Stinson School of Polettiques

            In Stinson, the School of Polettiques teaches bards the art of persuasive speaking designed to elevate one’s subject (often themselves) to a level of greater success and status.  Through proper use of the skills taught in this school, a bard can become a well-paid and highly sought part of a politician, noble or faction’s retinue.  The ultimate goal of the politique is to put their faction, order, county or even principality above all others in the eyes of the populace.  A seasoned product of the school can sway the hearts and minds of even the most stalwart opponents with a rousing speech. 

            Headmaster Lesane Crooks teaches the master classes in personal growth for lords, barons, princes and other heads of state.  His lessons are often ruthless, but speak of knowing when to build up and when to lessen the other nobles in the region, how to build defenses and how to gauge the defenses of others.   He warns against flattery, speaking that the way to protect against flattery is to make others understand that telling the truth will not offend.  On the subject of rule, he tells that it is safer to be feared than loved, because love is an obligation – subject to the baseness of man yet fear is preserved by the dread of punishment, which never fails.  

It's not all dank in the swamps.

         In the western regions of the Kaylinn Swamps, north of Welch Gulch and south of the Analova River lies the small marshy community of Soggy Bottom.  A community of peasants, governed loosely by the House of Chapman, Soggy Bottom is just one of the many settlements across the land.  Notable, however, is the music of the area.  The bards of the land play a style of folk music that blends the lyrical sensibilities of the people of Soggy Bottom with the stories of the adventures both real and imagined of Soggy Bottom’s heroes. 

Ury's Bestiary and Survival Guide is here!

At long last, Ury’s Bestiary and Survival Guide in the Land of Alluvium is here!

Order your copy today and bring some wild into your games with over 150 beasts of land, sea and air.

Check our their vile venoms and brutal combat tactics.

Choose the best mounts in the world from Ury’s suggestions.

This book will make your game ever more deadly than before. Use with caution.

Sulphurdale Suffers!

Hundreds of citizens are now without a home after the Blue Star fell from the sky to slam into the Ruby Sea. Tremors from the earth were felt as far north as Wulpert. Great waves and storms followed the impact, laying waste to the surround islands.

Sulphurdale was hit especially hard, with flooding waters reaching 12 feet higher than usual. The storms continue to batter all along the northern coast of the Ruby Sea.

Skies darkened by storms, but the blue hue has gone. Mercenaries and opportunistic adventurers are rushing to dare the stormy seas in hopes to discover if the rumors of a new island made from the fallen star are true. The ores within could be priceless.

Melee at Tokyo in Tulsa

Join us for three days of gaming, cosplay and more at Tokyo in Tulsa!

Melee will be hosting demos of all of our games all weekend long, including Eternal Adventure canon storylines. Lords of the Land, Brouhaha and Fortunes Flavor will be played throughout the days. Saturday will also witness a Sports Reenactment demonstration. Be one of the first to see Factions and Orders the miniature game in action. In addition we will feature a LARP event Saturday Night which could change the course of the kingdom as players will partake of duels of both swords and politics.

Come in garb or your best cosplay and let’s have a great time!

Reports on recent flattened landscape in Tor

Analovan spies ushered out this missive discussing a strange event in the Tunguska region of Southern Tor, between Kroninburg and the Hampton Roads. Apparently a huge swathe of the forest was flattened by an unknown force. The missive follows as below.

We had a hut by the Tunguska river with my brother Cheborneck. We were sleeping. Suddenly we both woke up at the same time. Somebody shoved us. We heard whistling and felt strong wind. Cheborneck said, 'Can you hear all those birds flying overhead?' We were both in the hut, couldn't see what was going on outside. Suddenly, I got shoved again, this time so hard I fell into the fire. I got scared. Cheborneck got scared too. We started crying out for father, mother, brother, but no one answered. There was noise beyond the hut, we could hear trees falling down. Cheborneck and I got out of our sleeping bags and wanted to run out, but then the thunder struck. This was the first thunder. The Earth began to move and rock, the wind hit our hut and knocked it over. My body was pushed down by sticks, but my head was in the clear. Then I saw a wonder: trees were falling, the branches werbe on fire, it became mighty bright, how can I say this, as if there was a second sun, my eyes were hurting, I even closed them. It was like what the Valerians call lightning. And immediately there was a loud thunderclap. This was the second thunder. The morning was sunny, there were no clouds, our Sun was shining brightly as usual, and suddenly there came a second one!

