Matt B Blogging

Truths and Randir

Truths

The Old World The savage clans called the Skulde invaded the kingdoms of the Old World. Our armies fell. Most were killed or taken into slavery. Those who escaped set sail aboard anything that would float. After an arduous months-long voyage, the survivors made landfall upon the Ironlands.

Iron The weather is bleak. Rain and wind sweep in from the ocean. The winters are long and bitter. One of the first settlers complained, “Only those made of iron dare live in this foul place” —and thus our land was named.

Legacies Before the Ironlanders, before even the firstborn, another people lived here. Their ancient ruins are found throughout the Ironlands.

Communities We live in communities called circles. These are settlements ranging in size from a steading with a few families to a village of several hundred. Some circles belong to nomadic folk. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of settlements. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles.

Leaders Each of our communities has its own leader, called an overseer. Every seventh spring, the people affirm their current overseer or choose a new one. Some overseers wear the iron circlet reluctantly, while others thirst for power and gain it through schemes or threats.

Defense Here in the Ironlands, supplies are too precious, and the lands are too sparsely populated, to support organized fighting forces. When a community is threatened, the people stand together to protect their own.

Mysticism Magic is rare and dangerous, but those few who wield the power are truly gifted.

Religion A few Ironlanders still make signs or mumble prayers out of habit or tradition, but most believe the gods long ago abandoned us.

Firstborn The firstborn live in isolation and are fiercely protective of their own lands.

Beasts Monstrous beasts stalk the wild areas of the Ironlands.

Horrors We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long - night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture beyond their homes.

https://www.deviantart.com/abigbat/art/May-Sketch-07-532963211

CONCEPT I'm thinking of the trope of grizzled old warrior and young ward. A feral kid, taken by raiders/slavers, rescued by a friend of Randir's, and Randir vows an epic quest to take the kid across the map to their family. But this kid is no weak dependent / liability. These are The Ironlands after all.

Name: Randir Starting Region: Ragged Coast

Stats: Edge 2, Heart 1, Iron 3, Shadow 1, Wits 2

Assets: Skirmisher, Veteran, Kindred["Kotama"] Background Vow: Return Kotama to their clan, a Hunter Camp in the Hinterlands

Bonds:

Passing through Highfield, Randir calls in to see Keelan the Mystic (he/him). Randir has never strayed into the Deep Wilds too far - never wanted to risk spending a night under the ancient boughs. He seeks to learn from Keelan the shortest, safest path through the Deep Wilds to the Havens. He'll provide the information, if Randir and Kotama can help remove a corruption that's befallen Highfield.

Starting vow - Dangerous - Find and remove the dark magic corruption from the Pass of Mist

Background

Randir had a family once. In his younger days he protected Grimstone, a fishing village further to the North. Three blasts on the warning horn meant Grimstone needed defending. All these decades later he still awakens suddenly in the night, thinking he hears three horn blasts in the distance. But Grimstone is long gone. As are all his friends and kin. Raiders killed everyone. Took what little they had. Randir should have died with them. He had been impaled with his own spear to the village gates. But, he awoke, and was rescued by Glain. A friendly, generous sailor who saw him struggling along the beach.

He and Glain have been friends for two decades now. Two decades where Randir hunted and killed as many raiders as he could. But he's getting old, and now is back in the protection game, guarding travellers between settlements. He bumped into Glain a few weeks back, and Glain called in all his favours at once by dumping a kid on him. Glain and crew rescued the kid from a sinking slaver ship. The child was the only one alive, and they were holding a bloody knife.

Covered in furs and grime and only answering questions with grunts, Randir didn't even know she was a she until a week into his guardianship. She wore a cloak of many furs, shirt and breeches of stitched hide, and fur-lined moccasins. Her face covered in mud and dirt. With what seemed like a game of 20 questions - the girl only answering by nodding or shaking her head, he found out she was taken from her hunter clan in the Hinterlands by Raiders. Sold to coastal raiders.

The second week she finally spoke, said her name was Kotama - as she didn't like the name "Weasel" that he'd taken to calling her.