The Great North - Illustration and Content Teasers

Tom Kilian continues his work on illustrations for The Great North (formerly The Meeting of the Waters), soon* to be released by yours truly.

Here are some more of his developmental pieces. Lovely work, I am sure you'll agree. Accompanying text is from the book itself:

Automata

 

When the Emperor left the Great North, his mechanical servants remained. Whether this was because they had tasks allotted to them that were still incomplete, or simply because he had no further use for them, no one can now say. It certainly appears as though many of them are still mindlessly performing missions that were given to them in those ancient days - repetitive, laborious acts long ago rendered futile by the passage of time and the changes taking place in the world around them. Others, however, only seem to be standing in disconsolate stillness - as if one day the reason for their continued functioning disappeared and they have had nothing to do ever since but wait. 

 

There are seven basic types of automata, although there are also many sub-types. All are made of supernaturally hard porcelain and animated by some unknown force. They can communicate in the Imperial tongue if required to do so by their role, and are generally non-aggressive unless their role or task determines otherwise. They can also usually be commanded by the use of a special long-forgotten code words or phrases in the same manner as the spell of that name. Below is a guide for creating a typical example of each type; use the basic stat block provided and then provide it with all or some of the stated ‘additions’ accordingly. 

 

HD 1d3+1, AC 4, #ATT 1, DMG 1d6, Move 120, ML 12, Save as F[HD], TT None

*Suffers no damage from piercing weapons and 1/4 damage from slashing weapons 

 

Type I (Builder)

Typically humanoid, although frequently it has multiple pairs of arms, and specialist ‘hands’ for hammering, cutting or lifting. 

Additions:

1 - Extra attacks (#ATT 2 or 3) from additional pairs of limbs

2 - Phenomenal strength (1d10 damage) 

3 - Telescopic limbs (can increase Move to 180, extend arms up to 12’, etc.)

 

Type II (Carrier)

Typically many-legged with a large, flattish frame. It may be dog-sized, horse-sized, or even larger.

Additions:

1 - Extra HD (1d3)

2 - Ram/trample attack (triple damage if moving full rate)

3 - Increased speed (Move 150 or 180)

 

Type III (Miner)

Typically a squat humanoid, compact but immensely strong, and possessing limbs for tunnelling, rock-smashing, and wall-breaking.

Additions:  

1 - Pickaxe and/or shovel limbs (DMG 1d8+1)

2 - Shove attack (does only 1d3 damage but knocks opponent flat; opponent cannot then act in the next round except to stand, and is hit automatically if attacked)

 

Type IV (Clearer)

Typically a humanoid with axe, sickle, and/or shearing limbs, designed for clearing vegetation. 

Additions:

1 - Axe, sickle or shearing limbs (DMG 1d8+1)

2 - Emits flame from a hand, the body, eyes, etc. (flame attack in 3’ diameter 6’ cone, DMG 1d4)

 

Type V (Dancer)

Typically a delicate, gracile humanoid, designed for dancing and ritualistic performance.

Additions:

1 - Fewer HD (1d2)

2 - Mesmerising movement (opponent must save vs magic in order to attack)

 

Type VI (Guardian)

Can take any form, being designed to defend or watch over some fixed location: a soldier, a lion, a wolf, an eagle, etc. 

Additions:

1 - Single-minded (+2 to initiative)

2 - Mighty in arms (#ATT 2)

3 - Emits poison or sleeping gas from the mouth, eyes, etc. (6’ cube, acts as a stinking cloud or sleep spell) 1/day

 

Type VII (Ranger)

Typically a tall, long-legged humanoid, designed for patrolling the borders of the Empire.

Additions: 

None

 

Lair

A handful of lost remnants from the time of the Empire, unable either to die or to perform their original function to any discernible end.

 

1d6+2 automota of the relevant type, and TT [?].

 

Dice	Hook
1	The automata are of a builder, miner or clearer type still attempting to perform whatever task they were assigned all those centuries ago, in a sisyphian struggle against time and the elements (for instance, they are excavating a mine which continually collapses, building the wing of a palace which elsewhere falls apart or become overgrown, clearing forest while the forest reclaims the area behind them, etc.)
2	The automata are of a carrier or guardian type whose task was rendered defunct eons ago; they now stand about inert and confused and overgrown by forest
3	The automata are of a guardian type and still actively guard an imperial ruin or other such site despite its gradual collapse (generate according to the appropriate adventure locale table)
4	The automata are of a dancer type and continually practice and perform odes, plays and songs in the ruins of a palace or amphitheatre
5	The automata are of any type and have gone mad; they roam about a defined area or stand still, gabbling incoherently as though possessed by demons
6	The automata are of any type and have developed sentience; they may desire integration into human society, the accumulation of power, revenge against the living, etc.

