O is for Outsiders

I was looking at my list of A TO Z topics and realized that the topic I had in mind for S is one that I've already written about.  Rather than change the topic and create more work for myself, I relabled the post I already had.  Of course, this meant that I now have S done, almost immediately on the heels of N, and clearly out of order.  While this isn't exactly a problem per se, it is motivating me to get caught up to S more quickly because I don't love that situation.  So, hot on the heels of writting N and changing an existing post to be S, I figured I better throw out O, which is for Outsiders.

One of the things that I like about D&D is the presence of a wide assortment of interesting Outsiders.  Many of them are esoteric, but for the most part, they draw on the rich cultural heritage of Europe and the middle-east--demons, angels, genies and more.  And D&D itself has done some really interesting things with a lot of them; even when they're taking names from mythology or esoteric eschatology.  How can you not love the D&D lore around iconic demon lords like Orcus or Demogorgon, neither of whom is a D&D creation, but both of whom are known almost exclusively from their D&D lore rather than from the paucity of actual information from mythology or literature.

In D&D itself, the nature of Outsiders is strongly informed by their concept of alignment.  This is even further detailed in the 3.5 version of the rules, which split out Celestials into three types--each corresponding to one of the varieties of "good" that D&D allows.  But what happened in 3.5 was a minor shift towards furthering what was already part of the way things worked in D&D.  It was just more obvious with the "evil" outsiders previously--indeed, from the early monster manuals.

So, although I quite like the idea of Outsiders, and want to have them in the DARK•HERITAGE setting, some thought needs to be given to how they work in a setting that doesn't have alignment, and doesn't really have a regular pantheon, including friendly or helpful gods at all.  In fact, I've said before (somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but somewhat not) that in DARK•HERITAGE the only real difference between angels and demons is that angels are better looking and have better PR.  My vision of Outsiders heavily favors some D&D paradigms, but also equally favors a Lovecraftian intepretation of outsiders, particularly demons and other nasties--who, in true Lovecraftian fashion might actually be Insiders, at least in the sense that while they aren't "native", they could be stuck here, sleeping in sunken cities on the sea-floor a la Cthulhu or Dagon, or something.  Add to that borrowings from implications in The Black Company of gods all being insanely powerful and paranoid (and just insane) sorcerers who managed to claw their way up the divinity ladder, and from The Deepgate Codex of Heaven being shut and all gods, angels and anything else being at best Fallen angels or whatever, and you've got a general idea of where Outsiders fit into DARK•HERITAGE, and it's--well, unsurprisingly, it's a dark kinda paradigm.  tvtropes.com calls that paradigm a "crapsack world" and it applies a fair bit, given that I consider DARK•HERITAGE a Lovecraftian fantasy, and use the subgenre tag coined by Shane Magnus--SWORD & SANITY--to describe it.

How is that consistent and how does that all make sense, you may ask?  How can Outsiders be a combination of D&D (which is largely esoteric Judeo-Christian Apocrypha in its roots), Lovecraftian, the Ten Who Were Taken, and Fallen angels all at once?  Well, you're right.  It doesn't necessarily make sense.  The setting doesn't, because like the real world, it's too complex to be understood by any given mind.  It's too complex to be understood by humanity in general--the famous quote by Lovecraft from "The Call of Cthulhu" about man not being able to comprehend reality as it really is and maintain his sanity applies to DARK•HERITAGE quite well.  As with Yog-Sothothery, a lot of these elements are also better viewed as plot devices rather than a systemic description of cosmology anyway.

But this may help.  A metaphysical conceit of the setting, which I've never really described on this blog before, but which underwrites a lot of it, is that it's really more science fiction in a way than fantasy (believe it or not.)  The presence of magic and monsters and whatnot is attributable to elements of brane cosmology, which is an esoteric theory (really not even developed far enough to be considered more than a hypothesis or mathematical model) from particle physics.  How does it apply to DARK•HERITAGE?  Simply that the setting is on a brane (as is the observable universe we live in) and sorcery comes from outside the brane--either from another brane, or the environment of the bulk itself (read the wiki article for more details.  Brane is short for "membrane" which is a simplified representation of the entire universe being a sheet, or membrane, suspended in a "bulk", stacked possibly next to other branes.  Occasionally the branes brush against each other, causing things like the Big Bang and whatnot to happen.  They also can be "leaks" for power--explaining why gravity is so much weaker than the Strong force or the Weak force in particle physics, for instance.  Or, according to some models, dark energy has as its source motions and actions taken outside the brane.  The tentative "discovery" of the Higgs-boson particle may make all this more unlikely, in which case I'm either at odds with current science, or I revert to this being more exactly fantasy and don't care.)

If "magic" is really the manipulation of dark energy, which comes from Outside the known universe; either from another universe "adjacent" to this one, or from the spaces between the universes (a very Lovecraftian notion if ever there was one) then Outsiders can be inhabitants of other universes.  Or they can be inhabitants of our universe corrupted by forces from outside the universe.  Or, then can be strange and inexplicable beings or sentiences that float in the spaces between universes.  Or, they could be all of them, depending on the specific Outsider in question.

And that approach, without bothering to necessarily claim for each individual what it is, gives me room to wiggle and slip anything I want or need into the setting, while maintaining its essential SWORD & SANITY nature quite well, thankyouverymuch.

