Wyrmteeth Gazetteer, continued
Uniforms of the Legions
First Legion: The First Legion, at the order of Xanesh, the Neutral Dragon Lord, is dressed with scale mail of dark blue color, covered with breast, leg, and arm plates in dark iron grey. They wear white cloaks with the symbol of a two-headed dragon, with one blue and one white head.
Second Legion: The Second Legion, at the order of Incendiarious, the daughter of the former Dragon King, are all armed with banded armor, a red cloak with a flaming volcano within a black circular symbol, red war boots, and red decorations and joints between armor pieces.
Third Legion: The Third Legion, at the order of Ipsilon, is dressed with wide dark green cloaks, small wooden bucklers, and leather armor. They have bows and crossbows and are specialists of forest guerilla tactics.
Fourth Legion: The Fourth Legion is formally at the orders of Hk'hral, but he only cares about his lizard-men city, and delegates all human army-related activities to his human Overlord, Fang. Humans of the Fourth Legion are dressed in black and green scale mail and scale-covered iron shields; they wear no cloaks. They are all trained in underwater combat in the swamps, and many small groups are sent to other nations and hotter swamps to learn to fight better in swamp climates.
Apart from normal soldiers, there are 5 personal guards for the Dragon Rulers employed and payed by the army. They are normally mercenaries of high level, and they have at their orders all other servants of the Dragon Rulers, whom they may employ to defend themselves.
Order of the Holy Blood Sword
[Clerics of Pearl/Syare, the Moon Dragon, the Moonlight Knight, the True Wyrm ]
The Holy Blood Sword is the new name adopted by the Church of Pearl in the Old World, after the founding of the Kingdom of Wyrmteeth, in 828. The Order is devoted to the cause of dragons and of Syare-Pearl; its main political aim is to strenghten the dragons' position concerning diplomatic ties with other churches and nations. The Dragon King is the superior of the Moon General, and secular head of the Order; although he is not a cleric or a official member of the Order, the organization depends entirely on his leadership.
The Order of the Holy Blood Sword is formed entirely of specialty Priests of pearl. There are about 600 priests in the Order currently (including about 150 Searchers, 350 Followers, 80 Sentinels and a fixed number of 20 Defenders - see below). The specialty priests are named Soldiers of the Blood Sword.
The principal temple of Pearl in Wyrmteeth is the Temple of the Moon in Tua'than, which dominates the city from a nearby mountain top. The Temple is made of dark blue marble with decorations in mother-of-pearl. At night it shines a bluish light. Its plan resembles a dragon's mouth, with two set of "teeth" – rooms one in front of the other, separated by an irregular corridor 50 meters long, which ends in a cave access that leads underground to the Altar, where a giant statue of Pearl, made partly of real dragon bones, partly of mother-of-pearl, is located. This statue is in fact a drolem, but only the most high level clerics know this secret.
Novices of the order are known as Searchers for the Unknown Path; only when they reach 6th level are they admitted to the rituals and considered part of the Order. When they do so, they are named Followers of the Moonlight Knight. At 12th level, they become Sentinels of the Wyrm; at 20th level, they choose a dragon race to follow, and become known as Defenders. There are only 5 Defenders for each of the six chromatic dragons (Blue, Green, Red, White, Brown/Amber, and Black). To become a Defender, a 20th level Sentinel of the Wyrm must confront another Defender, and the winner gains that status. The loser is known as a Wanderer and must travel in Mystara for nine years fighting for the cause of dragons, and must leave his title and all benefits gained by being member of the Order. If he succeds, he is admitted to the Moon Legion. Moon Legionaires are considered, in the Hierarchy of the Church, lower-ranked than Defenders (in truth, Defenders defeated the Moon Legionaires), though the Moon General, the highest-ranking priest of the Order, is always drawn from the ranks of the Moon Legionnaires. When the Moon General resigns or dies, the four highest-level Moon Legionnaires fight amongst themselves, and the winner must then defeat the strongest Defender of each Dragon in order to become Moon General. If the candidate fails, the undefeated Defenders fight amongst themselves, and the strongest becomes Regent of the Order for 5 years. After these 5 years the Regent is admitted to the Moon Legion and a new contest for the title is made, with the former Regent being among the Moon Legion contenders.
