Maldor, Seat of Destruction
From TSOY
Introduction
"This package - bomb, you call it - will unseat the tyrant?" the farmer asked, his hands dirtying the paper as he carefully handled it.
The voice from the shadow chuckled. "It will knock him right out of his seat. If my calculations are correct, it will kill him as well. Just remember the phrase."
"On Tax-Day, another great gift I have brought my...""
"Don't finish that sentence. It shouldn't work, but let's not take any chances. It will go off as soon as you say that in the presence of our great liege." An odd squeak came from the darkened corner at the word.
"And I?"
"You will die."
The farmer sighed, wet and heavy in his lungs. "And my family?"
"They will disappear from the land. They will be taken care of well. They are part of our... tribe now."
Filthy hands pushed the package into a knapsack, and the freedom fighter turned away, resigned.
The shadow grew larger and fell across the farmer. "Man, you do good work for the people."
His face away from the shadow, the man of the dirt nodded slowly. "Freedom is the people's work," he replied as a white furred hand, fingers ending in claws, squeezed his shoulder.
An Empire Fallen
Across the deep waters of Absolon's Way lie the ruins of Maldor, once the grandest empire Near has ever known. Before the Shadow Moon came, Maldor ruled the world, its empire spreading from the Eastern Sea to the frozen waters of the South and the Hungry River of the north. Maldor's most distinctive feature was its tremendous walled cities, giant sealed engines of industry and culture. As the empire fell and shrunk back to the center of Near, many of its cities were ruined as terror and plague eradicated their denizens. These cities, filled with secrets and danger, are a destination for especially foolish or brave adventurers.
Maldor is made up of a variety of geography, from rolling plains stretching to the ocean in the east to forest-covered hills in the west. It once was beautiful. It now looks like someone dropped a bomb on the cover of a sad-eyed-wizard fantasy novel.
A Land of Lieges
When the Sky Fire fell, Emperor Absolon passed on and Maldor passed into darkness. As people took to the land again, the country found itself shattered with local lords claiming royal blood dividing the land up like lions with a carcass: unfair and bloody. The disparity between the wealthy and poor is immense; only those families with great stone fortresses and great stores were able to emerge as anything but destitute. The lords of the land press commoners into service as infantry, farmers, smiths, or whatever suits their whims. Outright war between these lords is not uncommon as they attempt to gain dominance over each other. None have achieved their goal, however, and the country remains divided.
The Maldorites are shell-shocked, blindly attempting to follow their old ways of life in a ruined empire. The people are a mix of ethnicities, although the noble lines are all Caucasian in appearance. While family is important - the nobility treasures their blood and the peasants huddle together - they are often separated by war, hunger, and wanderlust. Filthy children run rampant; with nothing to own, people make much of their only resource.
The Remnants of Culture
Maldor is in its dark ages; art and culture take second-place to survival. Among the noble classes, art still exists in collections from before the Shadow Moon came. Tapestries, painting, and sculpture are most prized. Artists are employed by lords, but innovation is rare: the artists are called on to make knock-offs of pre-Shadow art more than anything else. Musicians and actors do well if they can find a liege, as owning the better court entertainment is a major point of pride for these cardboard nobles playing at being kings.
Other troubadours wonder the countryside, going from inn to inn to make a few pieces of gold. It is said that one enterprising merchant hired a gang of mercenaries to pillage a fallen city and is now printing books using a press they managed to liberate. From the borderlands, there are stories of commoners banding together to rebuild villages; these communes are said to sponsor community theatres of dubious quality, but high humor.
The food of Maldor is considered bland by the rest of the world, but is hearty and filling. Potatoes are served at every meal, from a commoner's feast to a noble's snack. On the other hand, Maldor's beer is the best in the world.
Let Them Eat War
The Maldor economy can be described as an ever-hungry violent monster, constantly devouring itself to live. Farmers grow grain, corn, potatoes, and other root vegetables and raise goats, sheep, and cattle for milk and food, but it never seems to be enough, especially as the lords take an obscene amount of crops and livestock in land taxes to pay for their wars. Beer and distilled potato liquor make up a large amount of their exports, especially to Goren, a frozen land to the south. Metal is found in the western hills, and what doesn't become an axe or breastplate gets sold to the iron-poor north. Most families have to supplement their income by taking up the sword. The nobles promise good pay in their armies, although plenty of idiot young people end up dying on the end of a sword before payday.
