The Vendraminian Orc

Danny Vendramini has a pretty cooky and 'out there' theory about Neanderthals: they were mostly nocturnal, carnivorous and even flat out predatory toward ancient humans. Our conception of what ancient human relatives were like has indeed changed over time, from simple minded brutes to being mostly like us. Danny, on the other hand, goes in a radically different direction and posit they were nocturnal cannibals and rapists and are the root of modern humans and our mythology of monsters. Now I will fully admit to knowing a whole lot about Neanderthals or if his theory has any valid ideas in it. It probably doesn't and might end up in the dustbin of cooky, crackpot theories. However, if one look into it we see some interesting recurring elements spanning from ancient mythology to modern pop culture emerge.

The 'Real' Monster?

Crackpot's Neanderthal...or just an Orc?

Vendramini's Neanderthal has many features we do associate with our modern conception of Neanderthal, namely its squat and powerful build. His recreation, however, is that of a much more ape-like and monstrous creature whose thick bones are used to support very large muscles. The strange and large eye sockets of Neanderthal skulls are related to their night vision and nocturnal predatory habits. These creatures are exclusively meat eaters and are super predators which hunt both megafauna as much as they hunt early modern humans for meat and/or sexual satisfaction. So what we have here is a short but very powerful, incredibly vicious creature whose ape-like features belies an incredibly high level of intelligence, but this intelligence is that of a born hunter and killer. They stalk the dark forests, hunt and raid in bands and generally tend to despise sunlight because they are nocturnal.

Danny Vendramini's Neanderthals are Orcs. Or rather, they fit in the overall cultural archetype of the orc, the goblin, the troll and similar monsters. This is a point Vendramini even makes: that our concept of monsters, from trolls to werewolves to vampire to the 'woodwose' of medieval folklore to the modern day version of the werewolf myth or even the slashers of B-movies are all expressions of this monster which humanity relegated to myths and legend yet retain a fear on an instinctual and genetic level. These would, in turn, pass on into our collective image with things such as cavemen in pulp novels and Tolkien's creation of the Orc, themselves derived from the myth of Beowulf and the monster Grendel.

But Aren't We (Mostly) Part Neanderthal?

Its generally understood that Neanderthal never truly went extinct and that large groups of human carry in them their DNA. That's the generally agreed story of how Neanderthal came to an 'end': it was out-competed by humans and bred out, their lineage melding into our own and influencing the genetic makeup of many modern human to a varying degree, even if I'm sure by the time I write this post there's going to be a dozen more articles debating the finer points. This part here is asking, if this more fantastical Neanderthal was real within the confines of a fictional setting what would this lingering admixture bring to humanity?

Well, I'll redirect people to a blog that's much more famous than this dumpster fire. This is a post from Joseph Manola at Against the Wicked City. It discuss the 'criminal man' theory from Cesare Lombroso and his idea that some people are just born criminals. The post goes on to postulate about the backstory of the Criminal Man: monstrous, atavistic ogres who live a life of carnage and destruction in the primordial past which became replace by the softer, weaker but more restrained humans. This connect well with Vendramini's version of Neanderthal as a strong, vicious and carnivorous rapist which drove humanity to eventually fight back and destroy them, fading into myths. In the Joseph Manola story, the soft mutants (early Men) are cursed to always carry the blood of the atavistic monsters. In modern genetics, we carry in us the touch of Neanderthal.

Really makes you wonder about the implications if we mix both stories huh?

Lands of Mirhne: The Sorcerers, Part 2

For some on Mirhne, the term 'Sorcerer' conjure up the image of evil foreign wizards. They are foul men indebted to even fouler gods with 'unnatural' features to the Men of Mirhne. The isolation of Mirhne's culture has bred a certain level of xenophobia. To some extent this is to be expected or even healthy, as in their barbaric world anything which is foreign is a potential enemy or rival. One Sorcerer has exploited this stereotype willingly and openly, marking himself as a strange and vile exotic threat, preying on the superstition of the Men of Mirhne.

Arash Adraj, the 'Man of the South' (The Trickster)

Art by Duy An Doh.

The sorcerer who call himself Arash Adraj is the archetypal evil sorcerer from foreign lands. His features are either swarthy and hideous or strangely thin and sallow. His clothing, whichever form it take, is always strange and exotic and colorful compared to the more drab colors of the Men of Mirhne. He is either bald with busy eyebrows or sporting a magnificent beard which is style in odd and foreign ways. Whenever he does appear, he conjure the image of all which is alien and exotic. The men of Mirhne fear him as the evil foreigner with inscrutable goals, who speak in forbidden tongues and worship evil foreign gods.

In truth, this is (mostly) an act. For he is The Trickster.

A master of disguise and illusions, the man who goes by the current identity of 'Arash Adraj' has had many names thanks to his extended life span and unnatural powers, the only things the Sorcerers share among each others. He is the weakest of the Sorcerers and the only one which has likely been born in past centuries, to some isolated island folks to the deepest south of Mirhne. Ethnically and culturally distinct as they might have been they were still cousins to the men of Mirhne and not evil, devils-worshiping barbarians. Should one dig into the past of Arash Adraj they would, perhaps, be able to discover that he is the most recent of the Sorcerers and began his life as a mortal man (whether he still is a human being is debatable) in these now mostly extinct folks before learning his craft at the hand of one or more Sorcerer, enacting foul rituals and sacrificing people to eldritch powers. Of the Sorcerers he is among the most active in recent history and yet the hardest to ascertain. The man calling himself 'Arash Adraj' is a master of disguises, both magical and mundane. He has learned to speak hundred of languages and even invented some languages and accents whole cloth to further play along his disguise as strange foreign travelers. Simple trickery and manipulation come naturally to him and he can accomplish much without any hint of true eldritch powers.

His current identity as Arash Adraj is a relatively recent creation. After claiming one or more remote locations, he used his powers and manual labor to construct crude palaces which were then coated in layers of illusion to appear far larger and more grandiose than they really are. From these bases of operation he has created the identity of 'Arash Adraj'. an evil foreigner with inscrutable motives enthralled to evil gods, a slayer of kings and the supposed envoy of an evil empire from the other side of the world. Of the Sorcerers he is the most motivated by material wealth and pleasure but, given his nature as a trickster nobody can ever ascertain what his real, eldritch goals, might be.