Star Wars Rebels

http://starwars.com/news/new-animated-series-star-wars-rebels-coming-fall-2014.html
BAM! The series that will replace the Clone Wars.  It looks like the status of Clone Wars is a bit uncertain.  The fifth season finished broadcasting recently, and will come out on DVD presumably this October (as all the prior series have done.)  Dave Filoni has made several cryptic remarks about additional Clone Wars stuff he wants to do, or that is in development, etc. but I've got to think it unlikely that it will come out now.  If it's relatively small, maybe the rest of the material will be bonus content on the Season 5 DVDs or something.

N is for Neighborhoods of Porto Liure

Like most cities of sufficient size, Porto Liure is frequently broken up into informal chunks for easy reference.  The Watch has formalized these to some extent; each of these neighborhoods has a Watch barracks, and most Watchmen have a regular patrol that is limited to just one neighborhood.  These are the districts of Porto Liure.

• Academy: Named for the Academy which takes up most of this area; a rather staid (for Porto Liure) university district, which strives to be taken as seriously as the Universitat in Razina, or the Grand Academie in Terrasa, but which has a long way to go still in terms of gaining prestige, longevity and funding.  Still, the Academy at Porto Liure is a popular one for wealthier students around the Mezzovian area who are more interested in the experience than necessarily their education--it's widely seen as a "party school" compared to its competitors.  Young sons of minor nobles and merchants make up the majority of the student body.  In addition to the halls of the Academy itself, this district has the dormitories of the students, staff and faculty, and a number of small shops that cater to the students, staff and faculty, and other hangers-on.
• Castello: Named for the large "castles" that fill the district, this is a wealthy one, where the summer homes of nobility from around the area, as well as the local nobility and wealthier merchants, are found.  With private docks, opera houses, and high class accomodations and services, this is a fairly quiet and peaceful neighborhood, and the Watch's relationship with various private security forces is sometimes somewhat tense.
• Cherskii Quarter: More broadly a middle class neighborhood, but Rue des Hamazins, which is renowned for its hamazi restaurants and small ethnic neighborhood is responsible for the name of the entire district.  Infamous as a hold-out of the Cherskii Mafia--the Watch here is suspected of being thoroughly corrupt.
• Ciutat Veixa: Jacobo Bernat's original keep, and a great deal of the old money and old power of Porto Liure make their homes here.  In reality, few people actually "live" here, though--this is a busy quarter during the day, with the running of the business and administration of the city-state's government, but goes very quiet at night.  The Watch presence is strong and implacable, by reputation.
• Foghorn Park: A lower-class neighborhood far from the waterfront and nestled in the arms of the foothills at the edge of town, many of the people who live here are laborers in the farms outside of town, or hunters in the mountains, or otherwise have occupations that keep them busy away from the commerce of the city.  Overland smugglers are said to thrive here, and people walk relatively carefully due to suspicion of gang activity.  Much of the changeling population of the city lives here; even so-called "urban changelings" are consumed with enough wanderlust that they feel more comfortable being able to leave the city quietly, unobtrusively, and relatively frequently.
• Little North: Little North is actually on the south end of town, but because it gained character as a balshatoi ethnic neighborhood, it became known as Little North.  Curiously, it's not particularly settled by Northerners anymore--it's a low class laborer neighborhood, and a hotbed of gang warfare; a crossroads of various gang's territory, as it were.  The Union of the Snake headquarters are located here, near the docks.
• Los Corts: The origin of the name is lost to history, but no Courts hold sway in this neighborhood anymore.  Both the Watch and private security don't wait for sentencing to mete out punishment to anyone who violates the peace here, as Los Corts is primarily a warehouse district, and goods worth a king's ransom move through this district almost routinely.
• Qazmir Park: The last neighborhood named for an ethnic component, this one lives up to its name, and Rue des Sultains is famous for its al-Qazmiri architecture, signage, cuisine and more.  The neighborhood in general, though, has become a slum for all kinds of expatriates living in Porto Liure, and it could as easily be named for any of them.  Gang violence (and other violence, for that matter) is not unusual here, and the Watch seargents who work this beat are reputed to be unflappable and highly used to all kinds of terrible things.  Kaz's Crew, a gang of northerners, curiously, has much of the district in its grip, but other gangs work the area as well.
• Sént-Vincenç: An almost "anti-ethnic" neighborhood, the residents here are proud of their Terrasan heritage and have little patience for immigrants and the troubles that seem to follow them.  The Watch is firmly in the pocket of the Castiadas crime family here, who maintain a respectable façade.
• Soddens: The poorest slum in the city, Soddens is supposed to be nearly lawless.  In truth, the Watch keeps a strong presence here, but no matter what they do, it's insufficient.  Firmly in the grip of crime families, all of the industry of this district is illicit--smuggling, drug dens, prostitution, slave markets--if it's illegal, or even frowned upon, it happens here.  Life is cheap, and dead bodies in the street are hardly enough to spur the Watch to become concerned.  Named for the thick fogs that roll off the hills and blanket this district, it's also notorious amongst those who tell these kinds of tales, as a haunted district, and much of the supernatural activity that rumors and ghost-stories love to regale are centered around Black Maria's Square, where old Jacobo Bernat's daughter-in-law was supposedly executed in the early days of the city.
• White Stones: Infamous as the headquarters of the Fuzeta da Ponte crime family, this neighborhood is named for the pale granite flagstones that make up much of its streets.  Boats slip in and out of this neighborhood at all hours, and nobody asks too many questions of their neighbors, which keeps this a relatively peaceful neighborhood most of the time; although one infamous for things happening which are not supposted to.
  

