Mythology

Consider this the prologue to what will follow in the mods I'm about to create. It contains the complete mythology to Relbonia:

The Southern continent was young in Relbonian terms. Separated from the mainland by a stretch of water, it remained untouched until the advent of seafaring vessels. Even then, the channel proved to be the curse of many an intrepid adventurer. With hearts inspired by the mystical sight of the snow laden mountains that hung high above the sea mists, they would set forth, eager to plunder the promise of virgin riches that lured them through the treacherous sea to their deaths. This soon became known as the Anath Channel, appropriately named after the God of death, for many were to lose their soul to the unforgiving waters.

Like the continent he savoured most, Anath too was young, having been brought to the world by Garralak, creator of all known Gods, as a means to replenish his waning power, which unknown to him at the time, was the first sign of the return of Naelwithp.

Naelwithp. The dark manifestation of the time before Relbonia, when there was only Limbo, a vast, dark void, where the silence was only broken by the whispered howls of the Astral wind. Naelwithp was the only power older than time itself. He wove an intricate vortex through Limbo and admired his empty domain. But he was alone.

In his solitude he created Garralak. Immediately he feared his conception, for Garralak too, had the power of creation, and with it, created a mass from the void to hurl at the edge of Limbo, where he intended to escape into the Plane of Substance, away from the Astral wind that wanted to destroy him. The hurled mass punched through, sending shards of Limbo cascading into the darkness beyond, where they settled to form the stars that still hang above the land to this very day.

Garralak struggled to pull himself through the hole he had created, only to be thwarted by Naelwithp, who sealed the hole with a magical silver barrier that all Relbonians came to know as the Moon, or gateway to Limbo, as some of the higher ranking Druids preferred to call it. It was this magical barrier that severed part of Garralaks’ life force, allowing it to take refuge on the mass and bring to it life in the form of grass, trees and wildlife, while his spilt blood settled to form the oceans. Such was the strength of his essence that a new God materialised from the earth, and so was born the first of Garralaks’ children, Darrok, the God of Earth.

The remainder of his essence seeped into the dying wind which had been sucked from Limbo through the hole, and thus was born Boreeshna, God of the air, who would help breathe life into all the creations on Relbonia.

Thus stood Relbonia, a large mass now given life, overlooked by the Moon, window to Limbo. The silver portal only allowed Garralak to observe his creation, although when the barrier was at its’ weakest, communication with his children and transference of power was possible.

The Dark Lord Naelwithp was nowhere to be seen, for the creation of the barrier had weakened him to the extent that he was forced into hiding. Fleeing to the far reaches of Limbo, he waited for his strength to return and allowed the Moon to wane, so as to speed his recovery. Millennia passed, and Naelwithp was soon forgotten.

Darrok and Boreeshna tried hard to mould Relbonia into something that would please their father Garralak, but Life could not exist long in the cold, harsh conditions in the ancient land. Together, they mustered the power to create Farlena, Goddess of fire, commanding her to bring warmth and light into the world.

Farlena was not content with her role of the underling, feeling that she deserved more respect from the other elements, and so, in an attempt to gain recognition from Garralak, she created a huge magical fireball that she intended to hurl at the Moon. Its’ size and ferocity would pierce the silver barrier, allowing Garralak to escape and be proud of her. Upon seeing the fireball however, Darrok became intensely jealous of her creation, and stole it for himself before Farlena could use it, claiming that it was his own creation to bring warmth and light into the world. He hurled it into the cosmos where it would circle the world with its life giving energy, and called it the son of Darrok. Over the years, it became known simply as ‘The Sun’.

Farlena was furious, and in her rage ravaged the land with fire, destroying anything she could find that had been created by Darrok. Even this did not quell her anger however, and so, she twisted any creatures she found into her own demonic creations, sending them deep into the bowels of the earth where they would continue to burn at the lands heart and torture Darrok from within. These creatures became known as the Ancients, although some labelled them as Demons.Despairing at the destruction caused by the mystical flames that swept the land, Darrok and Boreeshna turned to the moon through which Garralak watched over the world, and begged for his help in calming the Goddess of Fire. In his wisdom Garralak granted them the power to create a new God, one who would control the element of water and thus quench the anger of Farlena. The God Moyballack arose from the oceans.

Garralak was still angered that things had gone thus far, and so banished the Gods to roam Relbonia forever, commanding them to care for the land. Each God would control their own element in order to keep balance and harmony within the world, and each would have their own plane of residence.

