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Domain of the Month

Sithicus

Adventure Hooks

 

The land of corrupted elves and tyrant wannabe ruler...

Third ed. info: RL3E / RLPH, Gaz 4
Second edition: Black Box (Realm of Terror), Red Box (RL Campaign Setting), Domains of Dread
Adventure: When Black Roses Bloom
Novels: Knight of the Black Rose, Tales of Ravenloft (The Rigor of the Game), Spectre of the Black Rose
Other selected interesting source: Dragon # 258 (Land of Spectres), USS 2002 (Children Of Wrath), Book of Souls (Keepers of the Coil)

Created in 720
Part of the Core.
Darklord: Inza Kulchevich, since 752 (was Lord Loren Soth before this date)

 

Jakob

"I tell you! those fairies are CRAZY!"

The young man, judging from his shaved and tattooed head one of the Mulan of Hazlan, sat beside the fire, looking directly at me. The fresh air of the night in Skald made the flame flicker. The Mulan grabbed a chicken leg from the plate in the center of the great common room and started chewing it. He resumed his tale, with a voice so loud he woke up the other two guests of the inn.

"I mean it! I was in the woods, searching for those black lilies I need for my final project at the Academy, and out of nowhere... An arrow strikes me! My shoulder in flame, I turn and start an incantation, but... I see noone!"

He paused, and opened his cloak revealing his bare chest. The unmistakable scar from a arrowhead piercing his shoulder was clearly visible. The smoothness of the piercing was sign of an elven-made arrow. "I prepare myself to unleash a powerful incantation that would have turned the forest in a hellish flame when a Lawgiver-damned elf, an elven whore, walks toward me, a disgusting beetle behind her. She addressed me in Draconic and says: 'You are in a sacred land. A land not meant for apes -yes, she called me an ape!- like your kind. You are enraging the spirits of nature, watching you from the shadows. Now leave. Or the next arrow will pierce your heart'. That said, she just leaves."

The Mulan covers his wounded shoulder and adds "Luckily I still had a magical concoction I bought from a cleric in Ramulai. I hope the scar will go away..."

The man did not notice that, as soon as he said "elven whore", the people in the common room quickly gathered their things and left. I lowered the cowl of my cape, and revealed my pointed ears, my angular features, my eyes reflecting the light of the fire in the dark room. The Mulan had just the time to open his mouth in surprise, before my dagger slit his throath. His blood fell on the fire, sizzling in the now-silent common room.

I started searching his bag. A few vials, potions, maybe, a leather covered book... And the lilies. I took the potions and the flowers, and started the trek back to the woods Har-Thelen. I covered my head again before venturing in the night. Some more centuries, maybe, some more kills, and I'd be free from my own land...

And now the adventure hook:

Some of the elves of Sithicus are more bound to their land than their brethren. When an elf, whether a wild elf o a protector of the woods, dies in the wild, if his spirit is willing to live, the shadows that dwell under Sithicus' forests bind with their souls, proposing a pact. In change for more years to live, they are forever bind to protect the forest where they died. They become like living ghosts, sworn protectors of the woods from human poachers of any kind. They become the Guardians. They become completely amoral: human children gathering wildflowers are not different, in the eyes of the shadows keeping them alive, are not different from loggers and hunters. The forest they elect as ward becomes completely off-limits for humans, and only those who show elven heritage are admitted there.

This might create problems near the human villages in the east and the north of the domain: if an elf becomes a Guardian near one of those settlements, the villagers will find themselves isolated. Noone can enter the woods to hunt, to travel, to gather wood. No human che exit the town, no human can enter it: those who try risk their lives. Generally, the elves of Sithicus tend to play dumb when someone ask them about the Guardians... And most of them show no love for the humans that dwell in Sithicus. Without the heroes, the village will surely die...

mistshadow2k4: It fits well with the theme of Sithicus (and RL in general) that the elven bond with the forest could become twisted like that in death. I also like the Mulan referring to them as "fairies" in the story; it gives you a good idea about the kind of myths other people might have about the elves.

Jakob: Especially in the southern Core, where elves are much rarer.

 

Faust

I have added a forest haunted by ogres in the south of Sithicus (they must come from somewhere right?).

 

alhoon

I keep Soth in Sithicus (perhaps with Inza as a co-darklord prehaps not)

Jester of the FoS: I like Inza, but I also like Soth. However, I think Soth works much better as a wandering figure than a trapped lord. He may remain in Sithicus but he is no longer bound there.

Mortepierre: A bit like (former) Duke Gundar come to think of it.

 

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