Pavis mystery - A Runequest setting with CoC insanity?

[Dave Syrinx]

I´m fiddling with combining RQ brp and CoC brp to a Fantasy game with SAN implementation.

The Lunar Empire have enslaved the Praxian tribes and put an outpost in the provincial Sun County´s city of Pavis. The characters will set off to find a way to break the shackels of tyranny.

[Dave Syrinx]

The sceario is set in Glorantha a place of magic and myths. The main land mass is Genertela. This scenario will play out in a savage region called Prax. From northern Glamour in northern Genertela the Lunar Empire have enslaved the nomad tribes of Prax and handed out grants to noble men with questionable loyalties. The main city of Prax and the close by Sun County, Pavis serves as the farthest reach of the Lunar Empire. Plans are in motion to reach all the way to the south shores of Genertela but there´s some territory left to occupy. The eastern desert lands are crowded by exiled tribes. The wind cults of Orlanth are banned and the Red Goddess and The Seven Mothers let chaos inside the walls of Pavis.

Inside the Rubble of Old Pavis, adjacent to Pavis the new city - life and death are traded swiftly. Attempts to make use of the vast territory have proven futile - even disastrous. Trolls, dwarves and bandits roam the old walls of the giants and what rests within. Entire platoons have vanished from the surface on scouting missions. The newly found tunnel system in Pavis to the Rubble have not yet been explored.

Different starting points will be used in this scenario. Depending on what kind of characters join the scenario will unfold in ways I don´t yet know. There will be a clash between the Lunar forces and the unorganized horse tribes, that´s for sure.

Factions:

The Dundealos Tribe, camping by the Condor Crags just southeast from Pavis, prepare a raiding party on the city and the surrounding grants.

The Dwarves: Mostali engineers traveling from various places both below ground (as they usually do) but also on the surface - in stealth mode- unseen from the known paths below. And facing new threats every minute. Tactics used by the Mostali is let the fear of the unknown work for you. Gadgets and trinkets as well as odd weaponry even guns make out a well greased arsenal in the bronze age world of Glorantha.

The Lunar Guard, as head of the Royal Guard, Solitar Gorm has the privilege to lead a force of elite soldiers to map the maze of tunnels, recently uncovered in Pavis´ noble district.

The Old City survivors.. - Inside the Rubble, the ancient remains of the Old City shelter a handful of survivors, bandits and warriors, yet pure in mind but defiant to both Lunars and the crawling chaos monsters outside. Protected by ancient spells forged into the protective walls and the power of unity they stay alive. Trust no one! Expect treason! Remain inside the walls! Protect the sanctuary of Pavis - the legend.

(Inside the temple of the Old City, remains of the man who founded the Rubble formerly named Pavis rest. The modern city now in mockery called New Pavis, fell to the invading Lunars. The Old City will never fall!)

It is here the scenario seed is planted!

The time has come, the Lunar occupation of New Pavis has become brutal, nearly all Lightbringer cults have seen their most prominent leaders poisoned or found mysteriously dead. Open worship of chaos cults and power of the Red Goddess is becoming too apparent and there are rumors of rebellion. Any rebellion will fail unless someone strong appear and rally the tribes into an ordered force. The Lunars that occupy the area are outnumbered at least ten to one but their strict military order maintains firm grasp over the unorganized hoards of barbarians. Soon a hero will step forward! The Rune Lord who aspire to be that hero needs the sword of Pavis to unite the tribes. This sword is lost in the tunnels beneath the Rubble. To find the sword the tunnels must be searched. A gemstone set within the scabbard of Pavis´sword at the temple will intesify in glow when closer to the sword. This scabbard is offered to the ones who venture beneath!

The few residents of the Old City have discussions of who to send...


So either go with the Dundealos, the Lunars, the Mostali or the Rubble Survivors!


