• The land here can barely support agriculture or pastoralism, so populations are low and stakes are high. Resources are desperately rare here compared to anywhere else in the world.
  
• As far as the book is concerned, the Border Princes has no native population (the Warhammer wiki mentions a few principalities with Greekish names, but Renegade Crowns never references them, so I do now.) Most people in the area are either immigrants from the rest of the world or their children and grandchildren. Since nobody goes there unless they have no other options, the Border Princes is a hive of scum and villainy populated mostly by criminals, opportunists, and oppressed peasants.
  
• These conditions create an excess of population and deficit of land, making bloodshed an always viable option when it comes to survival. If you’re familiar with pond ecology, think that on a societal scale and you have it about right; people are constantly fighting, murdering, betraying, and undermining each other, with nearly every ruler coming to power after killing their predecessor and dying to their successor. However, the presence of orcs, Chaos worshipers, marauding undead, and local monsters keeps them from getting too involved in mutual murder, leading to cooperation between people who hate each other.
  
• For a place that’s kind of a gigantic shithole, the Border Princes has a long and complex history. It’s kind of a graveyard of empires; the area’s seen invasions from Nehekhara (fantasy ancient Egypt, eventually became the Tomb Kings), Araby (fantasy, well, Arabia), and Bretonnia, all of which ended up vanishing into the badlands. Combine the stuff they left behind with dwarven ruins, the aftermath of Chaos activity, and weird crap with no obvious origin and you have some wild stuff hiding out in the hills.
  
• The Border Princes is characterized by those titular princes: a variety of exiles, strongmen, and would-be rulers who constantly fight for control. No matter how powerful they are, everything they work for will have vanished within a few generations their tests. Any Prince you generate has something like a one-in-20 chance of rising through a peaceful transfer of power instead of some flavor of murder; any government in the region lasting more than three generations is literally unheard of. If there’s a single theme running underneath any Border Princes campaign, it’s a failed interplay of trust and power; in order to come to power, a prince has to surround themselves with figures they can trust to carry out their will, but trusting anyone opens them up to betrayal and probable death. “Futility” might also be another underlying theme, since nothing’s going to last more than a few generations anyway. Everything in the Border Princes is temporary, including anything the players achieve. The book straight up says changing the status quote of the Border Princes is impossible. Instead, the PCs are looking for temporal power and wealth, regardless of what it might bring next – tying them neatly into the cynical themes others in the thread have pointed out underlie Warhammer Fantasy.
  
• For the obligatory fluff text, Renegade Crowns tells us the story of one Ilsa, a traveler-turned-Prince, and a bunch of little asides scattered throughout the book. They are kind of generic and spread out, so I’ll summarize her story for you here; she arrives in the Border Princes, complains about the conditions a lot, backstabs her way into power, and dies resenting the guy who backstabbed her. Awesome!
  

• I know this map isn’t especially pretty, but I don’t care.
  
• I am in awe of how fertile this region turned out to be. I mean, I did fudge a few rolls, but I didn’t touch the rolls that gave me grassy hills and plains. Usually a map this size has maybe half as many agriculture-suitable squares. By Border Princes standards this place is practically paradise.
  
• Rivers are (I think) supposed to be just long lines, but I find place names tend to fit awkwardly over hand-drawn borders so I usually just treat rivers like any other terrain type, just following a course instead of laid down like other types. Is there a better way to represent them so it doesn’t look like this river is multiple miles across? Probably. Just imagine the river runs down the middle of those squares and each side has the same terrain type as its neighbors. Also, I ended up fluffing this river as prone to extreme seasonal flooding, so I guess blue squares represent those areas underwater at the river’s height.
  
• A tor is a tall hill with one accessible path up it and a fertile valley represents farmland that’s up to the standards of the rest of the world; both of those are prime locations for urban settlement and will probably be where any towns happen to pop up when we get to that stage of map generation. I’ve never seen that many in a map this size though, holy crap, this map.
  
• Those brown lines represent high cliffs. They aren’t labeled as such in the key because I forgot and only noticed it as I was uploading this post, and like hell am I going to rejigger the layout of all the maps I’ve made for this review to fit one relatively-obvious element in.
  
• I didn’t just lay these sections out on the map in order of when I rolled them; I organized my results to more-or-less evenly space inhabitable areas around the center and fill the areas between them and the sides of the map with more hostile terrain. This will give future princes enough space to hold a core territory and struggle to take over their neighbors while leaving room for monsters and ruins. The results may not be geologically sensible, but the book tells us this is common in the Border Princes and also see the first bullet in the list.
  

• Type: the culture or group that built the ruin. The book describes how each group built their structures, a ruin’s aesthetics, and what generally happened after they abandoned them, covering multiple human cultures, dwarves, cultists, and the occasional Border Princes oddities (everything from ruined magic universities to displaced buildings from halfway across the world to things like ruined versions of a party member’s hometown).
  
• Ancient Menace: the reason why the ruin hasn’t been dismantled yet, with rolls modified by the ruin’s type. These range from supernatural threats like demons through nebulous plot devices down to hillbilly stereotypes (or a one in 20 chance of nothing). The book refuses to define any of these threats beyond what they are and speculation on how you use them, pointing out that a GM probably knows what’s best for their region more than a bunch of random tables. It also provides advice on how these threats might influence the region if they escape the ruin/the GM wants to mix local politics up.
  
• Original Purpose: what kind of building or settlement the ruin used to be, such as a settlement, fortification, or religious structure, with the roll also modified by type. Curiously, Ancient Menace and Original Purpose aren’t connected; you’d think, say, that undead would be more likely to show up in a tomb, but I guess they decided to simplify rolling. Sensible enough. Also curiously, oddities have no entry on this table, which also makes sense since they are supposed to be inexplicable.
  
• Reason: why the ruin ended up abandoned. This section is pretty mundane, just covering stuff like civil war or natural disasters or resource exhaustion, with a small chance of getting something supernatural. This is the only table not influenced by the ruin’s type AND the only one to use a D10 instead of a D100.
  
• Age: when all this took place. This is the only subsection to not use random rolls; instead it includes a timeline and advice for how GMs might slot the ruin into the region’s history.
  

• Old Camer (Khemri, Undead, Fortress, Natural Decay, ~1500): When the Nehekarans first conquered the land that would become the Border Princes, they mostly simply installed satraps that governed and taxed the local populations; the ruins most Cametians call Old Camer were a rare exception. Settled by excess population from the capital city of Khemri (from which the ruins and region both get their names), Nehekharan Camet thrived for centuries, its Khemri immigrants farming the floodplains of the River Vital and freely mixing with the hillfolk who inhabited the region before them. When the Nehekharan civilization declined and pulled back within its borders, Old Camet remade itself as an independent culture and thrived for centuries, only for the Great Spring to become more erratic and permanently flood the River’s banks. Old Camet collapsed under the weight of its own population with its primary food source gone. At some point, a priest (now a folkloric figure called Old Rags) smuggled the secret to raising the dead out of their homeland to make tireless workers and enforcers for the collapsing state, but the presence of undead monsters only sealed the country’s doom and hastened its population turning on it. These days the city has nearly vanished into the swamp, marked only by scattered rubble and skeletons failing to dredge the area out; the only intact structure is the city’s former Citadel, still guarded by the undead. The Khemri have long since vanished as an independent people, but they left their mark in place and personal names among their descendants. To this day, those descendants pass around rumors of the fabulous riches hidden in the old fortress.
  
• Al-Misra/Spiral Town (Arabyan, Plague, Settlement, Policy, ~600): The Arabyans also built their own city when they arrived in Camet; the locals now call it Spiral Town, since even centuries later visitors can see spiraling minarets over the city’s crumbling walls. Compared to its Nehekharan predecessor, Al-Misra was a modest town of herders and foresters, but it housed one unique feature: a small outpost of a major Arabyan wizard society. This outpost proved the town’s doom. Around 600 years ago, some foolish mage summoned a Daemon now called the Spirit of the Mountains into that order’s enclave. The plague it promptly released ravaged the city, emptying it of population within a week. Instead of trying to reclaim the city, Araby opted to abandon the region and focus its forces elsewhere; after sealing the Daemon away, they left Camet to its devices.
  
• Castle March (Recent Human, Daemon, Fortress, Civil War, ~50): After they left, Camet sank into the standard cycle of decay that characterizes the Border Princes. But part of that cycle is the occasional strong personality that can unite a region. The last Prince to unite Camet was a Bretonnian noblewoman called the Marquise who ruled her domain out of a fortification she dubbed Castle March. As is also the pattern, when she died after a quarter-century of peaceful rule her heirs immediately turned on each other and ripped the realm apart. At some point, one heir managed to seize Castle March before the others formed a coalition to take her down; as they mounted a final assault on the walls, that heir revealed her trump card – she had somehow found and compelled the Spirit of the Mountains to fight for. It killed all her foes before turning on her and slaughtering every person in the fortress. If someone were to defeat the Spirit and reclaim Castle March, they would hold possibly the single greatest stronghold in Camet. But until they find a way to do so, the castle sits abandoned, leaking corruption and plague into the surroundings.
  
