing the overall strength of an army. The traditional lance is composed of a mounted knight in heavy armor; a second cavalier in medium or light armor, who might be lowborn or a highborn squire learning from a veteran; three or four foot soldiers with medium or light armor; two lightly armored archers; and at least two slave porters, one each for the knight and the second cavalier. In addition to their warhorse, the knight traditionally brings a riding horse and a pack horse, and the second cavalier brings another pack horse. Today, with the collapse of the Old Kingdom's military economy, most knights would be lucky to field such a retinue. More realistically, most modern lances include an armored knight with a warhorse and a pack horse, three or four lightly armored foot soldiers, an archer, and perhaps two slaves or other support personnel.

A group of lances under a single lord is called a company, with the lord taking the role of captain. This is the main tactical grouping of a Halish army. When arranging for battle, a captain usually won't deploy their lances as lances, but will instead break up each type of soldier--light cavalry, heavy cavalry, archers, and infantry--into one or more tactical groups called cohorts, each led by a sergeant. Traditional wisdom is that you need one sergeant for every cohort of ten warriors. The Tower Lands are hilly enough that cavalry battle is often impractical, so knights train for mounted and foot combat equally and may deploy in either role; when fighting as infantry, they'll often serve as sergeants of infantry cohorts.

Armies larger than a handful of companies--that is, a few hundred to a couple thousand fighters all told--are rare in the present age. Where a lord calls up their knights in force, leaving few to guard their lands, they might have an impractically large company; in that case, they'll often break up their force into several companies captained by their favored retainers. If such a group of companies is part of a larger army, rather than an army in its own right, it's called a battalion.

Quite often, an army won't be drawn up entirely by a single lord from their own vassals; lords going to war love to call on their friends to join in and bring their forces along. When this happens, if there isn't a clear hierarchy among the lords joining in, supreme command of the army usually falls to the one whose idea the campaign was. However, fights between lords over who's in charge are one of the most common ways Halish armies dissolve.

Logistics and Strategy

Every army lives and dies by its baggage train. Camp servants, porters, and quartermasters--most of whom are usually slaves--are a vital element of any force, and prime targets for attack.

When an army is on campaign, soldiers with scouting and wilderness experience will be deployed as vanguards, ranging ahead of the main force to harass the enemy, targeting their supplies, their stragglers, and their morale. This often involves burning villages and killing farmers who the enemy would rely on to supply them. One of the most important pieces of strategic wisdom every Halish lord learns is, "The best place for any army is on someone else's land." This way, when the enemy--or, indeed, your own soldiers--go around pillaging local villages for supplies, it'll be someone else's serfs they're doing it to.

When an enemy shows up on your doorstep with an army, they're traditionally supposed to come right to you, call you out of your citadel, call you a bitch, and challenge you to come out and fight them. If you refuse, they might park their army down at your doorstep and dig in for a siege, at which point you'd better hope you either have enough supplies to outlast them or have some way of getting more that they don't know about. Alternatively, or at the same time if they can spare the forces, they might go riding around your lands burning down your farms and killing your serfs, hoping to force you to come out and deal with them before they leave your fief a barren wreck that won't make you any money. Only if they're very confident and have the right siege equipment will they try to attack your walls; defense is always much easier than offense.

Skipping the "riding up to your doorstep and calling you a bitch" step and going straight to the "riding around murdering your serfs" step is considered a dick move, but it happens fairly often.

Tactics

The most important thing to understand about Halish warriors is that they are fucking stupid. The Halish don't go in much for things like "strategy" and "planning" and "force organization"; they find all that stuff super lame. Battles are, first and foremost, opportunities for knights to demonstrate their personal prowess, shed lots of blood, and win glory. Concerns like strategic objectives and state interests are distant second priorities, if they think about them at all.

Usually, when two Halish armies meet in the field, the battle will start out with infantry forming opposing shield walls and marching toward one another, with archers taking shots from the flanks and light cavalry, if present, doing ride-by harassment with javelins. Meanwhile, the heavy cavalry, if present, will gather in their cohorts and get ready to charge the enemy's infantry line. If both armies have heavy cavalry, the two will usually meet in the middle of the field, at which point things will dissolve into a bloody, chaotic melee with zero organization or tactics beyond every knight fighting to unhorse as many opponents as possible. This is most knights' favorite part of a battle.