• The Trickster/'Arash Adraj' is the most approachable of the Sorcerers and the one most suited to be a patron...yet is also quite dangerous and a liability. His person as a mad, exotic wizard or some evil exiled emperor might be quite amusing but they are enforced cruelly. Many of his slaves die in terrible display of violence ever so often if only so he can make grandiose declarations akin to "You have failed me for the last time!".
• The Trickster has a harem in his 'Arash Adraj' and he is not above kidnapping beautiful young maiden. The truth is that he isn't as vile as the stories claim and his many wives do live a rather lavish wife. Of course, the Trickster is not above sacrificing a few of them once in a while to power eldritch rituals or if he suspect one of them is trying to usurp him. He also has a second harem of men but those he keep for other identities and disguises...
• Any possible adventure could lead into the Trickster being the real 'man behind the man'. As the weakest Sorcerer he can make a good antagonist, since any mighty thewed barbarian hero has a chance to take him on in a fight. Whether or not the killing blow was a real killing blow and not an illusion, however, well that will remain to be seen...

Lands of Mirhne: The Sorcerers, Part 1

This is a repeat and expansion of the information which exist on the Sorcerers, as previously outlined in this post.

The Sorcerers are each unique individuals and they been woven through the history and myth of Mirhne. They are immortal and in the shape of men and women but beyond that who or what they are is unclear. They are said to possess unique powers, can speak all languages, curse the land, summon dead gods and travel all corners of the earth even beyond Mirhne. Sometimes the stories say they were the chosen servants of the Gods of old while others claim they are the last survivors of an older race of men, one closer to the powers of the gods. Others make them out to be evil and jealous individuals who have taken into themselves dark powers which no mortal should ever bear inside their flesh and soul. Some say they are all as old of Mirhne itself and were there when the land was young while others claim they are evil, foreign people with foreign magic and foreign gods to be feared and reviled by 'all good folks' (as the people of Mirhne often fear strangers from faraway lands). Their exact nature is unclear but so are their numbers, with an estimate around nine and twelve, assuming some names which pop up in myths are alternate names or conflation of different sorcerers.

The Sorcerers are as close as the Lands of Mirhne get to a classical spellcaster and even then, these beings are not a mere playable class. They are each a unique yet optional NPC, potential patron or even major antagonist. Much of their nature is mere hearsay and speculation and it is very likely that whatever is true of one sorcerer is untrue of another. Perhaps the only thing they do share in common is that each is a more/less-than-human, semi immortal being with powers to truly bend reality. While seemingly human in form they are alien and aloof in their goals.

The Night Witch

Art by Gal Or

Aloof and painfully beautifully, the Night Witch is the archetypal lady of dark magic, straddling the line between near mortal spellcaster and goddess of wrath. She is both the most physically and mentally human of the Sorcerers  and also one of the more alien and ill understood. She is a recurring figure in history. Kings and heroes have been driven mad by their desire to claim her as a lover and ancient tales speak in equal measure of her fruitful romances as much as it speak of dreadful curses and love affairs which end in bloodbaths. Some believe she is able to change form (all of them beautiful and terrible) while others believe there have been more than one Night Witch, as some stories do speak of her being (somehow) tricked and killed by a jealous rival or having passed the mantle from mother to daughter.

In truth, while the Night Witch is certainly desirable and gifted with a perfect, ever youthful body she is not as much of a sexual being as people believe her to be, although past incarnations/mantle bearer may indeed perhaps indulged far too much in their power over weak willed men (and women!). Perhaps it is due to this reputation of inciting desire and creating these painful tales of love, lust and revenge that the Night Witch has faded more and more in history, as making herself the center of attention has perhaps ended poorly several times. It is also possible that she has grown tired of mortal companionship, seeing lovers die one after the other. If this is true then perhaps her eternal youth is somehow limited to only herself or, at the very least, whoever hold the mantle of the Night Witch.

The Night Witch is a mistress of many arts beyond the gift of her ageless body, which makes her physically potent. Her title come from her powers of shadows and the night, although this is not directly the creation of physical darkness: the Night Witch can obscure or reveal certain facts, acquire long lost knowledge or curse people to forgetfulness. She can appear and disappear and maybe extend such gifts to others. Mists, clouds and even dust storms can obscure her domain as much as a metaphorical fog of forgetfulness. She is said to be a mistress of the arts of healing too but it appears she cannot give true immortality to men.

• For some players, actually attempting to court the Night Witch may be a valid goal.  Beyond the mere physical desires she may entice, many believe her to be the ideal queen or guardian mother of a people, as old tales do speak of her (or one of her predecessors) to have one time ruled a kingdom. In those days she was beloved by her people and feared by her enemies and many believe that winning her heart could establish the greatest kingdom on Mirhne.
• Alternatively, a female player character may seek the patronage of the Night Witch in a bid to further cement her power and influence through fear, as the Night Witch may very well be among the most powerful women in Mirhne. Of course that's assuming she's actually human.
• As one with powers to hide or reveal, it may be that the Night Witch knows some piece of information which no one else on Mirhne knows.
• Finally her medical knowledge may be the only way to restore one's crippled body without selling out oneself to truly eldritch powers.

Lands of Mirhne: The Darklands

Art by Hans Park

A recurring pattern which emerges across the various Lands of Mirhne posts are repeated mentions of the 'deepest and darkest wilderness' in some shape or form, hinting that Mirhne has corners of its wild which are considered terrifying and deeply unsettling even to its hardy people, as well as considering them to be completely and utterly beyond the reach of civilization and mankind. One can travel there, one can explore it and, if they are lucky, maybe survive it. But they won't conquer it. These places are beyond the reach of civilization.

For most of these, it is simply a matter of environments. These are inhospitable lands filled with dangerous animals and whatever less dangerous regions of Mirhne exist have only slowly been taken over by humanity's presence through centuries. Others are home to greater terrors and are truly monster-infested. They are the den of degenerate Low Men, who have split from their much more peaceful kin or been exiled due to their vile worship of dark powers or due to sickness or the den of Teratoma Beasts. Other still, however, are different: stories claim they are lands-between-the-worlds, places which are the 'cracks in the world'. Myths and folklore call them wounds or pox marks upon the stretched surface of Mirhne, from which not only unholy things have crawled but, more often than not, things have fallen into. These are similar to the concept of Kelipot from Silent Legion. Or perhaps, more strangely, Mirhne itself is a form of Kelipot.

