Well, the ACKS game is launching hopefully in the next 4-5 days. It's crunch time as far as prep goes. Have enough setting fleshed out; time to build a dungeon. It was going to be a small dungeon... but after writing the specs for it, I'm not sure I'm going they're compatible with that aim. So the time has come to dust off BtBG's megadungeon resources (though I'm really looking at a mediodungeon), and to break out the graph paper...
Hey cool, I found a reasonable use case for traps and secret doors. Dear players: you may wish to consider bringing one or more of the following: thief, elf, ten-foot pole. It is worth noting that one of these things does not want a share of the treasure and won't steal your stuff.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Freeport
No, not that Freeport. Well, actually kind of.
The primary port and largest settlement of the Shieldlands is Freeport, located at the mouth of the Tongue. It's a lawless, pirate town without much in the way of government; technically there's a mayor, one Redjack, but he's a retired pirate himself and there's not a whole lot of power that comes with the office. The remnants of his crew make up a nominal police force, but... they're pirates. People, including thieves and cultists, mostly do as they please, and a body in the gutter is by no means an uncommon sight. Naturally, this makes the place somewhat popular with merchants moving questionable merchandise, provided they can provide for their own protection.
Freeport was not always so free.
Before the Zaharan cataclysm, Freeport was the seat of the merciless House of Nacht. The nearest humans to Zahar, they paid tribute to it and worship to its gods, and were greatly favored, to the point of marrying into the Zaharan nobility. In time, their sorcery grew strong enough that they raised a castle of solid black stone from the earth beneath Freeport itself, and in the labyrinthine catacombs beneath it they performed rituals most foul. When the Zaharan War came, they stood with the Zaharans, and paid the price. It is unknown whether any survived, but their legacy remains in the looming form of Castle Nacht over Freeport Harbor. The castle is now thoroughly haunted; pirates and cultists alike go in, seeking forgotten treasures and ancient knowledge, and those that come out tell terrible tales of the walking dead and fouler things. Their stories are occasionally verified when things that were imprisoned in the bowels of the castle get out into town... [Meta note - I'm looking to make the basements of Castle Nacht a smallish megadungeon type thing. In due time.]
It is well known that several chaos cults to the myriad chaotic powers are active in the seedy underbelly of Freeport, but which ones are anyone's guess. Cults come and go in an ideologically-consistent random fashion. Fortunately, much of their scheming is directed against each other, though the city's poor often feel the sting of their sacrificial blades. It is unknown whether there is something in the Castle that draws cultists naturally, or if at this point it's just an established cultural institution. No significant outside force has attempted to eradicate the cults with any success since the War, though individuals have certainly carried out bloody vendettas against individual cells, which are soon replaced.
Caravans through Freeport are highly uncommon; to the south lies blistering desert, and while to the north are festering mires. Riverine and sea travel are about the only ways into and out of the city. Boats traveling upriver are most often headed up the north fork to Deal and Ironbridge, while ships out the bay are usually bound for Dardantus or Soros. Small coastal schooners occasionally run north to Fishtrap (though the rumors of that place are fell), and to Myrmidia beyond. Most reputable merchant cartels avoid moving cargo through Freeport, leaving that risky business to independent captains.
In short: as dangerous a city as they come... but a class II market, which means you might actually be able to buy or sell permanent magic items there.
The primary port and largest settlement of the Shieldlands is Freeport, located at the mouth of the Tongue. It's a lawless, pirate town without much in the way of government; technically there's a mayor, one Redjack, but he's a retired pirate himself and there's not a whole lot of power that comes with the office. The remnants of his crew make up a nominal police force, but... they're pirates. People, including thieves and cultists, mostly do as they please, and a body in the gutter is by no means an uncommon sight. Naturally, this makes the place somewhat popular with merchants moving questionable merchandise, provided they can provide for their own protection.
Freeport was not always so free.