• Aliyah’s Tower (Arabyan, Weapon, Outpost, Magic, ~600): If they want to do so, they probably ought to start here. As Araby pulled out of Camet, they deployed several elite members of the same order that produced the Spirit to seal it away. They fought it up and down Camet until they lured it into the distant tower of one Aliyah bint Yasmin, the only mage to survive the fall of Al-Misra. Every other wizard there died in the struggle to contain the Daemon before she finally sealed it away. After that, Aliyah disappeared into the Cametian populace, later being made into a folk hero who hunted mutants and cultists of Chaos. Most people in Came know the story, but the details – the location of the tower, how the Spirit was sealed, the actual fate of Aliyah – have long been lost. Finding them again could change the course of Cametian history.
  

• Bandit: someone who did banditry professionally. Pretty obvious. A bit less than one in three princes started out as bandits. They usually come to power violently and get deposed quickly since they rarely have management skills, and they govern in one of two ways; they either operate like they did as independent bandits, using intimidation and violence to make themselves rich, or they try to puff themselves up and present themselves as glorious rulers with grandiose titles. The second approach tends to work better; bandits who try and lay out courts often end up actually thinking about what rulership entails.
  
• Knight: someone who tries to emulate feudalism in their principality and their person; maybe one in five princes fall into this category. Though they tend to look down on their neighbors and hold to unrealistic moral codes (neither of which is mechanically represented, but whatever), there are often the most successful type of prince, since their warrior ethos and habit of drawing out legal codes like whatever feudal society they’re emulating makes for stable and well defended realms. Even if their predecessor wasn’t a knight, anyone who inherited their throne peacefully might qualify as a knight mechanically (yes, princes have stats given, I’ll get to them in a bit) since they’d use the same methods as any other knight. Knights also tend to adopt more modest and feudal-style titles.
  
• Mercenary: a professional fighter who transferred from controlling a band of other professionals to controlling a principality. More than a third of all princes fit in this category, more than any other. These guys usually come to power after either getting stiffed and taking their payment in blood or just using their employees for a Klingon promotion. Most mercenary( tend to run their territory on military lines, with an emphasis on rank and a chain of command, but those that last often drift increasingly towards a knightly rulership style. Most don’t last that long; administering a territory is very different from administrating a military unit, so they often end up deposed the moment they lose control. Mercenaries usually adopt military sounding titles, though they are just as prone to self-aggrandizing titles as everyone else.
  
• Merchant: people here to get rich, together holding maybe 1/20 of the principalities in the region. These guys are the worst of the worst; either they came to the Border Princes fleeing creditors or because they thought conditions there were optimal for making bank without need for morals or ethics. They usually come to power through money (whether by paying off mercenaries or a prince’s followers) and maintain their position by employing mutually-antagonistic mercenary groups and making regular payments. Before an outside force dethrones them or some mercenary inevitably decides to move in, they tend to run their holdings as particularly exploitative businesses and claim medieval-European-urban titles (like mayor or guildmaster).
  
• Politician: anybody who rules through anything other than violence, clocking in at one in 25 princes. These guys usually start out as advisers and courtiers or heirs to previous rulers and control their lands through manipulation and politicking. They never shun violence – this is the Border Princes – but rarely fight directly (which is what separates them from almost every other type of prince). Most politicians’ principalities end up pretty stable if they can take the throne their predecessor already laid the groundwork, but unless they can master military action they often let their military decline enough that their neighbors take over.
  
• Priest: one in 25 princes actually qualifies as a religious figure. Less likely to be on the run from justice or native to the area than almost any other type, priest princes are usually fanatics of some warlike god trying to prove themselves or spread their god’s influence; most priests can probably find a niche elsewhere, and anyone else dumb enough to come to the Border Princes rarely has the competence they need to take power. Most priests keep their actual titles from their religious hierarchy and don’t puff themselves up much.
  
• Wizard: yes, one in 50 princes are actually professional spell casters. Wizards tend to be rare in the Border Princes anyway – better opportunities elsewhere, y’know, and that’s if they aren’t running from witch hunters or something – and those that do try to seize power struggle with a mistrustful population unwilling to trust them with power. Those that do seize control tend to stick around since magic is rare in the region and intimidating enough to keep neighbors at bay. Wizards tend to rule small territories (since they don’t have the administrative skills and charisma necessary to take over larger areas) and tend to take a lofty title with some magic adjectives slapped in front of it.
  

• Border Princesers (?) are properly cynical and aware of local conditions, usually more successful than princes from other cultures (though they still make up less than half the total);
  
• Imperials often try to emulate their homeland as much as possible, instituting Imperial institutions in miniature (even when that’s a bad idea) and naming their capital after some important Imperial city (this is common enough that locals differentiate between villages with the same name by attaching insulting adjectives);
  
• Bretonnians usually drift towards aping knighthood, including granting their followers teeny fiefdoms and elevating their own Grail Maidens (the locals call them Drinking Harlots, mostly because it’s an accurate title);
  
• Tileans try to re-create the Renaissance Italian culture they originated in with a mercenary culture flavor (since most started out as mercenaries), though they rarely make any kind of headway in the culture or prosperity departments;
  
• Humans from other regions basically have their origins and behavior left to GM approval, though the book kind of implies they’re from Estalia (fantasy Spain) or Kislev (fantasy Russia);
  
• Dwarves occasionally come down from the mountains to try and reclaim some lost mountainhold and are the most likely to have some official backing;
  
• and Elves and Halflings occasionally come to power, though they’re so rare it’s hard to generalize about their behavior. According to the stereotype, all elves are wizards (untrue, though Elven princes usually encourage the rumor) and “all Halfling lords want to turn their realms into a giant pie shop. This has only happened once (or so most historians claim), and Max the Glutton used his enemies, and then his subjects, as ingredients.” .
  

• Goal: not just the Prince’s immediate goal, but the sort of thing they are aiming for long-term. Staying in power and gaining more power between them make up almost half the possible rolls, but the rest are spread out between everything from making money to building a dynasty to just trying not to die.
  
• Principles: yes, despite the cynicism, most princes have standards. Well, you have a three in 10 chance of getting a prince who doesn’t actually have principles, but the book specifically notes they don’t tend to last any longer than anyone else. Most princes draw the line at consorting with Chaos, though a few try to stay honest, not kill innocents, or just be good people in general (and those last ones DO tend to die quickly).
  
• Style: how a prince usually interacts with others. Most lean towards a couple flavors of ordering people around, though you have the occasional schmoozer, businessman, or one of those people who constantly insults you and expects to be insulted back (without ordering you murdered).
  
• Secret: a story hook to use for undermining the Prince. These secrets range from being on the run from justice to worshiping Chaos to not actually having secrets to having done the sort of good deed that makes you look weak to your other amoral murderlords - or your having committed something beyond the pale even for warlords, like slaughtering an entire village down to the children, which if discovered would turn almost every person in the region against you. Also, you can occasionally roll multiple secrets, though the book recommends you cap the number at four before things get completely out of hand.
  
• Quirk: some strange aspect of a prince’s behavior not hidden and serious enough to count as a secret but noticeable enough to show up if you spend time in their presence. These aren’t supposed to be crippling or get in the way of ruling, instead adding flavor to a ruler and possibly offering a hook PCs can use to manipulate them. These include things like having an overused catchphrase, never crossing some moral line (on the scale of, say, leaving payment when they confiscate the last of a village’s stores), being a religious fanatic, or flying into a rage upon seeing a certain uncommon color.
  

• Alliance: the princes work together for a given reason. The Border Princes being what it is, alliances never spring out of mutual respect and good feeling, instead of always having some justification (provided by the subtype). These motivations run from political calculations to respect earned in battle to personal ties unrelated to their status as princes. As alliances are rare in the region, they come with a bunch of special rules; long-standing alliances need multiple reasons to keep them going, while princes rarely have multiple alliances at once (especially given how the subtypes work; RAW it’s possible to roll up an entire region’s worth of princes in a massive polyamorous relationship, and while that’s awesome, it’s not thematically appropriate).
  
• Bitterness: the Prince doesn’t just hate the other party; they want them to suffer for a specific reason. This means their actions revolve around getting revenge for something personal, whether the other prince executed a close relative, kicked them out of the family, or just failed to realize they were a gigantic incel.
  
• Contempt: the Prince’s thinks the other one is so weak they either plan to invade them, ignore them, or try to use them as pasties in some other scheme. This perception might be based on military or personal incompetence, experience, or just thinking the other party is such a goody-goody that they’d never fight back.
  
• Envy: not just wanting something from another prince, but specifically wanting to take it from them. Not just, like, land or material goods (though those are possibilities); they might want their skills, reputation, or just good looks. No, it being physically impossible to steal those things does not, in fact, matter.
  
• Fear: the Prince does whatever the other prince wants, at least until they can find a way out. Some aggressive princes try to cultivate fear in their neighbors, which can work until someone finally finds a flaw to exploit and gathers a coalition to do just that. While some flavor of military fear is standard, they might also be afraid of the other party’s knowledge or supernatural abilities (as in they are a wizard or undead, you should probably reroll this for mere mortals. The book implies this subtype only applies to people with actual supernatural powers, but princes aren’t always exactly sane and one that’s convinced (falsely) that another’s magic makes a good plot hook).
  
• Hatred: gently caress that guy. Usually, this relationship is so intense the first prince has a hard time planning around their hatred. Chart-wise, this hatred will probably spring from some offending act, but it might also just mean that that Prince is a bigot.
  