 

 

Auxilia

When the Emperor ruled the Great North, he brought men from the farthest reaches of his realm to fight for and serve him there. They are all long dead, and Imperial power has gone from the land, but loyalty to the Emperor himself does not fade easily from the human heart. Thus many remain, beyond death, clinging to the hope that he will someday return.

 

HD 2, AC 4 (scale mail and shield, unless stated otherwise below), #ATT 1, DMG By weapon (see below), Move 120, ML 8, Save as F1, TT [?]

*Turned as ghouls

*Undead, and hence immune to sleep, charm, command, and other mind-altering spells

 

Lair

Century of 2d20+40, with a 3 HD centurion

 

Dice	Origin	Hook
1	Lusitania (sword, heavy javelin [d8])	The auxilia protect the tomb of an imperial prefect and his family heirlooms
2	Iberia (falchion, heavy javelin [d8])
3	Dacia (two-handed sword)	The auxilia protect an Imperial Artefact of great power (generate according to the Imperial Artefact table)
4	Gaul (spear, sword)
5	Baleares (sling, javelin, hard leather armour [AC 7])	The auxilia are in conflict with a rival century nearby, arising from mutual suspicion about each other’s loyalties to the Emperor
6	Graecia (sarissa, sword)
7	Germania (spear, short sword)	The auxilia are engaged in a campaign of conquest against a nearby band of heron men, tritons, brags, hobgoblins, etc., who they aim to bring under the Emperor’s rule
8	Illyria (short spear, short sword)
9	Thracia (javelin, rhomphaia/falx [d10])	The auxilia have turned to rebellion in the absence of contact from their superiors over the centuries, and are accumulating slaves and loot and the other spoils of war
10	Arabia (spear, sword)
11	Syria (short bow, sword)	The auxilia are under the control of a grindylow or other sinister power who has managed to convince them that she represents a Prefect or some other Imperial functionary, and is manipulating them for her own purposes

Bogles

 

Wicked man-shaped things made of gorse and matted grass given hideous tensile strength, and with pale yellow eyes like amber. They act with clear purpose, as though playing a part in some great but inexplicable scheme, and may travel long distances to put those purposes into effect.

 

HD 1+1, AC 6, #ATT 1, DMG By weapon (stone axe)+2, Move 120, ML 8, Save as F2, TT: [?]

 

Lair

 

1d20+20 bogles, with a a 2 HD leader and a 3 HD wizard, casting spells as a 3rd level magic user

 

Dice	Purpose	Lair
1	Stealing children	In caves beneath a great boulder
2	Killing travellers and stealing a specific organ or body part (heart, brain, eyes, hands, etc.)	On top of a wind-swept heugh amongst gorse
3	Waylaying travellers and stealing a specific type of item (copper coins, steel blades, leather, etc.)	In a long-abandoned bastle house
4	Freeing livestock and chasing it into the wilderness	In the branches and hollow of a huge sprawling oak
5	Setting forest fires to make wide clearings	In the ruins of an old fort or holdfast
6	Damming rivers to cause floods	In a dense thicket in a copse of trees in a hidden dene

 

Brags

 

Violent and spiteful animal-headed spirits with a romance for cruelty. They lurk in wild places in the open air, oblivious to, or even savouring, the bite of the cold wind and the seeping wetness of the rain.

 

HD 1, AC 6, #ATT 1, DMG By weapon (club, sling, spear, axe), ML 7, Save as F1, TT [?]

 

Lair

20d10 brags, with a 3 HD leader and five 2 HD champions, and a 5 HD wizard, casting spells as a 5th level magic-user

 

Dice	Head Type	Hook
1	Sheep	The brags are poisoning the water supplies of local manors
2	Goat	The brags are attempting to raise the spirit of one of the Emperor’s mightiest dead servants from an overgrown mausoleum so he or she can help them on a campaign of conquest
3	Horse	The brags have kidnapped the son or daughter of a nearby lord and are sending him small pieces of the captive’s body from time to time
4	Pig	The brags know of a secret passage into the vast catacombs of a long-vanished Imperial cult
5	Chicken	The brags have d6+3 human slaves, one of whom is connected to a significant NPC in Joyous Garde, Dolorous Garde, Deadyoungestson or Killers’ Path
6	Goose	The brags worship a broken-down Imperial statue which is imbued with magic (treat as an Imperial Artefact)

Dragon

Dragons came to live in the wild, high places in the Great North in the world’s adolescence, long before the existence of the emperor or even the elves, and they will be the last to leave, when the ancient hills collapse into the sea. 