The Darklands

The Darklands are comparable to the places such as the Underdark or Feywild of D&D. They are otherworldly and dangerous places but they are not as completely removed from the 'normal' world as another, more alien plane of existence would be. The Darklands are pockets of the odd places of the world, the cracks in reality (assuming Mirhne itself isn't just a bigger crack?). They take a variety of form but most are fairly shadowed places, hidden cave networks and valleys deep within mountain ranges with slightly impossible geometry. There isn't much else to add to the Darklands themselves are conceptually they are nothing new to tabletop fantasy settings and they aren't anything that strive to reinvent the wheel.

Rather, its their inhabitants and content which I wish to slightly flesh out:

• The Darklands, as mentioned, are a good location for a full blown 'monster lair'. While Mirhne tries to often be ambiguous, sometimes a monster lair is a monster lair. There are creatures which are vile, twisted and/or ancient and wholly taken by supernatural forces or twisted and corrupted beyond their natural forms. Hidden away from the world they can fester in the dark.
• There are many exotic beasts which exist in the Darklands, some of them which may appear quite monstrous but are technically nothing more than animals. Some believe them to be mundane creatures which became lost between worlds and have wondered into the Darklands from far away places. Some appear as unusual variations of known beasts while others are wholly alien (as in possibly extra terrestrial, perhaps?) animals.
• Strange, thin and troglodyte half-men exist in the Darklands. They are pale, thin creatures with often hairless heads and impossibly slight stature. While the Mirhnian term for them could be translated in English as analogous to 'elf' or 'fairy' these strange beings can be quite dangerous. Legends say they eat not only the flesh and bones of men but their very memories. Some obscure folklore tales say that in ancient times, Priests fed them the bodies of dead kings and poets so that their knowledge would survive in these beings. That their caves are decorated with strange, impossible runes and painting which seemingly describe events and stories deep into the past hint at this being true.
• Some say sorcerers travel down to the Darklands to speak with the petrified bodies of dead God-Kings and that ancient temples made of stone and/or bone exist deep within the earth, where mad men gather in the depths of giant's ribcages to chant dreadful dirges and enact dark rituals which make the very earth shake and summon misfortune and disasters.

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.

Lands of Mirhne: Beasts of Mirhne, Part 2

After writing the original post, I realized there wasn't a whole lot of new content. Not only that but, despite the post alluding to creatures such as the Owlbear and Chimera, the three sample Beast types where fairly mundane creature. The Lands of Mirhne have many, many other monstrosities beyond the more common creatures described as there is never a shortage of nightmares for adventurers to face.

Prehistoric Beasts

Art by Kurt Miller

Mirhne, given many of its pulp roots, plays only lip service to paleontology. While most animals found in the Lands of Mirne are (mostly) identical to the modern day Earth, there are creatures which can be found lurking in the depths of the Lands. Sometimes, these creatures make their way from either the northern lands or out of the dark swap and forest, scaring the local people. These are creatures which we would recognize as extinct but on Mirhne they somehow still exist. These can provide quite the encounter for those unlucky travelers and explorers.

• Saber-Tooth Cats still exist in the north reaches and are known to be natural creatures, albeit of an exotic kind which is slowly dying off. Nonetheless, these large cats are analogous to various breed of large cats found on Earth with the signature saber teeth.
• Mammoths prowl the northernmost parts of Mirhne. They too are a dying breed of creature, with the larger breed being mostly extinct, leaving only smaller pigmy breeds. Of course, a 'small' mammoth is still a fairly dangerous animal capable of viciously goring a grown man.
• As mentioned here, some 'Giants' of Mirhne may not be giants at all but rather particularly large simian creatures. These large, shaggy apes are somewhat analogous to real life extinct hominids as well as modern day Gorilla.
• Like all other animals of Mirhne, the prehistoric animals are capable of becoming Beasts. These Ancient Beasts are particularly large and ferocious specimen which have seen the turn of the ages and hibernated for a long time.

Teratoma Beasts

Art by Paul Canavan.

When it come to fantastical tales of extraordinary creatures, they tend to come in two categories: larger than life version of real life animals or a combination of two or more creatures. The Chimera is the most famous of these and the namesake of the term. There are many other, of course, such as the Pegasus and for fantasy there is the Owlbear and more. Creatures whose description is a nonsensical mixture of different animals of vastly different and unrelated species. They seem to be something which haunt the imaginary of humanity, with even modern cryptids such as the Chupacabra being often described as a mixture between a dog and a lizard. And, of course, who can forget the ever iconic concept of the dragon, which Chinese myth describe as an amalgam of several animals including an eagle, a crab and more while western depictions combine reptilian and chiropteran traits more often than not, when it isn't taking cues from antiquated depictions of dinosaurs.

Mirhne also has stories of these and they are all fairly fantastical, speaking of great horned bears with the jaws of wolves or sharks or of a dreadful saber cat with tongues made of snakes. Other stories speak of lumbering giants with shaggy fur and many heads, some of them eerily human-like and others the head of beasts. The northern folks speak of great, murderous elk monsters with slavering jaws and prehensible antlers on their heads as well as giant scaled seals which can eat entire boats.

These stories are not lies, but they aren't accurate.

Cleric Beast by Igor Krstic

Teratoma Beast is the out of universe term for this phenomena, should it be true. As it has been established, things on Mirhne have a bad tendency to never truly die and animals grow larger and vicious with age, sometimes becoming infested with a sickness or refusing to die. Nightmare Beasts could be considered the ultimate apotheosis of a Beast, once its body and mind has been so worn down and transformed as to not resemble its original form. Make no mistake, however: the idea that they are a mix-and-match different animals is a lie. 

What happen, rather, is a mixture between cancer and individual evolution. The creatures never stop growing and changing and more and more of their body is changed and replaced by....something else. Skin peel off or become covered in scabs which in time grow into thick jagged bone spurs which interlock, giving the illusion of steel-hard scales. Teeth fall off and are replaced by monstrous fangs. Skull expand and warp with tumors that harden, creating an illusion of horns. Limbs lengthen and eventually break, reshaping into new and twisted articulations as muscles grotesquely adapt to this new form. For others, entirely new organs form, such as redundant malformed heads or fleshy pseudopods. If Mirhne has anything resembling a classical Dragon, it would be a nightmare creature so twisted beyond its original form as to be impossible to ascertain what it originally was born as its entire body is essentially an hyper-adapted Teratoma. Disturbingly, some Teratoma Beast gain increased intelligence, a semi-bipedal posture and even opposable thumbs. It is possible these rare and elusive creatures have played into the stories of Giants. Or, perhaps they were once human and are to Men as to what other Teratoma Beasts are to animals.