• Respect: I half-lied, it is possible for princes to respect each other. If a prince respects another prince, they think that Prince is neither a threat nor a weakling; they are someone the Prince can interact with as an equal without worrying about being backstabbed (as much as is possible in the Border Princes). This might come from respect for their intelligence, family line, ability to survive, or (shockingly) because they think they’re a nice person.
  
• Rivalry: the Prince doesn’t have any particular feelings about the other; they’re just looking for a weakness or prepping for something else. This category has no subcategories because it’s the base state of diplomatic relations in the Border Princes. Next.
  
• Vengeance: like hatred, but even more specific - instead of being based on general feelings, it springs from a single offending event. It’s almost always based in an actual wrong, though that wrong may actually be way out of proportion with the vengeance they wants to take.
  
• War: the Prince is actively trying to kill the other (or at least take their stuff through violence). Possible causes include rolls on the envy, fear, hatred, or vengeance tables, or just wanting to conquer their land.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Apr 21, 2020

• Abele and Lorenzo (Respect, Two Years, Cunning): being on opposite ends of Camet as they are, Dieter and the Tilean princes have enough room to interact diplomatically without fearing an attack or treachery. Dieter definitely likes Abele and Lorenzo more than the other way around, finding their complicated overthrow of three princes at once both impressive and hilarious; the other two keep him at arm’s length, happy not to have to deal with a homicidal bloodsucker but still willing to strike deals with him. Unless circumstances change drastically, they aren’t likely to come to blows or support efforts against the other side.
  
• Shashank (Fear, Two Years, Knowledge): Dieter is utterly convinced Shashank knows some secret way of killing him; though she cares little about him (he’s harder to manipulate than she could justify spending the energy on), he thinks she has it out for him and currently plots his death. He doesn’t know how she knows this nor what this method would even be, but after he drained the first two people to hint he might be wrong, no one’s pointed out the flaws in his theory. If he was to learn her secret, Dieter would immediately try to rally a coalition against her – if he could convince the other princes he was telling the truth.
  
• Abelard (Fear, Five Years, Personal Power): Dieter terrifies Abelard – not because of anything to do with Dieter, but because his vampirism reminds Abelard too much of his own dark addiction. He can’t think of Dieter without worrying that he, too, is turning into a vampire (untrue, but he doesn’t know that). Since the Count never tries to expand his territory, Abelard’s happy to ignore him while he campaigns in the north, just dispatching the occasional obligatory raider into his territory. Dieter, for his part, cares as a little for Abelard as he does for anyone else, but if he learned about the other prince’s secret, it might awaken something new and him; if the circumstances are right and he’s given the opportunity, Dieter may well attempt to turn Abelard into a vampire.
  
• Hatshep (Contempt, One Year, Inexperience): in Dieter’s eyes, Hatshep failed to prove her worth by attempting to expand her Empire after dethroning her predecessor. He sees her as even less of a threat than Abelard. For her part, Hatshep believes her magic trumps anything he could bring to the field if worst came to worst, and if she needed to do it, she could probably magically track them down and flood him with enough assassins to kill him. Unless, of course, some outside force intervenes.
  

• Shashank (Envy, One Year, Glorious Reputation/Military Might): for all their achievements, both Lorenzo and Abele wish they had Shashank’s title; Abele wants the prestige that comes from holding the title of Camet’s greatest leader in the last century, Lorenzo believes being the Marquis will make surrounding settlements and princes more likely to bow to them, and both think holding the title will help them rally the forces they need to take and purify Castle March, granting them the most important fortification in the region. Whether any of that is true is up to the GM. Shashank, ironically, feels the inverse; she knows the March currently has no easy way to expand and wishes she had access to their lands and resources. As long as the swamps between their borders remain impassable, however, neither side will make any moves against the other.
  
• Abelard (War, One Year, Conquest): Abele and Lorenzo are the only princes in Camet with the resources to challenge Abelard’s dominance; he has more land, a more stable government, and a more experienced army, but with their two towns they have an economic edge and can more easily bring their forces to bear. Outright war broke out about a year ago (more like unusually frequent skirmishes and raids, but that’s the nature of war in the Border Princes) and both sides are looking for mercenaries or volunteers. Both sides would generously reward anyone able to bring their victory, though they’d both probably order them quietly assassinated shortly afterwards.
  
• Hatshep (Hatred, Five Years, Prejudice): in general, the population of the Border Princes care little about sexuality; results are far more important, and Abele and Lorenzo can certainly get results. Hatshep, however, possibly due to her time spent beyond the Border Princes, is a bigot, and she’s disliked them ever since she learned of their relationship, years before they took over the three northern principalities. This naturally leads to tense relations and the accompanying border raids.
  

• Abelard (Rivalry, One Year): while Abelard and Shashank’s father had a tense and violent rivalry, Abelard and his successor have been at peace for her entire reign. Their relationship embodies her soft-power approach; she has combined subtly building tensions on his northern border to keep him distracted while publicly encouraging peace between two formerly hostile principalities until her efforts bore fruit. In time, given the chance, Shashank might be able to turn this relationship into a full alliance, but for now the March and the Princedom simply maintain a tense peace.
  
• Hatshep (Respect, Five Years, Personal Power/Lineage): Shashank and Hatshep met when Abelard brought his court wizard to the March during some rare peace negotiations between dueling leaders. They soon struck up a friendship; Shashank admired Hatshep’s magical power while Hatshep, having grown up on tales of the first Marquise’s achievements and the peace she brought to the land, saw her as her hero’s newest incarnation and offered her her support. When Hatshep turned on Abelard and secured herself a principality, Shashank offered her congratulations, and when she came to her own throne, Hatshep immediately opened up friendly relations. The two princes are too far away to coordinate any kind of joint action, but in the unlikely event of the Princedom or Captaincy-Free City collapsing, the two will likely help each other divide up the remains and possibly form an alliance of their own.
  

• Hatshep (Vengeance, Two Years, Betrayal): up until two years ago, Hatshep was Abelard’s court wizard and advisor. When he finally granted her independence of action and sent her to conquer the territory to the northeast, she did just that – and declared independence. Since then the two have been at loggerheads, kept from outright war only by the looming presence of the Tilean princes.
  

• Raw Resource: the settlement specializes in extracting some kind of non-agricultural resource; these range from foraging or hunting operations to mines to quarries. A few of these settlements harvest gemstones or precious metals and get a free fortress to protect them.
  
• Craft: the community houses either several professional craftsmen or one expert; they can be anything from potters to smiths to brewers. Some of these communities have professionals that work with gems or gold; these also get a fortress gratis since they are big bullseyes to every raider in the area.
  
• Oddity: any resource (or unique feature) not covered anywhere else. Supernatural features show up elsewhere in the tables; these are things like ancient battlefields that you can find coins in if you dig in them or an actually, legitimately honest trader (both examples from the book). There’s a little table you can roll on if you can’t think one up.
  
• Market: trade centers. Not much more to say, other than these are good places to meet strangers and hire people. These can’t show up in homesteads, and if you manage to get two rolls for a settlement and both turn up markets, you should replace the second one with a Crafts result.
  

• Stronghold: any settlement with enough defenses to hold out for a month or more against a hostile force. Strongholds in the Border Princes are legit strong points; the book sets minimum requirements at stonewalls 12 feet high, ramparts, towers at the gates, and a source of fresh water. Since fortifications are so useful in a war-torn area like the Border Princes, most remain occupied long after whoever else them dies.
  
• Chokepoint: any place people have to go through to get from one area to another, whether a river crossing, mountain pass, or bridge. As such they need to be carefully placed during principality creation. Since they tend to see a steady flow of people, chokepoints make good places for adventures involving unknown and unpredictable people, and they also make good spots for climactic battles against enemy armies.
  
• Cultists: by a slim margin the most common result on the distinguishing features tables, rolling this means the community (or a subculture within the community) comment specifically houses some secret cult (open cults are covered elsewhere). Most often followers of Slaanesh and Tzeentch (the other two gods are a bit unstable for long-lasting communities), these settlements tend to be secretive and hostile to visitors; the book specifically recommends they be used for unexpected adventures that catch players off guard or introduce a new element in the campaign on the way to something else. They can also be groups of heretics or worship some other power.
  
• Special: any other distinguishing feature. These range from religious communities to local spell casters to monsters that frequently interact with the settlement (and a sufficiently “friendly” monster might be enough to support a town outside of a principality). You also have a one in five chance of rolling for two distinguishing features.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Apr 22, 2020

• Reeky Stream (Village, 240, Iron Mine): the dominant village in the County’s plains, Reeky Stream’s size and plentiful iron have made it the capital of the area’s princes for generations. Even Dieter spends much of his downtime here. However, now that they no longer have a prince who can reliably solve their disputes, the various smaller villages around it have begun to challenge its dominance and claim its fields. Though these disputes remain peaceful, if they were to realize Reeky Stream was secretly using its iron to make weapons, that peace might vanish.
  
• Fort Tordello (Village, 160, Stronghold): a former seat of princes in its own right, Fort Tordello passed into the hands of Dieter’s predecessor’s predecessor decades ago and remains the County’s first line of defense against central Camet. As tensions rise in the plains, Tordello has become a sort of neutral meeting ground – perfect for recruiting conspirators for any plot you might think of.
  