Before the Zaharan cataclysm, Freeport was the seat of the merciless House of Nacht. The nearest humans to Zahar, they paid tribute to it and worship to its gods, and were greatly favored, to the point of marrying into the Zaharan nobility. In time, their sorcery grew strong enough that they raised a castle of solid black stone from the earth beneath Freeport itself, and in the labyrinthine catacombs beneath it they performed rituals most foul. When the Zaharan War came, they stood with the Zaharans, and paid the price. It is unknown whether any survived, but their legacy remains in the looming form of Castle Nacht over Freeport Harbor. The castle is now thoroughly haunted; pirates and cultists alike go in, seeking forgotten treasures and ancient knowledge, and those that come out tell terrible tales of the walking dead and fouler things. Their stories are occasionally verified when things that were imprisoned in the bowels of the castle get out into town... [Meta note - I'm looking to make the basements of Castle Nacht a smallish megadungeon type thing. In due time.]
It is well known that several chaos cults to the myriad chaotic powers are active in the seedy underbelly of Freeport, but which ones are anyone's guess. Cults come and go in an ideologically-consistent random fashion. Fortunately, much of their scheming is directed against each other, though the city's poor often feel the sting of their sacrificial blades. It is unknown whether there is something in the Castle that draws cultists naturally, or if at this point it's just an established cultural institution. No significant outside force has attempted to eradicate the cults with any success since the War, though individuals have certainly carried out bloody vendettas against individual cells, which are soon replaced.
Caravans through Freeport are highly uncommon; to the south lies blistering desert, and while to the north are festering mires. Riverine and sea travel are about the only ways into and out of the city. Boats traveling upriver are most often headed up the north fork to Deal and Ironbridge, while ships out the bay are usually bound for Dardantus or Soros. Small coastal schooners occasionally run north to Fishtrap (though the rumors of that place are fell), and to Myrmidia beyond. Most reputable merchant cartels avoid moving cargo through Freeport, leaving that risky business to independent captains.
In short: as dangerous a city as they come... but a class II market, which means you might actually be able to buy or sell permanent magic items there.
Friday, May 18, 2012
More Notes from the Road
So it turns out that once you start taking notes of names, it becomes a fun habit. Here're some more:
Places:
TODO: write True Sorcery Lite for ACKS. Yeah, that's happening...
As a result of leisure reading and traveling, though, actual prep work for ACKS has suffered. Now I have names and ideas, so things should go faster. Hopefully?
Places:
- The Crazy Mountains
- White Sulfur Springs
- Bear Canyon (gee, I wonder what lives there?)
- Pipestone
- Tobacco Root Mountains
- Anaconda
- A town called Opportunity
- Gold Creek
- Bearmouth Recreation Area
- Beavertail Hill
- Sapphire Mountains
- The town of Superior
- Dry Creek
- Lookout Pass
- Spirit Lake
- Treaty Rock
- Fishtrap
- A town called Deal (sounds like Bartertown to me... this one is definitely seeing use)
- Stampede Pass
- Absaroka
- Tarkio
- Mullen
- Cataldo
- Kootenai
- Kittitas
- Kachess
TODO: write True Sorcery Lite for ACKS. Yeah, that's happening...
As a result of leisure reading and traveling, though, actual prep work for ACKS has suffered. Now I have names and ideas, so things should go faster. Hopefully?
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Notes from the Road - Place Names
I've been doing the annual-ish roadtrip move for the last couple days, so I've had a decent bit of time to think on gaming topics. Not terribly productive, since I'm ever-so-slightly exhausted (haven't had an 8+ hour night of sleep in May so far that I recall, what with final projects and then 8:30 finals and now moving), but better today than yesterday or the day before that.
First, place names. The Midwest has some pretty good ones which may have to see use in ACKS. I submit for your consideration:
I also had some thoughts on linking the availability of the ACKSPC classes to actions in-game, but it's late and I'm tired, so that's a post for another day.