To set the mode a story can be heard across Prax:

I am Korlen Peacebringer. once Swordthane of the Dundealos.
I was born to the proud Tribe of the Dundealos vvhose lands lay to the South of the Balkoth on the East side of the mountains. A defiant people jealous of their independence from outside influence or rule. their only obedience was to each other. Orlanth and Humakt. We remember back to when Orlanth formed the men into a fighting force to take advantage of the freedom of Air. Ours were amongst the first to join with Orlanth when he found the weapon called Death, and used it to kill the Blight Emperor. In this we served as Weapon thanes under the stewardship of Humakt Death maker. Our battle against the Fire Tribes, the heirs to the slain Emperor were told around the hearths and halls and we were proud. When Vingkot said that we must shelter people of a ruined clan. we agreed and gave them equal rights, fanner. warrior or artisan. The fanners became Carls, the warriors became weapon thanes and the artisans fashioned the goods and harness we required to remain strong. All followed Heorts teachings in the ways of war and peace, and at this time our greatest allies were the Mostali also known as dwarfs. When King Sartar arose and began to unite the tribal kings we admired hini and we were amongst the first to join his cause for a greater unity of all Heortlings. So, when the first of the Lunar missionaries came, we laughed and sent them away, to laugh in the face of their Emperor. Then when more came, and no longer talked of peace we fought them, always honourably but without thought of defeat. For many , years we held the Red Cloaks at bay. through endless battles and skirmishes until one day they brought forth an endless sea of men with foul Chaos magic's, and took our freedom and our King. On that day vve spat in their faces. but agreed to the lunar peace for the sake of our people. Afterwards the Clan simmered quietly under lunar rule, waiting for the time to rise again. While there was no king on the throne, many clans fought each other. while the Dundealos argued that the absence of the King and the rule of the Lunars should not cause the Laws of Heort to be ignored.
It is in this time that I was born. to Heorvik who along with my elder brother Chandar ran the Weapon Smithy. Chandar was also the Tribal Priest for Humakt, and supplied all the tribal weapons and especially those used by the Chieftain, the Clan Ring and the Sword thanes. My brother Chandar also had two daughters. as lithe as willow branches, blessed with beauty and charm both much younger than I, and so it was probably natural that Chandar treated me almost as his son and encouraged me in the ways of Humakt teaching to me the Mythology and History of the Great Divider. As I grew, I began training with my father and brother in the ways of both the Warrior and the History of Humakt. They taught me well and pushed me hard, both of them eager to infuse in me their own skills and abilities. Competing to show me better ways to fight and live. I came early to recognition as a full warrior of the tribe but was still eager to learn all that my family could teach him. At the Ceremony of Separation that confirmed my change from child to manhood, I followed the Dundealos tradition and took a new sword and a new name. For this honour my father and Brother bestowed upon me the Greatsword, "Last Breath”, heirloom of my Great Grandfather, Heklos the Blue. For my name I took Peacebringer, the nickname I was so often called in my youth as a settler of disputes. For the next few years I increased my warrior experience with the tribe by defending the Dundealos lands and properties from raiders and outlaws. Directed by the Clan Ring there were also raiding parties against enemies Clans and Chaos creatures and lairs discovered within our borders and we were strong.
When Kallyr Starbrow sent emissaries for support of the rebellion, we sent all the warriors that we could spare to fight. Angry was I when I was not chosen to go and take the chance for freedom from the invaders. When the rebellion failed and Temertain was placed as puppet King we waited once more for a chance to shatter the lunar yoke. Over these years I increased both in skill and reputation. Amongst my fellow warriors I was becoming a leader of men, those same men who had seen to my early training and whose age was greater than mine. It was also at this time that I found the Path of Splintered Spirits and found Moondeath, its name carved in ancient writings upon the blade, the pommel of a silver hand gripping tightly an orb of moonstone. This Humakt blessed blade contained a powerful spirit who led me free from the Path and back to my homelands where I swore myself to Humakt and bound myself never to take a life unless I faced my enemy face to face.
