Grand Duchy of KarameikosHistoryThe ancient history of Traladara is the same as the canonical history in this version. The Traldars had been disunited before Halav and the war with the Beastmen, and the devastation caused by that war made it easy for the fragile unity to collapse. Only one thing survived to provide any unity for the Traldar nation, the custom of the Assembly of Warriors. Once every decade, every community would select two of its warriors who would attend the assembly along with the community's leader. The Assembly had little real power, but it provided a forum in which old feuds could be settled and some degree of unity provided in the face of outside invasions by electing a war leader for the Traldar nation.

As time passed, Traldar society slowly became more stratified. Instead of everyone being a warrior, most people became farmers and craftsmen while a hereditary military elite ruled as lords and knights. Increasingly, only the lords and knights attended the Assembly of Warriors. Each community was its own petty state, ruled by a hereditary chief/ duke/ king/ lord/ whatever, supported by a group of knights. Efforts to unite Traladara failed because no centralized government could adequately deal with the decentralized threats posed by the roaming humanoids; anything that strengthened localities sufficiently to deal with such threats soon made them no longer have any need for a central government.

As time passed, very slowly more lands were carved from the wilderness by the knights and lords, but instead of those lands becoming more free farms like those of the oldest communities, the farmers who came had to submit themselves to the authority of the warrior class, and became serfs. The continual pressure of rising population made many willing to do so, as it beat starvation. The old free villages themselves sank into poverty as large families divided and subdivided lands to the point where many were just an inch away from starvation.

For centuries, Traladara remained a quiet rural backwater (well, quiet when people weren't being eaten by werewolves or having their blood sucked by vampires). It is difficult, however, for a nation to remain a complete backwater when it is right next door to one of the most civilized, sophisticated, and complex nations on Mystara. The humanoids of eastern Karameikos cut off most possibilities of trade by land, but the ports of Karameikos became stopping points for Thyatian, Five Shires, Ierendi,

Minrothadi and other traders, especially Marilenev, which grew in sophistication.

Thyatian ways came into style in Marilenev, especially Thyatian religion, and increasingly, it came to be seen as a pit of decadence by the stout country folk, who clung to traditional ways, and by the rural aristocracy, who disliked the growing merchant class, who they saw as uppity. Religion became the especial flashpoint for conflict between the nobles and the merchants, for the nobles could draw the rural country folk, especially the free farmers, to support them more wholeheartedly on this issue.

The crisis came during the great humanoid migration of 435-440 AC. In the first years of fighting the disunited Traldar principalities all fought separately against the invaders, and as a result, they were crushed. Panicked, the merchants of Marilenev tried to appeal to Thyatis for aid. But Thyatis was busy fighting off invaders within their own domains, and the appeal only led to a mercenary company hiring on to help defend Marilenev. The nobles accused the Thyatianized merchants of treason, but were too busy fighting off the invasion to do anything. Fearing the Thyatians would sooner or later come and conquer them if nothing was done, after the war, the nobility directed a crusade against the heretics of the port settlements. Unable to resist effectively, they chose to flee instead, sailing west to the Savage Coast.

The towns were fairly permanently crippled by the nobility and the angry farmers, reduced to little more than fishing villages. The Traldars forgot how to build anything much larger than a small fishing boat, and every petty village was effectively its own tiny state, often isolated from the others by long dangerous tracts of forest. For a long time, it wasn't very safe for foreign traders to come, and so few did. This went on for centuries, as Traladara quietly stagnated.

It was the successful revolt of Al-Kalim that indirectly led to the Thyatian conquest of Traladara, for defeat to the North and an almost impossible to budge Alphatian Empire to the East meant that West (and the far North or Far South, both of which were much harder to reach) were the main options available to an emperor who sought glory in war as Gabronius IV did. Thyatian traders had been beginning to operate in Karameikos in the last half a century before 900 AC, as new markets were sought to make up for the loss of the colonies in Ylarum. However, these traders faced great local prejudices.

Finally, in 900 AC, a Thyatian trader was killed in a 'duel' with a Traladar noble; it remains debatable to the present day as to whether it was a fair fight or effectively murder. Whatever the real reason, Gabronius declared he was acting to protect Thyatian Citizens and sent the 20th Cohort into Marilenev. A Thyatian fort was built to serve as a trading post, and the

resulting counter-strike by the Traladar nobility was squashed casually. It soon became apparent that establishing full-blown Thyatian control over the entire region of Traladara would take years, cost huge amounts of money, require scattering one or more cohorts permanently across the area in small garrisons to deal with the localized problems of humanoid raids, and not bring much glory or wealth to the empire. The commander on the scene, Maxentius, contented himself with requiring oaths of fealty from the Traladaran nobility, who surrendered their titles and received new, Thyatianized titles (Typically Baron or Lord Knight). In theory, they now owed allegiance to the Thyatian emperor. In practice, the Imperially appointed Governors who ruled in Marilenev (now renamed Specularum) were generally content to leave them to their own devices so long as they didn't interfere with or impose taxes on trade.

Marilenev boomed, as did several other coastal settlements such as Halag where small Thyatian garrisons were placed. Traldaran disunity had long prevented the reclamation of more wilderness from the humanoids who infested it, but the population continued to grow, and the trading communities provided a place where people could move and quickly prosper. Such folk tended to become increasingly Thyatianized, and were seen as traitors by those rural folk who stayed home because they had actually inherited enough land to get by. Some of the nobility became involved in trade as well, such as the Torenescu (much as they now trumpet their Traladar heritage), and increasingly became Thyatianized as well. Foreign cults prospered under Thyatian protection.

The nobility and some of the rural folk began to grumble impotently, though enough benefited from the rising trade that little happened. All was fairly peaceful for decades, until 966 AC. A massive army of humanoids descended from the mountains and forest, crushed the Thyatian forces and those of the Traldar nobility (many of whom waited too long to assemble for fear the invasion would turn to ravage their lands first), then besieged Specularum.

Units were pulled from the western regions of Thyatis and shipped by sea to Specularum. One of those Thyatian soldiers was a nobleman named Stefan Karameikos, the heir to the Duchy of Machetos, who had become a Thyatian Cavalry officer at a very early age. He showed great promise in the war which followed, swiftly rising in the ranks due to his talent for military leadership. Already fluent in the Traladaran tongue due to the trade links which had arisen between Machetos and Traladara in the last century, he became a liason coordinating the cooperation between the feudal hosts of the Traladaran barons and the Imperial cavalry. During that time he made good impressions on some Traladaran nobles, while others saw him as a child thrust into a situation beyond his capabilities. The same could be said of the Thyatian army officers he interacted with. Still, he functioned reasonably well, and made many friends whose aid would stand him in good stead later.

Three years of campaigning followed as the humanoids were driven back each fall, only to return in the spring. During that time, Stefan saw much of the Traladaran lands and came to realize the great potential the land possessed.

When he returned to Thyatis, he was commended by his commanding officer, General Callastian Jowdynites for his good service, and this helped to bring him to the attention of Emperor Thincol, with whom he began a friendship. Thincol seemed to be grooming him for a long-term military career when the surprise death of his father and his three elder brothers in a dragon attack led him home to Machetos to assume leadership of it.

Duke Stefan had never expected to actually inherit Machetos, and certainly not so early in life. What loomed ahead of him was many years of administration, a career for which he had not really been trained (as his family had expected he would make a life for himself in the army), instead of the life of excitement followed by perhaps settling down in retirement to rule a dominion which he had expected. (Indeed, he'd begun to hope that perhaps his contact with the Emperor would enable him to eventually found a dominion in Traladara, which he had come to like in his time there).

Stefan did his best to rule Machetos, but there was, in fact, little for him to do. The network of administration largely ran itself, and there was little scope for him to create anything himself. Indeed, a little study showed him that he would be unable to accomplish his dream of the emancipation of the slaves of Machetos. Stefan disliked slavery intensely, and had hoped to end slavery in his domain. Unfortunately, none of his subjects who owned slaves had any interest in emancipating their slaves, and Stefan discovered that Imperial law forbid the emancipation of more than 100 slaves per year by any given person, a law passed long ago at the behest of a Thyatian duke who sought to prevent his emancipation-inclined son from dissipating the family fortune. Stefan tried to mount a campaign to repeal the law, but in the process stirred up a political storm against himself. The campaign failed and he withdrew to Machetos to nurse his social wounds, feeling frustrated and trapped. He did emancipate as many of his slaves as he could, but given his family owned thousands of slaves, it was a drop in the bucket.

Meanwhile, Thincol had come to see Traladara as more a liability than a benefit. The recent war had been far more expensive than the amount of revenue gained from Traladara. He began looking about for someone he could grant the lands to, in order to get rid of the expense.

In 970 AC, General Callastian began to make noises about retiring and hinting he would like a grant of a dominion, preferably somewhere

reasonably settled and peaceful. Thincol offered him a portion of Traladara to develop, but he turned it down, as he didn't want to live in the wilderness. Stefan saw the chance to make all three of them happy, offering to trade his dominion to the Emperor in return for the grant of the Traladaran protectorate to himself. The emperor would then have an appropriate plum to award to General Callastian when the time came, and in the interval, he could direct the normal revenues of Machetos into the imperial coffers.

Thincol agreed, although Callastian tried to talk Stefan out of it, telling him he was insane to give up what he had. Once Stefan demonstrated his determination, however, Callastian was willing to go along with the scheme, as Machetos was exactly the sort of dominion he would like to have. He consoled his conscience with the thought that he'd warned Stefan.

The trade was made, and Thincol and Stefan signed the official papers. The creation of the Grand Duchy was a fairly standard Thyatian procedure for encouraging the settlement and civilizing of an area. Grand Dukes gained internal autonomy in return for largely following Thyatis' lead in external matters. Should foreign powers invade, he could call on Thyatian help, but it was up to him to deal with internal matters such as the humanoids.

Stefan now set about recruiting supporters from the second and third sons and daughters of Thyatis, people who had been trained to rule, but whose fate was likely to simply watch while their elder siblings ruled, unless some accident or disaster took place. Some of his choices were wise, such as Alexius Corrigan. Others were not, such as his cousin Ludwig von Hendriks. Virtually all of them were men with Thyatian military experience.

Stefan offered these men the grant of lands in return for their military service, as he had fairly limited funds. Each of them was expected to gather a group of retainers who would form a military unit under their command. Stefan himself led a squadron of recently freed slaves from his own lands who he trained to function as a small cavalry unit who would serve as his personal bodyguards.

He then spent a fair amount of his remaining funds on ships to transport his small army to Specularum, where he presented his new credentials to the Thyatian garrison commander, and then sent out messengers to assemble the Assembly of Warriors, so that he could inform them of the new state of affairs.

Things began to go wrong almost from the start. Soldiers (including a large force of Storm Soldiers) who had sworn to Ludwig's service entered

Halag and stormed it at Ludwig's command. The Thyatian garrison fled, only to be attacked by humanoids and slain.

The Traladaran nobility felt insulted by the fact that the Emperor had chosen to give the dignity of Grand Duke to an outsider instead of raising someone from among their own ranks to that status (never mind that none of them would have been very happy to see one of their own elevated above them if Thincol had chosen to do such a thing), and the reports drifting in from Halag caused some to fear that the Assembly of Warriors was being summoned to make it easier for Stefan to slaughter all of them; they still remembered the story of the Night of the Long Knives. And it quickly became apparent that Stefan intended to exert his authority beyond Specularum, unlike the Governors, who had largely left them to their own devices.

In addition, Stefan had been joined by men such as Olliver Jowett and Sherlane Halaran, leaders within the Church of Thyatis, and their presence led many to fear that Thyatian religion was going to be forcibly imposed upon Traladara. The first thing Jowett did upon arriving was to buy land for a new and better cathedral for the Church of Thyatis. The news of this sparked rioting in Specularum, much to the surprise of Stefan and Olliver.

The final blow, however, was the abolition of serfdom within the Grand Duchy. Stefan knew that the Assembly was unlikely to agree to such a thing, but he knew he would have to root it out early on if ever. He believed, however, that it would ease the transition regardless, as it would create a large body of men beholden to his regime for their freedom and determined to support it. He hoped to soften the blow by assuring them that they would not be deprived of their lands, only of authority which was unlawful anyway under the Thyatian law which theoretically held sway over Traladara. This was a rash decision, but Stefan, remembering his inability to free the slaves back home, insisted on it.

The result was a revolt by the Marilenev clan, who knew their holdings of serfs would be the first to come under Stefan's scrutiny. They stirred up the countryside with the claim that Thyatian religion was to be imposed on all, and that the coming Assembly of Warriors would be another Night of the Long Knives. Many Traldarans joined them fired simply by the hope that if Stefan was defeated, Traladara might win free of Thyatian control entirely. Many others stayed aloof, not wishing to support Thyatis but believing that if Stefan was wiped out, the result would likely be a massive punitive expedition from Thyatis which would scourge the land far worse than Stefan would.

