Lands of Mirhne: Beastmen and Primal Cults of Mirhne

While Mirhne generally speaking doesn't have much in the way of traditional orcs and goblins, beyond the Low Men, some scenarios or turns of event may call for the need for some more 'proper' abominations cast in the rough shape of men should a Mirhne campaign advance beyond the initial setup and the veil slowly be lifted. There may come a time when darkness and madness covers the land and an ancient, primordial power truly awaken. However, it would be wrong to assume that the Fiends of Mirhne are the only ancient power to awaken. The age of madness, of beasts and devolution may come on day.

Overall there's not a whole lot to add about the Beastmen of Mirhne as they are conceptually quite similar to other infamous Beastmen of other fantasy works, albeit re contextualized when it come to their monstrous divine parentage and chaotic influence. Like the Fiends, the Beastmen are an 'optional' aspect to Mirhne should the campaign require slight retooling to add more fantastical elements.

The Primal Blood

Art by Leila El

It is the essence of nature, raw and bloody and terrifying. Nature is not a kind entity, collectively. It is violent, amoral and utterly opposed to the forces of civilization. Nature is the force of darkness, of the deep wild, of predation, destruction, reproduction and parasitism. It is an endless cycle, impersonal and vicious, which can only be harnessed or held at bay at the best of time. Some animals may be tamed, but most animals remain dangerous. Woods may be cut down but should nearby civilization fall, nature will retake its place and leave behind little of Man's work. Ultimately, nature is an uncaring primal force of chaos and not something beautiful.

In the many pantheons of Mirhne and its folklore, Nature and the wilderness very much has a life of its own. It is both an entity and some impersonal cosmic force which most definitely hold no mercy for humanity, especially in a land where beasts grow large, hungry and vicious. As doomsday may appear closer and closer and Mirhne is drawn toward ruins, there are cults which emerges. They are the resurgent cults of the old ways, of the old paths, when Man was ever so slightly closer to Beasts, before the time of bronze and iron. Not all of them are dangerous, at best they are but social misfit and warriors looking for a new spiritual purpose in an alienating age. Others? Well...

There is a power sleeping and fermenting inside Mirhne, which some say is the lost essence of Giants, of Titanic Demigods which existed as the connection between Earth and Heaven. Perhaps these two things are indeed the same or perhaps they are similar-yet-distinct phenomena. Either way, there is a corrupting power which slumbers inside Mirhne which the maddened have found and embrace. The Primal Blood which hold power over the ancient earth and the strength of the Gods which, they claim, mankind has rejected and in doing so has grown weaker. Those who embrace it are born anew and find themselves, they claim, to have become beloved by ancient goddesses of the wild and mighty and the adopted children of great Titan-Gods of forgotten ages. Strength, vitality and immortality is in their grasp. They enact great and terrible rites in the deepest and most forgotten places of Mirhne and through it are reborn.

Beastmen of Mirhne

The creatures called Beastmen are known only in myth, which are mostly lies and folklore. What is slowly awakening in the deepest reaches of Mirhne is something else entirely, the adopted children of sleeping Gods deep within the earth and of terrible mind-hives which whisper in the deepest forests the secrets of the universe. Beastmen are a living extension of ancient, dreadful Gods and monsters. They are their adopted children who have sacrificed their humanity and have been remade into thralls of these ancient powers. They gather in large bands, which are less like herds and more akin to an insect's hive in mentality and they slowly carve out domains deep within the earth with but rocks and teeth. They carve out the oldest and tallest trees. In the deepest reaches of Mirhne, they are building their power base. They are not intelligent creatures, not once the transformation has taken hold completely, but they are extremely driven and quite organized even if this may not appear as such due to their savage and chaotic way of fighting.

Chaos Spawn from Total War:
Warhammer.

Physically, Beastmen are closer to Teratoma Beasts than humans. Since the human form is mammalian (at least, initially before all the mutations occur), Beastmen of Mirhne tend to grow shaggy fur, claws and even horns, which are less like the horns of cattle and more crowns and plates of jagged bone which grows on their heads and shoulder. A vestigial tail, which humans have, has a tendency to grow. The end result is a creature which appears to be a cross between a man and a beast, but it is inaccurate to assume the beastial half of a Beastman of Mirhne to resemble any known animal. Great champions, which are said to be favored by their eldritch god-parents, possess a much greater amount of mutation and have transformed far beyond the normal human form, with multiple limbs: either as four arms, a centaur-like configuration or even wings.

