Gaernia of the Steel Realms

Located on Ustermaya .

Beyond the Eastern Darkness: It is whispered that a vast human empire survives to the far east on the continent of Ustermaya. Although it has taken thousands of years, its name has come to the Western Reaches. Whispered in fear by only a few, the place is referred to as “Gaernia“. Said to be a cold place of necromancy and warlocks that worship the cold sea goddess Elancil.

Characters cannot start the game with Virtuous or Good codes of conduct.

Ruler:

Culture

Caste

The Gaernian society is a strict system of class and caste. It is divided by clans and families. Within each clan, families struggle for dominance, and each clan struggles for supremacy amongst all others.

• Laughuvalin; ‘Storm Lords’ – said to be descendants of the original priesthood of Elancil and the mythic ‘Children of the Sea’
• Saukander (symbol is a black half sun with three tentacles holding a skull, axe and crown)
• Shailu
• Gomori
• Basbranth
• Xivaithe

Noble: “pure” class

Warrior: “pure” class

Magus: “yeoman” class

If it was not for all their in fighting and political maneuvering, they might one day conquer some Gaernians from the inside out, but they prefer to operate in the background and as special agents. They enjoy the hunt of renegades and exercising the death magics to snuff them out if possible.

Priesthood: “pure” class

Makers: “Servile” class

Slaves:

Language

The language is ancient Yvaldeysean – the tongue of the Sea-Kings. It is true to the pure ancient way in which it is spoken not the current gwinnish version – though both are understandable to speakers. The language is one of the best suited for the speaking of magical incantations.

Faith

Nearly every person amongst the Gaernian society has some knowledge of faith, their history is stepped in it. The Gaernian faith is one of simplicity and duality. They are short on pomp and events, and their faith unites them under both banner and purpose. The gaernians claim to be the symbolic children of the Queen of the Seas, the Lady of Storms and the fallen death god Djerduth. In their victory, death will rise once more to claim its rightful place – bringing balance to the world, destroying the shield or darkness, the Sun-Bane (imposed by the Lightbringers) itself, and the fertility spring of Gaia which they consider an abomination. When they are born, all Gaernians are tattooed with the symbol of their clan and the sea mother on their navel, and the placenta is given to the ocean in offering and a bond (granting the Delayed Decrepitude).

“Time of Service”; All Gaernians have a time of service. When they are near death, they are given a drug of sleep, drowned, and risen in service to their family. Because they cannot die from exposure, they make excellent messengers, carriers, etc. in the frozen north. They are stowed in flooded keel spaces, sea water barrels, etc. and taken to sea as defenders or places as The Risen in defense of temples and sacred family burial vaults.
They can be armed and will fight for their clan or The Priesthood of Gaernia.

Elancil – The Sea Mother: [CRADLE Words; taught since birth]
“A man is born in darkness and water, born into this he must straddle and tame the raging winds of fortune. Unto the mother of storms must he pay homage to shelter him and guide the breeze to his back to propel him forward and stir the passions of greatness.”

Djerduth – The Night Father: [GRAVE words; taught upon name-day]
“A man is born in darkness and water, in his dying journey he walks into the lands of the dead, where his deeds are whispered forever. Unto the father of solitude should he deliver an ocean of companions with which to keep him company in the weariness of the house of tranquility.”

He is also venerated as Deirguth, and some say he is Djerduth already reborn. This is a splinter, underground cult and nothing more.

“Longshadow” – In the last several generation the veneration of Sun Stealer has also taken hold in some families. It stands to reason that a place as sunless as the forzen north would harbor such a faith.
His adherents claim he cast more than just shadow and it is he who should be the rightful father of Gaernia.

Ceremony of Name-Day/Path of Tears

A girls first period and the sunrise of the 12 year marker for boys is the name-day for Gaernians. They take their place working in their caste, and they take their oaths. By then, they are indoctrinated, trained in the ways of combat and seamanship. Upon the bottom of their feet they are branded with the death gods symbol and speak the words: “My path is not my own, forever will i share it with my father.” from this flows blood – so that both boys (both feet) and girls (left foot) must shed blood. They now walk The Path of Tears; the weeping of her enemies fills the oceans and cleanses the earth so the old must make way for the new. Death walks among those enemies, treading all under the heel of his most faithful servants. They must walk barefoot for the next 24 hours. Many lose some of their toes from this in their forzen homeland. Some dire from infection – those that live are called Gaernians. It is from this they gain their Iron Will.

Prayer of The Dying Man’s Walk; “My feet fall upon those my father collects, I pray the tears of their lament washes away the silence.”

The “Great Plan”

Conquering all lands, dissolving the Darklands, and holding dominion over all – reuniting humanity under one banner and driving all others to the grave.

