Veltin Crimsea - Demigoddess of the Red moon

Veltin Crimsea is one of the three daughters of the Goddess of Magic, Magenta.  As things are in the world of the Valley of the Old Ones, Veltin Crimsea is also one of the three moons of the world, the Red Moon.

She is referred to by many as simply the Red Lady, or the Demigoddess of the Red Moon.  She has a distinct position of being the only member of the pantheon of the Church of the Three Goddesses to have evil worshipers and also evil clergy (neutral evil).

Veltin Crimsea represents the wilder, more sadistic, aspect of magic.  She is the aspect of the night, and of necromancy, and of seeing the value in having evil to balance the good.  Needless to say, the more prosaic of the clergy of the order of Veltin Crimsea have some problems with other members of the overall church, because of this position.  Her worshippers are sometimes open adherents of this order, and sometimes they are members of other branches of the church, drawn to the worship of Veltin Crimsea, as if it were forbidden fruit.

The more urbane parts of the order view their position as a relationship to the other two daughters of magic... The Demigoddess of the White Moon represents militant good, and the Demigoddess of the Golden Moon represents the alluring benefits of "light" magic.  Against these, Veltin Crimsea balances the White Moon with evil, and strong evil worshippers (although, they are balanced, neither favoring law nor chaos); she balances the Golden Moon with darkness and the magic of the night.

The more wilder, some would say "purer" parts of the order view their position as this - the strongest daughter of Magenta - the one that is due to take over as the next Goddess of Magic - is Veltin Crimsea.  She should therefor be above her two sisters, and in dark places it is even whispered that she should be above Magenta herself.

Organized clergy of this order of the church do not have their own Cathedral, and barely have their own bureaucracy.  They often exist in places where general clergy of the church exist, such as at Narn, and in some others of the larger Baronial cities.  When they must be, they are funded by the Magenta branch of the church.

In secret, however, there is a wide variety of Red Lady cultists.  Often, remote gatherings, called Clutches, are ruled by a trio - two women (one old, one young) and a male who has become a sort of werebat.  The famous poem, by Uin Dagavart, called "The Red Moon" has the opening stanza,

All of them bound up tight in the clutch;
Ruled by the crone, the maid and the bat.
Evil has wrought, tho' welcome by such;
Those who hate this, and this who hates that.

 The followers are typically drawn to the wilder aspect of Veltin Crimsea, and they are often organized into bands of thugs, intent on thwarting those who work great works in the name of good.  The Paladins of the White Lady are a particular foe.

Rites are typically performed under the red moon, but are to be shunned when the white or gold are ascendent.  Talk of witches' cauldrons, and drinking the blood of innocents, is MOSTLY the rambling of peasants, and stories intended to scare children.

If there is a single place of power for the followers of the Red Moon, it would have to be the valley along the Two-Moon River.  However, strongholds of thugs and clutches can be found in many remote locations - bogs and fens, dark gnarled forests, and the solitary wind-ripped rocky peaks of mountains.

Eagles of Jazzan - Order of Rangers in the Central Valley

The Eagles of Jazzan are an order of Rangers that patrol the regions all around the Jazzan Mountains, but also out as far as the Harp Woods to the northeast, and the Two-Moons River to the southwest.

Hundreds of years ago, before the Barony of Ungams was established, and the cathedral (The Stone of Life) of St. Horace was built there, there was a monastery established to St. Horace in the Jazzan Mountains.  This monastery, known as the Hermitage of Understanding, was located high up on the peak of Mount Soluto.  It was dedicated to an understanding of the natural world, gained through meditation and communing with peaceful animals.  It was founded by Sir Horace Avento of Macester, who renounced his knighthood, his family lands, and all claims to wealth and worldly prestige.

