Elfgame Overview

Welcome to Elfgame.  This pastebin is background information about the races and setting.

HOW TO MAKE A CHARACTER: Generate a Beginner character in point buy.  Give yourself the Thick-Headed advantage for free.  Gain automatic literacy in your own language (Short-Ear, Long-Ear, or Mer).  There is a fourth language, Marchtongue, which is used commonly for trade in the region, and might be a good thing to consider speaking, at least.  We're using the REIGN corebook, First Year supplement, and the Nain magic system in addition to usual Sorcery.  Select both a race and a terrain for your elf.  Races are explained below, while terrain features provide Height and occasionally Width bonuses to certain rolls in your chosen terrain.

Elves have a symbiotic relationship with the land.  Land that has elves dwelling on it is somewhat shielded from permanent devastation, and seems to gain a vital energy from their presence.  Places such as the Greenwood that have been a home for elves for a long time are extraordinarily verdant, with trees hundreds of feet high, reaching nearly a mile in some places.  In return, the land of their birth marks each individual elf.  The most obvious effect is on their coloration; a snow elf might have pale skin and hair the color of glacial ice (or the other way around) while his parents, elves from the great pine forests, have grey-green hair and brownish wood-hued skin.  These traits are not absolute.  For example, if two elves are born in the same meadow, one might have the silver skin of the young beeches at the meadow's edge, eyes the color of periwinkles, and hair the yellow of dried grass.  Meanwhile, the other might have hair the lush color of wild roses, skin the greenish-white of freshly peeled saplings, and eyes as emerald as summer leaves.  Although such variance is more pronounced in places with a wide range of color, there is a lot of room for variation even amongst the elves of the desert, deep ocean, or tundra.  More importantly, the land protects its own.  A desert elf would find it almost easy to locate water beneath the sands, and seeming good fortune might provide him a swarm of locusts or straggling antelope when he is starving.  A mountain elf can sense an avalanche before it happens, and finds just the right pass to slip through an enemy's line of fortresses.  One does not need to be near one's specific birthplace to gain this protection, simply being in the same sort of terrain will do.

RACES OF ELFKIND: “Short-Ear” and “Long-Ear” are Mer terms, coined to avoid confusion.  Both breeds of terrestrial elf refer to themselves by words translating to “High Elf” in their own tongue.  Long-Ears refer to Short-Ears as “Wood Elves” (with a word specifically meaning forestland left to fallow, unclaimed land, the closest meaning being 'backwoods').  Short-Ears refer to Long-Ears as “Grey Elves” (with a word specifically refering to the grey of faded cloth or paint, washed-out).  Mer call themselves Mer, and prefer the other races do the same, although it's a shortening of a long name meaning “The Elves of the Waters”.  The full name is difficult to pronounce with a mouthful of air rather than water, and so the shortened Mer is generally used.  If Mer are speaking their own language to another Mer underwater, I'll likely use 'Mer' for simplicity's sake anyway, but things are always lost in translation and you can assume they use the full name.  In certain places, you will see things like “tend to be more robust” or “are more likely to be spellcasters”.  This does not affect one's stats.  PCs are the masters of their own destiny, and not bound by such petty things as statistics.  It is rumored that there were, and possibly still are, other lost races of elfkind...but elves come in a wide variety of colors and shapes, and unusual Fae could account for these rumors.  Possibly.

Short-Ears: The Short-Ears are the most common breed of elves on the continent.  They have pointed ears that lay back along their skulls, four inches long at most.  Their eyes are almond-shaped and slightly canted.  They tend to be the most social among each other, as well, and more predisposed than the others to living in close proximity to other elves, being more adapted for places such as dense forest or jungle, although all elves can adapt to a variety of environments.  They tend to stay closer to their average height, around 5'6-8", than the other two as well, and have a more robust build.  Of the three races, they breed the most quickly.

On the continent, the main power among the Short-Ears is the nation of Greenwood, ruled by the Courts, cabals of powerful elves and fae who rule from the cities in the deep forests and elect a different puppet king each year. Their influence extends as far as they can reach, generally speaking.  At one time or another before the rise of the Courts, powerful individuals rose up and united the Short-Ears under one banner, but the last True King lived long ago, and the Kings of the Year are nothing but figureheads hoping to survive after the cessation of their allotted time.