Gaernian Culture and Its Interaction with “The West”

Legends and rumors persist of a great human culture which exists on the other side of the Darklands. There is enough vague references of travel journals to clearly indicate that humans survive there. It is believed they are remnants of the Fallen East – but thus far there has been no success in uniting the cultures. In fact, those few in positions to know the rare facts know that in fact, this distant lands seem nothing but hostile. The Gaernians, for their part, keep the truth of their existence secret (swearing an oath to keep a ‘Veil of Silence’ about Gaernia). Their goal of returning Gwinn to its Imperial position must remain hidden from everyone. The “great plan” is the prize to which their entire culture is bent. They have spies across the realms… The Guild of Solars are aware that they aggressively watch and work to some end they cannot fathom. The Salamander’s Guild ferrets them out wherever they can and eradicate them – they know more than most for the Gaernians have tried to insinuate members into their ranks (to what end is unknown) more than any other organization over time; the brothers call them the Black Travelers. All attempts to scry or divine the people, culture and lands of the Gaernians have met with a flurry of jumbled information. They are The Children of Elancil – she protects them more than all others combined.

Breeding Programs

For many ages the Gaernians have continued to try and reclaim their ancient birth rite of the breeding and “domestication” of ‘sea-dragons’ (Kraken, giant squid, crocodilian hybrids). Most are ill-tempered and violent or
die quickly – either way unusable. The quest continues, with some success in giant salt water crocodiles which are used as servants and carrying animals. They average 10m in length.

• Kun-lun are bred as personal protectors. They range from 7m to 12m. They are trained from birth and are exposed bonded with a single master in their early years.
• Shui-lun are single minded beasts, good only for transporting (and defending their shipment) goods or a few men; They are used in the military and civilian world.

Crafters & Makers

WEAPONS: The Gaernians employ a special forging process giving silver the strength of steel (magi enchant the molten metal during the process). This gives it mystical properties to hist phantasmal and ghostly creatures,
They use this for all Stiletto (instead of daggers, the use of Stiletto is practiced) and spear and arrow tips. They also employ cold wrought iron short swords which are deadly to The Risen undead in service to their goddess which the Lich Lords are sometimes able to turn back upon their creators. All other blades are too big for anything but steel.

ritual silver stiletto (strong as steel; +1 CS and AP)

cold fire obsidian: sparks and creates fires w/no heat

Ice lizard hide armor

ARMOR: All armor is made from hide of sea beasts or leather (studded too), or ring mail. Some special members can wear ice lizard/crocodile hide which is similar to dragon scale in its fit.

Trade

The Storm Lords clan of Gwinn is the only members of the Realms to trade with Gaernia. Upon the Sea King Empire’s demise, the truth was suppressed. They traded with Sayvalod and have the only ships capable of braving the seas to get there. This is the last place where one can find and grand battle barges of the sea kings. Two are still kept here, frozen in the ice. The magic used to make and sail them are long since lost.

Sisterhood of the Domus Regide

The greatest enemy of the Gaernians exists right next to them. It is a cold land of renegades, a matriarchal society of empaths and psionics brought out from the terrible pain and anguish inflicted on them and cultivated further by the others. They still serve the same faith (so they claim), but in their own fashion and stressing female empowerment. This Sisterhood rules several settlements making up a land with no name to the south of Gaernia. To its inhabitants, it is simply known as the "Sister-Hold". These women are all trained in the use of psychic and occult powers. They are called mage and psychic sniffers by those who know them, as they can smell such powers by its strength and type so attuned to their ways. The only contact they have with the outside world is the Guild of Solars, which is allowed by them to remotely communicate in restricted circumstances, fiercely guarded by the empaths, searching for any hint of deceit or treachery. Sometime, after many years of working with guild members, the women are allowed to go to Gladnor, where they serve as advisors to kings and lords under the guise of the Guild. In return, they may bring back knowledge and the Guild pays them in materials.

STARTING [FULL] MAGES:

-spell books: Gaernian mages get 8 spells at fist level (6 1^st & 2 2^nd), they get to choose 1 first and 1 second level spell

-must be evil in alignment; if they are not they are considered outcast renegade and automatically get the Powerful Enemy disadvantage. The only other alignment they can be is Lawful Neutral

NOTE: the mages of Gaernia will send servants, mercenaries and power entities after the renegade mage until 7^th level – if they survive they will be subjected to magic duels at every level.

However, being able to both read and write as well as speak is the true key to using the Gaernian language
for the magus. The ability to read and write, to conceptualize and record their studies in such a highly expressive manner gains the following benefits:

Furthermore, if at least half of the magus’ research materials (codex, library, etc.) are recorded in the
Gaernian language, they gain the following research benefits:

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