Vermin Lord

One of the most bizarre characters of DARK•HERITAGE is Vermin Lord, a nameless sorcerer billed as a member of the Heresiarchy.  Although he's often considered--by those few who know of him--as unconcerned with mortal affair and either above (or beneath) them, this is a dangerous affectation to hold.  A common conceit of many sorcerers, and almost certainly true of the folks who merit the label of Heresiarchy members, is that the "gods" are merely mortal sorcerers grown beyond the confines of this world, and that their time may yet come, and a new generation of "gods" may yet replace them.  Vermin Lord certainly believes this, and perhaps more than any other of the Heresiarchy, has taken action to ensure that when that time comes, he's at the forefront of the replacement of the current generation of gods.

This is not good news for humanity, since Vermin Lord has no use for them.  Vermin Lord is a scion of numerous other repugnant forms of life--rats and spiders being among his favorite.  Many have wondered at a possible link between Vermin Lord and the giant carnivorous spiders that prowl the Plateau of Leng.  But his most foul creation are the ratlings.  Large varieties of filthy rats, fed on human carrion and blasted with foul magicks, have--over generations of shepherding at Vermin Lord's hand, become vaguely anthropomorphic.  Walking on two legs and using their front paws as hands, the ratlings are as intelligent as humans, and as inventive, but they know nothing but filth, hatred, and cruelty.  Vermin Lord has clearly set them up to replace humanity when the time is right.  In the meantime, they spread in small groups from their home in Leng, feeding on carrion and rotting flesh--human when they can get it--and hiding in the sewers and midden heaps of humanities cities, poised to spread their plagues and diseases like the rats from which they were engineered by this mad sorcerer.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the ratlings, however, is the extent to which their exposure to foul magicks has made them surprising mutile, or subject to mutation.  Most of these revolting mutants are unfit for even the ghastly life that the ratlings currently live, but some are actually quite fearsome.  Gigantic, pustule-swollen rats larger than horses, long-legged "wolfrats"--capable of pack hunting over long distances, "aperats" that are much larger than a man--weighing up to 1,000 lbs. of muscle and mangy fur, with claws and teeth of hardened enamel.  Thankfully, these mutants rarely are intelligent, but their fearsome strength and constant rage can be harnessed by their more intelligent overseers.

Among the most fearsome are the ratling-spawn that are able to develop some of the features of Vermin Lords' other passion--spiders.  Dog-sized rats with eight-eyes, or ratlings who's bites are laced with venom, or who can scale walls like spiders, or even spin fetid silk are reported by the few who even know of the ratlings or their doings, and it is indeed an ominous development.

Vermin Lord himself has turned into a grotesque, post-human mockery of his previous form, which is now unremembered.  Constant exposure to unclean magical forces have mutated his bones and sloughed off his flesh--he now appears as a monstrous parody of human and ratling features that has died and rotted, yet somehow still moves.  Horns and spines jut from his exposed skull, and his teeth have been replaced by bone spurs directly in his jaw.  He truly is one of the most unsettling of the Heresiarchy to see (worthy of a SAN check, believe you me!)

Depeche Mode retrospective

So... apparently there's a strong link between gamers and metal.  I've never really listened to much metal, other than a brief flirt with Metallica in the 80s, and Anthrax and a few other guys.  I was always an electronic music guy, and really liked the European stuff in particular.  Stuff like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, etc.  Stuff that today is called synthpop.  Since my audience here tends to be gamers, there's probably a big disconnect when I talk about certain topics--hiking and music being two notable ones.

That said, this is not a monetized blog, or anything.  I'm not looking to build a DARK•HERITAGE brand or anything; this blog is just my little corner to ramble about whatever it is I feel like talking about.  So, here's another DM related post.  I've been listening to enough of Delta Machine now that I feel comfortable commenting on it, but more telling, I've been caught up in a broader DM fever, listening to all kinds of their old stuff, remixes, B-sides, older albums, video documentaries, and more.

I saw a comment from some guy on the Internet--just the commentary page for an actual review of Delta Machine somewhere that had an interesting comment in it--it was something to the effect that Depeche Mode is like the old ex-girlfriend you had from a fun time in your life.  You look back fondly and nostalgically on those times, so you can't help but checking in from time to time to see what she's up to--only to find that she's gone somewhere so different from the direction you've gone that you have nothing in common anymore.  I think he's overstating the case--or at least my relationship with Depeche Mode isn't quite that dramatic.  But he makes a good point.  There's still a lot of that vibe present in my own relationship with Depeche Mode too, and I still see all of their best stuff in the 80s--particularly the material that came out on Some Great Reward in 1984, Black Celebration in 1986 and Music for the Masses in 1987.  After which they took some time off, recorded the best live album ever (101) at the tail end of their Masses tour in 1988, and then came back with Violator in very early 1990, which largely disappointed me, even though it was much more successful financially than anything they'd done previously, and even though it has "Enjoy the Silence" which even I have to admit is gotta be their most iconic song ever.  Violator is, however, a natural enough evolution from Masses, in many ways--it wasn't until Songs of Faith and Devotion where Dave Gahan and others consciously wanted to evolve into much more of a "rock" sound that I felt Depeche Mode really lost me and never quite got me back.  Sure, I have all of their later albums (although I picked them up quite belatedly in most cases) and I still like them well enough--but I don't love their new stuff like I loved (and still love) their older material.  As I've said before, I think some of what I miss is Alan Wilder's influence.  And they've managed to replicate some of Wilder's talent with various hired on producers and session musicians, no doubt, but I still think Wilder was a genius who's talents were--as he himself said--underappreciated in many cases until after he was gone.