• Spooky Nuln (Village, 150, Monastery): this village houses a group of holy men who use imports from Feelgood Farms to see visions. Their reputation for seeing the future draws visitors from across Camet and even neighboring regions, enough that a small community has sprung up around them. They might tell visitors their destinies, or fates they must avoid – or give misleading information that gets them killed.
  
• Tordino Smithy (Homestead, 18, Gunsmith): Antonio Tordino may be the most respected man in the County. Controlled, skilled, and strictly neutral in every dispute, he’s carved a niche for himself as the manufacturer of most every musket in the region. But he’s getting old, and as is tradition in the Border Princes his heirs are already squabbling over who inherits the foundry. Someone ready to step in and assist one heir or another could earn their gratitude and support.
  

• Volcano Town (Town, 2100, Market, Silver Mine, Stronghold, Oddity): situated on the slopes of a dormant volcano, Volcano Town gets its wealth from four sources: the fertile plains near the volcano, a nearby silver mine, hunters bringing down goods from the northern mountains, and vast fields of obsidian still used to make arrows by half the region’s. Though the smallest proper town in Camet, it is perhaps the most cohesive, with a city council dating back decades at least (though all eight positions are currently occupied by Abele’s flunkies). Though the Tilean princes both live to the west, Abele still levies heavy taxes and interferes with city business, and the longer he stays in the Captaincy the more likely it is one of the councilmembers will turn on him.
  
• Yeasty Nuln (Village, 170, Brewer, Tailor): Yeasty Nuln is a prosperous settlement torn between its loyalty to its two most prominent members: Friedrich Amherst, the creator of a locally famous beer, and Wilhelm Shotep, the closest thing Camet has to a fashion designer. The two constantly compete to one up each other in contests, sales, and showmanship; if travelers want to go somewhere they can simply enjoy themselves, Yeasty Nuln’s monthly festivals should be their first stop.
  

• St. Laquile (Village, 120, Stronghold, Cultists): built on top of the ruined castle of a pre-March Prince, St. Laquile has served as the military, political, economic, and social center of the principality for as long as anyone can remember. But the Tzeentchian cult that brought Shashank into existence has since taken root and spread its influence throughout the village. While Shashank calls the shots outside of town, her mother Nefeta (now the cult’s priestess) holds quiet sway over life in St. Laquile. Any attempts to change the status quote will have to go through her.
  
• Hoyevas (Homestead, 19, Magical Effect): an otherwise unremarkable cluster of buildings, one thing sets Hoyevas apart: any visitor missing a finger or limb grows it back if they stay the night. The process is long, painful, and exhausting, but by the next sunrise they’ll have a brand-new limb without any long-term issue. It sees a steady stream of visitors.
  
• Mausoleum (Homestead, 10, Oddity): in theory, Mausoleum is a regal tomb where all previous Marquises lie in state. In practice, it’s a stone shack around three musty graves whose caretakers spend more time fishing then watching them. However, those graves might contain the funeral goods of multiple princes and any traveler wishing to try their luck (and avoid the Marquise’s fury) might decide to dig them up.
  
• Mazza Pass (Homestead, 11, Chokepoint): located at a path through the cliffs carved by some long-forgotten hand, Mazza Pass is the best access point to St. Laquile and the March beyond it from the Vital. If travelers visit the March, they will probably enter it here.
  
• Ugropolye Homestead (Homestead, 25, Cultists): once the site of a small village that housed an even smaller Tzeentch cult, this area lies abandoned outside of one extended family too stubborn to leave; the rest have spread across the March into positions of influence under Nefeta’s patronage. Now resentful of their former neighbors, the Ugropolyes invoke Tzeentch to help them plot to bring them down – and well-armed visitors might just be the answers to their prayers.
  

• Shiny Altdorf (Town, 2500, Oddity, Goldmine, Stronghold): though the Tilean princes rule from Skinny Altdorf, a smaller settlement at the base of the tor, Shiny Altdorf is the source of their power. Though a prosperous city in its own right, Shiny Altdorf’s biggest feature dominates the town’s economy: it sits on top of the only gold mine in Camet and has an attached mint. Shiny Altdorf coins are the unofficial currency of the region, and though they’ve been debased to hell and back over the years, the sheer lure of genuine gold coins draws enough mercenaries to fuel their war effort against the Princedom. As long as they control the gold supply, Lorenzo and Abele cannot be challenged.
  
• Grand Canal (Homestead, 18, Oddity): her neighbors consider Natalya Vladimirovna insane, but that doesn’t matter to her because she has a dream: she wants to build a canal connecting the Great Spring to the heart of the Captaincy. In theory, such a canal will connect it to the Vital and allow it access to the valuable river trade, bringing her fame and fortune (maybe even enough to shoot for Prince). In practice, the canal is a pipe dream, having to cut its way through pestilential swamps, rocky scrublands, and objections from uninterested communities, plus any attacks by bandits or monsters on the way – and that isn’t counting what the Great Spring’s unpredictable flooding will do to the canal. But if Vladimirovna can succeed, she’ll change the shape of Camet – and drag any assistants with her into prominence.
  
• Midway Point (Homestead, 18, Stronghold): situated in the only easy route through the swamps along the Captaincy-Princedom border, Midway Point would be a tiny outpost in any other land. In the Border Princes, it’s a hotly contested strongpoint where Captaincy mercenaries repeatedly throw back New Cameran conscripts. Any travelers who enlist under Abelard or sign contracts with Lorenzo will almost certainly see their first action here.
  
• Bloodied Handprint (Homestead, 19, Cultists): to the outside world, Bloodied Handprint is the name of a small but respectable mercenary group based in a homestead in the north. In fact, it’s a cult of Khorne, one of the few stable ones in the area; by initiating new members as fast as they die on the battlefield, it keeps its numbers stable and the requisite blood being shed. If any openly Khornate groups (like, say, a beastman tribe) entered the area, they’d probably join forces with them, bringing with them intimate knowledge of where to strike hardest. If the cult is not revealed and destroyed in time, Bloodied Handprint may bring northern Camet to its knees.
  

• New Camer (Town, 3500, Market, Silver Mine, Stronghold, Chokepoint): New Camer is indisputably the most important settlement in the region. Between its claim of continuation from Old Camer, strategic position, access to fishing grounds, and adjacent silver mine, not even Shiny Altdorf can match it in wealth and influence. Most traders sailing up the Vital stop at New Camer, with only a few unloading goods at the small docks of Maza Pass or Maxime’s Dip further up; likewise, the people they transport usually disembark here (except for mercenaries, who have to land elsewhere due to Abelard’s suspicions they might be here to fight under Lorenzo). Most outsiders making the journey to Camet pass-through New Camer on their way in, enjoying the amenities and luxuries (read: learning just how impoverished the region actually is) as they pass-through.
  
• Pigs Way (Village, 250, Stronghold, Oddity): though the Border Princes isn’t big on morality, most of its inhabitants at least value personal freedom; it’s one thing to get killed or impoverished or abandoned, but another to have what little you have taken away permanently. However, the inhabitants of Pigs Way disdain even that. They practice slavery, capturing peasants from the surrounding principalities, sending them to a slave market in New Camer, and selling them to traders who take them upriver, never to be seen again. Hatshep suffered this fate in her childhood and hates them with a passion, as does every nearby settlement in the Free City and Empire, along with their neighbors in the Princedom whose people are abducted whenever the prisoner supply runs low. But between its wealth, fortifications, and strategic position along the frontier, Abelard has always supported and protected the village. It’s the one major black mark on his record, something his critics point to first. If someone were to somehow destroy the settlement (they would never abandon slavery, their economy depends on it), they would instantly earn the admiration of enough villages to make a go at princedom.
  
• Nagase’s Grip (Village, 110, Chokepoint, Oddity): Nagase’s Grip sits on the one reliably stable piece of land between the Vital and the lakes around New Camer. When not fishing in both bodies of water, its inhabitants run a portage, either safely guiding visiting ships through treacherously shallow water or hauling them over land. New Camer is enough of a trade destination that the village can live off selling their services to passing ships. However, though New Cameran soldiers stand guard over the settlement, if someone was to defeat them and drive off its inhabitants, they’d leave the town far harder to access and hobble the Princedom’s economy, making it easy prey to any circling vulture.
  
• Marco’s Nest (Homestead, 23, Cultists): the Border Princes is so poor and remote even the Skaven avoid it. Marco’s Nest is one of the few exceptions; manned by a small number of Skaven week enough to lose a power struggle but fast enough to escape death, the outpost keeps a dozen or so human slaves to mask itself and observes the area for changes. If they decide those changes have come – or they want to attack for reasons of their own – they might call upon other Skaven and attempts to flood Camet. The region lacks the resources it needs to repel them, at least without a miracle.
  
• Feelgood Farms (Homestead, 17, Oddity):
  

• Giant’s Balls (Town, 2900, Iron Mine, Stronghold): named after the enormous, wrinkly rock formation the town’s castle is built into, Giant’s Balls is unremarkable as Border Princes towns go; it’s only distinguishing features (aside from the standard industries of urban life) are a small iron mine just outside town limits and the aforementioned castle. The castle dominates the region, large enough to house most of the town’s population and hold out for years against a hostile force. Hatshep only took it by sniping the previous Prince off the parapets in a stroke of luck; she won’t risk happening to her.
  