Long-Ears: The Long-Ears were the elves who lived the longest on the Heavenly Mount, and were the most favored during the age of divinity.  They have long, tapered ears that extend outwards from the sides of their heads, six inches minimum.  They have high cheekbones and large eyes.  They tend to vary more from the average height, being either tall or short, and slender regardless.  As a people, they value solitude more than the other two races, and tend to be a bit more introverted both individually and as a culture.  The gods taught them many secrets of magic, and while the other two races boast many sorcerers and wizards of their own, a greater percentage of Long-Ears know some magic, and a greater percentage of those are real practitioners, than either the Mer or the Short-Ears.

On the continent, the Long-Ears are more united as a kind than the Short-Ears, although the true might of Avalon was crippled  when Eduran Greenspear, True King of the Short-Ears, swore vengeance upon them and drove that Long-Ear kingdom back into the Skytooth Mountains nearly two thousand years ago.  Long-Ears live outside of these mountains, of course, but mostly in tribes or commingled with the other races in places like the Free Marches.  It is said that the remnants of Avalon are ruled by a Witch-Queen who dwells at the heart of a forbidden city, but outsiders have never seen it and returned, let alone gazed upon her face.



Mer:  Mer, or Mer-Elves, are the third subrace of elf on the continent.  For a given value of 'on', given that they have gills and can breathe water as well as air.  The Mer are amphibious.  Their skins are smooth and soft, and dry out easily, while their eyes are very large and round, often with a faintly luminous quality.  Their mouths tend to be a bit wider than those of the other two species, and they have the tallest average height, although they weigh less on average than Short-Ears.  Their outer ears are diaphanous fins, and they have webs between their long fingers and the toes of their large feet.

Due to most of their territory being in the oceans or the Inland Sea, the Mer have managed to keep out from between the spates of occasional violence between the Courts in the southern part of the continent and the Kingdom of Avalon in the northeast, trading with both sides and generally maintaining a friendly relationship with both.  However, there are many and numerous tribes and civilizations of Mer, and no one power speaks for them.  The now-destroyed Abalone Empire of the Inland Sea attests to that fact, having declared war on both Avalon and the Greenwood Nation and halting Eduran Greenspear's conquest...all while both sides had treaties with dozens of Mer tribes.

Being mer costs two points at character generation, granting gills to breathe water and webbed digits that increase one's speed in the water by five feet per round without rolling.  Mer can fail rolls to, say, swim against an exceptionally strong current or to avoid being swamped by a massive wave, but such failures are generally not lethal.  This does not protect a boat they might be riding on, however, and the sheer force of a tsunami can still flatten them.


Fae: Fae are elves whose bodies have been altered, either by magic or by their connection with the land beyond a minor cosmetic change (thus, Way of Wood attuned sorcerers would never be considered Fae, as green eyes are already common).  There are multiple ways to become Fae.  The simplest is to be an attuned sorcerer of certain schools, such as Equine Unity or Wings of Words.  Others change due to unusual personal growth or experience.  Still others are born to their shape, and some types of Fae can pass on these alterations o their offspring, such as the satyrs.  There are two main types of Fae; civilized ones who act as elves would, and consider themselves to still be elves of their original kind, and uncivilized ones who view themselves as separate, capricious entities with no loyalty to other elves.  Due to the Courts' emphasis on personal power, and their plethora of sorcerers, strong and civilized Fae do well in the Greenwood, and many of the strongest Courtiers are Fae themselves.  Avalon values order more highly, and rather than sorcery its strongest magical practitioners tend to wield the magic of the god-given Runes, which do not twist one's form so readily.  Fae are objects of curiosity, there, and it can be difficult to make headway in Avalon's politics as a Fae, but still possible.  The Horned King, for instance, maintains good terms with Avalon, and certain units of Avalon soldiery, such as the Queen's Rangers, are entirely composed of magically-twisted Fae.

