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Kreviatizhekh
Kreviatizhekh is some 50 miles east of the city of Llorkh, about 30 miles north of the Black Road Pass through the Graypeak range's lowest saddle. The city itself is a multi-layered series of rings surrounding a Grand Chimney, a shaft descending more than 2000 feet into the earth, with a waterfall pouring down from a mountain stream and watering several balcony tiers of gardens. Mushrooms, cranberries, and even wheat and barley grow in these minute half acre farms -lit by glow globes when daylight through the 'eye' of the chimney above is too lacking. Clever suspended mechanical waterways divert the water into different paths, feeding baths, reservoirs, and eventually a sizable lake at the bottom of the shaft, where fishing adds to the meat gathered from hunting parties taking goat and deer from the surface, or the deep rothe in the great underground ranches surrounding the lake.
Estates include towers and balconies interspersed with galleries that spiral steadily around the Grand Chimney forming a sort of corkscrew trade route. Stores are carved deeper into the rock, or hang out over the precipice, with their doors opening out onto the spiral road behind them. Small portcullis gate-keeps guard every 360 degrees of travel around the loop from top to bottom. Elevators exist as well, but are primarily reserved for war parties, evacuation plans, or 'official' sorcerer business. A few of the richer families with deep-dug mansions may have their own elevator shafts and secret tunnels zigzagging throughout the nearby rock.
Not so much a map, perse' as a cross section of the primary chimney the city's dug in around.
The original image was a bit bigger, extending to 3rd deep mines and caves and such, but you get the general idea.
Kreviatizhekh is in the Forgotten Realms, roughly 500 years old as of the beginning of the campaign, spring of 1350 Dale Reckoning (8 years before the Time of Troubles, and long before the Spellplague (4th Edition) changes). The original kobolds settled here after being chased out of the Mountains of Shade in Anauroch by an army of shadows. After wandering the desert for weeks, a blue dragoness, Kriviatzee led them out of the desert and into the Greypeak Mountains, only about a century after the fall of the dwarven kingdom of Ammarindar that once reigned there.
There they found the chimney they used as the basis for their delve and named it in her honor. Though she was supposed to return and lead them, she disappeared after her nuptial flight. A priesthood has arisen in her name, and still holds that she will still return one day.
Though a predominantly 'lawful evil' society, there's elements within the society tugging toward both 'neutral' on the good-evil axis, and toward 'chaotic' on the lawful-chaotic' axis. In addition to the usual Kurtulmac and Tiamat priesthoods, and the local blue dragon priesthood of Kreviatzee worshipers, there's a few tinkers in some of the lesser clans and families that have secretly tapped into an aspect of Gond in pursuit of invention and mechanical art, and a few more worshipers of Io, the neutral draconic god of knowledge, than most kobold societies have.
The players in this campaign, held over skype, using 5th Edition rules, are interesting. Though all three have played plenty of online games, including Neverwinter (set in the Forgotten Realms, but using roughly 4th Edition mechanics) only one of the three had ever played anything tabletop, and none of the three are furry.
When I announced I'd be starting this campaign, they were all for it, but one was kinda pissed when he found out he couldn't play a 'drow ranger' after I'd conveyed they'd all be playing ... kobolds. He'd had his heart set on 'drow ranger' for some reason, which I found weird, since he wasn't a huge Drizz't fan, nor had heard of any of the Salvatore novels or anything.
Oddly, his tune changed after running each of their prelude sessions - from experiencing their past lives (as dragons no less, one each of both of good and evil breeds), through hatching, basic 'kobold survival', spear, mining, trapmaking, and stealth training. He became the party's ranger - now rides a dire weasel named Bubbles (for its penchant for drinking way too much booze if allowed). Alignment CG.
The group's Wizard had wanted to play a Sorcerer (which I kinda dissuaded - the city's NPC roster is already full of sorcerers ... which is fine, but I hate the 'minmax damage role' of Sorcerer as one of my PC's - and lack of story hook, since they don't need spellbooks and giving them scroll treasure has a LOT less impact). After his origin, (before attaining 1st level), he proceeded to assassinate one of the city's problem leaders through very clever risk-taking and use of a shrinking potion that absorbs nearby biomass when it wears off to reconstitute the imbiber to his original body size. After the first group session, he'd managed to snag a decent mount - a male blue eyedblack goat, named Azzy (shorted for Azmodeus?). Alignment CN.