What Unearthly Powers a Teratoma Beast would have is entirely up to the GM and each should be made as unique as possible, as each is a completely unique monstrosity. Generally speaking, the younger one is the more it resemble its original self and the older it is the larger and more mutated it become, creating a truly nightmarish Lovecraftian monstrosity which wouldn't look out of place as, say, a videogame monster.

Lands of Mirhne: Beasts of Mirhne, Part 1

Monstrous animals and mythical beasts have long been a staple of not only mythology, but tabletop as a whole. The Calydonian Boar, the giant wolf Fenris and more are creatures of myth which are great and terrible beasts, while creatures such as the Chimera are amalgamation of different animals. Tabletop RPG have continued this tradition by inventing their own staple monsters, with D&D debuting creatures such as the Owlbear and Bulette. There is something rather logical as to why monsters are beasts: there's something primordial to it. In ancient times, when all we had was fire and spears, a creature like a bear was a dangerous foe. Monstrous and magical beasts continue this concept but takes it to the imaginary and the extreme.

As written here, on Mirhne 'there are beasts, and then there are Beasts'. Mundane animals are dangerous enough in the Lands of Mirhne that some bad luck during a hunt can mean death as a boar or deer become enervated by fear and kills a hunter, while wolves and bears can often kill and eat travelers if they aren't careful or become lost. The Beasts of Mirhne, however, are something else: they are larger, stronger and stranger creatures. A pack of wolves may plague a region, but a Black Wolf is a monster on a killing spree, gorging itself on cattle and children, actively hunting humans. Beasts of Mirhne are creatures which exist beyond the mundane, creatures which grow old and vicious, with a taste for human blood that cannot ever be sated. There is something unnatural and vicious to them which goes far beyond the possibility of it being a particularly large specimen. Many of them are afflicted by sickness or even deformities, yet in spite of their ruined forms they continue to grow in power and intellect despite showing signs of advanced age, with the greatest of them having faded into myths as giant beasts slain by heroes of old. These creatures are the Beast of Mirhne and they are the scourge of men.

Beasts of Mirhne are always unique or semi-unique creatures. They have usually above 5HD, which immediately put them above and beyond the average peasant or warrior. The key difference between them and regular animals, however, is the increased intellect and their unearthly powers, many of which can be reused from Wolves of God relatively easily. In many cases, it is somewhat unclear if those are truly supernatural powers or not, however as Mirhne is somewhat low on openly supernatural and impossible powers, preferring to remain in the ambiguous. Mechanically, however, these are completely 'unfair' powers these creatures have.

Black Wolves

Artist Unknown

Terror of livestock and devourer of travelers, the Black Wolves are huge beasts with tangled dark fur and slavering jaws. The wolves that inhabit the Lands of Mirhne are naturally large and dangerous creatures, but the dreaded black wolves surpass all of them in sheer size and ferocity. These creatures are not pack hunters but rather always solitary killers who are not above killing and eating other, smaller wolves in any territory it infest. Their fur is tangled, messy and oily only for it to break apart and become sparse in some areas of their bodies where great scars and/or scabs afflict their hide. Some believe Black Wolves are the oldest of the wolves, who have grown in size and cunning over the years. It is believed that the more a wolf eat man-flesh, the closer it become to these creatures. In time, these creatures become so aggressive as to chase off or eat their pack and offsprings alike, become solitary killers who actively hunt down humans with an unnatural intellect. Many of these creatures display signs of sickness and deformities and it is not uncommon for them to grow additional, jagged teeth or for their worn down teeth to fall off and be replaced as sharks do. 

Black Wolves can be excellent 'rampaging' monsters in a Lands of Mirhne game, albeit one where simply tracking it down and defeating the creature may be somewhat harder than it initially seem. Black Wolves are cunning creatures and capable of complex leap of logic and are often imbued with an almost supernatural level of stealth. While they go on a rampage easily, they know when to pull back and hide as they understand laying low can let them kill again another day. They are not mindless killers, not one bit. Tracking down one to its lair may end up with the hunters lost in the wilderness, where the hunter become the hunted as the creature kills them one by one. Black Wolves usually have Unearthly Powers of Might or of Wildnerss.

The Sickness/The Scabbies

Art by Notesz ᛞ

While the Black Wolves display signs of sickness, it is seemingly not the cause of their transformation. Other creatures are not so lucky. There is a sickness afflicting many creatures in Mirhne, akin to a cross between what we should recognize as Mange and the Shope Papilloma Virus. Its exact nature and vector is unclear, as Mirhne's medical science is near non existent. The sickness manifest as boil, sores or scabs eating away at the flesh of a creature infected with it and its effect upon the infected animal usually result in a quick death in less than a year. It is unclear if it can be transmitted to humans but it probably can. Creatures which survive the infection, however, are damned and mutated by its effect. The infection kills all it touch (eventually) but, as previously established, on Mirhne particularly old and ferocious creatures tend to grow stronger with age and those unlucky beast who catch the sickness are strong enough to not die. To live with this sickness, however, is a fate worse than death. Somehow, there is a certain 'symbiosis' with the disease which occurs in potent hosts able to survive it, creating scarred and malformed creatures covered head to toe in scars, boils, tumors or worse. The resulting Beast is a creature turned mad with pain. Particularly disturbing specimens will exhibit massive growth spurts for no explainable reason, with skin rupturing and jagged bones poking out from the spine or limbs.

Creatures afflicted with the Sickness or 'Scabbies' tend to include bears as well as most herbivores such as grazing animals and boars. In spite of their clearly sick bodies they are infused with an unnatural vitality yet are in constant pain and as such are a much better fit for a truly dangerous 'rampaging monster'. Even when the host was previously a herbivore, they are now carnivorous and will chow down on just about any animal they can get within reach of their maw. They no longer fear humans but many of them develop an allergy to sunlight and will hide in caves or other dark places until the sun goes down, at which point their rampage begin. Their Unearthly Powers are of Might or Health, but only when it come to self sustaining or inflicting diseases.

