Catacomb of Ashes - Primeval: Savage Kingdoms of Thule 5e

[Twelveseal]

Prologue

A yellowed, dispassionate moon pierced the indigo gloom of the night and watched through twisting veils of smoke and embers at the tableau beneath. Bonfires raging from deep pits dug in the earth, filling the stony courtyard of a cyclopean ruin and only just lighting the jungle-eaten ankles of half a dozen step pyramids. Their searing heat and lurid glow turned the ancient slabs torturously hot, but it did not deter the throng gathered there. Nor did the clouds of smoke, thick with the scent of incense and drugs. Nor the wails and screams of pain and terror that tore from the throats of a dozen souls bound to great, bronze pillars that ringed the largest pyre.

No, there beneath the light of an uncaring moon, a sea of flesh cavorted and writhed. Naked bodies crushed together and flung apart, gyrated and prostrated before the flame, chanting, howling, moaning, screaming in pain and pleasure and release between the smoke and flames. Bodies danced and pressed together in madness and carnal passion, so that they seemed to blend together as one foul and seething thing.

Looking on with eyes as milk-pale as the moon itself, an aging woman presided over the revelry. Her red-dyed robe opened against the sweltering heat of the jungle and the flames, her hair wild and antlered diadem wilder, she was blind and yet saw. She had received a revelation, divined the omens, and heard the scorching voice of god. Her people celebrated. The faithful rejoiced and praised their lord, for he was to bless them with a piece of his glory.

And so they prayed and danced for him. They made more servants for him. And they offered unto him. As her empty eyes watched as more liquor was brought. Great bronze-bound casks of it, hard and strong and rolled by thick-thewed slaves slick with sweat. The men and women pushed round the freshly opened barrels, faces thrust in to drink as if they were animals, even as they themselves were taken like beasts by others seeking different pleasures. The tallest among the men thrust great bowls into the drink, shoving revelers aside to fill them.

Liquor in hand, they cast the drought upon the naked bodies of the captives. Naked men and women, bound with coarse rope, soaked in sweat and alcohol as their skin seared from the scalding metal, wept and struggled in agony. And yet there was only joy and madness on the faces of their captors.

The robed woman raised her hand.
Revelers nearest the pyres seized burning brands from the fire.
Her hand fell.
The makeshift torches were cast upon the wood piled at the feet of each pillar, the fuel soaked in alcohol.

The screams of terror and agony rose to a crescendo, as did the flames.

The woman looked on with blind eyes, yet seeing. Seeing and knowing.

They would need more sacrifices.

Primeval: Savage Kingdoms of Thule

An alternate version of Primeval Thule, the Savage Kingdoms represent a slightly more advanced version of the original setting with a number of changes. Some of these are significant, others relatively minor. For example, there are a number of additional Great Old Ones who represent conventional Warlock Pacts. There are also beings known as the Savage Gods; gigantic monsters that distort the land by their mere presence and directly or indirectly spawn monsters due to this influence. While magic is still rare, the presence of strange meteorites has given rise to an abnormal number of Sorcerers, and the influence of both the Great Old Ones and the Savage Gods upon the population have made Psionics more common than conventional magic... if no better understood.

What You'll Need

• 5E Tools is useful.
• Primeval Thule Campaign Setting I originally didn't include this, but it seems like there's just not enough information in the Player's Companion, so I edited this in.
• Primeval Thule's Player's Companion will give the you gist of the setting and what you'll need to make a character.
• If you're interested in running a mildly psionic character or having a look at more weapon options, consider using some of this Dark Sun Campaign Setting content]
• If you want to be *more* Psionic, there's the stuff from Tasha's Cauldron, but there's also the Korranberg Chronicle: Psion's Primer and the Pathoturge. There's a missing Class Feature in this document, but it's provided below.