Whichever side wins the melee will rally and continue to charge the enemy infantry, which will often rout at about this point. Whether they hold their ground or not, the cavalry will slam into their lines and cut down as many as possible, killing anyone who tries to break and flee. This is most knights' second-favorite part of a battle. Those who get away will be mopped up by the light cavalry and archers.

If the cavalry melee has left the winner weakened enough that the enemy's infantry can hold off their charge, they'll break off and circle back behind their infantry line to rest. Knights consider it super lame to have to do this. The infantry lines will then finally meet, at which point the shield walls will push against each other and try to break open gaps to cause a rout. Victory at this point is determined by the morale and mutual trust of each infantry force; whoever breaks first loses. Those who flee can be cleaned up by the winning infantry, archers, and light cavalry.

If the terrain doesn't permit cavalry battle, things will basically proceed with those steps skipped. However, most knights find fighting in infantry formations turbo-mega lame, so they'll often rush off ahead to meet the enemy's knights ahead of the line and fight things out in duels. This is when they get to bust out all the fancy martial arts they spend so much time practicing.

No knight with any semblance of honor will ever, ever accept being deployed anywhere but the very front of an army during battle. This insistence has lost countless battles that could have been won. Knights would much rather lose gloriously than win by being lame.

You might be asking, are Halish knights all suicidal? Sort of, but not as much as it might sound. Keep in mind that with their heavy armor, and the prevalent tradition of capturing enemy knights to ransom rather than just executing them, knights are relatively unlikely to actually die in battle (at least compared to common soldiers, and no one cares about them). Nevertheless, being fearless and accepting of death is a huge virtue in Halish warrior culture. A knight whose liege dies in battle is expected to die with them, by their own sword if necessary; failing to do so is a grave dishonor, worthy of becoming an outcast.

Of course, that's all well and good in theory, but in practice, many knights who lose their lieges do choose not to go through with the whole honor-suicide part. Those knights tend to gather up their surviving followers and join mercenary companies of others like them, who end up forming an unsavory but vital resource for lords needing to strengthen their forces. Or they become bandits.

August Blog Bandwagon: Setting Pitch for the Tower Lands

We're doing setting pitches this month, so here's mine. I've been writing a lot about the Tower Lands lately, so hopefully this'll be a helpful summary for anyone just joining in.

As Mr.Mann has already pointed out, any good setting has more than one pitch. There's the ground-level view you give to players to get them on board with an adventure, there's the big overview you give to refs, and there's the behind-the-curtain commentary that dispenses with the flowery prose and puts everything in context. I'm gonna address each of these in order, plus the ever-popular Appendix N.

The Player Pitch

The caves of Roa Village are the only world you’ve ever known. Stone above, stone below. Humanity numbers five hundred and sixteen souls since Ged and Lani had their baby last week. By glowshroom’s light, you spend your wake-shifts in search of the earth’s bounty: gold and silver, iron and tin, and above all, the Glimmer, that sparkling treasure with its soft green luminescence, every find a blessing.

Under Chief Belar’s watchful eye and the masked gazes of the acolytes, the fruits of your labor are offered up to the gods, carried into the temple and never seen again. The elders speak of a world above where the gods dwell, a place of a thousand colors and a hundred thousand lights, where there are no walls and no ceiling. When someone asks if it really exists, the elders only shrug. All know better than to speak of it in front of the chief, or else earn lashes for turning their thoughts from work.

Three sleep-shifts ago, a whisper began to circulate. One of the deep teams uncovered something unbelievable: a new tunnel, unknown on any of the maps. Walls not of rock but of metal, gleaming silver, and light, not glowshrooms or even firelight, but a strange pale radiance from some unknown source.

You scarcely dared believe it…but there it is before your eyes. A fissure in the rock, and within, those gleaming silver walls, smoother than those of any cave.

What secrets do they hold?