Individual lords in Maldor supplement their coffers by trading priceless artifacts and antiquities to foreigners. The Ammenite Houses are the major buyers of these objects. There is good pay in Maldor for a seasoned explorer; the ruins of many great cities are filled with arms and art, as well as fierce ratkin unlikely to appreciate pillagers.
Messiahs and Magicians
The lords of Maldor are monotheistic. Their religion centers around a variation of ancient sun god worship: they have melded the figure of the sun god and Absolon, saying that the Year of Shadow was Absolon's sacrifice as he descended into the underworld, then rose against, undefeated by Shadow. Their priests prophesy his return to Near as a king that will re-unite Maldor and make it strong again. Some philosophers might debate about when Absolon will come again, but the lords do not: there's not a one of them without the hubris to think that he is Absolon-Come-again, and that all will bow down to her. This messiah complex makes their wars all the more bloody, of course.
This monotheism trickles down to the peasants, who tend to worship the sun god in its more pagan aspect, as a giver of life and blessing. Unlike the lords, the peasants definitely argue about when Absolon will return: their dream of a better day is well-deserved, but pathetic. As Maldor was once a great multicultural cornucopia, though, religion varies widely among its lower classes, who practice animism, ancestor worship, or any variety of other religious practices in addition to sun-worship.
Rumors of a Shadow Cult abound, evildoers who would try to throw down the sun and replace it with their dark Queen of Shadow. Who exactly the Shadow Cult is is unknown. Earls and dukes tell their people that the Shadow Cult are the followers of other earls and dukes; advisors tell their lords that the Shadow Cult grows among their own people; commoners believe the Shadow Cult are the ratkin, or nasty elves, or their next-door neighbors, depending on what day of the week it is. Some elements have been assassinating self-proclaimed messiahs and blowing up castle walls without getting caught, but leave no clue as to who they are.
The Three-Corner Academy
When Maldor reigned supreme, Emperor Absolon sponsored a great academy of magic, built as a giant triangle-shaped fortress hidden in the western hills, drawing his advisors from the best of their ranks. Strangely, no one knows exactly where the academy is today: many adventurers claim to have seen it, but all directions given to it end up nowhere. Most reports of it say that strange white ratkin swarm its halls.
In its zenith, the Three-Corner Academy pressed its own philosophy of magic, based off two inter-locking triangles, the Day Triangle and Night Triangle. It trained students from all over Near within its walls, and the remnants of its learning can still be found in pockets spread over the world.
In this time, Three-Corner magic is more common in Maldor than anywhere else in Near, but any sort of magic is feared. Many nobles have court magicians that act as diviners and advisors. The combination of these powerful rulers and rumors of the Shadow Cult put fear in the hearts of superstitious commoners, who often flee from a magician's path, or in large numbers, burn the witch.
Other Species in Maldor
Maldor is a rather xenophobic land; other species do not generally find it a welcoming place. Elves are distrusted, as they disappeared during the Year of Shadow. Still, they are sometimes found in the royal courts, which does not add to their reputation among the common folk at all.
Ratkin are the least liked and most numerous. Ratkin infest the old ruined cities of Maldor, and are often the only residents there. Most lords in Maldor offer rewards for ratkin heads, and serfs desperate for money will band together into hunting parties for the sentient rodents.
Goblins get the most mixed reaction. Most are harmless, and can be found all over, from court jesters to household pets to wizards' apprentices to great warrens of them holed up in hill caves. Some of the most vile goblin experiments come from Night magicians of the Three-Corner School, however, and mothers scare their children from a young age with tales of the Hungry Ones and the Violators.
Three-Corner Magic
Philosophy of Three-Corner Magic
Like many mystic philosophies, Three-Corner Magic revolves around the connection between body, spirit, and mind, or Vigor, Instinct, and Reason. For each of these, there is one Day focus and one Night focus, with the Day focus being considered more benign. Students were generally not taught the Night focus until their masters thought they had become adept with the Day focus. Now, with the school scattered and third-generation knowledge being passed down, training has lost a lot of structure. The Night foci are more widely taught; they also are believed to be evil by many, instead of being capable of being used for evil, a distinction held in the old days.