First, place names. The Midwest has some pretty good ones which may have to see use in ACKS. I submit for your consideration:
- White Lake - lakes aren't usually white. Is it white sand, or bubbles, or some eldritch contaminant rendering its waters like unto the Dyne?
- Tongue River - dare I ask... ?
- Crazy Woman Creek - Is it called this because a crazy woman lives here, or as a general statement? The first is more useful; could be a hag, a witch, a sorceress, a whole band of female berserkers... who knows, as long as she's crazy. And crazy folks make great PCs, enemies of PCs, and quest-sources.
- Dead Horse Creek - Maybe somebody's horse died here, or maybe the water kills all horses that it comes into contact with. Or something stranger still.
- Mead Creek - Well, this is an easy one. Readily distinguishable from other creeks by the fact that nothing lives in it and the fumes sometimes ignite during lightning storms. Perhaps it has its source in a dwarven brewery automation project gone awry (but that's Dwarf Fortress talking again).
- The town of Acme - Renowned for the works of its most famous resident, a demented (and possibly not-so-skilled) dwarven machinist. Responsible for Mead Creek?
- The town of Reliance - What do they rely upon, I wonder?
- The Busted Nut Bar and Grill - I kid you not. Probably not going into ACKS, though. Unless it sells a variety of alcohol produced from fermented legumes... ? Now that I'm entertaining the notion, I suppose The Busted Nut Tavern might actually have to be a place.
I also had some thoughts on linking the availability of the ACKSPC classes to actions in-game, but it's late and I'm tired, so that's a post for another day.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Still Alive II: Electric Boogaloo
Finals complete, and now I'm just waiting for mechanical checks on my vehicule before I ship out for the summer. As often happens during studying for finals, I came across a few distractions during the last week:
I've also stumbled across a few balancing features for some of the Player's Companion classes which lead me to think that they might actually be balanced! Notably, the Dwarven Delver, while better than a Thief at its various skills, able to use better weapons, and possessing better HD, lacks two important features: the ability to disarm traps with a roll, and the ability to backstab. Likewise, the paladin, while receiving a number of supernatural features that fighters don't, has only d6 HD and is not proficient with ranged weapons. Medium hit points + melee only... looks like you might need Lay on Hands for yourself, never mind your friends. Dwarven Fury compels me to allow it out of sheer force of dwarfsomeness (it's basically these guys minus mohawks) and, while powerful, has a pretty hefty XP-to-level, so it might be OK. I also quite like the Priestess; better-than-cleric divine casting on a mage chassis (no armor, low HP, weak weapons). There's definitely a niche for those.
Finally, a recent addition, the Venturer, intrigues me as a character concept. It's not dissimilar to Traveller's merchant career; you get social bonuses, price cuts, and market class bonuses. And d4 HD, thief to-hit, and not much in the armor and weapons department. Such a character is a strategic asset, able to secure henchmen and needed equipment with ease, but a tactical liability. Sounds like fun, and I'm really interested in how it fits into ACKS' mid-level region; I think at low levels, it'd be tough to survive and be useful, and at high levels I suspect that they become a bit less useful, but in that 4-8 range I think they could be a lot of fun. As with all 'support' classes, they'd make good henchmen, too (though they drive a hard bargain in hiring...). Kind of a pity they got stuck with a bland name, though.
There are a couple that I'm definitely not permitting, though: Gnomish Trickster and Thrassian Gladiator. Reason: infravision. None of the core races have infravision, in order to keep the party on the same level of light-usefulness (else elven nightblades would utterly outclass thieves, for example). This stance makes light management a definite part of the game, regardless of party composition, unlike in 3e where most of the party would end up with low-light or darkvision except that one guy who played a human and ended up having to carry his own damn torch. Gnome and Thrassian damage that dynamic which was solidly established in core, which is something I kind of want to preserve. The other classes in the Player's Companion mostly leave me kind of eh, except for Barbarian, which has a very neat class feature regarding the Mortal Wounds table. Said feature might make a very nice class proficiency available to most fighting classes, though; it hardly warrants the addition of an entire extra class.