Thus were born all the elemental Gods. It came to pass that each God became head of their own faith through which life on Relbonia could worship them in return for powers to tend to the world’s well being.

Darrok became the God of Earth and head of the elemental faith known as Rathna, a popular faith among the Dwarven mountain dwellers, who used the powers granted them to fashion the very earth into mighty strongholds. Anyone who worshipped Rathna could claim earthly powers through Darrok.

Boreeshna was to become the God of Air and head of the faith known as Eleem, through which the power of air could be summoned.

Moyballack was the God of Water, giving water-based powers to those who worshipped him through the faith of Mouys, the faith of water. It was this faith that became much favoured by the aquatic race known as the Lith, repugnant fish folk through which all the other races had sprung, although many tend to forget this, preferring not to associate themselves with the race.

Farlena was the Goddess of Fire, distributing her fire-based powers upon those who followed the faith of fire, the faith of Kerak. Needless to say, Kerak became the hereditary faith of the Demons, arousing much suspicion from the other elements, for the powers unleashed by the faith tended to be destructive, causing much concern among the other elemental Gods. Although they realised that Relbonia needed all four elements to remain stable, Darrok, Boreeshna and Moyballack formed their own alliance in order to prevent the faith of Kerak from becoming too powerful. Thus came forth the faith of Moyelrath, under which new powers began to prosper, combining the powers of earth, air, and water, or Rathna, Eleem, and Mouys.

Aeons passed, and it came to be that Darrok had grown guilty over his stealing of the Sun from Farlena, and so, he confessed his sin to Boreeshna in the hope of forgiveness, but Boreeshna was not pleased. All the Gods were called together in order that they paid Farlena the respect she deserved, then, in an effort to rally the Gods forever more, Boreeshna declared that three new faiths should be formed, so that the races on Relbonia would know that the Gods were truly allied. Thus there came into being the faith of Muthna, an alliance of earth and water, and Kerem, an alliance of air and fire. Muthna and Kerem were combined to bring forth the faith of Ramek, a powerful combination of all the elements, whose power would only be given to those most loyal to the land.

As Garralak watched, his power waned. Drained by an unseen and ancient enemy long forgotten. He needed new energy to reform his power and sustain him, and so, he fashioned a new God. One that that would enforce a new law upon the land. The law that all life on Relbonia must come to an end, so that the souls could return to Limbo in order to sustain his life force. Thus, Anath came into being, and with him came Derath, the faith of death.

As Anath began to stalk the land preying on those who were considered unworthy of life on Relbonia, so the faith of Derath grew among those who feared that they would be next in line to feel the chilly breath of Anath upon their cheek. It was through such followers that the God of Death quickly spread rivalry among the elements, instigating the Elemental wars so as to test the loyalty of all Relbonians, and supply Garralak with the souls of those foolish enough to forget their allegiance to the land. It was to be a terrible time, but the Gods ignored the combat of their minions, and rallied in their panic to create Mallisa, Goddess of life and physician to the Gods, so that life on Relbonia could continue for those deemed worthy enough of her blessing.

Now Garralak could truly rejoice, for a new balance had been achieved, and with it, the circle of life could continue. The new faith of Avileem was born for those wishing to worship Mallisa, allowing Garralak to reward good souls by returning them to the land to live again. On rare occasions, such souls could be returned as a Garrellian, a noble race sworn to tend to the needs of the land from secret strongholds dotted throughout the land. Such an existence was considered a great honour, and from their devotion grew a new faith dedicated to Garralak himself. This faith became known as Avilrath, regarded as the only source of power over the Undead, for Garralak had all the souls at his disposal. Or so he thought.

The Garrellians poured forth from their castles to quell the Elemental wars, and taught the Relbonians that death was a necessity that needn’t be feared, for those who served the land well would live again. The Garrellians were proof of this, and so the existence of Anath became an accepted part of Relbonian life. With the end of the Elemental wars, civilisation prospered, and two new faiths were born. First came the faith of Karma, an alliance of the three life force faiths, consisting of Derath, Avileem and Avilrath, headed by Garralak himself to grant further powers to those loyal to the land. Then came the master faith, known as Muthkernatum in the old tongue, meaning “mother nature”. It was to be an allegiance of all the known faiths, bringing ultimate power to the few Druids who ranked highly enough to obtain membership.

