Maelstrom Campaign - The New World

This account of the New World has been painstakingly compiled from the reports and descriptions provided by captains, merchants and brave pioneers who have returned from the other side of the Maelstrom. Whilst much that is contained herein must seem incredible and some of it may disturb the sensibilities of our more delicate readers we have presented the facts as they are now revealed to us, rather than censor the more terrible details of the vile beliefs and practices of the more foul inhabitants of the New World.

Thus we must make reference to the many difficulties faced bythese brave new settlers. There are no horses in the NewWorld and none have yet survived the passage through the Maelstrom, which illustrates how hard these individuals are having to work to build a life there. At the request of the Hierophant of Fidelia we have made no mention of the blasphemous power called magic which has been found in this New World.

Geography
The geography of the New Land seems not dissimilar to our own civilised world. At present no great deserts such as are to be found in Ruhk and Amon-Sa have been discovered. Nor is there anywhere such cold and bitter temperatures that the land is covered in deep drifts of snow like the mountains of Alkyon or the Merisusi lowlands. Rather the land is given to equal measure of sun and rain, like Freiboden, Flambard or Malathia. To reflect the uncivilised nature of this new frontier the climate is as contrary as its people, being hot and dry in winter and cold and wet in summer. Much of the land discovered thus far is unclaimed and uncultivated, covered in long lush grass, but away from the coast there are wide forests filled with massive trees and mountains as tall as anywe have known.

Resources
The New World contains many astounding discoveries which will present spectacular opportunities to the enterprising individual with the courage and the wherewithal to exploit them. The land itself is the most obvious. The extents of this NewWorld have not yet been discovered and hundreds of miles of open land lie uncultivated and unclaimed. The brave settlers who occupy this fertile ground will surely end up wealthy men. Such men will not become mere farmers; the NewWorld is rich with astonishing discoveries and the crops that grow there will surely make the fame and fortune of any who can raise them.

Tobacco is the most famous of these, this marvellous plant has many medicinal properties, easing the breathing and ensuring long life and good health for any that use it. When burnt, the fine vapours relax and stimulate, a practice long familiar with the natives of the NewWorld. Similar benefits are to be had from the wondrous Sylladan, a bitter inedible plant, but the natives have discovered that the juice provides protection from all manner of diseases if bathed in.Tea, the latest medicinal to be discovered can be brewed into a gentle drink whose taste has proved popular and is being credited with providing relief from fevers.

The Jape, a tart and bitter green fruit, grows wild on every bush in the New World. The wines produced by fermenting this inedible fruit are extraordinary and are certain to find a ready market anywhere in the Known World. An equally wondrous though less intoxicating beverage can be prepared from the beans of the Cocoa Plant. It has proved so popular in Rukh that some claim it may supplant coffee as the favoured drink there. Sugar Cane was well received at the court of the Flembic king, a sure sign that it will soon be popular throughout that land.

Good taste requires us to make only passing reference to the licentious properties of Pepperroot, but they are certain to ensure it makes its own market. Gossamer is lighter and stronger than silk, and grows faster than flax. It has proved extraordinarily popular in Kamakura and will doubtless catch on in other lands. The seed of the Anise, a tiny fragile plant, has been found to revitalise the skin of the old when made into a cream. All of these wonderful crops are simply waiting for beings of skill and careful prosecution to create a buoyant new market.

The fertile ground is not the only source of wealth the New World contains. The seas team with life, not just fish, but huge schools of whales of a size and majesty never seen in the seas of the Known World. The forests are built from trees so tall that they dwarf even the tallest oak or pine. The wood is hard and dense and will surely be in great demand in Malathia for building ships. There is also a wild animal, akin to our horses but with a single beautiful white horn on it’s head. The natives call it a Unicorn and consider its horn more beautiful and valuable than gold.

Most valuable of all are the extensive deposits of precious gems and metals that fill the mountains of the New World. Silver and gold are so plentiful in the New World that even the most impoverished savage can afford to bedeck themselves in jewellery. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires the size of a bird’s egg are uncovered daily.

Most extraordinary of all, the strange forces of magic which permeate the NewWorld allowmen to produce incredibly precious gemstones from the very air itself.

Inhabitants
The first race of creatures encountered were the strange snakemen who roam over the uncultivated lands that stretch for hundreds of miles along the coastline of the New World. These creatures call themselves Ophidians or Onontakha. They stand as tall as any civilised being but dress in furs and hides that they take from the creatures they hunt. Like a dragon, their bodies are covered in fine scales, though theirs are of various colours and patterns. Their faces resemble those of snakes, with a protruding snout and two prominent fangs, somewhat like a mokosh. Despite their appearance they definitely possess some form of rudimentary intelligence as they are capable of speech.