The last - getting him to RP was a bit like pulling teeth the first session. When asked his name by an NPC (when he should have presented a name, besides the nicknames given to them as hatchlings), he just ... said his RL name. A few times. He's the sort that in MMO's names all his characters the same color with a different adjective - and sometimes a number after that. I wasn't going to push on an area he was totally new to, though. The other players apparently dogpiled on him sometime after the session and he kinda apologized later (which I didn't think was necessary), and is just going with his origin's nickname. It took the party eventually leaving the city together to cross about 60 miles of mountainous, forested rough terrain for him to kinda get into the spirit of actual RP. His character class eventually crops up - along with his final mentor (the others had already gone through their primary class mentors in previous sessions), and gets Paladin in service of Bahamut. Alignment LG.
- as to the last, I still haven't come up with something cool for a celestial steed for the Paladin once he hits 2nd level. If I let them choose - well, you can't imagine some of the choices they've bandied about. There's seriously a lot of comedy already injected into the story, but I think the pally should have something at least reflective of his class. It still has to be primarily a mount, and not that powerful a monster in its own right, ala the Find Mount trait.
Ideas
- Celestial Weasel (counterpart to Bubbles, resembling a giant golden eyed ermine.)
- Celestial 'sharkdog' - something resembling a non-morphic sergal, sits in my head. I'm leaning more toward this atm.
- Celestial 'Dragonwolf' - Scaled gold and white wolf, with 'tufts'. Starts to sound too 'foo-doggish', and I kinda want to save eastern flavors, themes for later.
- Celestial Fox (Large white fox, big enough for a kobold to ride)
Avoiding
- Felines (The ranger's Animal Companion is already going to be a lynx).
- 2 Legged Mounts (raptors, giant chickens, terror birds, striders, etc.).
- Most other canines. Wargs are natural enemies right now. Wolves are already heavily featured wild animals, etc. Dogs, I dunno, they seem more jokey 'halfling mount' to me.
- Donkeys, ponies, etc. Cute, but ... a bit undignified. I think even a 'celestial donkey' would be a bit too clownish as a pally mount.
Kreviatizhekh is some 50 miles east of the city of Llorkh, about 30 miles north of the Black Road Pass through the Graypeak range's lowest saddle. The city itself is a multi-layered series of rings surrounding a Grand Chimney, a shaft descending more than 2000 feet into the earth, with a waterfall pouring down from a mountain stream and watering several balcony tiers of gardens. Mushrooms, cranberries, and even wheat and barley grow in these minute half acre farms -lit by glow globes when daylight through the 'eye' of the chimney above is too lacking. Clever suspended mechanical waterways divert the water into different paths, feeding baths, reservoirs, and eventually a sizable lake at the bottom of the shaft, where fishing adds to the meat gathered from hunting parties taking goat and deer from the surface, or the deep rothe in the great underground ranches surrounding the lake.
Estates include towers and balconies interspersed with galleries that spiral steadily around the Grand Chimney forming a sort of corkscrew trade route. Stores are carved deeper into the rock, or hang out over the precipice, with their doors opening out onto the spiral road behind them. Small portcullis gate-keeps guard every 360 degrees of travel around the loop from top to bottom. Elevators exist as well, but are primarily reserved for war parties, evacuation plans, or 'official' sorcerer business. A few of the richer families with deep-dug mansions may have their own elevator shafts and secret tunnels zigzagging throughout the nearby rock.
Not so much a map, perse' as a cross section of the primary chimney the city's dug in around.
The original image was a bit bigger, extending to 3rd deep mines and caves and such, but you get the general idea.
Kreviatizhekh is in the Forgotten Realms, roughly 500 years old as of the beginning of the campaign, spring of 1350 Dale Reckoning (8 years before the Time of Troubles, and long before the Spellplague (4th Edition) changes). The original kobolds settled here after being chased out of the Mountains of Shade in Anauroch by an army of shadows. After wandering the desert for weeks, a blue dragoness, Kriviatzee led them out of the desert and into the Greypeak Mountains, only about a century after the fall of the dwarven kingdom of Ammarindar that once reigned there.
There they found the chimney they used as the basis for their delve and named it in her honor. Though she was supposed to return and lead them, she disappeared after her nuptial flight. A priesthood has arisen in her name, and still holds that she will still return one day.