Ability Notes

Intelligence is more important in this setting than in standard 5e; for every positive point of INT Modifier, you gain a Proficiency point. These Points can be spent to gain additional abilities, ranging from Skill Proficiencies to Weapon, Armor and Tool Proficiencies, to minor psychic powers, and even to Cantrips or Orisons as psychic abilities.
The cost for purchasing these benefits are as follows:

• Weapons: These cost one Proficiency Point for every two Simple Weapons or individual Martial Weapon you gain Proficiency with. A Staff costs one point, a longsword two, for example.
• Armor and Shields: These cost one Proficiency Point for each individual type of Armor (such as Leather or Chain) or Shield Proficiency you gain.
• Tools, Languages, and Vehicles: These cost one Proficiency Point each.
• Skills: These cost two Proficiency Points each.
• Wild Talents: These cost one Proficiency Point per random roll. Duplicate results on multiple rolls allow for multiple uses of the ability between rests. You may spend an additional Point to automatically gain an additional use per Rest of an existing Wild Talent. Wild Talents are described in the Dark Sun setting provided above.
• Cantrips, Orisons, and Talents: Cost two Proficiency Points each, which may be treated as a magic trick learned from some source or a psychic power. They are usable at-will as normal. Your casting score is the same as that of the Class you derived it from.

Race Notes

• In addition to the normal Races available in the core setting, Primeval also allows the following:
  
  • Goliaths, representing Hyperboreans, a hulking but intelligent people native to the frigid north of Thule who have long fought against the regions encroaching glaciers and whose civilization is collapsing.
  • Simic Hybrids, representing Deep Ones, degenerate fish-people descended from Atlanteans who mingled with the servants of the Great Old Ones Cthulhu, Dagon, and Mother Hydra in order to survive the end of their civilization.
  • Kalashtar, representing Muvians, a rival people to the Atlanteans whose island nation began to sink alongside Atlantis itself. They were devout worshippers of the Great Old Ones and have a strong predisposition to Psionic powers.
  • Shifters, representing various tribes of animal-people who may have evolved from animals, dinosaurs, and insects due to the influence of the Savage Gods.

Class Notes

• Artificers: These are essentially magical scientists trying to reconstruct the achievements of Atlantis and other fallen civilizations. They're viewed much as any other magic user in the world.
• Bards: These exist, and are generally found among the Elves, Half-Elves, and Muvians. Hyperborian Skalds also belong in this category; there is a magic in the blood of these beings older than modern man.
• Blood Hunters: These individuals usually derive their magic from accidents and tragedies rather than training or design, though Elves, Half-Elves, and Muvians sometimes pursue it of their own accord. They are rare and deeply misunderstood, and in the case of those who weren't taught their powers, usually deeply confused about their capabilities.
• Empath: These individuals are essentially never taught; their powers manifest spontaneously and they must learn to cope with them instead. Wilders are among the most common Empaths.
• Icon: Icons are most often the result of extreme psychological trauma; their personas are tools used to cope with horrific experiences.
• Paladin: Paladins actually exist in this setting, but they aren't precisely champions of good and virtue. Instead, their abilities are usually derived from the distorting presence of powerful magical artifacts or interaction with the same, Starstones (meteorites known to induce sorcerous potential in people), or extended proximity to a Great Old One or Savage God. Their abilities are innate rather than learned, and often not fully under their control in terms of roleplaying sense.
• Pathoturge: These are individuals born with an innate psychic ability to manipulate the minds of others. More often than not this is an untrained skill. They simply use it on instinct without every realizing they have such a power. The GMBinder pdf is missing the Aura Weapon Class Feature. Here is the version of it used in this game. A Pathoturge can infuse their weapons with their Aura, empowering them and making them more potent and easier to wield for the often physically weaker members of the class. Beginning at 1st Level, by spending at least one hour meditating with a melee weapon, handling it, and practicing with it. Doing so infuses the weapon with the Pathoturge’s aura and familiarizes them with it. The weapon gains the Finesse property if it didn’t already have it, essentially becoming like an extension of their own body, and adds the character’s Proficiency Bonus as additional Psychic Damage on a Hit. This additional damage is not multiplied on a Critical Hit. A Pathoturge need not be Proficient with a weapon to designate it as their Aura Weapon, but does not gain Proficiency with it by doing so. A Pathoturge may only have one such Aura Weapon at a time. Should they attempt to create a new Aura Weapon, the previous weapon loses this ability. If a weapon is removed from the Pathoturge’s person for more than twenty-four hours, it also loses this feature and must be empowered again to function properly. At 6th Level, the weapon counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical damage.
• Psion: Psions are to Psionics what Wizards are to magic; they are most often individuals who have sought out a mentor of some kind. This is often *exactly* the same sort of mentor that Wizards seek in Thule.
• Warlock: It's actually fairly common for the various Warlock pacts to be associated with other Great Old Ones, not just the actual Great Old One pact itself.