The revolt of the Marilenev clan might have succeeded if not for several factors. First of all, the Marilenev clan struck too soon before support could arrive from other nobles of similar mindset. Secondly, Stefan's followers were experienced military men, and the bulk of the Marilenev

forces were farmers who had little military skill. And finally, the serfs of the Marilenevs saw their chance for freedom and were determined to not let it slip away. They rose up and burned portions of Castle Marilenev, set the crops of the nobles on fire, then marched and joined Stefan's forces.

The result was the battle of Marilenev, in which the Marilenev leaders perished and their forces collapsed. Stefan was merciful and allowed Lady Magda Marilenev to swear fealty to him and keep her lands in return for her help in calming the waters. Faced with little choice, she agreed. Stefan granted the untamed wilderness to the northwest of those lands to the freed serfs of the Marilenev lands; they would have to clear it themselves, but they were happy to have the chance to finally be free of serfdom.

The other nobles who had joined the Marilenev revolt were not so lucky. They were stripped of their lands, which Stefan used to reward his own followers, and their children were disinherited. Many of these were taken in by the Torenescus, who saw the chance to connect themselves to many of the older noble families. The Torenescus, who resented the loss of their own serfs, had become sufficiently a trading family to weather the loss without disaster, unlike many others.

The Assembly of Warriors, when it assembled, saw the way the wind was blowing. Those who would cooperate could keep their lands, while those who failed to cooperate would be crushed utterly. Weighing the odds of success with the spectre of Thyatian intervention hanging in the air behind Stefan, they chose to submit, swearing fealty to him at the Assembly as they had to the Governors before him.

Stefan assured the assembly that all Traladarans would be allowed to keep their lands and that his land grants would take place in previously unsettled regions. While the Traladaran aristocracy lost its serfs, they retained their judicial and political authority over their old territories [and the new Thyatian descended nobles would hold similar authority over their newly granted lands]. They also successfully pressured him into granting exemptions from some taxes to them as compensation for the loss of their serfs.

Stefan hoped to convert the Assembly of Warriors into a Senate for Karameikos, but the Traladaran nobility refused categorically to accept non-nobles as members, and instead Stefan laid plans to create an assembly for the cities he hoped would flourish, although as yet there weren't enough substantial towns to make it worth it. New rules were put forward to govern its meetings and define its powers, and then as winter came on, it dissolved.

That winter was a time of unrest, as the freeing of the serfs had disrupted the agricultural season, and many people were feeling the pinch as a

result. The clerical abilities of the growing Church of Karameikos (as the Church of Thyatis priests in the land had renamed themselves) came in handy in helping to meet the food crisis, though there weren't enough of them to conquer it completely. Fortunately, many of the growing communities of ex-serfs had managed to plant and harvest food crops before the late winter arrived.

A harder problem was the crisis which began to emerge as it became clear that many of Stefan's land grants had been based on inadequate information. Teams of ex-serfs had cleared lands the previous summer and fall which now turned out to have been granted to Stefan's Thyatian allies, some Thyatians had produced fraudulent deeds, some were based on poorly drawn maps and simply made no sense, and some land already occupied for decades or centuries was accidentally given away. The result in the spring was sporadic violence and far more court cases than the recently created judicial system could possibly handle.

Stefan's cousin, Ludwig von Hendriks, was especially involved in this tangled mess, but so were many more innocent Thyatians who hadn't intended any frauds or violence. The process of settling the claims and counter-claims (some of which, in fact, involved rival Thyatian claimants to the same piece of land) dragged on for most of the next decade. They also fogged the air enough that Stefan would not realize the depths to which von Hendriks had sunk until it was too late to do anything about it.

This was further complicated by the next major humanoid incursion. Waves of goblins and orcs poured out of the mountains into the human and elven lands, presenting Stefan with the opportunity and necessity of showing he could defend his new lands effectively. Stefan called in the feudal levies and his own force of retainers and moved against the humanoids, defeating them at Kelvin, then moving to the aid of the Elves. The Elves were quite grateful for the assistance and formally allied themselves with Stefan, providing the force known as the Elvenguard to the Duke.

The next several years were occupied with battles against smaller scale incursions which were turned back as well. In the west, however, things went differently. Hendriks was no great general, and his storm soldiers were hated fanatically by the locals, who saw them as almost worse than the humanoids. Indeed, some did see them as worse, and as a result, while the Storm Soldiers had a fair amount of success holding off the humanoids, it was becoming increasingly obvious that once the humanoids wore down enough of the Storm Soldiers, the locals would rise up and finish off the rest. He sent for reinforcements, but an unfortunate storm scattered the relief fleet, and swarms of Ierendi and Halfling pirates with no love for Thyatis, especially not for the Storm Soldiers, picked off most of them.

And then, out of the wilderness came a man named Bargle. Bargle, a powerful wizard of Traladaran descent, understood how the humanoids thought better than anyone else, including a fair number of humanoids. In return for Ludwig bankrolling his experiments, he would bring the humanoids around to not just end their attacks, but to support Ludwig. He was as good as his word, using a mixture of charm spells, assassinations, and appeals to the hatreds between various tribes of humanoids to break up the attacks, bringing some to support Ludwig and others to be crushed by those tribes and driven away.

The Storm Soldiers demanded Ludwig not ally with humanoids. He responded by blaming them for all of the atrocities committed by his forces, trying and hanging some of them, and handing the rest over to Stefan, claiming they were to blame for all the charges being brought against him. Stefan, who had found it hard to believe any of his relatives could be as bad as some of the claims against him had asserted, was willing to accept this. The Storm Soldiers received reasonably fair trials, but hate mongers are rarely popular anywhere, and most either were hung, imprisoned, or fined heavily. Any who could, left, cursing Ludwig to the heavens.

This did not begin a new age of peace for the Black Eagle Barony, unfortunately. Ludwig replaced the departed Storm Soldiers with a new influx of human scum. But this time he was more subtle and careful, tightening his grip by inches, until finally had reduced his subjects to abject submission. He also attracted some of the minor Traladaran noble families who resented the loss of their serfs to come and settle in his domain, allowing them to enserf the locals. With the support of the humanoid tribes and skillful Traladaran cavalry, he had enough military strength to defy Stefan if necessary.

However, some did escape his grip, forming the community of Luln and defying him. Eventually, it became apparent that Ludwig was going too far again. But by that point, he was too well entrenched for Stefan to do more than simply post a garrison to try to keep the humanoids in check and to prevent him expanding his territory. It would take an all-out war to dislodge Ludwig, and Stefan knew his realm was not yet strong enough to survive such a thing.

After the end of this crisis, Stefan began two long term projects: improving Karameikos' roads and building forts to defend crucial areas or trade routes. The road project continues to the present, while most of the forts were completed by the late 980s. Some of this work was contracted out to the Dwarves and Gnomes of Highforge, who have flourished from the money this brought in.

In 979, Stefan married Olivia Prothemian. By the mid-980s, Karameikos was becoming a flourishing nation, with many growing towns and

increasingly large areas carved out of the wilderness by the unleashed energies of Thyatian immigrants and the freed Traladaran serfs. In 985, Stefan created the Council of Towns, to which each chartered city was invited to send representatives.

In 989, the last of the land claim disputes was finally settled, ending that crisis. It made no one entirely happy, as both Thyatians and Traladarans lost out at times, sometimes even to their fellows. By 1000 AC, most of the nation has become reconciled to the status quo with respect to landownership, but some families remain resentful.

In 993-7, another humanoid crisis occurred. The forts proved their worth, as the trade roads to Darokin and Thyatis stayed open through the crisis, though they were hard pressed at times.

As of 1000 AC, Karameikos, while still mostly wilderness, is an increasingly flourishing land. The Council of Cities now has 18 members (Specularum, Dmitrov, Kelvin, Luln, Penhaligon, Riflian, Threshold, and Vorloi each supply two members, except for Specularum, which gets four because of its vast size. Highforge qualifies, but the Gnomes and Dwarves don't bother to send representatives, and Fort Doom would qualify if the Council didn't consistently refuse to seat the puppets the Black Eagle Baron sends.) Specularum alone has grown to be larger than the population of Machetos, Stefan's old duchy.

The Church of Karameikos flourishes, but it also faces a growing internal schism between its more fanatical wing, led by Patriarch Alfric Oderbry and High Patriarch Olliver Jowett.

Many Traladarans have come to accept the new regime, especially those who live in the growing cities, the swelling merchant class, and those who were once serfs (or descended from such serfs), who have found new opportunities on farms claimed from the howling wilderness. While a few grumble over their inability to influence taxation, most are happy to be paying either less taxes (in the case of the serfs) or more predictable and fair taxes (in the case of the urban Traladarans). There are still conflicts between them and the Thyatians at times, but they are mostly content with how things are now. Indeed, intermarriage of families is on the rise, and it seems likely that the rising Traladaran elites and the Thyatian elites will merge together within a few generations.

On the other hand, many of the old Traladaran noble families have sunk into poverty and resentment, unable to make their lands profitable without the serfs they depended on for so long. Combined with many of the old free farmers who find themselves stuck with depleted lands which have been farmed too intensely for too long and who dislike the Church of Karameikos because it serves foreign immortals as well as homespun

ones, they form one of the two major threats to Stefan's reign (the other being Ludwig and his hordes of humanoids.)

The Church of Traladara finds itself losing ground as the growing urban population increasingly converts to the Church of Karameikos, but its leaders remain divided--some support the new regime's political aspect, others plot in secret against it, and many waffle.

The greatest question remains the issue of what is to be done about the Black Eagle Baron. There are whispers among some that he has formed a conspiracy with the old Traladaran nobility to revolt in his favor, promising to restore serfdom in all of Traladara and suppress the Church of Karameikos. Most laugh at that, believing the still resentful Traladaran nobles would never serve any Thyatian outsider by choice...although some families DO seem to have moved to Fort Doom and made that choice. Others fear he may be planning to unite all of Karameikos' humanoids and rise to power in that manner. A few whisper he has sold himself to Entropy to gain power over the humanoids he rules. And many wonder why Stefan still does not move against him...

Karameikos as a Feudal StateFirst off, what IS a feudal state? There are about as many different definitions of feudalism as there are historians to do the defining, but for the purpose of this revamping of Karameikos, it has two major aspects: vassalage, and the tying of various rights and powers of government to landholding which are not tied together in modern society.

While Karameikos does not have serfdom per se, everyone is someone else's vassal, even the Grand Duke (who in theory owes fealty to Thyatis, though the Grand Duchy has become increasingly independent in practice over the years). Those who do not own land are under the jurisdiction of those who own the land they live on (although they can easily escape that jurisdiction by moving to the undeveloped lands, if they don't mind risking a horrible death). Everyone who owns land owes fealty to someone else who granted them the land; land is granted for service, usually military. Knights and other nobles usually do the military service themselves directly; commoners form groups of ten families, and each group must provide a soldier to their lord.

Only the Grand Duke actually 'owns' land in the modern sense; all other land is granted by some lord to a vassal, who owes service for it, or is being rented from a landholder by someone in return for payment in money or goods. Every piece of land conveys certain rights on the holder and certain duties. Nobles who hold lands gain judicial rights over their lands, and also usually hold various economic rights over those who rent from them, such as those people being required to use their lord's mill to

grind their grain into meal. Many commoners simply rent the land they farm, and are subject to a lord's jurisdiction as a result. (This does not make them serfs because they are not bound to the land; once their lease is up, they could leave if they wanted to. Although many have long-term leases.) Commoners who hold land do not gain judicial rights over it; the land is subject to the King's justice (as are they). They are free to impose whatever sort of additional economic terms they desire into their leases, however.

As a result of this landholding system, Karameikos has four different major styles of settlement: old villages, new manors, the villages of the ex-serfs, and the cities. The older communities predate the Thyatian conquest and the conversion of the land to Karameikos. They are usually a messy patchwork of lands owned by the local nobles, tiny parcels of land owned by various inter-related local commoner families, sometimes broken into several smaller pieces all tangled together, and several common lands for grazing of animals owned collectively by the village or rented by the village collectively from the lord, usually surrounded by forest beyond the cleared lands. The lands of the nobles are worked part-time by the villagers, now in return for wages with the end of serfdom, thus enabling the lords to use their lands and the villagers to support themselves on land which has been subdivided to the point where they often don't have enough land to support themselves. The village has a court which the local lord presides over as a judge, usually meeting once a month to hear cases. It also usually has its own temple of the Church of Traladara.