While at their most basic they are 'monstrous humanoids', the Beastmen of Mirhne have received the favor of primal power and can often regenerate wounds in ways similar to a classic Troll and some particularly degenerate servants who have accrued great favor their eldritch god (if such beings even truly understand the concept of favors) have become massive, nearly unkillable juggernaut made of living cancer. Other disgusting abilities can include a toxic bite (from the accumulation of foul humour in their bodies and general lack of cleanliness), venomous pustule-sacs which can burn the skin or cut life short and even the ability to expel the toxins building in their bodies from the infusions of the Primal Blood. Given enough time to fester, Beastmen of Mirhne are a living laboratory of mutated flesh, new strain of diseases and various toxic byproducts as their bodies slowly break down, since mortal flesh was never meant to be so directly infused with their power. Given the results of human potential crossed with madness, these creatures exist in a state where they should be dead and yet keep on thriving. There are rumors of wretches, however, who are nothing more than slobbering masses of pus and goo which may or may not explode. Their existence is currently unclear.

Urban Fantasy: The Astral Border

There is more to the world than our universe as we know it. Some believe Earth and its universe could be the center of the universe, part of (or even a minor fragment) of some great Axis Mundi. Indeed countless beliefs and myths speak of such places and the worlds which exist beyond our own, from the terra incognita to the abodes of the gods. Such places are indeed real. Getting there, however, well that's going to be much harder and one need a starting place to reach the greater Supernatural Realms. As one can guess, the term 'Supernatural Realm' is the generic term for what Silent Legions calls a 'Kelipah'.

The Astral Border

Liminal space(?)

The Astral Border, as the name implies, is (in part) what exist between the material and immaterial world. The reason why the description says 'in part' is because there's a bit more going on there. There are two ways to access it: projection or physical travel, with each version having its own downside. Projection is the classic 'astral projection' where one's consciousness leave the body. It carries the obvious downside of one not bringing their full body to another world and instead walking into another realm with a thought form body, turning oneself into a temporary form of Spirit. The alternative is to enter physically, where one has their full body and capabilities but this carries the downside of making escape infinitely harder since one is fully within another realm.

Defining reality within the Astral Border is a complicated matter, as it is a series of locations (or perhaps just one location?) which exist between solid reality and the higher realms and conceptual locations. It also greatly overlap and connect to thought-realms such as Dreams and even possibly the cancerous pit from which all Demons emerge, a dark reflection of every evil thought of mankind. As a result, the Border is an ever-changing dreamscape-like location which makes mapping it completely and utterly pointless. How fluid the realm is and one's direct surroundings are can vary immensely of course, based on a variety of rather arbitrary factors. Generally speaking, the initial phase of the Border's appearance will be influenced by one's material surrounding and become an extension of it. A wall my suddenly split open, sprouting a new corridor with a door at the end which can either take one to a new location or simply lead to more bizarre reflections of the location, depending on a variety of factors such as: one's mastery of accessing the Border, one's mental state, one's time of day and/or any other number of completely arbitrary points. The Border is not a three dimensional space, it is a thought space and it contain both one's own thoughts and perception but also that of nearby individuals, the general mindset of an entire region and/or even the will of often eldritch Border Entities.

Certain locations which are steeped in history, both real and supernatural, have a habit of having their own 'style' of Border, recurring thoughts, ideas and landscapes which may stretch for miles on end and beyond. For example, London has a habit of its Border stretching into increasingly old fashioned landscaped haunted by fog and lit by lanterns, with abandoned carriages giving off a strange impression of an empty and almost post-apocalyptic London at the age of Jack the Ripper while Cairo will stretch into a mish mash of building, drawing inspiration from a fusion of Pharaonic Egypt, Ptolemic Egypt and of course modern architecture where ancient antediluvian cursed tombs fuse near seamlessly with the Cairo Metro system. Urban center have a habit of forming dense, multi-dimensional expanses of empty buildings inside more empty buildings, a reflection of how these cities are perceived and what they embody.