When I was thirty-three. I became one of three candidates for Swordthane to the Dundealos and completed the ten Tasks of Humakt with great accomplishment. it was with great pride my father and brother saw me honoured as the youngest Swordthane in recent years, while also looking on were my nieces Finla and Moshiri. Ahhat this time Moshiri was coming into womanhood and she was the dream of all the young warriors and more than a few of the older ones, and many were the appeals from my peers to push their favour forward. It was unfortunate that at this time our lands were allocated a new governor to collect our taxes, and he brought with him men fresh from the Empire who knew nothing of our warriors, or at least not enough to respect them. They acted with arrogance and disdain for our people, treating us as slaves. But it was on the fateful day when, on one of the collector's visits to once again take from us our goods and riches, that disaster fell It was my habit in those days that when the Red Cloaks came. I would leave to hunt or ride over the hills to be free of the stench of them. On one of these days. Moshiri had left the village and had come out onto the hills to watch for my return and had brought with her the daughter of the Dundealos King. She had smooth black hair like a river flowing in the night, and eyes of deep brown, such a beauty and prize was likely for any man to cherish. On this hill hidden from the view of the village by bushes and trees the guards of the tax collector found them. Unknown to me why they were there, but they thought it there due and right to take those two women of Dundealos like beasts. Here it was that I found them. laughing and joking about what sport they had had. while beside them lay the two silent bodies defiled and slain. I had approached quietly smiling to myself, hoping to startle my niece, and instead heard only the filthy invaders plan to hide the bodies before anyone could find them. Upon hearing this, I was possessed by the Holy might of Humakt; I rose out of the bushes bearing Last Breath and cleaved the head from a laughing red cloak. I swung that glittering blade back and hewed the legs from under a second leaving him screaming in agony on the ground, his life blood a bright river on the grass. Here it was that I found myself facing the last man in the group, wearing silver armour and bearing a silver curved blade. We traded blows he and I endlessly, neither able to outmatch the other until at last with a great stroke, both blades shattered, and my families greatest treasure flew into a thousand shards. Then with no thought for another weapon I grappled with this lone defiler and wrapped my hands around his throat, and squeezed, and as I squeezed I felt him fumbling and reaching for his dagger. So I dug my fingers as deep into his flesh as my strength could manage, even when I felt his dagger push into my belly once, twice and a third time before finally he lay still. Here it was that my other niece Finla found me, and brought to me a healer and our Chief-King. Upon seeing his daughter in that rude state. he screamed to the evening sky, and pledged by the Winds of Orlanth and the Sword of Humakt that the Dundealos would wait no longer.
From that moment the Dundealos were silent no more and rose in anger against the Lunars, all bent for rebellion and revenge. We called to the Pol Joni to the south, who sent no aid, but took in the women and children of our tribe who were willing to leave. We called to us all our kin from all corners of our lands, bringing with them supplies and weapons for war. Then we made such war on the Lunars. Without aid or help and standing alone, we knew we had no hope, and that all was doomed, but we had no fear. Humakt is a deity that the ignorant fear, but to those who know his ways he grants peace when all else is lost, and so it was that the Dundealos fought without fear and threw themselves into the face of Death, eager to meet the Bringer of Darkness in his hall. The death toll of the lunars ,vas high, their bodies could have been stacked against the mountains as winter logs against a lodge. We raided supply wagons, patrols, and tax collectors. When the lunars responded in greater force we fought as bandits, always hitting their weaknesses. distracting them. drawing them in a thousand different directions. Such tactics could only sustain us for so long however, and eventually the Commander of the Lunar armies discovered who it was who was making such war upon him, and drove his army straight to our heart, our homes. Those who had not tied to our cousins the Pol Joni. stood at the fields before our homes. bearing weapons of war, of farming and hunting. women with kitchen knives and spears. We were outnubered and the magic's of the Chaos Gods overwhelmed us, and the battle was terrible, the slaughter and mayhem on a scale I have never before seen. Wives, youths and old men, stood before the lunar onslaught and fought, they with bravery, with skill, determination and a burning fire of anger that the Winds of Orlanth blew hot and the Spirit of Humakt covered us with insurmountable will.
1 hllY 'ieard many tales told of that battle, and the aftermath, when the lunars killed all the men whether ill, young or old, and took slaves of the children and women that they could find, and destroyed the Chieftains homes. No tale I have heard can match the grief I have burned into my very heart the tears reach my eyes afresh when I remember these things. There are no skalds alive or dead that could hope to bring to life the glory and disaster that befell on that day. My final memories of that battle are when the Chieftain and his bodyguards, his Sword thanes stood at last within the entrance of his Great hall, the walls hanging with the trophies of the ancient Dundealos.

To hear the rest of the story I need some listeners... So step forward if the seed of this quest is to your liking!