New manors are usually entirely owned by the lord, who then rents out most of the land to tenant farmers on long-term leases. They are generally well laid out and rationally organized. He or she is usually Thyatian, and holds judicial rights over all those who dwell on his land, and regularly holds court sessions. Some lords appoint a reeve to administer the land in their absence and spend their time in Specularum in royal service or living the high life.

The villages of the ex-serfs usually govern themselves through some sort of elected council set up with a ducal charter. They usually consist of a small area in the center where all the homes are, sometimes surrounded by a palisade, with a ring of cleared lands divided into strips owned by the various local residents. Most villages also have village lands which are owned by the village as a collectivity, usually used for grazing by their animals.

Finally, there are the cities. Cities are settlements who have received a charter from their lord (who is sometimes the Grand Duke himself) in which the lord grants various rights and privileges to the community in return for a yearly lump sum payment and the provision of a force of troops by the city. Most commonly, the city receives the rights to have its

own courts chosen by the inhabitants, to govern itself, to regulate its own economic affairs, and to control who qualifies as a citizen of the city. All of the chartered cities of the realm send representatives to the Council of Cities when it meets.

Lawmaking and JusticeIn theory, the Grand Duke has the power to make any law he wishes. In practice, he never makes law without the consent of the Assembly of Warriors and/or the Council of Cities, because laws they oppose cannot be successfully enforced in a majority of the country. The members of the Assembly of Warriors usually either possess judicial power over their own lands or work for someone who does. Should they choose not to enforce the laws, it is easy for them to do so, and hard to force them to do it. Similarly, most cities possess the power to have their own independent courts. If a majority of those who should be enforcing a law choose to defy it, the Grand Duke would have to spend a very long time trying to force them into obedience, and usually, it's not worth the effort.

This is not to say that every lord can afford to act the petty tyrant in all things and simply ignore Ducal law under all circumstances. If the Assembly approves a measure, few lords will defy the majority of their peers. Too much blatant violation of ducal law tends to cause trading problems for them as well, as they will not be trusted. And finally, the Duke can prosecute them in his courts if it is necessary. Such prosecution, however, is dependent on the person who has fallen prey to a lord's injustice successfully bringing his appeal to the attention of the Ducal Courts.

Chartered cities have the right to create local laws, and so do Barons within their baronies. Such laws can be enforced by punishments up to class five, and cannot contradict explicit law created at the national level (Although a community or lord who desires to create such a law can try to get a law passed by the Assembly or the Council which will create an exception). Most such laws are trade regulations of various kinds, but they also include such measures as the ban on Arcane Magic within the walls of Kelvin.

There are three Ducal Courts, staffed by expert judges who sit in Specularum half the year, and go out individually to the various communities during the other half. The Duke's Court hears criminal cases and acts as the supreme court of appeals. The Duke himself sits with the court during the most important cases. The Land Court hears civil cases (most of which revolve around land). And the Treasury Court deals with tax evasion, tariff and excise issues, monopolies, and crimes by government officials. It also increasingly hears cases involving foreigners. Ducal courts and Ducally appointed judges can hear any level

of crime. All class seven cases (namely Treason) are tried directly by the Duke himself.

Members of the Assembly of Warriors can only be tried on criminal charges by the Assembly itself sitting as a court. The Duke sits as a member of the court, unless he or a member of the Ducal family is bringing the suit. In civil cases, however, they must bring suit in the relevant court. (Almost all such cases involve land)

Most of the feudal courts of Karameikos simply consist of a single judge (the lord or someone appointed by him). They can try up to class five crimes. Class six and class seven can only be tried by the Ducal courts or by Ducally appointed judges out making their circuits around the country, because only the Ducal courts can pronounce the death penalty. Town courts often use a panel of three judges.

Karameikos does not have a jury system.

TaxationIn theory, the Grand Duke can impose any sort of taxes he wants to, whenever he wants to. In practice, this would likely lead to all sorts of excessively fun rioting. Thus, most taxes, especially long term ones, are first approved by the Assembly of Warriors and/or the Council of Cities before they go into effect.

In fact, it is generally expected of the Grand Duke that he will levy as few taxes as possible and that he will live off of his own resources as much as possible. In peacetime, about 80% of the Duke's revenues come from his own estates. Taxation is seen as most justified in times of war or emergency, and many levies are one-shot deals, intended to meet a particular year's need for more revenue.

The most common non-permanent tax levy is a tenth, in which everyone theoretically pays a tenth of the value of all their property. In a severe financial crisis, more than one tenth might be levied at once, though this is likely to cause a lot of grumbling. Because the land registers are not updated as often as they should be, in practice, the tenth tends to be levied on the basis of out of date records with the vague expectation that a given area will manage to somehow cough up about as much money as it did the last time around. The tenth is primarily a land tax, which means that those who don’t own land are generally not subject to it, unless they seem to be rather conspicuously rich, in which case they may well be shaken down.

The major permanent taxes are the customs taxes on exports and imports, various fees associated with some services, and inheritance taxes.

Karameikos does not have income taxes because they lack any good way to assess people's income. In fact, many people would have a hard time assessing their own income correctly, especially those wealthy enough to be taxed, due to the primitive state of accounting. These permanent taxes pay for the forces which garrison the various major forts, help pay for building the roads being constructed, and help pay what few salaried officials actually exist.

Karameikos' government gets by without many permanent taxes because much of the work of government is done by the nobility in their own domains. Law enforcement is carried out by the nobility and by local communities. The bulk of the army in wartime consists of feudal levies who fight for free to fulfill the military duty inherent in their landholding. Tax collection is carried out by 'tax farming', in which a merchant or rich noble promises to collect some proportion of the taxes in return for a cut of the taxes for themselves. Ambassadors are partially supported by fees paid by Karameikan merchants for their assistance in dealing with problems in the nations in which they are stationed.

In addition to centrally driven taxes, some cities have various kinds of taxes, and most people who live on manors have to pay certain kinds of fees or perform various services which effectively function like taxes. They may have to use the lord's mill, or pay fees to cut wood from his forest, or spend a certain number of days per year working on his fields/building roads/etc.

What does this mean for adventurers? Inflated prices on foreign goods due to the customs taxes. If a war breaks out, they'll be expected to cough up a tenth of the value of their property. It's quite possible, however, to evade taxes as long as you don't become famous and don't buy any land, houses, or other things which pin you in place long enough for the government to notice you if you don't pay up. If you are famous and fail to contribute, the Duke will probably summon you himself and ask why you haven't paid, in which case, you'd best pay unless you feel up to defying him or have a noble patron who can hide you. If you're a noble yourself, it's fairly easy to evade some of the taxes due as long as you aren't too blatant about it. Inheritance taxes are pretty stiff--usually 25% of the value of what is inherited.

The MilitaryKarameikos has three sorts of military forces--the feudal levy, the Ducal forces, and the demi-human forces. The feudal levy itself divides into three parts--knights, peasant levies, and trained bands from the cities. Every landholder in Karameikos owes some sort of military service (or annual fees in lieu of service, known as scutage). Every noble brings himself and some number of retainers to answer the Duke's call for

military service in times of war. They are usually mounted troops, although the barons all usually provide professional foot soldiers as well. About 500 cavalry and another 500 foot result from calling out the knightly forces.

Commoner landholders provide levies when called upon--one soldier per ten families, who are usually footmen, a mix of archers and spearmen. Up to 6,000 men can be called out in this manner; usually only about a third are called up from the area in which combat is expected, as it is hard to feed and transport large bodies of foot.

The towns provide trained forces of footmen, usually about half archers and half foot, generally one soldier per hundred residents. The largest such force are the four fifty man companies of archers and six fifty man companies of heavy foot supplied by Specularum in times of war. If all the city forces are called out, about 1900 foot will be supplied. In practice, only the cities closest to where fighting is expected will be called upon.

The standing army of Karameikos is the Ducal forces, most of which are pinned down guarding the major forts, although some troops are kept in strategic reserve in Specularum. A hundred elves make up the Elvenguard, an elite force of elven Fighter/Wizards. Two hundred heavy foot (with horses for rapid deployment) serve as the Ducal Bodyguard; competition to enter this body is fierce, as it gives one easy access to the Duke and is a good way to gain his favor. There is also a Ducal cavalry force--10 squadrons of ten men each. Combined with the trained bands of Specularum, this forms the strategic reserve.

Each fort is garrisoned by two fifty man companies of medium foot and three fifty man companies of archers, with enough horses for two companies to provide for rapid response against marauding bands of humanoids.

Population and DemographicsNearly 600,000 people live in Karameikos, with about 1/6th of them living in the cities and the rest dispersed in small villages and manors which are home to between two and six hundred people. Most Karameikans are farmers, either tenants of a lord or free farmers.

The rural countryside is home to about 485,000 Karameikans, of whom about 75% are Traladaran, 5% are Thyatian, and the other twenty percent are Thyatianized Traladarans (many of them ex-serfs).

The cities are home to about 97,000 Karameikans, of whom about 30% are Thyatian in descent, 50% are Thyatianized Traladarans, and 20% are Traladarans who have yet to adopt Thyatian ways.

Thyatianized Traladarans have usually adopted Thyatian as their main language, dress in either a Thyatian manner or a mixture of Thyatian and Traladaran dress, and even sometimes take Thyatian names. They prefer to simply refer to themselves as Karameikans, and they form the mainstay of the ducal regime.

About one percent of the population holds some sort of noble title, with the other 99 percent mostly commoners, although some one to two percent of the population count as convicts at any given time.

Karameikos' International StatusThe international status of Karameikos is debatable. Before Stefan became Grand Duke, Traladara was in theory, a protectorate of the Thyatian empire, rather than a province per se. In practice, it had become part of the empire for all intents and purposes.

Stefan has a great deal of Autonomy as a Grand Duke, pretty much able to conduct his internal affairs however he pleases, while submitting to Thyatian control of external affairs and being obligated to supply Thyatis with support in times of war. As a result, many foreign powers maintain consuls in Specularum, but haven't sent full fledged ambassadors, though they're ready to upgrade the status of their representatives, should Karameikos continue its current trajectory towards independence.

The Church of KarameikosSymbol: A twelve-pointed starColors: Blue and YellowSacred Days:The first day of each month; each month is sacred to a particular Immortal.

Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection

The Church of Karameikos was an effort to blend Traladaran religion with Thyatian; the result is not always entirely self-consistent, especially as they desired to appeal to all the races of Karameikos. Each immortal represents one of the twelve virtues. The twelve immortals of the Church of Karameikos are:

Cleverness--Korotiku the Trickster (Thought)Compassion--Chardastes the Healer (Time)Courage--Halav Red-Hair (Thought)Craftsmanship--Kagyar the Artisan (Matter)Defense of the Weak--Petra the Holy Defender (Time)Discipline--Djaea, Averter of Catastrophes (Matter)Justice--Tarastia the Just (Energy)Love--Valerias, Patron of Lovers and Girder-on of Weapons (Matter)Patience--Khoronus, Father of Time (Time)Peacefulness--Koryis, Patron of Peace and Prosperity (Thought)Respect for Nature--Zirchev (Energy)Scholarship--Ixion the Adventurous Scholar (Energy)

Cleverness--Korotiku the Trickster (Heaven of Winds)Ruler of the Heaven of Winds, Korotiku is the trickster whose pranks bring wisdom and laughter to all who meet him. He encourages his followers to puncture the pretensions of those who have become lost in their own self-importance and to bring comfort to those in pain through humor. Korotiku was one of the ancient Traladaran patrons, although the Thyatians also worshipped him, especially the Pearl Islanders.

Compassion--Chardastes the Healer (Heaven of Waters)In the wake of the great war against the beast-men 2000 years ago, Chardestes travelled between the villages of Traladara, healing all those who had suffered at their hands. He even healed beast-men he encountered along the way, which proved his downfall, for a band of them tried to carry him off to keep as a healer. He offered no resistance, but refused to offer obeisance to their foul gods, so they slew him in a fit of rage. The Immortals then took him up and made him one of their number. Chardastes is the steward of the Heaven of Waters, tending to the needs of its inhabitants with quiet cheer. He encourages his followers to offer compassion and forgiveness to all, especially to their enemies.

Courage--Halav Red-Hair (Heaven of Winds)Halav was the leader of Traladara in the great war against the beast-men, and it was he who slew their hideous leader in battle, he who brought the arts of metal forging to men. He now leads the griffon-riding Hosts of the Heaven of Winds in their wars against the Fiends of the Pit. He is husband to Petra the Defender. He encourages his followers to be steadfast and brave.

Craftsmanship--Kagyar the Artisan (Heaven of Stone)Kagyar it was who forged the Dwarves from rock, Kagyar it was who raised the mountains which shield Karameikos from invasion, Kagyar it was who taught Halav to forge metal, and Kagyar it is who watches over the Dwarves and Gnomes of Traladara. His blessing shines upon all those

who build things which will stand the test of time. Kagyar is the steward of the Heaven of Stone, ensuring that it will endure through the ages. He encourages his followers to be craftsmen in stone and metal, to build things which will endure forever.

Defense of the Weak--Petra the Holy Defender (Heaven of Waters)Wife to Halav and Queen of Traladara in the time of the beast-men, it was she who invented the arts of pottery and weaving, she who insured that none would starve by beginning the storage of food against the famine the beast-men brought, she who called down the gods to do battle against the demons who aided the beastmen, and she who found Halav's fallen body and preserved it from desecration. To her is given the guardianship of the Heaven of Waters. She encourages her followers to protect the weak and innocent from assault and injustice, and to prudently prepare for hard times to come.

Discipline--Djaea, Averter of Catastrophes (Heaven of Stone)Djaea rules the Heaven of Stone, the world as it was intended to be before the plottings of the Fiends of the Pit marred the world. She it was who laid out the plans the Immortals used to forge it, and she who was first to see the plots of Entropy. Her struggle against them is patient and endless. She it was who warned Halav and Petra and Zirchev of the coming of the Beast Men, and she it was who still cries for fallen Blackmoor, which failed to heed her warnings. She and Khoronus were wed in the dawn of the world. She encourages her followers to be steadfast and true, to resist the temptations offered by the Fiends, to never abandon a project from boredom or exhaustion, but instead to persevere to the end.

Justice--Tarastia the Just (Heaven of Fire)Her worship in Traladara is recent; Traladarans always looked to Halav and Djaea for justice. The Thyatians say she is one of their own, the legendary empress Valentia the Justiciar, who united the Thyatian Empire in its early years by fairly offering equal citizenship to all its subjects, making one people of all the nations. Duke Stefan has followed her example in his efforts to make one people of Traladar and Thyatians. She leads the hosts of the Heaven of Fire in their wars with the Fiends of the Pit. She encourages her followers to treat others fairly, and to be just in all their dealings.

Love--Valerias, Patron of Lovers and Girder-on of Weapons (Heaven of Stone)Valerias is another Thyatian goddess. She is the lover of Ixion--their relationship is legendarily passionate and tempestuous. Like him, she is ancient beyond reckoning. She is the especial patron of star-crossed lovers who must battle against the odds, and has been known to bring weapons to those who must fight for their love. She guards the Heaven of Stone with her Sacred Band. Her followers are encouraged to love with all their hearts and to open their hearts to others.

Patience--Khoronus, Father of Time (Heaven of Waters)Husband to Djaea, Khoronus rules the Heaven of Waters, sailing his great ship down the rivers of time. He brings patient, purposeful change, change brought about through careful planning and deep thought. Unwilling to act until he thinks things all the way through, he sometimes drives the other Immortals insane by being a little too patient, but when he acts, he is as decisive as anyone. He teaches his followers to both patiently accept what changes are beyond their control, and how to intelligently guide the course of history so far as it is within their power.

Peacefulness--Koryis, Patron of Peace and Prosperity (Heaven of Winds)Koryis is revered by the Ochaleans of Thyatis, and with the integration of Traladara into first Thyatis and now Karameikos, his worship has spread west. Koryis advocates trade as a way of building networks between people that channel their energies into peaceful competition instead of war. He is the steward of the Heaven of Winds, encouraging its mercurial inhabitants to live in fruitful peace with one another. He teaches his followers how to find the mutual interests they share with others, and how to then cooperate with them in order to benefit both.

Respect for Nature--Zirchev (Heaven of Fire)Zirchev the Hunter aided Halav and Petra in the war against the Beastmen, learning the arts of the hunt, of scouting, and of ambush. His studies taught him the secrets of nature, and he learned to use its power by flowing with its rhythms, instead of against them. He is the steward of the Heaven of Fire; under his care the Fire Forests have flourished. He teaches his followers to respect the wild places and the animals they hunt.

Scholarship--Ixion the Adventurous Scholar (Heaven of Fire)The King of the Heaven of Fire, Ixion is like fire: he both warms and burns those who come close to him. He advocates the life which balances action and contemplation, doing and being, war and wisdom. He strives ever to learn more, and to do things with his knowledge. He encourages his followers to study the world in order to change it.

The Fiends:There are five great fiends who plot the destruction of all the works of the Twelve Immortal Guardians. Each is served by many lesser fiends. They are lead by Thanatos, He who is Death, the End of All Things. He seeks to destroy all four of the Four Heavens, while the other four Great Fiends each target a single Heaven.

Death: Thanatos At the End of All Things, the very bottom of the Pit, sits Thanatos, as all things tumble down into his maw. He is patient, for he believes that in the end, he will devour everything in an apocalypse from which there will be

no rebirth. He is too foolish to understand that death is merely the prelude to new beginnings. Death has no especial foes, for he intends to devour everything in the end.

Destruction: Orcus (The Enemy of the Heaven of Stone)Orcus is destruction made flesh, the active principle which smashes big rocks into smaller rocks and turns all to dust in the end. It is by his plots that the world was marred, and he hopes to one day destroy the Heaven of Stone, so that even the memory of the world in its first bloom of perfection will be lost. His greatest enemy is Djaea, Queen of the Heaven of Stone.

Malice: Loki (Enemy of the Heaven of Winds)Loki is malice, and jealousy, and spite and all the emotions which inspire people to hurt others and pull them down. He is the trickster whose pranks bring pain and suffering to others, who bullies and mistreats the weak and leads the proud to destruction. He is the rubber of salt in wounds, the joker who kills, the fire which burns all it touches. His greatest enemy is Korotiku, King of the Heaven of Winds.

Despair: Hel (Enemy of the Heaven of Fire)Hel is the greyness of despair, the one who whispers in your ear that it is best to give up, to surrender, to accept that there is nothing you can do about a bad situation. Why fight? Why struggle? Why not just give in and accept you cannot change the world for good or ill and spare yourself the pain of your inevitable failure? That is the message she brings. Her greatest enemy is Ixion, King of the Heaven of Fire.

Selfishness: Talitha (Enemy of the Heaven of Waters)Talitha teaches that one should always put one's self above all others, that everyone else exists only to serve you and your pleasures. Greed and self-indulgence are the highest virtues in her sight. She struggles with Khoronous, the King of the Heaven of Waters.

The Four Heavens and the Pit:There are four Heavens, each home to three of the Immortals who watch over it. Those who die purified of their sins ascend to dwell with the immortal whose virtue they best manifested in life.

The first is the Heaven of Stone, ruled by Djaea, the world as it was before the Fiends of the Pit marred it in the War of the Gods at the dawn of Time itself. The roads are made of silver so that no fell werewolf may walk them, and the sun never ceases to shine, driving away the vampire and all his foul kin.

The second is the Heaven of Air, a great kingdom of clouds and wind, ruled by Korotiku. It is an ever changing land, constantly reshaped as the

clouds drift about at the direction of those who rule them and dwell upon them. All the creatures of the sky find havens here, and noble cloud and storm giants build their flying citadels.

The third is the Heaven of Water, a great ocean dotted with islands green with life. Fishermen dwell upon the islands and gather their harvest from the sea, while beneath its surface dwell a million glorious civilizations. Khoronous rules there from his floating citadel where he keeps the Great Book, in which all that ever happened is written down.

The fourth is the Heaven of Fire, where all is made of light and fire, a world we can hardly imagine. It is home to Ixion the Sun King, who makes his dwelling place upon the back of a gold dragon the size of a continent. Here, all people become magicians of puissant power, and fire burns without consuming.

Each of these Heavens cast a shadow, the so called 'Elemental Planes', where dwell many strange and wondrous creatures, and they float in a great ocean known as the Astral Plane, through which runs the Silver Road that leads from the Mortal World to that of the Immortals.

As their light shines upon our world, our world casts a shadow across the Astral Plane, a shadow known as The Pit, home to the Fiends, Immortals who have been swallowed by their own darkness and strive to mar all that the Immortal Guardians create. The Pit has five great layers to it, four of which parody the Four Heavens, and the fifth of which lies below the other four, the End of All Things, home to Thanatos, He Who Is Death.

The Hell of Rubble is ruled by Orcus the Destroyer, a great void full of broken chunks of all that is solid, constantly being broken into tinier bits. The Fiends of Destruction, who live only to smash all else that is, dwell here, gradually destroying their own home.

The Hell of Ash is ruled by Two-Faced Hel, the Lady of Despair and Misery. It is a grey and dismal hall built from the fingernails of the dead, which stands in a great bleak plane of ash. There is no fire, no light, no hope here, only dismal grey twilight and an eternity of existence without purpose or meaning. The Fiends of Despair dwell here, moaning and bewailing their fate.

The Hell of Sand is ruled by Talitha the Vain, who dwells within a great palace made entirely from stolen goods, surrounded by a bleak and lifeless desert of endless sand under a constantly present hot summer sun. Every wall is mirrored so that she and her Fiends of Selfishness and Vanity can gaze upon themselves, admire their own beauty, and count themselves lucky to not be among the hapless evil souls condemned to toil endlessly in the desert.

The Hell of Fire is a great charnel house ruled by Loki the Jealous, who dwells in a great hall built of the charred and forged souls of the damned. All those consumed by their own jealousy, hatred, and envy of others fall into the Hell of Fire where they are turned into tools and money and food for the Fiends of Malice, who fatten upon them. Sometimes Loki invites the newly damned to compete with him for the right to join his fiends. The games are rigged so that no one but him can win; Loki greatly enjoys the joke. The losers become dinner for the winner.

The End of All Things is a great conical void whose walls are made of solid nothingness, a funnel down which all things slide into the waiting maw of Thanatos himself, who sits at the bottom, letting all things come to him as he believes they inevitably must.

Philosophy and Theology:The Church of Karameikos' most fundamental practice is that of taking responsibility for one's ill deeds and doing penance for them. Anyone can be redeemed if they are willing to accept their own guilt and pay for it. The state of your soul at death is determined by how many of your sins you have done penance for. The problem with this is that some abuse it as a blank check to do evil things and pay for it later.

The Church's ideal is the marriage of discipline and creativity of thought and deed, but in practice, the disciplinary aspect tends to predominate. This often leads to clashes with the various Traladaran faiths and with anyone else who deviates from the cultural norms of the Thyatian elite who currently dominate the Church. It also leads some to be willing to crusade against other faiths or lands to spread the faith.

Marriage is very sacred to the Church because mortal marriages are symbolic of the union of discipline (law) and creativity (chaos) which forms part of its philosophy. It is to be noted that many of its patron immortals are either married or in extremely long-term relationships. Divorce is highly frowned on, and adultery and pre-marital sex are seen as grave sins.

The state of one's soul at death determines one's fate in the everlasting life. Those who die without repenting their ill deeds sink into one of the hells, as appropriate for their greatest sin. Those who die with their soul sufficiently cleansed by repentance and penance rise to the heaven which most closely reflects their greatest virtue. The most holy of those join the ranks of the Champions who serve the Immortals.

The Church of Karameikos condemns the various divination practices of the populace of Karameikos because they believe such methods are

subject to manipulation by the Fiends, and are in fact a major tool by which the Fiends tempt and destroy humanity. They also believe that they don't work and are foolish superstitions.

Holy Books:Most of the holy texts of the Church of Karameikos are either Thyatian or Karameikan in origin, and have been gathered together by Patriarch Jowett into what is called 'The Book of Twelve Stars'. It consists of:

The Vision of the First Dawn (An account of the creation of the universe as seen by Patriarch Jowett in a vision)

The Marring of the World (An account written from a vision by the seventh century AC Thyatian visionary Epithelius of Retebius. It deals with the rise of Entropy and the fall of the world from its first perfection.)

Korotiku Steals the Secret of Death (Pearl Islander story about how Korotiku stole the secret of death from Thanatos, thus enabling himself to become immortal and those held prison in Thanatos' cave to escape)

The Works of Kagyar (This is a spiritual history of the Dwarves and of the deeds of Kagyar over the centuries. Some now forgotten dwarven mystic wrote this at least a thousand years ago. It contains an extensive description of the Heaven of Stone)

The Path of Light (an ancient text of Tarastia worshippers which lays out the twelve virtues and how to follow them. As might be expected, it especially exalts the virtue of Justice.)

The Five Curses of the Fiends (This dark and gloomy book was also written by Patriarch Jowett after a vision, and describes the Five Hells and the Five Fiends in disturbing detail and the curse which each of them has put upon all the sentient races.)

The Fall of Blackmoor (This is a lament by Djaea for the fall of Blackmoor and for the destruction the Rain of Colorless Fire brought upon the world. It is a traditional Traladaran text.)

The Song of Halav (Traditional Traladaran epic poem about the Traladar-Beastman war of 1000 BC. Halav, Petra, and Zirchev figure prominently)

Zirchev's Testament (Traditional Traladaran text which sets out Zirchev's warning to the Traladarans to respect the powers that dwell within the forests of their lands, said to have been dictated before he went forth to war on the Beastmen and passed on by his children. Traladaran tradition holds that it was the failure to hold to these commands which enabled the

Five Fiends to twist some of the forests dwellers into the lycanthropes which plague Karameikos)

The Life of Chardastes (This is an account of the life and death of Chardastes written by one of his followers. It is Traladaran in origin)

Love Songs (This book has three chapters, each of which is a love poem from one of the Immortals to another. The first is 'The Song of Petra', which is a traditional Traladaran love poem written by Petra to Halav on the eve of the battle with the Beastmen. She clearly fears she will never see him again, and pours out her heart to him. The second is 'The Passion of Valerias', written by Valerias to Ixion. It is a strange combination of pornography and spiritual ecstasy. The third is 'The Pledge of Khoronous', in which he pledges his love to Djaea. It shows the love of an old and stable couple in whom the flame of love burns lower but more steadily.)

The Analects of Koryis (This is a strange and enigmatic book which consists of 144 sayings, each of which is a four line poem. The book is divided into twelve sections of twelve sayings each, with each section being a different kind of poetry and focusing on a different topic. While of Thyatian origin, it has circulated in Traladara for several centuries, being used as a divination system. The Church of Karameikos frowns on its use for divination, regarding it as a depository of spiritual wisdom)

The Prophecy of Hope (This was proclaimed by a priest of Ixion in ancient Traladara after the destruction of the Beastmen. It contains twelve prophecies of future Traladaran triumphs, culminating in the utter overthrow of evil and the restoration of the world to its original beauty.)

Selected Quotes from the Book of Twelve Stars:

"Eyes cannot see, words cannot tell the glory of the world in the first spring, in the days when all was new, in the days before the world was marred, and yet, I must try."--The Vision of the First Dawn

"Order protects and sustains Chaos creates and changes Entropy corrupts and destroys. Once all were one, But then the world was marred, And strife entered in its wake. Death seems everywhere triumphant. For every soul he waits At the End of All Things.

But he has forgotten the circle, misreads the seasons, ignores nature's every sign. After fall comes winter, but after winter is spring. The world's springtime will come again."--The Marring of the World

"Those who cannot take a joke are the ones who most desperately need one to be given to them."--Korotiku Steals the Secret of Death

"It is not easy to forgive, to love one's enemies. But none of the good things in life come easily. Hate and destruction are the road that leads into the Maw of Thanatos. I will walk the harder road that leads into the light."--The Life and Death of Chardastes

"Halav shoved himself up the spear,and hacked off the Beast King's head.For 'tis better to die a hero's death than to live a coward's life."--The Song of Halav

"Fires consume their fuel and die, songs fade and stories are forgotten, wood burns and flesh rots away, but stone and metal endure.

And so I command my children to build their homes and tools on a solid foundation for stone and metal endure."--The Works of Kagyar

"Fight not for your own glory, my love. Fight for those who cannot fight for themselves."--The Song of Petra

"Before you can bring order to the world, you must bring order to yourself. Blackmoor never learned this lesson; do not walk their road."--The Lamentations of Djaea

"Let not the judge forget that one day he too will be judged."--The Path of Light

"Forge me with your hammer. Mold my clay into something beautiful and harden me with the fires of love. You are copper; I am tin. Let us become bronze."--The Passion of Valerias

"In the winters of our love, remember the past and know that spring always comes again. Winter is but a rest that makes the spring all the sweeter. Be like the willow which bends in the wind and returns to stand upright when the wind passes, for it always does."--The Pledge of Khoronus

"Everyone is someone else's stranger. When you look upon a man you know not and tell yourself he is odd and dangerous, you ensure he will come to think the same of you."--The Analects of Koryis

"Did you make the forest? Did you set the plants to grow and the animals to their grazing and hunting? Can you make more land, set a sun in the sky and rain to fall? If so, then you may say the forest is yours, but you know that is not so."--The Testament of Zirchev

"Without knowledge, action is aimless. Without action, knowledge is pointless. Do not choose merely to know, or merely to do. Use your wisdom, or you will lose it."--The Book of Hope.

Organization:The Church of Karameikos is a fairly well ordered hierarchy. Its head is the high patriarch, currently Olliver Jowett, who serves for life once elected by the patriarchs and matriarchs of the church. Each patriarch oversees the church in a region of the country radiating out from the city in which his temple sits, appointing priests to all the temples within his district. One patriarch serves as the head of the Order of the Griffon, the Church's military arm. Every year, the patriarchs assemble for two weeks (or longer) to deliberate matters facing the church in the Great Synod. Most patriarchs also periodically invite their subordinate priests to elect twelve delegates to meet with them yearly as a synod for their district, although this is not required.

All Patriarchs and Matriarchs are at least ninth level.

The Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Church are:

High Patriarch: Olliver Jowett. He doubles as Patriarch of Specularum, watching over the church in the southern seaboard.Patriarch of Threshold: Sherlane Halaran. Northern Karameikos is his responsibility.Commander of the Order of the Griffon: Alfric Oderbry. He supervises the Order of the Griffon.Patriarch of Kelvin: Baron Desmond Kelvin II (He is also a member of the Order of the Griffon, but was chosen for the Patriarchate on the death of his uncle, the former Patriarch). Central Karameikos is under his supervision.Matriarch of Luln: Natasha Markova (Cleric 13). All of Western Karameikos is effectively under her supervision. Matriarch of Rugalov (based out of Rugalov keep): Anastasia Romanova (Cleric 11). Eastern Karameikos is under her supervision, though at the present she's largely stuck playing chaplain to the Rugalov garrison and squabbling with Oderbry over who has jurisdiction over several Order of the Griffon fortified monasteries in the Dymrak.

The Order of the Griffon is the military wing of the Church, led by Patriarch Alfric Oderbry. They provide bodyguards for the Patriarchs, guards for the major temples, and provide the manpower which the Patriarchs call on in times of war to fulfill their duties to the Duke as landholders. The Order is a mix of Paladins, Fighters, Clerics, and Warriors. It has two branches: the Soldiers of the Griffon, who are a mixture of low level Warriors and Fighters who serve the church, providing temple guards, garrisons for the fortified churches of the wilderness, and military forces to meet the feudal military duties of the Church. The Knights of the Griffon are a mixture of Paladins and Clerics who perform holy quests, bodyguard the Patriarchs, and command the Soldiers of the Griffon in garrison duties and peacetime. All are at least fifth level.

The order mans a dozen or so fortified monasteries/manors built in wilderness zones, whose revenues help to fund the order and whose dangers keep it in fighting trim.

Special Spells: Know Virtues (Divination)Level: 2Range: Short (25 feet + 5 feet/level)Components: V, S, FDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: Full ActionTargets: 1 person per round

Saving Throw: Will Negate

Know Virtues requires the use of the Priest or Priestess' holy symbol. It is most commonly used as a tool to aid in assigning penances and guiding people's spiritual growth. Each round, the Priest or Priestess can attempt to determine either someone's greatest flaw (from the five 'Virtues' of the Fiends) or greatest strength (from the Twelve Virtues). The target can choose to save to negate this. It does not detect good or evil, although people with a strong fiendish trait tend to be evil. Karameikan priests usually use this on people who come to them for spiritual guidance, and on adventurers who come to ask for help.

Sympathetic Healing (Necromancy)Level: 3Range: TouchComponents: V, S, MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 actionTargets: 1 person per roundSaving Throw: Fortitude Negate (But why bother in most cases?)

While this spell lasts, the cleric can heal people by taking their damage upon himself. He can heal any amount of damage, but instantly suffers half that much damage himself with no saving throw. The intended recipient of the healing can choose to make a saving throw to prevent the healing, although most aren't likely to bother. The damage inflicted on the cleric can be healed by magic, and heals at a normal rate with rest. The cleric can only heal enough damage to put himself at the point of death. A cleric who dies from the use of this spell is said to be guaranteed of joining Chardastes in the Heaven of Water. The material component is a vial of holy water.

Strength of Halav (Alteration, Evocation)Level: 6Range: SelfComponents: V, S, F or MDuration: 1 round/levelCasting Time: 1 actionTarget: PersonalSaving Throw: None By casting this spell, the Priest or Priestess is filled with the strength of Halav at his battle with the Beastman King. For the duration of the spell, he or she is immune to fear. Her or his HP double for the duration, and all damage comes out of the extra HP first. He or she fights as a fighter specialized in whatever weapons she or he uses. If the cleric suffers enough damage to kill her or him, the priest can fight on for one more

round to try to get in a final blow. The priest attacks in melee in preference to all other actions, and even if damaged to the point of death, will not pause to heal him or herself or retreat. The material component is either a potion of heroism (consumed) or a weapon sacred to Halav (not consumed)

Humanoids of KarameikosBugbears, Goblins, and Orcs are the three dominant humanoid races of Karameikos. Gnolls have never been able to get much of a foothold because of memories of the Beastman wars. Kobolds can be found, but have rarely been able to form any sort of organized society.

Thousands of years of contact with Traldar society has influenced the cultures of all three groups, as each has adopted some aspects of the cultures of their constant foes.

The Goblins of eastern Karameikos have organized themselves into a more or less feudal society, referring to their chieftains as dukes, counts, barons, etc. Goblin nobles derive their power from their ability to reward with plunder a band of wolfriders who serve them as their knights. Goblins who lack their own wolf mount hold lower status. The leaders of lesser tribes swear fealty to the leaders of greater ones. Periodically, a leader emerges who is able to get a majority of the highest ranking goblin nobles to swear fealty to him and is crowned King. This usually then leads to an effort to conquer the humans and/or the elves again. It's debatable as to which leads to the most disasters.

The Orcs of northern Karameikos [continue]

The Bugbears of Western Karameikos speak a version of Bugbear heavily infiltrated by various Traladaran words, and wear clothing suspiciously similar to that of the average Traladaran (to the extent that they bother to wear clothing at all). Many of them have sworn fealty to the Black Eagle Baron and now affect many of the mannerisms of the Traladaran nobles who have allied themselves with the Black Eagle. This tends to irritate those nobles, which itself amuses them greatly. They have taken to capturing goblins and forcing them to labor as serfs on slash and burned farms in the forest as well to raise food. (They also buy human slaves from the Iron Ring). Their leaders usually use the title of 'lord', and their warriors refer to themselves as knights, even though they all fight on foot.

Characters

This section presents selected NPCs from Karameikos in 3e format. Those not playing 3e can simply feed this section to their dog. My life is too short to convert ALL of the plethora of NPCs in the Karameikos Gazeteer to 3e, though.

Each NPC is presented in several versions; pick the one that fits your vision of Karameikos best. In general, the first version attempts a close fit to the Gazeteer version, the second one takes more liberties (often using classes which didn't exist in OD&D), and any further versions go really wild.

Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos [Version 1--Warrior Duke of Karameikos]Fighter 15Alignment: Lawful GoodStr 19 Int 13 Wisdom 15 Dex 16 Con 14 Ch 17AC--

Court: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Ring of Deflection +1, Dex

bonus] War: 24 [Full Plate, Large Steel Shield +2, Dex Bonus, Ring of Deflection +1]

HP: 135, +3 InitAttacks: +19/+14/+9 with melee weapons, +18/+13/+8 with ranged weapons [+22/+17/+12 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+8 / 17-20 *2 Crit). ]Feats: Mounted Combat, Track, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon-Focus: Longsword, Weapon Specialization--Longsword, Leadership, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Critical--Longsword, Combat Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, Sunder, Weapon Focus--LanceFort +11, Ref +10, Will +8, [All saves boosted by Cloak of Resistance +1], CR 15.

Languages: Thyatian, TraladaranSkills: [-8 check penalty to some skills when in full armor]Diplomacy: 7, Knowledge (Karameikan Government): 6, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 6, Profession: (Cavalry Officer): 9, Profession (Judge): 5, Profession (Sailor): 4, Ride: 11, Swim: 8, Wilderness Lore: 6

This version of Stefan is a bold warrior lord, one of the supreme fighters of his realm, able to keep his turbulent nobility in line because they know he could beat them down if he had to. He delegates most of the work of government to those who know what they're doing better than he does, and devotes much of his attention to the army, where he is quite knowledgeable. He's the sort of ruler who may sometimes simply put on

his armor, jump on his horse, and ride out to slay the dragon himself instead of hiring adventurers to do it.

Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos [Version 2--Ex-Duke of Machetos]Fighter 10/Aristocrat 5Alignment: Lawful GoodStr 18 Int 13 Wisdom 15 Dex 16 Con 14 Ch 18AC--

Court: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Ring of Deflection +1, Dex bonus]

War: 24 [Full Plate, Large Steel Shield +2, Dex Bonus, Ring of Deflection +1]HP: 125, +3 InitAttacks: +13/+8/+3 [+20/+15/+10 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+8 / 17-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Mounted Combat, Track, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon-Focus: Longsword, Weapon Specialization--Longsword, Leadership, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Critical--Longsword, Combat Reflexes, Lightning ReflexesFort +11, Ref +10, Will +10 [Cloak of Resistance +1], CR 13.

Languages: Thyatian, TraladaranSkills: [-8 check penalty to some skills when in full armor]Bluff: 8, Diplomacy: 9, Knowledge (Karameikan Government): 9, Knowledge (Machetos): 5, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 8, Knowledge (Thyatis): 5, Listen 2, Profession: (Cavalry Officer): 9, Profession (Judge): 7, Profession (Sailor): 5, Ride: 13, Search 1, Sense Motive: 2, Spot 2,Swim: 8, Wilderness Lore: 8

This version of Stefan is somewhat more graceful than version 1, as functional in court as he is on a horse leading an army, and not so likely to run off on the quest himself. He remains, however, one of the greatest warriors of his realm.

Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos [Version 3--Reforming Thyatian]Aristocrat 15Alignment: Lawful GoodStr 16 Int 14 Wisdom 16 Dex 16 Con 14 Ch 18AC--

Court: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Ring of Deflection +1, Dex bonus]

War: 24 [Full Plate, Large Steel Shield +2, Dex Bonus, Ring of Deflection +1]HP: 120, +3 Init

Attacks: +14/+9/+4 [+17/+12/+7 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+5 / 19-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Mounted Combat, Track, Skill Focus--Military Tactics, Leadership, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon Focus--LongswordFort +8, Ref +9, Will +13 [Cloak of Resistance +1], CR 8.

Languages: Thyatian, TraladaranSkills: [-8 check penalty to some skills when in full armor]Bluff: 11, Diplomacy: 16, Knowledge (Karameikan Government): 14, Knowledge (Machetos): 9, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 16, Knowledge (Thyatis): 9, Listen 6, Profession: (Cavalry Officer): 12, Profession (Judge): 12, Profession (Sailor): 8, Ride: 8, Sense Motive: 8, Spot 6, Swim: 8, Wilderness Lore: 8

This version of Stefan is very much a courtier king. Well versed in the work of government from years of experience, he knows how to soothe worried diplomats, turn his enemies against each other, render fair judgements, and lead an army, all with equal grace. He's no slouch with a sword either, but leaves hand to hand combat to the experts when he can--he's a general, not a duellist or a hero. Still, after that incident with the assassins early on in his reign, he takes no chances.

Grand Duchess Olivia Karameikos [Version 1--Master Spy]Thief 9Alignment: True NeutralStr 7 Int 16 Wisdom 13 Dex 18 Con 9 Ch 14AC:

Court: 15 [Ring of Deflection +1, Dex bonus] Mission: 20 [Leather Armor + 3, Ring of Deflection +1, Dex

Bonus]HP: 27, +8 InitAttacks: +4/-1 with melee, +10/+5 with missile [+10/+5 with Shortsword (Damage 1d6-2 / 19-20 *2 Crit)]Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus--Gather Information, Weapon Finesse--Shortsword, Skill Focus--DisguiseFort +2, Ref +6, Will +2 [Cloak of Resistance +1], CR 9.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Calarii ElfSkills: Bluff: 14, Climb: 6, Diplomacy: 14, Disarm Device: 10, Disguise: 14, Gather Information: 14, Hide: 14, Innuendo: 5, Knowledge (Karameikan Society): 8, Knowledge (Thyatis): 8, Listen 1, Move Silently: 14, Open Locks: 14, Profession: (Hostess): 11, Profession (Judge): 7, Read Lips: 8, Ride: 5, Search 11, Sense Motive: 11, Spot: 6

Olivia waited to marry Stefan because she was busy training as a spy. She heads Karameikos' intelligence service, such as it is, training the spies

herself, and when the need is desperate enough, putting her considerable skills to the test.

Grand Duchess Olivia Karameikos [Version 2--Courtier and Intriguer]Aristocrat 9Alignment: True NeutralStr 7 Int 18 Wisdom 13 Dex 16 Con 9 Ch 14AC: 14 [Ring of Deflection +1, Dex bonus] HP: 40, +3 InitAttacks: +6/+1 [+4/-1 (+9/+3 if thrown) with Dagger (Damage 1d4-2 / 19-20 *2 Crit)]Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Skill Focus--Gather Information, Expertise, Skill Focus--DiplomacyFort +3, Ref +7, Will +8 [Cloak of Resistance +1], CR 5.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Calarii ElfSkills: Bluff: 13, Diplomacy: 16, Gather Information: 14, Innuendo: 6, Knowledge (Karameikan Society): 14, Knowledge (Thyatis): 8, Listen 7, Profession: (Hostess): 6, Profession (Judge): 6, Read Lips: 14, Ride: 6, Search 4, Sense Motive: 10, Spot 7

This version of the Duchess is a master of court intrigue and gathering information, but not likely to try anything quite so risky as version 1 might...

Alfric Oderbry [Version 1--Thyatian Bigot] Cleric 14Alignment: Lawful NeutralStr 14 Int 10 Wisdom 20 Dex 13 Con 15 Ch 18AC: 20 [Chainmail +2, Dex Bonus, Large Metal Shield]HP: 98, +1 InitAttacks: +12/+7 with Melee weapons, +11/+6 with missile weapons [+13/+8 with Mace +1 (Damage 1d8+3/ 20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Mounted Combat, Extra Turning, Skill Focus--Bluff, Skill Focus--Persuasion, Leadership, Ride-by AttackFort +11, Ref +5, Will +14, CR 14.

Languages: Thyatian Skills: Bluff: 11, Concentration: 7, Diplomacy: 11, Knowledge (Church of Karameikos): 5, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 5, Listen: 5, Perform: 7, Ride: 4, Sense Motive: 6, Spellcraft: 5, Spot 5

Spells Prepared:[Alfric gets one bonus spell per level from one of his two Domains, which are Law and Protection. He casts Law spells as if he was one level higher. Once per day, he can generate a protective ward, which gives the recipient a resistance bonus on their next saving throw equal to his level. This lasts for one hour. He can also turn any prepared spell into an Inflict spell of that level when he casts it, should he so choose. ]0-6: Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Purify Food and Drink *21-6: Bane, Bless, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Chaos, Doom, Protection from Chaos2-6: Augury, Bull's Strength, Calm Emotions, Consecrate, Cure Moderate Wounds, Hold Person, Zone of Truth3-5: Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Locate Object, Protection from Elements, Speak with Dead4-5: Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Divination, Neutralize Poison, Order's Wrath, Restoration5-4: Circle of Doom, Commune, Flame Strike, Raise Dead, Spell Resistance6-3: Geas/Quest, Harm, Heal, Hold Monster7-2: Destruction, Dictum, Summon Monster VII

This version of Alfric is an antagonist, but not inherently a villain. He feels the need to impose order on Karameikos and assert Thyatian supremacy, but he'll go about it in a calm, orderly manner, staying within the law, unless events push him to the wall and force him to use force.

Alfric Oderbry [Version 2--Ambitious Theocrat] Cleric 14Alignment: Lawful EvilStr 14 Int 12 Wisdom 18 Dex 13 Con 15 Ch 18AC: 20 [Chainmail +2, Dex Bonus, Large Metal Shield]HP: 98, +1 InitAttacks: +12/+7 with Melee weapons, +11/+6 with missile weapons [+13/+8 with Mace +1 (Damage 1d8+3/ 20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Iron Will, Skill Focus--Bluff, Skill Focus--Persuasion, Leadership, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Enlarge SpellFort +11, Ref +5, Will +15, CR 14.

Languages: Thyatian Skills: Bluff: 11, Concentration: 8, Diplomacy: 11, Intimidate: 7, Knowledge (Church of Karameikos): 6, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 6, Listen: 4, Perform: 7, Ride: 4, Sense Motive: 5, Spellcraft: 6, Spot 4

Spells Prepared:[Alfric gets one bonus spell per level from one of his two Domains, which are Law and Protection. He casts Law spells as if he was one level higher.

Once per day, he can generate a protective ward, which gives the recipient a resistance bonus on their next saving throw equal to his level. This lasts for one hour. He can also turn any prepared spell into an Inflict spell of that level when he casts it, should he so choose. He commands and rebukes undead instead of turning them]0-6: Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Purify Food and Drink *21-6: Bane, Bless, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Chaos, Doom, Protection from Chaos2-6: Augury, Bull's Strength, Calm Emotions, Death Knell, Hold Person, Sound Burst, Zone of Truth3-5: Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Glyph of Warding, Protection from Elements, Searing Light, Speak with Dead4-5: Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Divination, Neutralize Poison, Order's Wrath, Summon Monster IV5-3: Circle of Doom, Commune, Flame Strike, Dispel Chaos6-3: Geas/Quest, Harm, Heal, Hold Monster7-2: Destruction, Dictum, Summon Monster VII

This version of Alfric is a nasty, ambitious bigot. He despises the Traladarans and the leadership of the Church of Karameikos. He is willing to go pretty far in order to gain power, sending assassins and plotting against the Church's leadership, as well as organizing his own power base. However, he still fails to realize he's actually violating many of the Church's precepts in his lust for power. He continues to be able to receive spells because he is still somewhat more lawful than evil. It's quite possible he'll suddenly find himself bereft of spells if he ever does start his open revolt. Or perhaps he's actually getting his spells from the Five Fiends and doesn't realize it...

Alfric Oderbry [Version 3--Servant of the Five Fiends] Cleric 14Alignment: Lawful EvilStr 14 Int 10 Wisdom 18 Dex 13 Con 15 Ch 20AC: 20 [Chainmail +2, Dex Bonus, Large Metal Shield]HP: 98, +1 InitAttacks: +12/+7 with Melee weapons, +11/+6 with missile weapons [+14/+9 with Mace +1 (Damage 1d8+3/ 20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Skill Focus--Bluff, Skill Focus--Persuasion, Weapon Focus--Mace, Leadership, Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Magic Arms and ArmorFort +11, Ref +5, Will +13, CR 14.

Languages: Thyatian Skills: Bluff: 15, Concentration: 3, Diplomacy: 19, Knowledge (Religion): 5, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 5, Listen: 4, Perform: 7, Ride: 3, Sense Motive: 4, Spellcraft: 5, Spot 4

Spells Prepared:[Alfric gets one bonus spell per level from one of his two Domains, which are Law and Evil. He casts Evil and Law spells as if he was one level higher. ]0-6: Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Purify Food and Drink *21-6: Bane, Cause Fear, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favor, Doom, Protection from Chaos2-6: Augury, Bull's Strength, Calm Emotions, Cure Moderate Wounds, Death Knell, Hold Person, Undetectable Alignment3-5: Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Locate Object, Magic Circle Against Good, Speak with Dead4-5: Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Divination, Neutralize Poison, Order's Wrath, Summon Monster IV5-4: Circle of Doom, Commune, Dispel Good, Flame Strike, Slay Living6-3: Geas/Quest, Harm, Heal, Hold Monster7-2: Destruction, Dictum, Summon Monster VII

This version of Alfric is an utter and total rotter. He has sold himself to the Five Fiends (see the section on the Church of Karameikos for details), and now actively works to corrupt the Church of Karameikos from within. He preaches Thyatian superiority not so much because he believes it as because it will help cause the Church of Karameikos to self-destruct. He has collected a small group of cultists who truly understand his purposes, but most of his followers are just law and order oriented priests or Thyatian bigots.

Jenkin Flintfoot, Consul of the Five Shires [Version 1--Retired Sherriff]Ranger 6Alignment: NGStr 13 Int 13 Wisdom 10 Dex 16 Con 13 Ch 11AC: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Dex bonus, Halfling bonus] HP: 42, +3 InitAttacks: +8/+3 with melee, +10/+5 with missiles, +11/+6 with thrown weapons [+8/+3 with shortsword (Damage 1d6+1 / 19-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Great Fortitude, Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Leadership. [Track as a Ranger Bonus Feat]Ranger Abilities: +2 to Bluff/Listen/Sense Motive/Spot/Wilderness Lore and Damage vs. Orcs, +1 bonus to those vs. Goblins, [His wisdom is too low to cast any spells, although his level qualifies him to do so]Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +3, [+2 saving throw bonus vs. fear, not added to figures here], CR 6.

Languages: Thyatian, Halfling, DarokinianSkills:

Bluff: 0, Climb: 3, Diplomacy: 7, Hide: 8, Jump: 3, Knowledge: (Darokin Government): 4, Knowledge (Five Shires Government): 4, Knowledge (Karameikos Government): 3 , Listen: 2, Move Silently: 6, Profession: (Diplomat): 4, Profession: (Sheriff): 5, Ride: 5, Sense Motive: 0, Spot: 2, Wilderness Lore: 5

Jenkin is happily retired from his days as first an active ranger and then as one of the sheriffs of the Five Shires. Should the need arise, however, he is ready when danger looms.

Jenkin Flintfoot, Consul of the Five Shires [Version 2--Skillful Bureaucrat and Diplomat]Expert 6Alignment: NGStr 13 Int 13 Wisdom 10 Dex 15 Con 13 Ch 12AC: 15 [Leather under court clothes, Dex bonus, Halfling bonus] HP: 30, +2 InitAttacks: +6 with melee, +7 with missiles, +8 with thrown [+6 with shortsword (Damage 1d6+1 / 19-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Great Fortitude, Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Skill-Focus: Profession (Diplomat)Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +6, [+2 saving throw bonus vs. fear, not added to figures here], CR 6.

Languages: Thyatian, Halfling, DarokinianSkills: Bluff: 8, Climb: 3, Diplomacy: 15, Hide: 6, Jump: 3, Knowledge: (Darokinian Government): 7, Knowledge (Five Shires Government): 9, Knowledge (Karameikos Government): 8, Listen: 2, Move Silently: 4, Profession: (Diplomat): 12 , Profession: (Sheriff): 8, Ride: 5, Sense Motive: 5, Spot: 1

Jenkin is an ex-administrator and ex-Sheriff from the Shires, quite knowledgeable in the ways of governments and diplomacy.

Anton Radu [Version 1--Criminal Mastermind] Rogue 12Alignment: Neutral EvilStr 14 Int 16 Wisdom 11 Dex 20 Con 14 Ch 15AC: 16 [Dex Bonus, +1 Ring of Deflection, Leather Armor under fancy clothing]HP: 68, +5 InitAttacks: +11/+6 with Melee weapons, +14/+9 with missile weapons [+14/+9 with Shortsword (Damage 1d6+2/ 19-20 *2 Crit) thanks to Weapon Finesse. It will probably be poisoned as well. ]

Feats: Skill Focus--Intimidate, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus--Profession (Merchant), Weapon Finesse--Shortsword, Leadership, Combat ReflexesFort +7, Ref +11, Will +5, [+1 Cloak of Resistance figured into saves already], CR 12.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian, Calarii ElfSkills: Appraise: 10, Bluff: 14, Climb: 12, Decipher Script: 8, Diplomacy: 14, Disable Device: 7, Gather Information: 12, Hide: 16, Knowledge (Specularum): 10, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 8, Knowledge (Torture): 8, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 8, Intimidate: 12, Listen: 5, Move Silently: 16, Profession: (Merchant): 12, Search: 13, Sense Motive: 10, Spot: 5, Tumble: 10

This version of Anton Radu is a man who can lead a swarm of thugs and thieves because he's the best thug and thief of them all! He is likely to lead the most important missions himself, simply because he knows he's the best qualified for the job.

Anton Radu [Version 2--The Godfather] Aristocrat 12Alignment: Lawful EvilStr 14 Int 18 Wisdom 11 Dex 17 Con 14 Ch 16AC: 16 [Dex Bonus, +1 Ring of Deflection, Leather Armor under fancy clothing]HP: 78, +3 InitAttacks: +11/+6 with Melee weapons, +12/+7 with missile weapons [+12/+7 with Longsword (Damage 1d8+2/ 19-20 *2 Crit) if he must fight ]Feats: Alertness, Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Skill Focus--Profession (Merchant), Leadership, Iron Will, Weapon Focus--LongswordFort +6, Ref +7, Will +10, CR 6.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian, Calarii ElfSkills: Appraise: 14, Bluff: 15 , Diplomacy: 20, Gather Information: 14, Knowledge (Specularum): 14, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 14, Knowledge (Torture): 14, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 19, Intimidate: 10, Listen: 7, Profession: (Merchant): 9, Sense Motive: 10, Spot: 7

This version of Anton Radu is a smooth operator who is comfortable rubbing shoulders with the nobility and the mercantile elites alike. He would never be caught dead carrying out the dirty work his minions do, but is simply a member of the Specularum elite...who happens to have a large gang of skilled thieves and thugs.

Anton Radu [Version 3--The Merchant] Expert 12Alignment: True NeutralStr 14 Int 16 Wisdom 11 Dex 17 Con 14 Ch 18AC: 16 [Dex Bonus, +1 Ring of Deflection, Leather Armor under fancy clothing]HP: 78, +3 InitAttacks: +11/+6 with Melee weapons, +12/+7 with missile weapons [+12/+7 with Longsword (Damage 1d8+2/ 19-20 *2 Crit) if he must fight ]Feats: Iron Will, Skill Focus--Profession (Merchant), Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Skill Focus--Appraise, Leadership, Skill Focus--Gather InformationFort +6, Ref +7, Will +10, CR 6.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian, Calarii ElfSkills: Appraise: 20, Bluff: 21, Diplomacy: 23, Forgery: 10, Gather Information: 21, Intimidate: 15, Knowledge (Specularum): 14, Knowledge (Specularum Society): 18, Knowledge (Torture): 10, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 18, Profession: (Merchant): 17, Sense Motive: 15, Spot: 5

This version of Anton Radu is a man who is chiefly a merchant, and mainly uses the Veiled Society for the purpose of aiding his mercantile activities--beating up trade rivals, stealing trade secrets, etc. He is especially prone to turn them loose against foreign merchants.

Anton Radu [Version 4--Servant of the Outer Beings] Cleric 9/Rogue 3Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 14 Int 16 Wisdom 14 Dex 17 Con 14 Ch 15AC: 16 [Dex Bonus, +1 Ring of Deflection, Leather Armor under fancy clothing]HP: 81, +4 InitAttacks: +10/+5 with Melee weapons, +11/+6 with missile weapons [+14/+9 with Shortsword (Damage 1d6+2/ 19-20 *2 Crit) thanks to Weapon Finesse. It will probably be poisoned as well. ]Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus--Profession (Merchant), Weapon Finesse--Shortsword, Leadership, Skill Focus--Knowledge (Outer Beings), Combat ReflexesRogue Abilities: Sneak Attack +2d6, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge (retain dex bonus to AC when blindsided), Fort +9, Ref +12, Will +10, [+1 Cloak of Resistance figured into saves already], CR 12.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian, Calarii Elf

Skills: Appraise: 9, Bluff: 12, Decipher Script: 9, Diplomacy: 12, Forgery: 9, Gather Information: 8, Hide: 9, Intimidate: 8, Knowledge (Outer Beings): 15, Knowledge (Specularum): 8, Knowledge (Torture): 8, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 9, Listen: 2, Move Silently: 9, Profession: (Merchant): 10, Search: 9, Sense Motive: 2, Spot: 8

Spells Prepared:[Anton gets one bonus spell per level from one of his two Domains, which are Chaos and Summoning [Summoning is a non-standard Domain which consists of the nine Summon Monster spells]. He casts Chaos and Summoning spells as if he was one level higher. ]0-6: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Resistance1-5: Bane, Cause Fear, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favor, Doom, Protection from Law2-5: Augury, Bull's Strength, Death Knell, Hold Person, Shatter, Undetectable Alignment3-4: Dispel Magic, Locate Object, Magic Circle Against Good, Speak with Dead, Summon Monster III4-3: Chaos Hammer, Cure Critical Wounds, Summon Monster IV5-1: Slay Living, Summon Monster V

Anton Radu was raised to head the Veiled Society, a criminal organization which is generally thought to be either a thieves' guild or an anti-Thyatian society, but which is really a group of enforcers advancing the political goals of the Radu family. Anton, however, during the period of adventures he went on after his Shearing, stumbled upon an ancient book which changed his life, causing him to become a Servant of the Outer Beings. He has turned the Veiled Society into an Outer Beings cult, at least at its upper levels (the lower level thugs are blissfully oblivious to the fact that their leader now serves gibbering monstrosities from beyond space and time). His next step is to find a way to either corrupt the Duke to Outer Being worship or to replace him with someone who is a worshipper... [This version of Anton is likely to see the Black Eagle Baron as someone suitable for that purpose]

Elite Veiled Society Thug Warrior 3Alignment: Lawful EvilStr 16 Int 10 Wisdom 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Ch 10AC: 13 [Studded Leather under robes]HP: 18, +0 InitAttacks: +5 with Melee weapons, +3 with missile weapons [+6 with Mace (Damage 1d8+3/ 20 *2 Crit) if he must fight ]Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Mace, CleaveFort +3, Ref +1, Will +1, CR 1.5

Languages: Traladaran, ThyatianSkills: Hide: 2, Intimidate: 6, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 2, Move Silently: 2

Veiled Society Thug Warrior 1Alignment: Lawful EvilStr 10 Int 10 Wisdom 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Ch 10AC: 13 [Studded Leather under robes]HP: 18, +0 InitAttacks: +1 with Melee weapons, +1 with missile weapons [+2 with Mace (Damage 1d8/ 20 *2 Crit) if he must fight ]Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus: MaceFort +2, Ref +0, Will +0, CR .5

Languages: Traladaran, ThyatianSkills: Hide: 2, Intimidate: 4, Knowledge (Veiled Society): 1, Move Silently: 1

Yolanda of Luln Entertainer [Expert] 6Alignment: Neutral GoodStr 9 Int 16 Wisdom 10 Dex 18 Con 10 Ch 18AC: 14 [Dex Bonus]HP: 24, +4 InitAttacks: +3 [+3 with Dagger (Damage 1d4-1/ 20 *2 Crit) if she must fight ]Feats: Skill Focus--Performance, Alertness, Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Lightning ReflexesFort +2, Ref +8, Will +5, CR 3.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Calarii ElfSkills: Balance: 12, Bluff: 15, Diplomacy: 17, Gather Information: 13, Knowledge (Karameikan Government): 3, Listen 6, Perform: 15, Profession: (Entertainer): 9, Ride: 8, Search 5, Sense Motive: 9, Spot: 6, Tumble: 11

Yolanda was an ordinary human in the Gazeteer, so I made her an Expert, which would let her be a skilled entertainer without having to morph into a Bard.

Aleena Halaran [Version 1--Adventuring Cleric] Cleric 12Alignment: Lawful Good

Str 14 Int 13 Wisdom 18 Dex 14 Con 12 Ch 18AC: 21 [Full Plate, Dexterity Bonus, Large Metal Shield]HP: 84, +2 InitAttacks: +11/+6 [+14/+9 with Mace +2 (Damage 1d6+4/ 20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Extra Turning, Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Weapon Focus--Mace, Still Spell, Skill Focus-Profession (Teacher), Empower SpellFort +9, Ref +6, Will +12, CR 12.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian Skills: Bluff: 5, Concentration: 9, Diplomacy: 14, Knowledge (Church of Karameikos): 11 , Knowledge (Threshold): 5, Listen: 4, Profession: (Teacher): 14, Scry: 6, Sense Motive: 4, Riding: 5, Spellcraft: 6, Spot: 4

Spells Prepared:[Aleena gets one bonus spell per level from one of her two Domains, which are Good and Protection. She casts Good spells as if she was one level higher. Once per day, she can generate a protective ward, which gives the recipient a resistance bonus on their next saving throw equal to his level. This lasts for one hour. She can also turn any prepared spell into an Cure spell of that level when he casts it, should she so choose.]0-6: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Resistance1-6: Bless, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds *2, Divine Favor, Protection from Evil2-5: Aid, Augury, Calm Emotions, Hold Person, Shield Other, Zone of Truth3-5: Dispel Magic, Locate Object, Magic Circle Against Evil, Magic Vestment, Protection from Elements, Searing Light4-4: Discern Lies, Dispel Magic [prepared as a still spell],Cure Critical Wounds, Holy Smite, Tongues5-3: Commune, Dispel Evil, Healing Circle, Spell Resistance6-2: Blade Barrier, Forbiddance, Heal

Aleena is a steadfast cleric of the Church of Karameikos who prefers to find peaceful solutions when possible to a problem.

Aleena Halaran [Version 2--Paladin of the Order of the Griffon] Paladin 12Alignment: Lawful GoodStr 16 Int 13 Wisdom 17 Dex 14 Con 12 Ch 17AC: 21 [Full Plate, Dexterity Bonus, Large Metal Shield]HP: 84, +2 InitAttacks: +15/+10/+5 with melee weapons, +14/+9/+4 with missile weapons [+14/+9 with Mace +2 (Damage 1d6+2/ 20 *2 Crit) ]

Feats: Skill Focus--Diplomacy, Weapon Focus--Mace, Skill Focus-Profession (Teacher), Mounted Combat, Power Attack, CleavePaladin Abilities: Detect Evil, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands, Divine Health, Aura of Courage, Smite Evil, Remove Disease 4/week, Special mountFort +12, Ref +9, Will +10, [Divine Grace has boosted all her saves by 3], CR 12.

Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian Skills: Concentration: 6, Diplomacy: 16, Knowledge (Church of Karameikos): 11 , Knowledge (Threshold): 6, Listen: 4, Profession: (Teacher): 13, Sense Motive: 4, Riding: 8, Spot: 4

Spells Prepared:1-2: Bless, Divine Favor2-2: Calm Emotions, Shield Other3-2: Dispel Magic, Magic Circle Against Evil

Aleena is a faithful member of the Order of the Griffon and spends much of her time out, roaming around looking for evil to smite and people to help. The rest of her time is spent training members of the Order.

Her mount is a pure white heavy warhorse named Snow as her special steed. [See PHB for full list of abilities of a Paladin's special mount. HP: 62, AC: 22, Int: 8, Str: 20, Attacks with two hooves at +7 melee (1d6+5 damage), and a bite with +2 melee (1d6+3 damage). Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2]

Baron Ludwig von Hendriks [Version 1--Hendriks the Evil Warrior Baron]Fighter 12Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 20 Int 15 Wisdom 9 Dex 14 Con 16 Ch 14AC--

Court: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Dex bonus] War: 21 [Half-Plate +2, Large Steel Shield]

HP: 120, +2 InitAttacks: +12/+7/+2 [+20/+15/+10 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+9 / 17-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Mounted Combat, Weapon-Focus: Longsword, Trample, Weapon Specialization--Longsword, Cleave, Leadership, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Great Cleave, Improved Critical--LongswordFort +13, Ref +6, Will +3, CR 12.

Languages: Thyatian, OrcishSkills: [-8 check penalty to some skills when in full armor]Bluff: 9, Climb 6, Intimidate: 11, Jump: 6, Knowledge (Black Eagle Barony): 9, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 9, Knowledge: (Torture): 9, Listen 0 [due to Wisdom Penalty], Ride: 10, Sense Motive: 1 [due to Wisdom Penalty], Spot 0 [due to Wisdom Penalty], Swim 6

This version of Ludwig is a fairly straightforward evil thug, though smarter than the average thug. He's likely to eventually try to simply swoop down with his humanoid hordes and conquer Karameikos by straightforward force if he isn't brought down first.

Baron Ludwig von Hendriks [Version 2--Evil Genius of the Black Eagle Barony]Aristocrat 12 Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 17 Int 17 Wisdom 10 Dex 14 Con 16 Ch 14AC: 20 [Bracers of Defense + 8, Dex bonus] HP: 108, +2 InitAttacks: +9/+4 [+15/+10/+5 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+5 / 19-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Expertise, Skill Focus--Bluff, Weapon-Focus: Longsword, Leadership, Improved Trip, Combat ReflexesFort +7, Ref +6, Will +8, CR 12.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, OrcishSkills: Bluff: 14, Diplomacy: 10, Gather Information: 12, Intimidate: 12, Knowledge (Black Eagle Barony): 11, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 18, Knowledge (Thyatis): 5, Knowledge: (Torture): 11, Listen 3, Profession (Torturer): 7, Ride: 8, Sense Motive: 10, Spot 3

Ludwig is a very subtle and clever madman, able to lay long term plots and to run rings around his less intelligent cousin. He is also a very skillful liar and manipulator (when not consumed by fits of rage, anyway). He is the least potent in combat of the three versions given here, but he fights the most intelligently of the three. This version of the Black Eagle most likely is involved in plotting with the old Traladaran nobility to crush Stefan and restore serfdom.

Baron Ludwig von Hendriks [Version 3--Servant of Entropy]Aristocrat 2/Fighter 6/Blackguard 4Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 17 Int 15 Wisdom 12 Dex 14 Con 16 Ch 14AC--

Court: 16 [Leather under court clothes, Dex bonus] War: 21 [Half-Plate +2, Large Steel Shield]

HP: 115, +2 InitAttacks: +11/+6/+1 [+17/+12/+7 with Longsword +2 (Damage 1d8+7 / 19-20 *2 Crit) ]Feats: Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Mounted Combat, Weapon-Focus: Longsword, Trample, Weapon Specialization--Longsword, Cleave, Sunder, Leadership, Great CleaveFort +11, Ref +3, Will +6, CR 12.

Blackguard Abilities: Detect Good, Poison Use, Dark Blessing, Smite Good, Command Undead, Aura of Despair, +1d6 Sneak Attack

Languages: Thyatian, Orcish, BugbearSkills: [-8 check penalty to some skills when in full armor]Bluff: 7, Concentration: 5, Climb: 5, Diplomacy: 6, Hide 5, Innuendo: 3, Intimidate: 9, Jump: 5, Knowledge (Black Eagle Barony): 6, Knowledge (Military Tactics): 7, Knowledge (Religion): 6, Knowledge (Thyatis): 6, Knowledge: (Torture): 7, Listen 4, Move Silently 5, Profession (Torturer): 8, Ride: 11, Search 2, Sense Motive: 6, Spot 4, Swim 4

Typical Spells: 1st level--Cause Fear, Doom2nd Level--Bull's Strength, Death Knell

This version of Ludwig is the most deranged of the three, as he has sold himself to some Entropic Immortal, who he hopes will sponsor him on his eventual quest for immortality. He is involved in infiltrating Karameikan society with fellow cultists, in order to rot it from within before he brings in the humanoids to conquer from without.

Bargle the Infamous [Version 1--Evil Traladaran Wizard]Wizard 15Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 9 Int 20 Wisdom 9 Dex 18 Con 10 Ch 15 AC 22 [Dex Bonus, Bracers of Defense +8] HP: 45, +4 InitAttacks: +6/+1 [+8/+3 with Dagger +2 (Damage 1d4+2) if he has to.]Feats: Tracking, Iron Will, Brew Potion, Still Spell, Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Craft Wondrous Item, Enlarge Spell, Craft Arms and Armor, Maximize Spell Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +10, CR 15.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Bugbear, Goblin, Orc Skills:Alchemy: 10, Bluff 9, Concentration: 10, Diplomacy: 9, Knowledge (Arcana): 15, Knowledge (Karameikos): 15, Knowledge (Karameikos Society): 17, Knowledge (Non-Humans in Karameikos): 17, Knowledge:

(Traladaran Legends): 15, Listen 3, Scry 10, Search 9, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 15, Spot 3, Wilderness Lore: 4

He carries a Staff of Power (20 charges), a Ring of Regeneration, a scroll of Protection from Magic, Drums of Panic, and three potions appropriate to the situation if he has time to prepare. Spells Prepared:0-4: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mage Hand, Mending1-5: Charm Person, Magic Missile * 2, Shield, Sleep2-5: Invisibility, Levitate, Minor Image, Protection from Arrows, See Invisible 3-5: Dispel Magic, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Major Image, Tongues4-5: Dispel Magic [Prepared as a Still Spell], Hallucinatory Terrain, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice5-5: Cloudkill, Fireball [prepared as an Enlarged Spell], Summon Monster V, Wall of Stone6-3: Anti-Magic Shell, Disintegrate, Fireball [prepared as an Maximized Spell]7-2: Power Word--Stun, Teleport Without Error8-1: Prismatic Wall

This version of Bargle is a potent magical force, able to wreak vast quantities of havoc. He endorses the old Traladaran way of doing things, and is using the Black Eagle Baron in hopes of creating a civil war between the Thyatian invader factions which would clear the way for the restoration of old Traladara.

Bargle the Infamous [Version 2--Manipulator of Humanoids]Rogue 2/Wizard 13Alignment: Chaotic Evil and loving every minute of it.Str 9 Int 18 Wisdom 9 Dex 17 Con 10 Ch 18 AC 21 [Dex Bonus, Bracers of Defense +8] HP: 45, +4 InitAttacks: +6/+1 [+8/+3 with Dagger +2 (Damage 1d4+2) if he has to.]Feats: Tracking, Lightning Reflexes, Still Spell, Leadership, Iron Will, Craft Wondrous Item, Enlarge Spell, Craft Arms and Armor, Maximize Spell Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +9, CR 15.

Rogue Abilities: +1d6 sneak attack, Evasion

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Bugbear, Goblin, Orc Skills:Bluff 14, Concentration: 7, Diplomacy: 14, Gather Information: 12, Hide: 8, Knowledge (Karameikos): 15, Knowledge (Karameikos Society): 16, Knowledge (Non-Humans in Karameikos): 18, Knowledge: (Traladaran

Legends): 16, Listen 9, Open Locks: 8, Move Silently 8, Pick Pockets: 8, Scry 14 , Search 9, Spellcraft 14, Spot 4, Wilderness Lore: 2

He carries a Ring of Regeneration, a Scroll of Protection from Magic, and Drums of PanicSpells Prepared:0-4: Daze, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mage Hand1-5: Charm Person, Hypnotism, Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep2-5: Invisibility, Levitate, Minor Image, Protection from Arrows, See Invisible 3-5: Dispel Magic, Fireball, Suggestion, Major Image, Tongues4-5: Confusion, Dispel Magic [Prepared as a Still Spell], Hallucinatory Terrain, Hold Person [Prepared as an Enlarged Spell], Ice Storm, Wall of Fire5-3: Charm Monster [Prepared as a Still Spell], Dominate Person, Mind Fog6-2: Geas, Programmed Image7-1: Power Word--Stun

This version of Bargle is a cunning manipulator, who uses his powers and charm to get everyone around him to dance like puppets to his tune. He favors the use of magic to befuddle, control, and trick people, rather than to make them explode.

Bargle the Infamous [Version 3--Crazed Diabolist]Conjuror 15Alignment: Chaotic EvilStr 9 Int 20 Wisdom 9 Dex 18 Con 10 Ch 15 AC 22 [Dex Bonus, Bracers of Defense +8] HP: 45, +4 InitAttacks: +6/+1 [+8/+3 with Dagger +2 (Damage 1d4+2) if he has to.]Feats: Tracking, Iron Will, Brew Potion, Still Spell, Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Craft Wondrous Item, Enlarge Spell, Craft Arms and Armor, Maximize Spell Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +10, CR 15.

Languages: Thyatian, Traladaran, Bugbear, Goblin, Orc Skills:Alchemy: 10, Bluff 9, Concentration: 10, Diplomacy: 9, Knowledge (Arcana): 15, Knowledge (Karameikos): 15, Knowledge (Karameikos Society): 17, Knowledge (Non-Humans in Karameikos): 17, Knowledge: (Traladaran Legends): 15, Listen 3, Scry 10, Search 9, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 15, Spot 3, Wilderness Lore: 4

He carries a Staff of Power (20 charges), a Ring of Regeneration, a scroll of Protection from Magic, Drums of Panic, and three potions appropriate to the situation if he has time to prepare. Spells Prepared:

[Bargle cannot use Transmutation spells because he is a Conjuration specialist. He gets one bonus conjuration per level in addition to the number of spells he can prepare per level]0-4: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Light, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost1-5: Charm Person, Mage Armor, Magic Missile * 2, Sleep, Unseen Servant2-5: Invisibility, Minor Image, Protection from Arrows, See Invisible, Summon Swarm, Web3-5: Dispel Magic, Fireball, Resist Elements [Prepared as a Still Spell], Stinking Cloud, Summon Monster III, Tongues4-5: Confusion, Dispel Magic [Prepared as a Still Spell], Evard's Black Tentacles, Summon Monster IV, Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice5-5: Cloudkill, Contact Other Plane, Lightning Bolt [prepared as an Enlarged Spell], Bargle's Faithful Hound [equivalent to Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound], Summon Monster V, Wall of Stone6-3: Acid Fog, Anti-Magic Shell, Disintegrate, Fireball [prepared as an Maximized Spell]7-2: Summon Monster VI [prepared as a Still spell], Teleport Without Error8-1: Protection from Spells, Summon Monster VIII

This version of Bargle is in league with Entropic powers [choose the one you like best to be his patron], as he begins to plan towards one day seeking immortality in that sphere. He frequently consorts with all sorts of extra-planar beings, using Lesser and Greater Planar Binding the way some people eat candy. [They're not listed on his usually memorized spell list, however, as he only memorizes the spell when he has a specific plan in mind]