Midgard: The Legend of Valeresh & the History of the Elves

This lore is based on my own Midgard campaign experiences and the information available in the Midgard Worldbook. Some is research and some is information that will be revealed diegetically. It was created as a GM aid to tailor campaign lore for my player running a cleric of Valeresh. 

While conducting the research for this article, it became apparent that there are both large gaps in the Bard’s Chronology timeline as provided in the Midgard Worldbook, and very vague language throughout that book and the Book of Ebon Tides. Perhaps the most confusing portions are the conflicting references to events and locations, such as Thorn. It is said to have fallen during the Reaving of the Dwarves, but then reappears during recorded history as a center of elven civilization. The Northlands source book refers to Thorn as fallen in the Vanir War, yet the Worldbook says that the capital of the second

The History of the Elves of Midgard

The Earliest Days and the Vanir War

The elves of Midgard have a long history defined by different eras. In the far distant past was the age of the first elves, who allied with the giants and the ancient elements as part of the Vanir against the dwarves and the Northern gods (Aesir) in the Vanir War. It appears that Valeresh may have lived as a mortal and ascended to godhood during this time based upon available sourcing. The gods of the elves likely worked together as they forged this early empire, forming a elven court of Thorn that set the pattern for their current elven pantheon and presaging the structure of current elven and fey courts. Valeresh's wife likely died during this time period, and somehow he and his court ascended to godhood. It is also said that at this time the elves planted the seeds of Yggdrasil in the Silendora, or Summer Lands. The elven version of this story attributes this act to Yarila & Porevit, while dwarves and Northerns say it was Freyr & Freyja (these are both true, as Yarila & Porevit were exchanged as hostages in the peace that settled the Vanir War and their now are gods who dwell with the Aesir). 

The elven court that became the pantheon consisted of at least:

• Baccho (Baccholon)
• Holda
• Valeresh (Valeros)
• Yarila & Porevit

And potentially:

• The Green God
• Gytellisor
• Volund, in his aspect as “armorer of Valeresh”

This empire’s legacy is seen in truly ancient elven ruins and the legacy of great magic later used by the Second Elven Empire. The Reaving, in which the rival Dwarven empire fell and drove many dwarves South, caused the fall of this empire, as elves retreated into the lands of the West in Midgard and to their strongholds in the Summer Lands, much like the Great Retreat that sealed the end of the Second Empire.

The Coming of the Valeran Elves

Roughly 2,200 years ago, a new group of elves departed the Summer Lands to reestablish the elven peoples in Midgard. Over the 1,300 year reign of the elven empire, there emerged five centers of civilization. The first was under Emperor Xindrical the Explorer, who founded the River Court of the Arbonesse. The second was Sephaya in modern day Perunalia on the Ruby Sea, ruled by Queen Shillesh Greensun Sephaya. Queen Sephaya was said to be the daughter of Yarila. The third, abet short lived comparatively, was the High Court of Liadmura, in the modern Ironcrags, under the Eagle Emperor, famed for his conquests and veneration of Valeresh. The fourth and longest was at Thorn under the High Queen Lelliana Thorntree Endiamon. Most notable was the influence of her daughter, Shadow Princess Sarastra Aestruum, whose actions resulted in the creation of the Shadow Fey and their and her exile into the Shadow Realm. Queen Osilessi in the late fourth empire also built the “Summer Garden of Queen Osilessi,” or Osilessidra. She sought to restore the ruling caste of elves’ dominant position.

The final elven capital was at Valera after the fall of Thorn, with Triolo as another great elven colony (though it appears that Thorn and other cities remained inhabited by elves, due to their sudden vacancy in the Great Retreat).

The expansion of this period was driven by the combination of elvish magic, including prowess in navigating the Fey Roads, and in their martial strength with their archers and light cavalry. Valeresh took on a grim aspect in this time, with many conquered adversaries purged or sacrificed to him. 

Corruption of the Shadow Fey

In the dark days of the Black Sorceress’s Revolt, Shadow Princess Sarastra and her followers joined with the dark mages of Caelmarath, calling upon dark powers. This corrupted them into the Scáthesidhe, or Shadow Fey. This people departed the Summer Lands and Midgard, breaking with the other elves, to follow Sarastra (Hecate) into the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Realm was reached by the corruption of the ley lines by the fiend-aligned mages of Caelmarath. The Shadow Fey, lured by the promise of powerful magic from the darkness and infernal—hence why many possess horns. This schism occurred roughly 582 years ago.