Cheborneck and I had some difficulty getting out from under the remains of our hut. Then we saw that above, but in a different place, there was another flash, and loud thunder came. This was the third thunder strike. Wind came again, knocked us off our feet, struck the fallen trees.

We looked at the fallen trees, watched the tree tops get snapped off, watched the fires. Suddenly Cheborneck yelled "Look up" and pointed with his hand. I looked there and saw another flash, and it made another thunder. But the noise was less than before. This was the fourth strike, like normal thunder.

Now I remember well there was also one more thunder strike, but it was small, and somewhere far away, where the Sun goes to sleep.

Travel Ban to Tor

Citizens are hereby warned not to travel north of Nearneth Point in the West as Tor effectively has closed its borders to the Kingdom’s Southern Provinces.  Citing the proclamation of His Grace Duke Kalivantes, Duke Dagorian declared:

“Neither the Capitol, nor the four other Principalities, have offered any aid to Tor in the reclamation of the Falkenburg Peninsula.  Now we are under assault by raiders on the sea as well, but we expect no aid from the Southern lands.  We are as we have so often been, on our own.  And so until this war is settled, our Vanguard will stand guard on our borders. None shall enter Tor, none shall leave. We mean no aggression to our brothers in the South, and hope to see an end to our internal issues quickly. Then, we shall restore trade and travel privileges with Tor.”

The Toran Vanguard patrol the border cities. The Assassins Gambit has been hired to repel and restrain, keeping those on either side of line in their place.  

On Garb: Town Guards

The Ordo Arbiter Most often serve as the town guard of a city.

The yellow sash is worn while on duty and in ceremonial function. When off duty, they will bear a yellow belt favor. These sashes and favors are embroidered with the badge of the guild prominently displayed

rank is displayed on the sash or favor by a series of simple stripes, The Reeve in its dishonor is not allowed to bear a favor or sash

No stripes are bestowed upon unranked members.

1 stripe: Constable

2 stripes: Sergeant

3 stripes: Inspector

4 stripes: Chief Inspector

5 stripes: Chief Magistrate

6 stripes: Chief Justice

the Chief Arbitrator is noted by his Chancellery favor

Otherwise, there is no guild-wide uniform, however individual cities and towns often have a uniform look for the guards. Usually these uniforms are lightly armored and bear the colors of the town.

A Trial of Mettle: Part 3

A Trial of Mettle: March 2nd year 36 ACI

Traveling with a merchant can be difficult in ways, but rewarding in others.  The journey through the Darkwald resulted in many great adventures.  

I freed a team of loggers from the threat of some wild boars in a town called Henry’s Crossing.  The Merchant collected pelts. 

I overthrew a mining company master in Concordia who was abusing his workers. While my work impressed the lord and promoted a fair foreman to lead, the merchant Visini negotiated a deal for ore trade. 

When we made it to Pepper’s Grotto, my job became teacher.  The mayor was facing attacks from homeless men in the woods that had turned to cannibalism. His guard didn’t have much training, but luckily the enemy was weak.  A couple of weeks’ training and the guard were at least competent with a pole arm. Oh, and Visini gathered reward in several quilts from the women of the grotto. 

In Fallsburn, the Castellan asked I travel up to the Pinewoods of Tor to deliver a message to West Hampton. We took leave  of the city with a team of Vikings headed to port in Norrorfolkshire.   Kragan forced us to compete in the battle pit before we could board his ships to cross the Sear Sea. By God’s hand I defeated the foes and we ventured onward to the Tundra of Tor. 

~Phillip Stephenson

Octopus invasion near Sulphurdale

"It looked like a bit of a blob," said Vassal Reinhard Neumann. When he approached, he saw that it was an octopus, a creature commonly found off the beaches of Sulphurdale. 

Roughly five feet long, the animal was crawling about 30 feet inland. And it wasn't alone. As they walked through the area, they found 20 to 30 more octopuses seemingly crawling on land, in a space about half as big as a Danish Skull field.

Octopuses are nocturnal, meaning more may have crawled onto land while the local people slept.

What do they want?  Is this a portent of things to come?