And one of the things I most appreciated about the band in the "good old days" was their attention to guarding their privacy.  In the mid-90s, that was no longer possible, after Dave Gahan famously nearly died (more than once) and was arrested for heroin possession (and overdosing).  Frankly, Dave's state was almost a worse crisis for the band than Alan's departure--and when he finally licked it, it's almost like he was using the curiosity of the music press as therapy sessions, talking way too much about what was going on.

I do, actually, appreciate the video documentaries that have come out since--most notably all those that came out with the 2006 remastering and reissuing of all their earlier albums.  Seeing some behind the scenes are interesting, and they've done a good job of keeping their private details private to a surprising degree, talking more about the music and the processes than about their personal lives.  After watching all of them, I'm still not completely sure why Alan left the band, even though he featured very prominantly in the interviews.  Maybe he kept things too private; I'm not 100% sure that the rest of the band really understands even now why he left either.  They seemed to speculate a little bit on that, before admitting that they were speculating and that they should probably quite while they were ahead.  Odd.  I got a better read from Vince Clark in the earliest two documentaries, when he was still around.  They couldn't help but talk about Dave's heroin addiction, since it played such a major role in what was going on during Songs and Ultra.

Now, as part of my own review, I've been hunting down remixes and b-sides that I've been missing from the "golden years"--not that there's a lot I didn't have, because I had a lot of CD singles and even vinyl 12-inches that I'd bought back in the day (and since.)  I also have spent a fair bit of time on youtube watching their old music videos.  The band is adamant that they hated doing music videos until they stumbled across Anton Corbijn who did their last Black Celebration video ("A Question of Time") and almost everything subsequent.  In fact, they're adamant that they felt taken advantage of, seen as a tool for various directors to try out whatever outrageous idea they had and make them look foolish.

Reading a little between the lines, I think what they really mean to say is that Anton was the first director that made them feel comfortable doing something that they fundamentally didn't really like doing.  If that's the case, well, I can hardly fault them for feeling that way, but honestly, most of the older videos weren't that bad (and most of the Corbijn videos weren't really that good either.)  With the exception of "Leave in Silence" and "Get the Balance Right" I actually think most of their older videos are either quite good, or at least par for the course for the period in which they were made.  I even think "It's Called a Heart" may have the best music video Depeche Mode put out (although I'm kinda with the band on the fact that the song itself wasn't anything terribly special.)

Three Brief Book Reviews

Just finished three books recently (not counting several hiking books that I also read--but which it would be silly to review on this site.)  One of them I "read" as an audiobook on CD, checked out from the library, and listened to mostly during my commute to and from work, and occasionally a bit here and there during my lunch hour or other times when I could break away to the car.

Crossed Blades

The last--so far anyway (the next book is already announced and due out this summer) book in the Fallen Blade series that I've been reading is Crossed Blades, and it's an interesting one.  McCullough continues to dazzle me by writing these fast, breezy, somewhat noirish but really more swashbucklery, light tales.  One of the things he does best is continue to add significantly to both the setting, and to the life and secret history of the main character, Aral, in each volume.  Jim Butcher does this, to some extent, as well, but Butcher is much more slow and deliberate--his Dresden Files novels tend to be much more about the villain of the week, and additions to the setting and grander "meta-story" are trickled out slowly, rather than expanded upon significantly in each volume (although the last Dresden Files book which came out late last fall did expand on the setting in very significant ways--I was impressed.)  Then again, I presume that McCullough isn't going to attempt to stretch his series out as long as Butcher.

Anyway, I don't want to get into re-treading things I've already said in earlier reviews--always a problem in series where for the most part the strengths, weaknesses and qualities in general of the books tend to be similar--so I'll probably wrap this one up quickly--but I liked Crossed Blades quite a bit.  Possibly it's my favorite of the series so far, although it's hard to tell.  Considering the short nature of the books, if there doesn't end up being too many of them, maybe they'll be omnibussed together, then I won't have to necessarily think of them as separate entities anyway.

The Ruins of Gorlan

In my last post on the Calçan rangers, I very briefly hit on a micro-review of this book.  This is part one of the Ranger's Apprentice series of YA fantasy novels, and is apparently quite a big hit.  The concept looked pretty cool to me, and since I'm always encouraging (demanding, even) that my kids have something to read, I've been trying to get my middle-schooler to read this series for a couple of years now.  He finally relented and tried to read this, but gave up over halfway into it when the next Percy Jackson book was available from the library--a series that he enjoys much more.  On a whim, I decided to pick this book up as well as a audiobook on CD and listen to it while I commuted.  I do, after all, have fond memories of some other YA fantasy series I read when I was younger, like the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, or of course, the Harry Potter series more recently.

And I can sympathize with his reluctance.  The pacing of the novel is really quite slow.  Not much happens until nearly the end of the book.  Parts of it are, in fact, quite annoying (I admit to being easily annoyed by reading accounts of characters helplessly enduring bullying of any kind--part of the reason why Dolores Umbridge made Harry Potter 5 the worst book in the series--and this book had a fairly strong helping of that.)  The characters also weren't terribly interesting, for the most part, and the plot, like I said, was a non-starter.  The setting also wasn't anything special, being basically an idealized "Merry Olde England" type setting with a YA type dark lord and his YA type orcs but even more caricaturish villains (which only make an incidental appearance, actually.)  So there's nothing yet that really stood out--cardboard characters, cardboards fantasy setting, and weak plot.