The foci are:
| Day | Night | |
| Vigor | Creation | Destruction |
| Intstinct | Enhancement | Transformation |
| Reason | Divination | Enthrallment |
Creation and Destruction are the simplest foci, being merely making physical constructs or tearing them down. Enhancement is making something even more itself than it already is; Transformation focuses on making it different, changing its identity. Divination is seeing the truth; Enthrallment clouds the minds of others and hides the truth.
The Laws of Three-Corner Magic
There are a few laws that are always in place, unless a Secret alters them, when using Three-Corner magic.
- The target of a magical effect must either be the caster, or something or someone the caster is touching.
- Only one target can be affected with a magical effect.
- A magical effect, except Destruction, is either instantaneous or lasts one hour. (Destruction is instantaneous, but the damage remains.)
- Every magical effect done to a target can be resisted, if the target desires. Usually, a Resist ability check is done by the target opposing the player's ability check with her character's magical ability.
Three-Corner Magic Abilities
- Creation (Vigor)
- The character can create a small amount - a handful - of one of the basic elements (fire, air, earth, water) from nothing.
- Destruction (Vigor)
- The character can hurt a target with damage equal to her success level. The description of this damage is done by the player, and could be anything from telekinetic tearing of the target's body to a ghostly, arcane flame, but is definitely unnatural.
- Transformation (Instinct)
- The character can transfer the target's pool points from one pool to another equal to her success level.
- Enhancement (Instinct)
- The character can give bonus dice to any other character's ability check. You must make a resisted ability check against the other character's ability. If you are successful, your success levels are used as bonus dice on the check; if not, they receive a penalty die.
- Divination (Reason)
- The character can sense magic auras on an object or person she touches, and can sense the general disposition of people and animals.
- Enthrallment (Reason)
- The character can force her will on a target, who is well aware what is happening.
Creation and Destruction
I've been asked, why couldn't a character create a big chunk of rock over an enemy's head to kill her, instead of using Destruction? The answer is, of course she can. There are limits, though. First, the opponent gets to make a React ability check (if she's aware of the magic), which she may be better at than Resist. Second, damage is figured out by using the caster's success level with the magic, multiplied by the number of Force spent if using Create Volume. Without Create Volume, the amount of mass created usually isn't enough to hurt anyone.
Three-Corner Magic Secrets
- Secret of the Invisible Hand
- Normally, your character must touch a target to affect it with magic. With this Secret, she can affect any target she can see or have the effects of her magic occur anywhere she can see. Cost: 1 point from the associated pool.
- Secret of the Invisible Arm
- Your character can physically manipulate objects through telekinesis. This power is not as strong or coordinated as her normal body: all actions take a penalty die, although pools can be spent as normal to alleviate this. Cost: 1 Vigor. Prerequisite: Secret of the Invisible Hand.
- Secret of Magical Contagion
- Normally, your character's magic affects one target. You can spread her magic over a group of targets by spending points from the associated pool.
- Cost:
- A small group of targets (around 5) can be affected for 1 point.
- A large group of targets (25 or less) can be affected for 3 points.
- A crowd of targets (100 or less) can be affected for 6 points.
- A horde of targets (all that the caster can see) can be affected for 10 points.
- Secret of Magical Persistence
- Normally, your character's magic can last for a maximum of one hour. With this Secret, you can extend the duration by spending from the associated pool.
- Cost:
- For 1 point, you can extend until sundown (or sunrise if used at night.)
- For 3 points, you can extend until the end of one moon phase (end of the week).
- For 6 points, you can extend until the next eclipse (end of the month).
- For 10 points, you can extend until one complete sun cycle (either solstice).
- Secret of Magical Effect
- You can increase the success level of a successful Three-Corner Magic ability check by 1. Cost: 1 associated pool point.
- Secret of Sympathetic Magic
- If your character has an item of the target she is attempting to affect with magic, you gain a bonus die on your ability check.
Transformation Secrets
- Craft
- Your character can use any of her Craft or Artistic skills magically, making their action instantaneous. The Craft or Artistic skill is rolled first, with success levels acting as bonus dice on the Transformation ability check. Cost: 1 Instinct.
