Magnar
King of the Underworld
General Lore:
The Veil and the Fell:
There are many dangers in the world of Midnight, but few as foul and horrifying as the Fell. When Izrador's fall severed the bond between heaven and the mortal world, it did more than sever the connection between the gods and their faithful. It also trapped the souls of all future dead in the material realm, preventing their ascension to the celestial kingdom. Whether by happenstance or because of some malicious magics on Izrador's part, one of the terrible consequences of this reality has been that the souls of the newly dead are often unable to leave their bodies, remaining tied to them and doomed to walk the land as horrible, undead abominations. These unfortunate, fearsome, undead monsters are commonly known as the Fell.
In game terms, what this means is that when you slay an opponent, there is a possiblity that opponent will resurrect as an undead creature unless certain precautions are met within 3-4 days - such as separating the head from the body of all slain foes. Unfortunately, there is also a chance that the opponent slain can raise as an undead creature instantaneously upon death.
Magic Items:
Magic items in the world of Midnight are prized by virtue of their rarity and power. This role-play attempts to convey the classic fantasy image of a weapon, suit of armor, or other piece of magical gear that becomes inseparable and indeed defines its wielder, rather than just serving as a commodity to be traded away at the first sign of a likely upgrade. Prime examples of this are King Arthur’s Excalibur and Elric’s Stormbringer. In Midnight these sort of items are called covenant items.
All covenant items started out as mundane objects whose possessors undertook or were part of some heroic or dramatic action. Upon completion of these deeds, and usually culminating in the death or heroic sacrifice of the object’s wielder, it is imbued with some mystic combination of that person’s life essence and magical energy.
Languages and Literacy
As reading and writing is considered a punishable crime by the Shadow, it is not a given that the PC is literate in their chosen language. For this reason reading and writing is considered a skill in this game that you will need to take proficiency in.
In addition there is no “Common Tongue” in the game. There are a variety of regional languages and dialects that will be provided when the game starts. For starting the game the PC's only have access to the Erenlander and Trader Tongues tp take proficiency in these, as the game progresses a lack of understanding of different regions, cultures and languages will be a barrier the PC’s will need to overcome.
Here is a list of languages for Eredane:-
Black Tongue:
The hosts of Izrador contain far more sorts of foul creatures than just orcs, and none of these have the orcs’ facility with language. As a result, the armies and agents of Izrador use a language the dwarves call Black Tongue. It is a simple tongue that even the most dim-witted ogre is able to master. They use this language when encamped, on patrol, or fighting together. Many of the non-orc races of Izrador’s horde have begun using the language exclusively, even when among only their own kind.
Courtier and Colonial:
The southern Erenlanders are descended from the colonial Sarcosans that invaded Eredane in the Second Age. Their language was thick tongued with such soft sounds and throaty hisses that their Dornish enemies once called them “snakemen.” The early Sarcosans were a very hierarchical people, with the nobles and commoners living as almost separate cultures. Each spoke their own version of their mother tongue, however, as a sign of station and education. The nobles spoke what was called Courtier while the masses spoke a version known as Colonial. When the Old Kings of the Dorns joined with the Sarcosans to form the Kingdom of Erenland, the traditional social stratification became less defined. Over time, Courtier became the language of science, philosophy, and politics, while Colonial became the common tongue of peasants and lords alike. Because of its complexity, Courtier can only be used at basic competence or fluent level.
Erenlander:
The Dornish and Sarcosan ancestors of modern Erenlanders did not speak the same language, and neither culture’s tongue is particularly easy to learn. As a result, the forces of necessity conspired to form a sort of pidgin of Norther and Colonial that most other races simply call Erenlander. Most humans speak at least some Erenlander, and those of the central plains, where Dornish and Sarcosan culture are most intermixed, speak it almost exclusively. Fey that learn a human tongue almost always learn Erenlander, as it combines the easier aspects of both parent tongues and is the most universal human language. Characters with at least basic competence in either Colonial or Norther are considered to have a pidgin competence level in Erenlander.