At some time after this, Sarastra, the Queen of Night and Magic, fell out with her husband, Ludomir Imbrium the XVI. He is better known as the Moonlit King of the Shadow Fey. Before the Moonlit King followed his wife into the Shadow Realm he was a high born noble, as the Duke of the Ironcrags, Baron of Bratislor, Earl of Zobeck, and Count-Palatine of Salzbach. His regret at leaving the world behind drove him to sorrow and madness. During this time, Sarastra also corrupted the Miremals of her sister, the Faerie Queen Titania.

The sable elves followed after the exodus of the Shadow Fey. Their motives are shrouded in mystery, but the truth is that unlike the true elves who remained in Midgard and were driven from the Northlands by the dwarven empire before the Reavening, or the Shadow Fey who forged pacts with the darkness, the sable elves instead fled this destruction in disgrace. This era is called the First Flowering of Shadow. Both these groups brought their own servitor peoples with them into the Shadow Realm. 

This period led to the rise of the dark elven god, Sarastra. The worship of Valeresh is not wholly lost in the Shadow Realm though. The sables elves and Queen of the Court of the Golden Oak worship him under the name “Valeros,” prizing martial and arcane power.

The Great Retreat

482 years before the present time, for unknown reasons, the priesthood of Valeresh led the Great Retreat to the Summerlands under the direction of Emperor Jorgyn. The cities of Thorn, Valera, Liadmura, and Sephaya are left vacant. The elves left behind are few and scattered like windrunners of the Rotheian Plains, and a larger concentration in the River Court of Arbonesse, which closes its border. These pockets are but a memory of their former glory, and the worship of Valeresh is all but forgotten. Besides these small groups of true elves, only the elf-marked, those descended from their dalliances with human servitors, remain.

Stirrings of the Elves

After long centuries the elves show signs of restlessness once more. The Deathsworn, fanatical warriors dedicated to Valeresh (Creature Codex, of. 142) haunt the ancient forests. The relics of Valeresh, Illethandril (the Silent Sword of Valeresh), Korren-Gadresh (the True Bow of Valeresh, or Farseeing Bow), remain untouched in his temple at Hirschberg, said to be reclaimed when the elves return from exile. It is said a light appears at the Cathedral of Bright Honor on a hill outside Valera, and a voice speaks to those present in Elvish. In the same city, the Scolia Valeresh teaches martial and arcane battle skills, led by First Fencing Master and Ley Adept Tikkalan Illuvitesh. The First Fencing Master also calls himself the “Last Knight of Valresh.” Cults of the Return worship the elf-marked, and foretell of the elves’ coming back to Midgard.

Other portents seem to be appearing as an elven knight, dressed as the “Chosen of Valeresh” made a pilgrimage to the Seat of Mavros in the Western Wastes, praying to the warlike aspect of the deity. Elves examine old lore related to the shadow roads, and the ancient learning of the Magocracies that remains in Bemmea and Friula. Even the rumors of war pressed Magdar speak of a portal to the Summerlands, and elven hosts that will emerge to halt the growing Dragon Empire.

En5ider Reactions Issue 17

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Issue 16 of EN5IDER merits its own post due to longer length and it being a pretty cool stand alone adventure. This is your spoiler warning.

Titled Don't Wake Dretchlor, this adventure is by Kiel Chenier, designed for characters of 5-7 level. It's a unique and creative scenario which employs a couple different spins on the typical dungeon crawl, while maintaining the ease of use of that structure. The transitioning into a defensive "cat and mouse" game as it describes itself, as players work to defeat and slow down the advance of a bound demon they unleashed from its wards during their exploration.

The adventure features a forgotten mansion as the dungeon, and provides just enough detail about a nearby settlement and the history of the site that you can run with it and flesh it out further, and easily modify it to fit into whatever setting you are playing in. The description of the village of Sacred Bend is particularly good, detailing the basic services of the settlement, a named tavern, and the healing services of the local priest in a brief paragraph!

The structure also adds relics, or small sites/objects within the house that can be destroyed to weaken the demon. These make great secondary objectives to break up the simple combat loop of D&D, yet containing the action to the bounded space of the dungeon. 