In spite of these rather crippling faults, I found myself intriguingly caught up in the book by the end, and when it finished, I almost ran off to the library to pick up the next book on audiobook.  I decided I've got better ways to spend my time, but I dunno--I still want to see what the big deal with this series is.  I may come back to it yet.  Someday.

Fade to Black

I saw this book on the New Book rack at the library and picked it up on a whim.  By Francis Knight, a first-time published author (I believe) this one also had a very noirish tint to it, as a kind of strange fantasy Coruscant type place, where traditional fantasy elements (like magic) are blended in an interesting way with elements that are more at home in noir crime novels or cyberpunk dystopias.  In fact, noir fantasy cyperpunk is a very good description of what this could be called.  A fascinating setting blend.

Sadly, of course, a setting does not a novel make.  The prose and main character(s) were interesting (for a time) but the novel kinda goes off the rails somewhere in about the last third or so.  I'm not terribly fond of making gender-related stereotypical observations, but I've noticed in several novels written by women authors for books that otherwise look like books I would quite like (Amanda Downum's Drowning City being another recentish example) that attention to plot and action kinda fades away while characters sit around emoting and "feeling" and I'm left wondering what exactly happened.  The climax of Fade to Black certainly had a resolution for the emotions of several characters, but in terms of actual events, I'm a little confused.  In fact, the plot resolution seems to be completely missing.  It happens "off-stage" and isn't even described after the fact (a la Bilbo's resolution to The Hobbit)--it just really doesn't happen at all, and I don't even know exactly what even happened.  But I know how the characters feel about it!

This is all well and good if characters and emotions are what brings you do genre fiction, but that's only part of the attraction for me, and not necessarily at the very top of the list.  In fact, this is largely a feature of romance, not fantasy, bringing further anecdotal evidence to Vox Day's assertion that fantasy has largely been completely invaded, metastasized, transformed, and in the process destroyed by romance with only a few superficial fantasy trappings.  I argued that such is not the case, but it's a little disheartening to read a book that basically followed his pattern exactly so shorty after making such an argument.  My argument is, of course, based on the fact that plenty of "good" fantasy still exists, and in fact, much more of it now than ever before.  The fact that so much material that does fit his pattern is out there doesn't invalidate all of the stuff that doesn't.  But, and I said this in other reviews and discussions as well--when you can't tell the difference until after you've already bought the darn book and read it halfway through, that can be quite disappointing.  At least I got this one at the library.

Also; the none too sutble S&M themes running through this book hardly endeared it to me.  Not coincidentally, those themes became much stronger as the book entered the last third as well.

Moving forward, I still have the Abyssal Plague series to finish, but before I do that, I picked up the long-deferred first book in the Nagash trilogy from Warhammer, so that's my current project.

Calçan Rangers

As the "lost province" of Calça undergoes a fair amount of turmoil, the rangers have increased in number and responsibility over the last few years.  For many years, an unofficial corps of volunteers who patrolled the land, the rangers have had to rapidly evolve into a much more professional outfit due to the increased incidents of bandits and refugees streaming in from (respectively) the east and the north.  Many rangers are now full-time, sponsored by wealthy patrons, or by the villages and hamlets that they represent.  Their level of skill and training have also vastly increased; former military scouts from Terrasa and elsewhere having been brought in to develop more rigorous standards.  Most importantly, the senior rangers have been taking on apprentices at a furious pace, and churning out new recruits.  The ranger core in Calça is now relatively young, but relatively skilled and strong.  It's also offered a more advantageous and realistic outlet for the more adventurous youths than any that the region had before, and for those who can't stand the thought of a lifetime of farming or simple village craftsmanship, it's a somewhat romanticized new occupation.

Within the ranger corps (not yet with capital letters, but if it continues to grow in prominence, importance or size, it may well be soon) there are several roles or specializations that have developed.  The entire outfit is, at most, a few hundred members in size, and many of these specializations only have a dozen or so members who work on them.

Sherrifs

These are rangers that are assigned permanently to a specific county.  For very large or troubled counties, the sherrifs might have one or more deputies to assist them in their duties.  The concern of the sherrifs and their deputies is enforcing the peace and dealing more with local issues.  By far, the majority of the rangers are sherrifs.

Bounders

Bounders are not tied to a specific county for their responsibility, and are free to mobilize and move around the entirety of Calça as needed.  Usually messages are sent to bounders, who often have "day jobs" and do their ranger work as "reserves", when there is a specific need for temporary numbers to deal with a problem.  Some bounders operate beyond the borders of Calça entirely, keeping a wary eye on areas where problems may develop that will spill into the heartland.

Shadows

The smallest branch of the ranger corps are the shadows, highly skilled and experienced hunters of supernatural threats which accompany the immigrants, or which linger from ancient days in the land, long before the arrival Terrasan settlers.  Disquieting and alarming to most of the populace, the shadows are seen as necessary, but nobody likes to be reminded of that fact.

The Calçan rangers are based, in part, on my long-time love of the concept of the Texas rangers, the Dunedain from Lord of the Rings, my love of the ranger class in various editions of D&D, and most recently my brush with some YA fiction that I've tried to get my son to read, The Last Apprentice series (called The Spook's Apprentice in the UK) and The Ranger's Apprentice series.  I tried to listen to both series myself as audiobooks during my commute, since my son seemed to be somewhat reluctant, even though the books seemed to be right up his alley. I had to agree that the execution of both was somewhat lacking--they're slow moving and not terribly interesting; but the idea of them both was solid.