- Living Morph
- You can change the target's form into that of another living creature, moving around their pool points as you want at the same time. This costs a minimum of one Instinct. You can spend extra Instinct points to:
- Double or half the target's size. If this is not done, the target becomes a creature of its same size.
- Flip two skill scores. One of the skills does not have to be stated, if you flip for the target's best skill.
- Add a +1 or +2 weapon or armor rating to the target. One Instinct must be spent per separate rating.
- Add a Secret to the target.
- Cost: 1+ Instinct.
Creation Secrets
- Create Anything
- Your character can create any pure material that she wants. Pure material is not as simple as any one of the real-world elements: alloys and such count. What is prohibited is creating, for example, wood and metal at the same time. Steel, an alloy, is fine. Cost: 1 Vigor.
- Create Volume
- Your character can create a mass of material. This is roughly equal to 1 foot cubed per Vigor spent, and can be in any non-complex shape, such as a sphere, wall, or cube. Cost: 1+ Vigor. (Note: That's 1 cubic foot for 1 Vigor, 8 cubic feet for 2 Vigor, 27 cubic feet for 3 Vigor, and so on.)
Destruction Secrets
- Inner Damage
- Your character can damage targets' pools, removing points, instead of doing physical damage. Cost: 1 Vigor.
- Massive Damage
- The damage done with Destruction is equal to your success level multiplied by the amount of Vigor spent. Cost: 2+ Vigor.
Enthrallment Secrets
- Gentle Touch
- Your character can use Enthrallment without making her target aware that she is being manipulated. Cost: 1 Reason.
- Alter Senses
- You can alter a target's senses. Cost: 1 Reason per sense.
Divination Secrets
- Know Truth
- Your character can know the answer to any question asked of her. The GM will determine the clarity of these answers by your success levels. Cost: 1 Reason.
- Know Capabilities
- You can learn game statistics about a target, such as a particular pool score, best skill and score, or specific skill and score. You can learn a number of bits of information equal to the number of Reason spent. Cost: 1+ Reason.
Enhancement Secrets
- Empower Others
- Your character can spend her pools to give other characters bonus dice or power their Secrets. This follows all normal rules; for example, only one point can be spent for bonus dice per action unless the receiving character has a Secret that allows more.
- Burst of Power
- By focusing on another character's action, you cause all dice rolled in their ability check to have the potential for bonus dice. Every blank (0) result on a die results in a bonus die given; this continues with these bonus dice, as well. Cost: 1 Instinct and one point of the pool associated with the other character's action.
Improvising New Three-Corner Magic Secrets
During the course of a game, a player or the Story Guide may want to expand what can be done with magic. As written, for example, Creation can only create inanimate objects. What if a wizard wants to temporarily create a living being, though? The Story Guide and player may work together to expand the usage of magic with new Secrets. The Story Guide needs to determine whether the usage is permissible in her campaign and how powerful it is. Using that, a new Three-Corner Secret can be co-written by the Story Guide and player to fit the new usage. An example of one that would allow for the creation of living beings:
- Creation
- Create Life
- The caster can create a living being from thin air. This being has a number of advances equal to the number of Vigor spent minus 2 plus the success levels of the Creation ability check. Cost: 2+ Vigor.
In order to create a new Three-Corner Magic Secret, the character needs to either spend much time in research, or hunt down a source of learning the new Secret.
Spells
Spells are defined usages of Three-Corner magic, crafted by players or Story Guides. When a character performs something with magic that she would like to do again in the future, she may write up exactly how the magic worked as a spell, and then take that spell as a Secret. The advantages to this are that the spell costs one less pool point than it would normally. In addition, a spell may be taken multiple times as a Secret in order to further reduce its cost.
Characters that do not have the Secrets that make up a spell can still take the spell, although they cannot make new spells that rely on Secrets they do not have. In this case, they must be taught the spell by someone else. This is a good option for a character that focuses on something besides magic, but wants to be able to use a few pre-defined magical effects. If a spell uses more than one ability, roll them from lowest to highest ranked ability. All must succeed, but earlier success levels do roll into bonus dice for later rolls.