• Wolf Town (Village, 280, Templars, Stronghold): the Ulrican berserkers who live here are known for their aggression, not their creativity. They belong to a heretical sect that believes the best way to get close to their god is through honorable battle (and despite accusations otherwise, they insist they don’t actually worship Khorne yet). Though traditionally backers of whatever Prince rules out of Giant’s Balls, the leaders of Wolf Town have no affection for a wizard and might be looking for an alternative to support.
  
• Nefer’s Compound (Homestead, 13, Witch): claiming to be the heir of an Old Cameran tradition, the mysterious Nefer dispenses potions and cures from his isolated homestead. In fact, Nefer is actually Old Rags using a dozen cultists as a cover. His potions, oddly enough, work as advertised; he uses knowledge of herbs and plants he’s accumulated over the millennia to make products he can fund his plans with. Investigators will find they contain nothing nefarious. His other plans are different.
  

• Shallya’s Tears (Village, 170, Hospital, Medicinal Herbs): in better times, Shallya’s Tears drew visitors from across Camet hoping to be healed by the village’s skilled the doctors and their access to rare herbs. In the last 10 years, Castle March’s taint has spread into the area, driving out many of its inhabitants; the settlement hasn’t died only because those doctors can keep its inhabitants alive. If someone was to clear out Castle March, they do gain the loyalty of the finest healers in this part of the Border Princes
  
• Kurograd Homestead (Homestead, 13, Monster): the Kurograd family used to barely eke out a living by hunting mountain animals and digging up roots. Not anymore: now they work alongside a mated pair of giants. After befriending them years ago, the Kurograds follow in the giants’ wake, eating the animals they kill and the roots they dig up in exchange for showing the giants to more fertile valleys. Now they watch a spectacle few humans have ever witnessed; the female giant is pregnant.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Apr 27, 2020

• Shambling Hordes: typical undead hordes, though they include skeletons, vampire bats, and dire wolves as well as zombies. At some point, some necromancer put these hordes together – the living dead are not a naturally occurring phenomenon in the Border Princes, this isn’t Sylvania – but they’ve long since left the picture and they are now left to their own devices. They tend to wander aimlessly, only attacking living creatures that they directly encounter, but that means they can easily steamroll villages. Some hordes can spread the curse, too, which tends to make them quite big.
  
• Lone Menaces: some kind of powerful undead creature that “lives” alone (wights, banshees, etc.). They don’t do anything except wait for adventurers to kill them. The book specifies they are meant to be a straightforward threat for the party to kill, a good break from the complexity of Border Princes politics.
  
• Dead Lords: intelligent, active undead, either mummies or vampires of various flavors. These guys tend to have a bunch of servants (usually a Shambling Horde but sometimes human or greenskin attendants) and are defined by interacting with the rest of the region; the book encourages rolling their attitudes up using the prince’s personality tables from chapter 2, or at least on the monster attitude table (next section). Though they aren’t princes (undead that rule principalities work the same way as other princes), they do have goals and interests, though they might be strange or irrelevant to the region’s politics.
  

• Goredrinker Tribe (Chaos, 50 Beastmen and Mutants, led by Bestigor): After a combined assault by neighboring princes drove them out of their original territory, this once-mighty Khornate herd now exists in fragments scattered across the mountains. One middling-sized fragment is currently on the march southeast, by chance straight towards the center of the Captaincy. Neither side knows about the other, but with the Tilean princes concentrating their forces elsewhere, they may find their flank suddenly under attack and their resources cut low.
  
• Pusmouth Tribe (Chaos, 20 Beastmen and Mutants, led by Gor): though they currently operate out of the swamps of the central Princedom, the Spirit of the Mountains-worshiping Pusmouths used to haunt the County-Princedom border, sacrificing captured humans to Nurgle while plotting to someday march north. Instead, they ran into Dieter. The survivors are a harried and desperate group on the lookout for any way they can claw their way back to power.
  
• Nosekicker Warband (Greenskins, 500 snotlings, five goblins, 25 orcs, one black orc): when the Nosekickers first sailed up the Vital a generation ago they served as Abelard’s key to power; he leveraged his victory over them to overthrow the previous Princess and take control of his principality. Ever since, he’s used the warband’s remnants as a useful training tool for large groups of conscripts. Today, the warband consists a couple dozen orcs huddled in a pestilential camp along the river’s edge. But with the war in the North drawing Abelard’s attention, the orcs have begun to raise a fresh new crop of snotlings, an effort not hurt by the sudden appearance of a commanding black orc. Unless someone takes the time to suppress them, the Greenskins may have the room they need to stage a devastating comeback.
  
• Kurograd Giants (Monster, Two Giants, Tribute): the nature of these creatures and their relationship with the Kurograds has been covered elsewhere for the most part. However, travelers should note that their friendliness does not extend past the Kurograds and they are as likely to eat travelers as ignore them.
  
• Blood Pack (Undead, Shambling Horde, 70 Dire Wolves, 15 Skeletons, 50 Vampire Bats, Curse): no one knows who first raised the undead animals that make up the Blood Pack, though the dozen or so skeletons that seem to herd them may hold clues. Whatever their origin, these creatures have stalked the swamps of the central Princedom for generations, attacking travelers and transforming the animals they encounter into more undead. No prince has proved able to root them out; they move in small packs like living predators, making extermination efforts complex and time-consuming, and they’ve never proven a significant enough threat to travelers or trade that anyone’s felt the need to put one together. For now, they remain a thorn in the Princedom’s side and a threat to outsiders making their way deeper into Camet.
  
• Swamp Walkers (Undead, Shambling Horde, 90 Zombies, 120 Skeletons, 50 Vampire Bats): perhaps 30 years ago an open necromancer came to the throne of the town now called Shiny Altdorf – he’s the reason the town bears that name, since his successors were more eager to remember the Imperial who overthrew him then his reign of terror. After securing his power, the necromancer raised an army of undead and sent them against the March. Had things gone as planned, that army might have overwhelmed the March’s defenses. Instead, the effort weakened him enough that his successor was able to assassinate him. Since then, his undead soldiers, their strings cut but their animating magic intact, have wandered the swamps between the two principalities, and though they seem to collectively target the living in their territory, they seem uninterested in leaving it. For decades, their disorganized attempts to lay siege to the tower of Fort Forgotten have been repeatedly foiled by which ever prince the tower answer to. But with the March still reorganizing after the succession and the Captaincy busy elsewhere, the fort now lacks sponsors and is in danger of collapsing. If it falls, the horde may move in either direction – much to the dismay of those living there.
  
• Tutankhaten’s Tomb (Dead Lord, Mummy, 120 Skeletons): though by now most of Camet’s Nehekharan past has either vanished or been left in ruins, one structure remains pristine: the tomb of Tutankhaten, one of the last independent Khemrian rulers and the last to have the resources and power to build a funeral monument. It was under his orders that Camet adopted Old Rags’s undead as laborers and soldiers, and it was with their labor that he built a small pyramid on the opposite bank of the Vital. Though no one knows when it happened, Tutankhaten eventually came back to the world of the living, and after a few abortive attempts to rebuild his lost empire, he has silently reigned over his tomb in isolation. After centuries of dwelling on his past, the former Pharaoh has become terribly, terribly bored. If nothing changes, some events beyond his pyramid might finally rouse his attention and cause him to bring forth his skeletons once again. If he strikes at the right time, his opponents made not be able to resist him.
  
• Whiteheart’s Mound (Undead, Lone Menace, Wight): Whiteheart’s background, intentions, or manner of death were lost centuries ago. As far as anyone knows, his funeral mound has always been haunted by a powerful undead creature. Many adventurers have tried to kill the creature and access the funeral goods it may protect, but none have succeeded and most have died. A successful mission into the catacombs beneath the mound would make any group wealthy and notable enough to make their mark in local politics.
  

• 900 squares of terrain (each about 16 mi.²), which works out to a region about the size of Montenegro.
  
• Four ruins, each with a history and present situation.
  
• Six NPCs with motivations, relationships, and a specified territory within said region.
  
• 52 settlements, including four towns, 18 villages, and 30 homesteads.
  
• Eight groups of monsters.
  
• A campaign map marking all of the above.
  

• A shape and goal for a campaign (found and hold a principality), with clear ways for players to reach those goals and for the GM to discuss how the campaign would work.
  
• Built-in options and factors players can manipulate to achieve those goals, ranging from claiming settlements with important resources to enrich their territory to threats for them to drive off.
  
• Other options for groups looking to take a break from their overarching objective or pursue something else, including dungeons, enemies to fight, fluffy break episodes, and secret cults to surprise them.
  
• A regional history with multiple hooks and implications built-in, including legendary figures (Aliyah, Old Rags, the Spirit of the Mountains, and the Marquise) to catch their attention.
  
• Six characters for players to choose between, support, and betray, each with strengths, weaknesses, and soft spots the characters can use for leverage - not to mention materials to develop further NPCs in their courts.
  
• A large and varied campaign map with distinct regions and features, including dozens of places of interest to visit and obstacles to deal with.
  
