PrinceCon XXXVI - Champions of the Light

A series of bizarre murders gives a new generation of heroes the chance to prove their mettle.

Sixty-three years ago, a generation saved the world; now it is our turn to save them.The name of Malchion, Mage-King of Sumerilon, is a byword for cruelty and evil. After a long and hopeless campaign by the alliance known as “Champions of the Light”, he was destroyed against all expectation. The great General Ironhewer forced a path through Malchion’s armies, and none other than Romulus Pendragon struck the fatal blow. He led the Archmages and the High Priests and Priestesses of the Nine Gods to the final confrontation where they combined spells and prayers too deadly and dangerous to be risked again. Though they destroyed their foe, all save Pendragon were consumed along with him. In the wake of the devastation, only four of the Gods remain active enough in mortal affairs to have numbers of miracle-working priests.The Champion’s children lived in relative peace. In turn, their children (and their adventurous contemporaries) were raised on tales of the grandparent’s exploits, wistfully imagining what they might have done in a generation called to heroism. But be careful of what you wish for: there have been a series of high-profile murders under circumstances that suggest dark magics, and word has leaked from the Justiciar’s office that each victim was or had a connection to a famous Champion.

General Ironhewer himself has come out of retirement to lead the investigation out of Hireling Hall, and is calling on adventurers of all races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Fey, Hobbits, and even the Catfolk, otterlike Perrin and horselike Eponai to assemble at 5PM on the 11th of March, 2011 to help investigate these murders, and to discover what lies behind them.

In the Offices of General Ironhewer

"Begging the general's pardon, sir, but won't you reconsider? This is a younger man's job. Is it really necessary?"

"Time will tell, Atkins, time will tell," the general rumbled fondly to his aide of so many years. "Though I expect there isn't a younger man to do it." Atkins noticed the general stroke his long Dwarven beard as he turned to business. That much never changed, at least.

"Now, have the reports I asked for started coming in?"

"Sir, from East Lauritton, in Thisted. A fortnight ago. It's Frederick the Faithful. Killed in his bed."

"In bed? Fred survived the entire occupation! He led a cell in the resistance!"

"Sir, it's bad," Atkins added, reading ahead. The general growled for him to continue. "They say he was... torn open. As if by a madman with a scythe. But not a drop of blood! Almost as if he had been — drained— ahead of time."

General Ironhewer grimaced.

"Apparently all the blood was used in the next room. The report says there might have been writing or drawings in it, but his granddaughter was scrubbing the walls when the investigator arrived. Can you imagine? His granddaughter! And there's more. Eight of his manservants were slain in the household as well. Plus there was an additional rash of murders in East Lauritton that night — another 26 dead, though it may be 27 by now — one was only just hanging on."

The general had focused on the blood, though. "We have to find out what was in that room. And take care of the granddaughter of course! But if there was a message there... Who do we have? Has Jamison reported back yet?"

It was the first of a great many reports.

Spotlight On...

General Ironhewer

A combat veteran of three major wars and the commander of northern Dwarvish forces during the campaign against Sumerilon, General Ironhewer thought he'd seen the end of his adventuring days with the death of Malchion. "Sixty years ago, I was more'n ready to retire to the ancestral mines and lead a quiet life. But I made friends in the war, and while I have the strength to help them, by Daglir I will."

While no one doubts the General's strength of arms or suggests that he has lost his ability to command, some observers, pointing to his slightly protruding belly and his acceptance of the so-called "graft" races, believe that Ironhewer should have stayed retired. When asked about the controversy over welcoming Catfolk, Eponai, and Perrin adventurers into Hireling Hall, he stated, "Some of my best friends in the war were grafts. Don't tell me the Eponai lack courage, and we would never have held out in the north without the Perrin blockade of key Sumerilon seaports. I can't believe that they willingly betrayed us in the High Steppes; Malchion had some kind of hold over them, and now that he's dead, the grafts can lead a free life, if we can only forgive them."

King Romulus Pendragon

We all know the story of the boy prince of the Hellenic Empire, who fled to Hadriana when the armies of Sumerilon swept the continent. Under the guidance of his tutor Meirden, the paupered prince was briefly squired to a cousin, then withdrew the legendary Sword of Kings from the tomb of Marcus Aurelius, and was declared by the Gods as Heir to the Hadrianic throne. He armed his new subjects for war, and the Hadrianic Navy quickly won several important sea battles and blockaded Sumerilon's southern ports. The Gray Gulls flew at King Pendragon's command, while his newly-formed Knights of Mavors drove the Sumerilon Cavalry from the field in battle after battle. The King's successes were so spectacular that, despite his age, Gal Pol-Li declared him the natural choice to lead the free human forces in the Army of Unity.