Ingame, Fae are best represented via the Conjoined advantage on page 102 of the REIGN First Year supplement, or through Attunement.  Obviously, there is a lot of difference between an Attuned Stormtongue Sorceress (Likely one of the Order of Storm Sylphs) who safeguards a treetop village from devastating storms and a gang of rampaging satyr bandits preying on travelers, but they are both considered to be the same class of creature (Even if the former is likely to be welcomed with open arms, and the latter with arrows).  Strange Fae are typically treated with both a measure of respect and suspicion until one knows them better, at least in the Marches.  Settled Fae are as much part of a community as any of its other members, and judged accordingly.

Due to the varying attitudes on Fae, and the common need for Treesingers, having one's eye color change is not considered to turn one into a Fae.


NAMING: Elvish names are somewhat eclectic, and the GM isn't overly picky.  Elves name their children after ancestors, after pretty sounds, or after natural objects, and some change their names or adopt other names after significant deeds later in life.


LONGETIVITY: Aging isn't really discussed among elves.  Seven hundred years is considered a full, long life, but many elves meet an end by mischance or violence rather than succumbing to old age.  However, powerful elves seem to draw more vitality from the land, and can be virtually immortal...some Long-Ears claim that the Witch-Queen of Avalon remembers the Heavenly Mount and the time before the Scattering.

Elves grow from infancy to adolescence over a span of about twenty years, and stay as juvenile adults for the next thirty or so, for Long-Ears.  Short-Ears mature a bit more quickly, while Mer mature more slowly but are known to have twins, triplets, and even stranger numbers on occasion.

Elves are considered to be full adults at fifty or so years of age, depending on the culture they come from, but can suffer in some places for not being taken seriously until they reach the age of a hundred and twenty.  Most Kings of the Year are around a century old, or less.

RELIGION: Elves were originally sculpted from clay by the gods to be stewards over the natural world.  Shaped from the flesh of the mother of the gods, the land itself supports them even without the divine runes the gods relied upon to maintain the order of the world.  According to myth, elfkind quarreled with the gods in some fashion, although the Long-Ear versions typically attribute all blame to the Short-Ears.  Either way, the result was that elves were banished from the Heavenly Mount, and scattered across the world in a great migration.  Elves know what happens to them after they die, they join the earth again.  However, there are at least three semi-religious brotherhoods working in the Freemarches.  Although none of the three claim to have all the answers, they offer enough certainty to attract a following.  The Brotherhood of the Fangs, Brotherhood of the Bough, and Brotherhood of the Earth's Flesh all claim to offer a true way to oneness with nature, and all three have a valuable role in elvish society (although the Brotherhood of the Fangs does best in times of strife) that doesn't overlap with the others to the extent of promoting competition.  The Wolf-speakers, Treesingers, and Glyphcarvers generally have little to fight about.  Still, joining up with one of them means accepting a hierarchy, a general philosophy, and rules of conduct within the group itself, and each group has many splinter factions, each of whom has their own name and peculiarities.  In the case of the Brotherhood of the Fangs, these peculiarities can be very dangerous.

Mage-Smiths: Occasionally, you will see Glyphcarvers referred to as “Mage-Smiths” ingame.  While many Glyphcarvers do, indeed, enchant rune-carved amber swords to steely hardness, or turn cloaks of petals into armor, there are many other traditions of Mage-Smithing (many represented under the Secret of the Dinda in the corebook, as rewritten for this setting).  For instance, a wooden sword edged with the teeth of a great shark, bearing a shamanic blessing.  Many Glyphcarvers are Mage-Smiths, but not all Mage-Smiths are Glyphcarvers.