And today, we fight the dragon, and Fjolkir finally dies (or worse). Exciting times.
- First, a fine gentleman by the name of James Jeffers put together a web app for generating random map regions for ACKS in pdf format. Got me some no-terrain maps with a nice smattering of towns and dungeons in thought-provoking patterns (line of towns? River, coast, or main road. Area devoid of any settlements? Inhospitable desert. Cluster of dungeons? Giant cave system). Excited to by finally actually mapping stuff; sometimes a little inspiration via random table is all you need.
- I was looking for this Black Company for summer reading, but found this Black Company instead, along with its knight-commander Florian Geyer. He seems the historical instantiation of a PC if ever there was one. This started a little more research in to the German Peasants' War, which also turned up Götz von Berlichingen, who is similarly very PC-like. It looks like historical 1500s Germany would be a hell of a setting... Guess I'll add that to the "To Run" pile, down there with Iron Heroes and Legend of the Five Rings... (Whatever happened to historical settings, anyways? That's probably its own post, but it'll take a little research first)
- There's now a Stack Overflow equivalent for RPG-related questions. It's mostly 4e and Pathfinder, but also a smattering of other systems and general GMing questions. If you feel like imparting wisdom, or are wondering about something ("Why does the darkness spell block infravision, anyways?"), it's a good time.
- Printed a copy of the ACKS pdf at 1AM while I was working on a research poster in a building with a printer, then picked up a pair of binders for it (one for the players section, one for the DM section). I'd forgotten how nice gaming books in paper can be. Need to print a second table of contents for the DM binder, and I should really graphics-up some covers for them (but that's tricky business without a mouse).
- The ACKS Player's Companion draft 6 released on Kickstarter; more on that below.
I've also stumbled across a few balancing features for some of the Player's Companion classes which lead me to think that they might actually be balanced! Notably, the Dwarven Delver, while better than a Thief at its various skills, able to use better weapons, and possessing better HD, lacks two important features: the ability to disarm traps with a roll, and the ability to backstab. Likewise, the paladin, while receiving a number of supernatural features that fighters don't, has only d6 HD and is not proficient with ranged weapons. Medium hit points + melee only... looks like you might need Lay on Hands for yourself, never mind your friends. Dwarven Fury compels me to allow it out of sheer force of dwarfsomeness (it's basically these guys minus mohawks) and, while powerful, has a pretty hefty XP-to-level, so it might be OK. I also quite like the Priestess; better-than-cleric divine casting on a mage chassis (no armor, low HP, weak weapons). There's definitely a niche for those.
Finally, a recent addition, the Venturer, intrigues me as a character concept. It's not dissimilar to Traveller's merchant career; you get social bonuses, price cuts, and market class bonuses. And d4 HD, thief to-hit, and not much in the armor and weapons department. Such a character is a strategic asset, able to secure henchmen and needed equipment with ease, but a tactical liability. Sounds like fun, and I'm really interested in how it fits into ACKS' mid-level region; I think at low levels, it'd be tough to survive and be useful, and at high levels I suspect that they become a bit less useful, but in that 4-8 range I think they could be a lot of fun. As with all 'support' classes, they'd make good henchmen, too (though they drive a hard bargain in hiring...). Kind of a pity they got stuck with a bland name, though.
There are a couple that I'm definitely not permitting, though: Gnomish Trickster and Thrassian Gladiator. Reason: infravision. None of the core races have infravision, in order to keep the party on the same level of light-usefulness (else elven nightblades would utterly outclass thieves, for example). This stance makes light management a definite part of the game, regardless of party composition, unlike in 3e where most of the party would end up with low-light or darkvision except that one guy who played a human and ended up having to carry his own damn torch. Gnome and Thrassian damage that dynamic which was solidly established in core, which is something I kind of want to preserve. The other classes in the Player's Companion mostly leave me kind of eh, except for Barbarian, which has a very neat class feature regarding the Mortal Wounds table. Said feature might make a very nice class proficiency available to most fighting classes, though; it hardly warrants the addition of an entire extra class.