Dice	Colour	Name	Lair
1	Red	Abimelech-dwelling-in-the-dawn	Under the Harrow Bog, an expanse of mire on a high moor, in a web of caverns magically kept dry, but whose entrances are all flooded
2		Gideon-the-old-comfort	In the network of caves atop High Cove, known for being haunted by the whispers, cries and pleas of those the dragon has slain
3	White	Jephtah-with-many-daughters	A labyrinth with its entrance in the side of the steep promontory called the Captain’s Tongue, which is said to reject climbers with rockfalls and landslides
4		Othniel-twisting-in-the-wind	In the Hog’s Mouth, a vast cavern which sits at the top of a long, high, narrow cleugh and from which spills the Quick River from its birthplace deep within the earth
5	Silver	Shamgar-whose-blood-is-cold	In the roots of Dovehole Crag, reached through a small hole with stone steps going down, hidden amongst bracken, through which the dragon comes and goes in human form
6		Ibzan-the-weight-of-time	In Three Corner Wood, a thick copse of wizened and wind-shrivelled trees, hidden in a cleft in the hills; some of the trees are quickwoods
7	Green	Elon-dark-and-deep	At Blakehope Nick, a high cave above a nearly sheer drop of scree, hundreds of feet high, from where one can look out upon lands stretching as far away as the distant sea
8	Amethyst	Abdon-the-liar’s-breath	In caves cut into the side of Coal Cleugh, whose waters run thick with black sediment; in the caves themselves lurk black dweomerlings and other carbonite spirits
9	Copper	Tola-sitting-in-judgment	In the vast underground river system below the Grey Mare’s Moor, accessible only by a series of wide or narrow caves burrowing vertically down for a hundred feet or more
10	Gold	Jair-of-the-disloyal-heart	In caves accessible through a wide crack at the foot of Buzzard Crag, which were carved into the root of the hill by things much older yet than the dragon himself

*In this context, 'soon' should be interpreted to mean 'not any sooner than a year'.

Best Books of 2022

It has now become a December tradition - as keenly awaited by my readers, no doubt, as the coming of Father Christmas himself - for me to post a list of my favourite books of the year. This year I did less reading than usual because of a new addition to the family; I seem to more or less invariably fall asleep within 20 minutes of beginning reading a book these days, in whatever circumstance and at whatever time of day. Hopefully this will resolve itself as the years go on and it's not the incipience of old farthood. But in any event, I did manage to finish some books at least. Here are the best 5 (cheating a little bit by including some from the same series) with exerpts from my Goodreads reviews:

1. The Third Reich at War, by Richard Evans. 

Each of the three volumes of this trilogy is excellent, but this is probably the best, if only for the sheer feat that it represents - condensing so much historical incident into an (admittedly long) 760 pages. What is perhaps most notable is its insistence on the centrality of the Holocaust to WWII. Quite rightly, Evans eschews much in the way of military history; the war was lost as soon as the Nazis invaded Russia simply by dint of lack of resources. The real story is the way in which an entire society was transformed from the centre of European civilisation to a nihilistic, moral void in the space of less than a decade. Evans recognises this, and brings the sheer enormity of it home in a very calm and understated way.

2. Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis.

[On Perelandra]:  As well as being a profound exploration and elucidation of the concept of the Fall, this is also a beautifully written and paced book, in which CS Lewis reveals himself to be a prose stylist of the first rate. I suspect that one has to at least be open to Christian thought and teachings to really enjoy it thoroughly, but I found the plot and worldbuilding riveting independent of the theology.

[On That Hideous Strength]: This is what being counter-cultural really looks like. A book utterly and profoundly at odds with all of the cultural developments of the past 100 years - and which, read in 2022, seems almost shockingly subversive as a consequence. It's brilliant, and the ending is second only to The Ill-Made Knight in its eucatastrophic beauty.

3. The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe.

[On The Sword of the Lictor]: I was entertained by, but a little sceptical about, the first two volumes of The Book of the New Sun, but this third part has to rank in its own right as one of the greatest pieces of fantasy literature, full of invention, beauty, wonder, intrigue and - most importantly - emotional payoff. Where I felt in the previous two books that Gene Wolfe was using smoke and mirrors to create the mere appearance of depth, here the richness and subtlety of the narrative just can't be denied. But it's a flat-out page-turner to boot. A brilliant work.

[On The Citadel of the Autarch]: A supremely satisfying end to the series, which very subtly reveals the character's "arc" from callow youth to mature man in a way few writers could accomplish. It also shows that the four books taken together are probably one of the great Christian allegories, although one does not have to be a Christian to really enjoy them as one probably would, for instance, to appreciate CS Lewis's Space Trilogy or John Bunyan. Severian is a pilgrim for the late 20th century, and his tale ultimately one of redemption - but if you're not into that, it has plenty to bewitch and bedazzle even the most hardened SF/Fantasy fan.