A Note on Materials:  Iron, also known at the Bane or the Bane-metal, is fiercely poisonous to elves, and even being around it for an extended period has sickening, corrupting effects.  Similarly so with steel.  Thus, while elves are fine smiths, you won't see iron or steel almost ever.  Weapons and armor can be made from a wide variety of magically reinforced materials, everything from an axe made of enchanted obsidian to a sword made from the claw of a giant mantid to a bronze mace to an ironwood saber.  Bronze and ironwood do not specifically require magical reinforcement to function, Bronze is standard kit for Avalon soldiers while Greenwood's massive ironwood groves provide a ready supply of that tough, durable wood for their armies.  The actual elvish word for “ironwood” doesn't reference iron, it's simply “metalwood”, but ironwood is a term everyone is already familiar with from other settings, so we use it for convenience.  Mithril is a nearly mythical alloy made from aluminum and incredibly rare ores.  A basic sword of mithril cuts like an enchanted blade, and mithril armor is all but impenetrable.  Ruleswise, anything light, sharp, and breakable (such as a glass weapon) uses the rules for Milondese Steel, while anything tougher, more durable, but with a lesser edge uses the rules for Helusan Steel (such as a bronze or ironwood implement).  Weapons bearing a strong enchantment, forged by a master, or made of mithril use the rules for Dinda Steel.  Feel free to be creative.  Ironwood isn't the only plant matter suitable for using as armor or armament, many species of plants are invigorated into new and interesting shapes by the presence of an elvish population, there are also all sorts of monsters, and mage-smiths have all sorts of alchemical treatments to preserve and strengthen materials.




MAGIC:

Rune-Magic: This versatile yet rare form of magic utilizes the runes gifted to elfkind by the gods.  These runes exert direct command over the primal forces, and can be combined into sentence-like spells.  It is most common among the Long-Ears, especially those from Avalon, who take pride in the power of their wizards, and whose noble families are often members of a strong magical bloodline.  They can be easily recognized by rune-carved implements and stones carved with, of course, more runes, which they use to enhance their verbally-spoken spells.  Practitioners of Rune-Magic are referred to as wizards.

Sorcery: These are some of the more common schools of Sorcery in the Freemarches.  Sorcery is a more primal, directed magic than Rune-Magic (some catty wizards use the term “crude” to describe sorcerers).  Most paths of Sorcery have spells that require Attunement, a process of aligning one's tie to nature with the force one channels into the spell (such as fire for an Autumn Reveler).  This can be accomplished either by a spell that grants temporary alignment, or a long, often grueling ritual that permanently attunes one to that path.  Doing the latter often has physical effects that cause the user to be considered a Fae (such as a Storm Sylph's wings and hollow bones).  Furthermore, permanently attuned sorcerers cannot use spells from any other path, ever again, even if they knew them previously.  However, they can use the most powerful spells of their school without needing to use another spell to attune first, which is handy.



THE CONTINENT:

The continent itself is formally known as Alfheim.  One could compensate for linguistic drift, and simply call it “Home of the Elves”, but nobody says that because it's silly.  One could also compensate for the change in dialect with places such as the ruined city of Tun-Adel (itself a shortening of a phrase translated literally as “The twilit city in which we buried our dead when we first came ashore”) but again, few bother.

A Note on Roads:  The three Serpent Roads and the Primrose Path are, for the most part, the only roads mentioned here.  Other roads do exist, of course, but they are just regular roads.  The Serpent Roads were laid by one of the first Elvish civilizations on the continent, and survive unscathed to this day.  Elder runes and ancient spells are worked into them, rendering them nearly indestructible and keeping them clean of filth.  The roads themselves are massive, two hundred feet wide, constructed entirely of interlocking diamond-patterned scales of stone.  Scholars claim that the Serpent Roads are made all of one piece each, but such a thing is clearly impossible, and the magical nature of the roads resists serious investigation.  The Blue Serpent Road is a  rich, deep blue, banded with striations of pale cyan across its width like the stripes of a tiger.  The Green Serpent Road is a dazzling emerald at the edges, brightening to a vibrant kelly green as bright as spring grass down its center.  The Dusty Serpent Road is a mottled off-white, the color of ancient, stained ivory and speckled with reddish-brown blotches of rough-textured stone, as if scarred by burns.  Unlike the other two, which lead to what were once or still are major cities, the Dusty Serpent road simply...ends, its head buried in the desert, after following a course that grows increasingly erratic as one travels southward and rapidly loses relevance as it leaves areas with water and grazing land.  All three Serpents meet in the Free Town of Hub, with the Blue Serpent reaching north until it sinks its fangs into the ruined city of Tun-Adel, the Green Serpent reaching east and winding through the ancient forests to the Greenwood fortress-city of Oakstead.