And today, we fight the dragon, and Fjolkir finally dies (or worse). Exciting times.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Final Projects Week
That lovely moment at 3AM when you realize there are more things due in the next three days than were due in all of April, and that about 45% of your GPA for the semester will be decided in the next week. So I'm doing this, basically. Updates will resume probably next Friday or so.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Lands of the Inner Sea - Myrmidia
North of the Shieldlands on the western coast of the Inner Sea lies the land of Myrmidia. Here the soil is rocky but rich, and the climate is pleasant. It is peopled by a copper-skinned, warlike folk who bore the brunt of the force of the beastman legions during the Zaharan War. As casualties mounted, the then-king Myr made a pact with forces unspeakable, that his bloodline would have many strong sons to stand against the beastmen. His prayers were answered, but perhaps not quite as he had intended; his line was indeed fecund, but from that day forth three out of every four children of his blood were born male. These sons also matured with incredible speed, reaching adulthood at 12 years of age. When the Zaharan War was won, the descendants of Myr quickly came to dominate the other human cultures of the area, forcing them into servitude as serfs (or helots in their tongue), and a proper kingdom was established with Myr's children and their descendants as the armed nobility.
When Myr himself died, though, his many heirs began vying for the throne, each real contender with the backing of a city-state. Shortly thereafter, two unfortunate side effects of Myr's Bargain were discovered. First, Myr's sons were discovered to have a short lifetime commensurate with their rapid maturation; they began dying of old age at around 40 years, and none are known to have survived past 75. This meant that even as they warred for the throne, Myr's successors were themselves dying and their own children fought over their city-states. Second, the shortage of women of Myr's blood put the bloodline in peril, as violence between Myrmidians over "true-blooded" women intensified.
In time Myr's eldest daughter, Iana, grew sick of the civil war, assassination attempts, and marriage proposals and, in proper Myrmidian fashion, decided to re-unify what she considered her rightful kingdom by force. She gathered a group of maidens sympathetic to her cause and vanished into the hills. Several years of training later, she emerged with a cadre of fanatically loyal amazons skilled in spear and bow, and set about retaking cities and extracting oaths of fealty. Time was on her side; as female descendants of Myr neither matured nor aged faster than any other human, she and her warriors had the lifespan for grand strategic maneuvers and could often simply outlive her opposition. She was ultimately successful, and installed herself as the first in a long line of amazon queens which rules to this day. Iana instituted a matriarchal caste system, with female descendants of Myr as the ruling class, male descendants as a warrior caste, and the helots at the bottom. The amazons themselves exist as a kind of bridge; any woman, even a helot or foreigner, may join the amazons, but most are found wanting, and only amazons of Myr's blood are eligible for queenship. After Iana's death, the amazons developed into a sort of ancestor or personal cult worshiping her as a goddess of order, planning, maidens, and law (think kind of Athena meets Artemis; also, game note - "amazon" is a variant bladedancer class). Likewise, the male descendants of Myr worship Myr himself as a paternal deity of war, strength, and vigor. Both groups partake in hero worship for other minor deified and demideified successful ancestors as well. The helots worship a wide variety of pre-Zaharan agricultural gods, who are disdained by the Myrmidians.