4. Ports of Call by Jack Vance.

There may be something deep going on in this apparently largely 'plotless' book, but equally, it may simply be that Vance had reached the end of his career and had nothing else to prove, and decided just to write things he enjoyed writing. For a Vance fan, either way the result is a sheer pleasure - a funny, whimsical, at times beautiful, and at times disturbing, tribute to the wonderful feat of imagination that is the Gaean Reach.

5. The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola.

A lot of the symbolism, allusions and political satire present in this novel are lost on a modern non-French audience, but this is probably for the best, as it means one can simply enjoy a good story, well told - which, for the most part, it is. Zola's prejudices are obvious (like a lot of intellectuals, he clearly reserves a special place in hell for the petite bourgeoisie), and there are moments of hand-waving in order that the plot reaches its climax, but on the whole it is a captivating narrative full of intrigue and excitement.

*

So there we have it. Looking back, it was a year partly dominated by Christian allegory/apologia, for which I, no pun intended, do not apologise. I was glad to be converted (again, no pun intended) both to the Space trilogy and The Book of the New Sun, which share the same feature of a slowish and slightly dubious beginning before turning everything round in the second half. It was also a year dominated by Vance; I think I read in the region of 15 of his novels this year. Ports of Call is not his best book, but it was without doubt the book of his I read this year that I enjoyed most - especially the character of Dame Hester. It is sheer entertainment from start to finish, and full of laugh-out-loud moments. As for Zola, what can one say? These canonical writers - Dickens, Zola, Trollope, etc. - are still read for a reason. They're actually rather good. 

I should probably also give an honourable mention to James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, which would have been number 6 if I'd had a Top 6 (my review: The introduction to the text in my Oxford World's Classics edition of this book calls it 'at once terrifying, pitiful and funny', and that summarises it well. Other reviewers play down the last of these descriptors, but the elements of dark comedy are important to mention - Hogg is by no means playing with a straight bat, here. With all of that said, it is one of the strangest novels I have read, defying any attempt at easy categorisation, and constantly playing games with the reader - clear proof that 'post-modernism' was old hat even in the 19th century. Is Wringhim's companion Satan, or a figment of his psychotic imagination? I defy anybody to be able to make a convincing case one way or the other.).

A final nod also goes to Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution: A History. Goodness knows I tried, but it remains on my shelf, a bookmark placed forlornly about half-way through its length. I'll get to the end one day, Thomas, I promise.

Moving on from 'Race' in D&D?

You may not have caught the announcement, but it seems that D&D products will no longer use the term 'race' to distinguish between PC, er, races. They'll use the word 'species' instead. 

The first thing to say about this is that it indicates the difficult position in which companies like Wizards of the Coast find themselves. On the one hand, you would have a hard time making a coherent case that the way the word 'race' has been hitherto used in D&D is racist. This is because it has in fact been used in what would, a mere 5 years ago, have been understood to be an anti-racist way (before the meaning of that term changed): there was an orc race, an elf race, a dwarf race, and so on, and a human race. 

In other words, all human beings, regardless of skin colour, are part of the same family, a 'brotherhood/sisterhood of man/woman' if you will, and distinctions between them should not be materially relevant. This is how people brought up in the 80s and 90s were raised to think about things, especially in the context of the SF/fantasy genres, in which the generally unstated emphasis on such matters was on presenting humans as a single group vis-a-vis aliens, monsters, etc. So while Wizards mights say that '"race" is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds' it is being either disingenuous or not thinking about things very hard - there is no 'prejudiced link' at all between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds. The truth is almost the exact opposite: 'race' in D&D has always been used to (tacitly) eliminate prejudice between real world people by putting them all in the same basket. (Unless you happen to be an orc or tiefling or something, I suppose.)

Yet on the other hand, there are people who don't like the use of the word and are vocal about it. And once you start setting out an argument against them, as I have just done, you undergo a strange transformation from somebody who really didn't particularly care whether the word 'race' is used or not, to somebody who does, and who therefore becomes tainted by their defence of a thing which others consider to be racist. The accusation immediately becomes, "Why do you care? Why does it mean so much to you that D&D continue to use the word 'race'?" And then suddenly you are treading turbulent waters.

So I get why Wizards of the Coast made the decision they did and why they didn't think it a good idea to defend the history of D&D, even if I personally find it a bit insulting (I know it's a bit unfashionable to say this, but I am not a racist and I resent the implication that because I have been using the word 'race' all these years in D&D games I have been somehow perpetuting prejudice). The truth is it doesn't matter whether the word 'race' is used, all things considered, so it's best to just bite one's lip and go with something else. Species is a uniquely bad choice in my view, because 'species' is a biological, rationalist term that is very out of place in a fantasy setting. But I understand the reasoning.