The Spiders of Mirhne

Art by Nicole Owens

The Spiders of Mirhne are ancient and alien creatures. Common house spiders are one thing, since they are endemic to the Lands of Mirhne as they are anywhere else on Earth. The Spiders of Mirhne, however, are something else entirely. These Beasts range from the size of a house cat to that of a large bear and perhaps even beyond. It is said that, on Mirhne, spiders never stop growing and they grow larger and smarter for each mortal soul they trap in their web and consume. However, web spiders are not the only type of Spiders of Mirhne and they come in a staggering variety of different shape, color and method of attack. Spiders of Mirhne are also said to be able to mimic voices. These creatures are patient and cunning hunters and even the least of their kind has enough intellect to set up complex trap and tunnel systems, creating intricate lairs where it trap vermin, pets and small children. In the darkest woods, meanwhile, large webs criss-cross the canopies of trees and spiders feed on boar, elk and bear cups, sucking them of their blood and fluid as their victims are trapped in a cocoon. Deeper underground, still, are the lair of even older spiders, the brood mothers some believe. Or it could simply be tall tales, as surely Mirhne has enough dangerous wild life that gigantic spiders would seem ridiculous!

Spiders of Mirhne are the most varied of the Beasts, yet also among the more commonplace as nearly every village has at least one Spider within its general vicinity, even if that creature is the size of a chicken and only come out when the nights are pitch black so it remain unseen, less some angry farmhand or panicking you attempt to squash it with a mallet. The lesser spiders are only dangerous to adult and warriors due to their poisonous bite as they are much smaller and softer, unable to survive a sturdy war hammer or a cutting blade. Anything larger, however, is truly a monster. They have Unearthly Powers of Deceit or of Cursing. The aquatic 'cousin' of the Spiders are the Crabs of Mirhne and they tend to be more powerful and direct fighters, relying on their armor and might, guarding treasures in coves. Or so the legends go.

Lands of Mirhne: Playing a Priest of Mirhne

Art by Daniel Zrom

Mirhne is a land short on divine miracles. Its people understand that the Gods are distant and that mankind is to be left to its fate. Only the truly foolish believe that direct, divine intervention could ever occur. This is not to say the folks of Mirhne lack faith, far from it. However it is important to understand that their land and world is not that of high fantasy where the power of the Gods is some commodity reduced to a mere spell list to be thrown around foolishly. The power of the Gods of Mirhne is in the strength, virtues, convictions and knowledge passed on to the Men of Mirhne. It is found in the strong rule of a just King (even if those seem to be ever more rare with each generation, as Mirhne is a poor land where compromise and cruelty is common), the brave heart of a warrior and the skills passed down from mother to daughter and father to son. Civilization itself is the bounty of the Gods, their rites and rituals.

One can only hope it can ever really hold at bay the true terrors of the world.

Playing a Priest of Mirhne is different from playing a typical Cleric. Their lot is not that of an anachronistic crusader-crossed-with-Van Helsing (as the archetypal Cleric of OD&D has been described). A Priest of Mirhne is not a class, but rather a character concept and archetype. Many Priests are Experts and have dedicated their lives to the various crafts and rites which are transmitted from generation to generation. They oversee rituals of the crops, of the forge and of mourning. There rites are manifold and they vary from village to village, clan to clan and from north to south. They perform sacrifices at the correct dates and are often taught the primitive semi-languages and codes which they transmit what few knowledge cannot be passed on orally. Other Priests are of the Warrior class and their craft is that of the rites of war and bloodshed or of the sacred hunt. Ritualized violence is expected in Mirhne and many priests are just as much bloody-handed warriors as they are holy men. They oversee warrior lodges, the rituals which invoke good fortune on the battlefield, the introduction of boys into the world of men, the sacrament of kings and the funeral of warrior and hunters.

• The 'abilities' of a Priest of Mirhne aren't the byproduct of a class so much as their accumulated skill, knowledge and social clout. As a result, the following Foci combined with the appropriate skills and background are well suited to Priests: Authority, Diplomat, Gifted Surgeon, Polymath and Specialist.
• Some Priest of Mirhne do have some low-key supernatural abilities which others can choose to interpret as divine blessing. These can include the Foci Lucky and Nullifier. From Codex of the Black Sun a few more could be suitable (give or take some crunch tweaking), such as Blade Ward, Compelling Gaze, Occult Healer, Soul Shield, Witch Finder or even Weapon Unity.

The powers of the Priests of Mirhne exist within the same vague area as many others in the setting, ranging from simple real life phenomena pushed to a slightly weirder and 'pulp' style to in-universe misunderstandings to vaguely-supernatural expressions of human potential.

Lands of Mirhne: The Fiends of Mirhne

 There are various mythologies in our world which are replete with monsters of a particular nature: creatures which are akin to ogres or demons, monsters of myth and legend which yet appear to be creatures of flesh and blood. They are monsters, yes, bogeymen in the dark. However they are not abstract evil spirits born of nothing but rather descend from cursed humans or others of their kind. Even more troubling is that there are sometime stories where they have interbred with gods and/or mortals. Creatures such as the Fomorian or the Rakshasa come to mind.

Mirhne has its own breed of monsters of myth and legend, dreadful and unholy creatures which legendary heroes and villain either claim to have defeated or to descend from or, in some cases, may even have taken as brides. They are the inhuman monsters which walk a fine line between eldritch terror and all too human, what with their hubris and greed. They are the disowned children of the Gods, some claim, while others say they are the fallen races of men predating the Men of Mirhne. The Fiends of Mirhne fit a campaign role similar to the concept of Snake-Men in other Sword & Sorcery settings. They are the intelligent and decadent pre-human race with twisted sorcery whose wickedness was bred into a subset of humanity. They can also fill a niche similar to both the Mi-Go and the Deep Ones.

The Fiends of Mirhne are one of the few aspect of its lore which can be spoken of in more certain terms rather than vague rumours, as their existence is functionally optional to a Mirhne campaign beyond a few odd scattered ruins which exist as dungeons full of monsters, abandoned thralls and traps and all that with rewards which may very well be cursed. The full presence of a living, breathing Fiend able to interact with the player characters would be a major game-changer and signal a fundamental change to the Lands of Mirhne.

