THE DROWNED TOME

A Salt and Sanctuary Analysis

COMPILED BY ASUKO_XIII
 Table of Contents
Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1
Preface............................................................................................................................................. 3
Part I: Ominous Beginnings ............................................................................................................ 5
Chapter I: Lost At Sea................................................................................................................. 5
Section I: The Player Character and Your Mission ................................................................ 5
Section II: The Nameless Island, its God, Saltborn, and the Twins, Saira and Kaira ............ 8
Section III: The Scourge of the Sea: The Kraekan ............................................................... 11
Chapter II: The Tree of Life: Magic and Prayers, Forbidden and Sacred ................................ 14
Chapter III: In Times of Old: Ronin Cran, the Foley Knoll Horror, and the Bloodbrows ....... 15
Chapter IV: The Old Gods, the New, and the Will of Man ...................................................... 17
Section I: Stone Roots and That Stench Most Foul .............................................................. 18
Section II: Devara’s Light, the Dome of the Forgotten, the Untouched Inquisitor, and his
Lambs .................................................................................................................................... 19
Section III: The Three and the Forgotten King ..................................................................... 20
Section IV: The Iron Ones .................................................................................................... 22
Section V: The House of Splendor ....................................................................................... 23
Section VI: The Keepers of Fire and Sky ............................................................................. 24
Section VII: The Order of the Betrayer ................................................................................ 25
Part II: The Eastern Continent ...................................................................................................... 27
Chapter V: Unity or Death: Askaria, the Pencen Pilgrimage, and the Red Hall of Cages ....... 27
Chapter VI: The Cruel Queen: Liven, the Queen of Smiles, and the Watching Woods .......... 29
Chapter VII: The Ethereal Weave: Citadel and the Deserters of Fire and Sky ........................ 31
Part III: The Southern Continent................................................................................................... 32
Chapter VIII: The Desert Nation: Kulka’as, Castle of Storms, Ziggurat of Dust, the Dried
King, the Bloodless Prince, Ruined Temple, and the Coveted ................................................. 32
Chapter IX: The Hidden Nation and the Army of Mariners: Jinderin, Coastrock, and the
Disemboweled Husk. ................................................................................................................ 34
Chapter X: Land of the Rising Sun: Kar’hi .............................................................................. 36
Part IV: The Western Continent ................................................................................................... 37

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 Chapter XI: Terrible Toxins and Salves that Save: Kadania, Gulchmire, and the Mad
Alchemist .................................................................................................................................. 37
Chapter XII: Victims or Villains? Tristin, the Sodden Knight, Carsejaw the Cruel, and the
Tristini Witch Hunt ................................................................................................................... 38
Part V: The Northern Continent .................................................................................................... 40
Chapter XIII: The Godless North: Markdor and the Council of Steel ...................................... 40
Chapter XIV: The Overshadowed and Impoverished: Dor Isle and Taenibir .......................... 41
Part VI: Unsolved Mysteries of the Salt ....................................................................................... 43
Part VII: Stories from the Tree of Skill ........................................................................................ 45
Chapter XV: Complete Stories from the Tree of Skill ............................................................. 45
Section I: The Pencen Pilgrimage ......................................................................................... 45
Section II: The Tale of Vel Karam ....................................................................................... 51
Section III: The Cat King ...................................................................................................... 60
Section IV: Chauncy’s Medicine .......................................................................................... 61
Section V: The Burning Clouds ............................................................................................ 63
Section VI: The Foley Knoll Horror ..................................................................................... 65
Section VII: The Poisoner’s Field Guide .............................................................................. 72
Section VIII: The Crimson Quell .......................................................................................... 73
Section IX: Panthonus........................................................................................................... 77
Chapter XVI: Incomplete Stories from the Tree of Skill .......................................................... 79
Section I: The Holy Text....................................................................................................... 79
Section II: The Smith’s Apprentice ...................................................................................... 80
Section III: Annals of Grimsen ............................................................................................. 82
Section IV: Titching Codex .................................................................................................. 83
Section V: The Codex Malifinent ......................................................................................... 84
Section VI: Mierdre’s Black Book ....................................................................................... 84
Section VII: The Oreisian ..................................................................................................... 85

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 Preface

When I got really into Bloodborne, one of the coolest and most interesting
resources I found was Redgrave’s Bloodborne analysis, The Paleblood Hunt. From
it, I learned all about the world of Bloodborne, from the direct story that plays out
in front of you, to the small nuanced details hidden in item descriptions and the
environment itself. Prior to Bloodborne, I had only beaten the first Dark Souls and
I didn’t really understand too much of what went on in Dark Souls, save for the
story that was spelled out to me. Reading The Paleblood Hunt really made me
respect not only the author for his meticulous attention to detail and ability to
properly organize a novel’s worth of information, but it also made me see
Bloodborne in a new light. I had already loved the game, but the lore and story that
I had never known existed to such an extent behind the scenes really made me
appreciate the game that much more.
I’m neither the best writer nor the best gamer in the world, but I love Salt
and Sanctuary. This is apparent if you browse through my post history on Reddit.
I’ve written a guide/FAQ for new players that got stickied to the front page of the
Salt and Sanctuary Subreddit, a guide detailing which creeds are the best and why,
a guide on how to build and level up your characters, a guide for co-op, and I’ve
created a checklist for completionists to check off their collectibles. This is my first
time attempting something resembling a lore post, so go easy on your judgements
(or don’t).
Like Redgrave wrote in The Paleblood Hunt, Salt and Sanctuary, like
Bloodborne, is your story. I can provide information up and down, but your
character is your character, and your story is your story. There are a number of
loose ends in Salt and Sanctuary, and I truly believe that this is no accident. Like
the games that surely inspired it, Salt and Sanctuary is deliberately vague in the
story and the main character’s quest, but rock solid in the world development so
that the player is free to speculate about much of the game.
This tome is approximately 80% fact, collected from item descriptions, NPC
dialogue, and stories from the Tree of Skill nodes, (which I have transcribed for
you in the last part of the tome), and 20% speculation from the information given
and my attempts at piecing said information together. My assumptions may not be
right, but they give you a starting point to start devising your own theories and
ideas about what goes on in the story and backstory. Look for words like
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‘probably’ and question marks to denote fact from conjecture. I can’t imagine I’ll
be able to live up to my inspiration, Redgrave and The Paleblood Hunt; after all,
Bloodborne is a much bigger game than Salt and Sanctuary, but never-the-less, I’ll
give it my all. Lastly, I highly recommend that you beat the game at least once
before reading so you have a basic grasp on the world and the story. Likewise,
there will obviously be heavy spoilers. Now, without further ado… This is my
tribute to Ska Studios and players of Salt and Sanctuary everywhere. I present to
you: The Drowned Tome.

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 Part I: Ominous Beginnings

“This world has known war for centuries.

But peace is finally, preciously near.
We’d deliver the princess to the kingdom across the sea, where a
marriage alliance would save us all.
Failing this mission would surely plunge us into darker
days.”

Chapter I: Lost At Sea

“Failing this mission would surely plunge us into darker days.

I awoke to the sounds of waves washing on rock, and I knew I was alive.
I must find the princess.”

Section I: The Player Character and Your Mission

“Whenever you're scared and alone, remember that you are your own hero." –
The Masterless Knight

The opening moments of Salt and Sanctuary after character creation puts
you right into the thick of things, so to speak. You’re given a short dialogue telling
you a very abridged version of the state of the Kingdom. You’re on a ship and, due
to political reasons, delivering a princess to another nation across the sea will result
in a marriage alliance, bringing about peace. Once given control of your character,
you discover, as revealed to you by one of people on the ship, that the ship has
been boarded in the night by Marauders, planning to take the princess. What you
don’t know is who exactly is taking her or why. Ransom? To draw the war out
longer? Where are we even taking the princess? Where did we start, anyway? Most
of this is left up in the air, and you’re welcome to conjecture for yourself the
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answers to these questions, but there are a few hints hidden here and there. As it
turns out, marriage alliances aren’t uncommon in the Kingdom. In fact, they’ve
happened a number of times and they aren’t very effective; at least not for very
long. While they can bring about piece, it’s often short lived, and usually doesn’t
stop all of the violence and fighting in the Kingdom. In fact, the Queen of Smiles,
whose real name was Lenaia, was involved in an arranged marriage, as evidenced
by the description for her Mildewed Chemise:
“Lenaia was Tristini, and her betrothal to King Adnan of Liven was a loveless
diplomatic union.”
In fact, before exiting the ship, after climbing the ladder, you can catch a glimpse
of the princess in question being consoled by her handmaiden. While this seems
arbitrary, it can rule out a number or origin nations for us. She has light skin, so we
can conclude, with certainty that the princess is not from Liven, Taenibir, Markdor,
Gulchmire, Kulka’as or Jinderen. Also the princess does not seem to have the
messed up eye-liner thing going on, which we can use to also conclude that she is
not from Tristin (or she forgot eyeliner today). Judging from skin color alone, the
princess must be from either Askaria, Citadel, Dor Isle, Kadania, Kar’hi, or
Coastrock. So which of these make the most sense? Askaria, hands down. You’ll
see more details below where the nations are fleshed out, but Askaria is the only
nation with the appropriate skin tone that is known for nobility. The only other
nation she could possibly be from is Coastrock, as the other nations are either
underdeveloped, or not interested in politics or nobility. For now, let’s assume the
princess is from Askaria.
So where are we escorting her? It’s likely that she is heading to Tristin. Firstly,
Askaria and Tristin are directly opposite each other, making a voyage across the
sea the best and quickest way to send cargo. The princess wouldn’t need to cross
the sea to go to Liven or Citadel, and even the Northern and Southern Continents
wouldn’t need an entire voyage across the sea. In fact, it would probably be safer
to protect her on foot. Not only that, but according to the description for the
Royalist’s Armet:
“Askaria has long been at war with Tristin, but from time to time the two
nations have found brief peace through marriages.”
It seems to be a tried and true method, so it would make sense that the princess is
Askarian and is heading to Tristin.

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 Saltborn is an umbrella term for people and most creatures of the world in
Salt and Sanctuary. The salt is a reference to the salty waters of the ocean, which
oversees the natural order of the world. Salt itself is actually some sort of
amalgamation of the soul, but there are two kinds, living, and dead salt. So you can
think of salt as a soul: the power that puts people and most creatures into motion.
“The worth of mankind is the salt on his brow for it is the essence of his life.” -
Malthis 4:17
When you kill something, you are rewarded salt, their very life essence, not
unlike Souls or Blood Echoes from Dark Souls and Bloodborne respectively.
When you die, you return to the salt, the essence from which you were created, and
linger in the realm of spirits and salt until blowing back to your last sanctuary. The
special ability that the Saltborn have is the ability to return to life after death. The
Gods, both old and new are not Saltborn. They are something else, possessing a
Candlelit soul. There is immensely little information about the Candlelit soul, so
we can only speculate on what that means, so we’ll take a deeper look into the
Candlelit soul later.
Finally, what are you, the player character (PC) doing on the ship? While it’s
true that you could be doing anything, that you can give your character any motive
or backstory that you well please, some of the character classes actually seem to
have a set backstory, if you read the descriptions on the armor. The Knight
character’s armor and escutcheon states that he is of a low ranking nobility. He
may very well be a sellsword or a guard for the princess. The Mage dons the
acolyte robes from the Keepers of Fire and Sky, insinuating that he may be an
initiate in training to become a Mage of Fire and Sky. Both the Paladin and Cleric
classes don shields that are blessed by Devara, and only given to followers of
Devara in the first place. The hunter’s outfit and weaponry, while obviously a
callout to Bloodborne, is actually the same weaponry that a Bloodbrow hunter
would have used, insinuating that the Bloodbrows may still exist, if not as an
organization, but the need for the culling of beasts may still be necessary. A good
hunter could make a good guard for a princess, anyway. (More on Bloodbrows
later.) The Chef is clearly a cook for the ship, while a Thief could have stolen away
aboard the ship as a stowaway to escape a possible persecution, or just as someone
looking for free travel across the sea. The Thief could possibly even be an assassin.
The most open of the character classes is the Pauper, as there is almost nothing that
can elude to a backstory for him.

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After you’ve read a bit about the nations, you can pretty easily fashion your own
back story based on your origin. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what your
character is doing aboard the ship. After all, it’s your story.

Section II: The Nameless Island, its God, Saltborn, and the Twins, Saira
and Kaira

“You’re just a fleshy bit of flotsam washed ashore with the rest of us, hmm?” –
Jaret, King of Storms

After your struggle with the Unspeakable Deep, win or lose, your ship is
unable to stay afloat and sinks. Waking up on the Shivering Shores, you’re met
with an old man who later reveals himself to be Jaret, King of Storms and master
of Cloudencasse, the castle in Kulka’as (More on Jaret and Kulka’as later.). He
asks about your faith and sends you on your way. I will refer to this island as the
Nameless Island, after its “God,” the Nameless God. As you explore the Nameless
Island and talk to the other non-player characters (NPCs) you learn that this island
is unusual. Firstly, no matter how many times you die, you always wake up at a
sanctuary. This is unlike death on the mainland, as evidenced by the Black Sands
Sorcerer. Next, there are areas on the island that are not supposed to be there. The
Masterless Knight gives us a bit of insight on that, as the Red Hall of Cages should
be in Askaria, while the Castle of Storms, or Cloudencasse, should be somewhere
in Kulka’as. In fact, it’s heavily hinted upon that there is someone or something
“taking” places from the main land.
Near the end of the game, Jaret, King of Storms, reveals to you your true
nature and that of the island: you are the eternally undead: drowned, lost, or
otherwise killed at sea, and the Nameless Island is a sort of limbo between living
and dead. You are the “dead” salt now. As you’ll learn by digging into dialogues
and item descriptions, anyone lost or dead at sea washes up on the Nameless
Island, and the Nameless God uses their memories to create areas from the
mainland. Not taken, but recreated. Although never explicitly stated, the Bronze
Kraekan Knights are probably the Nameless God’s eyes and ears, and they seem to
share one consciousness. Many people have drowned at sea and have simply
finally washed ashore, mindless, as Rotten Walkers, roaming the island, or other

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equally tragic creatures. Others have brought their memories and pieces of their
homelands with them.
The Nameless God collects those drowned, lost, or otherwise killed at sea in
the hope of becoming a real God, possessing the Candlelit soul I touched briefly on
in the last chapter, or possibly, even ascending beyond Godhood. To be a God, you
must be worshipped and revered. Jaret claims that the Nameless God wishes to be
“born of light”. The Candlelit Lady who absolves you of sin claims to be different
from the Saltborn.
“I am not like you, born of Salt. I am born of that life that flickers like flame. I
am summoned by the Song of Souls, spelled in candlelight, written by the
drowning Saltborn…. To be Saltborn is to be a dying fragment of eternity. To be
born of light is to be truly living, yet so ephemeral.”
If I had to guess, I think that having a Candlelit soul makes you a real God, revered
by the people, or that being revered by the people ascends you to being Candlelit. I
don’t think it is too much of a stretch to think that the Candlelit Lady is a familiar
of Devara, or perhaps even Devara herself. Another possible theory is that the
Candlelit Lady is a Major Kraekan, but I’ll elaborate on that in the next section.
At first I thought that being Saltborn simply meant dying in the ocean. I
thought to die in that sea and wind up on the Nameless Island meant you were
Saltborn. However, the ending Salvation dialogue for The Three states:
“Born of Salt,
Devoured by sea,
From icy crypt,
Deliver me.”
Which indicates that you were Saltborn before you drowned on the ship in
the first place.
The Nameless Island is probably not a real island that you can sail to, and it
is not visible on the map. There is no concrete evidence, but the island may be
another realm of sorts, or it may even exist in its own little bubble at the bottom of
the sea, seeing as you will find many rare transmutation materials that would only
be found at the bottom of the sea, like Shimmering Pearls and Amber Idols. Since
the Nameless Island is a limbo of sorts, it exists in many different ways at many

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different times, taking characters and locations from all time periods into one
amalgamation. In fact, it’s highly likely that, from a lore standpoint, the Jurney
Bottles you find are actually left by your character in an attempt to help him or
herself in another dimension who may have already experienced the Nameless
Island many times over.
It’s also stated that the Saltborn that arrive on the island are sometimes on
the same ship, but have different ideas about what their mission is. Could death
merely cloud their minds, or is there a greater force at work? Could the Nameless
God or the Kraekan be behind the confused and lost sailors, or is it an inner
working of the sea? Unfortunately, there is no solid evidence either way, but I do
have a theory. This leads to an interesting question then: does the princess even
exist at all, or is it just a machination of the PC’s mind?
Yes, the princess must exist, as you can find her wardrobe hidden in the Salt
Alkymancery late in the game, as well as her handmaiden’s gear in Bandit’s Pass,
just next to the Red Hall of Cages. Is she a slave though? We have no real evidence
except that the nobleman the Despondent Thief was escorting was actually a slave,
and to continue her story line, you must agree that your princess may have been a
slave as well. My theory is that since time and space is often bent on the Nameless
Island by the Nameless God who has these powers, what seems like the same ship
crashing upon the shore could be an infinite number of ships. So at the same time,
sailors are washing ashore and drowning from both the same ship and different
ships, infinitely. This can explain why everyone thinks they’re on the same ship,
only to have different missions.
So we know that those dead at sea wind up on the Nameless Island. While
there is no evidence of it anywhere in game, it is highly likely that burials at sea
occur in the Kingdom, as many powerful or (in)famous people wind up at the
Nameless Island. Other creatures that prowl the island could be from the mainland,
like Skullbats that flew over, or even washed up Feral Beasts. That being said,
there is still one powerful method to create creatures and other terrible things to
walk the island: Salt Alkymancy.
Salt Alkymancy is the process of taking Salt, living or dead, and bending the
will of the sea to your own, allowing you to create terrible creatures loyal to their
creator and bind them to simple materials. Souls lost at sea or without their bodies
returned to the Nameless Island makes Salt Alkymancy thrive on the island,
creating a countless number of creatures and monstrosities. Salt Alkymancy is a

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forbidden magic on the mainland as it bends the natural order of life and the sea,
who creates all life, but on the Nameless Island, an entire compound is dedicated to
Salt Alkymancy, the Salt Alkymancery. The Salt Alkymancery is run by the older
twin sister Kaira and protected by her younger twin sister, Saira. You know them
as the Architect and the Witch of the Lake respectively.
Saira and Kaira are powerful alchemists, mages, and Alkymancers. Saira,
the Witch of the Lake has experimented with Salt magic to the point where her
body is so deformed that she hides it with robes and her large hat. Her post at Siam
Lake has an unusually large amount of Salt magic lingering in the area: so much
that you can actually physically see it rising from the lake. This water flows into
the Salt Alkymancy, providing Kaira, the Architect, with plenty of resources to
create thralls and creatures, which she then uses to gather more materials for her to
bind the Salt magic to, starting the cycle anew. It is an unnatural perversion of the
natural order, and the cycle continues on and on. Kaira, the Architect has been
known to have created the following creatures: The Unskinned, Saltlesses, Bola
Eyes, Things of Arms, Alkymancery Knights, Spindlebeasts, and Saltfin Creatures.
The Unskinned is her most prized creation, culmination of her work, and loyal
guardian.
But why are there so many deaths at sea?