Though a predominantly 'lawful evil' society, there's elements within the society tugging toward both 'neutral' on the good-evil axis, and toward 'chaotic' on the lawful-chaotic' axis. In addition to the usual Kurtulmac and Tiamat priesthoods, and the local blue dragon priesthood of Kreviatzee worshipers, there's a few tinkers in some of the lesser clans and families that have secretly tapped into an aspect of Gond in pursuit of invention and mechanical art, and a few more worshipers of Io, the neutral draconic god of knowledge, than most kobold societies have.
The players in this campaign, held over skype, using 5th Edition rules, are interesting. Though all three have played plenty of online games, including Neverwinter (set in the Forgotten Realms, but using roughly 4th Edition mechanics) only one of the three had ever played anything tabletop, and none of the three are furry.
When I announced I'd be starting this campaign, they were all for it, but one was kinda pissed when he found out he couldn't play a 'drow ranger' after I'd conveyed they'd all be playing ... kobolds. He'd had his heart set on 'drow ranger' for some reason, which I found weird, since he wasn't a huge Drizz't fan, nor had heard of any of the Salvatore novels or anything.
Oddly, his tune changed after running each of their prelude sessions - from experiencing their past lives (as dragons no less, one each of both of good and evil breeds), through hatching, basic 'kobold survival', spear, mining, trapmaking, and stealth training. He became the party's ranger - now rides a dire weasel named Bubbles (for its penchant for drinking way too much booze if allowed). Alignment CG.
The group's Wizard had wanted to play a Sorcerer (which I kinda dissuaded - the city's NPC roster is already full of sorcerers ... which is fine, but I hate the 'minmax damage role' of Sorcerer as one of my PC's - and lack of story hook, since they don't need spellbooks and giving them scroll treasure has a LOT less impact). After his origin, (before attaining 1st level), he proceeded to assassinate one of the city's problem leaders through very clever risk-taking and use of a shrinking potion that absorbs nearby biomass when it wears off to reconstitute the imbiber to his original body size. After the first group session, he'd managed to snag a decent mount - a male blue eyedblack goat, named Azzy (shorted for Azmodeus?). Alignment CN.
The last - getting him to RP was a bit like pulling teeth the first session. When asked his name by an NPC (when he should have presented a name, besides the nicknames given to them as hatchlings), he just ... said his RL name. A few times. He's the sort that in MMO's names all his characters the same color with a different adjective - and sometimes a number after that. I wasn't going to push on an area he was totally new to, though. The other players apparently dogpiled on him sometime after the session and he kinda apologized later (which I didn't think was necessary), and is just going with his origin's nickname. It took the party eventually leaving the city together to cross about 60 miles of mountainous, forested rough terrain for him to kinda get into the spirit of actual RP. His character class eventually crops up - along with his final mentor (the others had already gone through their primary class mentors in previous sessions), and gets Paladin in service of Bahamut. Alignment LG.
- as to the last, I still haven't come up with something cool for a celestial steed for the Paladin once he hits 2nd level. If I let them choose - well, you can't imagine some of the choices they've bandied about. There's seriously a lot of comedy already injected into the story, but I think the pally should have something at least reflective of his class. It still has to be primarily a mount, and not that powerful a monster in its own right, ala the Find Mount trait.
Ideas
- Celestial Weasel (counterpart to Bubbles, resembling a giant golden eyed ermine.)
- Celestial 'sharkdog' - something resembling a non-morphic sergal, sits in my head. I'm leaning more toward this atm.
- Celestial 'Dragonwolf' - Scaled gold and white wolf, with 'tufts'. Starts to sound too 'foo-doggish', and I kinda want to save eastern flavors, themes for later.
- Celestial Fox (Large white fox, big enough for a kobold to ride)
Avoiding
- Felines (The ranger's Animal Companion is already going to be a lynx).
- 2 Legged Mounts (raptors, giant chickens, terror birds, striders, etc.).
- Most other canines. Wargs are natural enemies right now. Wolves are already heavily featured wild animals, etc. Dogs, I dunno, they seem more jokey 'halfling mount' to me.
- Donkeys, ponies, etc. Cute, but ... a bit undignified. I think even a 'celestial donkey' would be a bit too clownish as a pally mount.
Category All / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 937 x 1280px
File Size 144.9 kB
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