Renegade Crowns Writeup Part 2

 Before we get into the unfortunates who rule this wasteland, the book prompts me to come up with a history of Two Geysers based on the Ancient Ruins that populate it.  The earliest Ancient Ruin would be the Khemri tomb.  I decide to place the Khemri tomb at about 2000 years old.  Wandering around the Warhammer Lexicanum wiki entry for Nehekhara I figure I need a reason for the flesh-eating beetle swarm to exist, and because it is so old, I want to tie it into the geography of the region. I also decide that since the Khemri became increasingly focused on the search for immortality, some priest or another would have studied water magic. After all, water is life.  

So, the tomb is now the last resting place of a High Priest who terraformed the area and made it livable for the Khemri people by summoning two massive geysers that created two life-giving rivers about 2120 years ago.  Yeah, that fits. Also, the High Priest had attempted experiments into necromancy and eternal life, which failed, but generated a corpse that has continued to “live” due to regenerating flesh.  His own corpse. This corpse is the unfortunate food stuff of the flesh-eating beetles swarm, but it explains why the swarm never died out.  Having waxed in size and power by consuming the fat of a Khemri necromancer High Priest, the swarm is more intelligent than normal, capable of basic tactics and resetting traps that the ancient Khemri trap makers constructed so diligently.  Also, I imagine the spirit of the Khemri High Priest is chained to his ever-regenerating corpse, awash in anguish as his body cannot die naturally and thus he cannot enter the afterlife.  Yes, this would serve well as a higher level dungeon.  

Moving on, the next Ancient Ruin in terms of age would be the Arabyan Fortress out there in the grassy badlands.  Let us say it is a Historical ruin of about 1000 years old.  I’ve previously said this ruin is half a fortress, half an administration center. I imagine that this Arabyan Ruin was established first, and then the Arabyan Outpost (nestled in the mountains) is an offshoot of the Sultan’s forces in one of his early invasions.  So, let’s say the Arabyan Outpost is about a 100 or so years younger than the Fortress, and the Fortress has, engraved in stone, bureaucratic records and even an early floor plan of the Outpost. Will the Prince who owns the Arabyan Fortress seek to take over the Arabyan Outpost or perhaps use these bureaucratic records as a bargaining chip with which ever Prince owns the land around the Arabyan Outpost? Time will tell.

The earliest ruin is the 100-year-old recent human ruin, which is the remains of a settlement and harbors a swarm of Skaven-related rats.  Nasty nasty rats peeking out of every corner with their beady red glowing eyes and hungry whispers.  Since the location is a settlement that was evacuated due to a policy change (food supplies were calculated to dwindle so the community was told to migrate elsewhere), then I imagine the settlement is a little more than half-finished, with wooden walls, maybe palisades, and a combination of wood, stone and rock making up the empty homes and shops. Also since the rat swarm is the product of the Skaven, there would be tunnels and catacombs under the settlement, not seen by human eyes, that harbor at least one brood mother rat.  So, the surface ruin may be a good target for low level adventurers, but if they want a challenge they can delve into the lightless depths.

Who are the political movers and shakers of this region?  Given the 15 x 15 size of the area, I wanted one major and two minor Princes to stake their claims.  After several rolls I came up with three unique Princes.  The first Prince called himself King Throndrig Goldbuckle (name also randomly generated). A Dwarf mercenary, he was a relatively young lad only into his second career.  Warhammer Fantasy roughly measures your prowess by the number of careers you have completed.  For King Throndrig’s goal I rolled For the Love of the Children, so I translated this into a desire for young Throndrig to start a family and establish a dynasty.  Perhaps there are Dwarven ladies who arrive by caravan from the mountainhomes to court dear King Throndrig.  Perhaps Dwarves are so very rare in the region Throndrig’s immediate goal is to accumulate wealth to afford a massive dowry for a suitable Dwarven lady.  That or he’s on the hunt to kidnap one.  Either, or.

King Throndrig’s ruling style is Lets Get to Business, perfect for a former mercenary. He has three courtiers, likely all Dwarves given the very low number or perhaps even veteran mercenaries from his old band.  Hmm. Why not both? Throndrig has one secret, he is a Secret Agent for another power.  This gives me pause. I’m not sure what to do about this for the moment so I leave it alone.

Initially for Throndrig’s Principle I roll Kill the Mutant! That doesn’t mean King Throndrig is a passionate Sigmarite, instead it could be a strong moral stance against the forces of Chaos. I bet Throndrig has spent more than a few cold evenings preparing for a battle, as a mercenary, against Chaos Cultists and other madmen and he’s thoroughly sick of them.

The next Prince was immediately interesting. I rolled up an Elf Knight. In Warhammer I know there are at least three types of Elf so I rolled randomly. 1-3 would be High Elf, 4-6 a Wood Elf and 7-9 would be the very interesting choice of Dark Elf.  I rolled Dark Elf.  A Dark Elf Knight, huh. How would that look? I know the Dark Elves have Cold Riders so I picture the Prince as one of those. Dark Elves are usually murderous and xenophobic, but maybe this one has a different worldview from his peers. Perhaps he is a noble outcast that wants to rule so badly he doesn’t care if his princedom is mostly made up of degenerate humans.  For his goals I roll This Power is Mine, which fits perfectly. His name comes out to be Nounic Shadowreaver which is good enough for me.    

The following details fall scarily into place for a Dark Elf Prince. Nounic is in his fourth career, meaning he is a dangerous veteran and likely a very capable warlord.  Given his obvious skill at arms I make Viscount Nounic the major prince in the area.  His Principle is Death to Monsters! and his Style is I Wouldn’t Expect You to Understand. Yes, this makes sense.  As a Dark Elf his style is as a flighty careless fop or immediately intense micromanager.  Typical superior and chimerical Elven personality.  However Viscount Nounic has a burning hatred for monsters in his blood and because he is so senior he’s really good at laying waste to them. That is why his subjects put up with is weird and exasperating whims.  His secret is that he is a Foul Murderer. If this was a normal murder this would shock no one given that Dark Elves are aficionados of the very god of murder.  This has to be a very dark thing to terrify the people of the Borderlands so I put it on the shelf for the moment. However, I’m imagining smoke-stained skies and Nounic walking out of a now silent and hollow village with a blood slicked blade.  Somehow the Viscount convinced four courtiers to follow him.  How he pulled that off I must leave to a later time.

Next time we’ll meet our last Prince and dive into the geopolitics of Two Geysers by examining the relations between Princes.