• Six dungeons (Castle March, Old Camer, Spiral Town, Aliyah’s Tower, Whiteheart Mound, and Tutankhaten’s Tomb), each with an aesthetic, theme, and implied type of reward.
  
• Five hostile groups (the Goredrinker and Pusmouth Tribes, Blood Pack, Swamp Walkers, and Nosekicker Warband) for the PCs to fight against, plus implied rewards for victories over them.
  
• Two major political situations (the war between Abelard and the Tilean princes and the tensions in the County) for the party to stick their noses in.
  
• And a tone for the campaign, complete with illustrations, flavor, and expectations for characters to fill or subvert.
  

• A group of powerful beings called Primordials coalesce out of a chaotic primordial soup.
  
• They shape some of that soup into Creation, the Exalted world, and populate it with a mixture of gods, animals, and humans. Eventually they mostly leave the world behind to go to heaven and play cosmic video games.
  
• The gods get sick of being pushed around by Primordials and plot rebellion. Since they were created unable to attack the Primordials as a safety measure, they hinge their plans on using mortals imbued with divine power that they dub Exalted.
  
• The rebellion succeeds and the gods take over, leaving the Exalted in charge of Creation while they go take advantage of the Primordials’ Steam accounts.
  
• The Exalted turn out to be assholes and start screwing with everyone around them. The gods are like those parents that ignore whatever poo poo their child’s causing and jump down the throats of anybody trying to rein them in.
  

• Oglotary: the bureaucrats, middle managers, and commanders of a community, they form one leg of the Tripartite, the governing council of Autochthonian society. They manage industrial output, administration, diplomacy, and basically anything a government would plus monitoring and directing the lives of everyone under their watch (it’s that kind of society) unless it falls under the aegis of one of the other two branches.
  
• Theomachracy: the organized priesthood that makes up the second leg of the Tripartite. They split their time between leading prayers, determining where those prayers go in Autochthon’s body, and managing morale, culture, and public order via laying out and enforcing moral guidelines.
  
• Sodalities: a group of five guilds that jointly form the third leg of the Tripartite. I’ll go into what each Sodality is in the next post since they all play a role in creating Alchemicals, but they manage a variety of vital technical functions that take trained professionals to run. They function a lot like historical guilds, in that they are insular, cultish, and monopolistic.
  
• Populat: the vast bulk of Autochthonian society, a mass of workers that actually do everything. Autochthonia is heavily industrialized, so most of these guys are factory workers (though every profession that isn’t managerial (Oglotary), technical (Sodalities), or social (Theomachracy) draws from its members). They tend to work with spirits a lot, since they regularly commune with the spirits that inhabit their industrial equipment and work with them to keep everything running.
  
• Lumpen: the underclass, sad sacks who committed some serious crime or pissed a bunch of people off and ended up ostracized for it. They don’t seem to do much of anything except suffer.
  

• Claslat: kind of fantasy America. It’s the biggest of the nations and the most culturally outgoing, and it fosters a strong competitive culture within its borders. It treats its Champions almost like superheroes, comparing their efforts even as it praises all of them. They recently instituted nonlethal gladiatorial combats to let off some of that tension, and they just opened it up to foreign Exalted competitors.
  
• Estasia: still the military one. A solid half of its Alchemicals have given up their Tripartite status to join the military, and even those that haven’t tend to look down their noses at their less violence-inclined brethren from other countries.
  
• Gulak: the most socially and intellectually loose nation, the kind of place where you can find Populat members debating Alchemicals on points of religious doctrine and winning. As such, though it attracts pilgrims looking to broaden their horizons and boasts a very happy populace, the authorities constantly have to watch for cults or saboteurs and Alchemicals often do the footwork in rooting them out.
  
• Jarish: the smallest and most devout nation. It treats its Alchemicals like minor deities, especially since it can only afford to field few, So they end up working like street preachers half the time.
  
• Kamak: the second smallest nation and the one with the most Alchemicals per capita. It tends to drift through dangerous and resource-rich areas, giving the country the means and need to make more Champions than anyone else. Since they have so many of them running around, the locals treat their Alchemicals more like people than any other country, and while some of them really appreciate this, a few become so incensed by mere mortals trying to engage with them socially that they defect to other nations. Yes, Alchemicals can defect to other nations, even though no one will ever trust them again.
  
• Nurad: currently dealing with a blight zone actively digesting the country. Things have gotten so bad they’ve started praying directly to their Alchemicals on the front line in a desperate bid to grant them more power, which runs the risk of driving some of them power-mad and more likely to hook up with the gremlins at the gates.
  
• Sova: the loser of the last major war, during which one of their patropoli got obliterated along with everyone in it, leaving the country traumatized and its economy unable to cope with Autochthon’s ongoing breakdown. Its population, human and Alchemical, have started to push the boundaries on acceptable behavior to keep themselves alive.
  
• Yugash: the most socially progressive nation, willing to grant their Alchemicals all kinds of tools, rewards, and privileges to keep their borders and influence growing. Lots of Champions love the level of positive attention they get here, though a few hate being under a constant spotlight.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 23:20 on May 23, 2020

• The Prolific Scholars of the Furnace Transcendent (Scholars) do fine machining that requires highly specialized knowledge (think computer part design and construction as opposed to assembly). They put together the basic magical/mechanical parts that give starting Alchemicals their magic powers and abilities.
  
• The Meticulous Surgeons of the Body Electric (Surgeons) deal with both general repairs and medicine. They form the bodies around the Scholars’ metal bits out of the aforementioned biological materials.
  
• The Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flesh (Harvesters) handle food preparation, recycling, and non-organic waste disposal. They make the specific chemical bath they dump the bodies in to marinate.
  
• The Glorious Luminors of the Brilliant Rapture (Luminors) handle everything to do with lighting and displays, which in the natural darkness of Autochthon is a vital role. They handle temperature regulation and “cycles” (i.e. they stir the pot occasionally) until the Alchemicals are cooked to completion.
  
• The Illustrious Conductors of the Consecrated Veins (Conductors) find and tap the special veins Autochthon’s body extrudes for humans specifically, harvesting water and food paste from some veins and dumping organic garbage down others. They take the nearly-ready Alchemical bodies and implant their soulgems, after which they pump Essence into them, hold a group prayer session, and wake their new Champions up.
  
• There’s also a secret sixth element (not even the Sodalities fully understand it ): the Alchemical construction process channels Autochthon’s power and without access to it the whole effort fails. This part is what will likely trip up any Creation attempts to make Alchemical knockoffs, though from what this book has to say about Solars those guys can probably find a workaround.
  

• Excessively Righteous Blossom, a Moonsilver (pseudo-Lunar) from Yugash, is an Alchemical with a magical metal rod up his rear end. He’s the sort of person that firmly believes the established way is the best way in spite of all evidence to the contrary and will get in your face about it. He started his career as a commander in the recent war against Sova and every battle he touched blew up in his face. His enemies constantly outthought him and crushed his soldiers in every engagement and his firm belief that his troops were to blame for every defeat drained their morale to nothing, leaving him disgraced. These days he’s trying to inspire patriotism among the populace and failing abysmally; since he’s convinced he’s Autochthon’s gift to leadership and warfare, he refuses to pick up any useful charms or improve himself in any way.
  
• Thousand-Faceted Nelumbo, an Adamant servant of Debok Moom (one of the Divine Ministers, basically a god), was commissioned to replace a fallen predecessor and has since exceeded him. She’s a master of almost every martial art Autochthonia has access to and after years of excellent service her patron’s put her on temporary leave to pursue her interests (during which she’s revealed herself to several tribes in the Reaches as a protector, much to her sponsor’s dismay). Right now, her big thing is plants. Namely, she’s managed to retrieve a memory of a plant in Creation from one of her past lives and she’s grown obsessed with it, so much so she plans to head deep into the inhospitable parts of Autochthonia to access the archives it in there. She’s intelligent, dangerous, widely revered, beautiful, and sounds kind of intolerable.
  
• Voice of Authority, a Soulsteel from Gulak, loves being the center of attention. He specializes in hunting gremlins and seems pretty good at his job, though he does have a habit of taking them down in massive and highly dangerous public battles (dangerous to himself, that is, as far as I can tell he doesn’t cause much collateral damage). He’s the sort of guy who has fights half a mile in the air above a building-sized open furnace and stays up by jumping off the corpses of his enemies in spite of any number of sane alternatives. He spends his free time loving and leaving anyone willing to approach him and showing off his pretty-boy looks for the media (i.e. state propaganda), and he often modifies orders to get a more spectacular centerpiece fight at the end.
  
• Eternally Vigilant Bell, a Jade (pseudo-Dragon Blooded) from Kamak, does not consider herself smart enough to guide her nation into a brighter future. Instead she trains Populat volunteers into wildly competent mining and exploration teams. Since every past self she can remember came from among their number, she tries to spend as much time as she can around Populat members. Interacting with Tripartite members gives her imposter syndrome – especially since her last relationship (with a low-ranking Oglocracy member) ended in flames, giving her body image issues she tries to alleviate by looking as human as possible. Her greatest fear is war breaking out between Kamak and its neighbors, since she knows she’ll be forced to lead her teams in battle and she fears that she won’t set aside her need to protect their lives enough to be a good commander. While everyone else on this list stands at over 6 feet and has their own customized weapon, Bell is maybe 5’3” and uses a lightsaber mostly notable for being old.
  