The Primrose Path, on the other hand, is a construct built by Avalon at the height of its glory as a symbol of economic power and arcane might, a flawless  belt of white marble that spans the continent east to west, from the castle-town of Barbican in the Skytooth Mountains to the city of Rift on the western coast.  It goes beyond the mountains, but what lies there is not something the elves of Avalon permit outsiders to see.  A hundred feet wide, every inch of the span is covered in tiny, intricate carvings of flowers.  Many are familiar and others recognizable only to scholars of botany, but still more are plants that do not exist on the continent, perhaps not even on this world.  Although they look delicate, these carvings are as indestructible to traffic as the Serpent Roads, and dirt or floodwater sheds from them as easily.

Freemarches: The game begins in the Freemarches, the area to the west of the Inland Sea, east of the Great Western Ocean, occupying the strip of land between the two bodies of water.  A collection of free towns and fiefs ruled by local powers the Freemarches benefit from having the majority of the Inland Sea between themselves and the mercurial powers of the Greenwood Courts and the Kingdom of Avalon, allowing them to remain politically independent and free to squabble amongst themselves.  Occasional Avalon scouts travel from the Skytooth Mountains in the northeast of the continent, around the northern shore of the Inland Sea (to go along the eastern edge would take them straight into the Greenwood), and take the Blue Serpent Road south along the trade routes, while the rare party of Greenwood soldiery or bored Courtier leaves the forest to travel along the southern border of the Inland Sea along the Green Serpent Road to ensure the solidarity of the Court-affiliated Marches closest to their forest domain.  The northernmost quarter of the Marches are the Hunter's Realm, grim territory of the Horned King, a Fae of ancient and terrible power.  The Road is almost preturnaturally safe and free of bandits there, the Horned King does not brook poachers of any sort, but to leave the road is to take one's life in one's hands.  Any who trespass in his realm find only a gruesome death at the hands of his vicious subjects or the beasts they stalk for sport.  Southward, one travels through rolling hills, lush forestland, and wild fields, as the climate grows warmer and the natives more colorful.  The Marches continue past the southern edge of the sea, where the Blue and Green Serpents meet and spawn the crooked Dusty Serpent Road that meanders further southward, until the Marches end where the desert begins.

Taking the Dusty Serpent Road still further south leads to the deserts where the continent tapers, its southwest region descending into a hooked point that touches the end of the landbridge, a series of islands and tidally-exposed sandbars that create a pathway to the Unseen Lands of the continent to the south.


The Unseen Lands: Why are they unseen?  Because if one does take the landbridge south, and survives the perils of the journey, they reach the Blight.  The Blight is a land of cinnabar sands, black stone, and restless volcanoes, the very air fouled by their smoke.  Poisonous fumes waft from sulfuric vents, and what few places are inhabitable are frequently claimed by twisted and wretched things that wander the wastes in search of prey.  Beyond lie vast, dense jungles, but these are rumored to be even more perilous than the Blight itself.  Certainly, no one who has ever tried to circumvent the Blight via ship and explore the jungles has ever returned...but perhaps there's nothing to that.  Maybe Mer pirates got them.  Maybe they simply came ashore in the wrong place, got lost, and never returned.  Maybe it is a paradise of such ineffable delight that they never wished to.  Who knows?  It's hot down here, let us return to discussing the northern realms.