Travelling The Border

The main use for this strange extra-dimensional space is to use it as a temporary stop from our world to another reality. Because distances have no true meaning within the Border, it can connect to any and all realities and domains, given enough time and effort to travel down its ever-changing paths. The Border can be an interesting GM tools (and is very much how I use it), as it enable travel to far-flung locations without needing too much of securing a specific path or spell. The obvious downside of the Border, however, is time. While time within it can be a tad relative (what with not having any real sun or moon to keep track of), it nonetheless flows 1:1 with one's own reality. As a result, a trip through the Border to a different Realm can take days or weeks, assuming one doesn't get into serious trouble. Even with a stable landscape, it can take days of travel on foot or even on boat across imaginary oceans. As a result, it can be as close as one can get to wilderness travel and exploration in an urban fantasy game, which can be a nice (or annoying, it depend) change of pace.

Travelling the Border is very much rife with 'random encounters' too, some of which indeed are very random even in-universe. The Border is positively crawling with Spirits, or rather Astral Lifeforms. These simplistic entities are given form and shape by their environment, but their function is fairly similar all around. As Astral Predators gather around fresh human mind and souls to consume, they create a temporary shell of existence based around whatever form the Border has taken there. Some may animate from concrete and wires as shambling urban golem while others may take the form of fantastical beasts when inside the Border's wilderness yet they remain the same simplistic life forms.

Age of Fantasy: Building Paper Armies, Part 5 (and some added units)

More paper miniatures for Age of Fantasy! This time, with things being a little bit different thanks to posting some added rules and units. One thing which has long bugged me with the Vampiric Undead list in AOF is that it combine the WHFB Vampire counts with nearly every single 'Death' army in Age of Sigmar, barring the Nighthaunts and Ossiarch Bonereapers. This, as a result, has made this list positively massive but at the same time has made things a bit less focused. Still, looking at the sheer variety of undead as a feature and not a bug and, with October coming up soon, time to get spooky once more.

Vampiric Undead

Known in WHFB as the 'Vampire Counts' and in Age of Sigmar as the Legion of Nagash (which inherited many of their units), the Vampiric Undead list consist of a staggering variety of undead units, ranging from expendable zombie hordes to the rank-and-file skeletons which form the (heh) back bone of the army, alongside other units such as Ghouls, Wraith and even bat swarms. With the evergreen popularity of undead and vampires in the collective consciousness there is no shortage of miniatures when it come to all manners of undying monstrosities. This list, once further expanded with some key units and other cool paper minis, is really more of a conglomerate of different factions. Want to do an all-skeleton list with Necromancers and Liches, completely ditching the Vampire angle? You can! On the other hand, if someone want to lean into the vampiric angle some of these new units can really help set it apart from the hordes of skeletons.

Skeleton Units

Click for full size.

As previously mentioned, the Skeletons are the core of the various sub-factions and styles of the Vampiric Undead. They are simple, cheap and efficient: more intelligent than dumb zombies (despite having no brain left), they can hold weapons and fight as efficiently as they did while alive and come in a wide variety, from spearmen to cavalry to the newly added archers. In general, the new guys should probably be restricted to an all-skeleton army just to give them something to disgusting it but that's minor details.

• The skeletons come from the various bundles by One Monk/Mayhem in paper, which can be found on Drivethru RPG.

Of course, as mentioned the archers are a new unit type which add some ranged attacks to an otherwise mostly melee army, while the Skeleton Cavalry are a cheaper version of the Skeleton Knights allowing for cheaper mounted units.

Name [size]	Qua	Def	Equipment	Special Rules	Cost
Skeleton Archers [5]	5+	6+	Bows (24", A1), Hand Weapons (A1)	Undead	45pts
Upgrade with:
Sergeant					+5pts
Musician					+10pts
Battle Standard					+10pts

Name [size]	Qua	Def	Equipment	Special Rules	Cost
Skeleton Cavaliers [5]	5+	5+	Hand Weapons (A1)	Fast, Impact (1) Undead	80pts
Upgrade with:
Sergeant					+5pts
Musician					+10pts
Battle Standard					+10pts
Replace all Hand Weapons with:
Bows (24”, A1) and Hand Weapons (A1)					+10pts
Lances (A1, Impact(1))					+15pts

Vampire Counts

Click for full size.