We all know that it was King Pendragon who, backed by the combined magic of the Gods, struck the death blow to Malchion, and he alone emerged from the ensuing explosion. With the end of the war, King Pendragon delivered a brief statement. "Today the battlefields are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. I thank the Gods that they have given us the faith, the courage ,and the power from which to mold victory. We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war."

King Pendragon returned with his army to his island nation. He continues to rule in peace and harmony with his wife, Queen Ismere, and their son, Prince Azoun. Admired by many, romanticized by others, he remains a figure known to stand for Honor and Justice to All.

Berin Viperson, The Golden Traitor

During the height of the great war Berin Viperson was one of Malchion's greatest agents in the shadow war of spies that almost went unnoticed beside the great battles. Tall (for an elf) and dark, he was trained as both a thief and a mage a hundred years before the war in a defunct school of magic. He is the last survivor of this tradition, as the others died during the war. Called Malchion’s own thief by those, on both sides, who knew of him and his exploits it shocked everyone when he betrayed Malchion just before the final battle of the Neck of Thisted.

No one knows what drove him to this betrayal. Whispers of a secret devotion to Ratri are generally discounted because of his part in the fall and looting of Ratri’s secret temple near Delft. All that is agreed upon is that without him the Great Leviathan, built by the Artificer Urzo, would have fallen on the defenders of the Neck without warning. Instead his information led the heroes, Keithose, Jescott, Maione, Gohen and Somay to the place of its construction where they destroyed it and its maker, though Gohen and Somay died during the fight.

After the war Berin was allowed to retire to the village of Spanday in the northeast of Umwelt, where Ironhewer figured he could keep an eye on the elf. The long years have relaxed the vigilance of the watchers, and now he has disappeared, to Ironhewer's dismay. "I've no doubt that we'll find Viperson has had a hand in all the troubles we've seen lately," growled the General when asked. "Once a traitor and all that."

Gladys Lamplight

Gladys Lamplight, a human on the wrong side of middle age, did not earn distinction on the field, but was invaluable to the Army of Unity because of her research. Unfortunately much of what Gladys had to offer was incomprehensible to the High Command without an interpreter. Zerlana, one of the younger elven battlemages, was assigned full-time to the task after Gal Pol-Li noticed her exceptional ability to keep Gladys on task and to the point “so we can get back out there and blow stuff up.” In what would prove to be the waning days of the war, Lamplight and Zerlana disappeared from the main force (with Theodoric, Asha Half-Elven, ``Hellenic" Trebor, and Escher Coli). The nature of their mission is secret, but is believed to have played a role in Malchion’s ultimate downfall.

After the war, Zerlana enjoyed a brief period of adventuring fame, then returned to her people to instruct the next generation of elven battlemages. She is loathe to interact with non-elven demihumans, and categorically refuses to speak to the press. Bereft of his deity, Theodoric returned to his homeland in York to work with Daglir craftsmen. Trebor and Escher died on the mission and were given heroes’ funerals after the war. Gladys participated as a functionary in the postwar celebrations, then disappeared into the research stacks of the great libraries and then from the public record.

Tirion Elkone

Twin brothers Tirion and Cadmus Elkone were members of the Janda order of the Wrathful Avengers, and active leaders in the western resistance against Sumerilon. Their unit captured a strongpoint in the mountains that allowed safe passage for the Army of Unity, and the Elkone brothers themselves defeated the twin guardians of the citadel in single, er, double combat.

Sadly, a few weeks after Malchion was defeated, a madness took Cadmus and he tried to kill Tirion. Cadmus fell to his death, and though the gorge was searched, the body was never found.

Shouldering his magical blue oilskin, Tirion went into the Sumerilon wastelands, seeking answers from his god, and his current whereabouts are unknown. He was unavailable for comment at the time of the printing of this article.

William the Brown-Haired

While the heroic exploits of the great generals and heroic warriors are justly celebrated, great wars cannot be won solely by following the Seven Commandments of Janda*. There is a need for deception, spies and dark deeds in the service of the Light. The Order of Redoubtable Ratri was founded by the colorful and accomplished William the Brown-Haired: scholar, adventurer, magical adept and sometime priest. Its agents performed many dangerous missions inside Sumerilon-held territory: the most dangerous performed by a secret circle within the order, known as the Department of Dirty Tricks, dominated by hobbits and somewhat affectionately known as the Boggies. The master (she preferred not being called mistress) of the boggies was Allison Searock.