The Fiends of Mirhne

Art by Antonio J. Manzanedo

The true origins of the Fiends of Mirhne are lost to history, with only incoherent or conflicting mythology. What a surprise that is. Some of the southern folks of Mirhne speak of the Fiends as emerging from now sunken islands, underground tunnels or the swaps to reign for a few centuries before god-kings of old displaced them. Others claim they were the twisted, monstrous sons of kings of old who consorted with dark spirits and became monsters in flesh and mind. The Fiends are all over Mirhnian mythology but very little can be established with any coherency beyond the following: they are flesh and blood, they bred true with humans, their minds were human-like with a great ego and finally their form was monstrous beyond belief. They are driven by hunger, greed and lust and they supposedly left behind great tombs, dungeons and more where their cursed treasures lay.

Of course, no one today can claim to have seen a Fiend of Mirhne. They are the monsters of legend, from beasts which prey upon humans akin to Grendel to great demon lords who kidnap beautiful princess, either to keep as bride or to violently abuse depending how the story is told, as generally the version told to children is somewhat lower on the lurid details. Now how exactly that would work with Fiendish anatomy is up to the imagination. Perhaps it is better to not imagine, however, as Fiends are often described as having monstrous faces riddled with layers of teeth and tusks, multiple eyes and arms and flaccid skin in between layers or spiky chitin and bony outgrowths. Others are described as having the lower half of a beast, somewhere 'between a snake and a centipede' while others are described as corpulent and shapeless. Some had the limbs and pedipalps of arthropods erupting in odd places on their bodies while others were said to be truly shapeless but able to reform their bodies in a variety of useful shapes.

Despite their monstrous forms, many stories describe them as having a gilded panoply and magic weapons. Of course, no one has seen any of these in the current age and while some kings of Mirhne claim to have the weapons some great hero took from the corpse of a Fiend, most of these stories are fabrications. Perhaps it is that the real weapon has been destroyed or hidden due to its potentially corrupting nature and those which remain await some foolish mortal who would dare to claim it as its user. Should, somehow, someone find a weapon or armor built for the Fiends they would discover some truly baffling things, such as weapons of gold and silver which seemingly flow and reshape or ugly things made of twisted bone and metal with snapping tentacles digging down into their flesh to use with it. There are even stranger weapons still, such as something which someone from Earth would describe as a cross between an automatic weapon and an animal, its mouth opening to reveal complex organ structures shooting out thorns and bones.

Return of the Fiends?

Art by Veli Nyström

The Fiends have long left Mirhne, it seems. They have slithered back deep underground, under the sea or fallen through the cracks of the world into alien worlds under the beating heart of dead suns. Whatever dominion they might have had over Mirhne has faded away, leaving only some extremely rare and just as dangerous ruins and, perhaps, some leftover lineages of slave-hybrids who are compelled by their dark passions to continue the abandoned agenda of their masters. Their blood is thin, however and most are simply mad wretches.

The return of the Fiends, even of just a few individuals and their minions would be a catastrophic campaign-altering event. Much of their nature is unknown and shrouded in Mirhnian superstition. It could be that they are not magical beings but, rather, failed posthuman monsters and their 'magic' may simply be advanced super science. Perhaps their form is only alien to Mirhne's earthly environment and their monstrous form is simply the result of being reshaped for another form of environment: certainly, serpentine and/or crustacean forms are well suited to underground or aquatic environments. It is also possible they have never truly left and simply felt it better suited to build their civilization under the deep, back sea, away from the prying eyes of primitive apes which can only breathe air. Under this interpretation, the Fiends are ruled by the wicked Sea Witch, who has collected generations upon generations of drowned, deformed orphans. Perhaps these children were returned to life through her ancient magic/science and raised to despise the surface world which abandoned them. No one knows for certain.

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?

Lands of Mihrne: The Low Men

This is a more in depth bestiary and monster entries for Lands of Mirhne, expanding the previously discussed ideas and concepts into something more concrete for a game. While there is much overlap between all Old School-derived games, these are primarily for the upcoming Worlds Without Numbers and similar Sine Nomine games.

Low Men

Frazetta's cavemen.

Called many things such as 'Low Men', the 'Wild Folks' or sometimes 'The Others' these are as close as Mihrne as to orcs and goblins in the traditional sense. These are wild, near-human beings closer to the pulp depiction of cavemen as beastial creatures than any accurate anthropological representation of early humans. However, despite their reputation as monsters they are not particularly vile creatures on their own. It is those hunters encountered in civilized lands, vicious and hungry or even maddened which are dangerous, hinting at some creeping madness or sickness in the Low Men. Bands of Low Men encountered in caves or ruins frequently construct blasphemous idols of skin, bone and stone and madly dance around them or even sacrifice humans to them. For those few scholars in the know, this is not normal behavior and hint at something more sinister.

Most 'Low Men' posses a level of cunning one would expect of cavemen-like beings and their Morale are particularly low as they know when to retreat to fight another day. Mad Ones, however, are afflicted by a variety of possible sickness (some of it almost otherworldly) which drives them to a level of fury and fearlessness which is beyond anything resembling rational thought. While capable of sneaking up as any other of their kind, once battle start they start to shake, scream, foam at the mouth or start jerking around like puppets. They fight with a ferocity and vitality which is contradictory of their often sickly and degraded physical state.

• Low Men use the stats for Thug/Militia (1HD) for common Low Men and Barbarian (also 1 HD) for stronger and more experienced specimen. A particularly dangerous Chieftain can reach up to 3-4 HD in strength but such individuals are rare, with no more than one per tribe. All Low Men have a Skill of +2 when it come to Exert, Survival or similar skills. They tend to have low Morale and will easily flee.
• Mad Ones on the other hand are something quite different. They use stats for the weakest Anakim. Their bodies are ravaged by diseases and madness and yet they thrive, their madness driving them ever onward in a berserk rage or obsessive desire to kill. They often carry one or more disease or parasites and those who fight them or are around them for an extended period of time need to start making Saving Throws or become affected with diseases which ravage their mind.