In addition, I'd like the DARK○HERITAGE setting to be expansive enough to allow for different kinds of stories, possibly set in different regions.  Calça is already a kind of cosy, country atmosphere--kind of like the Two Rivers from the Wheel of Time series, or The Shire from the Lord of the Rings--yet one that's threatened by encroaching darkness and problems, ringed about with shadows.  Despite the fact that I want the setting to be expansive, I also want it to be consistent after all, and that means the use of plenty of horror elements lurking in the background.  The cosy backcountry areas of the DARK•HERITAGE setting (at least in Terrasan settings) tend to resemble the Eastern European countryside of Dracula, or the English moors of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and The Wolfman (either the 1941 or the 2010 one--the mood was very much the same.)  Or perhaps the French film The Brotherhood of the Wolf, which gamers seem to be really enamored of, for some reason.  At least once you dig a little bit past the cosy "Shire" take on it.

Baix Pallars is another rural area full of small hamlets and villagers, but that one is more specifically mimicking Arkham Country in fantasy drag.

m20 Dark•Heritage chargen, part 2

Skills.

There are only five skills in m20.  Applications of all of the other skills in d20 are collapsed into this 5-skill system.  Skill checks are made by rolling a d20 and taking that result + the skill bonus, + the applicable Stat bonus, and comparing that to a GM set target (Difficulty Class, or DC.)  Which skills and which stats?  The GM will tell you, but in most cases it should be obvious.  Climbing, for example, would be STR + Athletics.  Dodging would be DEX + Athletics. (Those rolls would also be a stand-in for Fortitude and Reflex saving throws.)  In a few instances, your bonus would be a level check rather than a skill--for example, a Will save in m20 would be done as a MIND + level.

The character's skill bonus is equal to his level bonus + any skill bonus granted by class or race.  For example, a 4th level Human fighter would have an Athletics skill of 4 (because he's 4th level) + 1 to all skills as a human racial trait, and +3 as a Fighter class trait, or +8 total.

The five skills are Athletics, Communication, Knowledge, Subterfuge and Survival.

Sanity.

Characters begin with 60 + MIND bonus x 10) Sanity points.  Whenever a disturbing  event is experienced by a character, they make a Will save (MIND + level, DC set by GM) to avoid SAN loss.  If the character fails the roll (or sometimes, even if they succeed), Sanity is lost, based on the following criteria: 1d6 SAN loss = seeing a minor monster or reading a Mythos style book. 2d6 SAN loss = seeing a significant monster or learning a powerful ritual spell. 3d6 = meeting a huge tentacle monster face‐to‐face. Any time a character loses more than 5 points of Sanity, the character must make a Will save (DC 20) check or develop a neurosis/psychosis. Characters with 0 or lower SAN are permanently insane.

Equipment.

Equipment lists from d20 can be used if desired for added detail, but I prefer a more "generic" equipment list, certainly when it comes to weapons, armor and the like.  Unwieldy equipment lists, and worrying about things like carrying capacity, etc. strike me more as an exercise in accounting than in gaming, and I'm not in favor of them. 

In this "generic" equipment list mileu, the following is the complete weapon list:

Weapon Type
Unarmed - cost is free, damage is 1d3
Light (daggers, rapiers, etc.) - cost is 5 gp, damage is 1d6
Medium (swords, axes, etc.) - cost is 15 gp, damage is 1d8
Heavy (greatswords, two-handed ax, etc.) - cost is 20 gp, damage is 1d10. Cannot use shield with this size weapon.
Thrown (daggers, tomahawk, etc.) - cost is 1 gp, damage is 1d4.  Range is 30 ft (no incremenets; it's either in range or not.)
Ranged (Bow and arrows, crossbow, etc.) - cost is 40 gp, damage is 1d8.  Range is 100 ft.  Assume unlimited ammunition (as per most action movies!)
Pistol - cost is 150 gp.  Damage is 2d6, range is 50 ft. Must take an entire turn to reload after firing.
Rifle - cost is 200 gp.  Damage is 2d8, range is 150 ft. Must take an entire turn to reload after firing.

Armor Type
Light (padded cloth, leather, etc.) - cost is 10 gp, Armor bonus to AC is +2.
Medium (chainmail or breastplate) - cost is 50 gp, Armor bonus to AC is +4
Heavy (full suit of plate armor) - cost is 250 gp, Armor bonus to AC is +6
Light shield (buckler or wooden shield) - cost is 10 gp, Armor bonus to AC is +1
Heavy shield (kite shield or fully metal shield) - cost is 15 gp, Armor bonus to AC is +2

Non combat equipment is not listed in m20, but should be references from the SRD.

Coming next: GMing and Combat!

m20 Dark•Heritage chargen

The essence of m20 is to preserve the basic "engine" if you will of d20, but reduce the tedium and detail into something that's much more "by-the-seat-of-your-pants" and handwavey.  Something much more conducive to rulings instead of rules.  Not that I don't already run d20 that way, but m20 makes it somewhat easier to do so even if your players are more inclined to be rules lawyery.  In other words, the system itself supports it rather than stands in contrast to that playstyle, unlike in d20.  In this sense, m20 is to be preferred.  But can it actually support the level of detail that I need?  That, of course, is the $100,000,000 question.

So, let's jump into it.  To create a DARK•HERITAGE character in m20, follow the following rules...

Generate Stats.