Section III: The Scourge of the Sea: The Kraekan

“The Kraeken are an often spoke of, scarcely seen race of ancient demons of the
sea. The sea is a vast, terrifying and deadly place, and when sailors do not
return, rumors abound.” – “Kraekan Cyclops

Kraekan are, as the Kraekan Cyclops description says: ancient demons of the
sea. Major Kraekan possess the special quality of being able to prowl around the
“surface” of the sea, and still show themselves in and around the Nameless Island.
This means that they can travel between both worlds. Interestingly enough, there is
another character who claims to be something other than Saltborn and makes
mention of how she can be in other worlds as well.
“Your world is cold and stifling, my light is fleeting here.”

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 While I think it’s more likely that she is a Goddess as opposed to a Major
Kraekan, it certainly puts the idea out there. Could this instead mean that Major
Kraekan are actually Gods as well, or perhaps stepping stones to Godhood?
Kraekan appear feed on three things: pure elemental energy, salt, and human
bodily fluids, mainly blood and excrement, as evidenced by the Retchfeeder’s
description.
“These vile beasts gravitate toward pockets of rot and human filth, which
are their main forms sustenance.”
Kraekan also possess a full life cycle. A Kraekan’s life begins as an adult
Kraekan feeds on pure elemental energy, eventually creating a pocket of energy
that forms into an egg. Major Kraekan’s eggs are also known as Shimmering
Pearls, which fetch quite a price on the mainland. In fact, Shimmering Pearls are
also sometimes sold as an edible delicacy. A fetal Kraekan emerges from the egg
and feeds until it grows up. When the Kraekan’s life is at its end, it reverts back to
elemental energy to either be eaten by another Kraekan, continuing the cycle anew,
or bound to special stones in the Crypt of the Dead Gods, living on as
Gravewalkers.
There are 6 known Major Kraekan (possibly 7): The Unspeakable Deep, the
False Jester, Kraekan Cyclops, Kraekan Wyrm, Kraekan Dragon Skourzh,
Murdiella Mal and possibly Impen. There are also 5 known Minor Kraekan, two of
which we’ve already discussed: Retchfeeders, Spear Imps, Vexing Brats (Fetal
Brats are the fetal stage of the Vexing Brat), Gravewalkers, and Mimkus.
Kraekan have the ability to bring about real change on the mainland. The
most obvious display of this is by the Kraekan Dragon Skourzh, who is the Lord of
Storms and seems to reign over the rest of the Kraekan as their king. Skourzh has
the ability to summon storms and appears to do so to sink ships and bring men and
kings to the bottom of the sea to be found on the Nameless Island or otherwise
devoured by the Kraekan, explaining the large population of the Nameless Island.
That being said, Murdiella Mal has the ability to tread in and out of the
ethereal weave of Fire and Sky, even calling upon this arcane ability whenever she
wants. She seems to have a real understanding of the weave of Fire and Sky. Her
abilities support the theory that Kraekan could be Gods. In fact, what if Murdiella
Mal was the creature who created the weave of Fire and Sky? In fact, the old god
of the Sky is named Diadel (who we’ll learn about later) whose name is awfully

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similar to Murdiella Mal. As I stated above, Gods are not Saltborn, and guess who
the only enemy who doesn’t drop salt is? Murdiella Mal. It’s an interesting theory.
Kraekan also possess the ability to shapeshift. The Unspeakable Deep seems
to be a Kraekan in its most common form, but Kraekan are able to change their
shape into whatever they see fit. In fact, some Kraekan use this ability to lure in
hapless adventures. The False Jester took on its shape to lure those searching for
the true Jester, who is well known around the Nameless Island for having the
ability to get to places no one else can, and happily bestows the Vertigo Brand to
those who can find him. The Jester also seems to be knowledgeable about the
island for some reason, but likes to speak in riddles. Mimku’s are also Kraekan
who found that the best way to feed is to disguise themselves as treasure chests.
The shapeshifting ability could further attest to the theory that the Candlelit Lady
could be a Kraekan.
Kraekan are almost definitely the next iteration of Wyrms, dragons who
used to live in the mountains of the northern continent before being driven from
their homes. Their horns were incredibly valuable, so brave or foolish fortune
seekers would climb the mountains of Markdor to slay a Wyrm and return with its
horn. Warriors from Dor Isle eventually drove them from the mountains, forcing
the Wyrms to either head to the sea or perish. In the sea they may have evolved
into what they are today. They still bring about valuables that are highly sought
after though, like their eggs, known as Shimmering Pearls, their vomit, which is
Amber and crafted into Amber Idols, or even the bones of the dead Kraekan,
sometimes created into weaponry, like the Gravedigger. Impen is a Kraekan of
myth and legend, associated with a few fairy tales on the mainland. He was
considered the Kraekan of fire, and for that reason, I believe he was an ancient
Kraekan Wyrm.
Whether the Kraekan know it or not, the Nameless God is ultimately
benefiting from the Kraekan’s existence. The Kraekan kill at sea, and whatever
they don’t devour ends up on the Nameless Island for the Nameless God to collect.
While we can’t be sure if the Nameless God controls the Kraekan, or if the
Kraekan just go around doing their own thing, we can be sure that they are both the
scourge of men.

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Chapter II: The Tree of Life: Magic and Prayers, Forbidden and
Sacred

“I felt as if something ethereal was softly brushing against the tips of my

fingers, like a sea of feathers. The weave! The old gods had opened my eyes to
the weave of Fire and Sky that surrounds us.” - The Foley Knoll Horror, s. 44.

In the world of Salt and Sanctuary, Magic and divine miracles are fairly
commonplace. That being said, there is still a bit of trepidation around magic;
when things go wrong, magic tends to be pointed to as the scapegoat. Magic in the
world of Salt and Sanctuary actually began as a parlor trick using Flashfire, the
first ever recorded spell, which was then honed and studied in Citadel, where the
Keepers of Fire and Sky were created.
Magic is based on the Tree of Life, whose limbs support the power of Fire
and Sky. Fire and Sky exist in a sort of ethereal weave that surrounds all things;
this sort of energy in and around everything. Mages are very familiar with the
weave of Fire and Sky and are able to draw from this weave and channel it from its
ethereal realm to create change in the real world.
There are two kinds of Magic: spells and incantations. Incantations only
require words to call upon the power of Fire and Sky, while spells actually require
a physical conduit to channel the energy, in the form of a wand or staff, created of
a magically attuned material, such as saltwood or scrimshaw, the bones of a giant
sea beast. The pattern of the weave of Fire and Sky is said to be made of 5 and 6
pointed stars.
Fire and Sky are forever intertwined, and it brings about an interesting
effect: elemental imbalance. You can think of the weave of Fire and Sky as one big
continuum, with Fire being at one end, and Sky being at the other. A well attuned
and balanced mage lies dead center of this continuum. When you cast a spell
associated with Fire, you start to lean towards the Fire end of the continuum, and
when you cast a Sky spell, you lean toward the Sky side. It is important to stay
balanced in the middle, as too heavily attuning yourself to one side of the
continuum can be dangerous, harmful, and even fatal. A skilled mage is able to
boost the strength of their spells by using this elemental imbalance to their
advantage, bouncing back and forth between Fire and Sky spells.
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 Incantations are said to be more difficult to master than spells, due to the
lack of a conduit to channel the power of Fire and Sky. That said, an adept mage
can feel Fire and Sky’s weave in all things, and as such, is able to call upon the
power of Fire and Sky at any time.
There are two forms of magic that is forbidden on the mainland: Salt
Alkymancy, also known as Salt magic, which I already spoke about at length, and
blood magic. Blood magic is full of dark rituals requiring questionable ingredients
to perform the rites and rituals required to practice it. One such ritual speaks of
cutting out the heart of a living man. Blood magic comes directly from the user’s
blood, and from Azredak the betrayer, a God, as opposed to the weave of Fire and
Sky. As a result, no elemental imbalance occurs, but instead, the caster becomes
weak and frail with each blood spell casted, offering the blood of themselves and
of the enemy to Azredak.
Prayers, on the other hand, are pure faith and divine intervention. When the
words of faith are spoken, a prayer is invoked, calling forth the power asked for
from the God or Goddess of choice, from divine healing and shielding, to rays of
divine searing and playful, yet vengeful sprites made of pure light. Prayers have
the power to bring back allies from the dead and turn major wounds into minor
scrapes and bruises.

Chapter III: In Times of Old: Ronin Cran, the Foley Knoll

Horror, and the Bloodbrows

“The words that follow detail the 192th ranging of the Coats ‘n’ talons,
Redbrow division of Liven, as carried out by me, Karmen Cran, division
captain. I do hereby swear that all of the things I have claimed and chronicled
below are true to the best of my recollection.” - The Foley Knoll Horror, s. 1.

If we can assume that Karmen Cran is actually what we now know as Ronin
Cran, he may be one of the oldest non-Kraekan characters on the Nameless Island.
His recollection of the Foley Knoll Horror tells us a ton about himself, the
Kingdom long ago, and helps shape out who the Redbrows/Bloodbrows (the term
is interchangeable) were.

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 Long ago, well before the events of Salt and Sanctuary, the Kingdom was
ravaged with monsters. The Bloodbrow were an offshoot of the Citadel of Fire and
Sky dedicated to killing the beasts that used to roam the mainland centuries ago.
The Bloodbrows were known for sometimes dabbling in the arcane, which make
sense since they denounced the strict arbitrary precepts governing some of the
Citadel’s practices. Their findings ended up founding the basic principles of
alchemy as we know it today. At the end of the Bloodbrows’ known existence, an
aspiring lord sent the Bloodbrows on witch hunts for political reasons, and as a
result they ended up falling into obscurity, but not before the monster epidemic
was mostly snuffed out.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a ronin is a vagrant samurai
without a master. Cran used to be a Bloodbrow, but probably ended up leaving
them after the events of Foley Knoll. While you can read the full story of Foley
Knoll at the end of this tome, for the purposes of this chapter, I’ll sum up the Foley
Knoll Horror here.
Cran was a leader of a Bloodbrow division in Liven, which is interesting,
because he eventually ends up working for Jaret, King of Storms, in Kulka’as. In
the time of monsters, the Bloodbrows took it upon themselves to slay the monsters
to restore peace to the kingdom. One such hunt took Cran’s group of 6
Bloodbrows, including Cran, to a forest northeast of Liven to hunt terrible
creatures known as gnarlends, some sort of deformed part plant, part stillborn
infant monstrosity. Gnarlends hunt at night, but sleep up in the trees during the
day, so the plan was to make a camp at the clearing Cliffendell Crag, (whose
description is awfully similar to Cran’s Pass) wait for night, and hunt gnarlends as
they were out hunting, as gnarlends typically hunt solo.
The team would split up into 3 teams of 2, and fan out into the forest with
bait, and if anything bad were to happen, they could retreat back toward camp.
Unfortunately for Cran and his group, they began their hunt too early, and so
gnarlends were just waking up, dropping all around them from the trees. If they
had waited a little longer, they would have been grounded, and therefore, much
easier to fight. Cran is able to show his expert fighting skills, but is soon
outnumbered, and forced to retreat as the other 5 members of his party are killed.
The gnarlends give chase, but Cran is able to find a house in a small village that
gives him shelter and mead to drink. Cran’s mead is spiked with a sleeping agent,
however, and he ends up passing out.

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 When Cran wakes up the next morning, he is weaponless, armorless, and
bound in a great hall where he can see other humans eating his former Bloodbrow
friends in a gross display of cannibalism. Cran, in desperation, prays to Devara and
Diadel, two of the old gods, and Diadel grants him the power to draw from the
weave of Fire and Sky, a power that Cran will never be able to draw from again.
Cran is able to escape and burn the entire village and forest of Foley Knoll to the
ground, killing all but 6 infants in the process.
The Foley Knoll Horror was an immensely stressful and difficult time for
Cran, and it may have very well led to him defecting from the Bloodbrows, who
were possibly already in the process of winding down, but there is no solid
evidence of such. He may have yet remained in the Bloodbrows until the witch
hunts mentioned briefly, not leaving them until they officially disbanded. His skill
in combat may have eventually led the wandering ronin to Kulka’as, where he
served Jaret, King of Storms, before defecting as well, his prized sword snapped in
two by one of Jaret’s loyal Armor Guardians during his flight into the night. This
gave him the nickname of Broken Cran.
What became of Cran afterwards is unknown, but he eventually met his end
and wound up on the Nameless Island, taking with him the memories of Cliffendell
Crag, that the Nameless God turned into Cran’s Pass.
Interestingly enough, the Mirekeeper, the NPC that gives you the Redshift
Brand in the Mire of Stench, claims that she was a Bloodbrow, or an ancestor of
one, and that the Bloodbrows created the Redshift barriers centuries ago to capture
the monsters they used to hunt. Cran’s Pass is guarded by Redshift barriers, a skill
Cran surely must have learned at some point. Is Cran the Bloodbrow responsible
for the Redshift barriers throughout the island? He’s certainly been on the island
long enough. But that’s for you to speculate.

Chapter IV: The Old Gods, the New, and the Will of Man

“The Old Pantheon contained 12 gods, typically: Diadel, goddess of sky,

Azredak, god of bloodletting, Oema, god of the harvest, Pyrabella, goddess of
fertility, Numen, god of dark things, Grull, god of forest creatures, Imrios, god
of the sea, Ellenestria, goddess of luck, Oporos, god of health, Murlik, god of

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 the dream world, Tartilia, goddess of the dead world, and Devara, goddess of
light.” - Pantheonus

Every creed except the Iron Ones revere one or more Gods. Every creed
except the Iron Ones and The Three worship one or more of the Old Gods. A more
complete explanation of the Old Gods and the New Gods can be found by reading
Pantheonus at the end of this tome, but I will sum up the Old and New Gods as
best as I can, in the most organized way as I can.

Section I: Stone Roots and That Stench Most Foul

“Men have invented, praised, and died for countless fleeting gods and demons,
but our forest is forever.” – Stone Roots Alchemist

Long ago, forest tribes held many Gods. Each tree could be a God, and that
tree could be three different Gods to three different tribes. These forest tribes had
no structure or written belief system, solely believing the spirit of the forest itself,
preferring the loose beliefs they carried. They believe that Gods of the forest are
more of an elemental or spiritual nature. Forest tribes, primarily in the eastern
continent, are known to still hold the ancient tribal gods, which now fall under the
moniker “Stone Roots”. The old gods also remained popular in smaller
underdeveloped nations, like Taenbir and Kadania.
Followers of the Stone Roots are also known as Woodswraiths, and
Woodswraiths tend to be skilled in alchemy, especially working with poisons. One
particularly ambitious Woodswraith actually ended up creating That Stench Most
Foul, who was revered as a God by the Lepris, poor humans who were afflicted
with Grayrot, a plague that eats away at the flesh. Eventually That Stench Most
Foul began to hunger for human flesh and ate its creator. Stenchpods are merely
sentient discarded useless features of That Stench Most Foul, like hair or
fingernails. The Lepris actually had their own rites, ceremonies, and beliefs
regarding That Stench.
The Stone Roots creed uses the purest form of healing, the Kadanian
Rojiella, or Red Grass, a furry, bitter-tasting, fernlike grass plant known to grow in
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the most poisonous corners of Kadanian swampland. Red Grass is very costly to
produce and harvest, and the Stone Roots creed is lucky to have so few followers,
lest they become poor with the constant process of obtaining Red Grass. All
healing items are actually derived from Kadanian Red Grass, usually crossbred
with another plant.
The Stone Roots creed also uses Kadanian Blue Grass, sometimes known as
Moon Grass, which is actually the frond-like extensions that grow on cave fungi
known as White Aziema. The base of the Aziema is actually highly toxic, but the
fronds are extremely vitalizing. Similar to Red Grass, derivatives of the White
Aziema are used in most revitalizing potions.

