Things You Should Know About Otkorion

This is a small set of writer's notes and interesting things to be considered about my campaign that I felt neither fitted into the information I had posted on my webpage up until now, nor did not look likely to in the near future. I was hoping that this document might give people a better idea of what Otkorion is that makes it different from Sartar-with-sorcery. This might well be seen as boring or useless, but it should give you a better idea of how I view my own campaign setting, certainly the information I have posted does not reflect the folder full I own, or the amount of successful adventures I have played there.

Chaos In Otkorion

Chaos is everywhere. In the minds of the Otkorioni, a normal member of the Church would tell you that Chaos is breeding all over the place, and is rapidly seeking to bring the monarchy, the Church and the seventeen Families to their knees . Everybody knows that the Thanatari Heresy a century or so ago was never completley beaten and still Thanatari appear, spreading their foul poison amongst good hearted folk. In reality, the truth is far different. The Thanatari numbers have been in decline for a long time, the Uraini are now so scattered that they are no threat to anyone, there are no chaos nests, no chaos heroes, no marauding broo or bagogi anywhere in Otkorion. In the future I will post a description of the chaos factions at work in Otkorion, and while they may, at long last, be ready to make a move once again, they are still very, very weak. The paranoia surrounding Chaos and Otkorion is only natural, the Orlanthi are by their nature a very anti-chaotic culture, and the total lack of chaos in Otkorion is not good enough reason to stop believing there is. Without chaos, there cannot be a true Orlanthi culture, so where do the Otkorioni actually find chaos? In other words, where is it in Otkorion? Without any physical foes the anti-chaos feelings of the Otkorion nature (and, in part, the Lanksti people they originated from) are actually appearing in the myths of the people, on the Other Side. Chaos apparitions are extraordinarily frequent in Otkorioni myths, often appearing in even the most simple of rites. All HeroQuests, including simple initiation often has chaotic elements that appear, are reviled and then defeated. The Gamesmaster should consider this when using mythic elements in an Otkorioni setting.

As noted before there is not a lot of Chaos Nests, other than the undead ridden Salantia forest (which is situated more in Lankst than Otkorion, and not almost as much of a problem as, say, Upland Marsh, Snake Pipe Hollow or parts of Dorastor). The future information on Chaos in Otkorion will include full details on the Thanatari Heresy in Otkorion (what it was etc...), the Uraini and the most powerful Chaos faction in most of Ralios, never mind Otkorion, that just sits there doing absolutely nothing of any threat to anybody - the vastly underestimated vampires. Of course, there is good reason for the vampires to do nothing with all their power, but that is a far more detailed story.

The Triarchy

Otkorion works. There is little corruption, the land is blooming in prosperity, for once the players get to see a land without oppression (just as long as you worship St. Orlanth...) that is in it's own golden age once more. Otkorion works, simply put, because everyone involved in it's running makes it possible - the three major ruling factions are the monarchies, the Church and the Family Heads. While there is some friction between them, they all understand the benefit of working together, especially under the very able and masterful leadership of Surantyr the Nonheretic. No-one would benefit if any one faction sought to suppress the power of any other faction. So you have an expanding nation, powerful and organised. The Caste system of the Church makes this a lot easier, and the political and economic power of the monarchies even more so.

Of course, with the approaching Hero Wars not everything is fine, corruption is hiding in the seemingly fine state of Otkorion. Firstly, as the Hero Wars approach the ideals and aims of the various factions will not always agree. Otkorion rests on the working of the three powers together - if they should be forced to come to blows on an issue Otkorion will quickly descend into civil war. This will be the "make or break" factor in Otkorions future. One thing that no-one has ever noted, either in discussions I've had on the Net nor in my normally inquisitive playing group, is the oddity of the King and Queen of Fiesive, and the fact that they are both married to one another. This odd relationship holds potentially the worst problem for Otkorion's future.

Religion

When I first began putting together my campaign, I made the religion simply "Orlanth Pantheon with Invisible God at the top", which is vastly different from what it developed into. On the Digest it was decided that Aeolian, Henotheistic and Stygian religions like the Otkorioni Church were of two types, Malkionized Orlanthi and Orlanthi Malkioni. The Church is the first type, they are Orlanthi who have adopted the Malkioni religion. This is important, it means they have a basically Orlanthi lifestyle, with those parts of the Malkioni religion that are similar in thinking to the Orlanthi mindset having been attached and assimlated into society. Castes and mobile caste structure are important, as are the Malkioni Saints that the Otkorioni worship. In places where the Malkioni myths and Orlanthi myths conflict, nine times out of ten the Orlanthi myth is the one that has remained, and the Malkioni myth is the one that has been discarded. For instance, the Orlanthi still believe in an Orlanthi Afterlife of going to Orlanth's Halls, then being reincarnated. The idea of Solace has been attached separately, only those pious and worthy enough get to reach there. The existence of a Church also makes the Otkorioni religion more formalised and structured, with larger temples, more HeroQuests and better success in rituals.