Instead of six stats, m20 collapses it down to three: STR, DEX, and MIND.  Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, then assign as desired.  Or, since I always have liked arrays, use 16, 13, and 11.  You can take points from one to give it to another (i.e., voluntarily lowering the 11 to a 9 so you can bump the 16 to an 18.)  However, you cannot take any stat above 18 at this point.

Pick Race.

The following races belong in the DARK•HERITAGE setting:

• Human: +1 to all skill points
• Hellspawn (including hamazin): +1 DEX and Night Vision (can see in darkness as well as in light, exception absolute darkness as in a cave, or in a darkness spell.)
• Jann: +1 DEX and Fire Strike (all of your damage rolls in one battle only per day do an extra 1d6 fire damage. Assuming, of course, that your opponent is not immune to fire damage.)
• Changeling: +3 to Survival skill, plus Wildshape (for one battle per day, you can grow claws and fangs.  These attack as per a light weapon, even if you're unarmed, and do an additional +d6 of damage due to their extreme sharpness.)
• Neanderthal: +1 to STR, +1 to Athletics skill, and +1 to Survival Skill.
• Nephilim: +2 MIND

Pick Class.

The following classes belong in the DARK•HERITAGE setting:

• Fighter: Can wear any type of armor, weapons and use shields.  Fighters add +3 to their Athletics skill, and +1 to all Attack and Damage rolls.  This increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 10th level, etc.
• Rogue: Can wear light armor and use light, medium, or ranged weapons.  Rogues add +3 to their Subterfuge skill, and can (usually) make a Sneak Attack by making a successful sub+DEX roll to add their sub bonus to their attack and damage at the beginning of a combat.  This can only be done once, and the DC is set by the GM.  If the rogue is clearly seen before a combat starts, this will obviously be problematic, and the rogue will have to attempt to hide or something and then re-sneak up on the combat to use this ability.
• Outdoorsman: Many folks in the DARK•HERITAGE setting make their living in the wilderness.  Outdoorsman can wear medium armor and use light, medium, or ranged weapons. An outdoorsman gains +3 to his Survival skill, and gains a +1 to hit with ranged weapons.  They can also gain an animal companion of CR 1 or less.  At 4th level, they can upgrade this to an animal companion of CR 2 or less, at 8th level to CR 3, etc.  This animal is not just an extension of the character, and although you can usually have it do what you want, occasionally the GM will intercede if you're attempting to have the animal do something that there's no way in the world it would actually be willing to do.  Note that this doesn't mean that animals can't display loyalty, including risking their lives for their master.  Just... be careful, that's all.
• Scholar: Adventuring scholars are rare breeds.  Many times they are lured to the vocation in the search for forbidden knowledge.  They gain a +1 MIND and +3 Knowledge.  They can use light armor, and light and ranged weapons.  Scholar's also have access to Arcane Spells, and can cast any arcane spell with a spell level equal to or below half their class level, rounded up.  Casting a spell of any kind costs Hit Points.  The cost is 1 + double the level of the spell being cast. 

Calculate hit points.

Hit points for all classes is the STR score plus 1d6/level.  The 1d6 may be rolled twice, and the best result chosen.

Coming next: skills and equipment!

Microlite20 (m20)

So... I claim to not be very drawn to rules and systems.  But, I've tinkered with a ton to represent DARK•HERITAGE over the last few years, including heavily house-ruled d20 D&D, d20 Modern, Pathfinder, DARK•HERITAGE HACK (based on Old School Hack), and my so-called Anti-d20 system that was a kind of hybrid of Savage Worlds lite plus The Window.  All of this, of course, makes my claim about system indifference seem kind of phony.

But I will point out that mostly I like using d20 style games, because they're so easy, familiar, and there's so much material in print for them that it makes it easy to grab whatever I need and have it available without having to go very far into houseruling.

That said, there are some things about d20 that I never really have liked, and other things that are not a problem necessarily for me personally, but which I see commonly brought up and which are only not a problem because I happen to have gamers who accomodate my eccentricities.  This is part of the reason that I'm still tempted frequently by the siren song of another system which I hope will match my tastes better than d20 which, let's face it, is really much more complicated than it ever needs to be.  I'm not really a fan of the OSR style games either, because they tend to cater to an old-school taste vibe.  I could modify an OSR type game into being one that better matched both my tastes and my setting, but... I'm honestly not that familiar with the OSR games to know which one I should bother starting with.  Nor am I curious enough to find out.

But, and this is a big one (I like those, I cannot lie), that doesn't mean that I'm out of alternatives.  I've recently (and belatedly) discovered Microlite20, or m20, a system that dramatically streamlines the d20 ruleset, while maintaining near full compatability with all products released for it!

Sound too good to be true?  Quite frankly, yes, it does.  But I'm extremely intrigued nonetheless.  And clearly it's working for something, because there's a lot of variants of it out there, made by folks who want their m20 applied like a template to d20 type games.  Quite honestly, it sounds right up my alley.  Sufficiently so, in fact, that I'm going to take some time to create my own variant of it, suitable for use with the DARK•HERITAGE setting.  And then, I'll want to try it out to see how well it works.  I'm fairly confident that m20 will work fine as a self-containted unit, but I'm curious about its intersection with d20, and how much of it has to be brought to bear.  That will be, I presume, the real baptism by fire as to its suitability.