If skeletons alone don't tick your funny bone, then there's always the special units which thematically are more associated with Vampires. A court of ghastly and gothic creatures can be yours to command with the Vampires, while the the newly added units can increase the variety of Vampires fielded. The key mechanic of vampires is the Furious mechanic, which grant them +1 attack when charging as they become frenzied with bloodlust. Where the skeleton and zombies are cheap and weak, Vampires have high quality and defense.

• Many of the vampire units are from Roads of Apocalypse, namely Armies of Undead faction the by the underrated Distrigillator. These can be found and bought on DrivethruRPG.
• Meanwhile, the old Vampire Lord can be found in the Undead Sampler from One Monk/Mayhem in paper here. The regular Ghoul also come from this. I forgot what specific One Monk set the Wraiths are from.
• The Bat Beast, Bat Horrors and Ghoul Horrors come from the PERMES Winged Ghouls set.

The new vampire units can be used to make a more elitist Undead army with a strong focus on the charge, which is something that the core AOF army list lack. However, its worth noting these guys are not rank and file troops and shouldn't be used as such.

Name [size]	Qua	Def	Equipment	Special Rules	Cost
Vampire Warriors [5]	3+	3+	Hand Weapons (A1)	Furious, Undead	95pts
Upgrade with:
Sergeant					+5pts
Musician					+10pts
Battle Standard					+10pts
Replace all Hand Weapons with:
Halberds (A1, Rending)					+10pts
Great Weapons (A1, AP(1))					+15pts

Name [size]	Qua	Def	Equipment	Special Rules	Cost
Ghoulish Skirmishers [5]	4+	5+	Bows (24”, A1), Hand Weapons (A1)	Furious, Undead	75pts
Upgrade with:
Sergeant					+5pts
Musician					+10pts
Battle Standard					+10pts
Upgrade with:
Scout					+30pts

Worlds Without Number: Forgotten or Lackluster D&D Monsters worth Importing

The upcoming Worlds Without Number from Sine Nomine is well on its way to be great, what with the usual excellence of projects by Kevin Crawford. While it could be used for fairly 'generic' fantasy, its core setting of Latter Earth is much more steeped into weird fantasy and scif-fantasy, akin to the pulp and fantasy of old which blurred the lines a lot more. While legally Kevin Crawford cannot flat out add any monster from Wizards of the Coast books that aren't SRD this can't and won't stop any aspiring Game Master. Given the focus on the weirder side of fantasy this got me thinking about the plethora of often forgotten and crappy monsters, especially those from the latter end of D&D Third edition and from Fourth edition. There's a ton of critters which were a flash in the pan and didn't come back for the very successful Fifth Edition, usually because they weird alien thingies with weird mechanics or barely cooked ideas. However, this make them well suited to be re-imagined for Worlds Without Number.

Generally I've stuck to monsters who have not made a transition to Fifth Edition.

Foulspawns/Ushemoi

A nice family picture.

Sources: Monster Manual V (3e), Monster Manual (4e)

The creatures called Foulspawn are to Anakim what the Anakim are to other human/demi-human. Their origins are unclear: perhaps they are the Ur-Anak, the original form of the living bioweapon of the Outsiders or perhaps they were the prototypes to the Anakim. While the Anak physiology is roughly human-like, albeit deformed or more fearsome looking, the Foulspawns only conceit to human physiology is that of general shape, usually that of a bipedal creature with two arms and two legs and even then not always. Foulspawn may share some vaguely biological similarity with the root race of humanity but their bodies are so bizarre as to be functionally Outsiders. Foulspawn are irredeemably mad, or at the very least completely and utterly alien as to find no common ground with other races and are driven by their own version of the "Hate" which extend over to to 'regular' Anakim. Perhaps they see them as 'too human' in relation to their alien physiology.