Section II: Devara’s Light, the Dome of the Forgotten, the Untouched
Inquisitor, and his Lambs

When men became more civilized, the Old Pantheon was created, typically
containing 12 Gods, as written above in the quote preceding this chapter. Devara,
Goddess of light, was typically revered as the mother of all Gods, and eventually
as Devara’s clerics (who were the most devoted) and Her sanctuaries grew in
popularity, the other Gods fell in stature until they all just sort of fell under the
umbrella term: Devara’s Light.
The Dome of the Forgotten was once the Dome of Light, a blessed place for
any and all followers of Devara’s Light. Here they would congregate and create
great things, like the Flint & Steel, based on Kar’hi legends, which means that the
Dome of the Forgotten may have been in Kar’hi. These high ranking ladies and
craftswomen of the Dome were known as the Choir. The True Priest of Light and
Voice of Her Voice, Alasdair, and Lady of Light, Lainia, watched over this place,
while Lainia’s pet hippogriff, Kinoa, patrolled the skies around the Dome,
protecting pilgrims from raiders and bandits on their pilgrimages to the Dome.
Unfortunately, there are some darker sides to the story of Devara’s Light,
like Harmen the Condemned who performed acts of unforgivable cruelty in the
name of justice and Devara’s Light. Most notable in the dark history of Devara’s
Light however, comes from the True Priest of Light and Voice of Her Voice,
Alasdair, who became known as the Untouched Inquisitor. He began to see sin in
the Dome of Light, and decided the only way to purge the Dome of sin was by

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sacrificing three “Lambs” to Devara. The First Lamb was the entire congregation
of the Dome. They now roam the halls of the Dome of the Forgotten as
Whispermen and Whisperladies, not able to ever leave, as per the decree of the
Untouched Inquisitor.
The Second Lamb was Lainia, Lady of Light. The Third Lamb was her pet
hippogriff, once a majestic creature of protection, now a bound and broken thrall of
the Inquisitor, deliberately left nameless, as the Inquisitor saw the pride and praise
of the hippogriff as sinful. The Third Lamb now roams the Dome sadly, broken.
Once the Untouched Inquisitor saw the dome as sinless, he assigned Hornet Steels
to watch over the spirits of the congregation, ensuring that they adhere to the
Untouched Inquisitor’s sinless standard.
Lightvessels are said to be Devara’s saliva, also known as lightwater,
capable of burning any evil it touches. Water of Blessing is made from a smaller
breed of Crimflower, which is a breed of flower crossbred with Red Grass. This
smaller breed of Crimflower is known as the Eye of Hearts. This is mixed with the
lightwater to create the Water of Blessing. Clerics of Devara’s Light tend to be
poor, as they put all of their resources into making sure that the Water of Blessing
is plentiful, as their main form of proselytizing is providing healing to the poor.
Clerics of Devara also prepare special cloths of canvas as tools for
reenergizing paladins and healers. Cloths of canvas are trimmed, hemmed, and
elegantly embroidered, then soaked for 7 days in baths of perfume and blue moss
paste from Blue Grass, creating the Cloths of Blessing.
I only have small pieces of information about the Phials of Orange, but, I
can conjecture that they are created in a process called the Rites of Orange. Not
only that, but during the Pencen Pilgrimage, a pilgrimage to get followers of
Devara out of Askarian territory safely (which I will detail later) one of the nobles
escaping was the former Baroness Emiella of Orange.

Section III: The Three and the Forgotten King

“The New Gods, also known as The Three, emerged through monarchy and
dynasty. Devara's made equal with that of two new deities drawn from Askarian
royalty: The King and The Knight, divine incarnations of Askarian men.” -
Pantheonus
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 As stated in the quote from Pantheonus, The Three, also known as the New
Gods, emerged from monarchy and dynasty. The King, the Knight and the Judge
make up the deities of The Three, who are divine incarnations of King Ericho the
Austere and Sir Amar the Proper, who are credited with uniting all of Askaria,
under the Great Unification Decree, a decades long conquest that began under
King Ericho's father, King Relon the Bear. The King lends wisdom to men who
lead, The Knight protects warriors in combat, and the Judge guides those who
maintain order. The King creates laws that all men must abide by, the Judge
decides when the King’s law is broken, and the Knight carries out the King’s
sentence on the guilty men.
Most follow the New Gods, although, not by choice. The Great Unification
Decree was an attempt to unite the kingdom under the Askarian Crown, and as a
result, you would have to follow the New Gods. The cruel King Ericho IV also
known as Ericho the Envy-Ridden, hated the followers of the Old Gods and would
order their deaths if they refused to take up the New Gods.
So why must we fight the Forgotten King? Why does the Forgotten King
reside in the Crypt of the Dead Gods? We can take a look at some of the Forgotten
King’s weaponry to find some insight on it, but it is pretty vague; we’ll have to
make a few assumptions.
“Once symbols of justice and courage, this now-decrepit sword and its
former owner lay abandoned and powerless in the Crypt of the Dead Gods even
as the faithful continued to pray for their guidance. For how long this farce
went on can only be guessed, but it would seem that those prayers were being
answered instead by the dark forces at work on this forsaken island all along.”
– Trinity Greatsword
Perhaps the forced reverence of The Three made the populace hold disdain
for Askarian nobles and The Three in general. The lack of faith and prayers to The
Three resulted in these deities eventually dying over time. Not only that, but the
lack of faith seems to have spread through the people, as evidenced by an Order of
the Betrayer blacksmith:
“I grew up keeping the new gods, ‘til I found out they were a fiction.”

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 So while people claimed they were followers of The Three, in their hearts,
they still held their oaths to other Gods or perhaps the Will of Man. Perhaps they
just didn’t believe in anything at all. Now, even when people do call out and pray
to The Three, a dark forces answers their prayers instead. Could it be the Nameless
God instead?
“Perhaps, in the end, the interdependence of men and gods is the very
reason both share the same destiny.” – Trinity Scepter
“No deity, however mighty, can exist without sustenance from mortal
hearts and prayers.” – Trinity Bardiche
Followers of The Three utilize Crimflower, derived from Red Grass to
create a special healing agent known as Red. Red is placed under close regulatory
control, bearing an official crest stamp or being subject to anti-contraband law.
This has created a black market for unofficial Red, known as Shards, which are
typically sold by corrupt members of The Three’s clergy.
For invigorating medicines, clerics of The Three will mix Blue Grass with
Spiced Mead resulting in a powerful elixir that does not dull the senses.

Section IV: The Iron Ones

“Perhaps in response to Askaria's conquest for The Three, the Dorian Council
of Steel declared the will of man to be greater than gods, and uniquely worthy of
worship.” – Pantheonus

The Iron Ones believe not in Gods, but in the Will of Man. In the northern
mountains of Markdor, the people did at one point hold Gods, but after seeing the
petty squabbling as a result of Askaria’s Great Unification Decree, the Council of
Steel declared the Will of Man to be greater than Gods, and thus, worthy of
worship. This led to the creation of the Iron Ones, and as a result, its own codified
system of faith and worship, with its own schools, clerics, tomes and songs, all
dedicated to extolling the Will of Man.
As the creed is mainly held in the northern continent, the healing items all
originate from Markdor. Red Grass was crossbred with a moss, creating

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Winemoss, a thatching, fuzzy grass that can survive in the harsh, mountainous
climates. In Markdor, a baker and a healer are one in the same, and they will bake
Winemoss directly into their breads to make Hearty Rolls.
For invigorating medicine, Iron Ones mine Leuryte crystal in the mountains
of Markdor. Delicately mined with great difficulty, the crystal is easily crushed,
disintegrating and absorbing into the skin of whomever crushes it, invigorating
them. Likewise, Shockstones are often given to followers of the Iron Ones, as
Shockstone is fairly common in Dorian mines.

Section V: The House of Splendor

“How can I mourn my affliction when my heart shines so brightly?” – House of

Splendor Merchant

The House of Splendor revere two nontraditional gods, Gilbael, God of

wine, and Axigal, God of visions, known simply as The Fool and The Prophet.
Followers of the House of Splendor suffer from a plague called Grayrot, a form
of zombification that decomposes the flesh. They choose to hide their
decomposing faces behind their Masks of Splendor, claiming that flesh is
failing, while gold is forever. Grayrot is a fairly fast spreading plague and often
affected entire communities, causing them to band together. They may be an
off-shoot of the religion created by the Lepris bandits who initially contracted
Grayrot.
The Fool claimed that magic draws from a celestial field known as the
Warp. Wine dulls one’s inhibitions, drawing out a primal connection to the
Warp, enhancing magical abilities. It’s likely that the Warp is merely the weave
of Fire and Sky.
The wines that they give followers of the creed are mixed with Rojiella
and Aziema in their purest forms, but the true recipe is kept a secret. When you
drink too much wine from the House of Splendor, you contract a kind of poison.
Could this poison be Grayrot in a minor form, or poison (as it has the same

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effect of poison) from using the basest ingredients of the Rojiella and Aziema,
or is it a play on drunkenness? We may never know.

Section VI: The Keepers of Fire and Sky

“We worship the Sky, for in it lies the ethereal weave of Fire, most powerful of
all magics. You’ve found our citadel, would you set aside the gods you now hold
and worship the sky?” – Keepers of Fire and Sky Mage

The Keepers of Fire and Sky don’t necessarily believe in Gods, but they
certainly descend from the Old Gods. Similar to the Stone Roots, the Keepers of
Fire and Sky believe more in an elemental higher power as opposed to a deity.
Realizing that magic comes from a balance of ethereal power inherent in Fire and
Sky, they have cast off their belief in Gods and instead worship the essence of Fire
and Sky. The earliest Bloodbrows, who were an offshoot of the Keepers of Fire
and Sky wanted to keep the Old Gods and were able to call upon Diadel, Goddess
of Sky, which is probably where the ethereal weave comes from. Alternatively, the
weave could certainly be its own power, and finally, the fact that Murdiella Mal
has access to it, makes me wonder if perhaps Murdiella Mal could be their “God”.
But that’s just my speculation.
During The Three's rise in popularity, mages and arcanists from Askaria and
Liven began establishing a science around the art of channeling the elements of
Fire and Sky, and eventually formed the Citadel, a stone tower deep in the
Pitchwoods of Liven. Becoming a Mage of Fire and Sky is practically a lifelong
process. An elementally attuned individual would make a pilgrimage to the Citadel
in the hopes of becoming an Acolyte. Acolytes of Fire and Sky would train for 17
years in the Citadel, devoting most of their time to of study and discipline toward
learning, mastering, and researching before taking on the Crucible, a series of
grueling magical tasks. Those who pass the Crucible are able to become Mages of
Fire and Sky. Anyone who has a substantial link with the outside world like guides
of Fire and Sky are sworn to silence, so as not to bring worldly problems into the
study, or to cloud their own minds.

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 Study for a Keeper of Fire and Sky revolves around experimentation and
being able to replicate and document spells. Healers of Fire and Sky do exist,
which is ever important in a tower fraught with flame-slinging Acolytes. Healers of
Fire and Sky do call on some divinity to mend and heal, but they attribute this to a
celestial element that must exist somewhere between Fire and Sky, possibly
arcane. Healers of Fire and Sky have mastered the art of bottling and crystalizing
the pure essence of Fire and Sky to be used as potions and mind enhancing
crystals.

Section VII: The Order of the Betrayer

“The Goddess Devara has already damned us all, and has promised to
eradicate those with unforgivable hearts in divine light. But the Day of
Judgement will belong to her brother, Azredak, our dark lord of chaos.” –
Follower of the Order of the Betrayer

Followers of the Order of the Betrayer are keepers of the Old God Azredak,
once the God of bloodletting, now known simply as the betrayer. Unfortunately,
there is very little information on Azredak and the Order of the Betrayer in general.
Those who decided to follow the Order of the Betrayer are often lost souls
who believe they’ve done too much wrong for Devara to forgive them, and so, turn
to her brother, Azredak. Azredak hates his sister Devara, and wishes to see her
drown in blood. Some followers stumbled upon the forbidden blood magic in their
own studies, and sought out the Order of the Betrayer for that reason.
Followers of Azredak offer blood of the innocent to him, and each time
forbidden blood magic is used, Azredak collects the user’s blood as well.
Azredak’s ultimate goal is to receive as much blood as possible, so he wishes
mankind into endless war. Most followers of the Order of the Betrayer seem to
come from Tristin, leading me to believe that vengeance draws a good number of
people to the Order of the Betrayer.
One theory is that Azredak is actually the Nameless God. While there are a
number of similarities between the two, like the enjoyment behind other’s pain and
suffering, their ultimate goals don’t seem to add up, in my opinion. Azredak

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simply wants Devara dead. The Nameless God wants to ascend to real Godhood or
further, meaning he may not be an actual God in the first place. If he was, he
wouldn’t be bound to the Nameless Island. Not only that, but then the Nameless
God certainly couldn’t have existed in pantheon of Old Gods, while Azredak was.
On the other hand, we could say that Azredak was banished to this island with the
hopes of rising up again, explaining the origin of the Nameless God. This is just
one of Salt and Sanctuary’s many mysteries.

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 Part II: The Eastern Continent

The Kingdom is made up of 4 continents and 14 nations. Within these

nations, there are a number of towns, cities, and villages. The next few sections of
the tome will look at each of the continents and the nations within in detail.
The eastern continent contains 4 nations, Askaria, Liven, Citadel, and Jonas’
Landing. The eastern continent is known for its large forests. Jonas’ Landing, as
far as I’m aware, has nothing associated with it at all in the entire game. The
eastern continent has a river running through it, separating Askaria from Liven and
Citadel to the north. Jonas’ Landing has its own island in the extreme south.

Chapter V: Unity or Death: Askaria, the Pencen Pilgrimage, and

the Red Hall of Cages

“Members of the Guard must demonstrate peerless skill with not only the sword
and the shield, which they wield night and day in service of the Crown, but with
all manner of other ranged and melee weapons should they need to improvise.”
– White Gauntlets

Askaria lies fairly central in the eastern continent, just a bit off to the west.
Askaria is a large nation, and perhaps the most powerful, with a large emphasis on
military power and the power of the Askarian Crown. Askaria has been at war with
Tristin many times, and often, a brief peace treaty can be made between the two
nations with a marriage alliance.
The official creed of Askaria is The Three, as The Three is heavily based on
Askarian nobles, King Ericho the Austere, Sir Amar the Proper, and King Ericho's
father, King Relon the Bear. Askaria does have a decent economy and a bustling
marketplace, making Askaria a good place to live, so long as you swear fealty to
the Askarian Crown and The Three. Those that do not swear fealty to the Askarian
Crown and The Three can be faced with torture in their infamous torture chamber,
the Red Hall of Cages, or death. The dark nature of the Red Hall of Cages has
managed to find its way onto the Nameless Island, and the dark powers of the

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island have managed to bring the Red Hall of Cages’ most devious torture
machine, the Tree of Men, to life.
The Great Unification Decree, an act designed to unify Askaria and its
surrounding villages by making them swear fealty to the Askarian Crown and The
Three, is an ongoing decades-long conquest. Ultimately it succeeded in the
Askarian area, but only through brute force. Attempting to unify the entire
Kingdom is highly unlikely.
Askaria’s military power is one of the strongest in the Kingdom. Askaria has
a powerful weapon and armor making industry that flourishes, able to fashion
entirely new weapon styles, like the Jaws of Death. As Askaria is constantly
warring, commerce and industry, especially blacksmithing are often booming.
Though raiders can be commonly found on the paths to and from Askaria, they
have been known to work as sellswords for coin. The Askarian army have many
different regiments such as the elite Night Raiders, a cold-weather regiment, the
Cocytus Cohort, and the most disturbing and loyal, the Blue Guard.
Askaria will do whatever needs to be done to win wars, including
experimentation on their own elite soldiers of the Blue Guard, overseen by Duke
Garldon. The Duke allowed Planne the Seeker, a traveling sorcerer, to perform
experiments on these soldiers giving them teleportation abilities. These soldiers are
known as Split Swordsmen. These experiments mostly ended in disaster, often
causing limbs or other body parts of the swordsmen to be removed and sent to the
void. When the people caught wind of Planne’s horrible experiments, Planne
managed to steal Marquis Garldon’s prized and supposedly cursed weapon, the
Shikeimaru, and avoided condemnation by escaping one night via teleportation and
was never heard from again. Whether he finally figured out how to utilize
teleportation properly or if he was lost to void, no one knows. The Shikeimaru was
soaked in innocent blood after decades of brutal executions, and radiates a chilling
malevolence from the countless souls it has claimed.
During the first few years of the Great Unification Decree, life was rough for
those who followed the Old Gods. In year three of the Great Unification Decree, a
large envoy of Askarian nobles and their deadly guards were approaching Remetia,
a small town to the north of Askaria whose lord had already bowed to the Askarian
Crown, despite many of the population still following the old gods. The goal of the
envoy was to rededicate places of worship in Remetia to The Three, relocate
images and shrines of Devara to pre-approved locations in the city’s periphery, and

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disarm any paladins of Devara who did not wish to take the oath of the New Gods.
The council of clerics and paladins of Devara agreed that kneeling to the Askarian
Crown was out of the question and fighting the envoy could doom the city. Three
nights after the council had met, a great pilgrimage to lead followers of Devara’s
Light out of Remetia to Liven, who had resisted the Great Unification Decree, took
place. Mina the Paladin and her friend Doramin the cleric, lead 800 men, women,
and children on a secret pilgrimage in the middle of the night in what has become
known as the Pencen Pilgrimage.
Unfortunately, the Pencen Pilgrimage was not without bloodshed. Despite
the pilgrims not breaking any laws, if discovered, King Ericho IV would not think
twice of slaughtering the lot of them from spite and disdain. Before the pilgrims
could set up camp for the first night, Mina and Doramin discovered that they were
being pursued by Askarian scouts. As Mina and Doramin dealt with the scouts,
another Askarian envoy rounded up a number of the peasants on the pilgrimage.
An Askarian noble in the envoy was seeking the two nobles, former Baron Erodan
of Sylven and former Baroness Emiella of Orange who were now stripped of their
titles travelling with the pilgrimage. When the pilgrimage refused to give up the
ex-nobles, fighting ensued, and ultimately, the Askarian envoy was smote, thanks
to the power of Devara’s clerics’ and paladins’ powerful prayers. Eventually, the
majority of those in the Pencen Pilgrimage were able to seek refuge in Liven.

Chapter VI: The Cruel Queen: Liven, the Queen of Smiles, and
the Watching Woods

“In Liven, the Vilehawk tribes tended to play politics just enough as not to incur
the wrath of the regular army, primarily by bribing officials and, when
necessary, turning over their own to royal authorities.”