Sir Horace Avento of Macester, choosing the path of the Monastic, and giving up Majestia

The brothers of the Hermitage engaged with a group of knights and men-at-arms in the War of Establishment, against the demon hordes from the Two-Moon River, attacking the newly established city of Henn.  All of the brothers of the Hermitage, who mostly fought in the form of giant bears, were slain except for Horace.  During the fight, Horace, in the form of a giant bear wielding the magic sword Majestia was responsible for slaying a demonic creature, he later found out was a polymorphed innocent, mind controlled into joining the fray.  After the battle, he was totally stricken by grief, and would have died of a broken heart, if he had not been visited by a seraph of the goddess Nadene.  The seraph, one of Nadene's cupid-like angelic messengers, saw in Horace a very good man, and an selfless and peaceful soul, other than his grief over the loss of the brothers in the fight against Noxecatt's demons.  Because of this compassion by the seraph, and the understanding of Nadene for Horace's connection with nature, and especially animals, he was made into an immortal.  In fact, he was made the patron saint of Animals.

The Hermitage at Mt. Soluto

A band of men-at-arms who were impressed with the sacrifice of the Brothers of the Hermitage, decided to forsake arms, and take up a communal life themselves.  However, at this Horace saw the need for humans to not only understand the world - including those aspects of plants and animals that humans are capable of understanding - but also to participate in its defense.  So, he convinced the men-at-arms to become the Rangers of the Hermitage.  They were trained in the skills of tracking and dealing with natural magic and animals of all sorts.  These became the first line of defense, now, against the horrors that occasionally emerge from the Two-Moons River.

Since this first band was formed, there have been Ranger Hermitages set up in a number of wild places, sometimes preceding the migration to the east of the Westroners, and sometimes following it.  Eventually, a group of such hermitages came together to form the Northguard in the year 656.  The Northguard, because they work so closely (at times) with Storm King Barbarians, have dropped the connection to the order of St. Horace, however.

With a number of different Hermitages having been established, it has become traditional to name each such "order" by a name including a local animal to the location of the hermitage, as well as the name of the region that it is from.  Because of this, the Rangers of the original Hermitage have become known as the Eagles of Jazzan.

Sword Pommel of a senior Ranger in the Eagles of Jazzan

Eagles all carried a distinctive sword with an Eagle's head on the pommel.  Other than that they have no mark of office.  Other than human Rangers, the order also includes clerics of St. Horace, and also some Wood Elves from the Harp Woods, who join the order for a number of years, before deciding to return to their Arboreal retreats, or back to the Faery realm.  The range of the valley that the Eagles patrols includes the lands east of the Two Moon River, up to the Great River, and across to the Harp Woods. South, it extends to the city of Henn.  Within this area, there is a network of good creatures and human (and other) inhabitants that are friendly to the Eagles, and provide assistance (whether in the form of information or supplies, or more directly, as assistance under arms).

To this day, the Rangers of the order have as a sworn enemy the sorcerer Raebacc Stin, who has become a Lich and has a secret haunt in a location the Rangers have been yet able to find.  Raebacc Stin was the sorcerer, in the service of Noxecatt, who was responsible for the formation of the original body of diabolical forces that killed the original brothers of the Hermitage.  The magic sword Majestia, formerly owned by St. Horace (when he was Sir Horace) has also become lost over the years, and legends talk about it being in the possession of Raebacc Stin.

Arrando Hill

Arrando Hill is the site of an ancient stone circle (Lerrandish), thought to have been constructed by the Old Ones. It is the summer home of a group of wandering Striped Ones (five foot tall Raccoon People, one of the Forest Folk). They camp here, in a variety of tents and wagons (pulled by oxen, no horses), and gather pollen-honey from the surrounding fields full of giant bees, all summer, leading up to a festival bringing on the advent of Autumn - at which point they travel south, "chasing the summer" as they put it.