Halfling:
Halflings speak a musical language that is almost otherworldly to the ear. There are notable differences in pronunciation between the nomadic and agrarian tribes of halflings that give each a slight accent to the other’s ears, but only halflings seem to notice the difference.
Norther:
Like most Dornish cultural traditions, Norther is an heirloom from the peoples of the Dornland River Valley of Pelluria beyond the Pale Ocean. This bastardized, vowel heavy tongue is almost as difficult to learn as High Elven and has almost as many dialects as Old Dwarven. The dialects are not so incomprehensible that Northmen cannot understand each other but do often identify the house to which a character belongs.
Old Dwarven and Clan Dialects:
Old Dwarven is the mother tongue of the dwarves, but their long history of clan isolation has led to the natural development of clan dialects. Many dialects are quite similar and mutually comprehensible, while others have become unique languages unto themselves. Though all dwarves speak their own clan dialect, the increased isolationism of the dwarves as a whole has served to even isolate many clans from each other. As a result, not all young dwarves still learn Old Dwarven and know only their clan tongue. Old Dwarven is the language of the clanmoots so the fact it is fading away is a bad sign for the already strained unity of the dwarves. Old Dwarven is guttural, with many stretched syllables and hard stops, but it is also melodic and beautiful in its own unique way.
Orcish:
Orcs have a great facility for language. Their own tongue features exotic and complex sounds that only they are able to pronounce despite their protruding lower tusks. The orc language reflects orc culture in that it is strictly tiered and intensely direct. The language has vocabulary and syntax that allows each social level to speak with absolute deference to the levels above, and absolute authority to the ones below. Orc linguistic ability has allowed many orc soldiers to learn Old Dwarven, High Elven, and Norther, and now in the conquered lands they are quickly learning the other fey and human tongues. Though some dwarves, elves, and Dorns are able to speak Orcish, their command of the language is poor and childlike in comparison to the typical orc’s fluency in other races’ tongues.
The Sundered Tongues:
These are the languages of smoke and stone, lightning and river, angel and demon. There are countless such tongues whose pronunciations, meaning, and grammar have been lost since the Sundering, although many share similar alphabets. There is now no single tongue that trapped spirits use, having over the millennia taken on the languages of Eredane or in some cases forgotten how to speak entirely. Any trapped spirit has a 10% chance of speaking any given Sundered Tongue. No mortal may speak or write a Sundered Tongue beyond basic competence, and none may learn a Sundered Tongue except by being taught it by a trapped spirit; the natures of the languages themselves are so alien and other worldly that mortals’ comprehension of them varies significantly from person to person, and two pupils taught by the same trapped spirit end up making and hearing completely different sounds when using the same language. Yet, trapped spirits who speak that language would be able to understand the simplistic meanings of both speakers equally. Why or how this can be is not understood. Sundered Tongues are all restricted languages.
Trader’s Tongue
The Gnomish tongue shares a common root with Old Dwarven, but then Gnomish also shares vocabulary, slang, and idioms with almost every other language as well. Gnome culture is characterized by its adaptability, which seems to be reflected in its language. A history of widespread trading concerns has not only made gnomes Eredane’s finest practical linguists, it has also transformed their own language into a universal pidgin that most simply call Trader’s Tongue. If there is a common language in Eredane, it is Gnomish. Because most races recognize many of their own words and linguistic elements in Trader’s Tongue, they find it unusually easy to learn.
Weapons and armor are the most common types of covenant items, as these tend to stay with the character throughout their career.
Covenant items can remain unknown and undetected for centuries, one sword among many or a single cloak trampled in the dirt, lost in the darkness. Created as they are by the innate magic of their original possessors’ actions, beliefs, and emotions, they are not detected by the magic-hunting legates. For that matter, a covenant item does not even detect as magic until its abilities are unlocked. They seem mundane, common, and wholly non-magical until they reveal their powers to those they feel are worthy to wield them.
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