• Domadamod: Divine Minister of Reuse, Repair, Recycling and Cannibalism. God of Maintenance, Regulatory Stasis, Survival, Conservation and Noble Sacrifice. Enlightened Guardian of the Eternal Cycle. Autochthon’s survival instinct, now the embodiment of anything that will keep you alive for even a little longer. The bulk of his description emphasizes how cannibalism is an acceptable practice in his cult under certain situations. He’s that kind of guy. He looks like a giant mass of broken parts.
  
• Debok Moom: Divine Minister of War, War Machines, Violent Paradigm Shifts, Privacy and Wealth. God of Evolution, Adversity, Violent Crime and Unexpected Change. Chief Regulator of the Element of Metal. He used to be Autochthon’s drive to seek challenges and difficulties to improve himself; these days he’s the guy that represents creative destruction via violence and adaptations made for it. Specifically, he governs finding weak points and destroying them. Basically the war god of the Pantheon. He lives in a cross between a cathedral and a weapons factory, and he looks like a suit of black power armor.
  
• Runel: Divine Minister of Order, Smooth Functioning, Productivity, Efficiency, Cities, Commerce, Life and Health. Goddess of Child-Birthing, Marriage, Healing, Job Promotions and Alchemical Exaltation. Chief Regulator of the Element of Steam. The part of Autochthon that likes human beings, now the goddess of being nice to human beings. She’s the embodiment of peace and social harmony, especially compared to her more militant peers, and as such her cults outnumbers that of every Divine Minister except Kadmek. As of the goddess of stability, humans invoke her whenever they need something to go off without a hitch, and the fact that that means she gets extra prayers whenever someone’s trying to put together Alchemicals pisses off the rest of the Ministers. She looks like an idealized robot with every magical metal worked into her body somewhere.
  
• Kek’Tungsssha: Divine Minister of Smelting, Craft, Tools, Industry, Mass Production, Fertility and Reproductive Sex. Goddess of Assembly Lines, Creativity and Productivity. Also winner of the least pronounceable Divine Minister name 4800 years running. Autochthon’s creative impulse run wild. She has two major aspects. The first is herself as inventor; without access to the focus his other souls offered Autochthon, her desire to come up with new things overrides any attempts to make sure all the things work. She also handles production on a greater scale, including this sort of standardized reproductive sex most of Autochthonia’s population growth relies on. Her two sides don’t mix well. Since she emphasizes invention over caring about your appearance, she looks like a badly-maintained four-armed robot.
  
• Noi: Divine Minister of Curiosity, Research, Exploration, Innovation, Rebellion and Progress. God of Sleep, Recreation, Toys, Children and Non-Procreative Sex. Chief Regulator of the Element of Oil. Autochthon’s desire to break the status quote and screw the conformists, man, and now his society’s trickster figure. While he spends most of his time screwing with people as part of his role of challenging norms, he’s highly dedicated to protecting Autochthon so long as he can do it by shaking things up. Right now he’s considering breaking the Seal of Eight Divinities, since he thinks at this point getting things to change for the better is beyond even him and even losing the resulting conflict would probably be better than watching Autochthonia fail and destroy itself. Being a trickster, Noi likes to shapeshift, but when he wears his own form he looks like an androgynous person made of liquid moonsilver or oil.
  
• Mog: Divine Minister of Authority, Proper Functioning, Dogma, Righteous Action and Just Punishment. God of Police, Executioners and the Tripartite. Scourge of the Lumpen. Chief Regulator of the Element of Lightning. Autochthon’s desire to avoid change and the embodiment of the status quo. A giant, raging rear end in a top hat with a history of destroying entire cities he doesn’t like (in the most efficient manner possible, of course, efficiency is king in Autochthonia). While a few secret societies in the upper castes worship him, mostly people pray to him so he won’t destroy them for some deviance they aren’t even aware of. Except the Lumpen, he hates them on principle. He looks like a bolt of lightning that walks like a man (though he has a recognizably human face), wears copper robes, and carries around an electrified staff.
  
• Kadmek: Divine Minister of Architecture, Design, Structural Integrity, Biogeomancy, Arts, Wisdom, Strategy and Prophecy. God of Beauty, Cities, Serenity and Music. Chief Regulator of the Element of Crystal. Formerly Autochthon’s ability to plan ahead, now the Thor to Autochthon’s Odin. To Autochthonians he’s what they want their God to be: a figure of beauty, culture, and deep personal comfort. In practice, he’s a hedonist that doesn’t do much other than tell Alchemicals on the cusp of turning into a city where they go and sending his followers on the occasional acid trip (which is enough for a lot of drudges; his cult is the largest of the Divine Ministers). He also sponsors the Scholars, and between their presence everywhere in Autochthonian cities and the omnipresence of his cult he can throw around more weight than any single other Divine Minister. He looks like a big glowy crystal man.
  
• Ku: Divine Minister of the Reaches and the Far Reaches, Seals and Thaumaturgy. God of Mystery, Fear and Death. Chief Regulator of the Element of Smoke. Autochthon’s paranoia, self-awareness, and self-doubt, now the logical conclusion of that made into a person (his “cult” worships him to avoid his attention). Despite being practically the God of evil for half of Autochthonia, he is in charge of making sure everyone’s don’t come to pass, and though he isn’t exactly nice, he’s probably the best hope Autochthonia has of surviving its crises. Except for player characters, of course. He gains his power from a mixture of people trying to avoid his attention in cities, the Surgeons (he’s their patron), and those outcasts in the Reaches who have figured out he knows how to bring gremlins under control, the only god who can do that. His popularity isn’t helped by his form, a metal skeleton made of repurposed soulsteel parts.
  
• The Core: Autochthon’s personality. He sleeps in basically a gigantic computer maintained by improved versions of the spiders that weave the Loom of Fate back in Creation. Humans know about the Core, but they see it more as an extremely sacred place that might possibly be heaven (it isn’t). If Autochthon does eventually wake up, he’ll manifest in the Core, and if he dies the Core will be the last place to go.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 04:43 on May 27, 2020

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Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 16:29 on May 30, 2020

• Astrology, the Dead, Demon Summoning, Husbandry, and Weather Working don’t work.
  
• Elemental Summoning, Enchantment, Spirit Beckoning, and Warding and Exorcism all work as normal, though the rituals have to be tweaked for the setting.
  
• Summoning kind of half-works, given how few of its normal targets are present; no easily accessible ghosts, gods and spirits that require more complicated rituals, elementals that are really strange, and rats. Oh, wait a second, I forgot to talk about rats. Rats are the only other biological creatures in Autochthonia, having followed humans in; most settlements boast small rat populations kept in control largely by the inhabitants using them as a backup food source. Now I’ve talked about them. Anyway, a few exiles use this Science to summon rats as food.
  
• Geomancy becomes Topography, which does similar things but adapted to Autochthonian conditions, and it sees a lot of use by the Conductors.
  
• Alchemy can’t make anything that requires biological components found in creation but has its own locally-developed formulae.
  
• Bioenhancement is a new one; one of the few Sciences used frequently by the Sodalities (mostly Scholars and Surgeons), they use it to make prosthetics and the occasional body part for experimental Tripartite members. Prosthetic limbs, especially, are relatively easy to come by due to the relatively common materials they require, but political struggles between the Scholars (who build them) and the Surgeons (who implant them) can delay installation and leave the poor Populat waiting until they hash it out.
  
• Probabilistics is the other new one, basically math as a superpower. Practitioners learn how to crunch numbers fast enough they can beat out supercomputers in sheer speed. I love this, people getting so good at math they can order reality to avoid a botch in the future (the most powerful ritual) is such an Autochthonian thing.
  

• Alchemicals differ from more familiar Exalted to players experienced with the main game in a wide variety of mechanical ways (see: the rest of the book);
  
• they function more like superheroes than anything else in the core setting (especially since local heroic mortals have ways to outstrip Alchemicals in specific fields, making them superiors in skill as well as in social status);
  
• they work with mortals as public servants instead of existing separately as legendary heroes, meaning they could be brought to task by mortal authorities if they get out of control;
  
• nationalism is more important to Autochthonians than people in Creation and has serious effects on everyone’s loyalties;
  
• and Clarity is neither becoming purely logical nor becoming amoral but maximizing efficiency in pursuit of their goals; it removes empathy, not morality.
  

• Solars: the Alchemicals, looking at their abilities, their history, and the current state of Creation, will either decide they are just another failed function in a broken world and treat them like any other threat or try to recruit them and help/make the Solars fix their poo poo. Since Autochthonia may well be the only area ready to openly defy the Immaculate Order and therefore won’t hunt Anathema, they probably won’t complain. In a circle, Alchemicals might serve as adaptable backup capable of retooling themselves to fit a given mission, while a Solar working with an assembly would probably look a bit limited when the assembly has time to switch out Charms but come into their own whenever the situation shifts enough to make those Charms inappropriate, keeping the team together until they get back to home base. Seems like a GM trap, forcing them to base scenarios on what the Solar can do so they don’t feel left out, but
  
• Lunars: two options here; a Lunar would probably either find Autochthonian society opposed to every freedom they value and view them as invaders or find a lot to like in how a mortal-run society has kept itself alive and stable for thousands of years. Since Autochthon is an avatar of order and stability, Autochthonians hate everything the Wyld stands for and will treat it like a gigantic Blight zone, especially once they realize weapons sacred to Autochthon hit Wyld things especially hard (turns out the Void and Wyld works very similarly). They can probably bond over that. Lunars and Alchemicals would probably complement each other’s groups; Alchemicals provide firepower and Lunars provide flexibility.
  