As a culture, the Myrmidians remain athletic, warlike, and fiercely independent. Unable to wage war against each other by edict of the queen, the warriors of the city-states instead content themselves with mercenary service to foreigners, raiding parties into the wilderness of Zahar and the Shieldlands, and skirmishes against raiding Skanucks and beastmen. Indeed, mercenaries are one of the region's chief exports, and these myrmidons as they are called are its primary emissaries to the rest of the world. They are widely renowned as soldiers for their discipline, vigor, and skill, and are widely believed to be the best medium infantry that money can hire. They favor round shields embossed with faces and symbols of deities, monsters, or animals, and fight with long spears; many also carry short swords or daggers, but they consider bows unmanly and dishonorable (as those are favored weapons of the amazons). They are usually armored in a breastplate, greaves, and plumed helm, eschewing heavier armor in favor of speed. The extent of Myrmidian metallurgy is bronze and wrought iron; they favor bronze, as the Myrmidian hills are rich in tin and copper.
When not engaged in warfare, the Myrmidians enjoy footraces, spear-throwing, and wrestling. These are, in fact, one of the primary means of selecting mates for noble Myrmidian women, alongside mock combats and tales of great deeds in battle. With a ruthlessly competitive warrior class and a dearth of noblewomen, this ensures that only the most fit of Myr's descendants continue his line. Likewise, among the amazons comprising Myrmidia's administrative nobility, contests of wits, piety, art, philosophy, and fitness are used to determine who gains in rank. This rule applies even to the queenship, though here divine revelation is the most common means of determining the succession. The Myrmidians generally do not mate for life as a result of the large difference in lifespans between males and females. Some noblewomen hold a single tournament and keep a consort indefinitely, while others hold yearly tournaments and change consorts regularly (though repeat winners are not unknown).
The soil of Myrmidia is good, but rocky; tilling and plowing is quite a pain, so instead orchards and vineyards are the primary form of agriculture. Grapes and olives are local favorites, with barley being the primary grain grown in available flat areas. Herding of sheep and goats are also widespread, as are fishing and diving for urchins along the coast. The Myrmidians favor loose, flowing clothes of light wool and sandals.
Myrmidia is well known for its bright, fruity wines and olive oils, and possesses a small fleet of merchant vessels which transport these across the Inner Sea. Pirates are generally loathe to attack such vessels, for the myrmidons are fierce fighters at sea, being unburdened by heavy armor. The queen also maintains a fleet of triremes with skilled crews for transporting large forces quickly (as is sometimes necessary for the pacification of rebellious cities), as well as for engaging Skanuck war fleets at sea when necessary. The Skanucks and the Myrmidians keep a reasonably good humor in such matters; a Skanuck sailor might be aboard a trading ship one season and a raider the next, and friendships made in port sometimes persist even during battle. Gambling debts do too, though, and the Myrmidians are uniformly poor gamblers and liars. The Sorosi and the Myrmidians maintain something of a cold naval war for control of the western Inner Sea; the Sorosi possess more and faster sloops, but they are smaller and less disciplines, while the Myrmidian triremes can crush any one Sorosi vessel, but are trouble engaging. It is widely held that much Sorosi pirate activity in the western Inner Sea is in fact at the behest of the crown as spoiling and scouting measures against the Myrmidian navy.
As noted above, the Sorosi and the Skanucks are both common trading partners of the Myrmidians. The marble dwarves to the west, while close, desire little that the Myrmidians produce, though their steel is greatly valued and demands exorbitant prices. The Myrmidians regard the Shieldlanders as a combination of vagabonds and country bumpkins; many a myrmidon has considered conquering the Shieldlands, but most have decided it wasn't worth putting up with the people. The Dardanians come to Myrmidia most often as employers seeking mercenaries, though their secrecy and love of bloodsport are widely considered distasteful. Myrmidian views on the Talasi are conflicted; while they dislike the Talasi penchant for wizardry, viewing it as weak, the Talasi are one of their primary suppliers of wood and share in the Ianan cult. Likewise, the Urdukhar are religious rivals, as Urduk is the center of the Ashtari bladedancer cult (considered by the amazons to be a rowdy bunch of temple harlots with swords, while the Ashtari consider the Ianans prudes and cowards for fighting with bows). The Myrmidians know of the Sajuk horsemen, and are glad that distance and terrain provide a natural defense against them; their first mercenary engagements against the Sajuk went poorly, and forced the development of a longer style of pike and more coherent formations to counter this foreign cavalry advantage.