Foulspawn dwell in underground Arratu whose environment is so completely alien as to sometimes be enough to kill a human through mere exposure to meta-dimensional energies, toxic spores or flesh-eating mold caverns. Disturbingly, the Foulspawns are gifted with telepathic ability and their alien minds seem to almost exist on a separate plane, able to communicate across even time and space on some bizarre instinctual level few can grasp. Individuals and groups alike are in a state of biological flux and several individuals and breeds are able to mutate or 'evolve' in response to stress or even absorbing spells somehow. Despite their twisted appearance and seemingly mad behavior, several Foulspawn are towering giants when it come to intellect and spellcasting. They are, for all intents and purposes, a bridge between the Outsiders and the masses of demihuman. What flaw or limitation which exist in them which made them near extinct beyond certain pockets is unknown but some speculate they are sterile and cannot breed true without Outsider science and magic, which would require a human to transmute.

Silthilar and Zern

Source: Lord of Madness (3e) and Monster Manual IV (3e)

Two unrelated monsters with disturbing
similarities. Coincidence or...?

The term 'Outsider' in Worlds Without Number refer to alien beings which are either extraterrestrial and/or extradimensional. In the past, they ruled Latter Earth and enslaved humanity but now the rule of the innumerable creatures is shattered. There are many, many creatures found in a variety of often forgotten books which could form the basis for a race of Outsiders.

The Silthilar and the Zern are, unknown to most people and even themselves, the same race or at least share a common ancestor. Rulers of vast bio-engineered forests, jungles and other similar environments the ancestor of these creatures inhabited. They sought to engineer and achieve a state of biological perfection, although no two factions agreed on what that meant. The Silthilar have been broken and transformed into a sentient swarm while the Zern are diminished and limited to a form which roughly mock that of their human slaves, albeit one they can reorganize in fascinating ways to gain a temporary advantage. They have mastered the arts of genetic modification and inter-species grafting, which in ages past was a skill they often offered to other Outsiders to help create whatever minions they needed to engineer. The Silthilar clade of these beings are generally more open minded and respectful of life than the Zern but they remain exceedingly alien in their understanding of what life is and many will see no problem with engineering a life form beyond its normal limitations, granting it enhanced physical and mental abilities. Unfortunately the poor Silthilar will often express confusion at any rejection of its gifts and may not understand that a group of humans did not want to be, for example, merged into a single immortal organism. Different strokes for different 'people', really.

Mindshredders

Insectoid and hive-based? What a shock!

Source: Monster Manual III (3e)

The Mindshredders are alien creatures, designed as a biological weapon against civilizations whose advanced magic and technology derived from mental power, such as mind constructs, hive minds or simply the powerful will and intellect of a semi-immortal ruling caste. Mindshredders were engineered to counter such things. They are squat, insectoid creatures with a terrifying and dangerous ability to drain the mental energies of living beings (especially human, demi-human and even some Outsiders) as a food source. They have a life cycle split into three phases, with the mindless Larvae, the bulky Warriors and the intelligent (yet alien) 'Zenthal' which have bizarre yet potent psionic abilities.

Because their biology is built around feeding off mental energy, Mindshredders are pretty much 'locked' into a predatory lifestyle where they must find something with enough of a true mind to drain in order to sustain themselves, grow and eventually reproduce. It is unclear if they truly have anything resembling a culture beyond the Warriors and Larvae having some deference for the intelligent and fully matured 'Zenthal'. The eldest and most intelligent of the Zenthal rule a colony via their seniority and ensure the colony grows and remain safe.

The Yakuza Series, Sandbox and Setting Density

The North American PS2 cover
of the original game.

The Yakuza videogame series, or Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like A Dragon) in its original Japanese title, is a SEGA-produced beat 'em up/sandbox. Originally confined to the Playstation console for a long time, it has since seen the first three chronological entries (or rather, the remakes of two of them) ported to PC. This is how I finally got to play these games since I haven't owned a Sony home console since the PS2 days. This has allowed me to since experience Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 (the remakes of the original two games) and the prequel Yakuza 0. As one would expect, the Yakuza series is a beat 'em up/adventure/sandbox game about the seedy Japanese criminal underground and the world of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza. At least on paper because this is a series which is truly the king of mood whiplash, going from a hard biting crime drama full of drugs and murder to silly side stories about remote car racing or helping a young woman become better at her job when said job is being a dominatrix in an S&M club where she's too nice and polite for her own good. Yakuza is fucking weird.