• Sidereals: depends on the faction; Golds will want to recruit/manipulate them and Bronzes will dither a bit before trying the same. The book seems to think Sidereals would happily either serve as mission command or addendums to an assembly, despite the fact that they’ve repeatedly established everything in Autochthonia exists outside the Loom of Fate, which seems like it would be a bit of a sticking point.
  
• Dragon-Blooded: Autochthonia runs directly counter to their religious and political beliefs; makes for a rough starting point. However, all it takes is a Terrestrial that smells profit or an Autochthonian city salivating over the idea of gaining Terrestrial citizens to break the taboo and get exchange going. In any combined effort Dragon-Blooded would bring specialists in a particular field and Alchemicals would bring reconfigured team members to act as support.
  
• Abyssal/Infernals: depends on what happens when the Neverborn and/or Yozis run into Autochthon. Eventually the Neverborn would either invade Autochthonia or work out some kind of treaty, while the Yozis would probably avoid direct contact because they still think Autochthon’s a gross nerd they don’t want to catch a bad case of the Voids. Alchemicals might end up setting up an underground railroad for Abyssals or Infernals looking for a way not to work for horrible people either way. Both of those factions might start recruiting Apostates, though, which may complicate things.
  
• Mountain Folk: not Exalted, I know, but still included in this section. At first they’d fall over themselves to celebrate the Great Maker’s return and latch onto Alchemicals as a way around their curse; they were cursed to serve Exalted whether they liked it or not, but it turns out Alchemicals count under those terms and see them as long-lost fellow Autochthonians, giving them chances to get back into Creation. Eventually the fact that Autochthon left them behind like a bad meal will turn disillusioned Mountain Folk against the Autochthonians unless the Alchemicals find a way to break the curse first.
  

• Plutarchs: Congress and the bureaucracy of the Executive Branch rolled together. They draft and rewrite laws, keep records, set schedules, and conduct diplomacy when appropriate. Dress in fancy togas because they are Senators.
  
• Regulators: the po-po. They handle both tracking and dealing with criminals and domestic intelligence, and one branch, the Division of Inward Justice, regulates the Regulators. Dress like they could tap the side of their visors and shoot lasers out their eyes. Seriously, just add a trenchcoat to Cyclops’s costume and you’re good.
  
• Adjudicators: Judicial Branch. They oversee court cases for criminals brought in by the Regulators and review laws passed by the Plutarchs (checks and balances, yo). Dress in more boring togas.
  
• Autocrat: the president. They adjudicate whenever the other three disagree and represent them on the Assembly. Chosen by elections from among the Oglotarys members by secret ballot every few years. Unlike with the other ranks, the book doesn’t tell us what the Autocrat wears, so I am forced to assume they go naked during formal occasions.
  

• Lectors: part entertainer, part therapist, part village priest. Each Lector is charged with overseeing the morale of a specific part of society; in theory they oversee devotion to society as well but usually regard doing the first as covering the second. While they have a wide latitude to decide how to go about their tasks, their training heavily emphasizes positive methods over negative, more keeping spirits up and less thundering from the pulpit. When it comes to individuals, Lectors seek out people suffering from lack of motivation, trauma, or mental health issues and offer them counseling and support; when it comes to groups, they put together plays, organized sports tournaments, and concerts. Everyone likes the Lectors, including me. Have to wear robes with shoulder pads but can do whatever they want with their outfits otherwise, ranging from severe plainness to practically putting face paint on and doing pratfalls.
  
• Preceptors: take the Inquisition from 40k, remove the constant homicide and internal paranoia, and you’re pretty close; there’s only a few of them, they have a massive level of authority, they operate independently, and they answer only to their higher-ups. They usually work subtly with local authorities to spot major internal threats and ignore petty crime or even minor heresy, forwarding information they uncover to the Regulators as necessary. Dress like Regulators except in white.
  
• Clerics: religious administrators who set holidays, tell Lectors what doctrine looks like right now, keep records, oversee training, and do paperwork. They also work with spirits, liaising with agents of the Divine Ministers to figure out where to direct prayers, calming angry spirits, and asking local gods for help in extreme situations. Wear simple robes under extremely fancy jackets.
  
• Celebrant: head of the local Theomachracy. They spend most of their time working out religious doctrine before passing it on to the Clerics, and they tend to work closely with other Celebrants from other cities (especially the High Celebrant in the capital) to keep everyone on the same religious page. The Theomachracy chooses Celebrants by building lists of nominees and collecting omens. No word on how they dress, so I guess they also practice ceremonial nudity.
  

• Glorious Luminors of the Brilliant Rapture: the Luminors. They manage light and (to some extent) power grids, which they take almost comically seriously. They also handle both assigning souls to castes (a responsibility they usually use responsibly) and firefighting duties. Their color is gold, they associate themselves with orichalcum, and they punish their own by hampering or damaging their sight.
  
• Illustrious Conductors of the Consecrated Veins: the Conductors. They handle identifying the sources of food, water, or other unusual raw materials running through Autochthonia and extracting them for use elsewhere as well as keeping up national tram networks. They are associated with blue and starmetal and inflict punishment by hampering touch.
  
• The Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flash: the Harvesters. They handle trash disposal and recycling of anything from discarded wrappers to dead bodies, as well as safely removing soulgems. They also do all the cooking which may or may not endear them to the Populat. They favor green, jade, and mess with criminals’ ability to talk.
  
• The Prolific Scholars of the Furnace Transcendent: the Scholars. They handle fine machining of all kinds and making magical artifacts, up to and including Charms. They are associated with black, soulsteel, and removing hearing.
  
• The Meticulous Surgeons of the Body Electric: the Surgeons. Their thing is repair of every kind. They handle everything to do with medicine (including euthanasia of those too old to support themselves), roam the streets filling out maintenance reports for the other Sodalities, and for some reason manage fluid distribution in cities. They go for silver, moonsilver, and removing smell.
  

• Some are relatively benevolent reformers, almost always people who’ve come up with ways to improve everyone’s lives but don’t belong to the Tripartite. The majority of these aren’t cultists at all, just well-meaning, thoughtful people trying to improve the world. But the Autochthonian system is so strict and delicate any threat to the social order from outside official channels is treated as a threat and extinguished as fast as possible. In fairness, without access to much information or technical training they rarely have the expertise to carry out the ideas they’ve come up with, and reforms that backfire can get a lot of innocent people killed in conditions this harsh. The Theomachracy throws the Voidbringer title at them to make controlling them easier. In a story these guys serve to cast Autochthonian society in a negative light, given what they do to people who are basically community activists, adding more complexity to defending the social order. Hook number one is lame enough I won’t bother covering it but hook two involves a reformer becoming a Lunar after the Seal is broken, leaving the players searching for a shapeshifter willing and able to undermine the social order.
  
• Some are the sort of people that look at a choice between slavery and death and choose slavery. They aren’t necessarily malicious – they aren’t even necessarily self-interested. But they put the survival of themselves and those they care about over others. These cultists tend to be tunnel folk kidnapped by gremlins or workers intimidated by cultists or just those able to read between the lines and decide to get on the Void’s good side, and they rarely start out making the sorts of horrible decisions they usually end up facing. Eventually they either give into depravity or orient themselves towards survival, no matter the cost. These guys throw some light on the human condition when things are at their bleakest, bringing up questions of when it stops being praiseworthy to try and survive. Hooks include trying to foil a plot that will melt half the city’s infrastructure when a nearby gremlin force hits, the party running a sting after someone forced into Void service through blackmail goes to the police, and following a dubiously-trustworthy escaped slave back to an Apostate’s vats complex.
  
• Some are true believers out to destroy anything for whatever reason, whether bearing a grudge against society, mind controlled, indoctrinated since birth, whatever. Their beliefs and motivations range from “Autochthonian society is stifling and unsustainable” to “eating small children is my preferred recreational activity”, but their use of violence sets them apart and makes them a serious threat. They make both good overarching villains and vehicles for questions about the nature of faith and freedom. Hooks include explorers bringing back possible evidence that blight zones are in fact Autochthon’s immune system waking up and an engineer who figured out what Autochthonian soulsteel really is, partially deciphered their language, and has decided Autochthon intends to do the same to humans, so she resorts to terrorism to try and drive people out the Seal.
  
• And some are gross twisted monsters. They were probably humans at one point but by now they are shambling monstrosities for whom death is a mercy. No moral ambiguity here; they’re ugly and they want to kill you and killing them as a moral good. The book put them in specifically to give players a break from any philosophizing you’ve put them through. I really like this, the book gives you a mechanism to unwind and take a breather. Hooks include the standard “travelers encounter a village with a dark secret” plot set in a tunnel commune and a Jigsaw movie starring the PCs.
  

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 04:58 on May 31, 2020

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jun 1, 2020