With such powers at their disposal, respect for the Druids rose quickly. Soon the Relbonian King held council with them to tend to the needs of the land, and great libraries were erected to hold their wisdom in dusty tomes, painstakingly written by the hands of young initiates who aspired to the faiths.

The granting of Godly powers required much faith and dedication, which for some, was too high a price to pay. As contact with the Gods grew sparse, there arose those gifted with the power to create magic of their own, twisting the forces of nature to do their bidding. Such people became known as Conjurors, and were widely mistrusted, especially by the Druids, who considered their tampering with nature blasphemous and costly to the land. Fearing that the Gods would be forgotten, the Druids took the most promising Relbonians under their wing, and armed them as Clerics, to wander the land and reward the faithful with their services.

Many Conjurors practised their art in secrecy, fearing the wrath of the holy folk, but those who rose in ability openly mocked the followers of Gods, an act that was to prove costly to the Conjuror known as Zannaram, a dark skinned Human rather prone to misfortune despite his abilities. Garralak himself cursed the unfortunate man to take on the form of a raven as a lesson to others, although most now presume him to be dead, for Anath does not take kindly to those who upset his father.

In truth, Zannaram was the least of Anaths’ worries, for Garralak grew weak and the souls of the dead were failing to make the journey to Limbo. Rumours spread among the holy folk that only when the moon was full would the journey to Limbo be considered safe, for this was when the gateway to Limbo was at its’ widest, allowing Garralak to watch over them.

It was on such a night that the God of Death drifted to his favourite hunting ground, the Anath channel, for it was here that many would meet their doom, tempted across the sea by the rich promises of the Southern continent.

With the arrival of civilisation, however, the journey was to become less daunting, for, during the reign of peace after the Elemental wars, the various races learned to forget about their differences. Trade began to prosper, and with it, the Human desire to expand the realms encouraged the commissioning of the Dwarven clans, who had a natural flair for construction. They, in turn, sought consultation from the Lith, a seafaring folk who previously knew little respect from their Relbonian comrades, due mainly to a lack of education, although it has to be said that their appearance and smell did little to help matters. Their knowledge of the behaviour of the sea proved to be a great asset to the Dwarves, encouraging the building of great merchant ships that ploughed the seas with their cargoes of merchandise and brave settlers.

The land had suffered much during the Elemental wars, and the sight of such a vast expanse of unexplored mountains was to be an inspiration to the early Dwarven sailors. Before long, they had established several mining colonies that boosted trade even further, until it became a matter of necessity to establish a permanent port. What began as a simple trading post soon flourished, until the sight of merchant navies within the harbour became little more than masts seen bobbing above the seagull clad rooftops, and so, the Dwarven City of Kerral was born.

It was unusual for the stout folk to establish surface dwellings, but Kerral proved to be an invaluable trading post, shipping much in the way of ores to the mainland via the port of Poinpatas.

Souls too, became something of a commodity, now that the journey across the channel was more feasible. Anath found himself having to employ more subtleties in order to replenish his fathers’ fading energy, and so, he drifted into Kerral, where he was to allow the first signs of plague to surface.

How It All Began

Well, I've finally got round to placing a presence on the web again after far too long an absence. Some of you may recall I actually had a website dedicated to roleplaying. Unfortunately, when I changed service providers, I had to lose my web page allocation, although I still maintain the Quillmaster domain name.

For those of you who haven't seen my web pages from the past, I'm what many would regard a role playing veteran, having joined the ranks when White Dwarf released issue number 18 (which is still in my collection along with many others, and no, they're not for sale). Some think role playing is about little more than combat. I see it as an opportunity to engulf the players in a story that happens to contain some action. I take great pride in my creations, so much so that my dedication to the hobby had me create a complete world with its own mythology, eventually forming the basis for the novel I am slowly putting together.