The diseases and parasites which afflict the Mad Ones can be extremely dangerous, more so than any wound these mad warriors can inflict. These diseases and parasites usually drain the mental stats, inflicting severe delirium and ravage the body. Common symptoms include shaking, nose bleed, brain swelling and a burning fever. While it begin as a physiological problem soon enough these effects will go beyond mere sickness and Sanity will start to decline. It is unclear if this is an effect of the diseases or simply the ravages inflicted upon the mind causing the human mind to start to see things. Long term treatment is general enough to help alleviate the symptoms but an adventurer wounded away from civilization might be in trouble if the diseases progress too quickly. Should it take them, they become frothing berserkers filled with irrational mood swings at best. At worst, they become consumed by inexplicable mania and start to hear 'The Call'. Of what? Who knows? At that point their humanity is lost.

• Low Men encounters fill a role similar to orcs and goblins. However, if they are not scared and the player is willing to spend time to carefully interact with them (and maybe offer food and drinks), there is a 50% chance that the tribe is actually fairly peaceful (albeit fearful of outsiders) and could offer a guide in the wilderness and warn of possible dangers which exist in a region. Those which are innately hostile are feared even by other Low Men, who see them as 'tainted'.
• A rare and exotic replacement player character option is to play one of the Wild Tribes. These are relatives to the Men of Mirhne but they live the furthest away from major civilization centers and interact more with the Wild Folks, to the point some tribes have mated with each others. Short, somewhat lumpy-looking, these folks are short and stocking hunters who combine the strength of their more wild forebear with the full intellect of the Men of Mirhne. Should they be washed and clothed in common clothing they would simply appear as slightly uglier and stockier than average. This would be a Demi-Human Foci.
• Tainted/Evil Low Men are irredeemable, as they are either Low Men which worship antediluvian terrors hidden inside the earth or they descend from former Men of Mirhne who have 'devolved' due to some terrible curse or an eldritch corruption. There are Wild Tribes (people who bridge the gap between Low Folks and Men) but they are vile people, cultures of raiders and barbarians who practice terrible rites of flesh eating and the likes. These are very much 'Orcs' through and through or comparable to the Picts from Howard's writing.
• There are tribes of Low Men which worship the Sorcerers. They make ideal minion when broken through fear and there are tribes of Low Men living in isolated places who carve crude effigies to their Sorcerer-Gods, raid villages and more in the name of their fearsome 'god'. Some believe that some of the odd or foreign-looking people who visit Mirhne may actually be Low Men which have been bred into slave race. They have human intellect but the animalistic sense of fear and awe for their 'god', which they love and fear. Of course this could just be xenophobic thinking from the Men of Mirhne who look dimly on foreigners. We must remember that Mirhne is very closed place and most of its people are poorly educated compared to modern humans of Earth.

Lands of Mihrne: A History?

A Possible History?

Art by Calvin Chua

As with everything mentioned about Mirhne, all information must be taken with a grain of salt. The people of Mirhne are well known to tell stories among themselves, with travelling artist and priests alike telling many tales. Some are nothing but children fairy tales while others are morality plays whose true meaning have been lost to time and the change in culture, leaving only lurid tales of monsters and gruesome ends. Not only that but each region of Mirhne has its own gods, its own monsters and its own creation myths. Anyone trying to glean truth from these matters is bound to go insane even without a hint of some eldritch abomination in sight.

The Lands of Mirhne has many Gods, but few truly can be said to have name and faces worth remembering. One out of universe reason for this vagueness is not every player has an identical level of desire to invest in fictional beliefs and mythologies: indeed, some players actively avoid it due to being staunch atheists (even if that's a debate for another day one I'd rather have people leave at the fucking door). Trying to understand deeply rooted theme and ideas of culture is ultimately more work than its ever worth. As such, Mirhne's deities are fairly simple to grasp and understand, with the very important caveat that unlike other settings there is little to not proof of their existence and these myths tend to hide a more bloody or alien reality. Any detail in a myth which is true is likely to lead down a path of awful revelations. That said, the Gods of Mirhne are indeed 'real' in so much as belief in them can have real, tangible benefits to human society. Of course, faith offer diminishing return the more one digs into the awful truth. Praying at altars and participating in rituals (of the non eldritch kind) can help restore sanity and offer a buffer against madness and corruption. It still has its limits, of course.

Mirhne's current era is one of rebuilding after decay, war and pestilence. The last centuries have been relatively quiet, beyond the usual wars between petty kingdoms and tribes. While the Lands of Mirhne never had a massively urbanized or advanced civilization (to anyone's knowledge, anyway) there are many large ruin sites (by the standards of the land) which show that stone and wood cities did exist in lands which have been retaken by the wilderness. These are the usual and typical dungeons one expect to find in a sandbox environment but in Mirhne each is also a mystery. Some travelling storytellers speak of a great curse and creeping hubris of the ancient kings and warlords of Mirhne who sought to extend their power, prestige and understanding of the world far beyond the limitations of what is allowed for mere mortal men and were punished for it. Others speak simply of diseases from many generations ago which reduced the population drastically while others tell that these cities are haunted and cursed by the attempts of Priest-Kings to awaken dark powers and claim them for themselves. There are those who believe that some of the subhuman haunting the further lands are descendants of those cursed and broken people.

Ultimately, Mirhne's history is somewhat irrelevant to starting characters. The key elements of a OSR-derived sandbox and implied setting are there, minus demi-human and overt magic of classes like the Cleric and Magic-User. It is a somewhat more down to Earth take on these simple, tried and true concepts and expectations with the only difference being a stronger bent toward Swords & Sorcery and pulp elements

• The various creation myths and folklore of different regions of Mirhne form a backdrop to the game and make for easy, if mysterious, plot hooks in their own right. Trying to find out the truth about a legend can lead to some true insight (or madness and death).
• Playing a 'priest' is possible, but one need to understand these aren't D&D Clerics and don't come with spells. Rather, Priests are generally Experts who are gifted in esoteric matters as taught by their mentors, such as herbology, medicine or writing.
• Praying at a temple can help restore a character's sanity and/or even remove minor corruption (that aren't mutations) as the calm and centered mind can regain a small measure of control. This is less efficient the more corrupt an individual is.