The Ophidians appear to be split into countless different tribes each claiming ownership of vast tracts of land with no more evidence to justify each claim than simple ancestry. Each tribe is led by an elder who is appointed bythe priests. These elders meet periodically to tryto resolve some of the perpetual conflicts between the tribes.

These tribes are possessed of the most inadequate resources, they use arrows and wooden spears tipped with flint to hunt and have no knowledge of the practices of civilised people such as farming, architecture and commerce.

Due to their inability to work stone and wood properly they are forced to live in tents rather than build houses. These tents are moved whenever the tribe has exhausted the supply of food to be had from hunting around their current camp. No horses have yet been found in the NewWorld, and the Onontakha have no beasts of burden so they are forced to move everything by hand, dragging their tents and belongings on a simple travois.

Attempts to civilise the Onontakha seem doomed to meet with failure for they are arrogant and disdainful towards all the benefits of civilisation. Despite this they are clearly eager enough to trade meat, furs and land in exchange for worked metal goods. They have no knowledge of currency and are solely reliant on barter for trade.

The snakemen are not the only inhabitants of this New World. They share the land with their ancient enemies, tribes or hives of insects. These beings are horrific to look upon having bodies covered in chitinous plates that resemble nothing more than a huge insect. Most stand erect on two legs, and have two arms, but each tribe is different, not just in markings but in shape and form and there are claims of tribes with four arms or more. Some have vivid yellow and black markings across their carapaces, others are brown, red or black in colour. Some have faceted eyes over protruding mandibles and a few even have wings although there are no accounts of any that can fly. Like the Onontakha they can speak and make good appearance of intelligence.

These hives are known by a bewildering array of names, Azarch, Myrmidons, Solarians and Tlaxti. Each hive is ruled by a giant queen attended by an army of drones. Every member of the hive looks identical in every way as they are all the offspring of the one queen who they will fight to the death to protect. According to the Onontakha, wars are common place between the different tribes.

These tribes are allied into grim parodies of kingdoms, with the Tlaxti the most powerful that have thus far been encountered. The Onontakha hate and fear the Tlaxti who attack all neighbouring lands for captives. The fortunate ones are taken as slaves to work in the Tlaxti mines or their fields, the unfortunate ones are sacrificed in vile rituals to the Tlaxti queens to allowthem to perpetuate their evil race. The priests who conduct these evil rituals rule over the other Tlaxti drones, leading them in battle.

Fortunately some tribes are less hostile than the monstrous Tlaxti. The Azarch live in the hills and mountains to the south of the Onontakha lands where they hollow out great warrens of tunnels. These mountains are rich with precious metals and gems and the Azarch have so much gold that they have gilded the walls of the tunnels they occupy. The queen of each tribe is said to lie upon a bed fashioned entirely from diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

Many of the insect tribes are better equipped than the Onontakha, using metal weapons and tools. They also use large four-legged creatures, akin to the oxen traditional in Amun-Sa and Maya as beasts of burden. The Azarch in particular are keen traders and seem interested to learn what they can of civilisation.

Idols
Because of their lack of civilisation, knowledge of the true Gods is unknown in the New World and so the inhabitants practice some form of primitive shamanism. They worship a pantheon of animals, ascribing mystical powers and characters to each animal. These animal totems demand living sacrifices from their worshippers in secret rites performed during darkness. Victims are bound to dark altars so that their still beating hearts can be cut from their chests and a libation made from their blood. Anyone who witness one of these rites who is not a follower of the same totem animal as the priests is hunted down and slain.

The priests of these perverted religions are viewed with such fear by their fellows that none will speak of their acts to outsiders. The priests are happy to proselytise their foul beliefs to anywho will listen and from them we have discovered that there are essentially five creatures that they view as gods. Some animals are more popular amongst the Ophidians than the Myrmidons, but there are priests of all of these foul faiths in every tribe and hive in the New World.

The Ant
The priests of this foul being prize strength and despise weakness of any kind. The young, the old and the infirm are all liable to be sacrificed to sate the murderous desires of the Ant. The followers believe that if the being is not appeased then it will enter the world and destroy all living things. The onlywayto preserve life for the few is to ensure that the wrath of the Ant is averted by destroying the things it despises. The priests revel in the bloody destruction required to fulfil the unholy desires of their totem and they are treated with fear and horror by all. The followers of the Ant may be quiescent for years at a time to lure their enemies into a false sense of security, but once they see a weakness in their foes they attack remorselessly, seeking to wipe them out to a man.

The Basilisk
The basilisk is a small lizard native to the New World that by some magic of its own can run upon water. The superstitious natives who have no boats or anything like them believe that the basilisk has invisible wings like a bat’s which allow it to walk on the surface of the water. Thus the Basilisk is always portrayed as a winged lizard, and consequently it bears an uncanny resemblance to a dragon. As a result there have been several incidents in which Mayan dragons have been taken for their god by the natives.