 

Arrando Hill is in the Bartaloo Region of the valley, which is located south of the Great River, and between the Pellet Water Run, and the Two-Moon River.  The Hill itself is located at the northwestern edge of the Falcon Woods, in a plain where the hill stands alone.  The edge of the Snake Grove section of the Falcon Woods lies approximately 10 miles southeast of the Hill.  There are no habitations nearby, but the local Putarra-Gnome clans (and their herds of talking Axebeaks) avoid the hill and its surrounding plain, as if it were haunted.  Their name for the opening is the Cursed Plain.  Several rumors and legends about the area include the idea that ghost herds of the long gone horses of Bartaloo haunt the Cursed Plain.

The Striped Ones, of course, are not interested in the Putarra-Gnomes, and pay no attention to their myths and dire warnings about herds of ghost horses and haunted hills.

The Putarra-Gnomes are Mika-Born, and speak a heavily accented Kurakka Kurad as well as Westron.  Otherwise their resemblance to other Gnomes is only in shape and size.  They are dark skinned, typically, live in small clan villages in the open lands of Bartaloo (both north and west of the Falcon Woods, as well as south of the woods).  The Putarra clans have semi-domesticated a curious breed of Axebeaks that roam the open lands of Bartaloo.  These are somewhat more intelligent than typical Axebeaks, having the ability to speak.  They also have developed a strange resistance to magic (+3 to saves vs. spells, wands, rods, staves - immune to sleep and charm spells), and can share a telepathic link with their bonded Putarra-Gnome rider.

Friction arises every year between the Striped Ones and the Putarra-Gnomes.  Sometimes it devolves into open combat between the two groups, but usually it can be settled with single combat (to the blood, not to the death), or by the payment of were-geld.

The hill itself has a sequence of hidden chambers and dungeon layers beneath it, but they only open at certain times of the year (revealed by a magic flute, called the Song of Lerrandish, made out of the same strange stone material the standing stones of the circle are made out of).

Paladins!

Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
    Y cladd in mightie armes and siluer shielde,
    Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
    The cruell markes of many' a bloudy fielde;
    Yet armes till that time did he neuer wield:
    His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
    As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
    Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore,
    The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
    For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
    And dead as liuing euer him ador'd:
    Vpon his shield the like was also scor'd,
    For soueraine hope, which in his helpe he had:
    Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,
    But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;

Yet nothing did he dread, but euer was ydrad.

Vpon a great aduenture he was bond,
    That greatest Gloriana to him gaue,
    That greatest Glorious Queene of Faerie lond,
    To winne him worship, and her grace to haue,
    Which of all earthly things he most did craue;
    And euer as he rode, his hart did earne
    To proue his puissance in battell braue
    Vpon his foe, and his new force to learne;
Vpon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.

- Edmund Spenser, 1596 A.D.


The Paladin is a crucial element in the battle between good and evil in the Valley of the Old Ones.  As servants of a higher authority, they are subject to review of their adherence to the laws of chivalry.  A brief word or two seems in order, so that a player who chooses this class would know what sort of Holy order they are buying into, in the game world.


There are, in the main, three orders of Paladins among the Westroners in the Valley of the Old Ones.  All three are lawful good, and have Paladins who are played exactly as the rules prescribe (no variation in class, alignment, abilities, etc).  There are anti-paladins (and worse) in the game setting, but these will be discussed another time.


First, is the Order of Knights of the White Lady.  The White Lady is one of many names given to the eldest daughter of the goddess Magenta.  She is the incarnate as the largest of the three moons that travel across the sky above the Valley of the Old Ones.  Her role in the world is to battle evil and monsters wherever they may be found.  In this she stands in opposition to many of those who are not good, but who still look to Magenta (the goddess of Magic) for guidance and power.  One of the curious worldly aspects of the White Lady is that fact that in her appearance as the large white moon, known by her proper name Poritia Nove, she casts no reflection on the Two Moon river.  For that reason, many evil creatures and men have decided that they are more safe in that region than elsewhere in the valley, and it is a magnet for vile creatures and beings of all stripes.


