TLG 8016 AWD Fantasy Setting.pdf - Fat Rat Games of Tallahassee

things about the world’s magic and the Language of Creation as
she understood it. The Kaath became a wise people, though their
numbers remained small. When the goblins came, the rumor of
war preceded them and Athria gave them visions of wondrous
lands across the seas, where the Waters of Life flowed.
They built ships and set sail across the Oddine Ocean and came
at last to two great islands and there they made their homes. They
settled and built wondrous cities and towns along the coasts. They
discovered the Waters of Life in pools and fountains and by many
long, fresh droughts they gained immortality. They built temples
to Athria and worshiped her many aspects. All manner of magics
and wondrous things they constructed, they learned the secrets of
the deeps of the world and they traded with the dwarves of Alanti
and the men of Aathuk. At their height they built colonies on
the Aenochian mainland, this even as the Aenochians themselves
rose to power, and in the islands of the Rykaard. The world spoke
of them in hushed tones as legendary men of great power and
wealth. In Katha lived in peace and contentment, or so it was
said. But the Katha were never a numerous people and their long
decline accelerated in the latter years. The High Katha became
addicted to the sacred waters and took it too often and needed it
for life, they fell to worshiping the Dragon God and many turned
to dark sorceries. In time they faded and became shadows of
themselves, only visible in the brightest parts of the day. When
the Winter Dark came the Katha were almost driven to extinction
by great armies of orcs and Ungern that invaded their homeland.
Some of the High Katha were enslaved to the Dark and the Low
Katha took to the mountains and hills of the island kingdoms.
They have never recovered. Some few live in their high towers,
shadows from a forgotten world, wise but empty. Some few have
fled to the wider world, and with dark sorcery spread the rage of
the Dragon Cult. Some of the Low Katha have come forth and
dwell now in the open in the wilderness of their lands.
OANTHUIL (DOPPLEGANGERS): The strangest of all the humans
are the Oanthuil. As a young people they took up the worship
of Thorax and followed the path set for them his dark sorceries.
These consumed them utterly. They were neither wise enough,
nor possessed of the strengths that later forged the goblins and
they were corrupted. The Oanthuil are blue of skin with no noses,
long fingers and toes, thin ungainly legs and arms. They are hairless
but have wide brows and narrow craniums. Their eyes are yellow.
They have few trapping, using their sorcery to cloth themselves in
warmth or bath themselves in cool air. Most of their women died
out and they bred only with a few. Too they forgot themselves
and evolved into shape–shifters possessed only of a great hunger
for memories and identity. They hid themselves in the high
mountains and in time came to worship their own women as gods
for these beastly creatures spawned more Oanthuil. From time to
time they come into the lands of men and dwarf and take shapes
of those they see and live hollow lives without meaning. They are
found throughout Aihrde as their lonely wandering brings them
on long paths. The Oanthuil are the longest lived of all the Muen,
living upwards to a thousand years before their bodies give out and
die. They were unknown to the Lords of the Winter Dark.
USTRACAN: The Ustracan are cavemen, wild and close to the beasts
they hunt. The largest of all men, the Ustracan average about six
and a half feet in height, have massive barrels chests, thick arms
and muscular if short legs. They are hairy and primitive, living in
tribal groups of not more than a hundred. Usually the women and
children live separately from the men. They are found in most
any clime or terrain in Aihrde, but never close to civilization,
be it man, dwarf, elf, orc or other. They worship the Twin Sisters
generally and have no written languages and possess only a simple
language to communicate with each other.
GOBLINS
LANGUAGE: Vulgate, Goblin and most Dwarf tongues.
RELIGION: Queen Mother Ogoltay.
LANDS: Anywhere, generally underground.
LONGEVITY: Eldritch Goblins are immortal. Common Goblins
live about 50–60 years.
The goblins came to Aihrde early in the world’s history. Many
whispered of dwarves turned evil, corrupted by the dark of deep
places and greed. There is truth in this tale. As is told, the dwarves
were plentiful and tunneled beneath the world. They became
scattered far and wide, so much so, that many lost contact
with their fellows, living out their days in solitude far from their
Kingdom’s Halls. They became removed from the discoveries of
other dwarves, lingering in the past as their cousins moved into
the future. Thorax found them thus, and made easy prey of them.
He twisted them and breathed words of sorcery into them so that
they changed and evolved. In time they too became plentiful and
they spread beneath the world. They chose a King and Queen
and their Queen became a horrible beast of corrupted evil that
laid living eggs by the hundreds. In short order the goblins were
spreading across Aihrde.
Goblins live in underground caverns, only rarely building above
ground. They take great pleasure in all things to do with water,
often building channels and underground aqueducts to move
water to fountains, waterfalls and the like.
There are two notable breeds of goblins, the eldritch goblins and
the common goblins. The former are rare, powerful creatures of
tremendous magic. The latter are plentiful and simple creatures.
ELDRITCH GOBLINS: The goblin queen lays many eggs in the course
of her pregnancies. Some few of these are powerful, immortal
goblins possessed of great magic. They cannot be killed but for
through some peculiar circumstance. And each eldritch goblin
is different from the next. They are wise, cautious and possessed
of great philosophy and understanding. Though evil, they do not
act upon their desires unless it is to their benefit. Some of the
oldest are upwards to 9000 years old, outlived only by some of the
ancient drakes, trolls and sentients. They always command the
instant obedience of common goblins. These creatures are rare,
but found in almost every clime and corner of the world.
COMMON GOBLINS: The great horde of common goblins exists
throughout Aihrde. Short, generally hairless, goblins have skin
color far more diverse than humans ranging from green, blue, red
and yellow and on rare occasions orange. They are crafty creatures,
able craftsmen and possessed of some metallurgy. Goblins are evil,
vicious and always filled with some rage. They hate dwarves of any
stripe and almost always attack them.
AFTER WINTER’S DARK 15