Sample spells
- Instant Sword (Creation + Transformation)
- A sword made of solid steel appears in the caster's hand. The caster can make a Rough Crafts ability check, with the bonus dice adding to this spell's Skill Roll. This sword lasts for one hour.
- Cost:
- Creation: Create Anything: 1 Vigor.
- Transformation: Craft: 1 Instinct.
- Total cost: 1 Vigor + 1 Instinct - 1 = 1 Vigor or 1 Instinct.
- Wrack (Destruction)
- The caster can decimate the pools of anyone in her sight. A number of pool points equal to twice times the caster's success levels are destroyed.
- Cost:
- Secret of the Invisible Hand: 1 Vigor.
- Destruction: Inner Damage: 1 Vigor.
- Destruction: Massive Damage: Twice the success levels = 2 Vigor.
- Total cost: 1 + 1 + 2 - 1 = 3 Vigor.
- Be Unseen (Enthrallment)
- The target of this spell becomes not present in the eyes of those that surround her. (Dogs and other animals that track with their noses are unaffected, if a bit confused.) While this spell is negated immediately if more than 25 people are looking for the target, that shouldn't happen too much. Anyone looking for the target specifically can roll a Resist ability check versus the success level of this spell. This effect lasts an hour.
- Cost:
- Secret of Magical Contagion (large group): 2 Reason
- Gentle Touch: 1 Reason
- Alter Senses (sight): 1 Reason
- Total cost: 2 + 1 + 1 - 1 = 3 Reason.
- Werewolf Transformation (Transformation)
- The target becomes a bipedal wolfen engine of destruction until the next eclipse. Reason is reduced to one point, with the points split between Vigor and Instinct. The target's best ability is flipped for Scrapping, and the target's second best ability is flipped for Athletics. The target's fingers become claws with +1 damage to rip soft things like flesh, clothes, and leather. You must touch the target to cast this spell.
- Cost:
- Secret of Magical Persistence: effect lasts until next eclipse = 6 Instinct.
- Transformation: Living Morph: 1 base Instinct + 2 for skill flips + 1 for the claws = 4 Instinct.
- Total cost: 6 + 4 - 1 = 9 Instinct.
Crunchy Bits
Maldorite Cultural Abilities
- Demolition (Reason)
- The revolutionary elements in Maldor have re-discovered the ancient knowledge of explosives, although they haven't made the discovery of firearms yet. This ability allows one to create and detonate these implements of destruction, hopefully without losing a hand.
- Infantry (Vigor)
- This is the use of larger swords and axes and metal armor, as well as working as part of a fielded army.
- Scrounging (Instinct)
- While most Maldorites are very poor, their land is covered with the riches of times past. This ability can be used to find items or materials when they should not be commonly found.
Maldorite Cultural Keys
| Key Name | Summary | Key XP | Buyoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key of the Manipulator | Your character works behind the scenes, manipulating others in order to be a shadow ruler. Your character must work for or be an advisor of someone in a position of power. | Gain 1 XP whenever your character exerts her will over her ruler, even over minor matters - especially over minor matters. Gain 2 XP whenever the ruler accepts your character's advice over others. Gain 5 XP whenever your character's influence makes the ruler make a policy change or establish a new policy that works in your character's favor. | Accept the mantle of power for one's self. |
| Key of the Revolutionary | Your character is dedicated to overthrowing a ruling class, party, or government. | Gain 1 XP every time she speaks out against the rulers, or breaks a minor law. Gain 2 XP every time she acts directly against the rulers. Gain 5 XP every time she puts herself in great danger in order to damage the status quo. | Accept any favor from the rulers in order for your quietude or complicity. |
Examples
Sample Maldorite Names
- Males: Carlos, Michele, Pedro, Porfirio, Victor, Francisco, Montserrat, Tamim, Alejo, Reinaldo, Saul
- Females: Laura, Juanita, Rosamunda, Zelda, Josefina, Cristina, Beatriz, Esther, Zoe, Ana, Isadora
Sample Maldorite Character Ideas
- a peasant infantryman
- a Ratkin explorer of ruined cities
- a reclusive elven magician
- a knight seeking to unite the Maldor people
- a consort of lords, gaining knowledge for her own purposes
Categories: Core | Maldor