In sum: Sparta, but ruled by amazons with divine backing. A good place for fighter or bladedancer PCs to be from. Also good for picking up trade goods, hiring mercenaries, and non-violent contests for a temporarily elevated / noble position. This is, however, a bad place to try to commit crimes (highly mobile, widespread warrior population? Yeeeah... On the plus side, the punishment might just be banishment, which isn't so bad), and also a tough place to try to carve out a kingdom (for that, try the Shieldlands to the south or Skandia to the north).
When Myr himself died, though, his many heirs began vying for the throne, each real contender with the backing of a city-state. Shortly thereafter, two unfortunate side effects of Myr's Bargain were discovered. First, Myr's sons were discovered to have a short lifetime commensurate with their rapid maturation; they began dying of old age at around 40 years, and none are known to have survived past 75. This meant that even as they warred for the throne, Myr's successors were themselves dying and their own children fought over their city-states. Second, the shortage of women of Myr's blood put the bloodline in peril, as violence between Myrmidians over "true-blooded" women intensified.
In time Myr's eldest daughter, Iana, grew sick of the civil war, assassination attempts, and marriage proposals and, in proper Myrmidian fashion, decided to re-unify what she considered her rightful kingdom by force. She gathered a group of maidens sympathetic to her cause and vanished into the hills. Several years of training later, she emerged with a cadre of fanatically loyal amazons skilled in spear and bow, and set about retaking cities and extracting oaths of fealty. Time was on her side; as female descendants of Myr neither matured nor aged faster than any other human, she and her warriors had the lifespan for grand strategic maneuvers and could often simply outlive her opposition. She was ultimately successful, and installed herself as the first in a long line of amazon queens which rules to this day. Iana instituted a matriarchal caste system, with female descendants of Myr as the ruling class, male descendants as a warrior caste, and the helots at the bottom. The amazons themselves exist as a kind of bridge; any woman, even a helot or foreigner, may join the amazons, but most are found wanting, and only amazons of Myr's blood are eligible for queenship. After Iana's death, the amazons developed into a sort of ancestor or personal cult worshiping her as a goddess of order, planning, maidens, and law (think kind of Athena meets Artemis; also, game note - "amazon" is a variant bladedancer class). Likewise, the male descendants of Myr worship Myr himself as a paternal deity of war, strength, and vigor. Both groups partake in hero worship for other minor deified and demideified successful ancestors as well. The helots worship a wide variety of pre-Zaharan agricultural gods, who are disdained by the Myrmidians.
As a culture, the Myrmidians remain athletic, warlike, and fiercely independent. Unable to wage war against each other by edict of the queen, the warriors of the city-states instead content themselves with mercenary service to foreigners, raiding parties into the wilderness of Zahar and the Shieldlands, and skirmishes against raiding Skanucks and beastmen. Indeed, mercenaries are one of the region's chief exports, and these myrmidons as they are called are its primary emissaries to the rest of the world. They are widely renowned as soldiers for their discipline, vigor, and skill, and are widely believed to be the best medium infantry that money can hire. They favor round shields embossed with faces and symbols of deities, monsters, or animals, and fight with long spears; many also carry short swords or daggers, but they consider bows unmanly and dishonorable (as those are favored weapons of the amazons). They are usually armored in a breastplate, greaves, and plumed helm, eschewing heavier armor in favor of speed. The extent of Myrmidian metallurgy is bronze and wrought iron; they favor bronze, as the Myrmidian hills are rich in tin and copper.