Dogma: True Dragons are the most perfect creatures made by the Immortals to reflect their powers, and bring a shard of immortality to lesser creatures. Lesser creatures are made to serve Dragons to their best efforts. All true believers must sacrifice themselves to the cause of Dragons. Dragons will one day regain power over all Mystara, but there is no sense in destroying those made to serve them: it is just a matter of time for them to understand their folly. To this cause, the Order is devoted. The Order knows that much time will pass before dragons control Mystara (they estimate it at 5,000 to 6,000 years!), but it is extremely devoted to the ideal. Pearl/ Syare delights himself with this dream of conquest and power, but admits to himself that this will probably remain just a dream.
Priestly Vestment: Priests of the Holy Blood Sword don't need a special suit in normal life, though for ceremonial occasions (rituals or holy days) they must wear the official uniforms of the order, described below.
Adventuring Garb: There are two possibilities in adventuring garb: If they need secrecy or act in an unofficial capacity for the Order, clerics of the Holy Blood Sword can dress whatever they find suitable for the occasion. If acting officially for the Order, they dress with a dark blue armor that shines faintly in the moonlight, composed of a banded breast plate, shoulder plates, lamelled plates on legs and arms, a heavy metal belt, and a shield with a mother-of-pearl symbol of Syare. They carry normally warhammers or maces, few use broad swords; all weapons are of exceptional quality. Searchers for the Unknown Path are not allowed to wear helms or shields. Followers of the Moonlight Knight are allowed the use of helms and shields. Sentinels of the Wyrm are given a custom made weapon +3, +6 vs. metallic dragons. Defenders wear armors of the colour of their dragon choice, depending upon the race. Many of them have slain several metallic dragons, and so have earned the right to trade metal plates with plates made of their dragon victims.
Alignment: Any neutral or evil
Races: Humans, lizard men
Turn Undead: Yes, as a cleric of two levels less
Command Undead: No
Requirements: STR 12, INT 9, WIS 9, COS 12
Prime Requisites: Cos, Wis
Weapons: All bludgeoning weapons plus long and broad swords.
Armor: Any, with the previously indicated restrictions
Major Spheres: All, combat, elemental (fire & earth), guardian, healing, necromantic, protection, sun (reversed only), time, wards
Minor Spheres: Charm, elemental (air & water)
Suggested Proficiencies: Common chromatic dragon tongue
Special Abilities:
A fallen Defender who becomes a Wanderer loses all his special abilities. Very few Wanderers become members of the Moon Legion; and they are magically altered by Syare, so they become Minions of Pearl. They regain all the abilities of Sentinels (but not of Defenders) and additionally:
Dragons and Defenders
Black Defenders are all lizard kin.
Blue Defenders are humans of Thyatian descent. Some of them have been given license to return to Thyatis and join the Retebius Air Fleet.
Brown [D&D Amber] Defenders may be humans of any race, but some are lizard origin. There is also one gnoll defender at the moment.
Green Defenders are the most difficult to find, since Green Dragons are the least liked in Wyrmteeth; Green Defenders are often outsiders who immigrated to Wyrmteeth specifically to join the Order.
Red Defenders are not often seen around and about; most are Thyatians, but some are Averoignians.
White Defenders are always Wyrmdanners. There is a sort of affinity between white dragons and northern men, because both love snow, cold climates, and winter.
NPCs
Julius Penhaligon, Moon Legion Overlord.
Born in 959 in Thyatis, last son of Cornelius Penhaligon, younger brother of Arturus Penhaligon [see Gaz 1], he became cleric of the Order in 977, and wandered the Old World for several years. Julius was captured in Glantri and suffered experiments at the hand of prince Volospin Aendyr, and was turned into a werewolf. After escaping Glantri, he returned to Wyrmteeth, where he became a Red Defender. He was never defeated and became first a Regent in 988, then the Moon General in 993. [Cleric 19 AD&D; Cleric 34/ Werewolf 12 D&D]
Jacob 'Raven' Aloysius, First Legion Overlord. Wereraven. Fighter 12 AD&D, Fighter 20 D&D. Comes from Ierendi. Born 968.
Steinhard Hoen, First Legion Overlord. Wizard 13 AD&D, Magic User 23 D&D. Wyrmdanner. Born 971.