The most famous and successful of William's exploits was Operation Arctic Wolf, better known as the "Army that Wasn't". This was an elaborate deception in which numerous Janda clerics were systematically fed false information that certain Sumerilon agents were themselves being told lies about Ironhewer's plans. Because of the commandment "never through inaction [to] allow a lie to be believed", they were compelled to reveal the "true" information in their possession, then to turn themselves in for violating the laws regarding secrecy, expecting an ignominious death on the scaffold. Because they were believed, Malchion diverted significant force away from Ironhewer's army at a critical juncture. When the operation became public after the War, it caused a rift in the religious community. The few remaining Janda clerics abandoned public life, and the judicial functions formerly performed by her clerics were taken over by Mavors.

William the Brown-haired never settled down after the War. Although human and well over sixty when the war ended, he led several fact-finding expeditions deep into Sumerilon territory, adamant that all of Malchion's secrets should be searched out long after others had lost interest. Twelve years after the end of the War, he fell down a crevasse and his body was never recovered.

Allison Searock served for a time as spymaster for King Pendragon, but the strain of working among so many Mavors caused her to leave and to take service with Almere. She now lives in retirement in Camborough and has recently celebrated her eleventy-first birthday.

Nasiat Stoneblood

Perhaps better known under his stage name, Foxley, Nasiat Stoneblood was a dwarven jester employed in the Sumerilon courts. Early on in the war he was recruited by the boggies; Foxley's ability to insult people in such a way that the one insulted was usually laughing harder than anyone else quickly gained him access to the High reaches of Sumerilon nobility. Soon Foxley was performing regularly at the Imperial palace. Even though Malchion himself rarely attended the performances, Foxley gained much information from the leaders who did.

In the brief leadership vacuum that followed Gal Pol-Li's death in the Graft Betrayal, William the Brown-Haired set up a desperate assassination attempt. Armed with magic supplied to him by the allies, Foxley tried to maneuver himself near Malchion during a feast, but was captured by the guards before he could strike. He was summarily handed over to Malchion’s torturers and soon the other members of his cell operating within Sumerilon were hunted down and destroyed.

The Allies were therefore surprised when he was delivered weeks later to Ironhewer’s command base by Berin Viperson. This was the first step in Berin’s great betrayal of Malchion.

Crippled in body and spirit Foxley was given over to the clerics of Aru and spent the rest of the war recovering, though he never performed again. After the war Foxley, reverting to his birth name of Nasiat Stoneblood, was knighted and given land to the southwest of Thisted as his fee. He has spent the years since involved in local politics and amassing great wealth.

Broderick Bracegirdle

Broderick Bracegirdle, hobbit hero (pantheist), is credited with discovering Auritania's allegiance to Sumerilon while on holiday in Auritania. He noted, in a letter to a travel journal he occasionally wrote for, the greatly increased number of statues commemorating Auritania's long-gone military past. The journal article caused immediate concern in certain high circles, and just as they were confirming that the new statues were, in fact, Sumerilon war golems, Malchion gave the signal to attack the Hellenic Empire. Fortunately for us, his forces for attacking Thisted and Almere were not in position yet, and so those countries were not overrun.

Broderick later marched in the Army of Unity under Gal Pol-Li's banner, and survived the Graft Betrayal. He is retired to his native Camborough in a manor outside Blennam, where he plans to celebrate his eleventy-first birthday in the near future.

The Many War Veterans

There were many faithful soldiers who carried arms into battle against Sumerilon. Many died anonymously on the battlefields. Many also were the "Ones Who Returned" as Veterans. They did their best to return to a life of peace.

Clerical healing was always in short supply during wartime, which made much rarer still the Great prayers of restoration from grievous wounds. The war's end and the return of peace helped reduce the demand, but with the loss of so many healers and the cursed nature of many of the wounds, shortages were acute for years: the records show that it took the Aru Order six years and three months just to cure all of the known war-caused cases of deafness. For a foot soldier trying to return home from war to a life of peace, disabilities were profound and long-lasting. Nevertheless, many did well and lived their life as best they could, but many were also utterly destitute due to their war-caused infirmities that prevented them from making a living.