Mirhne as a Kelipah

One very likely explanation for the nature of Mirhne is that it is some form of Kelipot as described in Silent Legion, a Sine Nomine game about eldritch horror and investigation from which Lands of Mirhne take its Sanity and magic system. Under this logic, Mirhne is an inherently unnatural place albeit one whose eldritch nature is quite subtle and not readily apparent. As a particularly stable and static Kelipah, Mirhne operates mostly under what we would recognize as natural laws and its people are biologically human or close enough. Even as a Static Kelipot there would be dark forces at work on Mirhne which fundamentally changes reality on a subtle level which may not be readily apparent. If Mirhne is indeed a Kelipah then it is one which may not have been visited by the 'real world' for eons.

More Monsters(?) of Mihrne

The Lands of Mihrne have many creatures lurking in it: some mere beasts, some perhaps anomalies of nature but wholly of this material world. And some, maybe, which might be in fact unnatural creatures existing beyond the natural laws of the world. This time I've added more concise bullet points on possible setting explanation and how it could be used.

Giants

Art by Christoper Bernades.

There are many stories told across the land about giants. Some say they are an ancient race predating mankind while others state they are the offspring of Men and Gods, towering demigods who bodies are the pillar which link earthly matter and heavenly, divine essence. Giants are known to have existed for an absolute fact since, in ancient times up until the current age people have found the skeletons of giants. These skeletons vary widely in size and shape but are generally humanoid, ranging from the size of a tall man to gigantic skulls the size of two grown men standing on each others. In the older days these were crushed and used in magical reagents or incorporated into weapons and armors. Some learned individuals have speculate that, perhaps, these were not all the skeleton of giant demi-gods as some displayed traits associated with the men-like monsters known as 'apes'. Alas, these days there are few skeleton left and none are intact and giants have mostly faded to myths.

Until fairly recently.

The past few decades have seen a slow mounting of evidence of the re-emergence of giantkind in the wilderness. Hunters frequently find giant paths carved in the woodlands as something immense crash through the wounds. There are remains of dead elks and bears, in pieces, showing massive bite marks not unlike the teeth shape of humans. There are and always have been rumours and stories of men of great stature, some large and powerful while others are crippled: a disease of the flesh called, of course, 'gigantism' which even in the men of Mihrne understand to be a condition of the blood. Some claim that, in wilder lands, more children are born with this growth sickness. Some believe children conceived around mountains and other places where giant bones are buried imbues children with a portion of Giantsblood. Others still believe the Giants emerging across the land are the same creatures as those of old, having slept through the eons and awakened in modern Mirhne. Of course, perhaps it is most likely that the creatures we call 'giants' are not a unified whole and might be creatures of disparate and unique origin.

• 'Giants' could very well be a form of alternate hominid, like the Gigantopithecus or the cryptid Sasquatch and Bigfoot which could be very real in Mirhne. The cavemen of Mirhne could be akin to a missing link of sort.
• Giants could be indeed akin to the Nephilim found in Ezekiel. They would be the offspring of the mating between human and the Gods. Of course, the true nature of these 'Gods' would be far more Lovecraftian than some simple Ancient Aliens story. The Giants could be Mirhne's equivalent to the spawns of Shub-Niggurath.
• 'Giants' are simply another mutation or corruption of humans run amock, this time distending the human form and expanding it with uncontrollable bone growth. In that case, such monstrous transformation could be easily coaxed to further advance and mutate through exposure to some corruption and/or through special means.
• Some giants may not even be large humanoids at all, but rather some eldritch monstrosity which lurks in the deep wood and the mountain peaks. What form it takes might be difficult to ascertain for sure.
• In any case, the bones of Giants is a 'magical material' in Mirhne, akin to what Mithril or Adamantium is in many settings. It is rare and stronger than bronze and is a substantial upgrade.

The Sorcerers

From Legend of Zelda

Mirhne both has a lot of magic and yet no true magic to speak of, unless one wish to delve into the darker powers of this world and brave the eldritch corruption. That said there are many things in Mirhne which blur the boundary between what we 21st century humans call science and what the people of Mirhne call 'magic': medical knowledge, chemical production and metalworking being a good example of what does work alongside more questionable practices such as trepanation, palm reading, astrology and so on. Openly magical effects as we recognize them in tabletop RPG are virtually unknown: there are no fireballs or healing spells. Even the darkest, blackest magic powered by eldritch knowledge and human sacrifice isn't so straightforward.

Except, maybe, for the Sorcerers. If the legends are true, anyway.

The Sorcerers are each unique individuals and they been woven through the history and myth of Mirhne. They are immortal and in the shape of men and women but beyond that who or what they are is unclear. They are said to possess unique powers, can speak all languages, curse the land, summon dead gods and travel all corners of the earth even beyond Mirhne. Sometimes the stories say they were the chosen servants of the Gods of old while others claim they are the last survivors of an older race of men, one closer to the powers of the gods. Others make them out to be evil and jealous individuals who have taken into themselves dark powers which no mortal should ever bear inside their flesh and soul. Some say they are all as old of Mirhne itself and were there when the land was young while others claim they are evil, foreign people with foreign magic and foreign gods to be feared and reviled by 'all good folks' (as the people of Mirhne often fear strangers from faraway lands). Their exact nature is unclear but so are their numbers, with an estimate around nine and twelve, assuming some names which pop up in myths are alternate names or conflation of different sorcerers.

• Sorcerers, if they exist, are unique high HD npc/monsters woven deep into the history of Mirhne. They are less like the Wizards of modern D&D and more akin to figures such as Merlin, Medea, Circe or Gandalf, but adapted to the more sword & sorcery-meet-Lovecraft tone. What powers they have beyond seemingly immortal in some shape or form is ultimately unknown until it pops up.
• Sorcerers could be indeed the rarest breed of humans: people who have indeed understood some fundamental knowledge about the world and how to warp it. Or they could very well be former slaves of ancient Gods who have broke free.
• Alternatively, the Sorcerers aren't innately magical. Rather they are the last remaining members of some older and more advanced civilization whose 'magic' they guard and keep to themselves for reasons only known to them.
• The Sorcerers aren't native to Mirhne and come from an alternate reality where the fundamental rules are different. Their magic is unique to how their biology function, yet they are also weakened by Mirhne. Alternatively they are aliens in the extra terrestrial sense.
• The Sorcerers aren't remotely human and are basically like the Istari of Middle Earth, only they are not 'angels' but rather servants of some ancient cosmic power from the darkness beyond. They are the rare eldritch threat which is fully able to think and act like a human, having faked it for so long.