The Ref Pitch

The Tower Lands are part of the continent of Urd, on the world of Arai. Their name comes from the Towers of the Gods, five enormous, ancient structures said to have been built by the primordial First Ones who shaped the world ages ago. The rulers of the Tower Lands are the Deathless Lords, five immortal sorcerer-kings who each control one of these Towers. With mighty magics and wondrous relics at their command, served by power-mad sorcerers and enchanted superhuman warriors, the Deathless Lords are worshiped by the common people as gods in their own right.

The sages call the present age the Interregnum--a fallen age. Centuries of war between the Deathless Lords for control of the realm have left the Tower Lands shattered. Beyond the walls of the great cities that gather at the feet of the Towers, villages shine as points of light amid deadly wilderness, surrounded by their ruined neighbors. Armies march on campaigns spanning generations, no longer remembering who or what they fight for, burning all in their path. Desperate bandits, hungry beasts, treacherous daemons, and magical weapons now beyond the Deathless' control stalk the roads. Few dare to travel far from their homes, though things are little better in settled places. The lords who serve the Deathless feast off the labor of serfs and slaves. Bloodthirsty knights take what they want at the point of a sword. Corrupt temples bleed the people of tribute. Those unfortunate enough to lose their lands and families, to be touched by curses, or to speak out against their oppressors are cast out, left to fend for themselves.

The Tower Lands are about the size of Greece. The landscape is varied, but in broad terms, it's warm, dry, mountainous, and coastal--like the northern Mediterranean, though the plants and animals mostly aren't those of Earth. The aesthetics and culture are a mishmash of classical, medieval, and pulp sword-and-sorcery trappings. Knights wear plate armor and wield longswords and polearms, while gunpowder is unknown. Feudal sorcerer-warlords rule walled cities maintained by slave labor. People offer sacrifices to legions of gods great and small under the instruction of secretive cults.

Ruins of the First Ones and countless ages since litter the landscape. Within lie forgotten treasures, powerful relics, and lost secrets. Such wonders speak of a better past, a time when people lived in peace, prosperity, and hope. Those brave enough to seek them must contend with devious traps, ancient guardians, and baleful curses, but the rewards can be great. The Deathless Lords covet the treasures of the ancients, while intrepid relic hunters risk all to claim what they can carry.

The people of the Tower Lands call themselves the Halish, hundreds of tribes and clans united by shared language and customs. Most are human. There are also the raun, the horned folk. Many raun live within Halish communities and embrace that culture, and those who do are generally accepted as Halish in their own right. Others keep to their own enclaves in border villages and nomad bands, where they are said to keep strange, barbaric traditions and worship false gods.

Though the Towers are the most spectacular symbols of the gods' power in the world, perhaps the most truly wondrous is Dust. This substance, gathered from ancient sites or refined from rare minerals at holy shrines, is said to be the First Ones' wisdom in physical form. Using the art of tuning, sorcerers imbibe Dust to partake of that divine wisdom, engraving their will upon it with secret meditations, chants, and hand signs and unleashing its power to bend the elements and occult forces to their service. The Deathless Lords and their servants covet Dust above all other treasures; so highly is it valued that the common folk use it as currency in trade.

In a village deep underground, mine slaves who have never seen the sky unearth a strange new chamber. Within lie wonders beyond their imagining, and dangers that may be their end. For those who survive, a path awaits into the world beyond, to stand beneath all the lights in the sky and, perhaps, to challenge the gods themselves...

The Real Talk

The Tower Lands are secretly a sci-fi post-apocalypse. Not the gonzo rayguns-and-wizards mishmash kind, at least not overtly--more the Dying Earth sufficiently-advanced-technology vibe. The power of the ancients genuinely looks like fantasy magic even to us as a modern audience, and all the sci-fi is masked with an archaic surface aesthetic or else so weird that it's not clearly recognizable.