There are important features that have been commented on that I feel I must... justify. The disappearance of Ernalda is to do with monogamy. David Dunham's East Ralian work lists Orlanth as having two wives, Ralia and Ernalda. As Malkioni are monogamous, I chose only one to be Orlanth's wife and receive worship etc..., this was Ralia as in Ralios I think she is more important than Ernalda. Elmal is not a Saint but is an acknowledged God because of the neutrality that the Henotheistic Church likes to claim it has. To appoint Elmal Saint of the Sun would harm relations with Galin (worshipping Ehilm) and the more orthodox Western Churches (who would also start asking questions about the legitimacy of such a claim). I think in a future event, under a different Archbishop perhaps, my players will get to see Elmal Sainted. Also note the understated presence of Malkion. Malkion is, according to Greg's ever changing opinion, the name given to the phases of the Invisible God. So you might have Malkion the Creator, Malkion the Old Man, in Otkorioni religion this is totally absent. The roll of the Creator is minor, and so is that of Malkion. Most of his positions in myth and legend are fulfilled by Umathil, the equivalent of Umath. Malkion is not so much the famed saviour as one of the many followers of Orlanth, to be given equal credit alongside the rest of Orlanth's Companions. He is worshipped only as a patron Saint of the Wizard Caste.

I would defintely like to point out the position of St. Humakt in society. I have always been a devote Humakti lover (haven't we all?) and so this is reflected somewhat in my campaign. The Humakti of Otkorion do not all believe themselves to be members of the Church. Far from it. When the Orlanthi migrated back into Otkorion in the Third Age the Humakti were already there, and had been there for a few centuries living quite happily in their temples and monasteries without any interference from the cult of Orlanth. The power and independent nature of Humakt should be seen in the Houses of Humakt I have described, religious bodies independent of the Church. In the myths, Humakt is an independent figure, he is the Angel of Death, he dealt with the Inivsible God on a one-on-one basis before even Orlanth did. Orlanth owes him. He is more of an equal to Orlanth than any other being in Otkorioni religion, and a lot of the Humakti feel the same way about the Church. It has taken a long time for the Church to gain enough influence in the Humakti cult. Even when it was independent of the Orlanth cult the Humakti were just a group of independent temples, and did not have it's own religious leading body acting as a High Priest for the entire area. Yet even nowadays the cult of St. Humakt still shows a lot of it's independent nature.

St. Urox also appears to be out of place in my campaign. After all, aren't the Storm Bull violent and unwanted members of society? Yes. But St. Urox isn't Storm Bull. If you think of it as progression, there is the primitive cult of Bemurok, and it's Praxian counterpart the Storm Bull cult. In areas like Bilini and Sartar this becomes the cult of Urox, a more restrained cult than Bemuroki or Praxians. St. Urox is not a violent beserker, he is a totally different view upon the cult as a whole - this time Urox is a gaunt templar, wrought with grief. The Uroxi of Otkorion worship a man who gave his entire life to destroying chaos when he lost everything he loved dearly to the Devil and his hordes. I would say that this was not an evolution from Lanksti worship of Bemurok. Instead, St. Urox was probably imported from the eastern Orlanthi and then became a bit more civilised. I doubt if the St. Uroxi cult even recognises it is in anyway connected to the cult of Bemurok.

Arkat

The Church has never taken a stand on Arkat. Who was he? Which is the official version the Church will give? Was he a good guy or a bad guy? The reason is that when someone tries to put forward their personal opinion on the matter, the Arkati cults who do not share this opinion place pressure on the Church to stop trying to patronise a specific sect. Also, all the Bishops and Priests within the Church have their own personal views on the nature of Arkat. If one Bishop is a worshipper of Arkat Chaosbane, and another Arkat the Deceiver, it is going to be impossible for an assembly to come to an official decision about the nature of Arkat. The only version worshipped is Arkat as the Liberator, as described in Sandy Petersen's Saint Rules and ToTRM #13. Of course none of this stops individual Arkati sects vying for the patronage or support of the Church.

The Church is very lax on the worship of Arkat. It is the only religion they allow to be worshipped in Otkorion that isn't officially sanctioned by the Church, all because they can't reach a decision themselves. This is another destabilizing element in Otkorion society. When the shit hits the fan and the Hero Wars start the Arkati problem which has been happily ignored by the Church for centuries will suddenly explode, especially when Arkat returns once more.

Heroes of Otkorion

Otkorion has no Heroes in the sense that other lands do. There is no Jar-Eel, no Harrek, no Argrath, no Ralzakark and no Meriatan. The only Hero is Calantia, who built the Stormwalk and Tempest Halls, two enormous structures, all in the space of a season each. A piece I'll post later will explain why Calantia won't be around for the Hero Wars and also why the Stormwalk is so similar to Imther's Daughter's Road. The reason that I've had Otkorion this way is so that my players can advance their characters to become the major players in the Hero Wars when they begin. While there are many powerful figures in Otkorion, none of them will survive to see 1630 ST or else have plans of their own that prevent them from becoming the Heroes Otkorion lacks. The Temporal Incarnations of Death, super-powerful warriors of Humakt described in a separate piece, are not heroes of Otkorion, or heroes in any form. Firstly, they are killing machines lacking any abilities other than those that they are endowed with from St. Humakt. Secondly, just like St. Humakt they lack free will, they are single minded in their devotion and unable to change in any way what so ever. Not the mark of a Hero.

More to come?