Weapon and Armor Notes

Many items, weapons, and armor that aren't *supposed* to exist in this setting because of its relative primitiveness actually *do.* At least mechanically, anyway. However, they're generally not identical to the usual versions. Instead, they're made of monster parts and have cruder forms. You won't find a basket hilt, or likely *any* hilt, on a Thulean Rapier. It's far more likely to be a pointed, sharpened animal femur or a carved branch from some kind of mutant tree than a piece of worked metal.

Plate Armor is another example. It's fabulously rare and structurally doesn't look the same or provide the same visual coverage... instead, it's created from the shed or carved scales and shells of the living deities known as the Savage Gods.

These kinds of things generally can't be *bought.* They have to be found or made.

Mechanically complicated items, like Crossbows, just outright don't exist. Atlantis likely had this kind of technology... but it was lost with the island.

New Weapons

• Dark Sun Weapons: Most of these are available as described in the setting book.
• Cleaver: Simple Weapon identical to the Short Sword except that it's not a Finesse weapon and deals Slashing damage.

Narratives

We're using them. Don't forget to choose yours. Yes, all of the official ones are available and can be modified to fit your concept, including those from the Player's Companion.

Literacy

Give me a D20 roll in the game's Discord Channel (once it's up), plus your INT Modifier. We'll see if you know how to read and write.

Basic Character Creation Details

If you have issues getting the books, contact me. I can share information.

Roll your Ability Scores: 4d6, drop the lowest. Reroll 1's. Do this seven times and assign six of your results as you choose. The seventh is a freebie to help if you roll particularly low.

Your character is Level 2.

You're using starting gear sets rather than starting gold. Remember, your gear mechanically may be the standard, but what it is in-game is another matter. Things often look different here due to unusual materials and construction styles.

You are an individual imprisoned. You know not by who or for what reason, but you can probably think of a reason why someone might want to take you captive. Stripped of your equipment, bound, drugged, blindfolded, and transported for an unknown amount of time by crude cart and brawny arms, you've now been shoved into a small boat and taken somewhere else. Time has lost meaning for you, but you can tell that there are others in your predicament. The sound of the oars slapping at the water reaches you, and by it you can tell that there are more such boats besides yours, doubtless carrying the other people who were trapped with you to the same destination. The air is warm, but you can no longer say where you are... However, maybe you can say *who* you are.

House Rules

• Post from your character when taking in-character actions such as talking, thinking, attacking, etc... Use either the OoC Thread or Discord Channel for out of character content.
• Use quotation marks when your character is speaking.
• Use Italics without quotation marks for your character's thoughts and internal monologue, or for telepathic communication, should that happen.
• Do not ask for Ability or Skill Checks. I will ask you for them if I feel they're needed. Focus on what your characters are doing narratively, not mechanically.
• Feel free to DM/PM me for questions in-game.
• Try to keep any actual planning and organizing that your characters do in-character; rather than just sorting things out OoC between players, have your characters discuss in-game.
• Try to be patient with me. I don't have a lot of experience actually running games XD
• Try to be patient with each other, too, and don't ruin each others' fun.
• Also, remember not to describe the actions or reactions of other characters. That's inappropriate.

This is a port of an in-progress (but very early in-progress) Roll 20 game moved here to make scheduling easier. It's a Conan the Barbarian/Elric of Melnibone-esque, Sword and Sandal/Sorcery/Planet type of setting.

There are currently two slots available for new Players. PCs will begin the game bound, disarmed and unarmored, and tied to a metal pillar at an unknown location by what appear to be cultists after having been captured, imprisoned, and then transported there.