Kragov, The Place of Crows

Areas of interest, deep lore, rumors, and new rules

Hello, wanderers from lands near and far!

This is a continuation of the post “Welcome to Kragov,” posted last week, and offers a little more insight on the places and personalities in the Kragov region of my home-brewed and long-term campaign world.

Immortal sorcerers do battle and pit their students against one another from their black schools hidden away in the mountains.

Petty and cruel aristocrats run the sprawl of Targa City, but a conspiracy building in momentum amongst the rural nobles is threatening to overturn their power.

Behind the scenes, the Church seeks to re-establish itself through the study of the natural sciences and technologies - unknown to them, their work is interrupting the machinations of a mysterious and embattled race known as “The Karachor,” whose ancient altars and standing stones draw power from this world into their own.

Following some more flavor and info for the Kragov region are some house rules we use for the setting, including combat, magic, and more.

Enjoy, and keep your blades sharp. Kragov is a dangerous place where everyone is using someone to get what they want!

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- Castle Grief

The Kragov Region is broken up into districts named after the settlements in those areas.

The largest, Targa district, is centered around Targa City, a large walled city with a ghetto surrounding the walls called Stonebridge.

In Targa city, the nobles and aristocrat families of Kragov wage constant wars of intrigue and blood feuds against each other - the most powerful of these families rule the Kragov region from a council centered here in Targa, with smaller, less powerful families relegated to underling positions, or remaining out in their country manses to pursue their own fortunes.

Korya district, northeast, over the Kathaarian Mountains by way of Breivik Pass is also home to the Grand River Inn, a meeting place for merchants, criminals, mercenaries and more.

Ravengate is the furthest northwestern settlement, and is built at the mouth of the Wailing Canyon. Furthest north is the ramshackle town of Viresco, last stop before the Morovan border, and notorious for its crime and poverty.

The criminal organization of the Iron Ring has infiltrated the entire area, favoring a heavy handed style of extortion, kidnapping, murder for hire and road thievery to fill their coffers.

They recruit heavily from Clifftop Prison, as well as Viscra Prison which lies on Lake Viscra far to the southwest in Moldov Pass, which separates Kragov from Walakia in the south.

The entire region is poised on a knife’s edge: Morov and Walakia were at war for centuries, and the aristocracy of both countries hates the other. For many years the area that is now Kragov was the site of countless blood-drenched conflicts, from whence it earned its name, which means “The Place of Crows.”

80 years ago, an uneasy peace was reached after the long bloodshed, and the Kragov region was formed as a free state between them: It was agreed that all the land “in the shadow of the Horns,” (the Horns being a nickname for the massive Kathaarian mountain range separating the two countries) would be called “Kragov,” and given over to lesser houses from both Morov and Walakia to oversee and develop.

The powerful houses of the region are the Albescu, the Helgoi, the Bucur, the Stravontje, the Dragonesti, the Ardelean, the Millenja. There are countless other minor houses involved in this ongoing struggle.

The Ardelean and the Millenja are the heads of a conspiracy that calls themselves The Rurals, aligning the smaller houses of the countryside of Kragov in an ongoing push to dethrone the petty aristocrats of Targa City and bring an end to the blood feuds and tyranny over the peasants that has typified the Kragov region for nearly a century.

The Church of the One True God has, for centuries, experienced a great lessening of its grandeur and reach. Its monks, known as Rassophores, seek out ancient shrines and churches long lost in the deep woods and on the edges of civilization, collecting the bones of long dead saints, and religious icons, as they seek to once again grow their church that used to hold sway over the region in days gone by.

The brothers of the Church are generally good-natured, and look for order, and to help society progress through the sciences and technology, as well as the naturalist studies of plants, minerals, and so on.

The brothers of the Black Basilica, a massive library, are known as the Brotherhood of St. Vladim. Countless orders exist within the church for specific reasons and areas of study.

Opposing them, yet unknown to them, are The Karachor. The standing stones and mysterious glyphs of old gods that dot the landscape of Kragov belong to them - an otherworldly race of powerful beings who draw the magical power out of the world and into their own to fuel their endless wars, they mirror the aristocracy of Walakia and Morov - petty, cruel, yet unimaginably powerful.

The presence of the Church interrupts their leylines and standing stones, and interferes with their abilities to leech power from this world.

Rumors also abound that two powerful sorcerors, Koschei and Yuri the Mad, are engaged in a centuries old war, and that each of them runs a rival Black School, or Scholomance in opposing areas of the Kathaarian range - the roads to those heights are fraught with peril, and not only from the brutal storms and winter winds.

ANCIENT RITES OF BLOOD

In Kragov, All Magic is Blood Magic.

If using a standard dragon-game ruleset, spell level indicates HP cost.

If using Mörk Borg, Powers cost 1 HP, but spell casting failure results in “blood debt” of an amount equal to the points failed by. This blood debt must be consumed in human blood before the next sunrise, or the caster weakens and dies. (There are many creative ways for the intrepid player to achieve this.)

To offset this, warlocks are assumed to be initiates/students either of Koschei the Immortal, or Yuri the Mad (or, more likely, one of their established students) - their spell lists reflect the difference between the two, but students of both are given a Blood Reliquary of some kind once they reach “1st level” and go out into the world to do their master’s bidding.

These take the form of amulets, ampules, rings and so on that the magic user can “collect” blood with, and can hold up to 1d6 HP of “extra” blood that can only be used for spellcasting or to offset “blood debt.” Other kinds of more powerful reliquaries exist or are created by higher level sorcerers.

Magic users can combine their blood in longer form “blood rites,” or use sacrifical blood from a human source willing or unwilling.

Where Koschei’s adepts favor necromancy, Yuri’s wield the dual fork of elemental force (direct damage) and mental domination.

Magic users are a rare and feared lot - the nobles hunt them down to put them to death, out of fear that one wizard might charm or dominate an entire family, but of course, there are rumors that some of the families already are…

The wizards of my Kragov game are also its vampires - this thirst for blood begins to manifest in strange and dark side effects.

Sensitivity to daylight, being affected by blessed water, the inability to enter dwellings without invitation, common animals developing a repulsed attitude toward the wizard and so on.

Rumors of powerful mages trading their lifeblood for powers and dwelling with a permanent thirst and need to rest weekly in a coffin filled with enchanted earth… all of these stories and more may be true.

Next - the wild regions, folklore and plants, and more!