The adventure synopsis is another impressively organized, concise, and well written portion, effectively providing a roadmap of all the relevant high level details of the scenario to the GM. Many adventures miss this, burying critical plot info deep in a room's descriptive text.

Overall, I think this is a great adventure to insert into a campaign or even use as a contained one-shot.

En5ider Author Debut: Falkenburg Times-Pale Moon Consortium

I can't begin to convey how excited I am to announce the publication of my first effort as a freelance RPG author in EN Publishing's En5ider Magazine #4! As announced by EN Publishing earlier this year, En5ider, which has run for over ten years, has been relaunched in a monthly magazine format. I had the amazing privilege of having my article on the Pale Moon Consortium, and intriguing organization specializing in smuggling magical items and other illicit goods in and around the town of Falkenburg in EN Publishing's Elissar setting.

I had an outstanding time working through this new experience with veteran editor and creator Mike Myler and hope for future opportunities to collaborate with the amazing team at EN Publishing. If you'd like to check out the article, along with access to over 600 past En5ider articles, please consider subscribing to their Patreon!

En5ider 16 Reactions

By Mark A. Hart, King and Country in En5ider 16, outlines the idea of using nationality as a background. This is in contrast to the typical approach in 2014 5e of basing backgrounds on occupation. It provides a list of fourteen nationality background themes, and provides the tools to create custom backgrounds, along with a couple examples of fleshed out ones.

Overall I like the approach this article takes. Equating background with nationality could be a problematic topic, leaning into negative stereotypes. However, this treatment does a good job of showing how various fantasy tropes can be tied into a player character’s background about an interesting place. As a practical matter, it is a great guide to how to develop custom backgrounds in general, breaking down the pieces into a more step-by-step process.

Looking forward to future En5ider articles!

Ptolus: Doctrine of Ghul Review

Spoilers follow for the Doctrine of Ghul...

An adventure for Monte Cook's Ptolus city setting, Doctrine of Ghul, provides some awesome dungeon design for adventurers to explore, but makes a few major missteps with its overall plot and adventure hooks.

The Doctrine of Ghul, like many Ptolus adventures, involves investigating another of the many (oh so many) chaos cults the city is afflicted with. However, it doesn't provide a very strong investigative structure to lead into finding the first dungeon, nor does it provide any clues for a GM to use. You have to come up with those yourself. I would also argue that it lacks strong motivation and direction on what to accomplish with the adventure hooks. 

Instead the party needs to be guided to the point when they can read the eponymous doctrine, which then railroads them into the plot of seeking additional pieces of the text to avoid being pulled into "Ghul's Utterdark." The adventure, and frankly the Ptolus sourcebook are also pretty unclear on what that means too, meaning that should the party fail to complete the adventure on the generous timeline provided, the GM may also need to generate their own consequence. There is also a bit of a snub section providing a rival adventuring party, but it lacks much assistance in how to utilize the rival party in the adventure, and doesn't provide any specific encounters or vignettes to guide those interactions, especially in the dungeons.

The three dungeons are the best part of the adventure. They are amazing in terms of cool ambient effects and generally just being different from normal dungeon fare. They aren't perfect thought. One problem with the Frozen Crypt is that if the players don’t touch anything and aren’t aggressive in their investigations then nothing happens. They can largely walk through the dungeon except for the ambient cold effects. 

While I love the concept of the Breeding Pits of Formless Hunger, and really enjoyed the fact that the characters could generate oozes due to the environment, the dungeon didn't work completely for my playthrough. I think this is because it is based on a couple of assumptions—one that characters will climb down into gross pits, and two that the GM will use fiat to have the Formless Hunger shove characters into random pits throughout the dungeon. My issue too with the tentacle of the Formless Hunger is that it plays a bit of a deus-ex-machina role. Shuffling the characters around or herding them seems to be the intention. There also isn't really any fleshed out discussion of whether you are able to make opportunity attacks against it as it slams through the doors of the dungeon and even down the long passage to the secret shrine almost instantaneously.

Galchutt Cyst is a really cool and well crafted dungeon, just hurt by some unclear layout of information placing essential bits in different portions of the text, making referencing it difficult to do quickly. The musical puzzle is evocative and cool, and my players really seemed to enjoy it, although one disliked the GM fiat in calling for saving throws against the ambient noise generated in the Cyst.