When not engaged in warfare, the Myrmidians enjoy footraces, spear-throwing, and wrestling. These are, in fact, one of the primary means of selecting mates for noble Myrmidian women, alongside mock combats and tales of great deeds in battle. With a ruthlessly competitive warrior class and a dearth of noblewomen, this ensures that only the most fit of Myr's descendants continue his line. Likewise, among the amazons comprising Myrmidia's administrative nobility, contests of wits, piety, art, philosophy, and fitness are used to determine who gains in rank. This rule applies even to the queenship, though here divine revelation is the most common means of determining the succession. The Myrmidians generally do not mate for life as a result of the large difference in lifespans between males and females. Some noblewomen hold a single tournament and keep a consort indefinitely, while others hold yearly tournaments and change consorts regularly (though repeat winners are not unknown).
The soil of Myrmidia is good, but rocky; tilling and plowing is quite a pain, so instead orchards and vineyards are the primary form of agriculture. Grapes and olives are local favorites, with barley being the primary grain grown in available flat areas. Herding of sheep and goats are also widespread, as are fishing and diving for urchins along the coast. The Myrmidians favor loose, flowing clothes of light wool and sandals.
Myrmidia is well known for its bright, fruity wines and olive oils, and possesses a small fleet of merchant vessels which transport these across the Inner Sea. Pirates are generally loathe to attack such vessels, for the myrmidons are fierce fighters at sea, being unburdened by heavy armor. The queen also maintains a fleet of triremes with skilled crews for transporting large forces quickly (as is sometimes necessary for the pacification of rebellious cities), as well as for engaging Skanuck war fleets at sea when necessary. The Skanucks and the Myrmidians keep a reasonably good humor in such matters; a Skanuck sailor might be aboard a trading ship one season and a raider the next, and friendships made in port sometimes persist even during battle. Gambling debts do too, though, and the Myrmidians are uniformly poor gamblers and liars. The Sorosi and the Myrmidians maintain something of a cold naval war for control of the western Inner Sea; the Sorosi possess more and faster sloops, but they are smaller and less disciplines, while the Myrmidian triremes can crush any one Sorosi vessel, but are trouble engaging. It is widely held that much Sorosi pirate activity in the western Inner Sea is in fact at the behest of the crown as spoiling and scouting measures against the Myrmidian navy.
As noted above, the Sorosi and the Skanucks are both common trading partners of the Myrmidians. The marble dwarves to the west, while close, desire little that the Myrmidians produce, though their steel is greatly valued and demands exorbitant prices. The Myrmidians regard the Shieldlanders as a combination of vagabonds and country bumpkins; many a myrmidon has considered conquering the Shieldlands, but most have decided it wasn't worth putting up with the people. The Dardanians come to Myrmidia most often as employers seeking mercenaries, though their secrecy and love of bloodsport are widely considered distasteful. Myrmidian views on the Talasi are conflicted; while they dislike the Talasi penchant for wizardry, viewing it as weak, the Talasi are one of their primary suppliers of wood and share in the Ianan cult. Likewise, the Urdukhar are religious rivals, as Urduk is the center of the Ashtari bladedancer cult (considered by the amazons to be a rowdy bunch of temple harlots with swords, while the Ashtari consider the Ianans prudes and cowards for fighting with bows). The Myrmidians know of the Sajuk horsemen, and are glad that distance and terrain provide a natural defense against them; their first mercenary engagements against the Sajuk went poorly, and forced the development of a longer style of pike and more coherent formations to counter this foreign cavalry advantage.
In sum: Sparta, but ruled by amazons with divine backing. A good place for fighter or bladedancer PCs to be from. Also good for picking up trade goods, hiring mercenaries, and non-violent contests for a temporarily elevated / noble position. This is, however, a bad place to try to commit crimes (highly mobile, widespread warrior population? Yeeeah... On the plus side, the punishment might just be banishment, which isn't so bad), and also a tough place to try to carve out a kingdom (for that, try the Shieldlands to the south or Skandia to the north).
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