It all started back in the 80's, when I was quite possibly obsessed with Role Playing games, especially Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Having been in high demand as a games master, I had a dream to create an entire world where for once, rather than steer players in pre written adventures, I would allow them the chance to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they desired. I wanted the world to run in a manner that meant players would be in charge of their own destinies rather than have the referee dictate the direction and purpose of their actions, meeting people because they were genuinely met owing to circumstance, and not because I had simply put them there. Obviously, such a task would involve a great deal of preparation, requiring enough history and politics to make the game both believable and entertaining. Not only that, but I would have to have to generate ideas for locations that characters could stumble across regardless of their level. It seemed only natural to start from the beginning, and so, I set to work on writing my own mythology for the world I wanted to create, giving details of how the Gods came to exist, their roles within the land, and how they had come to shape it. In all, there came to exist seven known Gods, from whom power would be granted in the form of spells that fell within twelve categories, each with their own symbol and list of spells applicable. Once comfortable with the mythology, I then went on to draw a map of the continent on which the players would venture, and soon realised that I had perhaps bitten off more than I could chew, and so, reluctantly, the project was shelved.

It was some ten years later that close friends cajoled me into attempting what I had been told I do best. For years, players had informed me that my games should be converted into a book, and I had been harbouring a secret desire to attempt such a feat, but my old games, despite the protest of participants, were hardly novel material, being more orientated to entertainment with scant regard for feasible storyline. I needed the players to feel that they were part of something big, to exist in a land deeply drenched in a history all of its' own. It was then that I remembered my previous work, and concocted the idea of basing the novel on the real actions of players within a play by mail game which came to be known as "The Quillmaster". At the time, play by mail games seemed pretty poor, and my friends persuaded me that my writing skills and Role Playing talent could produce something far superior to anything else available at the time. With nothing to lose, I blew the dust from my previous work, and began creating a database to help keep track of game events.

The database alone became a massive project, incorporating the facility to print out players sheets and track both their possessions and position within the game world. Each location within the land had several sub locations with various personalities and backgrounds listed, and approximately fifty wandering N.P.Cs' were created. Each N.P.C. had a detailed background listing their motives and personalities, and wandered the land in a manner dictated by their objectives. These became the key to making the world feel real to all who wandered within it, and led to the development of several sub plots due to the circumstances and morals of genuine chance encounters between players and N.P.C's.

Using my talents in Desktop Publishing, I was able to produce a small book giving details of the history and mythology of the land, along with details on how to customise the player characters within it, and soon had the game up and running. With so much background information at the players' disposal, all who played quickly found a role within the developing story that they felt comfortable with, and role played their characters to the hilt, for the more they role played, the more rewarding their returned turn descriptions would be.

Turn sheets were in a story based format, listing the outcome of events based upon their actions and the actions of both N.P.C's and other players encountered on their travels. All the turn sheets were saved to act as notes for the developing novel, with hints to an underlying plot not mentioned in the rule book provided to players. Thus, over a period of time, players gradually became aware of unfolding circumstances that would effect the world they played in, and prove detrimental to their existence within the game world. At the end of the day, all choices were down to the players.

"The Quillmaster" was run in this fashion for approximately a year, during which time certain key players began to develop their own heroic role within the world, with circumstances culminating in their congregation into a party who desired to put an end to the unfolding events that threatened to terminate the world they had helped to develop.

At this stage, the continuation of the play by mail game became impractical, however, I was now in a position to continue building on the novel background by taking the formed party into a more conventional role playing environment, leading to one of the richest role playing experiences I have ever had the pleasure of being involved with. For ease of play, Quillmaster characters were converted to AD&D, with special rules being applied to take into account the unique magic system applicable to the world. Normal tabletop role playing sessions were then acted out every weekend, with the benefit of all participating characters having their own rich histories previously developed in the play by mail game, along with a deep knowledge of the world that they played within.

Alas, these role playing sessions have also come to an end, having developed enough storyline to almost complete my novel, although the option of continuing play within the land remains, which I know is a popular thought to the players who were involved.

As for the actual novel, it is slowly but surely taking shape. Truth be told, it has been much more difficult than I imagined, but most rewarding as it takes shape. I shall update this page from time to time with novel progress information for those of you who are interested.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people, whose encouragement has helped more than they possibly know through a particularly turbulent time:

• Mark Houghton
• Nicole Cooper
• Darren Cordery
• Michael Glossop
• Simon Court
• Frank Welby

Back to the present, I had long hoped that it might be possible to place the "Quillmaster" world (hereafter referred to as "Relbonia") into the Neverwinter Nights game engine, but various technical issues left me doubting it was even possible... until now.

Thanks to a growing comprehension of how Neverwinter Nights works, I'm now in a position to realise my dream, and have began work on "The Relbonian Chronicles", set to be a series of single player modules that reveal the unfolding story through the eyes of different characters. Watch this space for news on progress!