Greenwood: The trees of Greenwood are absolutely massive, and approaching the woods via the Green Serpent Road is like approaching the base of a mighty wall.  In fact, it is very similar.  Greenwood is where treesinging was born, and it shows.  The trees at the edge are frequently guardtowers, with barracks sung into shape from their branches and hidden from sight behind a wall of leaves and twigs.  This and the many blinds scattered through the vast expanse of woodlands allow soldiers wearing the green-tree sigil of Greenwood to appear seemingly from nowhere to question suspicious passerby more closely.  Further in, past the many seasonal camps and semi-permanent arboreal villages at the border, one comes to the domain of the Courts.  The Courts are groups or conspiracies of powerful entities who rule over areas of Greenwood.  To avoid open anarchy or civil war, they elect Kings of the Year, puppet rulers whose rule lasts for, well, a year.  At most.  Any longer than that, and the Courts fear the rise of someone actually competent or charismatic enough to gain political power.  At the end of a King's reign (and yes, there are female kings), the Courts who won a plurality and had their candidate crowned vote amongst themselves.  If the year has been bad, the King is blamed for it, publicly made a scapegoat, and executed.  If the year has been good, the King is formally invited to lay down the stressful burden of rulership (he doesn't actually have a choice) and welcomed into retirement.  If he performed ably and cleverly enough without rattling his handlers, he is sometimes taken aside, is told that this is only the first taste of power, and taken under the wing of a Courtier with the chance to become one himself someday.  Most Kings of the Year are very young, and chosen with an eye for beauty and grace.  After all, a figurehead should be pretty and pleasant to look at.  Kings do not serve twice, neither in a row, nor ever.  Courts take names based on some trait of their members, their goals, or their philosophy.  Some of the currently noteworthy courts are the Leaf Court, the Rose Court, the Needle Court, the Mirror Court, the Court of Mirth, and the Moon Court.

Like many places, Greenwood is a country that started out as just a handful of towns and settlements, now eclipsed by massive tree-cities and vast stretches of untamed woodlands .  The previous capital, the city of Emerald, lay along the shores of the Inland Sea and was devastated by magical assault during the Mer  invasion.  Due to concerns of vulnerability, the royal seat was moved further inland, to Verdanton, then the cultural heart of Greenwood and home of the Treesingers.  After the invasion, Emerald was rebuilt as a major port, but never quite outshone Verdanton    The Canopy is the best part of Verdanton, while the Underbrush neighborhoods are dangerous during the semi-dark days, and perilous at night.  The Canopy houses the manses and palaces of those Courtiers who maintain a permanent residence within the capital, as well as the royal palace.  At the center of the city is the Old Tree, an ancient oak that tops a mile in height.  This national symbol of Greenwood's resiliency and pride is believed to be one of the oldest living things on the continent.


Avalon: The Skytooth mountains slash diagonally from northwest to southeast, angled like an angry eyebrow above the Inland Sea.  These jagged peaks rear up like a wall of fangs stretching from horizon to horizon.  Getting around them to the north involves crossing vast swathes of the uncharted northlands and can lead perilously close to the Great Ice itself.  Going through them is impossible, as uncounted ages of Avalonian wizards and architects have blocked off or built fortifications out of every pass, and for all that Avalon no longer rules the entire north, it still has fearsome strength, and the cities sculpted from the peaks and cliffsides of the mountains are comfortably citilized.  Outsiders are forbidden past certain cities in the mountains, and Short-Ears have seldom been allowed even that far since Eduran's invasion.  What lies past the mountains is a mystery, none are allowed to see it, at least none who are permitted to leave afterwards.  It borders both the Inland Sea (at the extreme southern end of the Skytooth Mountains) and the Great Eastern Ocean.  Avalon's coastline is a ragged mess of tattered inlets, stormy capes, and forboding cliffs.  Like the Skytooth Mountains, these are populated with beautiful cliff-cities and towns, but these are heavily guarded and foreigners are still not allowed further than the docks district of each.  Occasionally, someone manages to sneak further into Avalon, but they are never heard from again.  The totality of this statistic is somewhat strange, the sheer logistics of stopping everyone who tries to enter a country are staggering.  It happens nonetheless.

Avalon is ruled by a Witch-Queen.  According to legend, she rules from a forbidden city deep within inner Avalon, passing her commands to the nobility of the border cities through some mysterious means, but mostly holding her silence.  Nobody living has ever claimed to have seen her in person, yet the country functions.

Yes, there is a lot less known about Avalon than there is about Greenwood.  Perhaps one of the other party members has access to more information?