Liven lies north of Askaria, in the coldest part of the eastern continent. Liven
is equally split between proper towns and villages, and tribes of the forest dwelling
Vilehawks, primarily to the east of Liven. Liven was founded by Gandra the
Warrior who wielded the Black Widow Greatsword, which was eventually passed
down to Queen Lenaia, who is also known as the Queen of Smiles. The Black
Widow is said to have driven all of its wielders to madness.
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 Liven seems to have enough power to deny the Great Unification Decree put
in place by Askaria. Vilehawk Tribes dwell in the eastern and northeastern forests
of Liven, sometimes called the Watching Woods. They are self-governing and
command their own army. They tend to avoid any major persecution by giving up
their own members to royal authority when necessary. The cutting off and keeping
of the ear was originally started in Liven by the Vilehawks in an attempt to hear
the minute details of the Liven forests, and is a strange rite of passage for the tree
dwelling tribes. Ears are now often kept as trophies of battle. There are many tribes
in the forests around Liven, some even being cannibalistic, as noted in the Foley
Knoll Horror.
Liven is full of small towns and villages like Kens and Greenfarm, which is
home of the prophet Kira the Blind, author of the Burning Clouds prophecy. The
Brothers of Liven is a sellsword company that operates out of Liven. Liven is also
home to Frostgel, a rare poison. Liven’s military favors spears; perhaps their long
reach is important when dealing with the tree-dwelling tribes. The Boetian
Greatshield was made in Liven to complement their spears.
The Village of Smiles is also in Liven. Queen Lenaia from Tristin was
brought overseas to marry King Adnan of Liven for purely diplomatic reasons.
When King Adnan died shortly after, Queen Lenaia found herself in charge of
Liven, a strange and foreign land to her. Her years of rule were marked by civilian
unrest, as Queen Lenaia was psychologically unstable. Queen Lenaia had many
fears, most of them seemingly random. Just some of her many fears included
gourds, cats, twins, sea foam green, and the number 14. Every time she became
afraid of another thing, she would throw tantrums, order gaolings, punishments,
and even executions.
Queen Lenaia commanded a powerful and fearful rule however, an era
marked by rage-filled quells and purges. Her reign was known as the Reign of
Blood, in which she wielded her favorite sword, the Sword of Reign. The Queen of
Smiles, as she is now known, would adorn the walls of her Village of Smiles with
the grotesquely smiling faces of impaled heads and bodies. She was eventually
killed by a mob of vengeful villagers and had her lower jaw cut off in what the
angry villagers called “the greatest smile of all”.

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Chapter VII: The Ethereal Weave: Citadel and the Deserters of
Fire and Sky

“During The Three's rise in popularity, mages and arcanists from Askaria
and Liven began establishing a science around the art of channeling the
elements of Fire and Sky, eventually forming the Citadel, a stone tower deep
in the woods of Liven.” – Pantheonus

Deep in the Pitchwoods to the east of Liven lies the Citadel, haven of the
Keepers of Fire and Sky. Most of the details of Citadel can be found in the
section dedicated to the Keepers of Fire and Sky, however, I want to set aside
this small section to talk about those who have left the Citadel.
Firstly, the Bloodbrows. As I’ve already stated in an earlier chapter, the
Bloodbrows were old Keepers of Fire and Sky who helped shape alchemy as we
know it today. Those at the Citadel have very rigid standards for those who
follow the creed, and deviating from their rules is simply not allowed. Instead
of starting issues within the Citadel, those who do not agree with the strict
regulations of Citadel just tend to leave and start up their own collectives.
For example, the Black Sands Collective was once a part of Citadel before
Mina the Traveler (who I feel must be a different Mina from the Pencen
Pilgrimage) left in the hopes of creating another Citadel on the southern
continent around Kulka’as. Her Citadel ended up taking its own shape and
became known as the Black Sands Collective.
The Black Sands Collective became powerful enough to rival the Citadel,
and a bit of unrest existed between the two. Some members of the Black Sands
Collective were to sail from Kulka’as to Citadel to make peace with each other,
but alas, their ship was caught up in a storm, killing most of them and leaving
the Black Sands Sorcerer stranded on the Nameless Island.

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 Part III: The Southern Continent

The southern continent also contains 4 nations, Kulka’as, Coastrock,

Jinderin, and Kar’hi. The southern continent is known for its deserts. As trees are
fairly uncommon in the southern continent, goldensteel is often used as a wood
substitute. Both Kar’hi and Jinderin have their own islands: Kar’hi to the west, and
Jinderin to the south.

Chapter VIII: The Desert Nation: Kulka’as, Castle of Storms,

Ziggurat of Dust, the Dried King, the Bloodless Prince, Ruined
Temple, and the Coveted

“I wanted so much from life. Satisfaction eluded me. And the things I prayed
for… well… would you believe a god actually answered my prayers? These
things, this life, this island… such is my reward.” – Jaret, King of Storms

Fairly central in the southern continent lies Kulka’as. Kulka’as is a desert

nation known for Cloudencasse, or the Castle of Storms, and the Ziggurat of Dust.
The Desert Sentry, donning the Scorpion set, defends Kulka’as. Kulka’as seems to
be on good terms with the major nations on the other continents.
Jaret, King of Storms, reveals himself to us near the end of the game, turning
out to be the old man on the Shivering Shores when you arrived. As it turns out,
Cloudencasse, the Castle of Storms, originally existed in Kulka’as, as revealed to
us by the Masterless Knight. In life, Jaret had many powerful Court Sorcerers
under him, who, in turn, brought his Armor Guardians to life, commanding a great
amount of power in Kulka’as. Eventually his Court Sorcerers attempted to seize the
power of the kingdom, ultimately dooming Cloudencasse.
Jaret, King of Storms, was greedy and envious. He wanted more. He desired
more than what he had. So he prayed for it. And the Nameless God answered his
prayers. It gave him what he wanted: power, servants, and infinite life… Except
this eternal life was an eternal death; this purgatorial existence, as he says.

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 If you’ve talked to the Scarecrow, the Nameless God’s puppet that he speaks
through, at the end of the game you’re given a choice: escape the island by
hopping down the well, or taking control of the island, in Jaret’s place. Taking
Jaret’s place binds you to the island, making it yours, while hopping down the well
likely returns you to life, or perhaps to heaven, as evidenced by the Survival
ending dialogue for the House of Splendor:
“Bearing gold
On failing flesh
Freed from gaol
To splendid rest.”
Also in Kulka’as, ruled Quan In, Sun King of Kulka’as, and he ruled a very
prosperous time for Kulka’as, but was slowly driven mad over the years knowing
that his older brother, Tam In, had a hand in the ruling of the kingdom. Tam In
actually suffered from a plague that swept through Kulka’as called the Sandin
plague. Tam In, suffering from the plague, decided to use magic to seal himself in
clay, building himself up from the earth, bit by bit over the years. By doing so, he
was able to prolong his life, despite being plague ridden.
Tam In was also an avid supporter of The Three. As his clay form grew, he
built a giant mask made of stone with three faces in an effort to better commune
with The Three. Though his clay form prolonged his life, Tam In did succumb to
death, now being known as the Bloodless Prince. Deep under the Ziggurat of Dust
in Kulka’as, the Ziggurat has been remade on the Nameless Island where the
Bloodless Prince has been able to perform a feat nothing else on the island seems
to have been able to, except possibly the Nameless God: control Kraekan. Even
though Retchfeeders are only Minor Kraekan, the Bloodless Prince has been able
to take control of them by sealing their head in clay masks, in his image. These
creatures are known as Clay Hybrids, and fiercely defend the Bloodless Prince, and
the lower areas of the Ziggurat of Dust.
Quan In, Tam In’s brother and Sun King of Kulka’as, led a very difficult
life. As I stated above, he brought Kulka’as to a wonderful and prosperous era, but
ultimately, was it him, or his brother pulling the strings of Kulka’as? Even though
the people revered him as the Sun King, Quan In knew that his brother had a major
hand in it, driving him mad, eventually into paranoia. When Tam In created his
clay form as the Bloodless Prince, Quan In both loved and hated it. Loved him as
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his brother, but hated the horrid creature he had become, and hated that it meant
Tam In would live longer to control the nation of Kulka’as.
Quan In was a powerful Mage, and in his last years, he hid himself away in
the top of his creation: the Ziggurat of Dust. There, he suffered from paranoia
jumping at shadows, casting wild flame spells into the darkness of the Ziggurat,
always sure that someone was watching him. In death, Quan In became known as
the Dried King, and his faithful advisors and court sorcerers came with him, known
as Lietchs.
Deep under the Ziggurat of Dust lies the Ruined Temple. Whether or not this
is true on the mainland, I don’t know, because there is very little information on
the Ruined Temple. In fact, it’s hinted at by the Black Sands Sorcerer that the
Nameless God is collecting dead civilizations on the island. It could very well be
that the Ruined Temple is from one of these dead civilizations existing far before
any written record of the Kingdom.
Regardless of the origins of the Ruined Temple, I do have information on its
boss, The Coveted. The Coveted is not actually the ghosts, despite them having the
names in the bestiary as the Coveted and the Coveting. The Coveted is actually the
axe and the bloodthirsty spirit within it.
It is said that the axe was given to Executioner Erlang as a mysterious gift,
and he began to love the axe unnaturally. As power in the Kingdom shifted, The
Coveted was used on the entire royal family before eventually, Erlang became
king. However, Erlang stayed at his executioner’s block, attempting to feed the
never-satisfied axe. Eventually, a struggle erupted between Erlang and his son
Kuchet, and they both died together in a struggle over the axe. The Coveted is said
to bring any who wield it to self-destruction. The two ghosts the bestiary says are
The Coveted and the Coveting are actually the ethereal spirits of Executioner
Erlang and his son Kuchet. They are cursed to struggle for eternity on the
Nameless Island by their desire to wield the cursed executioner’s axe, The
Coveted.

Chapter IX: The Hidden Nation and the Army of Mariners:

Jinderin, Coastrock, and the Disemboweled Husk.

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“So what's this thief to do? Gather up whatever spoils I can find, scrap together
a skiff out of salvage, and sail to Coastrock. Coastrock's the perfect place for
someone like me to shed her notoriety.”

Far south on a remote island on the southern continent lies Jinderin. I’ve got
very little information on Jinderin as it is a forbidden nation. Little is known about
Jinderen, as travelers rarely go, but terrifying and widespread rumors give it a bad
reputation. Natives of Jinderin have black skin, strange markings, large under-teeth
with an underbite, and a red sclera. The only bit of information in the game about
Jinderin comes from the Ashen Effigy, adorned with a skull:
“An immense shield of carved granite smuggled from the forbidden Jinderen
Archipelago by an unscrupulous merchant. Apparently once part of a much
larger mural, its chiseled surface bears a low relief of interlocking bones
surrounding a chilling effigy of Death. Owing to several terrifying and
inexplicably widespread rumors, few outsiders venture to Jinderen and little is
known of its inhabitants even today; the fool who courted their ire to pillage this
demonic artifact was surely more driven by greed than common sense.”
Coastrock lies just north of Kulka’as, right on the sea. The land in Coastrock
is cold, rocky, poor for agriculture, and has few trees, but is rich in minerals.
Coastrock’s economy thrives on minerals and ocean byproducts, such as fish,
shells, and other undersea goodies. In fact, the Tetraodon tribe uses deep sea
creatures a weaponry, crafting the Cephalopounder and Tetruncheon from a local
species of squid and sea urchin respectively.
Coastrock is mostly fishing villages, removed from civilization, but
Coastrock has a powerful military: The Coastrock Federation. Their mineral rich
rocks make for powerful and plentiful shields, such as the Type 46 Tower Shield,
crafted specifically for the Coastrock Federation.
Though there is no evidence that the Dread Pirate Hager came from
Coastrock, I figured it would make the most sense to include him and his cavern
here. Hager’s cavern was probably a hidden cove in Coastrock where the pirate
Hager would store his loot from pirating other ships. In death, an unknown witch
put a curse on Hager, disemboweling him and filling him with a doll that controls
his every move, causing him to suffer immense pain in death. The witch created

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the Vacant Blades to watch over his suffering. Now known as the Disemboweled
Husk, he wields the Seawolf Cutlass in death as he once did in life.

Chapter X: Land of the Rising Sun: Kar’hi

“A festival mask from Kar'hi, fashioned in the likeness of a malevolent spirit.

Masks of this type are believed to confer various supernatural benefits
depending upon the spirits they represent.” – Yokai Mask

Kar’hi lies on the western island of the southern continent, and the fact that
it is an island nation is not the only similarity it pulls from Japanese culture. Kar’hi
seems to be nearly a parallel to Japan, and explains why there are many weapons
and armor of Japanese origin.
Kar’hi has some swamps, and may be where the Dome of the Forgotten
originated, but we can’t be sure. The Taichi, Naginata, Kumo Sasumata, Flint &
Steel and the many Japanese armor sets come from Kar’hi or from Kar’hi legends.
Kar’hi has monks, celebrates festivals wearing the masks of demons, and embraces
color, as evidenced by the Sohei Tabi:
“Some faiths associate vibrant colors with excess and vanity, but in
Kar'hi'i holy culture, color is celebrated.”
It’s likely that Kar’hi has a number of assassins, possibly ninja like.
Kar’hi also has interesting law allowing any man to volunteer to be hanged to
save a condemned man. Kar’hi’i blacksmiths deal in fine folded steel to create
the razor sharp blades used in their weaponry. Blacksmiths had to quickly
become skilled at their craft, making the best out of the inferior quality of steel
ore found in Kar’hi. Giant, sometimes winged spiders are native to Kar’hi, and
the Kumo Sasumata was devised to deal with the things. The rare poison
Spidersting can be extracted from these creatures.
Generally, when you think of Kar’hi, just think of Japan.

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 Part IV: The Western Continent

The western continent contains 3 nations, Kadania, Gulchmire, and Tristin.

The western continent is known for its deadly swamps and forests.

Chapter XI: Terrible Toxins and Salves that Save: Kadania,

Gulchmire, and the Mad Alchemist

“Most modern medicines trace their roots back to Kadanian Rojiella, or Red
Grass, a furry, fernlike grass plant known to grow in the most poisonous
corners of Kadanian swampland.” – Chauncy’s Medicine, s. 2.

Kadania and Gulchmire lie on the far west portion of the western continent,
and are known to have the most toxic swamps in the Kingdom. In Kadanian
swamps, the rare and important Kadania Rojiella, or Red Grass grows, where most
of the healing items in the Kingdom get their healing properties. Because Red
Grass is so rare, it has been crossbred with many other plants, to make it more
accessible. Likewise, the White Azemia is native to Kadania, and is the prime
source of Blue Grass, the ingredient used in most invigorating potions.
On the other hand, the Kadanian tarvine also grows in these swamps, the sap
of which is extracted as the Kingdom’s most widespread poison, known as
Pessmud. The Kadanian swamps are very poisonous and very dangerous, and the
Red Grass only grows in the most poisonous corners of the swamps. As you
probably could have assumed, the Pessklaw and the Scorpion Tail were made from
the tarvine plant to give them their poisonous qualities.
Kadania is an underdeveloped nation however, having mostly head hunting
swamp tribes, not too dissimilar from the Vilehawks in Liven. Kadania has many
valuable ores and Markdor and Coastrock negotiate for access to their mines. That
said, iron is very rare and leatherworking tends to prevail over blacksmithing as the
prime armor craft in Kadania. In the past, Kadania has tried and failed miserably to
invade Askaria.

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 Due to the poisons and potion ingredients, alchemists from all over revere
Kadania. The only real information we have about the Mad Alchemist is that he
was once known as Ruzpin, Grand Ter of Alchemy and Salves. He lost his mind by
constant exposure to toxins both physical and spiritual.
There is little information on Gulchmire, but we do know that they are a
bloodthirsty kind of lizard people and that the Virulent Scimitar was created here.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Mire of Stench actually existed in Gulchmire, but
again, I have no solid evidence of such, other than the fact that they both have mire
in their name and that they are both swampy areas.

Chapter XII: Victims or Villains? Tristin, the Sodden Knight,

Carsejaw the Cruel, and the Tristini Witch Hunt

“Tristini witches were never the hexers and cursers their enemies claimed them
to be, but were certainly practitioners of elemental magics.” – Bestiary – Pale
Witch

Tristin lies central in the western continent. The Tristini have pale skin, a
longer jaw, and they seem to have a marking that looks like eyeshadow that has
ran. Tristin has many powerful swordsmen and excel at swordsplay and stealth.
They are Askaria’s prime rival, and they are almost constantly at war with each
other.
Tristin has many forests, and the Tristini are often hated by other nations for
some reason. Perhaps it’s because of their eerie look and rumors of dark magic, but
they are a proud nation protected by the Tristini Royal Guard. Tristini military is a
force to be reckoned with as they can toe with Askaria at any time.
The Sodden Knight was once a martyred hero of Tristin. Known in life as
Sir Francis the Resolute. He hates shields and is widely renowned for his two
handed greatsword fighting style. After many years lost on the Nameless Island, he
protects the Festering Banquet, although he can’t remember why. The Festering
Banquet many have been a Tristini castle on the mainland.

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 In the woods of Tristin many small communities reside, often dabbling with
elemental magic. One day, a man by the name of Carsejaw, Bastard son of Marquis
Laborn, staked his rule as the Pretender Duke of Tristin, despite not actually
deserving of the title Duke or having any real rite to the throne. When the idea that
the peaceful elementalists in the woods of Tristin were practicing hexes and other
dark magic, Carsejaw the Cruel was the leader behind the witch hunts. Initially, he
had support from the people of Tristin, but as he condemned so many innocent
wives, sisters and daughters, he began to be hated. Although many rose up to stop
him, he put an end to all rebellions by impaling the rebels and their horses on the
same stake, making an example of them. He actually met his end by fever, denying
vengeance for all of his victims. His methods of torture included drowning the
Tristini “witches” and a method of execution called being “bound and scattered”.
These dark and cruel torture methods of Carsejaw brought many vengeful spirits to
the Nameless Island in the form of Pale Witches, Wrathful Deads, and Horsehead
Knights. Carsejaw wielded the Scharfrichter which he had commissioned for
ceremonial executions that was so sharp, it seemed to bend the fabric of space. He
also used to wield the Steel Centipede and the Umbral Partisan. His men were
known as the Ducal Guard.
Interestingly, most of the followers of the Order of the Betrayer seem to be
Tristini. Could it be that the hated elementalists turned to vengeance and
bloodshed, following Azredak, giving those who accused them of being evil
something to really fear?