The priests of the Basilisk believe in absolute obedience to the will of their elders or queens who theyview as chosen by the Basilisk. They claim that only through total loyalty to the whims of their rulers can their tribe possibly hope to be strong enough to survive. Those who disobey the edicts of the elder are ruthlessly punished by the priests of the Basilisk.

The Coyote
The mercurial coyote is another native animal, a large feral dog-like creature that is so unpredictable that it will even attack members of its own pack if it is hungry. The priests of the Coyote have made a virtue of this disloyalty by calling for people to attack their own friends and allies. They delight in war and conflict and cannot abide the idea that another community, people or even individual might possess some advantage that they lack. Thus they encourage their followers to ensure that no person or people can ever draw benefit from their position by urging ceaseless attack against anyone who has achieved some gain. True followers of the Coyote will apparently attack anyone and seek to bring everyone down to the level of the lowest amongst them.

The Jaguar
The Jaguar delights in carnage and slaughter and will kill other creatures just for the pleasure of it, leaving the carcasses of the slaughtered in trees as bloody trophies. The priests of the Jaguar draw inspiration from these murderous acts, revelling in such indulgence. They claim that to engage in any act that gives pleasure is a sacred act to the Jaguar which will even kill its own young if the mood takes it. They savour every depraved and base act and their rituals include epicurean and sexual orgies as well as indulgence in every manner of intoxicating substances. This spirit is worshiped by the Azarch and the Tlaxti, but a similar depraved being, called the Cougar, is revered by the Onontakha.

The Serpent
The meretricious priests of this foul creature seem reasonable and congenial at first but this is simply a ruse to conceal their deceitful nature. They model their creed on the deceptive nature of the Serpent and so claim that lies and treachery are the only truth of the world and that only those beings who live by such philosophies can hope to survive. The priests consider an artfully constructed lie to be a thing of beauty, they prize guile and cunning the way good men value truth and honesty. Beyond their love of treachery and foul play it is impossible to tell what these priests really believe in for they are all sworn never to speak a word of truth. Worshop of this idol is widespread amongst the Onontakha, who call it the Raven.

The Awakened Races
In addition to the strange creatures that live in the New World, a number of beings have appeared that seem to have been created in some way by the magical powers that permeate the land. These creations have been called the Awakened Races by scholars, although many dispute if they are truly alive at all, and possess a mortal soul, or are perhaps some magical creation; a parody of true life. The natives of the New World thus far encountered claim to have no knowledge of these creations, and the beings themselves seem ignorant of their purpose or sire.

Unlike the natives, these creatures cannot talk, although many have been taught an imitation of speech. They seem like Ruhki parrots, able to recite words and phrases although they learn quicker and acquire more phrases than those humorous birds. Nonetheless they do have some form of rudimentary intelligence and can be taught simple things such as ploughing, fighting or carrying heavyweights. Some are providing good service to the bold explorers and colonists who have set sail for the NewWorld but the majority appear to be yet another hazard that those intrepid fellows must face.

There are a number of distinct creatures that have been identified thus far. The first are the golems, the large stone statues that have come to life. The natives lack the civilisation to produce art, but several of the colonists who have settled in the NewWorld had sculpted statues from the nearby stone. Several, although not all, of these statues have since animated by some unseen force and begun to move through their own volition. Some of them have been destroyed, as they ran amok, but others were captured and put to use while one or two of the largest escaped.

Great swathes of the NewWorld are covered in dense forests of tall trees. A tiny handful of the smallest of these trees have been affected in some waythat causes them to move with a life of their own. These strange tree spirits have been called dryads by the explorers who discovered them. They seem to be no more or less intelligent than the golems, and can be taught a few child-like phrases. They do not appear to be dangerous in any way.

The land of the New World is so rich with precious gems that they can form overnight, like dew. Some of these valuable stones are more than they seem though, and if left unattended they grow in size and shape until they resemble some vast terrifying puppet. Like the golems and the dryads, these dolls are capable of movement of their own. They are called facets after the faceted gems set into their foreheads.

Golems, dryads and facets are not the only danger faced by the courageous traveller who visits the New World. Foul magic has been used to give a shadowof existence to the bodies of the slain. Good people are murdered so that their souls can be chained with magic and forced to serve evil goals.

All of this has been at the behest of the demons, eidolons that have defied the will of the Gods and seek to destroy the souls of men and women who remain true. The NewWorld is the home of these terrible creatures, which can change their shapes to steal the appearance of mortal beings. The soul symbol, the mark of an eidolon’s soul upon his brow, still burns the flesh of these foul creatures and also marks their creation, the undead.

These devils seek the souls of mortals to carry off to hell. Pious men and women shun them, for they have no power over you if you do not talk to them. Those who put their faith in the Gods will surely prove victorious in battle against these treacherous servants.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.