Arai is an alien planet; the raun are the indigenous sapients. The First Ones were humans who came from a spacefaring civilization and built a bunch of shit before that civilization collapsed or somehow fell out of contact. Dust is nanotech that tuners program with bio-hacking. The relics of the ancients include power armor ("enchanted plate") and particle beam rifles ("magic staves"). Daemons are AIs. No one alive now remembers this, not even the Deathless, who came around long, long after it happened; some raun cultures who preserve the most of their ancient history will say that they were here in the Tower Lands first and humans came from elsewhere, but that's the most they know. If you're running stuff in the Tower Lands, don't tell the players this, and don't go out of your way to drop obvious hints; let it be background for them to work out if they care.

The Tower Lands started out years ago as my attempt to build a D&D setting that broadly conformed to the basic assumptions of the game and took the premises in interesting directions. D&D has always been a game with a by-default post-apocalyptic setting, with points-of-light settlements amid howling empty wilderness, littered with ruins of past glorious ages hiding forgotten treasure. That's the place I started from.

The main twist I introduce is that the PCs the players actually play aren't the first group of "PCs" to come around in the world--that's what the Deathless Lords are. They all started out as adventurers exploring the megadungeons of the Tower Lands, the Towers themselves, and eventually did what all good adventurers do, take the motherfuckers over and establish them as their own strongholds. With all that power and treasure, they graduated to domain play, and now the PCs are living in their campaign world, at the bottom of the social ladder they've climbed and enforced through violence and conquest--again, like all good PCs.

The Deathless being PCs is also why they're all so batshit fucking crazy.

You may have noticed that the player pitch doesn't really include almost any of the information from the ref pitch. See, I sort of lied: there really is no "player pitch for the Tower Lands." One of my favorite things in fantasy is worlds that aren't what they seem at first glance--I adore the feeling of picking up a new story and thinking, "okay, I see what this is doing," and then turning the page and going, "what, WHAT?" The Tower Lands, with its whole secret sci-fi history, is meant to facilitate that experience. This informs how I present it to players: incompletely, like the Three Blind Men with the Elephant.

The starting adventure introduced by the pitch above, with the players as underground-dwelling mine slaves who have no idea the surface world exists, is meant to give them an entry point to the world knowing practically nothing about it. They can then discover the world along with their characters through play. So they don't get a pitch that explains the broad outlines of the world to them. They're thrown into the dungeon of the starting adventure, and if they survive and make it to the end, they're thrown even harder out into the wider world and literally see the sky for the first time. It's a moment that's meant to provoke two responses: "Holy shit, this world is not what we thought it was," and, "Who the fuck is responsible for keeping this from us?" That's how play starts.

One very important part of the secret history is that no one will ever know what the First Ones' civilization was actually like. There will never be a clear answer for whether they were violent colonizers who broke the world or peaceful explorers whose creations have only become weird and dangerous because of whatever collapse happened. This is intentional. The First Ones represent that lost glorious past every D&D setting is obsessed with, but as we've all become more aware of as the discourse around fantasy has evolved, that past is often not as glorious as some would like to think. The Deathless Lords themselves and the whole society they've built are obsessed with the First Ones' glorious past, worshiping them and cursing the present age for falling from the heights they achieved. The Deathless Lords are also assholes. Does that mean the First Ones were too? It's undeniable that the First Ones were powerful, but does that mean their age is something the PCs should aspire to restore, or is everyone better off moving on and letting the past die? I don't know, and I'm never going to decide for the players. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the past really was--what matters is what the people of the present, including the PCs, do with the world that past has shaped.

Appendix N

In chronological order by first publication.

• A Princess of Mars (literature, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1912)
• The Dying Earth (literature, Jack Vance, 1950)
• Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (literature, Fritz Leiber, 1970)
• Berserk (manga, Kentaro Miura, 1989)
• Dark Sun (RPG materials, TSR, 1991)
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (animation, Gainax, 2007)
• Infinity Blade (video game, Chair Entertainment, 2010)
• Kill Six Billion Demons (webcomic, Tom Parkinson-Morgan, 2013)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (video game, Nintendo, 2017)
• NieR: Automata (video game, Platinum Games, 2017)
• Jujutsu Kaisen (manga, Gege Akutami, 2018; animation, MAPPA, 2020)
• Elden Ring (video game, FromSoftware, 2022)