By 1614, the Archon of Delft decided that these destitute veterans merited additional compensation (and compassion). An act was passed in Delft to provide for "Adjusted Compensation" for their prior war service. Unfortunately, his expectation was that he would only have to finance the local veterans and that the other City-States would enact similar measures. When the latter did not happen, the poor veterans from many regions descended upon the city of Delft and expected payment. Thus, another large "Army" threatened the city, although it was claimed to be a "friendly" siege. The Delft army was ordered to clear the veterans' encampment, which was performed by Brigadier Gabriel Baton in 1617, and the Compensation Act was suspended. It took years of diplomacy for the situation to be resolved, but eventually, State Aid was given to the Aru Healers who ran small clinics and infirmaries to help them build great Hospital-Churches, Hospices and peaceful Godshuizen courts in various cities, to service the veterans. We also recognize and thank the Dwarven craftsmen who were sent south to help build these edifices. We also recognize and thank the service of administration of these Aru houses by their friends the Mavor Oblates: they reduced fraudulent claims of veteran status. Any week now, the Mavors will again have their annual spring banquet and 'roast' of their Aru friends with the more brazen examples of healthcare fraud that they have found in the old Aru records. Last year's story was from the 1633 records, when a human woman (who wasn't even thirty years old) claimed to have been an Aru Shieldmaiden in the War. In this year 1663, the institution to aid veterans is now 36 years old since its formal incorporation, and is entering the twilight of its charter: many of the human veterans have left this mortal coil, so with each passing year, more of the old Godshuizen courts are now empty of their honored guests.

The Graft Betrayal

As we now know, Malchion, in his pride, thought to create new races with which to people his world, and that would be totally subservient to him. The graft races were thus born during the prelude to the War, while the Champions had other concerns. It is not known what foul means were used to create the grafts nor when, but they first began to be noticed a scant ten years before the war began. They told a harrowing tale of flight from a far-off land, where their kind was oppressed, and they seemed eager to enter the service of any lord who promised them fair treatment, be the wages ever so low. Faithful and honest, they soon found their way into positions of trust, and the fact that a few seemed to have wandered into Sumerilon and become slaves there seemed to grieve them greatly.

When the Army of Unity was formed for what is now known as the Campaign against Sumerilon, the grafts were accepted eagerly into the fighting ranks. Under the leadership of the great Elvish General Gal Pol-Li, the Army of Unity won victory after victory, until it stood at the very heart of Sumerilon, with a small opposing force before it in the valley, girding itself for a last stand in defense of their master. Confident of victory, Gal Pol-Li decided to lead his forces onto the plain without waiting for Generals Ironhewer and Pendragon to catch up with their armies, which were delayed by skirmishing.

As Gal Pol-Li's forces strode onto the plain, armies that had been concealed among the hills and rocks suddenly appeared, flanking them. Even so, they still outnumbered their foes until treachery struck. As if on a single command, every graft in the Army of Unity struck out, fearlessly and with a sure hand, against their comrades-in-arms. The carnage was fierce, and few survivors of the Army of Unity outlived that day. Some blamed Ironhewer and Pendragon for being late, and some blamed Gal Pol-Li for moving on too soon, but the truth is that the Champions were saved that day. The treachery extended to all armies, and even to civilian areas. Ironhewer and Pendragon were able to suppress the rebellion because they faced only scattered foes. Had the full combined armies been there that day, the defeat might have been total.

After the retreat, many grafts were slain in revenge, and the surviving grafts were imprisoned. Needless to say, no graft was ever trusted again. When the war ended, the spell of obedience was broken, for their master was dead, yet to this day, few demihumans will trust a graft and some believe they should have been exterminated.

A Little World Geography

This is a little more than what's in the conbook.

Sumerilon. Sumerilon began as a small, mountainous, landlocked country. When Malchion took power, Sumerilon had expanded northward to the coast and was considered an "up and coming" continental power. Under Malchion's rule, the black-and-purple uniformed Sumerilon armies crushed the Hellenic Empire, Ljung, and Auritania, occupied Thisted, and invaded Almere and Falconberg

Hellenic Empire. This was the premier power on the continent prior to the Sumerilon War, and fell quickly as Malchion's first conquest. The Empire did not survive the war, though its greatest city, Delft, was never taken and enjoys a reputation of invincibility. It is the location of Hireling Hall. Delft and Wooking, now city-states, are ruled by the city Archons, Adon Zandra in Delft and Talia Horos in Wooking.