The real standout element of these games, at least to me (beside hilariously surreal sub-stories) has been its setting, the fictional Kamurocho which is a fictional counterpart to Kabukicho. The interesting about Kamurocho, as a setting for an open world game, are two factors: one, its really damn small and two it return in every game as the story continues ranging from the 1980 of Yakuza Zero to the 2000 of Yakuza and forward into the 2010 and beyond as the series continues. Most open world games tend to go for truly massive scale or at least an attempt at faking it. In addition, most open world videogames usually go for a completely different map with each incarnation of the series to keep exploring fresh. Yakuza, however, completely and utterly sidestep this concept with Kamurocho. While the map does change slowly over time due to the place being renovated and rebuilt (as well as game and engine tweak) as well as adding other areas or places to explore, Kamurocho itself is a mostly static place when it come to its size and shape. The businesses obviously change location once in a while with each iteration of it but this is a fairly natural consequence of life in Tokyo as buildings are brought down, renovated and business change place. With its key streets, features and staple in place from Yakuza 0 to Yakuza 6, Kamurocho may yet be one of the most fleshed out and realized videogame settings out there. While the stories can get goofy and the protagonist ability to dispatch various punks and thugs border on the absurd, the location themselves feel very grounded.

Density Of Details

Kamurocho's oldest map chronologically
in Yakuza Zero (1988)

Kamurocho is very small by sandbox standards. If Tokyo as a whole was a hexcrawl, then it would be but a single hex. The difference is that Kamurocho feels rather 'lived in' and not just because it sometimes looks old and like crap, especially its back alleys. Every store, building, office and more displays a unique appearance of flashing neon signs. Every building is unique, even if due to gameplay limitations only a sparse few can be entered per game. One interesting aspect is that even in the mere few city blocks which forms Kamurocho, one can get a very different 'feel' from their environment, with the main streets such as constantly lit by neon and abuzz with people feeling quite different from the cramped Champion District, which is nothing but super cramped old buildings, back alleys and tiny bar. In addition to all this, there are added details such as the various restaurants which naturally do the locations: those which can be entered by Kiryu (the protagonist) all have their own unique menu of food and drinks, unless its a chain restaurant in which case the menu will be the same across Kamurocho or even other places which can be visited such as Sotenbori.

Another detail of the Yakuza series which is both budget-saving as much as it add to the setting is the fact that, since the world which the protagonists inhabit is so small, they are bound to constantly run into action in the same locations. From random encounter of thugs and drunks as one walk by them to side quest and story missions, there are only so many street corners and buildings in Kamurocho. As one plays through Yakuza, both a single game and sequels, there will slowly form a tapestry of stories which unfolded in certain locale. In any other game, a location called 'Park 3' where homeless people gather would be rather forgettable as a dime a dozen city location that looks like shit. However, in Yakuza 1, when a cutscene occurs there I am reminded that in Zero, more than a decade ago in-universe, this was a location of a quest where some bums want booze and turns you into an errand boy. This may seem innocuous or not-so-noteworthy but within the context of Yakuza Zero the information they give set the protagonist further along the path of starting the story of said game proper and uncover the mysteries of its plot. Playing through a few Yakuza games slowly build a sense of familiarity with Kamurocho, turning even empty backlot into places where some story, no matter how minor, may have happened. For another example, the South eastern parts of Kamurocho are fairly barren streets in mosr games, lacking any major plot location or more than a single diner or a single mini-game location. Yet even an area which seem devoid of content is not, because these streets were the location of other side stories which began elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Is such a small scope setting suited to all tabletop campaigns? Obviously not. However there a few things to learn from Kamurocho. While a location in a campaign may initially just be randomly generated (and that's fine), the small and tightly knit Kamurocho make me ask: "Why create a new location if you don't need it?". Perhaps the next time players are chasing a goblin infestation or trying to corner a thieves band, their enemies run back into a known location which has been previously visited by the players. Describe the same old alleys. There is something to be said about the familiar and it slowly but surely build the setting into its own character. Why create new locations which are described in crude terms once when one can slowly build on top of a pre-existing setting? Of course, it doesn't mean that the setting can't change over time: it will, absolutely. New buildings pop up, old buildings are torn down. People move in, people move out. New criminals enter an area and cut their turf in new ways. However, with a solid foundation of recurring locations it make people, in my opinion, care more.