Harald Haraldsson, Second Legion Overlord. Fighter 17 AD&D, Fighter 29 D&D. Son of the former Moon General Harald Hardrade. Wyrmdanner. Born 963.
Geoffrey MacDonald, Second Legion Overlord. Fighter 20 AD&D, Fighter 36 D&D. Glantrian from Klantyre, member of the Followers of Claymore. Born 949. Ruler of Tua'than.
Julian Hastings, Third Legion Overlord. Wyrmteethian descendent of Glantrians, born 967. Werewolf, ruler of the city of Seel. Fighter 11 AD&D, Fighter 22 D&D.
Sylvie du Chateau Tarent Third Legion Overlord. Averoignian, born in Wyrmteeth in 976. Thief 10 AD&D, Thief 18 D&D. Ruler of Wheine.
Gsharr, Fourth Legion Overlord. Lizard man 23 D&D, Fighter 11 AD&D. Hk'rhal's second in command in Th'hral.
Fang (P'hegshyan), Fourth Legion Overlord. A human, "Fang" is in fact an Outer Being cultist who long ago lost his human attributes. His powerful magics have prevented his treachery from being discovered.
Dragon Rulers
Red Death (Mors Rufus), Dragon King of Wyrmteeth. The Red Death is the ruling King of all Wyrmteeth. He succeded Incendiarious when that dragon departed in search of Immortality. Red Death was Incendiarious' second-in-command, and a good ally in the forming of Wyrmteeth, though he was a just young dragon then. Incendiarious recognized Mors Rufus's potential, and (unofficially) made it clear that he was his choice as heir. When the old dragon left Wyrmteeth Mors Rufus proclaimed himself King, and after crushing a small rebellion, became the ruler of Wyrmteeth. Red Death is responsible for the creation of the human settlements in the land, and has sought the help of the strongest dragons of Norwold to reinforce his authority. Red Death is still young, at 1,000 years.
Xanesh, Dragon Ruler, Commander of the First Legion. Xanesh is a blue dragon of neutral alignement. He proclaims to be the ruler of blue and white dragons, and carries the self-appointed title of Neutral Dragon Lord. He cares little of other dragons, but he doesn't want to raise the ire of Red Death, and so is informally bound to him. Xanesh hates Ipsilon, so if Ipsilon should attack Red Death he would stand by the Dragon King, but he would remain neutral if any other parties would be involved. Obviously, if a major war would explode, he would side with the party that does not have Ipsilon on its side.
Incendiarious, Dragon Ruler, Commander of the Second Legion. The red dragon Incendiarious is the female offspring of King Incendiarious, and has been the secret lover of Red Death for several years. Their relationship has always been inconstant and anything but faithful, but the two dragons have a great respect and physical attraction for each other, and don't care of the other's betrayals. Incendiarious has born 3 hatchlings to Red Death in the past centuries. If a war should explode between Red Death and one of the other Dragon Rulers, her Second Legion would be unswervingly loyal to him. Incendiarious lives in Norwold, in a volcano in the northeastern part of Icereach, and maintains contact with her subject Overlords by use of magical scrolls.
Ipsilon, Dragon Ruler, Commander of the Third Legion. Ipsilon is probably the most savage dragon of Wyrmteeth. He is a Great Wyrm of incredible strength and magic, and considers himself as strong as Red Death. Ipsilon has not attacked Red Death because he was accorded the title of Dragon Ruler immediately after Red Death took the throne, but Ipsilon is jealous of his power and could, in the future, try to cause a major war between dragons to obtain it. He is not liked by the other Dragon Rulers, but he is more powerful than them, and so they have not managed to attack him. Ipsilon cares nothing of humans, and would greatly enjoy waging a brutal war against Norwold - naturally with himself crowned Emperor of the region as the outcome.
Hk'rhal, Dragon Ruler, Commander of the Fourth Legion, Lizard King of Th'hral. Hk'rhal is strange black dragon, who believes that lizardmen and similar creatures were made by the Immortals in the image of dragons; he has a great love for these creatures. He dislikes non-reptilian humanoids, whom he sees as pale and trembling copies of those admirable races. He often takes Lizardman form, and enjoys ruling the city of Th'hral. He has no preferences toward the Dragon Rulers, and respects Red Death, though he does not fear him.
continued
Copyright 1999, Giulio N. Caroletti. All rights reserved. Used by permission.