There are, of course, priests and monks and nuns of the White Lady, but those will be detailed elsewhere.  The Paladins of this order are a typical chivalric order, as was common on Earth around the 13th or 14th century.  A long period of training and serving as a squire would precede the actually conference of Knighthood on the player.  The act of passing from level 0 to level 1 coincides with being Knighted into the order (something that occurs before the start of the campaign for most characters).  A patent of nobility is expected from the family (even if impoverished) for those who would join this order.

Paladins of the White Lady will dress all in white robes - silk if possible.  Their symbol is a black heater shield, with a white disc in the upper right corner. This symbol - the shield with the white disc - appears on the breast of their tunics, on military pennons and banners, and also as the device on their shield.  Individual knights in the order do not wear personalized heraldry.

In addition to the normal chivalric duties of protecting the honor of women, defending innocents, and meting out justice the knights of the Order are primarily interested in vanquishing evil wherever it may be found.  This is a very aggressive order.

Second are the Knights of the Hearth.  This is an order that started out as a group of Priests from the Order of Brother Rudiger.  They had taken up vows to protect those villagers and towns folk who lived far away from the castles of their baronial lords.  Such people are always in danger of being set upon by one sort of danger or another.


After a while, it turned out that bands of the Priests from the order were doing more fighting than anything else, and that gave order to the Paladin's order.


These knights are sometimes known as the Peasant Paladins for they will accept anyone, regardless of a noble patent or not.  They have just as stringent requirements as the other orders, but welcome those of ability, rather than just those of a high birth.

The knights of the order are not interested in military adventures against strongholds of evil, nor do they seek questing.  These are simple, quite utilitarian knights who seek to protect the people that they serve from evil and injustice.  Never ones to back down from a fight, they also do not seek it out.  One of the things that many knights of this order secretly desire is to be able to fight, and perhaps sacrifice themselves, in  a desperate battle defending innocents against overwhelming odds of evildoers.


The livery of the Knights of the Hearth is quite interesting.  They do not have any heraldic symbol, choosing instead individually a set of simple clean livery, consisting often of just one or two colors.  In their pursuit of justice and the defense of the helpless, it is quite common for Knights of the Hearth to collect favors and to adorn their armor and weapons with the same.


Finally, there are is the Brotherhood of the Sword.  These knights came out of the Order of St. Lilliane, that formed when the Cathedral of St. Lilliane was defiled and destroyed by trolls.  The surviving priests took up arms, implored the local secular Knight, Sir Vallimor of Botts to train them in the use of arms, and thus the fighting order was born.  These knights took an oath on an inverted sword, and that remains their symbol to this day.


Of all the three orders, the Brotherhood of the Sword is the most prone to solo wandering and adventuring.  Given strongly to the idea of a quest or mission errant, the brothers will often go on long quests lasting years - following the code of chivalry the entire time they are out questing, always upholding the Paladin code, as well as the reputation and honor of their order.


The livery of the order is simple.  It is a white tunic, and a white shield, with a red upended sword portrayed on the center of each.  This, in simplest form, appears as a red cross.

The Nine Rivers

Within the Valley, which is some 3200 miles long from east to west, the most common way to distinguish regions is to consider the segments that are roughly split up by the Nine rivers that flow into the Great River.  These divide the Valley up into eleven different regions. 

The northern regions, west to east, are

• The Shattered Plains
• The Enchanted Forests
• The Darkearth Plains
• The Sildur Reaches
• The Suuviz Region

The southern regions, from west to east are:

• The region of Gateway
• The region of Bartaloo
• The Rising Land
• The Wychwood region
• The Nightside region
• The Shale March

Four of these rivers flow from the Destriel mountains in the north, and each of them passes underneath the King's Highway.  Five of the rivers flow from the Holabria mountains in the south.  All nine empty their contents into the Great River, which continues to flow from the east to the west.