The Northern Wastes: The informal name for everything west of the Skytooth Mountains, south of the Great Ice, and north of the Inland Sea, the Wastes are something of a misnomer.  According to legend, the northwest coast is where elves first came ashore on the continent, and it is absolutely riddled with the ruins of dead kingdoms and fallen empires.  Many areas of the Waste are actually fine for growing crops, and support towns and cities, such as Rift or Grey Needles.  Even where civilization falters, there are many tribes, mostly Long-Ears, that hunt game or plant as they go, migrating with the seasons.  There are places, however, where the shadows hang unnaturally long upon the land, where the old barrows seem to murmur and whisper vindictively, where strange and inexplicable monsters plague trespassers, and these unwholesome locales are spurned by the wise.


The Great Ice: You mean you know someone who's been there?  Really?  Supposedly, it's all snow and icefields when you get out of the tundra.  Strange predators, stranger elves, and ruins of structures never built by any craft elves possess.  For all the Freemarchers know, there could be an entire war going on up there, and the south would be oblivious to it.  Perhaps we should focus a bit more on what the PCs will actually be experiencing from the first session, shall we?

YOUR COMPANY: Bluebell has seen better days.  Once a very large and prosperous town with a wide sway over the surrounding countryside, strong defenses, and several notable trade interests, it was struck hard by the Fat-Tongued Plague seven years ago, and again by rampaging ghouls whose numbers swelled rapidly by feeding on the carcasses four years later.  The population was devastated, central order was lost, and much of the town's treasury was depleted staving off complete disaster.  Unfortunately, the plague hit hardest among the elderly, striking members of the aging town council and several of its merchants.



Might 2: The town's forces, such as they are, consist of a rabble of former thugs turned farmers (after a beating at the hands of Lestari), as well as local hunters, miners, and caravan guards.  While the former thugs are are still vicious, the miners are strong, the hunters have had a lot of practice with their bows, and the caravan guards are well armed, none of them are proper soldiers.  Their ranks are stiffened by the addition of a few good fighters, but all in all they are adequate soldiers at best, with simple weapons.

Treasure 2: The plague ruined the town's economy, and those merchants that remain are struggling.  While the town does have reserves, they are stretched thin.  It doesn't help that the mine is drying up, and that some of the farms might be abandoned or worse.  The farms close to the township proper still produce agricultural yield, and steelribbon ivy, an atypically tough and nearly uncuttable weed, grows around the base of the giant flowers that provide the town with most of its actual structure.

Influence 1: Bluebell has been occupied with its own problems, and has little notice to spare on the outside world, as well as little time.  It has little pull with other towns nearby, and little ability to gather information.

Territory 2:

Bluebell Township: Bluebell Town is situated atop a hill-sized mass of giant bluebells (common bluebell, if you're looking for a picture).  The fronds are sung into shape and woven together where they leave the trunk-thick flower stems to form slightly springy, elevated walkways high off the ground.  The flowers themselves, where they hang over the walkways, form the outer walls for shops and houses, with slits for doors and windows carefully sung or cut into the flower's flesh.  Here and there, trees are woven into the structure of raised bridges and paths to provide additional support.  Everything is elevated, to keep ghouls or bandits out.

The surrounding farms still produce grain, but many of the farms and small settlements farther away have been completely unresponsive since the plague.

Carnes'ir Mines: In better times, gold, silver, precious gems, and even the rare and valuable aluminum were pulled from this massive expanse of natural caves by the Carnes'ir family.  However, the flood of riches has dwindled to a trickle.  Optimistic estimates say the mine might have fifty years left.  Pessimists sometimes go as low as five.  However, the mines do still produce some wealth, and due to the family estates being located right outside the mine itself few of its members were struck down by the plague.  They have lingering connections to other towns and business associates

Sovereignty 3:  For the most part, the population likes you.  Sure, they might grumble occasionally.  Mothers might loudly complain about their children picking up foul language from the Haida caravan guards or dirty miners in Carnes'ir employ, but will then scold any outsider who implies there might possibly be another sorceress as skilled as their Sylph, let alone a swordself as skilled as Lestari.