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Rhylian Gap/Autumn’s End (assembly for the Lich Lord’s armies)
Posted on December 15, 2025 in Steel-Realms
Rhylian Gap/Autumn’s End is the name given to the lands on the north/east side of The Autumn Wall. It was once called the The Rhylian Gap, and was noted as the entry point into _. It is the place the armies of the Lich Lords march through and make preparations in before storming the fortifications along The Autumn Wall.
Where the Lich Lords themselves control the power of the Frostfang directly on the front lines at North Gate Garrison, the disembodied Hand of Blood Eye grasps for targets that fall on their side. Darting out of the icy mists, it reconstitutes the Frost Shroud on their minions, and attempts to stop those few making a rare sortie on the north side of The Autumn Walll against their undead minions.
Corporeal Ranks of the Winter Host
Skeletons: Stripped of flesh, their bones are their weapons when weapons are not in their hands. They are the least of the minions, but most plentiful. Their Winter Host Armaments are clumsily grasped by them, some even wired or pinned through their remains to ensure their use. The Frost Shroud covers their bones, providing only a minor layer of reinforcement. Skeletons strike with their knife-like fingers, or are armed with stone or obsidian daggers or spears and may carry leather shields – made from the hides of their fallen enemies.
Zombies: The corrupted flesh still clings, and a slavering hunger to feed upon the flesh of the living in order to preserve their own drives them. Their Winter Host Armaments are grasped by them, some armor even wired or pinned through their remains to ensure their use. The Frost Shroud covers them, providing a major layer of reinforcement over every surface. Zombies pummel with their club-like fists, or are armed with stone or obsidian daggers or spears.
Cold Brutes: Skeletons and Zombies are sometimes seen with “Cold Brutes” of their kind – twice the bone and viscera animated together to make a large, ponderous version of them. Armed with Bone Burrow spears made of animated material that burrow into flesh, or Ice Fang weapons normally only wielded by the Ghouls or Wights.
Ghouls: Consumers of flesh for sustenance, capable of great physical feats from the strength gained from it, they prowl for victims and seek to regain the flush and healthy countenance only the living can possess. They are used as shock troops and in the place of beasts of burden. Their rapid movements and shifting physical form cause the Frost Shroud to provide only a minor reinforcement to their bodies. Ghouls typically use improvised weapons or particularly strong one may be armed with Bone Burrow or Ice Fang weapons.
Wights: Once great warriors, their bodies preserved by their hatred and desire for revenge upon all the living and the civilization they still enjoy, that they once built. Their eyes burn with malice and intelligence, their skills undiminished in undeath. These undead focus their rage on the living, but if there are none within reach, they will destroy others of their nature to slake their thirst for vengeance. More than any other creature does the deliberate and tactical Wight benefit from the Frost Shroud, feeding its cold nature with their cold calculating malevolence to produce a covering fog around them. Wights are typically armed with the armaments they were buried with, or Ice Fang weapons.
Vampires: Consumers of blood for sustenance, their normally independent wills that pursue power over the living are bent to physical killing to make more corpses for the murderous horde. Their will and intelligence are used on the battlefield to coordinate their host and as special agents. The Frost Shroud provides only the most minimal of benefits to these dynamic roamers of the battlefield. Vampires are typically armed with the armaments they had when they passed into undeath.
Tactics of the Winter Host on The Autumn Wall
Before an assault, they ensure all the ghouls and vampires are fed. There is a coordinated effort by vampires and wights to organize supplies beforehand. They use scavenged and saved weapons and gear as they can. Sleds, manlets, ropes, ladders, and harnesses for pulling and dragging. The assault is always preceded by the Frostfang, the sorcerous frozen wind that brings cold death and a constant cover of mist and fog, rolling over the landscape, obscuring their troop movements.
Where the Frostfang meets The Autumn Wall is a strange place. Tendrils of mist that seem like they are probing the wall itself are dissipated by the warmth of the wall. A hiss of steam and ice getting turned to water and running down the wall – front and back – is ever present at the top of the wall, mingled in with the screams of battle. Fire and light cover the wall, driving back the cold. Bodies fall, water drains into channels behind the wall, filled with rivulets of blood. Soldiers reinforcing the fallen, priests and druids ensuring wounded and dead get taken off the line and protected from rising to attack their friends. Bodies are flung from the battlements by the undead, back down their side of the wall, for their gear and to be swiftly made into animations that can be used to attack those they once stood side by side with.
The icy, ghostly hand of Blood Eye is 20′ long and 10′ high; It can sweep multiple targets it moves through all targets along a 30′ movement path… causing those affected damage and a slowing of their movement. It can only manifest on the Lich Lord’s side of The Autumn Wall. If one looks closely, it has an eye on the palm that will flick open and stare back at anyone who tries to gain a good look at it.
i20™ Effect Details
Each 3-5 rounds (maximum 3/Short Rest in any given area); Attack +9, 2 types of damage:
Damage = d10/5 cold & d10/5 necrotic; Constitution DC 18 save or -5’ movement for encounter. For any the eye stares at, they must make a DC 18 Sanity check or will flee in terror for 10 rounds.
iCore™ Effect Details
Pages on the web site lean towards i20™ text flavor, discrepancies will be noted in the iCore™ tab.