As an overall comment on the plot, it seemed completely out of left field for a wizard from the Inverted Pyramid to be behind everything. Nor did it make much sense for that individual to 1) be interested in promulgating the Doctrine of Ghul, or 2) to appear at the end to fight the party themselves. The adventure also leaves an escape for this appearance though, as it implies the wizard does not appear if they leave his magical dark blot which is a lens for scrying into the Galchutt Cyst's shrine. My characters did nothing to damage this magic effect, although they found it unnerving, so I never had the mage appear. Perhaps he'll make his appearance known later, if I can make the plot make sense. 

Lacking a player who speaks Abyssal or with comprehend languages makes finishing the questline of reading the doctrine difficult. As mentioned above, the consequences of being pulled into “Ghul’s Utterdark” are also not well defined. What does that mean? Is it GM fiat where I make a player character disappear like the Void card from the Deck of Many Things?

A final critique, perhaps localized to my particular game and group of players. My players never engaged with the Chaositech devices causing the effects in each of the shrines, which was a disappointment. I described them in such a way that I think any other group would have investigated further. However, they may need to return to the shrines, as their own actions have not stopped the effects of the doctrine by breaking the chain.

To recap, the dungeons of Doctrine of Ghul are generally amazing, and well worth playing through. The overall plot is a bit take it or leave it. If you can work in either a current or fallen BBEG who experiments with weird magic, then these dungeons would make great drop in pieces for any campaign.

Arcadia 7 Reactions

Image is copyright MCDM Productions 

The question is whether it’s a human skull surrounded by tiny fey, or a giant skull surrounded by large fey? It does remind me of the location of Giant’s Rest, which Matt Colville used in his Dusk campaign, and featured a giant skull. Regardless, the cover by Ian Ameling is very cool. Reminds me of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

The editor’s note by James Introcaso focuses on the common theme of nature in this issue’s articles. 

The first is The Pickling Guild, by Sharang Biswas. In my previous glances at this issue I’ve skipped over this article due to the title, but this time I took a closer look—and I’m glad I did! I was missing out! While the guild masquerades as a group of food aficionados focused on pickling and fermentation, it really is a front for an inner circle that seeks to heal the sick and prevent terrible diseases and poisons from being unleashed on the world. The article offers plenty of adventure seeds to introduce the guild and a number of interesting NPCs with their own quest hooks to add to a campaign. Additionally, membership in the guild provides some fun benefits including privileged access to information, weapons, and facilities. I may introduce them in my Ptolus campaign. Finally, I was in error in my last observation on the Grim Accord—this article also provides an NPC domain for the Pickling Guild—meaning there is a little more support for domain play from Kingdoms & Warfare.

The next article is Wonders From the Wild, by Hannah Rose, which focuses on new nature themed magic items and spells. It’s noted that these are primarily intended for druids and rangers. This is a very mechanically dense article, with lots of interesting things to potentially add to your game. This includes no less than fifteen magic items, all of which are unique and very well suited to nature themed characters. One of my personal favorites is the Cloak of the Grove Guardian, a legendary item allowing a druid to animate two trees, giving them non-intelligent treant stats. This feels exactly like the type of thing a druid should be capable of at high levels. The various magic staffs are also great and very thematic, even including story hooks providing options of ways to inject them into your story, like the Staff of Granite Peaks being in its bridge form across a chasm (super cool, right?) and the command word appearing in the player who will gain its mind when they touch the handrail (the illustration of this is also a beautiful piece by Kent Davis Jr.). Other, less interesting items essentially remove the spell slot and preparation tax of taking speak with animals and other similar spells. These aren’t game breaking, and give druids and rangers more story opportunities to highlight their connections to nature and living creatures. 

The spells also seem well designed, and perhaps modeled on other spells with more appropriate flavoring for nature-based descriptions. They are primarily battlefield control spells from my read through, but I’m sure creative players could find interesting applications.