Listing the rivers, in order, from west to east we see that we have:

1. Durwash River - which flows out of the Destriel Mountains, near the famous Groben Cave sites, down past one of the Altars of the Old Ones (the great stone amphitheater, near the King's Highway), flowing south into the Great River.  While the Durwash southwest from the Groben sites, there is a tributary that joins it from the north west, called the Stormwash. The region to the west of the Durwash is the Shattered Plains, and the region to the east is the Enchanted Forests.
2. Pellet Water Run - This swift flowing body of water begins in the Holabria Mountains, with the glacial lake Sunshield as its point of origin.  It flows down, through the Burning hills, and finally north between the Falcon Woods and the Deeper Forest. The region to the west of the Pellet Water Run is the Gateway region, and to the east is the Bartaloo Region.
3. The Two-Moon river is an amazing body of water.  First there is the magical property that the third moon of the world never reflects on the water, only the first and second moons (which is where the name comes from).  Second, the headwaters of the Two-Moon are high in the Holabria Mountains, and they are in fact a waterfall descending from a cloudy realm high over the Fircarran Peaks.  The waterfall splashes down and forms a lake called the Skybowl, and then begins the long journey down out of the mountains, north towards the Jazzan and into the Great River.  The Two-Moon river is joined also by the Tandalorn River, which originates to the east of the Skybowl, as a series of  springs.  The site of the Tandalorn Springs is where the Parn Tandalorn Monastary is located.  To the west of the Two-Moon river is the Bartaloo Region, and to the right is the Rising Land.
4. The Lost Mare River is the next of the Nine.  It flows, at first mad and fast, south out of the Destriel Mountains towards Sorrad Forest, and then turning east, begins to lose a lot of its speed and anger, making its way lazily towards the King's Highway, and then on to the Great River.  Once it turns east away from the Sorrad Forest, one of the reasons for the great slowdown of the Lost Mare is because a lot of the river is diverted underground, feeding the mighty Underdark Sea, which is home to the Dark Elves and their so-called  "buccaneer kingdoms".  The Lost Mare is also joined by the Night Wash, a mountain stream fed tributary river.  The Lost Mare river divides the Enchanted Forests region to the west from the Darkearth Plains region to the east.
5. The Fernrush River is next.  It empties out of Ancalhenn Lake, which is fed itself by four mountain rivers coming out of the Holabrian Mountains.  Several ruined Old One sites are along the Fernrush River, which for some forgotten reason was a focal point of Old One trade activity.  The Fernrush River divides the Rising Land to the west from the region of Wychwood to the east.
6. The Greywater flows south out of the Destriel Mountains, joined by the Terrapin River.  There is a lot of river traffic along the Greywater from the many different Storm King tribes in the northern Shadow Woods.  Many different Storm King Jarls have holdings along the Greywater river.  The Greywater serves to divide the Darkearth Plains to the west from the Sildur Reaches to the east.
7. The Tiazarr River is next.  Its source is in the south, in the Caves of Night.   The Tiazarr is joined by the Ceduria River, flowing out of Ceduria Lake, which is also home to Panakus River, one of the four feeding Ancalhenn Lake.  The Tiazarr River divides the Wychwood region to the west, from the Nightside region to the east.
8. The Fa'Ars River flows past the great city of Narn, as it makes its way south from the Destriel mountains to feed the Great River.  The Fa'Ars has its source high in the Destriels, at a series of connected lakes known as the Tears of Heaven.  The region is widely avoided, as Giant country.  The Fa'Ars River divides the Sildur Reaches to the west of the river, from the Suuviz region to the east of the river.
9. The Moa Thola is the last of the Nine.  It is a river that comes out of the Shale hills.  It is home to a large amount of Sun King tribal traffic.  The river itself is joined by the Errando River originating not too far from the Caves of Night.  Perhaps there is a connection to the Tiazarr River.  The Moa Thola river divides the Nightside region, to the west, from the Shale March region to the east.

Valley of the Old Ones - updated with Nine Rivers information - click for more detail