Hadriania is the island nation of King Romulus Pendragon. His Knights of Mavors, both traditional horseborne and a skilled griffon air force, expert longbowmen, and a powerful navy held off the vicious attacks of Sumerilon after the Hellenic Empire fell.

Umwelt is a mostly dwarvish country and Ironhewer's home. The people of Umwelt held off the Sumerilon army at the neck of Thisted (the piece of land connecting it to the continent) and eventually pushed them back to join with the elves of Almere. A Sumerilon assault on the Umwelt homeland was foiled by the Floating Cities of the Perrin and the Hadrianic navy. Umwelt is ruled by a cousin of the famous General Ironhewer's, King-Under-the-Glacier Delven Ironhewer, but the Craftsman's Guild, headed by Theodoric (a Champion), is probably more influential to the daily lives of the people of Umwelt.

While the Neck of Thisted was able to hold out against Sumerilon (with the aid of Umwelt), the rest of the country suffered a long and brutal occupation. The natives of Thisted are still proud of the underground resistance efforts to aid the Umwelt army to connect with Gal Pol-Li's and Pendragon's forces to go on the offensive against Sumerilon. Magnus deCharle, leader of the Free Thisted Resistance during the war, is the current sovereign of the country.

Almere is the Elvish homeland. After the fall of the Hellenic Empire and the occupation of inland Thisted, Almere's fate was sealed, but for the leadership of Gal Pol-Li, who brought his people through the worst times, long foiled Sumerilon attempts to penetrate the heart of the woods, and finally brought together an alliance of dwarves (led by Ironhewer), humans (led by Pendragon), and elves (led by himself) that would ultimately defeat Sumerilon. Current Almere policy is guided by the three members of the Elder Council, Alassë Elensar, Erle Pallanén, and Elessan Véneanár.

Camborough is a quiet land largely untouched by the Sumerilon war, aside from the heroes who went to fight in it. Camborough does not have a king (and most citizens feel it doesn't need one), so most outsiders look to the mayor of Blennam, currently Prisca Hamwich, to fulfill the normal executive duties of Camborough.

Falconberg is a land of sea cliffs that house the largest concentration of Fey on the continent. Sumerilon made some attempts to wipe them out, but found it not worth the effort. Falconberg is currently nominally ruled by King Tam XXXVI, but no one knows whether he's actually the 36th of his line, or if Falconberg history stretches back far enough for there to have been 36 kings (much less 36 king Tams), or if fey actually pay attention to anything he says or does, or simply do whatever they damn well please.

An old country with a long-gone military past, Auritania was a favorite destination for travelers who enjoyed mountain views. It secretly joined Sumerilon shortly before the war, and Sumerilon troops secretly prepared for the surprise attack on the Hellenic Empire. After the war, Auritania's government was not brought back, and it is an occupied territory of Hadriania.

Ljung was a sparsely settled land prior to the arrival of the grafts, the population more than doubled with the arrival of Eponai who liked the open spaces and a smaller number of Catfolk who enjoyed the grassland hunting. The demihuman population was killed during the graft betrayal, and what government exists among the remaining Eponai and Catfolk is unrecognized by other governments.

The Floating Cities were the pride of the Perrin and the delight of the peoples the Perrin saved from Sumerilon's naval strikes. After the graft betrayal, however, the Perrin were no longer trusted and people refused to trade with them. Over time, the floating cities lost their motive power and are stuck in the northern seas. It is a haven for Perrin outcasts from society.

Know Thy Gods

While only Aru, Daglir, Gaia, and Mavors remain active in mortal affairs, there are still many who remember the other five of the Nine.

Other Gods

The Pantheon includes many other deities. Some have not had a significant following in modern times, their rites long absorbed into that of one of the Nine Gods. Thus Sol and Luna are mostly worshipped as companions of Gaia. The same fate is befalling the Five: Mavors has taken over the judicial role formerly played by Janda and has replaced Leo as the patron of warriors. Other deities are local or otherwise very specific in their influence: No one other than a fisherman would worship Iswal. The patron gods of the various races have been long neglected, except for Daglir, who is now recognized as supreme patron of all crafts. There are, however, two powerful Gods of Darkness whose priests elected not to join the War against Sumerilon, and whose cults have been little seen since.

PrinceCon 36 Summaries & Run Recaps:

Awards:

Master of Hireling Hall:

John Kliminski

Best Player:

Joshua Gabai

Roleplaying:

Megan Coppock

Strategy:

George McBride

Tatics:

Alan Zitomer

Gallery: