Lands of Mirhne: The Dangers and Nature of Corruption and Mutation

 It has been established that monsters lurk within the blood of beasts and men alike in Mirhne. While not the full blown, demented mutations one could find in other settings where some forces of cosmic 'chaos' twist the bodies into monstrous shapes, such mutations do exist in Mirhne. Their nature, however, is subtle and insidious. Like a slow, creeping cancer and the advance of old age. The warping of mind and bodies is a slow, often barely noticeable concept that more often than not fail to reach full apotheosis within the limited lifespan of a human or beast, who are more likely to be claimed by violence and sickness. When it does, however, take hold of someone the transformation inevitably twist those it afflict into monsters.

Ascendance Beyond Mortality

Art of Caleb Jasper

The mortal form of the Men of Mirhne has many, many limitations. A human's body is unable to live for more than five or six decades for those lucky individuals who make it into old age, as infirmity and disease take most at that age. Those who survive as decrepit old folks can live a few decades more but no true, unspoiled mortal in Mirhne has ever exceeded nine decades. In addition to this, most individuals find there are limits to how far they can take their abilities, be they physical or mental. Many myths speak of mortals as born limited by nature of the Gods and whatever creation myth a local people believe (and Mirhne has too many for any to be truly dominant). To be born mortal is to have limitations, with perhaps only legendary heroes and kings of old descended from the Gods being able to somewhat surpass these limits.

There is some truth to this, should a dark theory be true.

Mirhne has very little written records. Yet there are writing by four generations of scribes from the reclusive Bertelith family, who have researched intensively the past history of Mirhne, which speak of this mortal nature. They claim the God-Kings of Mirhne, the flesh and blood great colossus who strode the world and from which many noble lineages (most extinct) descend were not only real beings but the product of some ancient creation by an even older order of Deities, primordial beings whose names are not spoken. They crafted men and beasts to be their servants, born of earthly matter and inscribed inside their flesh were limitations. Mortality, sanity and indeed the very nature of human are but byproduct of this foul genesis, which shackled mankind's ancestor to be nothing but dredge and servants to the Gods Before Time. Under this theory, the Giants are simply the varied descendants of the crossbreeds of Men and Gods, with the God-Kings of old having been not simply 'great men' but flat out giant themselves; their cyclopean statues and temples not mere hubris but a reflection of their greater stature. Yet the scrolls and stone tablets of the Bertelith Family also tell the tale that the colossal God-Kings of old turned on the Gods Before Time, since they and they alone existed between Gods and Men. The second half of the tale speak of a second or a third generation of god-blooded beings, who rose from the masses of unwashed beasts to help the gods slay the progenitors.

Under the disturbing theories of the dead Bertelith clan, humans are able to become akin to the Gods should their potential be awakened. Such a process, however, is said to paradoxically destroy one's 'humanity' as it is mortality, fear and what we call sanity that makes us human and the Bertelith have many heretical claims that the God-Kings were not glorious founders of kingdoms and revered ancestors but rather ghoulish ogres who proceeded to immediately re-enslave the other humans and that only selective memory, propaganda and heavy denial has hidden the truth.

• The simple act of 'leveling up' under the system of an OSR-derived system is, in itself, a way for this 'natural corruption' to seep in. Most individuals in Mirhne in the modern age lack abilities beyond that of a 3rd level Warrior or Expert. Past a certain point an individual slowly become less and less limited by mortal frailty and closer to the realm of Demi-Gods albeit rather fragile ones. Still, a Warrior of 10th level is able to shrug off wounds that would kill lesser men several time over, in utter defiance to biology. Still, it is overall a fairly minor and benign form of corruption.
• Mirhne is home to rumors of old, mad men and wicked crones who have extended their lives. If these stories are true, then these are individuals who somehow have extended their lives by tapping into some darker power and potential hidden in human flesh. Their increase in mental stats (INT, WIS and CHA) as they age should not be seen as wholly beneficial however, as it invariably come at the cost of sanity. As these folks bodies wither and their minds shift and grow heavy with age they begin to think in ways no mortal ever could, able to see and sense things in the world and people nobody else can.
• In the past, Mirhne was home to many extinct warrior traditions such as odd warrior cults and lodges comparable to the bear and wolf warriors of Norse tradition. In truth, many of those were depraved and alien traditions which became more and more shunned for a reason. The few scrolls written on the subject speak of barbaric flesh-eating rituals which would imbue warriors with a mad urge to kill, rend and tear all in their path. While usually temporary, there were those whose trance never ended and whose form became twisted as their unhinged minds.

The Touch of the Unknown

Art by Didier Nguyen

Not every monstrosity born of men and beast is innate. Sometimes, outside forces will influence something and slowly claim it, twisting it into a monster. These include stories such as: the call of the dreaded Sea-Witch, the tainted waters of the Bogs of Exile, the mind diseases of the Low Men or the curses of the Sorcerers. All these stories and more speak of some power external to the body of men and beasts. The touch of magic, of course, can also bear many curses but True Magic in Mirhne is exceedingly rare. That is the magic of what Silent Legions call the Spells of the Gray Path. These are very, very rare and most of them are hidden in the dark corners of Mirhne.

While the men of Mirhne lack our understanding of viruses and bacteria, they at the very least understand that what is inserted and infects a body from the outside is generally not a beneficial thing. There are many secrets craft which have fallen into disuse which, for example understand that certain sickness can enter through wounds and whose effect can be combated by applying or ingesting special mixtures. Yet many of these now mostly-lost arts warn that outside, or even alien influence is dangerous and can steal a man's body and soul or at the very least drive him irrevocably mad. For such infections, the only relief would be death.

• True Magic, while exceedingly rare, is often a source of foreign corruption as draws upon unearthly powers never meant to be wielded by mortals. Even those rare spells of the Gray Path, should one ever even remotely manage to assemble its component parts and learn it would exert an immense toll upon the body. In the modern age of Mirhne few, if any, can claim to have met someone with true world-defying magic and perhaps the reason is that its cost is simply too great. Indeed, perhaps using such magic (if it truly exist) will immediately take away the would be-sorcerer's identity and make him a pawn to gods-know-what.
• Becoming twisted and repurposed by the alien whims of the Sorcerers is a good vector for corrupt from the great unknown, assuming these beings are indeed real they would have access to spells which surpass those of the Gray Path both in power and toll.
• 'The Flesh Remembers' as the adage goes and many people in Mirhne have superstitions related to scarring and old wounds. The wounds inflicted by something suitably unnatural could very well be cursed. Outward physical transformation need no happen any time after infection. however. Rather, most symptoms of such a curse are mental.
• There are worlds beyond Mirhne, even if no one can truly claim to have walked back from them. They can be glimpsed in the murky water's shape, your reflection in the mirror, the sunset and of course dreams. If the current age of Mirhne slowly turn and the unnatural grow in power their connection to the Lands of Mirhne can grow. Perhaps some people are imposter whose bodies have been hollowed out and replaced things from another world?