The Sewers of Klyben
Posted on December 15, 2025 in Steel-Realms
The Klyben Sewers are on both sides of Killean’s Stream, mostly to catch overflow and runoff and keep the banks of the stream dry. The only people who regularly prowl these areas are members of the Gangs of Klyben. The gangs generally only use it for transport, they don’t have any headquarters in the sewers. Are kept clear to ensure that the runoff from the districts.
Shrine to Irrigi
In addition to the small population of the Gangs of Klyben making the occasional offering here, even a few merchants are said to make their way here to leave an offering. Those seeking to find lost items seek the favor of Irrigi as well – and there are a lot of this in such a large trade town.
Irrigi’s Walkers
There is a small band of Irrigi’s Walkers, the rat people lycanthropes, here. By day they hold regular jobs and stay out of the way of the normal folk, never troubling anyone. There are only about 100 of them. Irrigi’s Walkers are allies of the Rhylander Green Conjurists, and have a tunnel only they know of that leads from the Klyben Sewers to the basement of Ten Box Chemists.
Killean’s Stream (Nehemiah’s Walk; Klyben)
Posted on December 15, 2025 in Steel-Realms
There’s a North District of Klyben and South District of Klyben, separated by Killean’s Stream in the City of Klyben in The Grand Duchy of Rhyl. There’s a stone road through it and a short but big stone bridge where they have channeled water into the depression.
The stream runs from NE to the SW of the town. Klyben Sewers are on both sides of Killean’s Stream. The stretch of the stream through the town is known as Nehemiah’s Walk.
Nehemiah’s Walk
The ghost of Nehemiah sometimes walks its shores and can be seen in the midst and fog. The ghost does not seem to be inimical to normal city dwellers.
Haywald’s Reservoir
This feeds the lowland depression where rice is grown.
Chronicle/Facts of Nehemiah
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
Though no one remembers The Ghost of Nehemiah killing anyone, it has left several of guilty consciences with white hair and Ashen looks…
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
There are rumors of the ghost attacking those with malicious intent within the city, although a common criminal does not seem to draw its ire.
Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty
Very few over the years have been recognized as having drawn the legitimate ire of the ghost. That said, it seems to know the truth of the matter and has revealed at least once, the presence of someone with dire malevolent intent towards the town and its inhabitants.
The Ghost of Nehemiah is seen in the Klyben Sewers by the Gangs of Klyben as well.
It is said that Nehemiah it is the ghost of a guardsman long fallen that still has a sense of duty deeply abiding within it.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
There have been repeated attempts to get the populace to rally behind the notion of quashing the ghost for good; The Green Conjurors are always the first to point out its benefit and lack of trouble to those day-to-day dwellers, and that it has no connection to the lich Lords, nor has it ever killed anybody.
Defending Klyben: The Rhylander Green Conjurists home at the Ten Box Chemists in the City of Klyben keeps Honeystone Pollen to put in Killean’s Stream to destroy animations of the Lich Lords should it ever be required to defend the area.
Bloodless Herd of Havaelinn Wild Heart (Klaurian Myth?)
Posted on December 15, 2025 in Steel-Realms
The Bloodless Herd of Havaelinn Wild Heart is both a myth, a whispered tale, and the pride of the Klaurians people of North Pines. Havaelinn Wild Heart was the youngest omen reader in North Pines and when the Lich Lords swept into North Gate Pass and threatened Rhyl, he ignored his elders wishes gathered the sacred white elk tribe sacred to Frenyr in Sunland to fight.
They are now a ghostly herd, inimical to the undead. The last few guardians and Havaelinn “returned” in their anger, but not for the living, rather the undead.
Encountering: They are sometimes glimpsed on the other side of the Autumn Wall. This is an encounter that might be seen in some rare places high up in mountain valleys in North Gate Pass and the entrance to Rhyl and Kaald.
- Sometimes travelers will be woken up by the snort of an elk that only they can hear, that warns them of the presence of undead trying to sneak up on them. No traveler should assume they will be watching though.
- It is possibly an encounter for the Heroes Ride. Some heroes have encountered them and been saved by them, making the blood sacrifice to aid them against their undead enemies.
The few guardians, when empowered to fight the undead, take on a green tone in some of the areas of their bodies. When they become physical, their eyes are green, their antlers are green and brown, their hooves become green, yet they still have a ghostly presence. To their foes the undead, those parts that are green are filled with life and made physical and can gore and stomp.
i20™ Herd Details
The living encountering them can make a blood sacrifice to them of 2hp permanently can make 1 of them physical and they will attack to kill any undead nearby.
iCore™ Herd Details
Pages on the web site lean towards i20™ text flavor, discrepancies will be noted in the iCore™ tab.