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 Part V: The Northern Continent

The Northern continent contains 3 nations, Markdor, Dor Isle, and Taenibir.
The northern continent is known for its mountainous regions, brutal cold, and
valuable mines. The continent is split into two halves by a river, with Markdor on
one side, and Taenibir on the other. Dor Isle is a small island in the southeast.

Chapter XIII: The Godless North: Markdor and the Council of

Steel

“He was the captain of the Ironforged Guard, tasked with defending the Dorian
crown princess Umali, future Chair of the Council of Steel. Four hours a day he
would train with blunted weapons in the yard, and 12 hours a day he would
spend keeping watch in the castle’s royal wing.” – The Crimson Quell, para. 2.

Markdor lies in the northern mountains littered with volcanoes of the

northern continent. Those from Markdor tend to be Iron Ones. Bedspiders are also
initially from Markdor, originating in the volcanoes. Markdor is the origin of
explosives using Flash Powder or the “Manifestation of the Thunder of Markdor”
called Grenados, which were probably initially developed to help mine the
valuable jewels in the mines of Markdor quicker. Dorians seem to be capable
blacksmiths, craftsmen and miners, mining Shockstones, Goldenstone (topaz),
Leuryte crystal, and other valuable jewels from the mountains.
Dorians pride themselves in their weaponry. They’ve come up with very
powerful and interesting weapons with help from the ore mined in the mountains.
The Aster Monolith and Stardust Spire are just two examples. A Dorian blacksmith
created the Northern Cross so as not to be outdone by the Askarian Jaws of Death.
While the Northern Cross is superior, it is much more costly to create, so in a way,
the battle of the better arms is a draw.
The Council of Steel is the main government of Markdor. At the top reside a
king and queen, specifically King Everen and Queen Forcella until the Crimson
Quell, an internal usurping of power that succeeded in killing both the king and

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queen, but the 11 year old Princess Umali was safe to ascend to the throne. The
Council of Steel commands the Iron Legion, who primarily wield the Iron
Butterfly axe, the Ironforged Guard, elite soldiers to protect the Council, the
Mountain Lords who wield the deadly Mountain Breaker hammer, and the deadly
mounted soldiers, Dread Horsemen.
Women’s role in Markdor is more self-reliant than anywhere else in the
Kingdom. Instead of learning etiquette and how to bow and treat nobles properly,
women are raised to be skilled at martial arts, dueling, and marksmanship.
Though Markdor has a powerful military, they have had trouble dealing with
the bandit group: the Gray Raiders, who attacked caravans and merchants. The
Gray Raiders managed to thwart multiple attempts to be stopped by the Dorian
military. The High Council placed a bounty on their heads that Askarian
mercenaries eventually took care of. Markdor seems to be on good terms with the
major nations on the other continents.

Chapter XIV: The Overshadowed and Impoverished: Dor Isle

and Taenibir

“Steel shield of the Dread Horsemen, elite officers of the Dorian occupation
forces stationed in neighboring Taenibir. These combat-hardened veterans
excel in all forms of warfare, employing both mounted and dismounted tactics
as circumstances demand; their disciplined tenacity and the imposing
armaments they bear into battle have garnered a fearsome reputation extending
far beyond the borders of their native Markdor.” – Bestiary – Dread Horseman

When you think of the northern continent, your mind usually goes straight to
Markdor. Dor Isle and Taenibir get sort of overshadowed by the super-power that
is Markdor.
Interestingly enough, Dor Isle, on the south eastern island of the northern
continent, is actually pretty important to Markdor. As you may recall from the
Kraekan chapter, mercenaries from Dor Isle, armed with their Kureimoas, were
able to drive the Wyrms from the mountains of Markdor. Dor Isle also has a

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number of bustling trade cities, ideal for the craftsman and blacksmiths of Markdor
to peddle their wares.
Taenibir, on the other hand, is not so fortunate. Due to the need for workers
in mines of Markdor, Dorian forces have occupied Taenibir, enslaving as many as
they need. Dorian forces, including the deadly Dread Horsemen patrol the poor
streets of Taenibir, stomping out any rebels who try to break free of their Dorian
masters. Anyone who did manage to escape before being enslaved or stomped out
are no longer in good shape, scattered around the northern continent. The only
thing Taenibir has going for them is their special fire potion, the Birian Firepot,
and their deadly Lowland Mercenaries who wield the Lowlander’s Greatknife.

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 Part VI: Unsolved Mysteries of the Salt

This portion of the tome is simply a few musings of mysteries that either
don’t fit in anywhere else, of are only mentioned maybe once or twice.
 Jonas’ Landing – What’s up with that? There is nothing that I can find
anywhere on Jonas or his landing.
 The Jester – What’s his deal? He has the ability to move around the island as
he sees fit and seems to have a pretty good grasp on the inner workings of
the island.
 Trials of Alderan: A fairy tale about a knight who had to rescue a woman
from an evil wizard. He was pursued by Spear Imps.
 Drowned Porcelain: Children of kings who must wear porcelain masks
around their elders. I think this is very interesting, but doesn’t really fit in
anywhere else.
 Mother Merle: “Although never having children of their own, Mother
Merles have many characteristics of over protective mothers. She considers
any creature unfortunate enough to fit in her cage her child and desires to
keep them close to her forever, whatever state of living or dead that may
be.”
 There is apparently a holy text of some sort. Here are some of the entries
that are kind of standalone. (Note: there are more in the next part of the
tome)
o “The House of Light took alms and gave to the poor and infirm, its
stocks swelled with the kindness of man.” - Temparen 9:1
o “And his greed consumed him, and his stocks and warehouses of salt
became dead, and did graey.” - Temparen 13:12
o “She traveled from village to village, a burlap bag of salt on her back,
spreading wealth to the weak and infirm.” - Lukas 5:21
o “So sprinkle salt on their heads, in remembrance of days long past,
when salt held life.” - Jonastin 11:1
 The Thousand Miracles? Only ever referenced once.
 Bloodflowers and the Crushing of Eggs: Apparently both are a symbol of
war.
 Eaters of Thought: – Creatures of nightmares and fairytales. Only referenced
once.

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 The Kaltic Order of Assassins: Only ever mentioned on the Kaltic Razor
dagger. Where do they come from? Who did they work for? What is their
purpose?
 The Silver Fang: Yet another unknown assassin order.
 Opal Tusk – “An opalescent crystal dagger carved from the tusk of a divine
beast known as a Lightkin. Glimpsed only in the deep forests surrounding
remote temples and shrines, these regal felines are thought to be attracted to
holy sites and are widely regarded as omens of good fortune.”
o Interesting, as cats are sometimes omens of bad fortune as evidenced
by the Cat King (below).
 Brownvapor: A rare and powerful poison mixed only by master alchemists.
Apparently it’s what Poison Cytoplasm is made out of. Also, Bloated
Monstrosities eat Poison Cytoplasm, which is what gives them their poison
breath.

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 Part VII: Stories from the Tree of Skill

This section is reserved for the word for word transcription of the stories in
the tree of skill. I’ve taken them all from the Tree of Skill myself except
Pantheonus, the Tale of Vel Karam, and the Cat King. Those were transcribed by
/u/The_Antlion (thank you!). There is a great deal of information in these stories,
and they really helped shape the Drowned Tome. Not all of the stories in the Tree
of Skill are complete, and so I’ve broken this part up into two separate chapters:
one for complete stories, and one for the incomplete stories.

Chapter XV: Complete Stories from the Tree of Skill

Section I: The Pencen Pilgrimage

“In Remetia, to the north of Askaria, in the third year since the ratification of
the Great Unification Decree, a council of clerics and paladins of Devara was held
in secret to determine the best course of action to take against the increasing
pressure from the Askarian crown.”
“The small city of Remetia had been long loyal to the creed of Devara and the
old gods. In Remetia, the Great Unification Decree was viewed as nothing more
than an attempt to usurp the faith and loyalty of Askaria’s subjects.”
“Word had reached Remetia that an envoy of Askarian nobles, accompanied by
at least three score of armored guardsmen, pikemen, and arbalesters, would soon
be approaching the small city. The city’s holy warriors numbered 29 battle-ready
paladins and 33 clerics.”
“The goal of the envoy was known: they would rededicate places of worship in
Remetia to The Three, relocate images and shrines of Devara to pre-approved
locations in the city’s periphery, and disarm any paladins of Devara who did not
wish to take the oath of the new gods.”
“And so the council of clerics and paladins of Devara discussed their options.
Kneeling to the Askarian crown was out of the question. Fighting the envoy could
doom the city.”

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 “But Liven to the north had resisted the Askarian Great Unification Decree, so
it was decided: those loyal to Devara – paladins, clerics, and peasants – would
embark on a pilgrimage to Liven.”
“The lord of Remetia had already kneeled to the Askarian crown, and his
guardsman were loyal to King Ericho IV, descendant of Ericho the Austere, as
well. The Pilgrimage of those loyal to Devara would have to occur in secret.”
“Remetians loyal to Devara spread news of the Pilgrimage in secret. One would
use his foot to make an arc in the sand. If the other was loyal, he would likewise
make an arc, completing the circle, the sign of the sun, the greatest source of light.
And so news of the pilgrimage spread.”
“Three nights after the council, those loyal to Devara assembled in the night to
make pilgrimage to Liven in secret. Among them were 29 paladins, 33 clerics, 716
peasants, and two nobles, now stripped of title: former Baron Erodan of Sylven and
former Baroness Emiella of Orange.”
“With supplies and stocks for 7 days’ journey accounted for, the group vanished
into the moonlit night. They had embarked on what would be known as the Pencen
Pilgrimage.”
“Mina was a Birian paladin in the lead of the pack of nearly 800 men, women
and children that would be known as the Pencen Pilgrimage. Flanked by the cleric
Doramin Tolls, her close friend, she had marched for a night and half a day north
through the forests that spanned the unclaimed land between Liven and Remetia.”
“She was hot under her heavy mail and thick surcoat, and the shade didn’t seem
to do enough to stifle the hot summer sun, but her training had given her the
discipline [to] endure far worse. Doramin Tolls was not hiding his discomfort quite
as easily.”
“Wiping sweat from his brow, he smiled at Mina. ‘We’ll make camp at
sundown, yeah?’ he asked. ‘We’ll have to,’ she replied. ‘The peasantry are on their
last legs. But the more distance we can make, the better.’ Doramin nodded.”
“The sun would set soon, and Mina and Doramin, leading the pack, would have
to scout out a perimeter to accommodate a camp of nearly 800 people. Doramin
whistled a signal to the paladins further down the line, then they both set off into
the woods.”

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 “The woods between Liven and Remetia were filled with dangerous beasts and
marauding tribes, but Mina was more concerned with Askarian scouts.”
“They had broken no laws by setting out in pilgrimage, but the cruel King
Ericho IV, whom they mockingly called Ericho the Envy-Ridden, would not think
twice of slaughtering the lot of them from spite.”
“Passing around a rocky ledge, Mina first heard footsteps, then the crisp sound
of plate. It was as she feared: Askarian scouts were pursuing them. But how many?
And to what end? She signaled to Doramin, and both froze in their tracks. And
what she spied ahead chilled her to the bone.”
“Beyond the rocky ledge were four knights of the Askarian elite combat
squadron: the Night Raiders. They each wore a black cloak over heavy plate and
wielded a sharpened spatha. On each of their backs was a silver shield bearing the
crest of the new gods.”
“The two stood motionless behind the rocky ledge. Mina’s face burned with
fury, and Doramin’s eyes pleaded that she stay still. They were outnumbered and
outmatched. But the righteous fire of a paladin is a difficult thing to quench. Mina
charged.”
“It was four to two, and Doramin was no match for an armored knight, but
Mina had the divine light of Devara at her back. She charged shield-first into the
first Night Raider, sending him stumbling off balance, his blade falling to the
side.”
“She put her full weight into driving her spiked mace into the Night Raider’s
face. It connected with a sick crunch of metal and bone, lodging itself in the eye
slits of the Night Raider’s helm.”
“Whispering words of faith, Mina felt a piece as Devara’s divine light filled her
weapon until it reached a hotly glowing crescendo, turning the Night Raider’s helm
into a scene of carnage that far too closely resembled a kicked pot of burnt tomato
soup.”
“‘He died for a false god,’ she said angrily, unflinchingly. Her composure was
more ironclad than the knight whose head she had just reduced to red paste.
‘Doramin, Armor.’ The cleric spoke words of faith, and Mina’s paladin’s plate
began to glow.”

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 “The first Night Raider reached her before the other two, but he’d mistimed his
approach. Her glowing spiked mace, blessed with Devara’s eternal fury, crashed
across his left temple, sending him sprawling into the leaves, a trickle of blood
falling from his deeply dented helmet.”
“The next two were more careful, attempting to flank Mina, but it was now a
matched fight, and Mina had already dispatched two of them. She retreated, deftly
raising her shield to deflect blows from the two assailants, waiting for an opening.”
“The blades of the Night Raiders pounded at her shield, slashed at her surcoat,
dented on her mail and plate, cut through her leather. But the protection of Devara
held, making scrapes and bruises of what would have been deep cuts and broken
bones.”
“At last, a Night Raider overreached, giving her just enough room to maneuver.
She slammed her mace, glowing with divine vengeance, down on his outstretched
sword arm. He fell back in a shower of sparks, grunting with the blow, then
wailing in surprise. His couter was crushed, his vambrace-clad forearm bent the
wrong way from his elbow at nearly a right angle.”
“Mina swung her mace backhanded toward the iron helm of the last Night
Raider standing, but he shifted to bring up his abomination-crested shield,
deflecting her blow in a furious shower of sparks, using the momentum to thrust
his own blade through her chest.”
“To his astonishment, she stood her ground, and though impaled through the
chest, she fought with the rage of a thousand spurred old gods, hammering at his
helm, then at what was left of his helm, until the ironclad knight’s head was
nothing more than a smoking bowl of pulp.”
“The last Night Raider, elbow crushed to splinters within ruined plate couter,
charged Mina, spatha in hand. But he had not practiced offhand combat, and his
blade pathetically bounced off of Mina’s left pauldron.”
“Mina swung her mace at the crippled knight as he pitched past her, connecting
with the back of his helm. He fell limply forward, collapsing in the leaves.”
“The light left Mina’s mace. She fell to a knee and coughed a fine cloud of
blood. ‘Take the blade,’ she croaked to Doramin who had dumbly watched the
skirmish unfold.”

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 “Speaking words of faith, Doramin braced his foot against Mina’s pauldron. A
warm light descended upon the two. ‘Now,’ she wheezed.”
“He pulled with all of his might, and the blade wrest free of her chest. The
wound sprayed blood for the barest moment, and then it was gone. Mina sucked in
air.”
“Doramin Tolls moved to help the paladin to her feet, but she stood of her own
strength before he knew it, as if a blade had not just pierced and been pulled from
her lung mere moments ago. ‘Armor will need repair,’ she said quietly. The rest
may have been in danger still.”
“Quickly, they moved back toward the main path. If Night Raiders were in this
part of the woods, they were probably on the hunt elsewhere as well.”
“Mina and Doramin returned to the path to find the group in disarray. Men,
women and children were running north, faces masks of fear, with some worried
looking paladins and clerics among them, while other paladins and clerics
hurriedly headed toward a crowd that was forming to the south. In the crowd were
banners of the new gods. Mina and Doramin ran toward the banners.”
“Their worst fears had been realized. An envoy of Askarian foot soldiers had
rounded up dozens of peasants. The periphery of the crowd was littered with the
arrow-ridden bodies of those who had fled, and ranks of arbalesters kept close
watch on any who might have had the same idea.”
“The remaining paladins formed a protective shield around the clerics,
separated from the peasantry by rows of footsoldiers, threated by arbalesters. From
behind the Askarian ranks, a mounted noble approached. ‘This has gone long
enough,’ he said in common, voice full of sneering contempt.”
“The Askarian noble sat straight in his saddle, clad in shimmering gold-
trimmed plate, a smirking picture of smugness. ‘We’ve come to collect in the name
of King Ericho IV, descendant of the true king.’ An aged cleric emerged from the
paladin phalanx. Mina knew the woman simply as Bel. ‘Collect what?’ Bel
demanded.”
“The noble cleared his throat. ‘It has been ordered by King Ericho IV, heir of
the Askarian crown, descendant of the true-‘ Bel cut him off. ‘Get on with it,
boy.’”

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 “For a moment, the noble’s face registered shock. But the privileged pomp of
an Askarian noble quickly crept back over it. ‘We require the two nobles among
you,’ he declared. ‘and your steel.’”
“From the crowd, Erodan of Sylven and Emiella of Orange looked up in
astonishment. The crown had already stripped them of their titles when they
refused to kneel to the new gods. But before they could react, Bel responded. ‘Out
of the question,’ she said.”
“Bel calmly strode toward the mounted noble, through the line of confused
guards. She was a woman of nearly 80, gray and bowed with age, and the Askarian
troops looked to their captain, who in turn looked to the noble. His expression was
one of frozen fear. Should he have beheaded her for insubordination?
Grannyslayer, they’d call him. Cowed by Crones.”
“‘All followers of the true goddess are free to follow her,’ she said. Her eyes
rolled back in her head. She continued toward the noble.”
“’All followers-‘ she started, but in that moment an arbalest arrow streaked
through the air, piercing her in her back. Two more followed, striking next to the
first. She fell to the ground.”
“‘The flame absolves you,’ she croaked. In a flash, a brilliant column of light
erupted from where she fell, extending endlessly into the clouds, expanding in heat
and light and thunderous sound. Bodies, arbalests, swords, shields, helm and debris
were sent scattering from the blast.”
“Mina lowered her shield. The fire had vanished, and the dust was clearing. The
body of Bel lay motionless in the center of the scene, unscathed, except for the
bolts in her back. A starburst of ash, debris, and charred, still bodies, footmen and
peasants alike, extended out from where she lay.”
“Mina charged the remaining opposition, flanked by her fellow warriors of
Devara. Most of the arbalesters had already loosed their bolts in the confusion and
were now struggling to reload their weapons, and to a man they were mercilessly
crushed under the paladins’ spiked maces.”
“Other paladins and clerics had engaged the remaining Askarian footmen,
pitting mace against sword, old gods against new. Mina’s mace crashed through
helm after helm as the battlefield around her exploded with the clerics’ glowing
flashes of divine light.”