Isin

Isin is the most easterly of the successor states to Baal Hamazi.  Cut off from easy access to its nearest neighbors (such as Pnakot to the northwest) by vigorously expanding tribes of nomadic Untash, it maintains a tenuous connection culturally to the former empire through trade routes that skirt the edges of the Lakama jungle, a place that's as dangerous and off ill-repute as dealing with Untash barbarians is.  But Isin isn't known for its isolation nearly as much as it is for its radical and bizarre form of government, and it's strange and wondrous architecture.

Unlike most of the successor states, race (hamazin vs. drylander) is not a significant dynamic in Isin.  Rather, it is a caste-based system, and the highest caste--the rulers of the city-state--are those who can operate some degree of witchcraft.  This is very much the reverse of most places in the civilized world, where witchcraft is highly illegal, heretical, and suspicion of which can be very dangerous to the accused.  Many of the leading class are, in fact, expatriates, or the descendents of such, who come here to practice their craft without interference from the Inquisition, or locals with pitchforks and torches, or what-have-you.

This is not to imply that Isin is a haven and refuge for mages.  Mages, by their very nature, end up paranoid and often completely insane.  Even if they don't, or fight the urges, the culture of the magi in Isin is very cut-throat, Machiavellian and pseudo-anarchic.  Magi live at the top of both the geography and the food-chain, and non-magi have little rights.  Most are, in fact, imprisoned within Isin.  While their lives aren't necessarily directly controlled by the magi, the magi can, at whim, do whatever they please to them.  Their only protection is to get "lost" in the vast herd of imprisoned nobodies--similar to the defense a zebra uses against a lion, by "disappearing" into the herd.  Someone's always the loser, but the majority of individuals can survive by being relatively anonymous, or useful to the magi.

But on paper, Agun Kidinu, a hamazin wizard of no small repute, is the leader of the city.  In theory, if he tired of the anarchy, he could control it.  In reality, it isn't something he's particularly concerned about.  There are persistent rumors that secretly Kidinu is one of the Heresiarchy, or if not, a puppet of one of the Heresiarchy... but these remain only rumors.

Below the magi, Kinnad Harfargr rules the non-magi as a dictator.  He also prefers a more laissez-faire approach to government, but as resources are scarce and the ability to leave Isin is often limited, the reality for most undercity dwellers is that they are governed by a completely unofficial warlord or gang-leader.  Harfargr has access to a powerful force of secret police, he doesn't care to use it except to enforce the will of the magi, or to protect his own power.  Frankly, the doings of the undercity dwellers are below his notice, for the most part.  Rather, he's concerned with protecting his power and protecting the favor of the magi, since if he loses the latter, he can be easily and fatally replaced.

The architecture of Isin is one of its most striking traits, however.  Built inside a vast, vertical sinkhole or ancient lava tube that's nearly a mile across, the city itself clings to the nearly vertical side walls.  The magi and their most trusted cohorts live at the top; the farther down you go, the more dreary and anarchic society becomes, as well as more difficult to survive, as it is blighted by gangs and horrors left over or thrown out by experimentations of the magi.  Both the magi and the non-magical dictator don't much care what happens at the very bottom of the gigantic sinkhole, unless it threatens to disrupt life above.

Around the upper edge of the city is a massive stone wall, pierced by many gates, but jealously protected by the secret police and the administrative talents of Kinnad Harfargr.  The magi are very careful about who they allow to enter Isin, and even more careful about who they allow to leave.

Most of the people living in Isin, as in the rest of the Baal Hamazi lands, are drylanders, but expatriates of various stripes can be found here at all times.  One unusual item of note is that inhabitants of the Forbidden Lands or the Plateau of Leng are more likely to be encountered here than anywhere else, as the magi often send expeditions deep into the Lakama Jungles (and beyond) to find them and grill them for knowledge of their blasted and bizarre landscape, which can be converted (sometimes) into arcana power.  Sometimes these inhabitants become trusted accomplices of the magi--and sometimes they even enter that caste themselves--but many other times they are simply cast below into the undercity, where they frequently wreak horror on the already oppressed inhabitants thereof.

Obsession

By Animotion.

I continue to feel unmotivated to make setting updates (or even talk about gaming at all) in part because I'm so busy that spending the intellectual capital necessary to write the update I want to write seems to be just a little beyond me at the moment.

Plus, one of my other obsessions--hiking and backpacking--which has been so long unserviced--has really captured my attention again, and I can't seem to get it off my mind.

I finally broke down and messaged the guy who took us on some of our trips when I was a teenager and asked him for some details of where we went.  I had correctly divined via memory and research that we had taken the Durango-Silverton narrow-gauge to Needleton, gotten off at the trailhead there, and hiked to the Chicago Basin, which we used as a base camp to summit one of the three 14ers there.  I was sure it was either Eolus or Windom that we had summited, but he tells me that now, it was Sunlight.

I also found out that the desert trip, where I was even more out of my element and only knew that it was in the general vicinity of Lake Powell, started at the Hurricane Wash trailhead, went into Coyote Gulch, through Stevens Arch and into Stevens Canyon, from which we took a difficult (and waterless) route that is unmarked and only known because our guide had personally explored it years earlier, out of Stevens Canyon to Baker Ranch.

I'd like to recreate the San Juans trip, and part of the Coyote Gulch trip... but I'd probably climb up to Stevens Arch, then backtrack back into Coyote Gulch and take another of the routes out.  I don't think I want to mess around with trying to find a route that's unmarked and requires detailed personal information.  Frankly, I'm just a little too out of shape and out of practice to tackle an adventure quite that... adventurous.  Not without a great deal more desert hiking practice, at least.