Chronicle/Facts of the Locale
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
Rumors About the Locale
See the Herald's Quarterly for world updates.
Rhyl Formative Events
CY 7007 The area of North Gate Garrison freed & The Red March created; Money, supplies, armaments, and manpower flow into the north to fight the Lich Lords.
CY 6514 The Grand Duchy of Rhyl is created by the High King. In exchange for the resources and organization that can be brought to bear against the now organized undead armies, the lands become part of the High King's domain.
CY 5980 The Kingdoms of old Rhylan united settled as a single Kingdom of Rhyl to fight the Lich Lords drive south. After centuries of warfare between territories and races, the common cause of the threat to the north secures a lasting peace.
CY 5580 Fall of Dundaria in the North - Frostfang spreads, the Lich Lord power rises. Hordes of the undead, fortunately disorganized (at first), sweep south and west from the heart of old Dundaria.
CY 2330's Fall of East / Rise of the Dark Lands (Orrishai Abandoned); Refugees flee - some cross the Tolkisson Mountain Range into the 'Lands of Rhylan' that would become the Kingdoms of old Rhylan and finally.
CY 1000 (Approximately) The Dragon of Rhyl is killed and its influence ends in the area around the Great Forest of Rhyl and the surrounding territories.
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
People say that he knew he was going to his own death, but he knew that the death would not cause them to rise as undead foes to their kin, but rather draw in and kill even more and they’re frenzied feeding.
Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty
This is a herd of rare white elk sacred to Frenyr that were slaughtered by vampires and ghouls. Led by the Havaelinn Wild Heart and his band of youthful Klaurians, they fought to the death trying to hold back the lich Lords initial advance. They fought at the boundary of the Fang Frost and the Wylden Winds. They knew they would all die, but Havaelinn convinced them they would save their people, and would all go one to the fields of blessed, none would rise as undead.
They are sometimes seen (or even an elk cry heard) on the far side of the Autumn Wall as a warning of a major undead assault.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
Outnumbered 10 to 1 against a vast foe, they were almost all killed eventually. At last, only a few of them and the Wild Heart were left, bloody and ragged. They swore a compact to see never rest until revenge had been inflicted on their foes. They drew the last and most powerful ghouls and vampires in after their brethren were all killed, the undead thinking they would feast on the last of them and the corpses to regenerate themselves. Havaelinn performed his final ritual. The winds were confused where they met and tore the undead and all of the corpses of the sacred herd into tiny bits like a cyclone of glass shards. Even the bones were ground to dust.
Ablocris Grain Farm Steading (ruins; Rhyl)
Posted on December 6, 2025 in Steel-Realms
The Ablocris Grain Farm Steading was one of the three support settlements for the Monastery of Ablocris. All of them were overrun and destroyed in the War of Rundleman’s Revenge in CY 9041. The ruins are well known to be falling apart and dangerous, and to have been picked over time and time again – nothing of mundane treasure remains. At the current time, they are designation as a historical landmark and are off limits to further exploration, purchasing, or development. The territories of the Monastery of Ablocris are all connected by Albocris Loop Road.
HISTORY: The Shared Settlement of Umbakian Territory of the Monastery Lands…
EXPLORING: The limits and stipulations for Historical Designation and Exploration in the Steel Realms are well documented.
Ruins
The burned farm sits in a small dip in rolling grassland about 1000 feet in the distance. The main farmhouse had a base of stone about 3′ tall, mostly overgrown now. The barn and all other wooden structures were burned to the ground. The stone base of a grain tower can still be seen.
Exploring the Area Further
As you approach the burned farmstead, you could swear you heard the sound of children laughing – but it trails off like a sigh on the breeze.
Chronicle/Facts of the Locale
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.
Rumors About the Locale
See the Herald's Quarterly for world updates.
Rhyl Formative Events
CY 7007 The area of North Gate Garrison freed & The Red March created; Money, supplies, armaments, and manpower flow into the north to fight the Lich Lords.
CY 6514 The Grand Duchy of Rhyl is created by the High King. In exchange for the resources and organization that can be brought to bear against the now organized undead armies, the lands become part of the High King's domain.
CY 5980 The Kingdoms of old Rhylan united settled as a single Kingdom of Rhyl to fight the Lich Lords drive south. After centuries of warfare between territories and races, the common cause of the threat to the north secures a lasting peace.
CY 5580 Fall of Dundaria in the North - Frostfang spreads, the Lich Lord power rises. Hordes of the undead, fortunately disorganized (at first), sweep south and west from the heart of old Dundaria.
CY 2330's Fall of East / Rise of the Dark Lands (Orrishai Abandoned); Refugees flee - some cross the Tolkisson Mountain Range into the 'Lands of Rhylan' that would become the Kingdoms of old Rhylan and finally.
CY 1000 (Approximately) The Dragon of Rhyl is killed and its influence ends in the area around the Great Forest of Rhyl and the surrounding territories.
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
For those native to or long-dwelling in the region, ALL Common Knowledge may be Pervasive.