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 “The last Askarian fell to a crushing blow from Wen, a heavily scarred, black-
bearded paladin. The others began to survey the scene. Mina gasped: some of the
peasants that had been knocked prone by the blast had begun to stir.”
“Wiping dust and ash from their brows, one by one the peasants began to rise.
Devara had shielded her followers from the blinding column of divine vengeance,
and the worst any of them suffered were some bruised bottoms and singed beards.”
“But Bel would return to the sea. Her aged body riddled with arrows, she was
taken by Devara before anyone could reach her. Perhaps she spent the last of her
will saving the pilgrims.”
“They said rites and buried all the bodies: friend and foe alike. Aside from Bel,
4 paladins, 7 clerics, and 24 peasants had been wounded too gravely to heal. Their
foes’ bodies numbered far more, but the Pencen Pilgrimage’s numbers of fighters
was quickly dwindling, while the Askarian army was virtually limitless.”
“Shaken, but not broken, the pilgrimage resumed. They reached the Askaria-
Liven border in two more days’ march, where a Liveni scout regiment was able to
provide them safe passage to Liven.”
“The Pencen Pilgrimage was over, but the war was not. Mina and Doramin,
along with every last battle-ready paladin and cleric from the pilgrimage, pledged
fealty to the Queen of Liven, taking up the Queen’s crest: a tree growing from an
earthen vessel.”

Section II: The Tale of Vel Karam

“High upon a silver tow'r

Above the blighted trees
The legacy of Vel Karam
Dwel't in mystery.
Vel Karam was spoken of
In tones of quiet fear.
The tongues would change from town to town

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The details never clear.
Said to be a mighty witch
Or sometimes called a Kraekan.
Necromancer, demoness
Or that which man can't fathom
That Vel Karam became a tale
Had muddied history.
But men who told the tale agreed
She was born of the sea.
And when she travel'd to your town
Your harvest would be bless'd.
And not a copper would she take
She'd ask only for rest...
So your town would welcome her,
An oracle of light.
But once their trust and hearts she had,
She'd vanish in the night.
And when she'd been gone 13 days
A gray mist would come down,
And tragedy and misery
Would wash over the town.
T'wasn't drought or failing crops
Amidst the silver mist.
But children maim'd but left alive
With limbs cleav'd at the wrist.

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The childrens' wounds were not of blade
But of a magic dark.
Stich'd and heal'd and clean of blood
By witchcraft they were marr'd.
So villages from near and far
Grew in distant shade.
Generations bore the mark
That Vel Karam had made.
Smiths and merchants, farmers too
And the vestment-clad,
Lived full lives dismember'd still:
Shades of Vel Karam.
Decades pass'd, the fable grew
But somehow she walk'd freely.
Guileless towns welcomed her still
So doomed to misery.
In one town a hero grew
Not knowing his full fate.
He'd practice parry, thrust, riposte
While not at hoe and spade.
The hero's name Eggari
Of Nort Hamero clan.
He bore the evil witch's work
Eggari's missing hand.
The bitterness had curs'd him not,

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He dwel't not in the past.
He'd not be victim to the crone
Her legacy so ghastly.
And young Eggari practiced well
And grew into a man:
A swordsman fierce, a dueler,
Despite his missing hand.
A day into his nineteenth year
Eggari did embark.
In mail, with sword, pack supplies,
He march'd into the dark.
His journey took him through the woods
Through valleys so abyssal.
The nights were fraught with dreadful sounds
The days were not less dismal.
A crossbow that Eggari built
He used in hunting game,
And mushrooms, wild berries, roots
He gather'd to sustain him.
A fortnight though the woods of pitch
He came upon a clearing.
In the distance rose the spire
He knew what he was nearing.
But not a moment had gone by
When arrow struck his back.

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A shout, another, from the trees!
An ambush! An attack!
Drawing steel with fencing hand
Eggari faced the threat.
The one-arm'd hero scann'd the trees
The brigands number'd 10.
Arrows flew from every side
But wither'd at his mail.
And he became a whirlwind
Of blades; a bloody gale.
Eggari slashed the throat of one,
Another he impaled.
Opening a third and fourth
The ground grew wet with red.
Dodging dirk and wooden club,
He hewed and hacked and sliced.
An ear, a nose, an arm, a leg
A hand still clutching knife!
The routed brigands fled in turn
Their number now just two.
Eggari's bow was swifter still
The bolts he loosed flew true.
Bloodied, but yet resolute,
And under light of moon,
He tended scrapes and minor wounds

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His journey could resume.
3 days of marching again
The spire loomed ahead.
Eggari knew just what it was:
That wicked witch's stead.
The spire's gate was mir'd in thorns,
Twisted and entangled.
Eggari hacked at branch and thistle
Hot with righteous anger.
Cold damp stone, overgrown,
Smear'd in ancient grime.
Eggari set foot on the stair
And steadily he climbed.
The staircase ended 'neath the sky:
The ruins of Vel Karam.
Eggari came upon a door
Wreath'd in sever'd hands.
They showed no signs of age or rot
But twitched with life arcane.
Tristini, Kadanian
Present all the same.
Reaching for the door handle
Eggari turned it easily.
Those sever'd hands, yet wreathed in twine
Reach'd at his, but feebly.

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Creeping into room beyond
A place so black and morbid.
Eggari witnessed such a sight
He had seen naught so horrid.
Baskets lined the floor below
And twine was strung in banners.
Piled in baskets, strung in twine
Were scores of sever'd hands.
They twitched and squirmed, touched and grasped
And were they trying to cry?
The crone had not just stolen flesh
She'd taken bits of life.
In the corner, shrouded, hunched,
Rocking in a chair.
Was it she? Vel Karam?
Simply sitting there?
'Witch, I've come to banish thee to
Th'icy realm below.'
He raised his sword, but faltered when
A creaky voice said 'No.'
He brought his blade down viciously
Upon the ragged mass
It fell from chair, a pile of bones
And from behind: a laugh.
And there she stood, all veil'd in dark

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With skin all ghostly white,
A maiden young, with silver hair
And garments weav'd of sky.
'You've journeyed far, my handsome knight
But now is time to rest.
Come, my child, and lay your weary
Head upon my breast.'
But Eggari would not be thralled
By guile or charm or trick.
Bold and steeled, he plunged his blade
Into the witch's neck.
Her magick was so powerful,
But here it gave no aid.
Her lifeblood spilled from gaping wound
And her strength gave way.
Her skin, at first so young and fresh,
Aged before his eyes.
Fast decrepid, wrinkled, gray,
Leaking wicked life.
'Look at you, you utter fool,'
She croaked to Eggari.
'You've doom'd them all, the childes I took:
Our threads of life were linked.'
Eggari coiled back in fear,
Surveilling what he'd wrought.

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The hands were quickly growing foul,
Surrendering to rot.
The stench became unbearable,
He left that charnel place.
Returning from the Citadel,
He found his home in waste.
Those who has lost bits of them,
To evil Vel Karam,
Had suddenly began to rot,
From whence they lost their hands.
The rotted stumps were spreading quick
And took most unaware,
A lucky few took blade to flesh;
Those lucky few were spared.
The rest were taken by the rot,
A blight so fiercly spreading,
Their minds, decayed and blind with rage,
Knew naught but hunger pangs.
And so the blighted plagued the land,
Devouring living men,
Spreading rot that eats the soul,
Heralding the end.
And Eggari, the one-armed Knight,
The usher of the damned.
He spent his days atoning, purging

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 Childes of Vel Karam.
And when he'd slaughtered every ghoul,
Down to the last man,
The living folk did tell the tale:
The Tale of Vel Karam”

Section III: The Cat King

“Many regard the sight of cats to be a sign of good fortune. Most of the time,
they are right. But one particular land knows only fear of cats and the trouble they
bring, should one come home with them.”
“Once upon a time, a very small and skinny silver cat sought shelter from the
elements under a simple wooden box. The box only kept out some of the rain and
wind, but it was better than nothing.”
“A haggard and worn-looking man saw the silver cat, and the cat looked quite
cold. He brought the cat back to his shack so they could keep each other warm.
Perhaps good fortune would befall the man.”
“For a time, the man and the silver cat kept each other warm. The shack kept
out most of the rain and wind. But soon, the man fell ill and could no longer leave
his bed. He could no longer leave the shack.”
“Not long after falling ill, the man died. Some time after his death, a little old
lady that was out picking mushrooms happened upon the shack. She found a small
silver cat who looked lonely, so she took the cat home to her cottage to keep her
company.”
“For a time, the little old lady and the silver cat kept each other company. The
cottage was warm and kept out all of the rain and wind. The old lady grew older
and soon could no longer leave the cottage.”
“Not long after, the woman died. The woman had no heir, so the cottage was to
be auctioned. While taking stock of the cottage, the town adjudicator discovered a
silver cat. Needing a cat to hunt the mice that plagued his home, he took the cat
back to his house.”

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 “For a time, the silver cat dutifully chased mice from the adjudicator's home,
but sooner than not, the mice were all gone. Having no more need for a cat, the
adjudicator kicked the cat out.”
“Not long after the auction, a widowed heiress called upon the adjudicator in
his home. But he was nowhere to be found! She found only a large silver cat.
Looking for a companion for her children, she brought the cat back to her large
estate.”
“For a time, the silver cat kept the heiress' children happy. But as the children
grew, their interests shifted from toys and games to hunting and courtship, and they
grew bored of the cat.”
“Not long after, a widower king seeking a new bride came across the estate, but
in it he found only a huge silver cat. The cat whispered to him that he only need
bring the cat back to his castle and marry it, and the cat would turn into a beautiful
princess.”
“The king brought the silver cat back home to his castle and married the cat in a
secret ceremony, lest he become the subject of ridicule. But when the cat did not
turn into a human princess, the prince grew angry and tried to kill the cat.”
“I need not tell you what happened to the king but it is said that a great silver
cat still resides in that castle: a ruler of that land, feared by all. To this day, the
castle stands unoccupied and the villagers bring tribute to the landing of the castle,
lest a cat come home with them.”

Section IV: Chauncy’s Medicine

“Medicine through poultices and salves, as differentiated from medicine

through divine channels, has long been practiced by healers and sages since the
time before writing.”
“Most modern medicines trace their roots back to Kadanian Rojiella, or Red
Grass, a furry, fernlike grass plant known to grow in the most poisonous corners of
Kadanian swampland. Red Grass is extremely bitter when chewed, but can be
made palatable by grinding with mortar and pestle and mixed with sweet cider.”

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 “The effects of Red Grass are nearly miraculous: those who consume Red
Grass have noted rapid mending of wounds, the disappearance of scars, and
general waves of undescribable wellness. Were it not so costly to produce and
harvest, this realm could expect the eradication of disease and death, as well as
swarms of grass-addicted peasantry.”
“Red Grass was bred into various other flora, such as Crimflower to the east,
a flowering grass with similar properties, or Winemoss to the north, a thatching,
fuzzy grass that can survive in mountainous climates.”
“In the north, where baking is culturally intertwined with good health, and
baker and healer are one in the same, bakers create a dough with powdered
Winemoss, mixing in sweet dried fruits and grapes, and bake sweet Hearty Rolls.”
“To the east, Crimflower falls under the watchful jurisdiction of The Three,
with the syrupy Crimflower product known as “Red” placed under close regulatory
control, bearing an official crest stamp or being subject to anti-contraband law.
This has created a black market for unofficial Red, known as Shards.”
“To the south, a smaller breed of Crimflower known as Eye of Hearts is
cultivated by clerics of Devara and mixed with blessed lightwater to create the
magical potion known as Water of Blessing. Clerics to Devara devote most of their
resources to keeping their Water of Blessing stockpiles full, as providing healing to
the poor is their main method of proselytizing.”
“Deceptively similar looking to Kadanian Red Grass is Kadanian Blue
Grass, though its physiology is completely different from Rojiella. Blue Grass,
sometimes known as Moon Grass, is actually the frond-like extensions that grow
on cave fungi known as White Aziema. The base of the Aziema is actually highly
toxic, but the fronds are extremely vitalizing.”
“Like with Rojiella, derivative breeds of Aziema fungus are used throughout
the continents in revitalizing medicine. A blue moss that grows in the southern and
eastern continents is blended with spiced mead to create a powerful elixir that can
invigorate without excessively dulling the senses.”
“In monasteries to Devara, clerics prepare special cloths of canvas as tools
for reenergizing paladins and healers. Cloths of canvas are trimmed, hemmed, and
elegantly embroidered, then soaked for 7 days in baths of perfume and blue moss
paste.”

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 “For vigorating medicine, Dorian prefer Leuryte Crystal, mined in the
mountains of Markdor. Delicately mined with great difficulty, the crystal is easily
crushed, disintegrating and absorbing into the skin of whomever crushes it.”
“Rojiella and Aziema derivatives have even been found in strong wine. The
particular techniques for preparing and fermenting these wines is unknown, as they
are extremely rare and of nebulous origins.”

Section V: The Burning Clouds

“What follows in the Prophecy of Burning Clouds, a vision of Kira the

Blind, seer of Kens and Greenfarm, a village in the region of Liven.”
“When the world burns, it will not be by the hands of kings or gods or
demons, but by the hand of a shunned assassin.”
“His station would be that of a servant in scullery, and his days and nights
would be spent scrubbing pans and poisoning rats.”
“And he would meet death early, but not by ordinary means.”
“He would be waylaid by bandits and sold as property to a sorcerer of blood
magic.”
“And in the sorcerer’s hut, which hid in a mire feared by careful men, the
sorcerer would make rituals of blood magic and Salt Alkymancy, perversions of
the order of life itself.”
“And the scullery servant’s chest would be hewn, and his heart would be
taken, that the sorcerer’s rituals could be made complete.”
“And the servant’s body will be wrapped in linens and covered in balms, to
preserve for burial.”
“But the next morning, the body of the servant will be nowhere to be found.”
“Spirits of sea will have rescued him, and have brought him to the sea, and
have exchanged dead salt for living salt, so that his life will be made new, though
his heart will be gone still.”
“And his body would be made strong by salt not of this world, for his will
would become fiercer than any man, though he would lack a heart in his chest.”
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 “And in undeath, by salt not of this world, he would gain mastery of blade
and body.”
“And he would shed his name, knowing only vengeance and justice.”
“Though he would have neither practiced nor studied, in undeath he would
become swifter and more deadly than the most decorated Tristini swordsman.”
“And he would seek neither fame nor power, but he would seek vengeance
and justice, visiting first the sorcerer of the mire, whose wicked ritual robbed him
of his life.”
“And though he would be of Tristin, he would wield the taichi of his
ancestors’ ancestors, a blade of masterful craftsmanship.”
“So in night he would visit death upon the sorcerer of the mire, setting fire to
his hut of and the grim things it held.”
“But he would not go back to his village, being an abomination of blood
magic and Salt Alkymancy.”
“So he would set into the mire, putting to the blade and to flame all evil men
and wicked purveyors of blood magic and Salt Alkymancy.”
“And in time he would be lost in the fire, beyond a trail of blood and ashes,
lost of this time.”
“But hear would appear again in one thousand and twenty four years, again,
in the form of a scullery servant.”
“And his fate would be the same as of old, and he would again be captured
and slaughtered, his heart taken by wicked practitioners of blood magic and Salt
Alkymancy, though they would be known by different names in this time.”
“And in this time he will have a sister not of blood, and she will become
enthralled by blood magic and Salt Alkymancy, and he will slay her in battle.”
“And in this time, the practitioners of blood magic and Salt Alkymancy will
have enthralled most men, having built towers of metal and light that capture Fire
and Sky.”
“And he will ascend the towers of metal and light, and he will slay the
practitioners of blood magic and Salk Alkymancy, and he will slay their thralls and
constructs.”

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 “And his companion will be flesh made of the spirits of the sea, an agent of
salt not of this world, taking form of a scullery cook.”
“But they will discover that the evil that came of blood magic and Salt
Alkymancy had spread into the very soil, poisoning the world to its very core.”
“And so servant and cook will usher in the end of the world in burning
clouds.”
“These are things I, Kira the Blind have seen, seeing not things of this time,
but of a time to come.”

Section VI: The Foley Knoll Horror

“The words that follow detail the 192th ranging of the Coats ‘n’ talons,
Redbrow division of Liven, as carried out by me, Karmen Cran, division captain. I
do hereby swear that all of the things I have claimed and chronicled below are true
to the best of my recollection.”
“Our expedition began on the fourteenth day of the month of harvest, in the
year Olaresh 472. The purpose of the ranging was to track, hunt, and eliminate
gnarlend constructs that had been terrorizing smaller villages to the northeast of
Liven.”
“There were 6 in our party. We were tasked with a specific role, but every
man among us had be sufficiently trained in all aspects of ranging. I was to take
point with whip and crossbow.”
“Ajnders the Birian and Ellia Rum were strikers, equipped with glaive and
javelin. Kazik Termin and his cousin Azemar would use bow and scout. And
Todgy Longsmith was our chef, though he could crack a skull or two in a pinch.”
“We embarked on the Greengrove Trail, heading northeast from Liven. We
would travel three days’ time northeast, then head directly east into the woods to
track gnarlends along Cliffendell Crag.”
“We spotted our first sign of gnarlends not far after leaving the trail, with
Cliffendell Crag only beginning to rise, still a half day’s journey away. Kazik
Termin spied a burnt-looking stump and closer inspection revealed the

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unmistakable signs: a tree trunk rent as if by flashfire, shrouded in bits of charred,
decayed flesh.”
“The origin of gnarlends is a thing of horrible mystery. What we do know is
this: some forest tribes will place the corpses stillborn infants inside the trunks of
knotted trees, and as the tree grows, perhaps through some horrid magic, a
gnarlend is born.”
“Gnarlends are neither living nor dead, neither human, nor plant. They are
nightmarishly hideous, bearing misshapen, eerily infantile faces and viny,
entangled skin.”
“Fortunately, a gnarlend is killed like any other beast, though they usually
take a bit more chopping up. They have no hearts or lungs to pierce, but destroying
their heads is a sure way to kill them for good. Fire is also a hunter’s best friend.
“Still, no man wants to face down a gnarlend. Something about their faces is
haunting, terrifying, and paralyzing. I’ve heard of steeled men, armed to the teeth,
yet frozen in their tracks at the sight of a gnarlend. Overwhelmed, devoured. If
anything should get you moving in a showdown with a gnarlend, it’s this: if they
get you, they’ll eat your eyes first.”
“There were no tracks around the hewn trunk, but it gave us some clues to
go on, as well as confirmation of our quarry.”
“In the day, gnarlends hide high in trees, twisting their writing, misshapen
appendages among the branches, rendering themselves almost invisible. There they
draw from the tree’s life force, basking in sun. They do it so that when night falls,
they’re ready to hunt.”
“We cautiously made our way to Cliffendell Crag, attempting the whole
while to spot any gnarlends who may have hidden themselves carefully. Our search
was fruitless, unsurprisingly, but we reached the crag and made camp in good time.
When night fell, the hunt began.”
“We traveled in groups of two, or two-and-meat as we called it: two men
would hoist a torch-bearing straw dummy in front of them and range into the
woods, never straying far from camp. The dummies or ‘the meats,’ were crude but
useful.”