Aethelfaer, by Sara Thompson, is the final article of this issue. This is a unique article, detailing one specific NPC rather than a group, and providing an encounter (really a mini-adventure scenario) to introduce him. The titular character is Aethelfaer, which when broken into the component parts, aethel and faer, seems to mean "noble" or "princely" "traveler" according to the often incorrect internet. This meaning does seem to hit the character's traits on the nose though. Aethelfaer is characterized as a wood elf, who is a defender and respecter of nature. The intro paragraph of character fiction depicts him hunting a deer, which he kills quickly and cleanly with an arrow, then does a ritual to thank the creature for it's sacrifice to nourish him and confirm that he will not waste any part of it. Aethelfaer was also born with meromelia, a condition that causes the absence of limbs. He makes use of some very cool prosthetics (said to be made of "red elm and owlbear teeth" in place of a right arm and foot. I appreciate both a discussion of how Aethelfaer uses and views his prosthetics, which I think helps both accurately and sensitively portray these in gameplay. I also like the discussion of how players might also use prosthetics, from the standpoint of inclusion and providing an awesome opportunity to roleplay a different life experience.

The artwork of Aethelfaer is by Grace Cheung, MCDM's on-staff artist, and is an outstanding piece. In the article is also include a d12 table of plot hooks to include Aethelfaer, some of which are very fleshed out and detailed. The stat block isn't anything crazy, with Aethelfaer having ranger traits and abilities. The interesting details are tied to a vial of poison he hides in his prosthetic arm, along with a once per day Deflect feature, allowing him to reduce a ranged weapon's attack damage with his arm, or to catch the object and hurl it back if the damage is reduced to zero. The other cool inclusion is "Common Signs" as a language, which is presented in a sidebar as a universal language amongst disabled communities. A cool bit of inclusive worldbuilding that could be pulled into other scenarios and games (for instance, a cleric in my Empire of the Ghouls game spent a downtime attempting to learn sign language to be able to communicate silently with his teammates).

On to Arcadia 8!

Arcadia Reactions Page

Review- Conan: Black Colossus

Image is by RodrigoKatrakas, and used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Spoilers for the story…

Reading Black Colossus makes you really realize how much more Howard influenced our modern games and adventures even more than Tolkien (and this is coming from a LOTR lover). The tale of the dark sorcerer, Thugra Khotan, entombed in a mysterious dome rising above the desert and the dried out river that had flowed with strength in his age. That’s a mystery that needs solving. That’s a dungeon that needs to be explored, and there’s treasure to be had—at great peril! 

It’s interesting to the elements of investigation touched on in the story, noting that the thief Shevatas put significant effort into his preparations. “Not for naught had he gained access into darksome cults, had harkened to the grisly whispers of the votaries of Skelos under midnight trees, and read the forbidden iron-bound books of Vathelos the Blind.” We can see not only in Conan, but in Shevatas the clear archetype of a cunning thief, who undertakes their business with great care, reflected in the description of his opening the door with a hidden combination on secret catches. This is continued with the fight with the guardian serpent, with poison of a snake exactly like it. “…the obtaining of that venom from the fiend-haunted swamps of Zingara would have made a saga in itself.”

There are of course elements that trouble a modern reader—the choices of language dismissing some of Howard’s fantastic cultures as uncivilized. The other standout is the perceived need to diminish Princess Yasmela through diminutive language to paint her as the damsel in distress, helpless without the aid of a masculine hero though she is the (abet caretaker) head of a kingdom. This of course culminates in her being snatched by the villain at the climax of the major battle and being taken as some sort of sacrifice, naked on an altar, and the descriptions of Conan’s passions for her overwhelming his reason—probably the ultimate source of many objectifying depictions of women in pulp sword & sorcery.

I enjoyed this passage and the image it invoked:

“Conan listened unperturbed. War was his trade. Life was a continual battle, or series of battles, since his birth. Death had been a constant companion. It stalked horrifically at his side; stood at his shoulder beside the gaming-tables; its bony fingers rattled the wine-cups. It loomed above him, a hooded and monstrous shadow, when he lay down to sleep. He minded its presence no more than a king minds the presence of his cupbearer. Some day its bony grasp would close; that was all. It was enough that he lived through the present.”

The battle of the pass and the Shemla Valley is also evocative, with some great descriptions of the actions of each side, and an interesting tactical depiction. I enjoyed this portion perhaps the most, and saw parallels to the battle of the first volume of the Black Company.

This story also speaks to the heroic journey from thief or adventurer to general and later ruler that characters were envisioned as following in early editions of RPGs. 

So in sum, there’s some bits that we are better off without in our fiction. But there’s also some really interesting plot elements that you can see have informed our current stories and games. So as with many past authors, there is much to emulate, some to avoid, and some to steal from Howard’s stories.