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 “The torches they bore made them better bait, illuminated our view ahead,
and kept us hidden in shadow. We’d also slather them in the fluids of a dead rabbit
for good measure.”
“If a unit was attacked, the other two would retreat toward the attacked unit,
careful not to expose their backs as they did so. Gnarlends did not hunt in packs or
coordinate attacks, but if the bait was sweet enough for one, the others would soon
follow.”
“So, on this night, we began our ranging in formation: Kazik with Ajnders,
Ellia with Azemar, and me with Todgy. Todgy was perhaps the bravest chef I
knew, though he was certainly the most capable with a crossbow and cleaver.”
“We moved slowly, carefully, me hoisting out torch-bearing ‘meat’ two
yeards ahead of us. The straw dummy bobbed and swayed, its torchlight casting an
eerily dancing web of light and shadow into the black wood.”
“We both froze at the sound of frenzied scratching to our right. I slowly
panned our decoy toward the source of the sound, and saw it there, rapidly
descending from the tree, more like a mass of spiders than a single creature. The
threshing, gnarled limbs contorted and bent in rapid, unnatural motions, but its
fleshy, infant-like face remained steadily fixed in our direction.”
“Without hesitation, I loosed an incendiary bolt from my crossbow. The
flame bolt, ignited by the crossbow’s lever mechanism, tore into the woods,
finding purchase just below the gnarlend’s head.”
“The creature shrieked a hideous wail, like a screaming infant choked by its
own tears, and burst into flame. But I’d missed its head and now it wanted mine.”
“I drove the bait hoist into the ground, making a fixed sentry of our friend
the meat. Then I unclasped my whip, a razor sharp blade-tipped steel chain
weapon, and lashed it at the monstrosity.”
“I snapped the whip precisely, and the blade connected with a violence that
was as elegant as it was visceral. A fist sized chunk of the creature’s head slapped
hard onto the forest floor, the rest of the miserable wretch collapsing shortly after.”
“‘Formation!’ I hissed to Todgy, who had already begun to retrieve our bait.
But then he vanished into a writing shadow of gnarled limbs. They were dropping
from the trees.”

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 “When we had seen the first gnarlend descend, a thought had struck my
mind: we’re too early. Hunting gnarlends that are grounded is one thing, but the
things dwell in trees! When they can drop in droves on unsuspecting hunters in the
pitch of night, the odds shift dramatically towards despair.”
“I drew my field cleaver and did my best to hack at the thing, but it was too
quick, too shapeless, too evasive in the dark of the night. I did finally see its face,
when it reared up to wail at me with its gurgling, infant-like wail. Its chin dripped
blood and bits of bright red flesh.”
“Before I cleaved the hideous creature’s head in two, I caught a glimpse of
what it had done to poor Todgy’s face. Of all the horrible things I’ve seen, if there
was just one of them that I could forever erase from my memory, it was that.”
“All around me I could hear the wet, shivering thuds of gnarlends dropping
from their perches. I started toward the others, but I had scarcely taken two steps
when all four of them had one by one collapsed into shadows, amid human
screams and unearthly, nightmarish wails.”
“The torchlight was waning, and I could hear the skittering, gurgling
cacophony of gnarlends bearing toward me. I bolted for Cliffendell Crag. I ran
desperately, knowing that at any moment my escape could be cut brutally short.
They were in the trees, they were everywhere. The woods were theirs.”
“I arrived at our camp at the Crag. I had hoped that the gnarlends would
avoid the clearing or the campfire. Perhaps I’d stored some herbs or an icon that
would terrify the damn things. But the vile monsters pursued me through the camp,
tearing through tents and stumbling over bedrolls, their terrible quickness not
diminishing in the slightest.”
“In that moment, I spied an orange glow in the hill to the east. I raced toward
it. Perhaps I was racing toward a brigand camp, but even a death at the hands of
raiders would be better than to fall to my pursuers.”
“As I ran, the distant glow drew into focus, separating and coalescing into
the shape of two windows. It was a small cottage at the top of the hill. I sprinted
toward the door, threw it open, ducked inside, and forced my back against it.”
“In the glow of lamplight before me I saw 5 stunned faces: a man, a woman,
and three children. The man and woman had been sitting at an oak table; the
children had been curled up on straw mattresses. They were certainly surprised, but

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it seemed like they sized up the situation faster than I’d expect them to. The man
raced to the door and threw his weight into it beside me.”
“An unearthly wail erupted from outside the door, then came scratching,
clawing, thumping. The door gave way under their weight once, twice, thrice, but
we held fast. And then they were gone. We heard the gnarlends rustling shamble
and nightmarish melancholy chorus fade into the forest.”
“The man, an Askarian, by the looks of him, dusted me off and helped me to
my feet. He wordlessly lumbered to the table, poured a flagon into a dented metal
cup, and handed the cup to me. ‘Your health,’ he grunted.”
“‘Hunter, eh?’ he asked as I put the cup to my lips. I nodded. ‘Hunters
always welcome here. Drive off th’ demons, keep out th’ evil.’ I smiled and took a
deep draught of the drink. ‘Always welcome…’ he seemed to trail off. Then it all
went to fog.”
“I came to. I believe it was the next day. I had been stripped of my weapons
and fine Redbrow armor, and dressed in a plain canvas tunic and trousers. I was in
a different dwelling: a great hall.”
“The walls of the hall were adorned in banners that bore unfamiliar symbols.
Figures wearing dark cloaks milled about. But my attention was drawn to the great
table at the center of the hall. It was strewn in butchered human corpses.”
“Lined up at the table, hunched over the butchered slabs of human flesh,
were a dozen cloaked figures. They were greedily pouring over the slabs, cutting
them, drawing them to their faces; they were eating them!”
“On one of the slabs of human flesh I recognized a tattoo: a symbol of a
long-disbanded sellsword company called the Brothers of Liven. It was Ajnder’s.
They had collected the corpses of my fellow Bloodbrows, butchered them, and
were now committing the ultimate act of defilement upon them.”
“I was unarmed, unarmored, and bound. I had no hope but for divine
intervention. But the old gods favor my sort over the cannibals and abominations;
would they listen? Still as a stone, I breathed the barest breath, mouthing with the
most miniscule effort the words of faith that may have meant my deliverance.”
“I remained still. The vile men dining on the remains of my countrymen
continued their grim pursuit. I felt at the ropes binding my hands: tied tight.
Deliver me, Diadel. Deliver me, Devara.”
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 “A warm peace fell upon me. It was something I’d never felt before, and
would never feel again. It was light, a thousand bright and chiming bells became
voices, each one whispering to me. ‘Don’t lose hope,’ they said.”
“I felt as if something ethereal was softly brushing against the tips of my
fingers, like a sea of feathers. The weave! The old gods had opened my eyes to the
weave of Fire and Sky that surrounds us.”
“I calmly felt the weave, touched it, embraced it, wrapped myself in it. A
hooded figure looked up from the table. Then another did. I had their attention
now! The man seated nearest me withdrew a rusty knife from a mostly emptied
torso and marched toward me.”
“He was near enough now that I could smell his foul carrion breath, his
grinning, yellow teeth bared. He let out a cruel, sickly laugh, raised his knife to my
throat, pursed his grinning lips. In my stillness, I felt a living heat rising up in my
hands. Diadel! The weave!”
“The room erupted in flame. There was a flash, then wave after wave of
searing, glowing heat emanated from where I stood, living brilliant arcs and
tendrils of red and orange flame, engulfing dozens of the cloaked wretches in
flame.”
“I stripped away my now-flaming rope bonds. The firestorm hadn’t hurt my
body, but patches of my tunic and trousers were now aflame, and my wrists had
been badly burnt by the rope. I hastily patted the flames down, tearing away scraps
of burnt canvas.”
“The ground was strewn with burning bodies, and the air was thick with
smoke. Some figures still stood, shrieking, dancing, desperately trying in vain to
fight off the flames. I wasted no time, grabbing a rusty cleaver from the table and
hacking away at anything that still stood.”
“In the smoke and chaos, I was lucky enough to spy a chest near the door. I
kicked it open; sure enough, it contained our pilfered Bloodbrow equipment. The
room was acrid with smoke, but I held my breath a quickly donned a Bloodbrow
helm, jacket, trousers, and boots: the Devil set.”
“A table by the chest held some of our crossbows, but they looked to be in
poor shape.”

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 “A glaive leaned against the wall by the door, probably Ajnders’. I grabbed
the weapon and stumbled through the door, into the open outdoors, gasping in the
cold air. The great hall roared in flame behind me.”
“A dozen more cloaked miscreants stood before me. In the daylight, I
realized that I was in a small village. There were maybe a dozen dwellings. I must
have been captured in one of them. I raised my glaive.”
“I could still feel the weave of Fire and Sky in my fingertips. Focusing on
my glaive, I gently drew from the weave, somehow collecting tendrils of ethereal
forces in a familiar yet alien process, building energy until my glaive glowed with
celestial fire. I slashed broadly at my assailants.”
“The glaive cut through my foes as a hot knife cuts through buttercream.
Their hewn forms flared in blood and fire, spraying sparks and gore, collapsing
into smoking heaps of charred flesh. I slashed and slashed until just one man
remained. He turned and ran.”
“In a few steps, I was upon him. I slashed low with flaming glaive, severing
one leg at the calf, deeply wounding the other at the ankle. He pitched forward in a
shower of sparks, his bloodied, torn trousers alighting in flame.”
“’You den of monsters,’ I said as I kicked him over to his back. ‘Tell me
why I should show mercy.’ He was no man. I had butchered a woman, and that
woman was with child. She began to laugh.”
“‘You wanted to kill monsters, hunter? Careful, lest ye become one, eh?’ she
croaked, laughing. As she spoke, she crept away on mangled, burnt legs. Prone, the
shape of her swollen belly showed through her dark cloak.”
“‘You’ve killed mothers’ children before, haven’t ye?’ she continued. ‘Go
on, do it!’ Did she see my melting resolve? Could she detect the doubt in my face?
She began to shriek her hideous laughter, bearing crooked, yellow teeth. ‘Do it!’
she shrieked. I swung my glaive.”
“What I had to do that day should have made me a monster; the cries I
endured as I set about my task will haunt me to this day. And I shall spare you,
dear reader, with many a gruesome detail.”
“I burned down the whole village, and set fire to the surrounding forest; the
flames would spread for miles and last for days. Everywhere were trees ridden

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with sleeping gnarlends. By the grace of Diadel, goddess of sky, I was able to blot
out the horrors of the Foley Knoll and live another day.”
“But the facts remain: I returned to Liven with a cart that carried six healthy,
yet premature infants, and but those six, I left not a single soul alive at Foley Knoll.
It is my sincere prayer that the lives I saved do not bear the curses of their
ancestors.”

Section VII: The Poisoner’s Field Guide

“Poisoning is an art form as old as war, and the effective use of poison is as
much a mastered skill as the sword, buckler, or arbalest.”
“Use of poison is controversial to some, but the makers of this guide take a
stance opposed to poison used in secret (through food and drink), and obviously in
favor of poison used in combat.”
“Poison in combat is typically delivered either through wounds, which is
most typical, or through breath, which is typically more complex.”
“Poison delivered through wounds is a bit simple, and the actual poisons
used are usually the same tried and true poisons used in food and drink. Thus the
rhyme: deadly when consumed means deadly in a wound!”
“There are many types of poison that are effective when delivered to a
wound. The most popular is Pessmud, a tar-like sap harvested from Kadanian
tarvine.”
“Rarer poisons delivered through wounds, like Frostgel from Liven or
Spidersting from Kar’hi carry more exotic properties, but also fetch a much higher
price.”
“Pessmud is simple, effective, and cheap, and for that reason, the examples
in this book will primarily revolve around the proper use and application of
Pessmud.”
“Applying Pessmud to the blade can be as simple as coating it with the stuff:
Pessmud is sticky and thick enough that it can be effective for quite a few swings
following a single proper application.”

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 “Weapons can even be carved from Kadanian tarvine, the tropical liana from
which Pessmud is harvested. Tarvine weapons are permanently poisonous by
nature, but the user must mind he properly wraps the hilt, lest a nick or scrape in
his hand causes his weapon to turn against him.”
“Arrows and bolts can remain poisoned for days. By wrapping the base of
the weapons’ sharpened tips in Pessmud-soaked rags, an archer may always keep
his quiver full of highly poisonous arrows and bolts.”
“Poison delivered through breath is quite complex, requiring skilled alchemy
or arcane elementalism.”
“Powdered Kadanian tarvine can be combined with the dried flesh of a
Cytoplasm to rapidly expel foul vapors, but doing so is extremely dangerous to the
alchemist producing the compound.”
“The product, known as Brownvapor, can be produced only through careful
mixing, bottling and corking by a master alchemist.”
“Perhaps the most malicious aspect of Brownvapor bottling is the byproduct:
shattering a Brownvapor flask not only produces a cloud of tarvine-tinged gas, but
the rapid vortex of expanding and contracting gasses is able to revitalize the dried
Cytoplasm flesh, producing a living, horrible Poison Cytoplasm.”
“Brownvapor has also been seen clouding from Bloated Monstrosities,
monstrous necrotic forest thralls that are known to consume both tarvine and
Cytoplasms.”

Section VIII: The Crimson Quell

“Aldrek donned his magnificent black metal plate, fastening his heavy
leather belt over his blue quilted surcoat. He slipped his large hands into articulated
metal gauntlets, placed a metal helm upon his head, and hoisted his great halberd
on his shoulder.”
“He was the captain of the Ironforged Guard, tasked with defending the
Dorian crown princess Umali, future Chair of the Council of Steel. Four hours a
day he would train with blunted weapons in the yard, and 12 hours a day he would
spend keeping watch in the castle’s royal wing.”

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 “He didn’t only keep watch; he listened. From beneath his motionless plate,
behind those expressionless eyes, he saw, heard, processed, sorted, and analyzed
every morsel of information that happened across his station.”
“He knew that Clark’s nephew Tibs owed coin to the Court Hollows ruffians
for instance. And he knew that Count Emerel had been spreading favors outside of
the official court in the hopes of garnering support. But he never saw the Crimson
Quell coming.”
“There were clues, but Aldrek was powerless to put them to use: he noted
Councilman Fardrik’s curious absence from the morning minutes, but he may have
taken ill. Doolie Charmers, initiate to the Guard and second cousin of Councilman
Fardrik, was late to morning roll, but that wasn’t incredibly unusual. And a set of
keys to the larder had gone missing, but that was more likely a consequence of
negligence than an act of foul play.”
“But at the first sound – a shout amidst ringing steel echoing through the
halls – Aldrek knew. Ally would become enemy, and he would have to cleave
countryman to save his princess. But in whom should he trust? His first order of
business was clear enough: protect the girl.”
“Umali, crown princess of Markdor, future Chair of the Council of Steel,
was a girl of 11 years. But Dorian girls of high station were very much the opposite
of those from the southern continents, practicing the martial arts well ahead of the
noble arts, excelling in dueling and marksmanship, not dancing and bowing.”
“Aldrek nodded to Mans, a fellow Ironforged Guard, and both entered the
princess’s chamber. She was safe in bed, slightly stirring in her sleep. He breathed
a sigh of relief.”
“The princess’ room had a sophisticated lockdown mechanism, on built for
an occasion such as this, where the Ironforged Guard could potentially be
compromised. Aldrek gave another quick nod to Mans, and the two set about
securing the room. The future Chair of the Council of Steel would live another
day.”
“The room secured, Aldrek set about his martial duty. As quickly as one can
move stealthily in plate, he moved faster, razor-sharp halberd in hand, his face
fierce with the righteous rage.”

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 “Rounding a corner, Aldrek came across a scene of carnage: Popin, the
squire, lay contorted in a pool of blood, his head almost completely severed at the
neck. Next to him was Yarmal of the Guard, bloodied and hunched against a
marble column, his face a motionless mask of ivory. Yarmal was a superior fighter,
but he looked to have taken a blade to the lung.”
“Suddenly, an assailant lept from behind a doorway! The black-cloaked
figure bore a wickedly grinning wooden mask stained as black as his cloak, and
wielded a curved dagger in his bloodstained hand. He lunged at Aldrek with a
shriek, his dagger flashing in the torchlight.”
“But Aradak’s experience in the yard had prepared him well. He deftly
struck the assailant’s dagger hand with the butt of his halberd and felt the
unmistakable crunch of the man’s forearm bone snapping, the bloody blade
dropping to the floor. Spinning the halberd over his shoulders, Aldrek drove the
axe blade into the man’s shoulder at the base of the neck, rending him neck to
spleen.”
“No sooner had the masked man collapsed into a twisted, unidentifiable
mass of gore and ichor than a trio of similarly dressed men rushed in from the
doorway. The four must have hear Aldrek approaching; the first was unlucky to be
so quick to investigate.”
“But Aldrek’s skill against multiple attackers was formidable indeed. He
thrust his halberd’s spear tip into the gut of the nearest and fastest assassin, shifted
his weight, and sent the doomed man hurling into the man to his right, the tip
tearing the man’s bowels from his chest, sending the pair sprawling in a tangled
heap of viscera.”
“The third attacker faltered at Aldrek’s shocking show of violence, but only
for the barest instant. He lunged at Aldrek with his dagger, but the blade merely
blunted on the Ironforged Guard’s plate.”
“Aldrek lashed back with a lightning fast thrust with the butt end of his
halberd to the man’s chin, shattering the assailant’s mask, collapsing his chin into a
mangled mess of teeth, bone, and dripping red chunks.”
“As the man fell backwards, Aldrek threw his weight into a falling slash,
driving his halberd’s axe head into the man’s chest, slamming the hapless assassin
into the marble floor beneath him, severed through from throat to sternum.”

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 “While one of the two other men was feebly trying to reel in his own
bowels, face ashen, the other had risen, drawing a sharpened longsword. Aldrek
heard the tinny sounds of plate beneath the man’s cloak. Could it be?”
“The man advanced on Aldrek, blade pointed out, and Aldrek immediately
sized him up for what he was: a poor fighter with a knight’s arsenal. In a flash,
Aldrek expertly tipped his halberd’s spear tip at the man’s wooden mask, sending
the man’s mask up, off his face, before he even knew what was happening. It was
Doolie Charmers, Ironforged Guard initiate, now a traitor.”
“Doolie’s face was a mixture of shock and agony. ‘Where are the others?’
demanded Aldrek. Doolie said nothing, but shifted his weight in the barest hint of
retreat. ‘So be it,’ said Aldrek, and thrust his blade through the initiate’s throat,
severing spine and windpipe in an instant.”
“The present threat eliminated, Aldrek picked up and started running again,
now toward the great hall. He moved quickly, remaining vigilant against ambush,
paying keen attention to the sounds of the keep. As he grew closer, he began to
hear some commotion. There was shouting and the unmistakable rally of swords
striking shields.”
“The scene in the great hall was chaos. The floor was strewn with the bodies
of servants, squires, guardsmen, black-cloaked assailants, and a noblewoman in
evening dress. Half a dozen Ironforged Guards faced off against a score of cloaked
assassins.”
“Though outnumbered, the Guards would have the upper hand, were it not
for the fact that one of the assassins held a dagger to the throat of King Everen,
Chair of the Council of Steel.
“Though both sides were shouting, stomping, and banging swords on
shields, the assassins held their ground, and the Ironforged would not advance to
put their king in peril. But it was King Everen who ended the impasse: in a subtle
move, he nodded to Aldrek, bared the faintest hint of a smile, and drove the
assassin’s blade into his own throat.”
“In one bloody motion, King Everen had forfeit his life, ended his rule, and
made crown princess Umali the new Chair of the Council of Steel. What was of
most immediate import, though, was that he broke the impasse, inviting slaughter
upon every last assassin in the keep.”

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 “And that slaughter was quick, decisive, and without mercy. The toll, all
told, was three members of the Ironforged Guard, 17 servants and squires, 24
assassins, three Council members, the king, and his wife, Queen Forcella. The
assailants that were captured alive revealed through questioning that the
insurgency was indeed masterminded by Councilman Fardrik.”
“Councilman Faldrik was seized and imprisoned, then executed by Iron Bur,
his head tarred and placed on a spike for all to see. Those of his henchmen that
were captured were all executed by the Five Cuts and given dogs’ burials. In time,
Markdor returned to greatness. But the Crimson Quell would not be forgotten.”

Section IX: Panthonus

“In ancient days, forest tribes held gods too numerous to mention, varying
from tribe to tribe. A single tree in a single forest may be three different gods to
three different tribes, and with little to no written history among them all, there was
no structure to their beliefs. Some embraced this, holding a sort of spiritual
animism as their truth.”
“When men civilized themselves, shedding huts and furs for stone villages
and linens, a common pantheon was codified: what is known now as the Old Gods.
The Old Pantheon contained 12 gods, typically: Diadel, goddess of sky, Azredak,
god of bloodletting, Oema, god of the harvest, Pyrabella, goddess of fertility,
Numen, god of dark things, Grull, god of forest creatures, Imrios, god of the sea,
Ellenestria, goddess of luck, Oporos, god of health, Murlik, god of the dream
world, Tartilia, goddess of the dead world, and Devara, goddess of light.”
“In most circles, Devara was esteemed as the mother of all gods,
commanding the greatest shines and the most devoted clerics. In time, the lesser
gods of the Old Pantheon fell in stature, and the vast majority of codified Old
Pantheon worship simply fell under the umbrella known as Devara's Light.”
“The New Gods, also known as The Three, emerged through monarchy and
dynasty. Devara's made equal with that of two new deities drawn from Askarian
royalty: The King and The Knight, divine incarnations of Askarian men. King
Ericho the Austere and Sir Amar the proper are credited with uniting all of
Askaria, a decades long conquest that began under King Ericho's father, King
Relon the Bear.”
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 “Askaria's successful campaigns of war and conquest led to The Three
becoming the most universally held gods, though forest tribes in the eastern
continent are known to still hold the ancient tribal gods, which now fell under the
monicker of Stone Roots. The old gods remained popular in the southern continent,
as well as in smaller nations, like Taenbir to the north and Kadania to the west.”
“Markdor, the mountainous nation in the western side of the northern
continent, held its own pantheon, but its rulers became increasingly antagonistic
toward the petty squabbling and state-sanctioned proseltyzing of the men of gods.
Perhaps in response to Askaria's conquest for The Three, the Dorian Council of
Steel declared the will of man to be greater than gods, and uniquely worthy of
worship. Ironically, this move led to its own codified system of faith and worship,
with its own schools, clerics, tomes and songs, all dedicated to extolling the will of
man.”
“During The Three's rise in popularity, mages and arcanists from Askaria
and Liven began establishing a science around the art of channeling the elements
of Fire and Sky, eventually forming the Citadel, a stone tower deep in the woods of
Liven.”
“Elementally attuned individuals would make pilgrimages to the Citadel of
Fire and Sky. A pilgrim to the Citadel would begin his study as an acolyte,
devoting decades of study and discipline toward learning, mastering, and
researching.”
“Disciples of Fire and Sky can't be said to hold gods, new or old, as they
restrict their study in the supernatural to experiments in spellcraft that can be
documented and duplicated. Healers of Fire and Sky, ever important in a tower
fraught with flame-slinging acolytes, do call on some divinity to mend and heal,
but they attribute this to a celestial element that must exist between Fire and Sky.”
“The realm has some smaller cults and sects of some import. Sects of the old
gods, for instance, often add or subtract from their accepted pantheons as tradition
allows, and hold more reverence for gods other than Devara. One such sect shed
the entire original Old Pantheon to favor two nontraditional gods, Gilbael, god of
wine, and Axigal, god of visions, eventually known simply as The Fool and The
Prophet.”

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 Chapter XVI: Incomplete Stories from the Tree of Skill

Section I: The Holy Text

Defernamany
“Vaskal’s shield was wrought of Dorian metal and decorated with a
glittering crest.” Defernamany 1:16
“Vaskal was strong as well, strong as any man of the Ironforged Guard.”
Defernamany 1:17
“Blessed with the memories of a thousand noble warriors, Vaskal’s shield
became his iron warden.” Defernamany 13:4
“Vaskal alone was the only man capable of wielding such a shield. It easily
weighed more than a man, yet he wielded it with ease.” Defernamany 13:5
“Flaming arrows arced like lightning through the forest, but he was quicker,
and his shield shone brighter.” Defernamany 45:6
“Though arrows and blades had pierced his flesh, a quick quaff of the flask
given him by the old crone game him strength anew.” Defernamany 62:3
“His task complete, he was laid to rest, his body shrouded by his glorious
shield. They would sing of his heroics, but today, they mourned his passing.”
Defernamany 70:7
Yu’larandra
“Quick as a flash, she loosed an arrow, and the feral wolf fell, limp as a
toppled target dummy.” -Yu’larandra 2:12
“The beast had left her with wounds, and some were not shallow. But she
crushed red grass in her mouth, filling her wounds with some, and consuming the
rest. Healing from within, healing from without.” -Yu’larandra 2:17-18
“The brigand camp was noisy, and the air was smoky. Her arrows were
silent, swift, and sharp as razors.” -Yu’larandra 4:101

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 “The elder clanmaster spoke to Yu’larandra: ‘you have proven yourself, now
you must take a husband.’ But Yu’larandra would not, for she was wed to her
bow.” -Yu’larandra 5:7
“She kept watch over the camp for 31 days. Her sustenance was game:
rabbit, squirrel, and deer. She made no fires, eating her game as the animals do.” -
Yu’larandra 13:222
“Like vermin they emerged from hole, hill, and thicket. And her bow felled
them, to a man. Her kin, she felled them.” -Yu’larandra 20:12
Malthis
“The worth of mankind is the salt on his brow for it is the essence of his
life.” Malthis 4:17
“Caldacus Sea, once vibrant with the spark of Salt grew dim and became
known as the Immrian Sea.” Malthis 9:36
“Gilfoy, the Wall of Steel, may have once cleaved through a hundred men,
but Malthis’ finesse with the dagger was unparalleled, and it surely found its home
between sections of Gilfoy’s heavy plate, in the pit of his arm.” –Malthis 16:2
Carvan
“And pilgrims traveled to the holy sites, their packs illuminating their way
through the night.” Carvan 3:17
“This world is one of beasts, and of spirits, and of man. And of all of these,
the will of man is the greatest.” –Carvan 9:4
“The will of man is like a stream flowing with water.” –Carvan 9:7
“Her wisdom and justice brought wealth to the land and the queen’s treasury
became full.” Carvan 11:13
“And the day may come again, when gold is like stones, but salt is the most
precious of all things.” Carvan 19:2

Section II: The Smith’s Apprentice

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 “Jakeb had been an energetic youth, and the trade of smithing gave him a
proper outlet to work, craft, and learn.”
“All his tools were laid out before him: his tongs, chisels, punches,
hammers, and bits.”
“’More nails again today?’ he asked. ‘Not today, son. A new order came in,
swords. War is coming. Let’s get to work.’”
“’I’ll need good metal to make a piece like that,’ he said. ‘Dorian steel,
nothing less.’”
“The flame’s heat had dwindled, but that’s what bellows were for. He deftly
sent a few blasts of air into the fire, bracing for the satisfying roar of heat that
would return.”
“Jakeb set about measuring Leonworth. The armor was perfectly articulate
to match its owner, from shoulder to ankle and every finger and toe between.”
“In the rainy darkness, Jakeb could tell the huddled figure was a man, and
that man was gravely wounded. He hurried forward, still mindful of his
surroundings, only to discover that the victim was someone he recognized: the
knight, Leonworth!”
“’Deliver this to Cloudencasse,’ he said, handing Jakeb a piece of
parchment. Jakeb nodded, though he could not make out what was written on the
parchment.”
“He ran as fast as he could back to the smithy. He was excited and terrified
all at once. Could a boy of his station really be of use to a knight?”
“He ran without stopping, down the hill, past the hanging tree, over the
soggy gulch, through the great wooden gate. He arrived sopping wet, brimming
with excitement and resolve.”
“The armor was heavy, but Jakeb was not only stout and lean from days of
smithing, but his trade had given him priceless experience at deftly donning and
wearing plate.”
“Ironclad and bearing sword and shield, Jakeb set out to the East, to
adventure. The dying knight’s wishes would be honored.”

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 Section III: Annals of Grimsen

“Having reached accord, the 16 knights of no banner were ready to embark

on their quest. But first, a symbolic gesture would occur.”
“They carried with them provisions for 30 days’ travel, 18 poultices of
mending, and other linens and salves as recommended by Zenia the Healer.”
“Second was Kesh Graydaughter, the Bloody Blade. She wielded the taichi,
an exotic weapon from the south.”
“Third was Kert, son of Kerman. He cherished little more than his hefty
Kureimoa, which he named Slaughtersong.”
“Fourth was Garkil, the Relentless. He lacked skill at dueling, but true to his
name, he excelled at skilllessly battering his foes into submission.”
“Suddenly, Ardiana gasped. In the woods, in the flicker of campfire, there
were faces. A dozen faces. More. A hundred. The woods were alive, and they were
not pleased.”
“Kert swung his hefty Slaughtersong at the ghastly creature, cleaving it from
shoulder to gut.”
“Kesh Graydaughter slashed at the revenant. Her taichi carved through the
monster’s leathery flesh one, two, three times, filling the air with clouds of ancient,
putrid dust.”
“The sky above the Citadel had become a dark, unnatural purple. Clouds
shrouded the structure, intermittently illuminated by glows from the top.”
“It rose before them, like some grim obelisk. The 16 knights of no banner
were now only 7, but each man’s resolve had grown only stronger. The citadel
would fall, and with it, the dark arcana it harbored.”
“Their party was now 4: Grimsen, Planne, Kesh, and Kert. But the end was
in sight. The Citadel! They bolted up the stairs.”
“Held by dark magic, Grimsen could only watch as Planne charged the
faceless mage. The room exploded in fire and blood, and then Grimsen saw
nothing.”

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 Section IV: Titching Codex

“The arcana, codified by the Elders of Fire and Sky, detail the methods and
practice of the formidable wielder of the supernatural.”
“The actual conjuration of magic is split into two categories, defined by their
methods of conjuration: spells and incantations.”
“A spell differs from and incantation in that it requires not only the spoken
word, but a physical conduit to shape the powers drawn from fire and sky.”
“Channeling the energy held in the ethereal fabric of Fire and Sky into a
conduit is a technique requiring masterful attunement, not unlike reaching in a
direction other than up, down, left, right, in, or out.”
“A conduit has the following properties: it must adhere to the shape of a rod,
it must be longer than an arm length, and it must be made of or weaved in
magically attuned material.”
“Magic attuned material is material that lies partially within the ethereal
fabric, such as saltwood, or the remains of a magical creature.”
“Channeling Fire and Sky through a physical conduit has one alarming side
effect: elemental imbalance. Fire and Sky are like two sides of an intangible
dimension, and attuning oneself too heavily in one direction or the other can be
dangerous, even fatal.”
“While trinkets and charms can reduce the effects of elemental imbalance,
master mages actually embrace the dangerous effect, using it to amplify the power
of their spells and incantations.”
“A one-handed conduit can be more difficult to master, but frees a hand of
the wielder.
“Of course, wielding one conduit in each hand could never work: a verbal
spell command cannot be conjured through more than one conduit.”
“The skilled duel wielder uses blade and wand in combat, distracting foes
with blade, to make vulnerable to elemental attack fro the duel wielder’s conduit.”
“The challenge of duel wielding lies in the feat of the mind: the duel wielder
must skillfully interact simultaneously with the physical and the ethereal.”

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 “An incantation requires only the spoken word to be conjured, provided the
conjurer possesses the proper elemental link to the ethereal fabric of fire and sky.”
“Incantations require complex focus of both mind and body: the fabric of
Fire and Sky is more difficult to grasp with no conduit, but the highly attuned
mage can feel its threads in all things.”

Section V: The Codex Malifinent

“Green, green, so the Sky of Bog. So fervid the allure, such a turgid, whirly
world.”
“Sky of Bog, eye of dog, quaff a crimson pie.”

Section VI: Mierdre’s Black Book

“A brute wields shields. An elegant shadow relies only on his quickness,

rolling and tumbling to evade the clumsy attacks of his assailant.”
“Evasion and parrying both require expert timing, but the diligent shadow
possesses this.”
“When blade meets crossbow, a well-equipped shadow becomes a well-
rounded tool in the trade of death.”
“A graceful shadow takes to the air to loose crossbow bolts at an attacking
assailant. The graceful shadow times his attack perfectly, staggering his foolish
foe.”
“The tenacious shadow must be able to remain hidden in water for great
periods of time. A breathing apparatus may be made using hollow reeds.”
“The diligent shadow shall become skilled at climbing. The practice of the
diligent shadow is as follows: without aid of feet, grasp a sturdy branch, pull
oneself up until one’s chin crests the branch, repeat twenty times.”
“The diligent shadow must be swift. Practice at footing using stepping
blocks: drive at least 10 logs no wider than 6 inches into the earth vertically, no

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nearer together than 3 feet. Practice swordplay, dashing, and stealth atop these
blocks.”
“The tenacious shadow must attack without relenting. An alerted foe will
always wither beneath the tenacious shadow’s hail of arrows.”
“A dagger is the most effective of [weapons]. If an attacker stabs, slashes, or
strikes, a diligent shadow [may] parry with dagger.”
“The diligent shadow plunges her dagger beneath the ear, forcefully pulling
across the throat to the other ear, showing a great mercy.”
“A blade may likewise be plunged into the body. The ideal location is
beneath the armpit, between the third and fourth rib. The victim must not be
corpulent, as this may diminish the reach of the blade.”

Section VII: The Oreisian

“The Dorian ambush party gave everyman among them the choice: death or
slavery. Ox’fal’s heart longed for death, but choosing slaving gave him a third
option: revenge.”
“Kuara had been at work in the mines much longer than Ox’fal, and she saw
the fire in his hear immediately. Spirits were quickly crushed here, but his burned
unnaturally bright.”
“’Lift with your legs,’ chided Kuara. ‘You need a strong back, not a broken
one.’”
“They were naught but pure focus. Blistered hands and aching muscles
became light as feathers and smoke as Ox’fal centered his mind on the three hearts:
the Tornado, the Arrox, and the Flame.”
“The guards, full of fear, reached for their spathas. But Ox’fal, channeling
the heart of his namesake, the Arrox, charged their post, maul in hand. Channeling
the heart of the Tornado, he whirled fiercely, crushing the face of the closest guard
such that his eyes were forced from his skull.”
“Ox’fal’s army finally crested Redstone Ridge. The encampment that came
into view below them was exactly what he feared: dozens of tents and campfires,

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hundreds of troops, and the Dorian standard. But Ox’fal had something greater: the
Heart of Fire.”

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